Oil, Soros and bloody terror: what is really behind the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar. What is happening in Myanmar: Muslim genocide, latest news The situation where Muslims are being killed today

The confrontation between government forces and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has reached its peak. Thousands of Muslims have been killed recently. In addition to the massacres, military forces have carried out raids on the homes and households of Muslims who live in the western state of Rakhine. According to the stories of local residents, they take away their property and even their pets. According to international monitoring organizations, about 2,600 houses are currently known to have been burned in this state.

Although officially military operations are against Islamic militants are actually killing civilians, including children and the elderly. The atrocities caused an exodus of civilians from the areas of hostilities.

People are killed, raped, burned alive, drowned just for belonging to the Rohingya nationality and their religion - Islam, representatives of international government organizations say.

Many media reported recently that Buddhists beat a Rohingya Muslim with bricks in the city of Sitwe in Rakhine State. A group of Rohingya refugees living in a displaced persons camp on the outskirts decided to go shopping in the city. The Muslims tried to buy the boat, but quarreled with the seller over the price. The heated argument attracted the attention of Buddhist passers-by, who took the side of the seller and began to throw bricks at the Rohingya. As a result, 55-year-old Munir Ahmad died, other Muslims were injured.

According to the latest data, more than fifty thousand people have already left the conflict zone in recent weeks. At the same time, according to the UN, only in the period from August 25 to August 31, inclusive, about 27 thousand people - mostly women and children - crossed the border with the state of Bangladesh, trying to escape from the "democratic regime."

Smoldering conflict

Myanmar is a state in Southeast Asia, bordering China, Laos, Thailand, India and Bangladesh. From Bangladesh, Muslims are illegally resettled in a predominantly Buddhist Myanmar with a population of 55 million people. Those who call themselves Rohingya have traveled this path many years ago. They settled in the state of Rakhine (Arakan).

The Myanmar authorities do not consider Rohingya citizens of the country. ABOUT it is officially believed that several generations ago they illegally entered the territory of Myanmar. For many years, the Myanmar government did not know what to do with the Rohingya. They were not recognized as citizens, but it is incorrect to say that they did this because of religious or ethnic prejudice.

One of the reasons for the aggravation of the situation is demographic problems. The Rohingya traditionally have a high birth rate, with 5–10 children per family. This led to the fact that in one generation the number of immigrants increased several times.

The authorities refer to the inhabitants of Rakhine as "Muslims living in the Arakan region." At the same time, these Muslims themselves consider themselves the people of Myanmar and apply for citizenship, which they are not granted. Here is the second problem, which largely provoked the latest clashes.

However, this conflict has been going on for several years. In June and October 2012, more than a hundred people were killed in armed clashes in Rakhine between Buddhists and Muslims. According to the UN, approximately 5,300 houses and places of worship were destroyed. A state of emergency has been declared in the state. By the spring of 2013, the pogroms had moved from the western part of the country to the center. At the end of March, riots began in the city of Meithila. On June 23, the conflict broke out in the province of Pegu, on July 1 - in Hpakant. The conflict increasingly began to acquire an inter-religious character, and local dissatisfaction with Rohingya began to spread to Muslims in general.

According to experts, Myanmar is a complex conglomeration of nationalities, but all of them are united by a common Burmese history and statehood. The Rohingya fall out of this system of communities, and this is the core of the conflict, as a result of which both Muslims and Buddhists die.

"Democracy with fists"

Now the country is actually headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, who for many years fought for democratization in a country where a military regime reigned. She is the daughter of General Aung San, the founder of Burma. In 1947, on the eve of independence from Britain, Aung San, then head of the transitional administration of the country, was killed in an attempted coup d'état when his daughter was two years old.

Aung was raised by her mother, who first worked in the government and then became a diplomat. Aung graduated from college in India, then received a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Oxford, worked at the UN, moved to England, defended her doctorate, gave birth to two sons. When she went to Burma to visit her ailing mother in 1988, student unrest broke out in the country, which escalated into a real uprising against the junta. Aung joined the rebels, on August 26 she spoke at a rally for the first time in her life, and in September she became the founder and chairman of her own party, the National League for Democracy. Soon there was a new military coup, the communist general was replaced by a nationalist general, Aung San Suu Kyi was not allowed to the elections and was placed under house arrest for the first time.

