Myanmar considers the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya to be immigrants who moved to the country illegally from neighboring Bangladesh, though many were born in Myanmar in families that have lived there for generations.
Source/Credit: ABC News | Associated Press
By Matthew Pennington | March 24, 2014
A former U.S. congressman who visited camps housing tens of thousands of people displaced by communal violence in western Myanmar is warning that minority Rohingya Muslims face a life-threatening lack of medical care and live in fear of attack.
Tom Andrews, president of the U.S.-based activist group United to End Genocide, was issuing a hard-hitting report on Monday after a monthlong trip to the country also known as Burma. The former Democratic lawmaker is calling for President Barack Obama to use his leverage with Myanmar's government to demand protection for the stateless Rohingya.
"Clearly the danger signs are very present and growing that we could be seeing a catastrophe. There's been significant loss of life already," Andrews told The Associated Press. "It's not because of anything these people have done. It's because of who they are, their ethnicity and the God they pray to. That's why they are being targeted."
"The building blocks of genocide are there, and the warning signs of mass violence are there," he said.
Since mid-2012, close to 280 people, mostly Rohingya, have died in Buddhist-Muslim clashes in Rakhine State, casting a shadow over Myanmar's rapid transition toward democracy after five decades of direct military rule. Some 140,000 Rohingya have been forced into overcrowded camps, and tens of thousands have fled by boat. Andrews said the rate of departure by sea has doubled so far this year, despite the hazardous voyage and bleak chances of winning asylum elsewhere.
Myanmar considers the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya to be immigrants who moved to the country illegally from neighboring Bangladesh, though many were born in Myanmar in families that have lived there for generations.
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Read original post here: Anti-Genocide Group Sounds Warning About Myanmar
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