U.N. reports Myanmar Muslim massacre YANGON (AP)—At least 48 Muslims were killed when Buddhist mobs attacked a village in an isolated corner of western Myanmar earlier this month, the United Nations said Thursday, calling on the government to carry out a swift, impartial investigation and to hold those responsible accountable. Presidential spokesman Ye Htut, who has vehemently denied reports of a massacre, said he “strongly objects” to the U.N. claims. The facts and figures, he said, are “totally wrong.” Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million, has been grappling with sectarian violence since June 2012. The incident in Du Char Yar Tan, a village in Northern Rakhine state, appears to be the deadliest in a year, and would bring the total number killed nationwide to more than 280, most of them Muslims. Another 250,000 people have fled their homes. Northern Rakhine—home to 80 percent of the country’s 1 million long-persecuted Muslim Rohingya population—runs along the Bay of Bengal and is cut off from the rest of the country by a mountain range. It is off-limits to foreign journalists and humanitarian aid workers have limited access, adding to the difficulties of confirming details about the violence, which flared more than a week ago. But evidence of a massacre, first reported by AP, has been steadily mounting. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said she had received credible information that eight Rohingya Muslim men were attacked and killed in Du Chee Yar Tan village by local Rakhine on Jan 9. This was followed by a clash on Jan. 13 in the same village, following the reported kidnapping and killing of a police sergeant by Rohingya residents, according to witnesses and rights groups.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 13:24:52 +0000
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