Nevertheless, the new junta held elections (the first in 30 years), the League for Democracy won 59 percent of the vote and 80 percent of seats in parliament. Based on these results, Aoun was to become prime minister. The military did not give up power, the election results were canceled, Aung was again arrested. She was under house arrest in 1991 when her teenage sons accepted her Nobel Peace Prize. From 1995 to 2000, when she was at large, the military tried especially hard to get her out of the country. In 2002, she was released again, and a year later, after the assassination attempt on her, she was again arrested and secretly imprisoned - for four months nothing was known about her fate. Speaking at the first rally after her release, she called not for the overthrow of the anti-people regime, but for national reconciliation.

In the fall of 2015, the National League for Democracy, led by 70-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, won a majority of votes in both houses of the Myanmar (Burma) parliament in the first free elections in the country's history. Now she is not the president or even the prime minister, but she holds the post of state adviser - this The post corresponding to the Prime Minister allows you to work in all areas of government. In fact, it affects all decisions in the country, and so far the Nobel laureate has not commented on the situation in Rakhine.

She has nothing else to do. Aung San Suu Kyi has to be tough. Locals, even Muslims, don't like Rohingya, experts say.

In fact, in defense Rohingya Muslims there is no one to say inside Myanmar, there is not a single political force that would come out in support of them. Deprived of civil rights, labor opportunities, living in the poorest state of the country, the Rohingya become even more radicalized and turn to terrorism, which spurs a new round of repression.

In the fall of 2016, when there was a similar attack on the border post and the authorities brought troops into the state, who behaved just as mercilessly towards the civilian population, in two months about 20,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. But the local authorities did not find a better solution than to settle the refugees on the island of Tengar Char, which during the rainy season is almost completely hidden under water.

The Myanmar authorities themselves deny the genocide of Muslims. To a UN report on torture, mass rape and killing by the military in this state, the Myanmar authorities responded that the facts are not true and are lies and slander.

But the pressure on them from the international community is unabated. For example, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar a genocide.

"There is a genocide going on there, and everyone is silent," the Turkish leader was indignant, speaking at a meeting of the ruling party in Istanbul. "Those who do not pay attention to this genocide, carried out under the guise of democracy, are also accomplices in the murder."

According to the UN, nearly 60,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state to neighboring Bangladesh or are on the border with it in the past few days as a result of military and security operations against insurgent groups in the region. Video footage of the victims of the massacre of civilians in this conflict is being circulated on social media. Witnesses speak of indiscriminate shootings, executions of detainees by slitting their throats, burning of Muslim houses, planned killings of children thrown into the fire, and mass gang rapes of women. The UN speaks of a humanitarian catastrophe and ethnic cleansing.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Muslim Bangladesh does not want to accept fellow refugees, and offers them to move to the uninhabited island of Tengar Char, which is flooded during high tides. At the same time, the Myanmar authorities prevent humanitarian organizations from accessing Rakhine State. Dozens of refugees are drowning while trying to cross rivers to Bangladesh or sail by boat across the sea to Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia. However, even richer than Bangladesh, Malaysia is reluctant to accept additional refugees, noting that tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees are already settled in the country. During migration, Rohingya refugees are also at risk of becoming victims of human traffickers.

Rohingya refugees try to swim across river to Bangladesh

The latest wave of violence erupted after an attack by Muslim rebels on a military base in the region on August 25, authorities accused them of also attacking 20 police posts and reported that only 400 militants and 17 civilians had officially died in recent days. There is not much confidence in these figures. In addition, the crisis situation with the persecution of Muslims in the state of Rakhine has been persisting for at least five years. The UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanji Lee, said in March 2017 that the Myanmar authorities may be hatching a plan to expel all Rohingya Muslims from the country.

