By The Guardian
Rights group says site of massacre in Rakhine state is
being flattened on government orders after exposés of two other mass graves
WARNING: this report includes a graphic image that
readers may find disturbing
The government of Myanmar is bulldozing over the site of
a Rohingya mass grave
in an effort to destroy evidence of a massacre committed last year by the
military, according to a rights monitoring group. https://www.theguardian.com/world/rohingya
The claim follows investigations conducted by the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies, which
revealed evidence of other mass graves.
The Arakan
Project, which uses on-the-ground networks to document abuses against
the Rohingya community in western Rakhine state, Myanmar, provided the Guardian
with a video of the grave site before its destruction. The footage shows
half-buried tarpaulin bags in a forest clearing, with a decaying leg visibly
protruding from one of the bags. https://www.peaceinsight.org/conflicts/myanmar/peacebuilding-organisations/arakan-project/
Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, said the
bulldozing appears to be part of an effort to hide evidence of the grave
permanently following the exposés that appeared in the press.
“Two of the mass graves sites we know about have appeared
in the media, but on Thursday one of the other mass grave sites was bulldozed.
This means that evidence of the killings is being destroyed,” she said.
Squalor and disease await Rohingya babies born in
Bangladesh camps
“Private companies are doing the bulldozing. They come
from central Myanmar,
not Rakhine,” she said. “It’s clear this is happening under the orders of
government.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/myanmar
The reported site of the mass grave, in Maung Nu,
Buthidaung township, in northern Rakhine state, was the location of a massacre
that rights groups report took
place in August last year. Human Rights Watch said survivors had told
them the army had “beaten, sexually assaulted, stabbed, and shot villagers who
had gathered for safety in a residential compound” in the village. Dozens were
said to have been killed. Satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights Watch
showed that Maung Nu had been razed in the aftermath. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/03/burma-military-massacres-dozens-rohingya-village
The Rohingya are a largely stateless Muslim minority
primarily located in Rakhine. Rights organisations say they have suffered
decades of systematic persecution and three “ethnic cleansing” campaigns
since 2012, a charge the government denies. The groups are not recognised by
the government as a native minority of Myanmar and are often referred to as
“Bengalis” in official discourse, a term implying that they are foreigners.
Thousands of Rohingya are
estimated to have been killed during a military crackdown which began in August
2017, following an attack on security outposts by an insurgent group known as
the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa). Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled to
nearby Bangladesh during the violence. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/14/6700-rohingya-muslims-killed-in-attacks-in-myanmar-says-medecins-sans-frontieres
Last week, Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur for
human rights in Myanmar, said the crisis had the “hallmarks of genocide”. https://www.channel4.com/news/un-special-envoy-claims-aung-san-suu-kyi-could-be-guilty-of-crimes-against-humanity
The government of Myanmar has denied claims that the military conducted
ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. An army investigation into its own
conduct during the 2017 crackdown exonerated itself of any blame. However, in a surprise move last
month, the military admitted that Rohingya found in a mass grave at the village of Inn Din had
been killed by its soldiers.
A UN fact-finding mission has been denied access to
Myanmar while the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights has been barred from entering the country.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/myanmar-bars-human-rights-envoy-yanghee-lee-171220145600876.html
“We’ve heard about the allegations of the destruction at
Maung Nu and we’re concerned that this could be part of broader efforts to
conceal the atrocities committed by Burmese security forces,” Phil Robertson,
Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, told the Guardian.
Other parts of Rakhine state appear to have been
bulldozed, according to an AFP
report last week, which contained aerial photography showing former
Rohingya villages completely flattened. The bulldozing appeared to target
villages that had been razed during the military crackdown last year, the
report said. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/bulldozed-rohingya-villages-deepen-fears-myanmar-is-erasing-history-9953232
“The bulldozers are destroying not just parts of some
villages that were burned but also parts where houses were abandoned but still
intact,” Lewa observed.
When asked about the reported bulldozing of Rohingya
villages, government spokesman Zaw Htay objected to use of the word Rohingya,
saying: “No Rohingya – Bengali, please.”
Bulldozing Rohingya villages https://youtu.be/sczRdmMbmH4
“We have to construct new villages there,” he said, for
the “resettlement” of returning Rohingya.
When asked about reports of the destruction of the mass
grave, he said: “I want to know what evidence you are talking about? Was it
Arsa terrorist group? Bengali people around the world?
“Please give me the reliable, concrete, strong primary
evidence, please – not based on the talking story of Bengali people around the
world, Bengali lobbyists,” he added.