The Washington Post
22-11-2016
This Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, satellite image taken by DigitalGlobe and distributed by Human Rights Watch, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, shows the building destruction in the village of Wa Peik, Maungdaw District, Myanmar. Human Rights Watch said Monday that high-definition satellite images show 820 newly identified structures destroyed this month in five Rohingya Muslim villages in the Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state where the military is carrying out counter-insurgency operations. (DigitalGlobe via AP) (Associated Press)
By Esther Htusan | AP November 21 at 9:47 AM
YANGON, Myanmar — High-definition satellite images show 820 newly identified structures destroyed this month in five Rohingya Muslim villages in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state where the military is carrying out counter-insurgency operations, a human rights group said Monday.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch urged the government to invite the United Nations to assist in an impartial investigation.
“These alarming new satellite images confirm that the destruction in Rohingya villages is far greater and in more places than the government has admitted,” said Brad Adams, the Asia director for the group.
The president’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, last week accused Human Rights Watch of exaggeration after the release of an initial set of satellite imagery that showed 430 destroyed buildings in three villages.
He accused the international media of misreporting the situation in Rakhine, where the government has mounted a massive security operation since nine police officers were killed by unidentified assailants who attacked guard posts in Maungdaw village bordering Bangladesh last month.
The government has acknowledged using helicopter gunships in support of ground troops in the operations.
It has implied that the attacks were carried out by sympathizers of the minority Rohingya, who face intense discrimination, repression and violence in Rakhine state.
They have frequently been targeted by the Buddhist Rakhine majority, who view them as illegal migrants. The state denies them citizenship even though they have lived in the region for generations. More than 100,000 Rohingya still live in camps after being driven from their homes following clashes with the Rakhine people in 2012.
Human Rights Watch said the new satellite imagery — recorded on Nov. 10 and Nov. 17-18 — brings to 1,250 the number of destroyed buildings documented by it.
“Instead of responding with military-era style accusations and denials, the government should simply look at the facts and take action to protect all people in Burma, whatever their religion or ethnicity,” Adams said. Myanmar is also known as Burma.
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