More recently, in the spring of 2016, power changed in Myanmar. For the first time in many decades, a democratic opposition came to power instead of the military, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent almost three decades fighting the military junta in the country, spent 15 years under house arrest. This woman, the daughter of one of the founders of Myanmar's independence, General Aung San, was an object of admiration in the West - Luc Besson even dedicated the film "Lady" to her.

Aung San Suu Kyi (photo - EPA)

Since April 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi has been Myanmar's Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Counselor - de facto Prime Minister. With her name, hopes were pinned on the democratization of the country, which had been isolated for a long time. However, under Aung San Suu Kyi, the persecution of Muslims only intensified. In response to criticism, she recently stated: "Show me a country without human rights problems."

The US and UK have already warned the Myanmar authorities about the consequences of the policy towards the Rohingya for the image of the country, but they still do not lose hope that the Myanmar leader will understand the situation. “Aung San Suu Kyi is rightfully considered one of the most inspiring figures of our time, but the treatment of the Rohingya, alas, does not improve the reputation of Myanmar. She is experiencing great difficulties in modernizing her country. Hopefully now she can use all her wonderful qualities to unite her country, stop the violence and put an end to the prejudice that affects both Muslims and other communities in Rakhine,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on September 3.

The pressure on the Myanmar authorities is compounded by China and Russia frequently blocking proposed statements on the Rakhine situation in UN Security Council discussions, most recently blocking a resolution on the situation in March, Reuters reported.

oppressed people

The Rohingya are an ethnic group professing Islam and living compactly in the state of Rakhine (Arakan) in western Myanmar. Their number in the country itself is estimated at 1 million people, about a million more live or fled in recent years to Muslim countries - Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan.

The country as a whole is dominated by Buddhists, who make up 88% of the population, while Muslims are only 4.3% of the population of Myanmar. In Rakhine, the situation is different from other regions: here Muslims make up 43% of the population, while Buddhists make up 52%; in the northern regions of the region, Muslims even make up the majority. In addition, Rohingya Muslims belong to the Caucasoid race, and local Buddhists belonging to the Arakanese people belong to the Mongoloid race. Rakhine State does not fit into the overall picture of Myanmar, which is dominated by Buddhists and Buddhist nationalism is encouraged by the authorities. Muslims are discriminated against, harsh and dismissive: almost all local ethnic groups that profess Islam do not have voting rights.

In the case of the Rohingya, the situation looks much worse. They are one of the most persecuted ethnic minorities in the world. They do not have Myanmar citizenship and are not allowed to move freely around the country without official permission. Rohingyas are prohibited from having more than two children, and access to higher education is denied to them. Moreover, the military regime requisitioned their land holdings in favor of the Buddhists, and imposed forced labor service on the Rohingyas.

Due to the large number of Muslims in the state of Rakhine, the government of Myanmar almost does not invest in its development - the social infrastructure is poorly developed here. The state has the highest poverty rate in the country, at 78%, which adds to the tension between Buddhists and Muslims as both groups literally have to compete for jobs and meager handouts from the center. Poverty is a breeding ground for the development of extremism in Rakhine.

The emergence of extremist groups in the state led to a large-scale campaign to persecute the entire Rohingya people by the army and intelligence agencies of Myanmar. In October 2016, the government accused the Arakan-Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA, formerly Haraka al-Yakin) rebel movement of attacking border posts near the city of Maundo and killing 9 border guards. A massive counter-terrorist operation has begun in the country against all Rohingyas without exception. On August 25, 2017, the Myanmar Central Counter-Terrorism Committee officially designated ARSA as a terrorist organization.

Myanmar Army soldiers in Rakhine State (photo - EPA)

The local military, fighting against ARSA, does not shun any means of suppressing the objectionable ethnic group. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International highlight widespread human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, gang rape, the killing of young children and women, burning of settlements and the destruction of mosques. The practice of collective punishment for the misdeeds of individuals from the Rohingya people has become widespread. Instead of legally punishing the culprit, local Buddhist extremists burn down the entire village from which the culprit comes from.

