Persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar appeal for international aid
(Vatican Radio) Growing numbers of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar poured into neighbouring Bangladesh this week, with some feared drowned after a boat sank in a river during a bid to flee escalating violence.
The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK is calling for urgent action from the international community to press the Myanmar government to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid in Rakhine State.
It says alarming reports are being received from the ground that people are slowly starving to death.At least 160,000 Rohingya are in desperate need of food, life-saving medical assistance and other forms of aid.
Meanwhile Human Rights Watch has released a batch of recent satellite images that show whole villages burnt to the ground.
The military admits it is conducting security operations in Rakhine but the government denies it is razing homes.
Tun Khin is the President of the Burmese Rohingya Organization in the UK. He told Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni that persecution against the Rohingya Muslims goes back a long time:
Listen to the interview:
Tun Khin explains that the Rohingya have been discriminated against for decades but currently they are severe persecuted with killings, the raping of Rohingya women and the burning of whole villages.
He says hundreds of Rohingya people have been injured in attacks are not receiving medical aid. People are dying from injuries as they cannot receive treatment as their movement is restricted.
Hunger is one of the factors forcing Rohingya people to attempt to flee to Bangladesh, but they are being turned back at the border.
Tun Khin speaks of racism in Myanmar that has always set the Rohingya community apart. He explains they were recognized as a Burmese ethinic group but denied Burmese citizenship so they are effectively a stateless people.
He appeals for international recognition of the situation and of the Rohingya cause and for humanitarian intervention or else – he says “the Rohingyas will be wiped out” from Burma.
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