Arakan News Agency
The Myanmar government has evacuated at least 4,000 non-Muslim farmers amid continuing clashes in the northwestern state of Arakan, while thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border into Bangladesh.
The death toll from violence on Friday after coordinated attacks by militants rose to 98, including 80 militants and 12 security personnel. The clashes, the worst since October, prompted the government to evacuate its workers and thousands of non-Muslim farmers from the area.
Fighting between the army and hundreds of Rohingyas continued across Arakan province on Saturday, residents and the government said the worst clashes took place on the outskirts of Maungdaw town.
The attacks represent a major escalation in a conflict raging in the region since a similar attack in October that prompted the authorities to launch a major military operation plagued by allegations of serious human rights violations.
The handling of some 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist province, is the biggest challenge to the country’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Western critics accuse Suu Kyi of not protecting the oppressed minority and defending the brutal attack launched by the army after the October attacks.
The ministry is setting up facilities for non-Muslims in places including Buddhist temples, government offices and local police stations in major cities. “We provide food to people who cooperate with the state government and local authorities,” Win Myint Aye the Myanmar’s Minister of Social Affairs and Relief said.
But he could not talk about the government’s plans to help the Rohingya civilians. “It’s hard to say. It is a struggle and therefore it is difficult to determine who is right and who is wrong. ”
“The clashes continued all day on the main road and there are lots of landmines,” said a local journalist from Maungdaw town on Sunday. I do not think local authorities have enough food for all people. Commodity prices are rising daily. ”
Bangladesh’s border guards said that in anticipation of further violence, thousands of Rohingya, mostly women and children, were trying to head towards the Naf River, which separates Myanmar from Bangladesh and the land border, while the Myanmar side of the border continues to be heard.
According to estimates by Rohingya refugees living in makeshift camps on the Bangladeshi side of the border, some 2,000 refugees have been able to cross into Bangladesh since Friday.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry said it was concerned that thousands of “unarmed Myanmar residents” gathered near the border to cross into the country.
