March 29, 2013
The outbreak of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in central Burma last week indicates that there is “considerable risk” of further sectarian violence in the country, according to United Nations Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng. Noting that the recent riots, which claimed dozens of lives, followed on widespread violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Arakan state last year, Dieng called upon the Burmese government on March 25 to take immediate measures to stop the escalating sectarian violence and hold those responsible accountable. These measures “must address not only the immediate consequences of the current violence but also the root causes of the problem. Failing to do so can have serious future consequences which the international community has solemnly promised to prevent.”
On March 28, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, emphasized the need for immediate government action (external link) “to stop the violence from spreading to other parts of the country and undermining the reform process” in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar. Repeating Dieng’s call that those responsible for acts of violence be brought to justice, he added, “I have received reports of State involvement in some of the acts of violence.” The government strongly rejected this accusation.
The violence in central Burma reportedly began March 20 with a brawl between Buddhist customers and a Muslim shopkeeper in the town of Meikhtila. Over three days, Buddhist mobs burned mosques and Muslim shops and homes in the town. Attacks against mosques and Muslim-owned properties subsequently occurred in other towns. Government sources report that 42 persons died in the violence, while 37 religious buildings and 1,227 residences were damaged or destroyed.
The attacks on Muslims in central Burma echo the violence in Arakan state that, beginning last June and continuing into the fall, principally targeted members of the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. Members of the ethnic Arakan Buddhist majority have destroyed numerous Rohingya communities, killing at least 180 and displacing more than 100,000. Unlike the Rohingya, however, who lack legal status and most basic rights in Burma, the Muslim victims of last week’s violence have long been recognized as Burmese citizens.