Myanmar: Rohingya Muslims displaced, starving amid allegations of human rights abuses by security forces
Updated
Allegations of grave human rights abuses at the hands of Myanmar's security forces have drawn sharp criticism from international human rights advocates, but the nominal head of country and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains taciturn.
"Suu Kyi risks shredding what residual credibility she still has on promoting human rights if she fails to speak out," says David Scott Mathieson, from Human Rights Watch.
"She has made it clear she is a politician, not a human rights defender or humanitarian, when the desperate situation in Rakhine requires any political leader to prioritise those issues."
Amid blanket denials from the Suu Kyi-led Government and a near-total lockdown on humanitarian and media access in what has now been declared a military operation zone in the northern Rahkine State, major questions are being raised about her ability — and her desire — to champion human rights.
"It is not acceptable that for six weeks there has been a complete lockdown, with no [humanitarian] access to the affected area," United Nations official Yanghee Lee said.
The UN estimates up to 30,000 people have been displaced, almost all belonging to the disputed Rohingya Muslim minority.
Over 70,000 are in immediate need of food.
With humanitarian access all but cut off, it is estimated 30-50 per cent of the 3,000 children with severe acute malnutrition in the area are at imminent risk of dying.
The military operation zone centres on the town of Maungdaw at the frontier with Bangladesh in Rahkine State. Most of the population of half a million are the largely stateless Ronhingya.
Tensions have run high there since 2012, when violent clashes erupted between the Buddhist majority and the Rohingya, who are widely considered "illegal Bengalis", implying they are recent arrivals from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Over 100 people were killed, and thousands fled by sea.
The latest escalation was triggered on October 9, when several hundred Rohingya men armed with machetes, slingshots and sticks attacked three security posts.
Nine officers were killed, and the group made off with a cache of firearms and ammunition.
Clashes ensued, and the military has launched scorched earth "clearance operations" to purge the area of insurgents and arrest suspects.
Through the lockdown, what little information is emerging is horrific — and extremely difficult to verify.
The Government has confirmed over 100 people have been killed. Helicopter gunships were deployed against alleged insurgents last week.
A video viewed by the ABC — allegedly of the aftermath — appeared to show bodies of young men, shot and scattered in a paddy field.
One UN source told the ABC the precise scale of displacement and violence are unknown: "We truly have no idea," he said, asking to remain anonymous.
Rohingya asylum seekers currently detained on Nauru recently protested against the crackdown.
"Ahmed" is one of them. He was 19 when he fled the 2012 violence in Rahkine State, and was intercepted heading for Australia by boat. He has desperately tracked news of his family and their village.
"All my family and relatives there now are in trouble, in hard situations," he told the ABC.
Over patchy mobile phone calls, he learned his relatives hid in a paddy field for over a week, afraid to return to their village.
They have little food, but so far are alive.
"We are all concerned about our minority — in the whole Rakhine state," he said.
The group of attackers has identified itself as Al Yakeen (Faith Movement) and issued political demands in a series of as-yet unverified videos published online.
Many in the Rakhine state's Muslim community are dismayed.
"I am heartbroken. I think this is a strategy by extremists to make us take up arms, otherwise [Al Yakeen] wouldn't kill innocent people," said one Muslim villager, on condition of anonymity.
"I feel less secure than ever before. Everyone is more than terrified."
Buddhists are terrified too.
One businessman, who also asked not to be named, told the ABC, "I dare not go to any Muslim villages any more. We live in fear for our lives."
Calls to arm civilian militias have ramped up. Police are allowing a special intake of Buddhist villagers for training.
While the Suu Kyi-led government insists that security operations should be carried out "in accordance with the rule of law", unverifiable claims of rape, arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killings are being made by sources on the ground.
There have been at least three deaths in custody, one of which has triggered a government investigation.
In conflict zones where there is little independent scrutiny, Myanmar has a poor human rights record, former UN official Richard Horsey says.
"The military is not very good at ensuring civilians are protected in operational areas," he said.
"Especially in Northern Rakhine where there is a background of discrimination, and weak intelligence to help distinguish civilians from attackers."
Satellite images released by Human Rights Watch a few days ago show more than 1,000 Rohingya homes burned to the ground.
Rohingya activists say security forces have been torching villages.
However, the Government claims militants are committing arson in a bid to frame the army and elicit international sympathy.
The Government also refutes claims of rape, with one state MP saying it was "unthinkable" because Muslim women are "so dirty" and have "poor hygiene".
The President's Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay rejected the allegations on logistical grounds.
"There is no logical way of committing rape in the middle of a big village of 800 homes where insurgents are hiding," he told Reuters.
A commission by the Rakhine State Government completed its investigation in little over a day and found no abuses had taken place.
The UN and international community have called for an impartial, transparent investigation.
While facing international censure for betraying the human rights values she so long championed, the muted response by Aung San Suu Kyi may well demonstrate the limit of her powers.
The military still controls key ministries of Home Affairs, Border Affairs and Defence.
For all in northern Rakhine State, the developments since October 9 are a grave cause for concern.
Limited food aid has been allowed through, but will soon run out.
Many on the ground say they live in fear, and are simply at a loss to understand what is happening.
One Muslim villager said the threat of violence keeps him awake at night, but the potential for humanitarian disaster is all too real.
"Did you ever see anywhere in the world a government blocking aid this way?", he asked.
Topics: rights, human, human-interest, foreign-affairs, religion-and-beliefs, community-and-society, burma
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