These Rohingya refugees were lucky to be rescued by Indonesian fishermen (photo - EPA)

Rohingya lineage controversy

The conflict has a historical background - the question still remains open as to whether the Rohingya are an indigenous ethnic group in Myanmar, or whether they are newcomers. The Rohingya consider themselves the sovereign masters of the state of Rakhine, because their ancestors appeared here in the 16th century, and are the descendants of the Arabs who colonized the region. For this reason, the Rohingya language has many borrowings from Arabic, Sanskrit, Persian and Portuguese.

But the Myanmar authorities are spreading a different theory, based on historical facts, they indicate that the Rohingya are ethnic Muslim Bengalis. They were resettled by the British colonial authorities from Bangladesh to Rakhine as a very cheap labor force. Another part of the Rohingya illegally arrived in what was then Burma during the war for independence of Bangladesh, fearing persecution of the Pakistanis. It turns out that the Rohingya are not local and should return to Bangladesh. And under Myanmar's citizenship law of 1982, migrants from British India who arrived in the country after 1823 are not eligible for citizenship.

The Japanese occupation of Burma, as Myanmar was called at the time, added fuel to the conflict between Muslims and Buddhists. Then the Rohingya Muslims remained loyal to the British and began a guerrilla struggle. In turn, the Buddhists in Rakhine State supported the Japanese invaders, tempted by promises of independence. What is important: at the head of the pro-Japanese National Army of Burma was the father of the leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, General Aung San. Perhaps this is another reason why the Nobel laureate is unwilling to respond to international criticism because of the purges against the Rohingya.

Monument to General Aung San in the capital of Myanmar (photo - EPA)

Target for Buddhist Nationalists

The central government seeks to make the Rohingya scapegoats to explain the country's development problems. The fact that this is a small ethnic group makes it a convenient target for constant pressure from the government. If the military junta in the 1970-1980s. accused the Rohingya of separatism, now it is convenient to accuse them of the fact that because of them there is a risk of emergence of cells of the Islamic State terrorist group in the country.

The spearhead of government-sponsored Buddhist nationalism is directed against the Rohingya. The most striking example of this is the activities of the nationalist anti-Islamic Movement 969, led by the monk Ashin Viratu, whom Time magazine called "the face of Buddhist terror."

Ashin Virathu (photo - EPA)

Virathu openly calls for the destruction of Muslims, pointing out: "if we show weakness, then our land will become Islamic." His propaganda led to anti-Muslim protests in 2013, when 50 people died. Virathu was imprisoned as a political prisoner from 2003-2012, and immediately after his release, he led a movement in support of President Thein Sein's (2011-2016) initiative to forcibly relocate the Rohingya to another country. The Dalai Lama himself renounced Virat. In recent days, Ashin Virathu has been holding meetings of his supporters and calling for drastic measures against the Rohingya.

The action of opponents of granting citizenship to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (photo - EPA)

Geopolitical factor

The last and most significant factor that led to the aggravation of the situation around the Rohingya in 2016-2017. has a geopolitical origin. Rohingya live in a strategically important region in the west of Myanmar - this is a stretch of the sea coast overlooking the Bay of Bengal. For China, this is the most important corridor in terms of conducting trade operations with the countries of the Middle East and Africa, which makes it possible to reduce dependence on supplies through the Strait of Malacca. Oil and gas pipeline projects have already been implemented from the city of Kuakpuyu (Sittwe), in the state of Rakhine to the Chinese province of Yunnan. The oil pipeline to China comes from Saudi Arabia, while the gas is supplied by Qatar. Both Middle Eastern countries, as well as the UAE, have invested heavily in these infrastructure projects and now want them to pay off faster.

To alleviate the problem of the Rohingya, the Saudi government even developed a plan to resettle them to itself, if only the situation in Myanmar was calm. But this plan has not yet been fully implemented, only 400,000 Rohingyas have been resettled in the Arabian monarchy. At the same time, it is Riyadh and Islamabad that are sponsoring the ARSA rebel movement in order to have leverage on both Myanmar and China. The International Crisis Group confirms that the leader of the movement, Ata Ullah, has ties to private individuals in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Rohingya refugees in Malaysia ask to protect their people from genocide (photo - EPA)

For the government of Myanmar, the existence of ARSA is also beneficial, but within certain limits, because the fight against it can be used as a bargaining chip with Beijing to attract investment in infrastructure projects. Also, under Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar is already somewhat weary of fraternal relations with China, because. wants to attract investors from the West. In turn, the United States highly appreciates the strategic position of Myanmar to put pressure on China. The latter has already found itself tightly surrounded by Washington's allies, including India, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and Thailand. In general, Myanmar is the only friend for the Chinese now, and it cannot be lost. Especially in the face of increasing tensions in the South China Sea, leading to risks for maritime transit.

However, if China is now fighting conflicting geopolitical strategies, then the Rohingya people are for their survival. This once again emphasizes how dangerous it is in the 21st century to be a small nation without a state, living in a strategically important region of the planet.

Alexander Mishin,
k. polit. n., specially for LIGA.net

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3-Sep-2017, 10:13

Over 400 people have died as a result of the conflict in Myanmar (the old name - Burma) between government forces and Rohingya Muslims, which broke out a week ago. It is reported by Tengrinews.kz with reference to Reuters.

According to local authorities, it all started with the fact that "Rohingya militants" attacked several police posts and army barracks in Rakhine state (the old name is Arakan - approx.).

The Myanmar army said in a statement that since August 25, there have been 90 clashes, during which 370 militants were killed. Losses among government forces amounted to 15 people. In addition, the militants are accused of killing 14 civilians.

As a result of the clashes, some 27,000 Rohingya refugees crossed the border into Bangladesh to escape persecution. At the same time, according to the Xinhua news agency, almost 40 people, including women and children, died in the Naf River when they tried to cross the border by boat.

The Rohingya are ethnic Muslim Bengalis resettled in Arakan in the 19th and early 20th centuries by the British colonial authorities. With a total population of about 1.5 million, they now make up the majority of the population of Rakhine State, but very few of them have Myanmar citizenship.

Official authorities and the Buddhist population consider the Rohingya to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The conflict between them and the indigenous "Arakanese" - Buddhists - has long roots, but the escalation of this conflict to armed clashes and a humanitarian crisis began only after the transfer of power in Myanmar from the military to civilian governments in 2011-2012, explains RIA Novosti

Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called the events in Myanmar "Muslim genocide". "Those who turn a blind eye to this genocide, committed under the guise of democracy, are its accomplices. The world media, which does not attach any importance to these people in Arakan, are also accomplices in this crime. The Muslim population in Arakan, which was four million half a century ago, has decreased by one third as a result of persecution and bloodshed. The fact that the world community remains silent in response to this is a separate drama," the agency quotes him. Anadolu.

"I also had a telephone conversation with the UN Secretary General. Since September 19, meetings of the UN Security Council on this issue will be held. Turkey will do its best to convey to the world community the facts regarding the situation in Arakan. The issue will also be discussed during bilateral negotiations. Turkey will speak, even if the rest decide to remain silent," Erdogan said.

Commented on the events in Myanmar and the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. "I am reading the comments and statements of politicians on the situation in Myanmar. The conclusion is that there is no limit to the hypocrisy and inhumanity of those who are obliged to protect HUMAN! The whole world knows that for a number of years events have been taking place in this country that cannot only be shown, but also described. Humanity has not seen such cruelty since the Second World War. If I say this, a person who has gone through two terrible wars, then one can judge the scale of the tragedy of one and a half million Rohingya Muslims. First of all, it should be said about Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar. She was called a fighter for democracy for many years. Six years ago, the military was replaced by a civilian government, Aung San Suu Kyi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize, took power, and after that, ethnic and religious cleansing began. Fascist gas chambers are nothing compared to what is happening in Myanmar. under iron sheets, the destruction of everything that belongs to Muslims. Last autumn, more than one thousand houses, schools and mosques of the Rohingyas were destroyed and burned. The Myanmar authorities are trying to destroy the people, and neighboring countries do not accept refugees, introducing ridiculous quotas. The whole world sees that a humanitarian catastrophe is taking place, it sees that this is an open crime against humanity, BUT IT IS SILENT! UN Secretary General António Guterres, instead of harshly condemning the Myanmar authorities, asks Bangladesh to accept refugees! Instead of fighting the cause, he talks about the consequences. And the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, called on the Myanmar leadership to "condemn harsh rhetoric and inciting hatred on social media." Isn't it funny? The Buddhist government of Myanmar is trying to explain the massacres and genocide of the Rohingyas by the actions of those who are trying to put up armed resistance. We condemn violence, no matter who it comes from. But the question arises, what other choice is left to the people who have been driven into pitch hell? Why are the politicians of dozens of countries and human rights organizations silent today, who make statements twice a day if someone in Chechnya simply sneezes from a cold?" the Chechen leader wrote in his

