The Events in Myanmar - Background and Consequences

In fact, the history of the standoff in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar with a persecuted Muslim minority has long been a concern in the world - both at the government level and in the human rights environment.

What is Myanmar?

At one time, this country in Southeast Asia was known as Burma. But the locals do not like this name, considering it foreign. Therefore, after 1989, the country was renamed Myanmar (translated as "fast", "strong").

Since the country gained independence in 1948, a civil war has been waged in Burma, in which the Burmese authorities, communist guerrillas, and separatist rebels participated. And if we add to this explosive “cocktail” the drug dealers of the “Golden Triangle”, which, in addition to Myanmar, also included Thailand and Laos, it becomes obvious that the situation on Burmese soil did not symbolize peace and quiet.

From 1962 until 2011, the country was ruled by the military, and the head of the opposition Democratic League that won in 1989, the future Nobel Peace Prize winner, Do Aung San Suu Kyi, was placed under house arrest for a long time. The country found itself in a rather noticeable isolation from the outside world - including in connection with Western sanctions. But in recent years, noticeable changes have taken place in Myanmar, elections have been held. And last year, Aung San Suu Kyi became foreign minister and state adviser (de facto prime minister).

In a country with a population of 60 million people, there are more than a hundred nationalities:

• burmese
• hay,
• Karens,
• Arakans,
• Chinese,
• Indians,
• this,
• kachinas, etc.

The vast majority of believers are Buddhists, there are Christians, Muslims, animists.

“Myanmar, as a multinational country, is experiencing a load of problems of this kind,” comments Viktor Sumsky, director of the ASEAN Center at MGIMO. - The new government of the country is making attempts to resolve conflict situations, but in fact it turns out that it was the problem of the Rohingya that came to the fore ...

Western sanctions against Myanmar

This is an ethnic group living compactly in the Myanmar state of Rakhine (Arakan). The Rohingya practice Islam. According to estimates, their number in Myanmar ranges from 800 thousand to 1.1 million people. It is believed that most of them moved to the territory of Burma during the British colonial rule.

The Myanmar authorities refer to the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh - and on this basis deny them citizenship. The law forbade them to have more than two children. The authorities tried to resettle them in Bangladesh, but no one expected them there either. It is no coincidence that the UN calls them one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Many Rohingyas flee to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand. But a number of countries in Southeast Asia - including Muslim ones - refuse to accept these refugees, and ships with migrants are deployed at sea.

During the Second World War, when Burma was occupied by Japan, in 1942 there was a so-called. "Arakan massacre" between Rohingya Muslims who received weapons from the British and local Buddhists who supported the Japanese. Tens of thousands of people died, many people became refugees. Of course, these events did not add trust to relations between the communities.

From time to time, serious tensions flared up in the places of compact residence of the Rohingya, often reaching bloodshed. While Buddhist Burmese are staging Muslim pogroms in Rakhine, the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, has urged Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to support the Rohingya. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke out in defense of the Burmese Muslims. The West, both in the European Union and the United States, were not silent on this issue (although, of course, it was not the problem of the Muslim minority that played the first role in the sanctions imposed against Myanmar at the time). On the other hand, the problem of Muslims in Burma in the past decades was actively used by various theorists of the “ global jihad”.- from Abdullah Azzam to his student Osama bin Laden. So it cannot be ruled out that this region may become a new point of conflict, where supporters of the most radical jihadist groups will reach out - as happened, say, in the Philippines.

Aggravation of the situation in Burma (Myanmar)

The situation became especially aggravated after dozens of people attacked three Myanmar border posts in October last year, as a result, nine border guards were killed. After that, troops were brought into Rakhine State. Over 20,000 people fled to Bangladesh. In February 2017, a UN report was published based on surveys of refugees: it provides shocking facts of extrajudicial killings of the Rohingya by local nationalists, as well as security forces, gang rapes, etc.

According to local authorities, it all started with the fact that on August 25, Rohingya militants simultaneously attacked 24 police checkpoints and army barracks in order to break through to a military base. The attack resulted in the killing of 5 police officers. The attackers killed at least 7 people.

Within 3 days, more than 3,000 Muslims were brutally murdered by Buddhists in Myanmar. People kill their own kind without sparing women or children.

Anti-Muslim pogroms in Myanmar were repeated again, this time on an even more horrifying scale.

The Myanmar army said in a statement that since August 25, there have been 90 clashes in which 370 militants were killed. Among the government forces, 15 people were killed. In addition, the militants are accused of killing 14 civilians.

As a result of the clashes, approximately 27,000 Rohingya refugees crossed the border into Bangladesh to escape persecution. Moreover, according to the Xinhua news agency, almost 40 people, including women and children, died in the Naf River when they tried to cross the border by boat.

In recent days alone, about 90,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh. This came after rebels from the Arakanese Rohingya Solidarity Army attacked dozens of police posts and an army base in Rakhine on August 25. The ensuing skirmishes and military counteroffensive claimed at least 400 lives. The authorities accuse the militants of burning houses and killing civilians, while human rights activists blame the army for the same. And even before Ramzan Kadyrov, Turkish President Erdogan spoke last week in defense of Burmese Muslims, calling what is happening a genocide, about which “everyone is silent” ...

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