Ground situation of northern Arakan State

Buthidaung Township:

The house of Mogul Ahmed, hailed from Phoneyu Lake village, under the Nasaka area No. 9 of Buthidaung south was robbed by army on August 19, at about 1:00 pm. The army robbed 50 Ticals of gold and Kyat 20 million after fastening all the family members, said a village elder from the village.
On August 7 and 8 in Kyangdang Village of Buthidaung Township, six girls including women were raped by army. They are identified Mostafa Khatun (35), daughter of  Abdul Hakim, Femani (40), wife of Subhan, Nur Ayesh (18), daughter of Eliyas, Afam (20), wife of Esague, Amina (16), daughter of Rafiqual Kader and Tasnima (19), wife Khaled Hussain. They severely beat up a female named Anzam (35), wife of Sayed Alam as she resisted the army’s attempt to rape and made hue and cry, according to a close relative of the victims.
The army, Nasaka, Hluntin and police raped many Rohingya women and girls since the violence was occurred in June 8.
“Taking the advantage of state of emergency and the act 144, the army, Nasaka, police Hluntin raped many Rohingya girls and women.  It is very strange that the state of emergency and the act 144 is only imposed to Rohingya community not to Rakhine community. Therefore, the Mogh freely attacked to Rohingya people with the help of police, Hlutin, Nasaka and army. What kind of emergency and the act 144 is?”
Maungdaw Township:
Yesterday morning, on August 23, a woman and her son were shot dead by the Nasaka. The victims belong to Godosara village of Maungdaw north. At first, the Nasaka shot to a cow owned by said female. So, she went to take her cow, but she was shot to death by the Nasaka. Seeing the event, her son went again to carry her mother, but this time also, Nasaka shot dead her son on the spot. This means, Nasaka killed the Rohingya people like birds after the new Nasaka director Lt Col Maung Maung Oo was appointed at Kawar Bill Nasaka Headquarters of Maungdaw, said a local trader from the village.
On August 22, in the evening, a Rohingya youth was stabbed by a Rakhine mob while he was riding a rickshaw at Maundaw town in front of the police, a youth said from Maungdaw.
Besides, on August 22, in the morning, a Rohingya youth named Sadek (15), son of Nasir Ahmed, hailed from Powet Chang village of Maugdaw township, went to his relative with a carrier of curry, but he was stopped near a Rakhine village by Nasaka accompanied by Rakhine villagers and seized his carrier of curry and sent him to his village again. The Nasaka ate all the curry and thrown his carrier to the paddy field, said a villager from the locality.
“In addition, another young Rohingya boy named Amran (16), son of Abu Kalam, hailed from Powet Chang new village of Maungdaw north was stopped nearby a Rakhine village by Nasaka while he was gong to his relative by riding a bicycle. He was severely beaten up and seized his bicycle.”
There is a Rakhine village between Rohingya villages and the Nasaka always stays at the village. Rohingya villagers have to cross the Rakhine village to go to other Rohingya villages. Taking this advantage, the Nasaka arbitrary harasses the Rohingya villagers while crossing the Rakhine village. They are looting—- goods, money and beat the travelers deliberately without finding any fault.
Besides, on August 23, the Natala villagers carried away pillars and other wood from Tha Yae Kone Dan Madrassa. The army provides full security to the Natala villagers, according to villagers.
On August 21, a Rohigya youth was severely beaten up by a group of Rakhine youths on the Shwe Zaar Bridge and leaving him on the bridge, the culprits ran away. It was done in front of the security police. However, a patrol car of Nasaka reached on the spot and picked up the victim and sent to Maungdaw general hospital for treatment, said a close relative of the victim.
The Nasaka personnel of Nasaka area No. 5, seized rice and chili from beggars on August 21 when they were crossing the Kular Bill-Nari Bill bridge. The Nasaka also collects Kyat 500 to 1,000 per head who crosses the bridge. This is the Nasaka out-post of Nasaka camp No. 12 of Nasaka area No.5, said a fisherman from nearby village.
“In similar way, the Nasaka personnel of area No. 6 also collect Kyat from the travelers who cross the Letpu Gong-Nari Bill Bridge of Maungdaw north.”
“The travelers who are not able to pay the money are fasten and later send to their camps and forced them to work in the camps. But, they are released before 5:00 pm.”
Rohingya people are kept in the house from 5:00pm to 7:00 am by imposing state of emergency and Act 144. Out of these curfew and state of emergency when people get out of the houses for their different purposes, Hluntin, police, army and Moghs arbitrary harass them on the road and elsewhere. Are these Rohingya people not human being? Why do the concerned authorities threaten as like as animals?, a village elder asked.
