PARIS
The Myanmar state is fuelling the sectarianism that has led to thousands of Muslim Rohingya fleeing the country in dangerous boats, according to a journalist who has written a book based on the account of a Rohingya migrant.
Sophie Ansel wrote We Who Cannot be Named: a Burmese Taboo about the experiences of Habiburrahman, a Rohingya who kept a diary documenting the violence suffered by his Muslim community at the hands of Buddhist extremists over the last three years.
"[The] Myanmar state is pitting the two religions against each other to gain dominance in Arakan and is trying to win Buddhists over," Ansel said, referring to the region of western Myanmar, also known as Rakhine, where most Rohingya live.
She added: "If the state was not racist against Muslims, the two religious communities would be able to live together.
"Racism against Muslims is a result of the 50 year dictatorship. We need at least one or two new generations to finish this hatred."
Tens of thousands have fled Myanmar's western Rakhine state since 2012, alleging brutality and persecution while others say they have been forced to sea by people traffickers who have demanded ransoms from their families.
Around 140,000 are confined to camps on the outskirts of Rakhine’s capital Sittwe, following riots in which Buddhist mobs burned down Rohingya homes.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency in Paris, the French journalist said even those Rohingya escaping Myanmar were not reaching safety.
After a perilous journey across the Andaman Sea to Thailand or Malaysia, many faced cruelty at the hands of traffickers.
"Rohingya Muslims are going to a hell from another hell," Ansel said.
"The Rohingya's problems do not come to an end at the Myanmar border. They are sold as slaves to improve the economies of neighboring countries."
After the bodies of 33 migrants were found buried at camps on the Thai-Malaysian border last month, people smugglers fearing a clampdown by the authorities abandoned boats packed with thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants at sea.
Ansel said most of those escaping Myanmar left without any clear idea of what they would do abroad. "Some of them flee neighboring countries and go to more distant places like Australia, just like Habiburrahman."
Criticizing the West’s attitude to the nominally civilian regime in Myanmar, Ansel called for economic sanctions to be renewed.
"Western countries made a mistake by lifting sanctions against Myanmar under the name of democratization while massacres against the Rohingya continue," she said. "The sanctions should be activated again."
