Burma. Buddhist-Muslim conflict. What's happening in Myanmar: all about the conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in Indochina Chief Buddhist of Myanmar

In world history, tragic events have repeatedly taken place, which were based on interethnic confrontations within one country or one region. At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, local military conflicts broke out around the world, the cause of which was interethnic clashes on linguistic, national or religious grounds. One of the last ongoing religious conflicts remains the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar, the preconditions of which stretch back to the founding of this state.

The first echoes of interethnic confrontation

Since the time of the British colonialists, minor conflicts have arisen in the northwestern region of Burma, Rakhine, based on religion. Rakhine was inhabited by two large groups of people: the Rohingya, who professed Islam, and the Buddhist Arakanese.

During World War II, Burma was completely occupied by militaristic Japan. The Muslim population supported the anti-Hitler coalition and received weapons to fight the invaders. Since the Arakanese were co-religionists with the Japanese, the Muslims directed the weapons received from the allies specifically at them. Then about 50,000 people became victims of the armed conflict.

After the war, Britain granted independence to Myanmar, which led to mass unemployment, chaos and civil war. These events further separated Muslims and Buddhists. In the difficult post-war times, the issue of stabilizing interfaith relations was far from being in the first place.

The tension in the country

Since the 1950s, Myanmar has experienced economic and industrial growth. However, this did not save the state from constant clashes between religious groups

The main factors contributing to the aggravation of the situation were:

The settlement of Rakhine by Muslims from neighboring states who arrived in Burma for the purpose of temporary earnings;
Uniting migrant workers into communities;
Infringement of the rights of both visitors and indigenous residents who professed Islam;
Refusal of the central government to issue passports to the indigenous Rohingya;
Persecution by nationalist Buddhist organizations.

Since the mid-1980s, an economic crisis began to brew in Myanmar. It was the most severe in Rakhine state. The lack of subsidies from the treasury, high unemployment, reduced social benefits, as well as the transfer of Rohingya lands to residents of other Buddhist regions have formed an extremely negative attitude among Muslims towards the government.

Muslim genocide in Burma

The peak of internal fighting occurred in 2012 after the brutal rape of a Buddhist young girl. Predominant Buddhist population blamed local Muslims for her death, after which their neighborhoods, including mosques and small businesses, were subjected to severe pogroms and looting.

During the riots, radical political organizations were created, such as ARSA and the Arakan Faith Movement. They took responsibility for the pogroms and attacks on the police.

5 years later, on August 25, 2017, the situation repeated itself again. About 30 police stations were targeted by ARSA. As a result, a counter-terrorism operation regime was introduced in Myanmar. The authorities used government troops and police forces to clear the region of Muslims.

During local battles, about 400 rebels were eliminated. Among the civilian population, 14 people were killed, and 12 military personnel were killed by the authorities.

The result of this terror was the flight of several thousand civilians to Bangladesh and India. To prevent the displaced from returning to Rakhine, the authorities mined the border area with Bangladesh. The UN mission recognized the situation in the state as critical, which forced the mission to suspend its work.

The world community's reaction to the situation in Myanmar

The official authorities of this country claim that nothing critical is happening and they are conducting an operation to restore constitutional order and suppress banditry among the religious minority. Despite such statements, the UN provided a number of documents that were compiled from the words of refugees and eyewitnesses.

According to international human rights organizations, Rakhine is rife with brutality and violence by the army against Muslims. There were repeated provocations on the part of the authorities in order to discredit the religious community.

Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi says the Buddhist population in the region is steadily declining and authorities are concerned about this trend and intend to stabilize relations between the two religious groups.

A number of Islamic states are concerned about this development of the political scenario and sent official notes of protest to the Myanmar Foreign Ministry, and also prepared the necessary humanitarian assistance to the affected children.

Muslim Genocide in Myanmar: Orhan Jemal

In some cities of Russia, Moscow and Grozny in particular, rallies were held in support of the Muslim population of Myanmar. However, none of the protesters had real information about the current situation. Russian journalist Orkhan Dzhemal decided to figure out the situation on his own and spent about a month in Asia.

After arriving home, Jemal repeatedly covered the events he saw with his own eyes:

Constant humiliation of followers of Islam;
Infringement of basic civil rights;
Brutal beating of religious minorities;
Military violence against women;
Strict border controls;
Constant provocations in Islamic villages.

Returning home, Orhan Dzhemal appeared on television several times in order to highlight to the public the events he had seen. The journalist constantly holds various events to support supporters of Islam around the world.

