CNN reporters' Return to Rakhine



Our visit comes a week after a UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar presented its full report documenting evidence that the military carried out mass rapes, murders, and set fire to villages during what they called "clearance operations" in reaction to alleged "terrorist activities" by Rohingya militants last August.
The UN report says more than 10,000 people were killed, 720,000 fled to Bangladesh, and it called for military generals to be prosecuted in an international tribunal for "genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes." Myanmar's de-facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has rejected the mission and its findings.

Site of a massacre

One of the massacres detailed in the UN report occurred at Inn Din, which was the first stop on the media tour.
"Men, women and children were killed and wounded. They were shot. They were stabbed or slashed with large knives and swords," the report says.
 
During the attack on the village, 10 Rohingya men were murdered and thrown in a mass grave, a crime documented by two Reuters journalists who were jailed for seven years for their investigation under the Official Secrets Act. Seven soldiers were jailed for the killings -- the only atrocity from 2017 that the military has been punished for.
CNN asked to be shown the location of the grave, but locals said it was not allowed, as bad spirits would be released. Rakhine Buddhist villagers became increasingly agitated, and shouted for us to leave the area.
Inn Din used to have a total population of around 7,000 people, 90% of whom were Rohingya. Now, there is nothing left of the Rohingya people or their homes. The Buddhist areas remain untouched.
The Rakhine Buddhist villagers who remain were not surprised to see us there, suggesting they had been warned about our visit.
One Rakhine Buddhist man, Nay Phyu, told CNN that the Rohingya were to blame for the crackdown.
"Kalars (Rohingya) started threatening the Tatmadaw (army)," he said. "Using loudspeakers, the Muslims announced that they would have a celebration by slaughtering and cooking the soldiers and Rakhine people."
Hla Tun, another Rakhine villager, also held deep grievances towards the population who fled.
"Rakhine people are crying," he said. "Everything has been taken by Kalars (Rohingya)."
This sense of injustice is partly due to the long-held belief in Myanmar that the Rohingya receive more aid from international groups despite deprivation among the Rakhine population.
This anger is fueled by government propaganda which portrays Rohingya Muslims as an existential threat to Buddhism, and describes the stateless minority as illegal Bengali migrants, despite them tracing back their roots in Myanmar hundreds of years.
Myanmar's commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, even said during the crackdown that "the Bengali problem was a long-standing one which has become an unfinished job."
Inn Din is just one of multiple villages across the state which have been destroyed and expunged of its Rohingya population, with little trace left behind. Another is Tula Toli, also known as Min Gyi, where a massacre took place, documented by the UN and CNN.
We were refused access to Tula Toli by our government minders, due to "security" and "transport" issues. Later, we also asked a local official, Yee Htoo, the deputy administrator in Maungdaw District, who seemed confused by our request.
"Everything related to the Bengali (Rohingya) was burnt. There is nothing left...I don't know why you want to go there."
CNN visited several locations including Inn Din and No Man's Land on the government-led media tour.
The eerie message was reinforced by people we meet across Rakhine: the Rohingya have gone, so there is nothing to see.
In the 'model village' of Shwe Zarr near the main town of Maungdaw, we are led into a classroom where rows of hand-picked villagers are waiting to be interviewed. The local administrator, 37-year-old Mgtin Soe, tells us that 5,000 Rohingya left this village last year. But he denied they were forced to leave.
"The Muslims left for Bangladesh because they couldn't earn their living here," Mgtin Soe said. "No business anymore."

'The government keeps us like prisoners'

Many of the Rohingya who spoke to CNN who did not flee Rakhine State were unable to speak freely, terrified of reprisals.
Fifty-year-old Mohammed Uddin, a Rohingya from Maungdaw, initially described the current situation in Rakhine as "good, very good." Then after a pause, he added, "not real answer."
Aye Myint, a 24-year-old Rohingya man, told us there was a "big problem" with talking to us, because "government collectors" were close by.
In the town of Maungdaw, 21-year-old Maung Amin spoke to CNN over the phone, as he was too scared to meet in person.
"Here is no freedom, no peace, for Muslims," he said. "I have no job, no education. We can't go anywhere, the government keeps us like prisoners."
The approximately 240,000 Rohingya still in Rakhine State are in a precarious position: they are living under strict curfews and movement restrictions, which combined with their fear of the security forces, means many of them too scared to leave the house, which exacerbates their existing economic deprivation. Even before the 2017 violence, the poverty rate in Rakhine State was 78%.
"While some self-restrict their movement for real or perceived sense of insecurity, or fear of neighboring communities, others -- particularly the Muslim communities - are not allowed to move freely," UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said on October 5, after UN agencies conducted an initial needs assessment visit in northern Rakhine State after being largely blocked from the area for the past year.
 
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