MYANMAR – Bound together, the 10 Rohingya captives watched their Buddhistneighbours dig a grave. Soon afterwards, on the morning of Sept. 2, all 10lay dead. At least two were hacked to death by Buddhist villagers. The restwere shot by soldiers, two of the gravediggers said.
The killings marked another episode in the violence sweeping Myanmar’snorthern Rakhine State. The Rohingya accuse the army of arson, rapes andkillings. The United Nations has said the army may have committed genocide.Myanmar says its “clearance operation” is a legitimate response to attacksby insurgents. Rohingya trace their presence in Rakhine back centuries. Butmost people in majority-Buddhist Myanmar consider them to be unwantedMuslim immigrants from Bangladesh. The army refers to the Rohingya as“Bengalis,” and most lack citizenship. In recent years, the government hasconfined more than 100,000 Rohingya in camps where they have limited accessto food, medicine and education. Nearly 690,000 Rohingya have fled theirvillages and crossed the border into Bangladesh since August.
Reuters has pieced together what happened in the days leading up to thekillings in Inn Din, drawing for the first time on interviews with Buddhistvillagers who confessed to torching Rohingya homes, burying bodies andkilling Muslims.
This account also marks the first time soldiers and paramilitary policehave been implicated by testimony from security personnel. Threephotographs, provided to Reuters by a Buddhist village elder, capture keymoments, from the Rohingya men’s detention by soldiers in the early eveningof Sept. 1 to their execution shortly after 10 a.m. on Sept. 2.
The Reuters investigation was what prompted police authorities to arresttwo of the news agency’s reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, on Dec. 12 forallegedly obtaining confidential documents relating to Rakhine. Then, onJan. 10, the military issued a statement that confirmed portions of whatReuters was preparing to report, acknowledging that 10 Rohingya men weremassacred in Inn Din.
But the military’s version of events is contradicted in important respectsby accounts given to Reuters by Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslimwitnesses. The military said the 10 men belonged to a group of “200terrorists” that attacked security forces. But Buddhist villagersinterviewed for this article reported no attack by a large number ofinsurgents on security forces in Inn Din. And Rohingya witnesses toldReuters that soldiers plucked the 10 from among Rohingya who had soughtsafety on a nearby beach.
Scores of interviews with Rakhine Buddhist villagers, soldiers,paramilitary police, Rohingya and a local administrator further revealed:
– The military and paramilitary police organized Buddhist residents of InnDin and at least two other villages to torch Rohingya homes, Buddhistvillagers said.
– An order to “clear” Inn Din’s Rohingya hamlets was passed down thecommand chain from the military, said three paramilitary police officersand a fourth police officer at an intelligence unit in the regional capitalSittwe.
– Some members of the paramilitary police looted Rohingya propertyincluding cows and motorcycles in order to sell it, according to Inn Din’sBuddhist administrator and one of the paramilitary police officers.
Asked about the evidence Reuters has uncovered about the massacre,government spokesman Zaw Htay said, “We are not denying the allegationsabout violations of human rights. And we are not giving blanket denials.”If there was “strong and reliable primary evidence” of abuses, thegovernment would investigate, he said. “And then if we found the evidenceis true and the violations are there, we will take the necessary actionaccording to our existing law.”
When told that paramilitary police officers had said they received ordersto “clear” Inn Din’s Rohingya hamlets, he replied, “We have to verify. Wehave to ask the Ministry of Home Affairs and Myanmar police forces.” Askedabout the allegations of looting by paramilitary police officers, he saidthe police would investigate. He expressed surprise when told that Buddhistvillagers had confessed to burning Rohingya homes, then added, “Werecognize that many, many different allegations are there, but we need toverify who did it. It is very difficult in the current situation.”
Zaw Htay defended the military operation in Rakhine. “The internationalcommunity needs to understand who did the first terrorist attacks. If thatkind of terrorist attack took place in European countries, in the UnitedStates, in London, New York, Washington, what would the media say?”