On August 22, at about 9:30 am, a group of Rakhine women and children with Muslim dress wandering in Maungdaw town by taxis and taking photographs by some civilian authorities to show the international community that the Rohingya people in Maungdaw Township were celebrating Eid-day (Eid festival) happily, said a local businessman.
“But, the authorities ordered to the Rohingya community not to celebrate Eid festival at mosque or Eidgha (big field). So, the Rohingya people were not able to celebrate Eid festival in northern Arakan.”
“Besides, Sarapa (Military Intelligence) with two cars went to the north of Maungdaw on Eid-day to take photographs of Eid celebration of Rohingya villages. But, they failed. As result, the Sarapa forcibly took some Rohingya villagers with Muslim dresses and forced them to pray in a mosque and took photographs in various angles. In this way, the Burmese authorities will try to show false documents to the International community that there is no religious discrimination in Burma.”
On August 19, the Nasaka personnel of Aung Mingla Nasaka camp of Maung Nama village tract of Nasaka area No. 6 of Maungdaw Township arrested Mohamed Solu (22), son of Amir Ahmed accompanied by six others. All belong to Maung Nama south village of Maungdaw township. They were arrested for driving an elephant herd from paddy field at noon. The paddy field was owned by one villager named Abu. The herd of the elephant destroyed over 5-acer of paddy field on the night, said a local farmer.
“However, the arrestees were released, on that day after paying Kyats 200,000 per head.”
“The Nasaka also arrested six others villagers who went to paddy field to join with first group to drive the elephant and were released after paying 100 bamboos per head.”
“It is learnt that all the arrestees are accused that they went to attack the Rakhine village.”
Rohingya villagers have no rights to protect their paddy field from destroying by elephant. It is clear that what kind of policy that the concerned authorities are using over the Rohingya community, said a politician from Maungdaw.
On August 21, twelve villagers, on August 23, four villagers and on August 24, eight villagers were arrested by Nasaka, police accompanied by Rakhines from the Udaung village of Maungdaw south. After arrest, they were severely tortured and sent to Nasaka camp of area No. 8 and detained, said a local elder.
Since August 22, five groups of Rakhine mobs, in turn, enter the Honsara village, destroying fence, cutting down old trees while the male villagers are absent. They (Rakhines) are holding long swords and enter the village with the help of police and Hluntin. Among the groups, there are at least 12 to 15 people in one group, said a youth from the village.
In similar way, since August 21, the Nasaka, police and Moghs have been arresting the Rohingya villagers. But, on August 24, four villagers from Kanpu village of Maungdaw Township were arrested by Nasaka.
On August 23, two Rohingya villagers were severely beaten up on Shwe Zaar Bridge by the Rakhine villagers of Aung Mingla village, said a town dweller.
Hakim Ali, hailed from Sambala village ( near Balu Khali) of Nasaka area No.3 and Abdu Sharif, the village chairman (village administrator) of Balu Khali under the Nasaka area No. 3 of Maungdaw township were severely tortured by army  for not providing young girls or women for their sexual enjoyment on August 21. They (villagers) were asked by army to provide them 10 girls or women per village, but the said village elders did not comply with their order, said a local elder.
On August 23, at about 11:30 p, Fokira Bazar was set on fire by some civilian Moghs and 31 shops including 3 big clothes shops .were burned down into ashes. Later, the security force and army went to the spot to see the situation.
On August 22, two dead bodies were found under the bridge of Khayakhali-Maungdaw by local villagers, but these bodies were not identified. People believe that they were killed recently, said a local elder.
On August 22, army destroyed a shop from Ghodora Bazar of Maungdaw Township and took away two goats and some fowls from the village.
On August 23, five villagers per village of Maungdaw north were called to Nasaka headquarters of Kawar Bill of Maungdaw township to train them, how to talk with the inquiry commissions that will come from Rangoon. They are the aides of Nasaka personnel. The villagers are very disappointed; the real report will not be reached to the hands of inquiry commission, said a school teachers
Rathedaung Township:
Most of the people from Tharapyin, Prynkhon, Kudan Gone, Thami Hla and Sango Daung villages of Rathedaung township have been taking shelter at Don Say Para and Shilkhli villages of Rathedaung west since one month ago as their villages were relocated by security forces and Rakhines. At present, they are facing acute food and shelter crisis. Some of the villagers had already been died of diseases and starvation. No NGOs and rations were reached at the place. So, the villagers requested to the NGOs and donors to help them immediately, otherwise, they will die soon. Villagers are not allowed to go out of their villages, according to a youth from Don Say Para.

