Rohingya Muslims stuck between Myanmar’s military junta, rebel Arakan Army

After suffering decades of oppression, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are now caught between two fires from the country’s repressive military junta and the rebel Buddhist Arakan Army, according to local Arakanese activists.

The UN and other international human rights organizations have called the violence against the country’s Rohingya “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide,” saying the Muslim group is “the most persecuted minority in the world.”

Saying that what has been done to Arakanese society is not new, Arakanese activists stressed: “In addition to human rights violations, numerous military campaigns have been carried out to eliminate and render Arakanese Muslims stateless in their own country and in neighboring countries where they have taken refuge.”

“Rohingya Muslims are forced to escape from their villages and homes to save their loved ones in the war between the Myanmar army and the Buddhist Rohingya Army,” they added.