An unknown number of Rohingya were killed in 2017, while hundreds of thousands fled across the border. In addition to mass shootings, the army allegedly burned down entire villages and committed countless rapes.
Image: Reuters/M.P. Hossain
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Thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees marked the one-year anniversary Saturday of a military crackdown that killed thousands and sent hundreds of thousands more fleeing across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, as the military allegedly burned down entire villages and committed widespread atrocities.
Demanding justice for their murdered relatives and neighbors, more than 15,000 peaceful demonstrators gathered Saturday morning on a hilltop in the Kutupalong refugee camp, which is part of a web of settlements housing about 900,000 Rohingya, most of whom fled neighboring Myanmar over a four-month period, beginning on August 25 of last year.
One protester carried a banner that read "25th August - Black Day."
The protesters marched through the muddy camp chanting slogans such as "No more genocide, we want justice."
That call was echoed by about 100 demonstrators from a group of NGOs who formed a human chain in front of the national press club in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, according to a report in the local, English-language newspaper Daily Star.
Rohingya celebrate Eid in refugee camp
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The exact number of people killed is unclear but it is believed that at least 6,700 lost their lives, and potentially tens of thousands more.
Rohingyas' future uncertain
One of the demonstrators was Rashida Begum, who fled her home in Myanmar's Rakhine state and sought refuge in the Bangladeshi camp, in the town of Cox's Bazar.
She gave birth to her son eight months ago, while in the camp.
"I am now anxious what my son's future will be like," she said. "We are afraid. There is no education here and no hope of education there also… I don't see any future here and there is also no future there."
The United Nations has called Myanmar's military crackdown "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
Myanmar has built a series of camps and insists the Rohingya can return. Many refugees believe it won't be safe to return until Myanmar's Buddhists accept them as citizens.
"I am afraid that if we are sent back to Burma, they will kill us," Begum said, referring to Myanmar by its other name. "We will go there to die. If the (Myanmar) government accepts us as Rohingya citizens then we will go, otherwise we will not."
In recent decades more than 100,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar during periodic fits of violence. There are now more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi had the global community rooting for her when she was the world's most famous political prisoner. But in recent years she was accused of standing by while soldiers massacred Rohingya Muslims.
Image: Reuters
Darling of democracy
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's assassinated founding father Aung San, returned to her home country in the late 1980s after studying and starting a family in England. She became a key figure in the 1988 uprisings against the country's military dictatorship. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was victorious in 1990 elections, but the government refused to honor the vote.
Image: dapd
Military rule
Suu Kyi spent 15 of the 21 years between 1989 and 2010 under house arrest. After 1995, the rights advocate was barred from seeing her two sons and husband, Michael Aris, even after the latter was diagnosed with cancer. Aris, seen here displaying an honorary doctorate awarded to his wife, died in 1999.
Image: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP
'The Lady'
Suu Kyi's determination to bring democracy and human rights to her country won her international renown, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She was so popular that in 2011 famous French director Luc Besson made a biopic of her life starring Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh. Suu Kyi was often called the world's most famous political prisoner.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Seven Media/Doha Film Institute
Sworn in as lawmaker
Decades of campaigning finally paid off, and in 2012 Suu Kyi was allowed to run in free elections. She won a seat in parliament as Myanmar began its transition away from military government. After general elections in 2015, she became the country's de facto civilian leader, although officially she held the post of foreign minister and state counselor — a role akin to prime minister.
Image: AP
Persecution of the Rohingya
Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic group, had their citizenship revoked by Myanmar's Buddhist-majority government in 1982. Long persecuted, their plight intensified in 2016 when Myanmar's military began what it called "clearance" of illegal immigrants. Groups such as Human Rights Watch have described it as "ethnic cleansing." Thousands have died, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
Image: Reuters/D. Siddiqui
Fall from grace
When she became state counselor in 2016, Suu Kyi set up a commission to investigate claims of atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Suu Kyi accused the Rohingya of spreading "a huge iceberg of misinformation," and said she was concerned by the "terrorist threat" posed by extremists. Her stance sparked protests in Muslim-majority countries around the world.
Image: picture-alliance/Zumapress/J. Laghari
Nobel no more?
Due to her handling of the Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi was stripped of various honors and lost much of her international support. The Nobel committee was forced to issue a statement saying that her peace prize could not be revoked. Fellow Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai called on Suu Kyi to "stop the violence." Suu Kyi said that outsiders could not grasp the complexities of the situation.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A controversial election
In 2020, Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy party won the November 8 general election, with enough seats to form the next government. However, the military's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development party, claimed fraud and demanded a new election supervised by the military. With that came comments alluding to a possible coup. Supporters of the party also marched in protest.
Image: Shwe Paw Mya Tin/REUTERS
Military detains Suu Kyi
Myanmar's civilian leader, along with several of her political allies, were detained in an early morning raid on February 1, 2021 led by the military. The move came amid escalating tensions between the civilian government and army, which had been in control for decades.The junta claimed electoral fraud, announced a yearlong state of emergency and named a former general as acting president.