It would seem that the 21st century is a new era of humane and peaceful relations between countries, peoples and religions, in which violence and cruelty are unacceptable. But as evidenced by the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar, not every state is yet capable of taking the civilized path of its development.

Video about shocking events in Burma

In this video, Ilya Mitrofanov will talk about the events preceding the bloody massacre in Myanmar:

In Myanmar, a long-term conflict has escalated, caused by religious and ethnic hostility between the Muslim minority (the Rohingya people) and the main population (the Burmese), who profess Buddhism.

It was provoked by a raid by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on 26 police posts and the country's military base a week earlier. The members of the group allegedly wanted to take revenge on the government for years of persecution of the people, but they significantly aggravated the situation. In response to the deaths of 59 members of the security forces during the clashes, the Myanmar authorities launched, according to them, an anti-terrorist operation, which has already become the largest wave of violence since 2012 in the history of the federal state.

In the past seven days alone, nearly 400 people have been killed, the vast majority of them Rohingya civilians. The UN said that about 73 thousand representatives of the nationality fled the country to Bangladesh. Along the way, some of the forced refugees drowned.

On the territory of Bangladesh in refugee camps, where there is almost no water, food and medicine, in recent years, according to various estimates, from 300 to 400 thousand representatives of this people have accumulated.

Eyewitnesses tell horrific stories of government troops and Buddhist volunteers helping them kill Rohingyas, rape women and burn down villages. According to them, people, including those who are fleeing violence, are dying under shelling, grenade launchers and helicopters are used against the civilian population. In addition, the Myanmar authorities have restricted access to Rakhine state residents in need of assistance.

UN Press Center

Human Rights Watch human rights activists have recorded more than 700 burned houses in only one of the villages in the region on a satellite image.

The international community is concerned, but there is no solution

The international community expressed "deep concern at reports of excessive use of force" in government operations in Myanmar's Rakhine state. In particular, the latest developments in the country were discussed by the UN Security Council at a closed meeting held at the initiative of the UK on 31 August.

UN Security Council, EPA archive

British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft, commenting on the results of the discussions, said that they were held in a constructive manner. "We are concerned about the situation in Myanmar and condemn any form of violence. We call on all parties to the conflict to reduce tension," he said.

Later, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the government of Myanmar has an obligation to ensure the safety of all residents of the country and allow the UN and its partners to provide humanitarian support to those in need.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley also made claims against the Myanmar government.

However, representatives of the countries during the meeting did not adopt any official documents on the region.

This reaction of the international community outraged Muslims around the world. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the clashes in Myanmar's Rakhine state "Muslim genocide".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Photo from open sources

“Those who turn a blind eye to this genocide, committed under the guise of democracy, are its accomplices ... The Muslim population in Arakan, which was four million half a century ago, has decreased by one third as a result of persecution and bloodshed. The fact that the world community remains silent in response to this, is a separate drama," he said at an event organized by the ruling Justice and Development Party in Istanbul in connection with the Eid al-Adha holiday.

According to Erdogan, from September 19, meetings of the UN Security Council on the situation in Myanmar will be held. "Turkey will do its best to convey to the world community the facts regarding the situation in Arakan. The issue will also be discussed during bilateral negotiations. Turkey will speak even if the rest decide to remain silent," he stressed.

At the same time, it should be noted that not all countries are divided into those who condemn and those who are silent about this. There are also those who treat the Rohingya with rejection. For example, the Muslim Malaysian authorities refused to issue refugee certificates to all Rohingya without exception, explaining this decision by saying that this would lead to a massive influx of Muslims from Myanmar, which is “unacceptable” for the Malaysian leadership. At the same time, at least 120,000 Rohingya refugees are already in Malaysia.

40,000 Rohingyas are planning to be expelled by the Indian authorities, despite the fact that the UN has recognized some of them as refugees. An Indian government spokesman recently said that all Rohingyas are in the country illegally.

After that, a wave of Muslim rallies swept across the world against the atrocities in Myanmar and the lack of a proper reaction from the international community. So, the day before, in the center of Moscow near the Myanmar embassy, an unprecedented for the country uncoordinated action was held in support of the Rohingya Muslims. Muslims have never come out to rallies in Russia, especially in the hundreds.

Today, a similar action is taking place in Chechnya. Interestingly, it was initiated by the head of the republic Ramzan Kadyrov. The day before, he called on all those who are not indifferent to the situation in Myanmar to send protests to the UN and the Myanmar embassy, and today he said that he would oppose the course of the political leadership of the Russian Federation if it supports the Myanmar authorities that are oppressing Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.

