Death toll rises to 40 as unrest spreads to Yangon
27 March 2013 7:38 AM IST
The death toll from recent communal violence in central Myanmar has risen to 40 after eight more bodies were pulled from the wreckage of a riot-hit town, state media reported on Tuesday.
The clashes were a stark reminder of the challenge that Muslim-Buddhist tensions pose to Myanmar’s government as it tries to reform the country after decades of iron-fisted military rule ended two years ago.
In a televised statement on Monday, Myanmar’s government called for an end to ‘religious extremism’ that it warned could derail the Buddhist-majority country’s reform process.
The quasi-civilian government has faced strong international pressure over the unrest, which according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has displaced more than 12,000 people.
The clashes, apparently triggered by an argument in a gold shop, began on 20 March in Meiktila, 130 kilometres north of Naypyidaw, with mosques burned, houses razed and charred bodies left lying in the streets.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the eight new bodies were retrieved from the debris during the clean-up operation over the weekend.
Dozens of people have been detained in connection with the violence, which saw armed rioters, including Buddhist monks, roam the streets, threatening journalists who visited the town.
It was the worst sectarian strife since violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced.
The bloodshed has raised fears that long-standing religious tensions that were largely suppressed during junta rule could now spread to other parts of the country.
SUU KYI PARTY AIMS TO PRINT DAILY PAPER
Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition newspaper is among a host of Myanmar publications planning to print daily, the party said on Tuesday, as authorities prepare to loosen their grip on the long-shackled media.
State-owned newspapers are currently the only dailies allowed because of decades-long restrictions on private journals put in place by a previous junta regime that sought to stamp out any public dissent.‘Newspapers are really important because they are the mirror of the people,’ said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.
He said increased sales of the party’s D-Wave publication, which is currently produced weekly and chiefly focuses on the activities of the NLD and its Nobel laureate leader, will help raise funds.
D-Wave is one of 16 titles approved to become a daily under new rules set to come into effect on 1 April, the state-owned New Light of Myanmar reported.
Myanmar’s press is in the throes of a dramatic transformation, with a host of freedoms under a quasi-civilian regime that replaced military rule in 2011.
US ISSUES FRESH TRAVEL WARNING AS TURMOIL IN BURMA SPILLS OVER
Communal riots in Myanmar have spread closer to the main city Yangon, police said on Tuesday as the United States warned against travelling to parts of the country in the wake of unrest that has left 40 dead.
Fresh clashes broke out on Monday in villages in the Bago region north of Yangon, police said, as the Buddhist-Muslim violence that has gripped areas further north rippled out towards the country’s commercial hub.‘Police and soldiers had to control the clashes almost the whole night,’ a police officer who did not want to be named said of the violence in Bago.
The clashes were a stark reminder of the challenge that Muslim-Buddhist tensions pose to Myanmar’s government as it tries to reform the country after decades of iron-fisted military rule ended two years ago.
In a televised statement on Monday, Myanmar’s government called for an end to ‘religious extremism’ that it warned could derail the Buddhist-majority country’s reform process.
The quasi-civilian government has faced strong international pressure over the unrest, which according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has displaced more than 12,000 people.
The clashes, apparently triggered by an argument in a gold shop, began on 20 March in Meiktila, 130 kilometres north of Naypyidaw, with mosques burned, houses razed and charred bodies left lying in the streets.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the eight new bodies were retrieved from the debris during the clean-up operation over the weekend.
Dozens of people have been detained in connection with the violence, which saw armed rioters, including Buddhist monks, roam the streets, threatening journalists who visited the town.
It was the worst sectarian strife since violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced.
The bloodshed has raised fears that long-standing religious tensions that were largely suppressed during junta rule could now spread to other parts of the country.
SUU KYI PARTY AIMS TO PRINT DAILY PAPER
Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition newspaper is among a host of Myanmar publications planning to print daily, the party said on Tuesday, as authorities prepare to loosen their grip on the long-shackled media.
State-owned newspapers are currently the only dailies allowed because of decades-long restrictions on private journals put in place by a previous junta regime that sought to stamp out any public dissent.‘Newspapers are really important because they are the mirror of the people,’ said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.
He said increased sales of the party’s D-Wave publication, which is currently produced weekly and chiefly focuses on the activities of the NLD and its Nobel laureate leader, will help raise funds.
D-Wave is one of 16 titles approved to become a daily under new rules set to come into effect on 1 April, the state-owned New Light of Myanmar reported.
Myanmar’s press is in the throes of a dramatic transformation, with a host of freedoms under a quasi-civilian regime that replaced military rule in 2011.
US ISSUES FRESH TRAVEL WARNING AS TURMOIL IN BURMA SPILLS OVER
Communal riots in Myanmar have spread closer to the main city Yangon, police said on Tuesday as the United States warned against travelling to parts of the country in the wake of unrest that has left 40 dead.
Fresh clashes broke out on Monday in villages in the Bago region north of Yangon, police said, as the Buddhist-Muslim violence that has gripped areas further north rippled out towards the country’s commercial hub.‘Police and soldiers had to control the clashes almost the whole night,’ a police officer who did not want to be named said of the violence in Bago.
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