Rages in Central

Like Ko Aung Thu, many Muslims in the five violence-hit townships in Bago Region managed to flee to the old capital Yangon, located about 100 miles (170 km) to the south.

But further north, in Mandalay Division, the outburst of violence was more sudden and devastating. A dispute between a Muslim gold shop owner and a Buddhist customer on March 20 reportedly sparked rioting and arson attacks in Meikhtila. Many in the Muslim community—who made up a third of the town’s approximately 100,000 residents—were killed or chased away by mobs. Some were lynched in the streets and their bodies were burned where the fell.

The violence left 13,000 people displaced, 43 killed and 93 hospitalized according to police. Although most victims are believed to be Muslim, the town’s Buddhist community suffered, too. Some were killed or injured and hundreds were displaced.

After three days of violence, a state of emergency was declared in Meikhtila and three surrounding townships, and the army restored calm. But the riots subsequently spread to two other Mandalay townships and south to Bago Region.

President U Thein Sein finally addressed the unrest on March 28, warning that the government would use force “as a last resort” to end the violence. Soon after, the attacks subsided.

Nine days of unrest had left a total of 1,227 homes, 77 shops and 37 mosques destroyed in central Myanmar, according to police, while 68 suspects were detained, with half facing criminal charges.

Myanmar has a history of communal tensions between its Buddhist majority and minority Muslims, who are estimated to represent at least 5 percent of an estimated population of 60 million. Many of them live in urban areas and often dominant in trade and business—a situation that at times creates resentment among the Buddhist majority.

Muslim leaders, prominent local activists and UN officials have said,

Top right: One of the main Muslim quarters of Meikhtila goes up in flames at the height of the anti-Muslim rioting.

Below left: A resident of Gyobingauk, Bago Region, wanders through a mosque that has been ransacked by an anti-Muslim mob.

Below however, that the recent violence was incited by outside interests seeking to fan lingering anti-Muslim sentiment, possibly with the aim of destabilizing the government’s reform agenda.

“They have intentionally formed groups and organized violence against the people,” 88 Generation Students group leader U Min Ko Naing said on March 25.

“I learned that there are still some hardliners in the ruling [USDP] party who are against the reforms. I was told they’ve hired some thugs on daily wages to fan the unrest,” said U Tha Aye, the chairman of the Union National Development Party, an Islamic political organization. “Because the riots can halt the government’s reforms.”

International human rights groups also condemned nationalist religious leaders such Mandalay-based monk U Wirathu, whose “969” campaign calls on Myanmar people to shun Muslim businesses.

In an interview with The Irrawaddy, U Wirathu denied responsibility for the unrest and claimed instead that the Muslim minority in Meikhtila “systematically” organized the violence that wrecked their community.

In his speech, President U Thein Sein stated that “political opportunists and religious extremists” had engineered the unrest. “We must expect these conflicts and difficulties to arise during our period of democratic transition. With a united effort, we must face and overcome these challenges,” he said.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said little while the communal violence raged, and remained largely silent until April 8, when she spoke to Muslim leaders and said that she would help to end the violence by promoting rule of law.

Despite U Thein Sein’s tough words, his government has been strongly criticized for what some saw as his lack of decisive action in protecting Muslim communities during the unrest.

“The government has simply not done enough to address the spread of discrimination and prejudice against Muslim communities,” UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana said on March 28.

Quitana said the government failed to foresee that last year’s sectarian violence in western Rakhine State— which killed 180 people and displaced 125,000—could spread to other regions.

The envoy said he had even received reports of cases in which state security forces ignored atrocities “committed before their very eyes”—a claim that the President’s spokesman U Ye Htut has strongly denied.

In Okpho, calm was restored by early April; the authorities had relaxed their curfew hours and markets were reopened. Ko Aung Thu and his family had returned to the town. But, like many other Muslims in central Myanmar, the remain deeply uncertain about their future.

Local authorities, he said, had not made it clear if the Muslim community would receive government support and protection if they reopened their shops and mosque.

“It will take time to rebuild trust. The authorities have not even come to the Muslim areas yet to tell us that it’s safe for us. So how can we have trust so that we can reopen our business?” Ko Aung Thu asked.

He added, “I did not see the government take any action against the rioters.”