ANKARA
The flared up conflict between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims is spreading around Myanmar, resulting in killing of many Muslims and displacing thousands, despite government efforts to stem the violence.
Clashes broke out between Buddhists and Muslims on Wednesday, March 20, as a mob of Buddhists started rioting in the Muslim quarter of Meikhtila, a city in central Myanmar.
Attacks by Buddhist groups against Muslims continued during Thursday and Friday in Meikhtila, with destroying at least 5 mosques and burning dozens of homes and shops, mostly Muslim-owned according to the local sources. (The Irrawaddy)
As the conflict continued, President Thein Sein declared curefew in central Myanmar on Friday, March 22, and deployed army troops to Meikhtila, where Muslims make up about 30 percent of the city's 100,000 inhabitants.
Despite the measures, armed Buddhists torched Meikhtila’s Muslim quarters, and the unrest has spread south toward the capital, Naypyitaw.
According to The Irrawaddy, on Saturday, March 23, in Yamethin, a township 64 kilometres away from Meiktila, a mosque and 50 homes were burned where 32 people were killed and 10,000 mostly Muslim residents were displaced. Another mosque and several buildings were destroyed the same day in Lewei, farther south, an area inside Naypyitaw.
On Sunday, March 24 the clashes spread to a third city, Tarkone, about 80 kilometers from Meikhtila, as one mosque ransancked and destroyed.
-"Budhist monks hunting Muslims"-
A press release by Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) on March 23, the largest organization representing the Rohingya Muslims, stated "Since Wednesday March 20, many Muslims were killed, at least 14 mosques with hundreds of Muslim homes were destroyed, shops damaged and looted, and more than 20,000 displaced in Meiktila and around the airport area of capital Naypyidaw. A lot of Muslim residents have fled their homes. Extremist Buddhist mobs with Buddhist monks armed with sticks and lethal weapons are prowling the streets and hunting the Muslims."
Muslims represent about four percent of Myanmar’s population. The flare-up of violence is the biggest conflict since Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims clashed in Arakan (Rakhine) state last year, leaving at least 200 people dead and more than 110,000 homeless, with many fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.
The latest bloodshed shows that violence against Muslims has spread from Rakhine to the other parts of Myanmar.
