The US's top diplomat said the scenes of persecution were "just horrific." He has urged the government of Aung San Suu Kyi to permit a credible investigation into what the UN has called "textbook ethnic cleansing."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo
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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for an independent investigation into alleged Myanmar atrocities against Rohingya Muslims during a joint press conference on Wednesday with the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The recent serious allegations of abuses in Rakhine state demand a credible and impartial investigation and those who commit human rights abuses or violations must be held accountable," he said. "The scenes of what occurred out there are just horrific."
Over 600,000 Rohingya civilians have fled Rakhine state in the northwestern Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country, to neighboring Bangladesh since security forces started a crackdown at the end of August.
Rohingya in refugee camps in Bangladesh have reported of Myanmar soldiers committing mass murder and rape against civilians.
Military leaders have said they are only targeting Rohingya insurgents. Ahead of Tillerson's arrival, a senior commander said there was no evidence of security forces using "excessive force" in Rakhine.
Children refugee numbers mount as result of Rohingya crisis
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Tillerson's comments came after separate meetings with Suu Kyi and Myanmar's military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw.
The plight of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee the atrocities committed by militants and the army in Myanmar is hard to stomach. The most vulnerable are children, as John Owens' photo series shows.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Shot and stabbed
Since August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. "The day the military came, they burnt down the village and shot my mother as she was trying to escape. My father couldn’t walk, so they stabbed him. I saw this with my own eyes," says 10-year-old Mohammed Belal who managed to run away from his village.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Haunted by the trauma
Mohammed’s sister Nur also watched the slaughter. She and her brother now live in a shelter for unaccompanied children in Bangladesh. She can play there and gets regular meals, a stark contrast to her journey from Myanmar where she and her brother nearly starved. But she is still haunted by the trauma of the recent weeks. "I miss my parents, my home, my country," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Deep-rooted conflict
The conflict, which has been going on for 70 years and is rooted in the post-World War II social organization of the country, has claimed more than 2,000 victims since 2016, including the mother of 12-year-old Rahman, above. "They set fire to my home, and my mother was ill, so she could not leave," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Save the children
Dilu-Aara, 5, came to the camp with her sister Rojina after she witnessed her parents being murdered by the military. "I was crying all the time and the bullets were flying over our heads. I escaped somehow." The international aid agency Save the Children is helping minors who come to Kutupalong without parents. Children make up to 60 percent of all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Hunted like animals
Jaded Alam is among the hundreds of kids who came to Kutupalong without parents. Fortunately, his aunt cares for him — and very well, he admits. Jaded grew up in a village called Mandi Para where he used to love playing football, but everything changed when the military attacked. "They told us to leave our home. When I was running with my parents, they shot them. They died on the spot," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Child abductions
Not all families have been separated during their plight, however. Rahman Ali has been scouring the refugee camp for weeks now after his 10-year-old son Zifad disappeared. Rumors of child abductions have swirled around the camp for years, and Rahman fears his son has fallen prey to human traffickers. "I can't eat, I can’t sleep. I’m so upset! It’s like I’ve gone mad."
Image: DW/J. Owens
"My mind is not normal"
When the shooting started, Sokina Khatun did all she could to protect her children — but she couldn't save Yasmine,15, and Jamalita, 20, who were in a neighboring village at the time. "Their throats were cut in front of their grandparents," she says. "I was numb, I couldn’t feel the pain. Right now my mind is not normal," she says. She managed to rescue nine of her offspring.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Attacked, raped and robbed
Yasmine thinks she might be 15 but looks considerably younger. In her village, she used to play with marbles and run in the nearby fields, but different memories haunt her now: The attack by Myanmar forces, the beating and murder of her beloved father and brothers, and the rape by a group of Burmese soldiers who also robbed her. "I felt lots of pain in my body," she says.
"I have not been silent ... what people mean is what I say is not interesting enough," she said, adding: "What I say is not meant to be exciting, it's meant to be accurate ... not set people against each other."
Her government has previously blocked UN monitors into Rakhine state to investigate the alleged persecution, despite the UN calling military actions there a "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
