UNOCHA expresses concerns about inter-communal violence in Buthidaung

By Admin 26 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
26 April 2024, Buthidaung

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Myanmar has expressed concerns about violence and racial tensions in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township.

“In Rakhine [Arakan State], the situation has rapidly worsened in Buthidaung Township with increasing violence and fears over inter-communal tension,” reads a UNOCHA report issued on Thursday.

An international NGO office and a pharmacy were recently burnt down in an arson attack, noted the UNOCHA.

The majority of residents have already fled Buthidaung town for fear that they might be trapped once fighting between the military regime and the Arakkha Army (AA) spreads into the town. Fighting has been raging for months between junta and AA troops in rural areas of Buthidaung Township.

“Only the Muslim people who support the military regime are left in the town,” said a Buthidaung resident.

Junta troops, Muslim conscripts and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation, Arakan Rohingya Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization are committing arson attacks in Buthidaung town, torching the houses of Arakanese and non-Muslim residents, said the AA.

The regime has also organised Muslim protests against the AA to create instability and racial and religious conflicts, the AA said.

Faced with a string of defeats in Arakan State since November, the regime has responded by targeting civilians with indiscriminate air and artillery attacks. It has also forcibly conscripted Muslims, sending them to the front line.