The siege of the Rohingya villagers amid new tensions in Arakan State of Myanmar

Arakan News Agency
Residents say hundreds of Rohingya Muslims are trapped in their area by their Buddhist neighbors in a village in western of Myanmar as religious tensions in the restive Arakan province in the region have grown more intertwined.
Violence has so far been largely confined to the mainly northern Rohingya region of Bangladesh’s neighboring Arakan state, but observers and aid workers worry that violence may erupt in a region where the two communities live side by side in much larger numbers.
Residents and aid workers told Reuters that Muslims in the village of Zay Din pyin had been prevented from going to work or brought food and water in the past three weeks, although a small number had been allowed to break the siege to buy supplies on Tuesday.
Police said the Buddhist villagers in Arakan imposed restrictions on the amount of food that the Rohingya could buy but were barred from moving into the village and going to work.
“I think they are only afraid and do not go out,” said Colonel Myo Tho Suu, spokesman for the Myanmar police headquarters.
The government said it was working to improve security in the region.
The confrontation raised fears of repeated sectarian violence that erupted in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan state in 2012, killing nearly 200 people and displacing some 140,000 people, mostly Rohingya.
“Fear in area could escalate into inter-communal violence,” said Chris Liwa of the Arakan Project group to monitor the suffering of the Rohingya.
Arakan State has long been torn between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. Some 1.1 million Rohingya live in the state but are barred from nationality and face restrictions on travel because many Buddhists across Myanmar consider them illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.
More than 87,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since unidentified men killed nine policemen in northeastern Arakan in October. This led to a military crackdown, marred by accusations of rape, murder and burning by the security forces.