NOVANEWS
Human Rights watch released new satellite images of the destruction of homes and property of Rohingya Muslims in the Pauktaw, Mrauk-U and Myebon townships of Rakhine state. The images show the region in February and then again after the violent attacks in October.
About 130,000 Rohingyas are in concentration camps currently according to Human Rights Watch. While their women and girls are raped as an instrument of ethnic cleansing.
Human Rights Watch had previously shown how the attacks against Rohingya Muslims were carried out at times with the support of state security forces and local government officials. The violence was a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas.
Human Rights Watch idenitfied a total of 4,855 destroyed structures in the Rakhine state and in Sittwe, the capital of the region. The destruction goes out over 348 acres of land, largely home to the Rohingya Muslims.
In their report, Human Rights Watch said:
“Rohingya from Pauktaw now at camps near Sittwe told Human Rights Watch that for weeks they faced hostile Arakanese mobs, sometimes led by Buddhist monks, who threatened violence against them and anyone else found selling or providing the Rohingya with food or other assistance. They said they repeatedly notified local authorities of these threats, but insufficient action was taken. In late October, just prior to the violence, Rohingya were called to a series of community meetings held by local Arakanese members of a nationalist political party and local government officials apparently aimed at convincing the local Muslim population to abandon their homes.”
Human Rights Watch said that the images show that nearly all of Yan Thei village in Mrauk-U Township was destroyed.
“Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Arakanese mobs armed with swords, spears, homemade guns, bows and arrows, and other weapons descended on the village on October 23, and fighting ensued. The Rohingya were ultimately surrounded and overwhelmed, and survivors fled by land to an area outside the village. Gruesome casualties were sustained on both sides, including beheadings and killings of women and children.”
Human Rights Watch idenitfied a total of 4,855 destroyed structures in the Rakhine state and in Sittwe, the capital of the region. The destruction goes out over 348 acres of land, largely home to the Rohingya Muslims.
In their report, Human Rights Watch said:
“Rohingya from Pauktaw now at camps near Sittwe told Human Rights Watch that for weeks they faced hostile Arakanese mobs, sometimes led by Buddhist monks, who threatened violence against them and anyone else found selling or providing the Rohingya with food or other assistance. They said they repeatedly notified local authorities of these threats, but insufficient action was taken. In late October, just prior to the violence, Rohingya were called to a series of community meetings held by local Arakanese members of a nationalist political party and local government officials apparently aimed at convincing the local Muslim population to abandon their homes.”
Human Rights Watch said that the images show that nearly all of Yan Thei village in Mrauk-U Township was destroyed.
“Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Arakanese mobs armed with swords, spears, homemade guns, bows and arrows, and other weapons descended on the village on October 23, and fighting ensued. The Rohingya were ultimately surrounded and overwhelmed, and survivors fled by land to an area outside the village. Gruesome casualties were sustained on both sides, including beheadings and killings of women and children.”
