Amnesty International has said new satellite images and videos from Myanmar’s strife-torn Rakhine state show smoke rising from Rohingya Muslim villages, contradicting Aung San Suu Kyi’s claims that military operations there have ended. The London-based group said its sources in Rakhine claim the fires – captured in images as recently as Friday afternoon – were started by members of the Myanmar security forces and vigilante mobs. The latest violence in Myanmar has sent an estimated 429,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing to Bangladesh in less than a month.
“This damning evidence from the ground and from space flies in the face of Aung Suu Kyi’s assertions to the world,” Tirana Hasan, Amnesty’s director of crisis response, said in a statement late Friday. “Rohingya homes and villages continue to burn, before, during and after their inhabitants take flight in terror. Not satisfied with simply forcing Rohingya from their homes, authorities seem intent on ensuring they have no homes to return to.”The senior US diplomat for south-east Asia said America remained deeply troubled by the ongoing crisis and allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine.
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