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Showing posts with the label Jason Motlagh

Muslim refugees flee Burma by boat after sectarian violence

Halima, 30, a pregnant mother of five, cooks rice at a camp in Sittwe, Burma. The U.N. and other groups are providing food for more than 115,000 displaced Rohingyas, but thousands more displaced must fend for themselves. Jason Motlagh Washington Post February 11, 2013 SITTWE, Burma — Abu Kassim clutched his stomach and heaved forward, replaying the moment his uncle was shot dead last summer, one of scores of people who were killed as sectarian violence engulfed western Burma. Abu Kassim, 26, and his ethnic Rohingya family have since survived on handouts in a makeshift camp on the fringe of this coastal city, unable to return home or look for work beyond military checkpoints. “There are no opportunities here for us, no hope,” he said. “We are prisoners.” Now, he’s convinced there is only one way out: to cross the Bay of Bengal by boat to join fellow Muslims in Malaysia. Abu Kassim is far from alone. Eight months after unrest between Arakanese Buddhists and Burma...