The world’s top Islamic body, in a statement following a meeting in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, also urged the UN Human Rights Commission to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Myanmar. The statement called on “Burmese authorities to strongly respond to the organisation’s appeal and allow a ministerial OIC delegation to visit” Myanmar.
Last year at least 180 people were killed in the western state of Rakhine in clashes between local Buddhists and Rohingya — a Muslim minority treated with hostility by most Burmese who see them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. In March, at least 43 people died in Buddhist-Muslim clashes which broke in central Myanmar where mosques were burned down and Muslim homes were destroyed.
The unrest has instilled fear in the country’s Muslims, some of whose families had lived peacefully alongside Buddhists for generations.
“Such violence is a clear indication of the government’s negative approach in dealing with ethnic and religious tensions that erupted last summer,” said OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, describing the violence as “unacceptable”.
While the Rohingya —described by the UN as among the most-persecuted minorities on the planet — have long been denied Myanmar citizenship, the Muslims targeted in last month’s unrest are Myanmar nationals.
