SITTWE: The Rakhine state in Western Myanmar is home to over 150,000 internally displaced people.
Among them, the Rohingyas, who are not considered citizens, are perhaps the most vulnerable. However, they aren't the only ones suffering.
Myanmar's former border affairs minister Lieutenant General Thein Htay once described Sittwe in Rakhine State as a place where "lines can't be crossed."
This city of about 200,000 people is a patchwork of divided communities along religious lines, separated by checkpoints and razor wire.
Every day, students from Sittwe University - a mostly Buddhist student body - must pass through camps of displaced people made up of mostly Muslims to attend school.
Some have described the situation here as a form of apartheid.
Most of the incidents of sectarian violence have taken place here in Rakhine state, where over 80,000 Rohingya Muslims currently reside, according to the United Nations.
It is not the only community that was affected. Over the past two years, over 200 people have been killed and 150,000 are displaced across the country.
Camps for the internally displaced people have been set up to help those who have lost their homes in the violence.
Aung Win, a Rohingya man living in a community that includes non-Rohingya Muslims, believes the government has "no intention to solve the problem".
He said: "I think the government will take this problem to the 2015 election. Maybe during this period, they will not settle this problem and they will keep this Rohingya people separated from the downtown Sittwe. They are segregating (the population) and proceeding with ethnic cleaning."
Human Rights Watch has described the Rohingyas situation as ethnic cleansing, especially given the poor sanitary conditions of pregnant women in the camps, along with a two child limit only for Rohingya families.
Myanmar's President Thein Sein has called this a "smear campaign" and threatened zero tolerance for those who foment ethnic hatred.
For now, the government's policy of forced segregation continues.
The most isolated and squalid camp is on Kyi Ni Pyin Island in the Bay of Bengal - about an hour speedboat ride away from Sittwe.
Here, Rohingya women cook over open fires under flimsy tarps while security forces watch the camp from above. There is no school and no medical care.
Some men were willing to speak to Channel NewsAsia despite the risk to their own security. They claimed this thatch pavilion is used as an open air jail.
Some Rakhines believe the Rohingyas want to create their own Islamic state called Arkistan.
The Rohingyas have rejected the claims. In fact, their only objective is to become Myanmar citizens.
The citizenship issue is at the heart of the problem. There is no clear or easy path for the Rohingyas to become citizens under Myanmar's law.
Ironically, during the elections, they have been issued temporary residence IDs and were permitted to vote which has angered local Rakhine parties.
Khaing Kyaw Moe, secretary of external affairs at the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said: "Most of the Muslim people voted USDP (Union Solidarity and Development Party) in 2010. That is why I am talking about my people who voted us in 2010. We need to listen to the people's voices if they want those people or not. Pragmatically, we understand that politically, we can't avoid that, we can't avoid those people. We can't kick them out."
The only thing everyone agrees on is that the government will only take action when there are votes to be gained.
Myanmar's next general elections are slated for 2015.
- Channel News Asia
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/unending-plight-of/775982.html
Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/08/14/unending-plight-of-myanmars-rakhine-state/
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