AMN / WASHINGTON
NEARLY 2,500 Rohingyas have fled the central Rakhine State in Myanmar following military clashes, the United Nations said Wednesday.
UN spokesman for the secretary general, Farhan Haq, said the Rohingya were “forced to flee fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military” that began last month.
Haq said a UN team was sent to investigate and assess the needs of the uprooted community needs.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community.
Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution calling the ongoing violence against the Rohingya “genocide”