Conflict in Burma escalates as UN pleads for peace

The Myanmar government’s top security adviser on Wednesday accused Rohingya Muslim militants of trying to carve out a separate state from the country also known as Burma and said armed forces were responding with maximum restraint. At a news conference in Naypyitaw, Thaung Tun said the armed forces were making every effort to avoid harming innocent civilians. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on Aug. 25 attacked Myanmar security bases in Rakhine state after accusing them of assaulting their ethnic group. Rohingya Muslims have no legal status or citizenship rights in Burma. Government forces conducted clearance operations, which killed more than 400 people and sent about 125,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. Residents of the Shah Porir Dwip village in Bangladesh on Wednesday recovered five bodies from the Bay of Bengal hours after a boat carrying Rohingya Muslims capsized. Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladesh border guard official, told Reuters they heard two blasts on the Burma side of the border Tuesday and another two earlier Monday, fueling suspicions that Myanmar forces laid landmines there. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on Myanmar’s government to grant Rohingya Muslims legal rights in the country. “The grievances and unresolved plight of the Rohingya have festered for far too long and are becoming an undeniable factor in regional destabilization,” he said.