Demba Ba Urges Action To Protect Rohingya Muslims, Praises Turkey's Efforts

Demba Ba Urges Action To Protect Rohingya Muslims, Praises Turkey's Efforts

04 September 2017

Senegalese footballer and former Beşiktaş player Demba Ba called on Muslims to take action to protect Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar Sunday, amid concerning reports of a growing number of deaths and forced displacements of Muslims.

Speaking to the Anadolu Agency in the holy city of Mecca after performing the pilgrimage, Ba said the international community carries a great responsibility for the developments in Myanmar.

"Everybody sees and know what is happening but nobody is actually acting or talking to stop this," Ba said.

The former Chelsea striker also praised Turkey's efforts in helping the Rohingya Muslims, saying no other country is putting efforts as much as Turkey to help the persecuted Muslim community.

Violence erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Aug. 25 when the country's security forces launched an operation against the Rohingya Muslim community. It triggered a fresh influx of refugees towards neighboring Bangladesh, though the country sealed off its border to refugees.

Turkish officials repeatedly warned Myanmar government to ensure the safety of the Rohingya community. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu reiterated Turkey's call to Bangladesh to open its doors to Rohingya people, and said that Turkey would pay all the expenses.

Media reports said Myanmar security forces used disproportionate force, displacing thousands of Rohingya villagers and destroying their homes with mortars and machine guns.

The region has seen simmering tension between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out in 2012.

A crackdown launched last October in Maungdaw, where Rohingya make up the majority, led to a UN report on human rights violations and crimes against humanity by security forces.

The UN documented mass gang-rape, killings -- including infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances. Rohingya representatives have said approximately 400 people have been slain during the crackdown.

Persecution of all Muslims in Myanmar on the rise, rights group says

The systematic persecution of minority Muslims is on the rise across Burma and not confined to the northwestern state of Rakhine, where recent violence has sent nearly 90,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing, a Burma rights group said on Tuesday.

The independent Burma Human Rights Network said that persecution was backed by the government, elements among the country's Buddhist monks, and ultra-nationalist civilian groups.

"The transition to democracy has allowed popular prejudices to influence how the new government rules, and has amplified a dangerous narrative that casts Muslims as an alien presence in Buddhist-majority Burma," the group said in a report.

The report draws on more than 350 interviews in more than 46 towns and villages over an eight-month period since March 2016.

Burma's government made no immediate response to the report. Authorities deny discrimination and say security forces in Rakhine are fighting a legitimate campaign against "terrorists".

Besides Rohingya Muslims, the report also examines the wider picture of Muslims of different ethnicities across Burma following waves of communal violence in 2012 and 2013.

The report says many Muslims of all ethnicities have been refused national identification cards, while access to Islamic places of worship has been blocked in some places.

At least 21 villages around Burma have declared themselves "no-go zones" for Muslims, backed by the authorities, it said.

In Rakhine state, the report highlighted growing segregation between Buddhists and Muslim communities and severe travel restriction for the Muslim Rohingyas, which limited their access to health care and education.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh since 25 August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people.

The treatment of Burma's roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Burma de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who critics say have not done enough to protect the Muslim minority from persecution.

The London-based Burma Human Rights Network has been advocating among the international community for human rights in Burma since 2012, it says on its website.

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