Image copyright AFP Image caption Many villages where Rohingya Muslims live are set on fire

On Monday, in the capital of Chechnya, in support of Rohingya Muslims living in the state of Rakhine in Myanmar (Burma), demonstrators came out with placards demanding an end to the "genocide of Muslims in Myanmar."

To an unsanctioned rally outside the Myanmar embassy in Moscow calling on the Russian authorities to respond to the situation in Myanmar.

We have tried to answer a number of questions about who the Rohingya Muslims are, why they are being persecuted and what are the origins of the conflict in Myanmar.

What's going on with Rohingyas in Myanmar?

This predominantly Buddhist country, ruled for decades by a military dictatorship, has a long history of mutual distrust and friction between its various ethnic and religious communities, to which the authorities preferred to turn a blind eye or use strife to their advantage.

In the state of Rakhine in the west of the country, in addition to the indigenous Buddhist population, there are also Rohingya Muslims who originally came from the historical region of Bengal, now the territory of Bangladesh.

The Myanmar authorities call Rohingya Muslims illegal immigrants and refuse to grant them citizenship.

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At least 400 Muslims killed in western Myanmar in a week

There are approximately 1 million Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. In the cities along the border with Bangladesh, where recent unrest broke out, the majority of the population is Muslim.

During an outbreak of sectarian violence in 2012 between the state's Buddhist population and what are believed to be Rohingya Muslims, more than 100,000 Muslims were left homeless. Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are still in makeshift camps where they are not allowed to leave.

The cause of the conflict that broke out with renewed vigor was the rape and murder of a young girl from a Buddhist family.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar for years are living in Bangladesh without documentation.

Rohingya Muslim rights groups abroad claim they are victims of violence, but Buddhists in Rakhine claim otherwise.

When did the current aggravation begin?

The escalation of the situation in Myanmar began after the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) carried out a coordinated attack on more than 30 police posts and a Myanmar army base on August 25, 2017, killing at least 12 members of the security forces. In addition, the militants are accused of killing 14 civilians.

The Myanmar leadership claims that the Islamist rebel group ARSA is associated with international terrorist organizations, receiving financial and other assistance from them. ARSA members themselves deny any connection with terrorism.

After that, the troops launched an anti-terrorist operation.

The Myanmar military reported that during clashes between government forces and Rohingya militants from Rakhine province, about 400 people were killed, almost all of them militants.

The access of journalists to this province is extremely limited, so it is difficult to confirm or deny specific figures.

Human Rights Watch, based on satellite photos, says unrest has spread to at least 10 districts, and journalists on the ground are reporting burning villages on the border with Bangladesh.

Authorities say the fires are the work of Islamist militants purposefully setting fire to Muslim villages, but Rohingya Muslims fleeing Bangladesh say the fires were caused by the Myanmar military, and mobs of angry Buddhists are vandalizing Muslim homes.

interactive Wah Peik (Kai Kang Pine) after an outbreak of violence in 2016

November 2016

2014

What is ARSA?

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (also known as Arakan al-Yaqin or Faith Movement) first made itself known in October 2016, when its militants carried out a similar attack on police stations, killing nine officers.

The group claims that its goal is to protect the Rohingya ethnic minority from repression by the Myanmar authorities.

Myanmar authorities say it is a terrorist group whose leaders have been trained in training camps abroad.

According to the head of the investigation team that interrogated the arrested militants, the goal of ARSA is "to build a democratic Islamic state for the Rohingya people."

