Arakan News Agency
Myanmar army chief General Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday accused the Rohingya of burning their homes in Myanmar in order to continue the massive exodus of the Muslim minority towards Bangladesh.
“The investigation shows that the one who set the house on fire is one of the Rohingyas,” Aung Hlaing wrote on his Facebook page, which he uses as an official means of communication.
The army accused of setting fire to the villages to prompt the Rohingya to leave.
After a few days of calm, the Rohingya migration to Bangladesh resumed significantly this week, mainly due to food shortages in western Myanmar, where the level of suffering is “inconceivable” according to the United Nations.
More than 500,000 members of the Muslim minority crossed Myanmar’s border to escape a crackdown by the Myanmar army.
This number represents half of this group of about 1 million people who have lived in Myanmar for decades but are victims of “ethnic cleansing”, according to the United Nations.
The Myanmar army surrounds the area. The lack of humanitarian access to left IDPs hungry in the western Myanmar region has led to migration to Bangladesh, according to NGOs.
The United Nations considers that the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias are committing ethnic cleansing against this Muslim minority.
Myanmar, which faces fierce criticism, condemns the international community’s stance with Rohingya and is behind Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the first civilian government in decades.
