The Stateless Rohingya Blog

The Buddhist Rakhine consider Muslim Rohingya to be Bengalis and have directed most of the sectarian bloodshed at them, writes Francis Wade [EPA] By  Francis Wade Al Jazeera October 9, 2013 Myanmar's president made his first trip to the violence-hit town of Thandwe last week, days after a  94-year-old Muslim woman was slain by Buddhists  in a nearby village. Spurred on by an unrelated argument between a Muslim political leader and a Buddhist taxi driver two days prior, a mob approached her home in a nearby village on October 1. Her daughter managed to escape, but returned to find a charred house and a mother with cuts to her neck, head and stomach.  The state-run New Light of Myanmar later quoted President Thein Sein as saying that he had suspicions about the nature of the Thandwe attacks, where close to 100 houses were razed. "Ethnic Rakhine [Buddhists] and ethnic Kaman [Muslims] have been living here in peaceful co-existence for many years,” he said. "

An ethnic Rohingya boy and woman eat at a camp for displaced Muslim families in Arakan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) By Nyein Nyein Irrawaddy News October 8, 2013 RANGOON — The UN agency for children’s rights has called for an end to communal violence in west Burma, where clashes last week between Muslims and Buddhists left hundreds of people homeless.   Unicef issued a statement on Tuesday urging an end to violence in Arakan State, following the third major wave of communal violence to hit the state since last year. The clashes last week near the southern town of Thandwe left five people dead and destroyed some 110 homes.   In the two waves of unrest last year—elsewhere in Arakan State, in June and October—more than 140,000 people were displaced, and more than 105,000 were children affected by the violence, according to statistics from Unicef, which is providing aid locally.   “We are concerned the inter-communal violence is spreading in the whole c