Soldiers loot Rohingya shop in Maungdaw north

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Around 40 soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion [LIB] 342 landed in Thee Chaung [Balukhali] village market, north of Maungdaw, at around 2.30 pm on August 22 and looted a shop in front of many shoppers and other witnesses, a local village administration officer reported.
“The LIB soldiers who operate alongside Burma’s border security force Nasaka looted the shop owned by Mohammed Ali. The personnel picked up some goods from the shop and refused to pay for them,” said the officer.
“As the shopkeeper insisted for payment the soldiers got angry and beat up the shopkeeper badly and he received serious injuries. Many around witnessed the incident but none dared to intervene.”
The officer reported the mischief by the soldiers to the Township and District Administration Officers in Maungdaw.
When the LIB 342 soldiers got to know that what they had done at the Thee Chaung shop was in the notice of the senior administration officers in Maungdaw, they began hunting for the village administration officer who had reported the incident to his bosses.
The LIB men called all the local village administration officers to their camp, interrogated them and located the officer who was responsible who was responsible for the original complaint.
The soldiers then beat up the officer badly. Another village administration officer who said, what the soldiers had done at the shop was not right, was also beaten up. The two injured officers were released with a warning that they should not dare report the incident of the beating to anyone. However the news of the torture of the two officers by the LIB soldiers leaked outside through an elderly villager of Thee Chaung.
In another case security forces ganged up with local Rakhines and set ablaze several shops owned by Rohingyas in Khamaung Zeik (Fokira Baazaar) village in northern Maungdaw on 22 August. The razing fire was stopped just before it could engulf shops own by the Rakhines.
Rohingyas said, the fire was part of a communal conspiracy aimed at weakening the Rohingyas and it was hatched by none other than some Rakhines. Goods worth some billions of kyats, that were stuffed in the Rohingya shops, were destroyed in the blaze, a Fokira Bazar shopkeeper said.

Myanmar Government Can’t Hide Its Crimes | Dr. Habib Siddiqui

In an article in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on Wednesday, August 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Myanmar, stated, “It is obvious that the violence in the Rakhine State are neither the conflict between two religious groups of different faith nor humanitarian issue.” “The incidents in the Rakhine State are sectarian conflicts which are purely internal affairs of a sovereign state. They are not relating to any kind of religious persecution or religious discrimination. Therefore, we will not accept, any attempt to politically regionalize or internationalize this conflict as a religious issue.” “The government of Myanmar has never practiced policy of violence against Muslims or any other faiths,” said the statement. “The government totally rejects accusations made by some organizations that the government is practicing such a policy of abuse.”

