Back to Rakhine: "Genocide never happened in this country"

The UN report says more than 10,000 people were killed, 720,000 fled to Bangladesh and demanded that army generals be prosecuted in an international court for "genocide, crimes against humanity" Humanity and war crimes ". Myanmar's de facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi rejected the mission and its conclusions.

Site of a massacre

One of the massacres described in the UN report was held at Inn Din, which was the first leg of the media tour.

"Men, women and children were killed and wounded, shot dead, stabbed or sliced ​​with large knives and swords," the report said.

CNN asked to be informed of the location of the grave, but locals said that it was not allowed, as evil spirits were released. The Rakhine Buddhist villagers became increasingly agitated and shouted at us to leave the area.

^{The Buddhist villagers of Rakhine are now the only remaining ones in Inn Din, which had 7,000 inhabitants, 90% of whom were Rohingya.}

Inn Din had a total population of about 7,000 people, of which 90% Rohingya. Now there is nothing left of the Rohingyas or their homes. The Buddhist areas remain intact.

The Buddhist villagers of Rakhine who remained were not surprised to see us there, suggesting that they had been warned of our visit.

A Rakhine Buddhist man, Nay Phyu, told CNN that the Rohingya were to blame for the crackdown.

"Kalars (Rohingya) started to threaten the Tatmadaw (army)," he said. "By using loudspeakers, the Muslims announced that they would organize a party by massacring and cooking the soldiers and the Rakhine people."

Hla Tun, another villager from Rakhine, also expressed deep grievances at the place of the people who fled.

^{Nay Phyu, a villager from Inn Din, said the media only told the Rohingya story and did not reflect the feelings of Rakhine Buddhists.}

"The people of Rakhine cry," he said. "Everything was taken by Kalars (Rohingya)."

This feeling of injustice is partly due to the long-standing belief in Myanmar that Rohingyas receive more support from international groups despite the hardships suffered by the Rakhine population.

This anger is fueled by government propaganda portraying the Rohingyas as an existential threat to Buddhism and portraying the stateless minority as illegal Bengali migrants, although they have found their roots in Myanmar there are hundreds of years. ; years.

The commander-in-chief of Myanmar, senior general Min Aung Hlaing, even said during the crackdown that "the problem of Bengal is a long-standing problem that has become an unfinished business".

^{A police officer stands guard in Shwe Zarr village, