Myanmar accused of ethnic cleansing against Muslims

Myanmar accused of ethnic cleansing against Amusliminathmt Amnesty International and the authorities in Myanmar Buddhist groups there to commit acts of ethnic cleansing including murder, rape, against the minority ...

Amnesty International accused on Friday the authorities in Myanmar (formerly Burma) and there are Buddhist groups to commit acts of ethnic cleansing including murder, rape, against the minority Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine State coastal west of the country, which was denied by the authorities.

The organization said that there is a specific numbers of Muslims have been subjected to maltreatment or murder or rape, adding that the Rohingya are subjected to new attacks from security forces and Buddhist groups after previous attacks bloody last June.

On the tenth of last month, authorities imposed a state of emergency in Rakhine State, and talked about the 78 people killed in ethnic violence. Authorities deployed forces since that time to contain the situation, and the protection of temples and mosques in the region.

However, Amnesty International said that the new attacks launched three weeks ago in Rakhine, most of them targeting Muslims, especially Rohingya who arrested hundreds of them, could not contact them and according to the organization. The Associated Press quoted a researcher working for the organization in the Thai capital Bangkok that the attacks carried out by security forces, either alone or jointly with Buddhist groups, or they turn a blind eye.

However, a spokesman for Rakhine State has denied assertions by Amnesty International, said he did not unfounded. He added that what the organization says the opposite of what is happening on the ground. The Myanmar authorities do not recognize the citizenship of Rohingya Muslims, and says they are "settlers" came from Bangladesh.

On the other hand, said the new U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell The lifting of all sanctions imposed on this country is premature. The Finance Committee in the U.S. Senate yesterday endorsed the continuation of the ban on products manufactured in Myanmar for another three years, giving the U.S. government the right to modify or cancel the procedure.

The move to be ratified by the Congress as a whole, after a week of granting Washington a green light for U.S. companies to invest in Myanmar, especially in the field of exploration for oil and gas.