Well, I beg to differ with the Myanmar government. It is once again trying to whitewash its horrible record of racism and bigotry against the non-Buddhists (esp. the Rohingya) inside the country. When millions of inhabitants of the country are denied citizenship because of their race, ethnicity and faith, and such exclusion includes every Rohingya Muslim in spite of maintaining their existence in that country for hundreds of years, such claims are simply laughable. When a violent mob attacks a group of Burmese Tablighi Muslims (who were not even from the Rohingya community suspected in the death of a Rakhine woman) and lynches them to death in front of the members of the police forces, who do nothing to stop such horrendous crimes, it is difficult to sell such deep-seated hatred as anything but bigotry. How does the crime of a single individual (although no proof has yet been provided by the Myanmar government) become the justification for committing hate crimes against an entire ethnic group?

When the members of the state-run riot police (Lon Htin) selectively shoots to kill members of the Rohingya community when they had gathered for a funeral service and being provoked by a hostile rock-throwing, stick and knife-wielding Rakhine crowd, no one is fooled by such government explanation. When the members of the border security force NASAKA and Lon Htin are seen (and there are plenty of video tapes available in the Internet) to participate in burning Rohingya homes, businesses and villages, and killing them simply because they are different racially and religiously, if it is not a government sponsored persecution of a Muslim religious community, what is?

When Rakhine Buddhist mobs led by Buddhist monks attack and set fire to several Muslim shops, restaurants and mosques, and kill unarmed Rohingya men and children, while the local authorities (police and the Army) did nothing to intervene nor did the fire-fighters come to their aid, how can one deny or evade responsibility for such collusion?

When the political and military leadership within Myanmar and the Rakhine state promote hatred and xenophobia, and practice open discrimination while encouraging and providing material support to the Buddhist extremists to commit acts of violence including rape of Rohingya Muslim girls and women, it is ludicrous to hide such obvious signs of religious persecution or discrimination.

When the Rakhine Buddhist monks allow their monasteries to be used for hording lethal arms, and disallow the life-saving food items to be sold to and block humanitarian assistance from reaching the starving Rohingya people, it is criminal to ignore the ugly fact that racism and bigotry against the Rohingyas have become an acceptable national project towards their total elimination that is enthusiastically supported and participated by an overwhelming majority within the Buddhist population.

Even a Muslim Rohingya is denied his/her right to reproduction. They cannot get married without government approval, which usually does not happen unless the government official is bribed heftily. US photographer Greg Constantine has recently released a book of black and white photography titled “Exiled to Nowhere: Burma’s Rohingya.” He relates the story of 20-year-old Kashida who had to “flee to Bangladesh with her husband. The Burmese authorities had denied her permission to get married, but when they discovered she had married in secret and was pregnant they took away all her family’s money and cows and goats. They forced Kashida to have an abortion, telling her: “This is not your country; you don’t have the right to reproduce here.” In Mr. Constantine’s book there are plenty of such human stories for anyone to verify the truth of the suffering of the Rohingya people.

What excuse does the Myanmar government have to offer on such monumental crimes against a religious minority?

When the government forces not only allow the slaughter of the unarmed Rohingya but also participate in the gang rape of Rohingya women as a weapon of war so that they are pushed out of the country, and then the fleeing people are shot at — there is a name for such a crime – it is called ethnic cleansing, which has been going on for decades. For the information of the Myanmar government, the United Nations define ‘ethnic cleansing’ as “Purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”

The Buddhist Myanmar has been practicing this crime for decades against many of the marginalized races and ethnic groups since the state got its independence from Britain in 1948. And of course, the Rohingyas have been the worst victims of this state policy. Per my count, there have been at least two dozen major campaigns to wipe out Muslim identity in Myanmar. As a result of such an on-again and off-again, slow but steady elimination strategy, nearly half the Rohingya population has been pushed out of the country and tens of thousands slaughtered, while the world almost forgot their sad plight. The ‘stubborn’ Rohingyas who continue to live inside this living hell are subjected to the worst forms of persecution and discrimination mankind has ever witnessed in the post-colonial era.

