She is among scores
of women who accuse security forces of sexual abuses during a months-long
military 'clearance operation' so brutal the UN fears it may amount to crimes
against humanity.
AFP visited the
remote region in the north of Rakhine State on a government-run trip this
month, the first time foreign media have been officially allowed into the area
since the military began hunting militants in October.
On the edge of Kyar
Gaung Taung village, away from the government minders, a group of Rohingya
women described how their lives were shattered the day soldiers came to their
homes late last year.
"I was raped
close to my due date, in my ninth month of pregnancy. They knew I was pregnant
but didn't care," Ayamar Bagon told AFP through a UN translator, clutching
her baby daughter to her chest.
"My husband
blamed me for letting it happen. Because of this, he married another woman and
now lives in another village," the 20-year-old added, explaining that she
survives on food donations from her neighbours.
Mother-of-two
Hasinnar Baygon, 20, said her husband has also threatened to leave after she
was raped by three troops in December.
They took turns to
violate her while two others stood watch outside her hut, she alleges, adding
that she knew they were soldiers because of their uniforms and guns.
All the Rohingya men
had already fled the village out of fear they would be beaten up by troops,
leaving only the women, children and elderly behind.
"My husband
told me he is going to leave me. He blamed me for not running away,"
Baygon said.
The government
denies the allegations and AFP has not been able to verify their stories or
claims from two other women who said they were raped by soldiers.
But they echo scores
of accounts collected by UN investigators and rights groups from some of the
74,000 Rohingya who have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
- 'What can we do?' –
The UN believes hundreds
may have died in what could be the bloodiest chapter of Buddhist-majority
Myanmar's years-long persecution of the 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims who live
in Rakhine.
Kyar Gaung Taung
village was caught up in one of the most brutal episodes in November, when
witnesses and state media said dozens of Rohingya were killed as troops swept
through the villages.
Myanmar's government
has denied almost all claims of abuses and barred a UN fact-finding mission
from the area.
Instead they say
probes by the military and police, as well as a state-appointed team, are
sufficient.
"Cases have
been filed regarding killings after the investigation. They also looked into
allegations of rape," said Brigadier General San Lwin, the head of the
border guard police in Rakhine state, adding the investigations were ongoing.
Rohingya from Kyar
Gaung Taung said they had lodged three rape cases out of 15 alleged assaults in
the village, but nothing has been done.
Other women were too
scared to report what happened to them, fearing retribution from authorities or
being ostracised by their community and husbands.
"Some women
didn't want to complain for the sake of their pride," said one Rohingya
villager, who asked not to be named.
Rights groups have
long accused Myanmar's military of using rape as a weapon of war in several
ethnic conflicts simmering in the country's borderlands.
Fears of Muslim men
violating Buddhist women have also long been used to stir sectarian hatred.
Allegations Muslims
raped Buddhists sparked clashes in 2012 that drove more than 120,000 Rohingya
into displacement camps, and deadly riots two years later near Mandalay.
Victims of the
latest crisis say they hold little hope for justice.
"I didn't know them.
How can I report them?" said Ayamar Bagon of her rapists. "What can
we do?"
https://www.afp.com/en/news/23/my-husband-blamed-me-myanmars-rohingya-abandoned-after-rapes
Also read here: Myanmar’s
Rohingya abandoned after rapes http://po.st/3trYEJ