Dozens dead in west Burma after fifth day of sectarian violence

Hundreds of homes have been burned and thousands have fled as ethnic Rohingya Muslims clashed with Buddhists in the state of Rakhine.

The violence is the worst the nascent democracy has seen since June, when more than 80 people died and 75,000 were displaced in Rakhine.

Several towns, including commercially important Kyaukpyu, where a China-Burma oil pipeline starts, have been caught up in the inter-communal attacks.

The violence is one of the biggest tests yet of a reformist government that has vowed to forge unity in one of Asia’s most ethnically diverse countries.

Win Myaing, information officer of Rakhine state government, said that 56 people, including 31 women, had died and 64 had been wounded as of Wednesday evening.

Access to Rakhine state has been restricted and information is hard to verify, but witnesses said at least three more people were killed yesterday.

A statement from the president’s office read out on state television spoke of only 12 people dead, as of Wednesday, and said 1,948 houses and eight religious buildings had been destroyed. It said the international community was watching Burma and the violence was against the interests of the nation.

“Therefore, the police and the army in co-operation with the people will take effective measures to ensure the rule of law, community peace and tranquillity,” it said.

The United Nations called for calm, saying large numbers of people were reported to be seeking refuge in already overcrowded camps near the state capital, Sittwe.

“The UN is gravely concerned about reports of a resurgence of inter-communal conflict in several areas in Rakhine state which has resulted in deaths and has forced thousands of people including women and children to flee their homes,” Ashok Nigam, UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Burma, said in a statement.

There were widespread unconfirmed reports of razed and burning homes, gunfights and Rohingya fleeing by boat.

A representative of the Wan Lark foundation, which helps ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, said local people told him trouble had flared in the early hours of Thursday in Kyauk Taw, a town north of Sittwe.

“Fires started in Pike Thel village. About 20 houses were burned. There was gunfire reported and, as far as we know, three Rakhines were shot dead on the spot,” Tun Min Thein said.

Rohingyas are officially stateless. Buddhist-majority Burma’s government regards the estimated 800,000 Rohingyas in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Bangladesh has refused to grant Rohingyas refugee status since 1992.

It was unclear what set off the latest arson and killing that started on Sunday. In June, tension had flared after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman that was blamed on Muslims, but there was no obvious trigger this time.

President Thein Sein’s government has negotiated ceasefires with most ethnic rebel groups that have fought for autonomy for half a century but has done nothing to address the Rohingya problem.