Towards transformational change of the multi-faith and multi-ethnic country to a unitary Burman dominated Buddhist country, there have been a systemic strategy since the days Ne Win (actually, one can go back to the time of Buddhist fanatic king Boddawpaya in 1784) to destroy religious monuments and insignia of other faiths. It is, therefore, not by chance that hardly a single historic mosque stands erect in Myanmar today. The state of Arakan whose shoreline once used to be dotted with Muslim shrines and mosques are now bereft of those Islamic symbolisms. The old Sandi Khan mosque (named after the very Muslim General who came to restore the throne of the fleeing Arakanese king Narameikhla in 1430 CE is long destroyed. Even the ancient Han Tha mosque did not survive Myanmarism. Along with the Taungoo Railway station mosque, this historical mosque was razed to the ground on May 18, 2001 by bulldozers owned by the previous SPDC military junta. How about Akyab’s historic Badr Makam mosque? [It is no accident either that Muslim sounding names of towns and places like Akyab (including that of Arakan state) have systematically been Burmanized to erase that Islamic connectivity.]

No religion can effectively survive or function without its places of worship. Every time a riot is initiated (often with full cooperation of the regime), the first targets are usually the mosques and madrasas because these are the only remaining institutions in Myanmar that are connected with the Islamic faith. [The Rohingya children are barred from government education beyond primary level, nor do they have freedom of movement.] And what is worse: mosques and Muslim graveyards are routinely closed down, destroyed or desecrated to make room for Buddhist model towns or expensive pagodas, where the Muslims must pay for such construction projects. [As I write, hundreds of Muslim mosques have been demolished or burned in the latest episode. All the mosques have been closed down without allowing Muslims to pray inside. So, no one could pray even on the Eid day, the happiest of Islamic festivals.]

As Dr. Shwe Lu Maung alias Shahnawaz Khan has noted in his book – The Price of Silence: Muslim-Buddhist War of Bangladesh and Myanmar – A Social Darwinist’s Analysis – the policy of the successive rulers in Myanmar for centuries has been to make “golden temple shiny shiny, stomach though empty empty.” Every Myanmar ruler that has come to power has always tried to outdo his predecessor by trying to build a bigger and more expensive pagoda so as to prove his unwavering ties with the Buddhist faith and people, most often however at the expense of other faiths and faithful followers.

Interested reader may like to read the reports from a multitude of human rights groups, plus the U.S. State Department’s annual report on Myanmar, or my books (esp., The Forgotten Rohingya: Their Struggle for Human Rights in Burma) to comprehend the colossal record of crime of the Myanmar government against the Rohingya Muslims.

The reports emerging from the Rakhine state, verified by several human rights groups, clearly show the regime’s dirty hands in targeted elimination of the Rohingya people. This was also obvious from the assessment made by Navi Pillay of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who said, “We have been receiving a stream of reports from independent sources alleging discriminatory and arbitrary responses by security forces, and even their instigation of and involvement in clashes.” “Reports indicate that the initial swift response of the authorities to the communal violence may have turned into a crackdown targeting Muslims, in particular members of the Rohingya community,” she said (July 27, 2012).

Benjamin Zawacki of the Amnesty International told BBC, “Most cases have meant targeted attacks on the minority Rohingya population and they were bearing the brunt of most of that communal violence in June and they continue to bear the lion’s share of the violations perpetrated by the state security forces.” “While the restoration of order, security, and the protection of human rights is necessary, most arrests appear to have been arbitrary and discriminatory, violating the rights to liberty and to freedom from discrimination on grounds of religion,” Amnesty said in a statement.

Similarly, Phil Robertson, Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch, said “state security forces and local Arakan communities worked together to target Rohingya communities, committing killings, rapes, and mass arrests.” On June 23, in a village near the town of Maungdaw, security forces pursued and opened fire on two dozen Rohingya villagers who had been hiding from the violence in fields and forest areas. Witnesses in Maungdaw township described several instances in which Rakhine men wielding sticks and swords accompanied the security forces in raids on Rohingya villages.

