{"id":28406,"date":"2019-01-09T07:23:11","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T07:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28406"},"modified":"2019-01-09T07:23:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T07:23:11","slug":"panic-grips-rohingya-as-myanmar-army-battles-buddhist-rebels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28406","title":{"rendered":"‘Panic’ grips Rohingya as Myanmar army battles Buddhist rebels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Frequent clashes between Myanmar<\/a> security forces and Buddhist rebels in Rakhine state have spread alarm among thousands of Rohingya refugees living in no-man’s land on the country’s border with Bangladesh, as concerns grow over the intensified fighting.<\/p>\n

More than 730,000 members of the mostly Muslim minority have fled Myanmar to escape a brutal military-led crackdown that started in 2017. Most of the Rohingya<\/a> have taken shelter in sprawling refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh<\/a> but some have been living in limbo on the border, unwilling to enter the settlements or return home.<\/p>\n

They are now caught on the sidelines of fighting between Myanmar troops and the Arakan Army<\/a>, an armed group seeking more autonomy for western Rakhine state’s Buddhist-majority population.<\/p>\n

“Heavy fighting is going on between the government troops and Arakan Army inside Myanmar,” Rohingya leader Dil Mohammad told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n

“The situation is very tense,” he said, adding the security build-up and daily gunfire had created “panic”.<\/p>\n

Myanmar soldiers last week set up security camps and bunkers along the border after fighting saw 13 police killed.<\/p>\n

Some of the fortifications are directly adjacent to a border fence running alongside a stream, and overlook shacks erected by an estimated 4,500 displaced Rohingya living in the narrow strip of land.<\/p>\n

Refugee community leader Nur Alam said gunfire could frequently be heard after dark on the other side of the border.<\/p>\n

“Every night it is close by. The Myanmar border guard have set up 10 new posts near our camp. It’s very intimidating,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n

Last week, an Arakan Army spokesperson outside Myanmar told Reuters news agency that the group attacked the security forces in response to a broad military offensive in the north of Rakhine state that also targeted civilians.<\/span><\/p>\n

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WATCH: Buddhist rebels clash with Myanmar forces, thousands displaced (2:29)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

UN appeal<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the United Nations said in a statement on Wednesday it was “deeply concerned” about the situation in the area.<\/p>\n

Knut Ostby, who acts as the resident coordinator for the world body, and urged “all sides to ensure the protection of all civilians” and to respect human rights.<\/p>\n

“Mr Ostby further appeals to all sides to intensify efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation and to ensure humanitarian access to all people affected by the violence,” the statement added.<\/p>\n

A Bangladesh official said they were aware of the border tensions.<\/p>\n

“We will talk to the relevant authorities to discuss what to do,” local administrator Kamal Hossain said.<\/p>\n

Rohingya in Buddhist-majority Myanmar have suffered decades of persecution. Impoverished western Rakhine state in particular is scarred by deep ethnic and religious hatred.<\/p>\n

A report by UN investigators in August last year found that Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and said the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted under international laws.<\/p>\n

Myanmar has denied any wrongdoing, saying it was defending itself against Rohingya fighters who attacked police posts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n SOURCE:
\n Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frequent clashes between Myanmar security forces and Buddhist rebels in Rakhine state have spread alarm among thousands of Rohingya refugees living in no-man’s land on the country’s border with Bangladesh, as concerns grow over the intensified fighting. More than 730,000 members of the mostly Muslim minority have fled Myanmar to escape a brutal military-led crackdown…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}