Myanmar’s government appears to be intensifying its campaign to oust the Rohingya Muslim minority by permanently destroying the area they’ve inhabited for generations and building new infrastructure in its place, according to an Amnesty International report released Monday.
Authorities have bulldozed villages long occupied by the Rohingya (before they were driven out by what the United Nations has determined amounts to ethnic cleansing), Amnesty said in the report, titled “Remaking Rakhine State.”
Analysis of satellite imagery enabled Amnesty to determine that these are some of the same villages in the Rakhine State that had been burned to the ground last fall when Myanmar first kicked its campaign of violence against the religious minority into high gear.
“In village after village, burnt structures ― at one time Rohingya homes, shops and businesses ― have been bulldozed and cleared,” the report said. “Even surrounding trees and vegetation have been removed, rendering much of the landscape unrecognizable.”
(Photo: Amnesty International)
Since January, Myanmar’s military has started to build new military bases on this land, Amnesty said, as well as helipads, roads and new villages it believes are destined for populations other than the Rohingya. It’s also carrying out small-scale arson and looting on villages newly abandoned by Rohingya refugees.
In areas that are still occupied, some villagers have also been asked to leave their homes to make way for new construction.
“What we are seeing in Rakhine State is a land grab by the military on a dramatic scale. New bases are being erected to house the very same security forces that have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya,” Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s crisis response director, said in a statement.
Myanmar’s government claims the work they’re doing is to prepare for the return of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh ― where almost 700,000 have fled since last August. The two countries agreed on a repatriation deal in January, in which Myanmar promised to facilitate the safe return of refugees by housing them temporarily in a transit center before allowing them to return either to their homes or somewhere nearby. The deal was postponed that same month.
Rohingya refugees stand in a queue to collect aid supplies in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, January 21, 2018. (Photo: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)
“We are going to build new villages and new homes and resettle people there according to the village planning,” government spokesman Zaw Htay told The Associated Press.
Yet the satellite imagery obtained by Amnesty shows that the government has begun construction on the transit center atop land once occupied by a Rohingya village, casting doubt on the government’s commitment to creating dignified conditions for the minority.
“This makes the voluntary, safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees an even more distant prospect,” Hassan added. “Not only are their homes gone, but the new construction is entrenching the already dehumanizing discrimination they have faced in Myanmar.”
An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh on Sept. 11. Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui: "It was a clear morning and I could see the several clouds of smoke in the background on the Myanmar side. After a few hours waiting on the beach the fishing boats started arriving with Rohingyas. This image was taken just after a family member of the Rohingya woman carried her from the boat. The exhausted Rohingya woman sat on the beach and put her hand to feel the shore after the long and dangerous journey from Myanmar."
Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar make their way through the rice field after crossing the border in Palang Khali, Bangladesh, on Oct. 9. Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj: "We were covering a tragic accident in which a boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsized and many, mostly children, died when we got a tip from colleagues that two hours drive to the north, thousands of refugees stranded on the border were finally crossing into Bangladesh. I rushed in that direction and made it just before the darkness to witness unreal scenes. Many thousands of people, carrying the sick and injured, the elderly and children, and their few possessions were slowly making their way through the mud and rice fields to the relative safety of Bangladesh. I thought I had witnessed enough tragedy that day for a lifetime, and yet it was just another day in a never-ending story for the Rohingya people fleeing Myanmar."
Rohingya refugees collapse from exhaustion after they arrive by a small wooden boat from Myanmar to the shore of Shah Porir Dwip, in Teknaf, near Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, on Oct. 1. Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj: "Unlike those who were crossing the Naf River under the cover of the darkness, this group of Rohingya refugees were landing at the beach of Shah Porir Dwip in the broad daylight. They were totally exhausted -- I could only imagine what these people had been through before the rickety vessel brought them to Bangladesh. After landing, many just collapse. But not much later, as if awoken by survival instinct, they got back on their feet, collected children and the few possessions they brought with them, and continued by foot towards the refugee camps, a safe haven for those fleeing danger in Myanmar."
Roshid Jan, a Rohingya refugee who said she is not sure of her age, cries holding her son Muhammad Gyab at their shelter at the camp for widows and orphans inside the Balukhali camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Dec. 5. Roshid Jan, who walked for 10 days with her five children to Bangladesh after soldiers burned their village, wept when she spoke about her missing husband. The religious leader in their Phansi village in Myanmar's Rakhine State was accused of being a member of the Rohingya militants and arrested 11 months ago, she said. She had not seen him or heard about his fate since then. Now she lives with her five children and more than 230 others at camp for Rohingya widows and orphans. Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj: "Three hills away from the nearest road, in a dusty valley of Balukhali refugee camp, a patchwork of densely packed red tents hides an ocean of grief and pain. Some call it a red camp for its colour, others a long camp because of its shape but it's best known for those who found shelter there. 'This is a widows camp,' its unofficial and energetic leader explained after I introduced myself. In about 50 tents, over 230 women and children live. There are no men. As I was listening the stories of widows and orphans this camp shelters, I realized it's difficult to imagine a place with more sorrow than this. The camp seemed like a place in which the whole Rohingya tragedy is condensed."
Rohingya Muslims who fled from ongoing military operations in Myanmar's Rakhine State make their way through muddy water after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Sept. 1.