Not too long ago, a coalition of human rights group, led by Refugees International, the Arakan Project, and the Equal Rights Trust, issued a joint statement saying: “In Myanmar, what began as inter-communal violence has evolved into large scale state-sponsored violence against the Rohingya.” “Many Rohingya continue to be victims of violence and cannot leave their homes for fear of persecution, and are thus deprived of their livelihood and most basic needs,” said the advocacy groups.

To, thus, say that the government of Myanmar has ‘never practiced policy of violence against Muslims or any other faiths’ or that there is ‘no religious persecution or discrimination’ is like saying that ‘violence is peace’ and ‘persecution is love’! With more than 100,000 internally displaced Rohingyas, it is also a grave humanitarian issue. With such hypocritical words, the Myanmar government can neither hope to hoodwink anyone nor evade its responsibility for being the author and executioner for its crimes against humanity.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director, Human Rights Watch, noted weeks ago, “Deadly violence in Arakan State is spiraling out of control under the government’s watch. Opening the area to independent international observers would put all sides on notice that they were being closely watched.” The UN and other human rights monitoring groups have also requested Myanmar government to allow international observers to be posted, but to no avail. Its reluctance points to the fact that the regime wants to hide its on-going crime against the Rohingya people.

Lately, President Thein Sein has announced the formation of a 27-member inquiry commission to submit a report on this latest pogrom. One may recall that soon after the pogrom had started in June, he promised a similar inquiry report by June 30, which, however, never saw the light. The inclusion of racists like Dr. Aye Maung, Khin Maung Swe, Aye Tha Aung, Zarganar, and Ko Ko Gyi, who had played an active role in the latest pogrom against the Rohingya people, once again shows that Thein Sein is not serious about fact-finding but only about international image. It is a face-saving measure to withstand international pressure. He is trying to buy time and hope that commotion would calm down so that he could rekindle the fire of extinction some time later.

As I have noted many times, at the heart of the on-going eliminationist project against Rohingyas and other persecuted minorities lies Burma’s notorious 1982 Citizenship Law, written during hateful dictator Ne Win era. It is sad to see that how such a blueprint for racial and religious discrimination and eventual elimination has now become an acceptable law even by the so-called democracy leaders. No one inside Myanmar is crying out foul for its violations of each of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, not even Suu Kyi Aris, once touted as a voice of conscience for humanity. The recent tragedy has shown her real color and those of her NLD colleagues. They are basically neo-Fascists who are no better than the very regime that they want to unseat. That is what a national project for elimination would do to a nation!

If the Myanmar government is serious about bringing about a positive change towards inclusion, its 1982 Law needs to be amended or dumped altogether so that Rohingyas are not rendered stateless. Amnesty International says, “Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left or rendered stateless.”

And this is also the recommendation from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana. He has stressed the need for the authorities to take steps to address the “long-standing issues of deprivation of citizenship, freedom of movement, and other fundamental rights” that plague the welfare of the Rohingya people. There is no better time to amend the 1982 Law than now.

Is Thein Sein government ready to truly reform its 1982 Law that violates international human rights law and standards? If not now, when? Without such steps, he can’t escape being labeled as an executioner of an apartheid policy that leads to exclusion, discrimination, persecution and elimination. That is war crime in my book!

Indonesian Red Cross sends team to Myanmar

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Red Cross sent a team of aid workers on Saturday to western Myanmar, where deadly sectarian violence in June left dozens dead and thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya displaced.

The eight-member team took off in a military jet from an airbase in the capital Jakarta in the morning with 500 hygiene kits, 3,000 blankets and 10,000 sarongs for the first phase of their mission.

"This is an agreement between the president of Myanmar and the Indonesian Red Cross," Indonesian Red Cross chief Jusuf Kalla told reporters.

"We expect the team to stay for around a year, but that will depend on coordination with the government and other Red Cross and Red Crescent teams."

