Satellite images released by a U.S.-based human rights group on Monday showed more than 800 buildings have been destroyed in deadly communal violence in central Burma’s Meikhtila city, leaving “entire neighborhoods” charred.
Human Rights Watch urged the Burmese government to investigate what it called the failure of police to stop the wave of arson attacks and hold accountable those responsible for inciting the violence that erupted in Meikhitla on March 20 before spreading to surrounding townships.
“The government should investigate responsibility for the violence in Meikhtila and the failure of the police to stop wanton killings and the burning of entire neighborhoods,” said HRW’s Asia Director Brad Adams.
The photos, taken a week after the violence between Muslims and Buddhists broke out and compared to images from December, show 828 buildings, mostly homes, completely destroyed and another 35 partially ruined.
Some 24 hectares (60 acres) in three locations in the west and northeast of the city suffered near-total destruction, HRW said, though it did not specify whether the areas were home to Buddhists or Muslims.
But HRW’s deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said the worst-hit areas are believed to be neighborhoods belonging to “a significant number of Muslims,” according to Agence France Presse.
Sparked in Meikhtila
The clashes in Meikhtila were sparked by an argument between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers, and quickly grew into riots in which mobs targeted mosques, homes and shops in arson attacks in 11 townships in Mandalay and the neighboring Bago region.
In riots that raged for over a week before calming late last week, 42 people have been killed and 93 hospitalized, state media reported, with 68 suspects held for their role in the unrest.
More than 12,000 people have been left homeless by the violence, according to the U.N., whose special envoy for human rights in Burma raised concerns of “state involvement” in attacks on Muslims in the riots -- charges immediately rejected by President Thein Sein’s office.
U.N. rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana said last week that the government had not done enough to stem the violence, citing reports that military and police had stood by while “atrocities” were committed by “well organized, ultra-nationalist Buddhist mobs.”
Lessons from Rakhine
The violence is the worst since clashes between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines in western Burma’s Rakhine state left at least 180 dead and tens of thousands homeless last year.
HRW said the destruction in Meikhitla was similar to satellite imagery of affected towns in Rakhine, where arson attacks left large, clearly defined residential areas in ashes.
“Burma’s government should have learned the lessons of recent sectarian clashes in Arakan [Rakhine] state and moved quickly to bolster the capacity of the police to contain violence and protect lives and property,” Adams said.
“Decisive government action according to the rule of law is critically important to deter extremists and anyone else using violence to further economic, religious, and political agendas.”
Reported by RFA’s Burmese Service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.