From open sources

It is noteworthy that Russia's position at the moment differs little from the positions of "concern" in most countries.

There are also Muslim rallies in Australia and Indonesia. People call on the leaders of countries not to stand on the side of the conflict.

Why do Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar kill each other?

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as this state is now officially called, consists of seven provinces inhabited by the Burmese proper, "bama", and seven national states, none of which in reality has ever recognized the authority of the central government. The peoples inhabiting them and various local political and criminal associations have always waged their civil wars against the capital and against each other - although recently a ceasefire agreement has been formally reached with all states.

Leaving Myanmar, then called British Burma, in the 40s of the 20th century, the British colonial administration promised to grant independence to almost all national outskirts, which partly became the cause of subsequent conflicts, since it was not done. Among the failed states was the national state of Arakan, or Rakhine, a rather narrow strip of land on the Burmese coast of the Bay of Bengal, bordering Bangladesh in the far west. It is the poorest region of the country that is the birthplace of the one and a half million Rohingya Muslim people, in their own opinion. The authorities of Myanmar do not think so, calling all this ethnic group "illegal immigrants", as well as "Islamic militants".

For many years, the government of the country did not know what to do with the Rohingya. They were not recognized as citizens, but were called "Muslims living in the Arakan region." By the way, there is not a single party in the government of the country that would represent the interests of this nationality. But the Rohingya consider themselves the people of Myanmar and assert their rights to citizenship and other related rights.

In addition, many experts believe that it is wrong to say that nationalities do not grant citizenship solely because of religious or ethnic prejudice. One of the reasons for the aggravation of the situation is also called demographic problems. The Rohingya traditionally have a high birth rate, with 5–10 children per family. This led to the fact that in one generation the number of immigrants increased several times.

He also added fuel to the fire and another fact. During World War II, when British Burma was invaded by Japan, the Rohingya Muslims remained on the side of the British and began guerrilla fighting. Local Buddhists in the state of Arakan (Rakhine) supported the Japanese occupiers, who promised to grant independence to the country, and began en masse to join Tokyo's allied "National Army of Burma". It was headed by General Aung San, one of the founders of the Communist Party of Burma - the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, who now heads the government of the country.

Aung San Suu Kyi during a meeting with former US President Barack Obama, file photo From open sources

By the way, about the leader of the country a little separately. Aung San Suu Kyi, fought for many years for democratization in Myanmar, where a military regime reigned. At the moment, she is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and has a special status and the post of "State Counselor of Myanmar." This position, corresponding to the Prime Minister, allows you to work in all areas of government. In fact, Aung San Suu Kyi influences all decisions in the country, but has not yet commented on the situation in Rakhine.

Recall that the authorities of Myanmar began to overactively and consistently squeeze out the Rohingya in the last five years. In June and October 2012, more than 100 people were killed in armed clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine. According to the UN, approximately 5,300 houses and places of worship were destroyed. A state of emergency has been declared in the state. By the spring of 2013, the pogroms had moved from the western part of the country to the center. At the end of March, riots began in the city of Meithila. On June 23, the conflict broke out in the province of Pegu, on July 1 - in Hpakant. The conflict became more and more inter-religious in nature, and local dissatisfaction with the Rohingya began to spread to Muslims in general.