Sectarian violence between Buddhists and Rohingya has flared in Rakhine state, where clashes in June left around 80 people dead, according to official estimates deemed low by rights groups.

Villages were razed and an estimated 70,000 people, the majority of them Rohingya, were left displaced in government-run camps and shelters.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

Myanmar has set up a commission to probe the clashes after facing heavy criticism from rights groups.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Myanmar communal bloodshed leaves deep scars | Anna O'Connor

The riots broke out in June after a Buddhist woman was allegedly raped and murdered by a group of Rohingya men 

SITTWE, Myanmar — Charred stumps and scattered rubbish are all that remain of a once-bustling community in strife-torn western Myanmar, just one of many razed to the ground in recent communal violence.

The clashes which broke out in June between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have left dozens of people dead and torn apart communities, forcing tens of thousands on both sides to seek refuge in dusty camps and shelters.

Nawseema Har Tu Fa said she fled her village after it was torched during the wave of violence that turned longtime neighbours into bitter enemies.

"We had no problem with the Buddhist people before. We never quarrelled with them before. We lived together, we used to speak. We went to the market every day together," she recounted in a village near the Rakhine state capital Sittwe where many Rohingya have sought sanctuary.

"The main reason we came here is to protect our children, otherwise they might have died there."

An estimated 70,000 people -- 50,000 Rohingya and 20,000 Buddhists -- are in emergency accommodation in the Sittwe area, police told an AFP reporter who visited the remote region near the border with Bangladesh.

They languish in camps or cramped monasteries, dependent on food handouts.

"There are no houses or shelter in their own villages, they were all burned down, so that's why they are here," said Soe Myint, manager of the Kaung Dokar refugee camp, one of six Rohingya camps in Sittwe.

Almost 90 people, both Buddhists and Rohingya, were killed during the violence in June, according to official figures which rights groups fear grossly underestimate the real toll.

The riots broke out after a Buddhist woman was allegedly raped and murdered by a group of Rohingya men.

Access to affected areas is restricted by the authorities, which say that the situation has been relatively calm in recent weeks.

But officials reported that renewed clashes left several people dead earlier this month, underscoring the tinderbox atmosphere.

Rohingya driven from their homes are not allowed to leave the camps -- ostensibly for their own safety. But the restriction has left the Rohingya community out of work and reliant on World Food Programme supplies.

"We do not have enough food, as we do not have the possibility to go to Sittwe downtown to buy everything we need," said displaced Rohingya Abu Shukur.

Faced with heavy criticism from rights groups and outcry from the Muslim world after the unrest, Myanmar's government has denied accusations of abuse of Rohingya villagers by security forces in Rakhine.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya during the June outbreak of unrest, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

Speaking a dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants by the Myanmar government and many Burmese, who describe them as "Bengalis" or "kalar" -- a derogatory term for Muslims.

"Successive governments and regimes have taken in the Muslim kalar, illegally allowing them in" in return for bribes, said senior monk Oo Ku Maar Ka, the head of Gade Chay Monastery.

In a report sent to Myanmar's parliament earlier this month, the country's reformist President Thein Sein accused Buddhist monks, politicians and other ethnic Rakhine figures of kindling hatred towards the Rohingya.

"Rakhine people are continuously thinking to terrorise the Bengali Muslims living across the country," he said, adding that ethnic Rakhine could not envisage sharing their land with people they consider foreigners.

"They cannot consider a situation in which the Bengali Muslims can be citizens," the president said according to the report, which was seen by AFP.

Myanmar recently announced it had set up a new commission to establish the cause of the sectarian clashes and recommend measures to ease tensions and find "ways for peaceful coexistence".

For now that appears a distant goal as deep mistrust poisons relations between the segregated communities.

"We knew the ones who burned down our houses," said Saw Saw, one of thousands of displaced Rakhine Buddhists sheltering in local monasteries. "If Rohingya from outside come in then it will be even worse."