Begin typing your search above and press return to search.
proflie-avatar
Login
exit_to_app
The smouldering of anger in Ladakh
access_time 29 March 2024 4:20 AM GMT
Democracy that banks on the electorate
access_time 28 March 2024 5:34 AM GMT
Lessons to learn from Moscow terror attack
access_time 27 March 2024 6:10 AM GMT
Gaza
access_time 26 March 2024 4:34 AM GMT
The poison is not in words, but inside
access_time 25 March 2024 5:42 AM GMT
DEEP READ
Schools breeding hatred
access_time 14 Sep 2023 10:37 AM GMT
Ukraine
access_time 16 Aug 2023 5:46 AM GMT
Ramadan: Its essence and lessons
access_time 13 March 2024 9:24 AM GMT
When ‘Jai Sree Ram’ becomes a death call
access_time 15 Feb 2024 9:54 AM GMT
exit_to_app
Homechevron_rightWorldchevron_rightUN slams detention of...

UN slams detention of minority citizens in Myanmar

text_fields
bookmark_border
cancel
camera_alt"

Prison department officers arrive to enter Shwe Bo prison after a riot at the prison in Sagaing region on May 9, 2019. - Four prisoners were killed during a riot that broke out in a northern Myanmar jail, officials said on May 9, coming on the heels of a presidential amnesty which saw more than 6,000 people released including high-profile Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo

"

Yangon: The UN on Friday criticized the Myanmar government for detaining dozens of people in restive Rakhine over their suspected links with rebels in the western state.

"We are deeply concerned about possibly 40 to 50 ethnic Rakhine boys and men who reportedly remain detained since April 30 in a school ... where six detainees were killed on May 2 by the Myanmar Army," said a statement from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On April 30, the Myanmar Army had detained 275 suspects in Kyauk Tan village, who were accused of collaborating with rebels of the Arakan Army, an ethno-nationalist rebel group of the Rakhine minority.

The group has been fighting against the Myanmar government, seeking autonomy for the region and has intensified clashes with the armed forces in western parts of the country since December, Efe news reported.

The mass detention came two weeks after the Arakan Army attacked two bases of the Myanmar military.

The Army later surrounded the village and forced all males above 15 to report to local schools, where they were allegedly mistreated and detained, before being released in groups. But 50 of them were held back, the report said.

On May 2, the Myanmar Army reported that soldiers in the area opened fire on the detainees, killing six and injuring eight, when they allegedly tried to seize their guns. But other sources have questioned this account.

"They (other sources) say that the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) opened fire indiscriminately after one of the detainees tried to escape. The Army says it has launched an investigation into the incident. After the shooting, the bodies of the six men were reportedly laid out in full view of the village which, as of yesterday, remained surrounded by the military and was said to be running out of food," the UN statement said.

The Arakan Army, one of the many armed rebel groups in Myanmar, was founded in 2009 by a handful of nationalist students of the Rakhine ethnicity - a minority which follows Buddhism and is primarily settled in the Rakhine province - with an estimated current strength of 7,000 guerrillas.

More than 33,000 people have been displaced during the last four months in clashes between the Arakan Army and the military, according to the UN.

This displacement comes as an addition to that of at least 128,000 displaced members of the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.

Rohingyas are denied citizenship by Myanmar and have been forced to live in refugee camps since 2012 after a wave of sectarian violence between the Rakhine and Rohingya communities.

Show Full Article
News Summary - UN slams detention of minority citizens in Myanmar
Next Story