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Myanmar Crackdown: UN Slams Violence against Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar Crackdown: UN Slams Violence against Rohingya Muslims
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A UN envoy who visited Bangladesh on a mission spoke of the ordeals the Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar faced at the hands of government forces, as she called on the country to put an end to the crackdown on the Muslim minority.

Myanmar Crackdown: UN Slams Violence against Rohingya Muslims

Yanghee Lee said the accounts given by Rohingya who had crossed into Bangladesh since a crackdown across the border in October indicated the violence was "far more extensive" than she had previously realized.

"There was not a single account I heard which was not harrowing," said the human rights observer in a statement after her four-day visit to Bangladesh ended on Friday.

"I was especially affected by a mother who repeatedly expressed regret for mistakenly thinking that her son had been brought out from their burning house," Lee added. "She heard him screaming for her and managed to save his life but burn scars have been seared onto him - scars which I saw with my own eyes."

Lee said she heard "allegation after allegation" of horrific events, including the slitting of throats, houses being set alight with people tied up inside and very young children thrown into the fire.

Almost 73,000 Rohingya had arrived in Bangladesh since the military unleashed a four-month campaign of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state which the UN said may amount to crimes against humanity.

The Rohingya are a stateless, mainly Muslim minority who had long suffered discrimination in predominately Buddhist Myanmar, where many people consider them illegal immigrants.

Most of the refugees are now living in squalid camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district which borders Rakhine.

Myanmar said its operations, which began last October, were aimed at tracking down those who attacked police border posts in Rakhine and have now ended. The country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has faced criticism for failing to act against the crackdown.

Lee accused Myanmar of continued discrimination and urged authorities there to act to prevent further rights abuses, and investigate those already alleged to have occurred.

Bangladeshi authorities estimate 400,000 Rohingya refugees are now living in Bangladesh, including the most recent arrivals.

The Dhaka government approved a controversial plan for their relocation to an island.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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