Rohingya villagers met with Hluntin (police tasked with border security) and regular officers recently to discuss the occupation of Kila Dong village. The meeting was joined by some Rohingya leaders that are allegedly collaborating with authorities that have forced out residents of villages neighboring Kila Dong. The village was besieged by Rakhine mobs and security forces early in the week.
Local sources reported that an unknown number of bodies of adults and children have been found among the destroyed houses in Kila Dong. It is difficult to independently verify these reports as no one is allowed to enter or exit the village.
Malik (not real name), a village elder, said that at least 100 houses and one mosque have been destroyed. Besides this, an entire stock of rice, grains and other valuable goods were looted by Rakhine villagers.
The attacks reportedly started after a police man and his gun went missing.
Rakhine are allegedly able to freely move about while Rohingya parents have been prevented from bringing food to their separated children.
Recently a woman was arrested after she and a friend tried to enter Kila Dong by crossing the paddy field from Gawdusara. Her whereabouts are still unknown, but was last spotted talking to officers stationed inside the village’s mosque, an anonymous teacher said.
“If we held the female from Kila Dong (Du Cheeradan), there is no need to wait here for the gun," Maungdaw Hluntin director Col. Than Ko Ko reportedly said at the recent meeting, according to Kamal who attended the meeting.
Col. Than Ko Ko, joined by Maungdaw district Police officer Lt. Col. Shwe Than, met with around 70 villagers at the primary school in Sarkunborr, Kamal said.
The Rohingya leaders in attendance - Yousuf, Block 2 administration officer and two religious leaders- are trying to convince villagers to help authorities to find the allegedly missing police sergeant Aung Kyaw Than and his gun, Kamal said.
The Hluntin director asked the villagers to follow the directions of their religious leaders that were in attendance by helping them.
“No need to stay without your village. You just need cooperate with us and we will help you, otherwise the situation will get worse,” the director allegedly said.
Meanwhile the security officer ordered officers to search villages around Kila Dong . A move that has terrified villagers who are afraid of being arrested and left the women more vulnerable, said Hanan from Sarkunborr village close to Kila Dong.
If the Hluntin director really wants Rakhine and Rohingya to live together peacefully he must allow the Rohingya leaders to visit Kila Dong, Hanan said. But Hanan said that won’t happen because “the village has been badly damaged and now there is nothing left”.
Security forces have rounded up residents of the Aytahliya (Italia) village tract, searching each house for the allegedly missing sergeant and villagers that fled from Kila Dong. The raid came because some of the women from Kila Dong had married with several Italia villagers in the past said Anwer, an elder from the area.
U Shwe Maung, a Rohingya member of Pyithu Hlutaw and USDP representative for Buthidaung Township, vowed on his Facebook page to fight for his community through legal channels. U Shwe Maung quoted the 2008 Constitution that declares that “nobody is above the law”.
He also wrote of receiving photos of five bodies that been apparently stabbed with knives. Presently U Shwe Maung is compiling information to submit to Parliament.
UN officials based in Maungdaw stand accused of doing nothing to help the displaced Rohingya who have become homeless following the attacks. UN officials tried to enter Kila Dong to assess the situation, but were allegedly blocked by authorities that didn’t want them to witness the many corpses that lay scattered about the village, said a school teacher, who didn’t want his name used for security concerns.
Presidential spokesperson U Ye Htut and the Rakhine state spokesperson Win Myaing have denied allegations reported in western media that alleged that Rakhine mobs and authorities were behind the recent violence.
State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said the US is "deeply troubled by reports of violence in the Rakhine state" from the new wave of unrest in western Myanmar that has left several people dead. She cautioned for security forces from using "excessive force”.
"We're saddened to hear reports that several people have been killed, many injured, at least one missing and hundreds of civilians displaced in violence that included looting and destruction of homes and property," Jen Psaki said.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani expressed deep concern regarding the recent events in Du Chreedan (Kila Dong) on Jan. 14 that involved looting, raping and killing of Rohingya Muslim civilians in southern Maungdaw, according to their website.
The secretary general urged for the government to follow through with their promises to enforce rule of law, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms calling on all Myanmar political leaders to exercise their influence for the sake of peace, tolerance and community reconciliation.