What is Myanmar? At one time, this country in Southeast Asia was known as Burma. But the locals do not like this name, considering it foreign. Therefore, after 1989, the country was renamed Myanmar (translated as "fast", "strong"). Since the country gained independence in 1948, a civil war has been waged in Burma, in which the Burmese authorities, communist guerrillas, and separatist rebels participated. And if we add to this explosive “cocktail” the drug dealers of the “Golden Triangle”, which, in addition to Myanmar, also included Thailand and Laos, it becomes obvious that the situation on Burmese soil did not symbolize peace and quiet. From 1962 until 2011, the country was ruled by the military, and the head of the opposition Democratic League that won in 1989, the future Nobel Peace Prize winner, Do Aung San Suu Kyi, was placed under house arrest for a long time. The country found itself in a rather noticeable isolation from the outside world - including in connection with Western sanctions. But in recent years there have been noticeable changes in Myanmar and elections have been held. And last year, Aung San Suu Kyi became foreign minister and state adviser (de facto prime minister). In a country with a population of 60 million people, there are more than a hundred nationalities: Burmese, Shan, Karen, Arakanese, Chinese, Indians, Mons, Kachins, etc. The vast majority of believers are Buddhists, there are Christians, Muslims, animists. “Myanmar, as a multinational country, is experiencing a load of problems of this kind,” comments Viktor Sumsky, director of the ASEAN Center at MGIMO. – The new government of the country is making attempts to resolve conflict situations, but in fact it turns out that it was the problem of the Rohingya that came to the fore... So, who are the Rohingyas? This is an ethnic group living compactly in the Myanmar state of Rakhine (Arakan). The Rohingya practice Islam. According to estimates, their number in Myanmar ranges from 800 thousand to 1.1 million people. It is believed that most of them moved to the territory of Burma during the British colonial rule. The Myanmar authorities refer to the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh - and on this basis deny them citizenship. The law forbade them to have more than two children. The authorities tried to resettle them in Bangladesh, but no one expected them there either. It is no coincidence that the UN calls them one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Many Rohingyas flee to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand. But a number of countries in Southeast Asia - including Muslim ones - refuse to accept these refugees, and ships with migrants are deployed at sea. During the Second World War, when Burma was occupied by Japan, in 1942 there was a so-called. "Arakan massacre" between Rohingya Muslims who received weapons from the British and local Buddhists who supported the Japanese. Tens of thousands of people died, many people became refugees. Of course, these events did not add trust to relations between the communities. From time to time, serious tensions flared up in the places of compact residence of the Rohingya, often reaching bloodshed. While Buddhist Burmese are staging Muslim pogroms in Rakhine, the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, has urged Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to support the Rohingya. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke out in defense of the Burmese Muslims. The West, both in the European Union and the United States, were not silent on this issue (although, of course, it was not the problem of the Muslim minority that played the first role in the sanctions imposed against Myanmar at the time). On the other hand, the problem of Muslims in Burma in the past decades was actively used by various theorists of "global jihad" - from Abdullah Azzam to his student Osama bin Laden. So it cannot be ruled out that this region may become a new point of conflict, where supporters of the most radical jihadist groups will reach out - as happened, say, in the Philippines. The situation escalated after...

Anton Tsvetov

expert at the Center for Strategic Research

— The conflict in Myanmar began during the country’s (then Burma) struggle for independence after the end of World War II. At the same time, clashes began between Buddhists and local Muslims, the Rohingya.

Buddhists in Myanmar are the majority, Muslims are in the minority and live compactly in the western part of Arakan state. This territory is also home to a huge number of refugees from neighboring Bangladesh who have settled here over this long period of time.

The Rohingya almost never lived peacefully in this territory and were always in conflict with the local Buddhist population. This conflict was renewed in rounds, the last round as large as it is now was in 2013.

The current phase has been going on since October last year, starting with attacks by militants from an organization that supposedly represents the interests of the Rohingya. Then it was called “Army of Faith”, now it is called “Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army”. This is a militant organization that carried out attacks four years ago, and on August 25 its people attacked a unit of the Burmese army. As before, these attacks provoked a harsh response from the armed forces of Myanmar, in whose political life the military still plays a very important role.

Support for Myanmar Muslims all this time was quite significant in Asia itself. Throughout the last round of the conflict, that is, since October 2016, we have seen quite a lot of speeches in support of the Rohingya.

The most prominent movement is in Malaysia, where there is a large Rohingya refugee community. There, even the country's Prime Minister Najib Razak is trying to make political capital from the support of the Rohingya. He is in a difficult internal conflict with the former prime minister and is trying to draw attention to his role as a protector of Muslims throughout East Asia. We see that he has already spoken quite harshly and was one of the first to speak out about the situation in Myanmar, and it was he who called what was happening “genocide” of Muslims.

In addition to Malaysian officials, the public in many other Muslim countries has come out in support of the Rohingya people. For example, within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Islamic bloc generally advocates that the Association, on its own behalf, condemn the actions of the official authorities of Myanmar. On the side of the Rohingya are international human rights organizations, the UN refugee and human rights agency, and a strong media apparatus. The most alarming reports on the Rohingya crisis tend to come from Al Jazeera and Gulf media.

Russia's role has historically never been significant in this conflict.

For China, the situation is much more sensitive because Myanmar is its neighbor and zone of influence, China invests resources in the stability of the region by supporting the current government. China has serious economic interests there. For him, Myanmar is one of the countries through which a new route for the supply of goods to Europe could pass.

amendment

The editors have changed the previous incorrect title of the material, which talked about Russia's support for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, we apologize to the readers. In fact, support for Muslims is expressed by the Muslim community of Russia and regional leaders - for example, Ramzan Kadyrov. Officially, Moscow has so far shared China’s position, that is, it has supported the actions of the Myanmar government. And yesterday at the BRICS summit, Vladimir Putin said that Russia condemns all violence in Myanmar, and the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are in no way prohibited from having their own views on foreign policy that differ from the official one.

