Burma Is Pursuing ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Rohingya Muslims, U.N. Official Says

Burmese authorities are carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country’s western Arakan state, a senior U.N. official said, as the military continues to sweep the area for what it has labeled Islamic militants.

The BBC reports that John McKissick, a representative of the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Burmese troops have been “killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river” into neighboring Bangladesh.

Thousands of Rohingya have already sought refuge in Bangladesh, the BBC cited the country’s Foreign Ministry as saying. Thousands more are reportedly turning up at the border hoping to escape. Bangladesh does not view the Rohingya as refugees, and its official policy is to not allow them in. (Courtesy of time.com)