Muslim-Buddhist Clashes Spread in Western Myanmar

H/T Michael Laudahn

ABC News:

Skirmishes between Muslims and Buddhists in western Myanmar have spread to two new districts where authorities are struggling to douse flames from burning homes, the government said Wednesday.

Rakhine state spokesman Myo Thant said clashes between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists — reported in other parts of the coastal region Sunday — engulfed the townships of Kyaukphyu and Myebon late Tuesday.

The unrest is some of the worst reported in the region since violence swept the area in June after the alleged rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men in late May. Although clashes have been rare since then, tensions have simmered in part because the government has failed to find any long-term solution to the crisis other than segregating the two communities in some areas.

The skirmishes this week began Sunday in Minbyar and Mrauk-U districts, both located north of the regional capital, Sittwe. The government says up to three people were killed and more than 1,000 homes burned down.

Myo Thant said fighting began Tuesday in Kyaukphyu and Myebon and continued Wednesday.

“Houses are burning and clashes between the two communities are ongoing,” Myo Thant said. “The most important thing is to put out the fires. We are trying to control the situation.”

Kyaukphyu and Myebon are located about 95 kilometers (60 miles) and 50 kilometers (30 miles) south and east of Sittwe, respectively.

There was no immediate word on whether there were any casualties in the two townships, and Myo Thant had no details on the extent of arson attacks there.

The crisis in Myanmar’s west goes back decades and is rooted in a dispute over where the region’s Muslim inhabitants are from. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are widely denigrated as foreigners — intruders who came from neighboring Bangladesh to steal scarce land.

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About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

One Reply to “Muslim-Buddhist Clashes Spread in Western Myanmar”

  1. “The crisis in Myanmar’s west goes back decades and is rooted in a dispute over where the region’s Muslim inhabitants are from. ”

    It makes no difference to Muslim cockroaches. If they’ve lived in a place once, they think it’s theirs forever.
    In reality, no place is theirs, not even Mecca or Medina. Mecca was a place of worship long before Mohammed got his beady little eye on it and the city of Medina was called a Yathrib, a city built by the Jews. All other Muslim nations were stolen by korang-utans.
    Muslims believe that they own the Earth but in reality they own not even one square inch of it. One day they will forced to realise this and Islam will die. Muslims are dead-men walking, both spiritually and in the future historical reality.
    Our concern is what damage and destruction Islam will bring in the meantime. This is why Islam needs to be quarantined before it is finally destroyed forever.