Tuesday, June 19, 2012
By a Reuters Staff Reporter
YANGON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday praised
Myanmar's response to recent deadly sectarian fighting, despite
criticism by rights group Amnesty International that Muslim Rohingyas
are still fleeing arbitrary arrest by border forces.
The comments
come a day after a district court sentenced two men to death for the
rape and murder of a Buddhist woman whose killing triggered nearly a
week of communal mob violence that threatened to derail Myanmar's
fragile year-old democracy.
Washington's vote of confidence has
given a boost to reformist President Thein Sein, a former general whose
quasi-civilian government faced intense international pressure to
contain the violence after a year of startling democratic reforms
convinced the United States and European Union to suspend sanctions.
After
two days of clashes between Muslim Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine
Buddhists, the president on June 10 declared a state of emergency in
Rakhine state, sent security reinforcements, imposed a curfew and made a
televised address.
"This is something we would not have seen in
the past. The government is trying to help everybody who needs it
whether that is Rakhine Buddhists or Muslims," Michael Thurston, the
U.S. embassy's charge d'affaires in Myanmar, told Reuters in his office
in Yangon.
Despite the upbeat U.S. assessment, much of northern
Rakhine state remains a no-go area from which journalists and
independent observers are banned, making it impossible to verify the
government's version of events.
The World Food Programme said on
Tuesday the recent violence had displaced 90,000 people, or three times
more than the government's estimate. This has raised fears that the
official death toll of 50 could also rise dramatically.
There has
also been no mention in state media of hundreds of Rohingyas attempting
to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh, a point London-based Amnesty
International highlighted in a report on Tuesday.
"The basic
humanitarian needs of these people must be met immediately, as many
still lack adequate food, water, shelter, and medical attention,"
Amnesty said, urging the government to allow local and international aid
agencies "full and unhindered access" to all displaced people.
Amnesty
said an estimated 1,500 people had been illegally denied refuge across
the border last week by Bangladesh. Bangladesh border guards detained at
least 150 Rohingya men on Monday trying to enter in small boats.
"They were fleeing a wave of mostly arbitrary arrests by Myanmar border forces."
SLOW RELIEF
The
clashes follow a year of dramatic political change, including the
freeing of hundreds of political prisoners, the signing of peace deals
with ethnic minority rebel groups and the holding of by-elections
dominated by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party.
Three
Rohingyas were arrested after the 27-year-old Buddhist woman was killed
on May 28 but one hanged himself while in custody. The New Light of
Myanmar said the two others were sentenced to death in a court in
Rakhine Kyaukphyu district.
Following the woman's murder, about
300 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists beat to death 10 Muslims they wrongly
believed were connected to the rape, according to witnesses. Those
killings sparked Rohingya riots that descended into mob violence by both
sides. No one has been held accountable for the Muslim killings.
Thurston
said the government had been quick to ask for international help, in
sharp contrast to the sluggish request for assistance by the then-ruling
generals following Cyclone Nargis, which killed at least 138,000 people
in 2008.
"The response this time is far and away better than
Cyclone Nargis," Thurston said. "It's not just myself that thinks this.
Most of my colleagues agree that this has been a very different and
better response."
If there are human rights abuses, the United States wants to see them fully investigated, a U.S. embassy spokesman added.
Aid
workers in Rakhine, however, say thousands of displaced Rakhines and
Rohingyas remained in dire conditions more than a week after the
violence.
"The response of government is still so slow and the
help of the government has been weak since June 10," said Khaing Kaung
San, a member of local relief group Wan Latt Foundation, which is
running some camps for displaced people in Rakhine state.
News
coverage of the relief effort in the state-run New Light of Myanmar,
which consists mainly of photos of senior military officers donating
supplies, also strongly resembles the junta's post-cyclone response.
Security fears and poor infrastructure have hindered relief efforts, keeping many aid groups on the sidelines.
Rakhine state officials say eight aid groups, including the Red Cross and World Food Programme, were providing assistance.
Tensions
stem from an entrenched distrust of around 800,000 Rohingyas, who are
recognised by neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh, and are largely considered
illegal immigrants.
The government had yet to address the
underlying problem, Amnesty said. "Restoring the pre-violence status quo
is not sufficient," it said, "as systemic discrimination against the
Rohingyas characterises decades of state policy in Myanmar."
(Additional reporting by Andrew R.C. Marshall; Editing by Jason Szep and Jeremy Laurence)
Source: here
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