According to the International Crisis Group, its leader is Ata Ulla, a Rohingya born in Pakistan but raised in Saudi Arabia, where he received his religious education in Mecca and still maintains close ties with that country.

However, a spokesman for the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, in an interview with Asia Times, said that it has no ties to jihadist groups and that its members are young Rohingya men who are upset at how the situation has developed since the 2012 clashes.

Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group points out in its December 15, 2016 report on Rakhine State: "The emergence of this well-organized and apparently well-funded group is a complete game-changer in terms of Myanmar's efforts to deal with Rakhine State's complex problems, which include long-standing discrimination against the Muslim population, denial of rights and citizenship."

Months before the outbreak of violence, ARSA envoys began recruiting hundreds of young men from Muslim villages, who were then trained in Bangladesh, according to Myanmar authorities, citing information from local residents.

interactive Kyet Yo Pyin after the outbreak of violence in 2016

November 2016

March 2016

What is the situation on the border with Bangladesh?

The number of Rohingya Muslims attempting to flee to Bangladesh has been steadily increasing since August 25, and by early September had become a continuous stream of people.

Over the past 10 days, 87,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled their villages set on fire, more than in all of last year, according to the UN.

Most of them are women, children and old people; many arrive with injuries and wounds sustained during the confrontation.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The flow of refugees has doubled since the end of August, according to the UN.

There were also many reports of people being prevented from crossing the border, despite a UN call for the Bangladeshi authorities to allow the refugees to do so.

The crossing is currently permitted, but about 20,000 Rohingya Muslims are believed to be stranded without a crossing on the Naf River, which marks the border between the two countries.

Humanitarian organizations are reporting that people can drown while swimming, as happened to a group of 20 people who drowned last week.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Some Buddhist families from Rakhine State have also been forced to leave their homes for fear of militant attacks.

How are the Myanmar authorities reacting?

Officials say the country's security forces are conducting a legitimate operation against the terrorists responsible for a string of attacks since October 2016 on police stations and army bases.

A UN report on the situation in Rakhine state, based on the words of refugees, speaks of the horrific cruelty that prevails there against women, men and children of the Rohingya people. Myanmar's military authorities deny the allegations, calling them a fabrication.

The UN launched a full-scale investigation into the events. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said last week that the recent violence in the state could have been prevented.

Also recently, criticism and accusations of inaction against the well-known human rights activist and de facto leader of the country, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who holds the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar and state adviser, have been increasingly heard.

However, observers point out that little has changed in the country since her party came to power in 2016. In addition, according to the constitution, it does not have a direct impact on the military forces of the country, which has a special status in Myanmar.

Myanmar: Hundreds of people died last week in Myanmar, Burma, as a result of a sectarian conflict between government forces and Rohingya Muslims.

Since press access to the country is now limited, it is difficult to assess the consequences of the massacre, but according to incoming photographs from Myanmar, the number of victims has exceeded 400 people.

Myanmar: Muslim Genocide

According to Reuters, the conflict erupted after the attack by "Rohingya militants" on several police and army posts in Rakhine state. The Myanmar army claims that since August 25 there have been 90 clashes, almost 390 people have been killed by militants. The government troops lost 15 people killed.

The militants are also accused of killing 14 civilians. After this armed conflict, Rohingya refugees are hastily evacuated to Bangladesh, where almost 30,000 people have already fled. Of these, 40 people, mostly women and children, died while crossing the Naf River by boat.

Rohingya - "the most persecuted people in the world" ethnic group consists of Muslim Bengalis who were resettled in the state of Rakhine in the 19th and early 20th centuries by the British colonial authorities. The total number of the group is almost two million people.

The Myanmar authorities believe that the Rohingya are illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The conflict between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims took place a very long time ago, but it flared up with renewed vigor when civilians came to power in Myanmar as a result of a military coup in 2011-2012.

The conflict could be resolved with the help of the UN, but Russia is blocking all resolutions on Myanmar. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan calls these events "genocide of Muslims." Supporters of Muslims gathered in Moscow for an unsanctioned rally and asked to be sent to "protect the brothers."