Before Kadyrov, Erdogan stood up for the Rohingya people

What was heard on the Internet about Kadyrov, the Sunday standing outside the embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in Moscow and the mass rally in Grozny in defense of Muslims persecuted in a distant country unexpectedly forced Russians to pay attention to a problem little known to the general public.

In fact, the historical confrontation in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar with a persecuted Muslim minority has long been a source of concern throughout the world, both at the government level and in the human rights community.

Since the country gained independence in 1948, a civil war has been waged in Burma, in which the Burmese authorities, communist guerrillas, and separatist rebels participated. And if we add to this explosive “cocktail” the drug dealers of the “Golden Triangle”, which, in addition to Myanmar, also included Thailand and Laos, it becomes obvious that the situation on Burmese soil did not symbolize peace and quiet.

From 1962 until 2011, the country was ruled by the military, and the head of the opposition Democratic League that won in 1989, the future Nobel Peace Prize winner, Do Aung San Suu Kyi, was placed under house arrest for a long time. The country found itself in a rather noticeable isolation from the outside world - including in connection with Western sanctions. But in recent years there have been noticeable changes in Myanmar and elections have been held. And last year, Aung San Suu Kyi became foreign minister and state adviser (de facto prime minister).

In a country with a population of 60 million people, there are more than a hundred nationalities: Burmese, Shan, Karen, Arakanese, Chinese, Indians, Mons, Kachins, etc. The vast majority of believers are Buddhists, there are Christians, Muslims, animists.

“Myanmar, as a multinational country, is experiencing a load of problems of this kind,” comments Viktor Sumsky, director of the ASEAN Center at MGIMO. – The new government of the country is making attempts to resolve conflict situations, but in fact it turns out that it is the Rohingya problem that has come to the fore...

So who are the Rohingyas? This is an ethnic group living compactly in the Myanmar state of Rakhine (Arakan). The Rohingya practice Islam. According to estimates, their number in Myanmar ranges from 800 thousand to 1.1 million people. It is believed that most of them moved to the territory of Burma during the British colonial rule.

The Myanmar authorities refer to the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh - and on this basis deny them citizenship. The law forbade them to have more than two children. The authorities tried to resettle them in Bangladesh, but no one expected them there either. It is no coincidence that the UN calls them one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Many Rohingyas flee to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand. But a number of countries in Southeast Asia - including Muslim ones - refuse to accept these refugees, and ships with migrants are deployed at sea.

During the Second World War, when Burma was occupied by Japan, in 1942 there was a so-called. "Arakan massacre" between Rohingya Muslims who received weapons from the British and local Buddhists who supported the Japanese. Tens of thousands of people died, many people became refugees. Of course, these events did not add trust to relations between the communities.

From time to time, serious tensions flared up in the places of compact residence of the Rohingya, often reaching bloodshed. While Buddhist Burmese are staging Muslim pogroms in Rakhine, the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, has urged Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to support the Rohingya. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke out in defense of the Burmese Muslims. The West, both in the European Union and the United States, were not silent on this issue (although, of course, it was not the problem of the Muslim minority that played the first role in the sanctions imposed against Myanmar at the time). On the other hand, the problem of Muslims in Burma in the past decades was actively used by various theorists of "global jihad" - from Abdullah Azzam to his student Osama bin Laden. So it cannot be ruled out that this region may become a new point of conflict, where supporters of the most radical jihadist groups will reach out - as happened, say, in the Philippines.

The situation became particularly tense after dozens of people attacked three Myanmar border posts last October, killing nine border guards. After this, troops were sent into Rakhine State. More than 20 thousand people fled to Bangladesh. In February 2017, a UN report was published based on surveys of refugees: it provides shocking facts of extrajudicial killings of the Rohingya by local nationalists, as well as security forces, gang rapes, etc.

In recent days alone, about 90 thousand Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh. This happened after rebels from the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army attacked dozens of police posts and an army base in Rakhine on August 25. Subsequent clashes and a military counter-offensive claimed at least 400 lives. Authorities accuse militants of burning houses and killing civilians, while human rights activists blame the army for the same. And even before Ramzan Kadyrov, Turkish President Erdogan spoke out in defense of Burmese Muslims last week, calling what was happening a genocide about which “everyone is silent”...

After a spontaneous rally of Muslims at the Myanmar Embassy in Moscow in defense of fellow believers, a rally was also held in Grozny - about a million people took part in it.