Hamida, a Rohingya refugee woman, cries as she holds her 40-day-old son, who died as a boat capsized on the shore of Shah Porir Dwip, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, on Sept. 14. Reuters photographer Mohammad Ponir Hossain: "I was taking pictures of exhausted refugees on the beach when I heard an auto-rickshaw driver shouting that a boat had capsized. I rushed to the spot and found people crying over the dead body of a child. I took a picture of Hamida, cradling the tiny pale body of her child, Abdul Masood. He appears to have died as the survivors scrambled through the crashing waves to shore. Hamida's husband Nasir Ahmed carried his son away from the crowd. The couple's other son survived the accident. These people are so desperate that they are risking their lives to escape Myanmar. The pictures show what is going on here."
A man struggles to carry supplies across a stream as the monsoon rains continue to make life miserable for the displaced Rohingya on Sept. 17 in Kutupalong, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Arif Ullah, who said his village was burned down and his relatives were killed by Myanmar soldiers, comforts his wife Shakira who collapsed from exhaustion as Rohingya refugees arrive by a wooden boat from Myanmar to the shore of Shah Porir Dwip, in Teknaf, near Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, on Oct. 1. Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj: "That morning, a group of Rohingya refugees crossed the Bay of Bengal on a rickety, wooden boat, for landings at Shah Porir Dwip, a village at the mouth of the Naf River. Most of the refugees, exhausted from the trip, collapsed after finally reaching the shores of Bangladesh. Shakira, unable to stand on her own, rested in her husband's arms for some 10 to 15 minutes before getting up and continuing on foot towards a relief center nearby."
A security officer attempts to control Rohingya refugees waiting to receive aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Sept. 21. Reuters photographer Cathal McNaughton: "During my first days at the camps it was chaotic. No infrastructure was in place for the distribution of the aid that arrived throughout the day. Men would fight children for aid packages. Children would wrestle with grandmothers for rice. Eventually the security forces moved in with sufficient numbers to try and restore order. To witness people getting beaten as they scrambled for food is indescribable."
A Rohingya refugee woman is helped from a boat as she arrives exhausted on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River at Shah Porir Dwip after fleeing her village in Myanmar, on Oct. 1 in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
A woman carries the body of a Rohingya refugee baby. Others are seen wrapped in white sheets prior to burial after they died when their boat capsized while fleeing Myanmar on Sept. 29 in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Hosne Ara, 4, a Rohingya refugee who fled Myanmar two months earlier, listens to children singing at a children's center in Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Nov. 5. Reuters photographer Hannah McKay: "I was in a center for children photographing them singing. I could feel somebody watching me and when I turned 'round this little girl with extraordinary eyes was smiling at me. When I lifted my camera to take her picture she stopped smiling, as I lowered it she smiled again. It became a bit of a game and we were giggling with each other."
Rohingya Muslim refugees weep upon being reunited after arriving on a boat from Myanmar on Sept. 8 in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh.
A man hits anxious Rohingya children with a cane as things get out of control during a humanitarian aid distribution on Oct. 7. Monsoon rains continue to batter the area, causing more difficulties.
Kulsuma Begum, a 40-year-old Rohingya refugee, cries in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Oct. 27. Reuters photographer Hannah McKay: "I didn't know why the woman was crying, but I thought it was important to capture her emotion. Once she had finished talking I asked somebody to translate her story to me and it was only then that I understood why she was so distressed. She had lost her daughter and said her husband and son-in-law were killed by military in Myanmar. It was heartbreaking to see, but even more so to hear what she had gone through."
Rohingya refugees carry their child as they walk through water after crossing the border by boat through the Naf River in Teknaf, Bangladesh, on Sept. 7. Reuters photographer Mohammad Ponir Hossain: "I walked around for an hour on the muddy and very slippery path to get to the river bank. When I reached it I heard the sound of people who had arrived by boats. Because of the mangroves I couldn't see them properly. After some time I saw more than [one] hundred people come out of the mangroves and start walking into the water with children, elderly people and their belongings. Due to low tide, boats were unable to reach to the dry land. This Rohingya couple with a child had to get off the boat into a mangrove first, then walk through the water to reach dry land."
A woman cries out as Rohingya refugees wait to receive aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Sept. 21. Reuters photographer Cathal McNaughton: "What this photo doesn't convey is the deafening noise. The woman with the child was making a moaning sound which was piercing. Everyone was shouting at the relief teams to get their attention."
A group of Rohingya children who fled from oppression in Myanmar are seen at Leda Camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Oct. 11.
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![Rohingya refugees carry their child as they walk through water after crossing the border by boat through the Naf River in Teknaf, Bangladesh, on Sept. 7. Reuters photographer Mohammad Ponir Hossain: "I walked around for an hour on the muddy and very slippery path to get to the river bank. When I reached it I heard the sound of people who had arrived by boats. Because of the mangroves I couldn't see them properly. After some time I saw more than [one] hundred people come out of the mangroves and start walking into the water with children, elderly people and their belongings. Due to low tide, boats were unable to reach to the dry land. This Rohingya couple with a child had to get off the boat into a mangrove first, then walk through the water to reach dry land."](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/IiA4LLwtIT9gD.O3KdjmgA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5a3ab3c41600002100c511b2.jpg)
