Arakan News Agency
The Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) a non-governmental organization confirmed on Thursday that attacks by Buddhist militias against the Rohingya Muslims continue in the Arakan province of Myanmar.
The ARU said in a statement that the Buddhist militias continue to carry out attacks in many areas of the region, despite the recent announcement by the Government of Myanmar, the end of military operations, and the return to normalcy in Arakan.
According to the Union, Rohingya refugees who have been able to access Bengali territory have confirmed the recent high incidence of rape against Muslim women.
The Union noted that some areas in the province, completely devoid of Rohingya Muslims, and that other areas are experiencing massacres more violent than those that occurred at the beginning of the attacks on August 25th last.
“The Rohingya Muslims still in the villages of the province are suffering from a severe shortage of food, and the Buddhist militias are obstructing traders who want to sell food to Muslims in the region.”
The Union called upon the Government of Myanmar to comply with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on the Arakan region headed by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to allow the Rohingya Muslims to return to their homes, to rebuild their homes, to stop supplying Buddhist militias with weapons, to uphold the principle of the rule of law and to hold accountable those responsible for violence in Arakan ,and allow humanitarian and media access to the region.
The Union also appealed to the international community and to the Security Council to move towards meaningful solutions to the crisis and to exert pressure on the Government of Myanmar to grant citizenship to the Rohingya Muslims.
Since August 25th, Myanmar’s army and Buddhist militias have been carrying out widespread abuses against the Muslim minority of Rohingya in Arakan, killing and displacing tens of thousands of innocent people, according to local activists.
