UN envoy visits riot-hit Myanmar town

Vijay Nambiar, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special adviser on Myanmar, looks at debris of the buildings destroyed during the ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, March 24, 2013. The top UN envoy to Myanmar toured a central city Sunday destroyed in the country's worst explosion of Buddhist-Muslim violence this year, calling on the government to punish those responsible for a tragedy that left dozens of corpses piled in the streets, some of them charred beyond recognition.(AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Radio Australia‎

March 24, 2013

The United Nations envoy to Myanmar has spent Sunday visiting the central town of Meiktila destroyed by deadly communal riots.

Vijay Nambiar, the UN special adviser on Myanmar, met some of the estimated 9,000 people who have been displaced by the clashes.

Religious violence in Meiktila has killed at least 32 people since Wednesday, prompting an army-enforced state of emergency.

Mr Nambiar visited two makeshift camps for displaced Muslims and a monastery housing Buddhists who also fled the violence.

After visiting the camps, Mr Nambiar said he noticed there was "very little hatred" and that residents wanted to rebuild their lives.

"We are prepared to help as much as we can in terms of humanitarian assistance," he added.

Buddhist and Muslim leaders have spoken publicly for the first time since the violence began, urging respect for the law and the maintenance of "community harmony".

The Interfaith Friendship Organisation has called on the government to protect both communities in Meiktila, 130 kilometres north of the capital Naypyidaw.

An uneasy peace prevailed over the town on Sunday, with shops reopening and police and army patrols keeping order after three days of rioting which saw armed mobs - including monks - take control of the streets.

Muslim-Buddhist tensions

It was the most serious religious conflict since Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the western state of Rakhine last year, leaving at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced.

The state of emergency, signed by President Thein Sein, is designed to enable the army to help restore order.

The UN, US, Britain and rights groups have called for calm and dialogue between communities amid fears the violence could spread.

Myanmar's Muslims - largely of Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi descent - account for an estimated four per cent of the population of roughly 60 million, although the country has not conducted a census in three decades.

Religious violence has occasionally broken out in the past in some areas across the country, with Rakhine state a flashpoint for the tensions.

Since violence erupted there last year, thousands of Muslim Rohingya have fled the conflict in rickety boats, many heading for Malaysia.

AFP/ABC

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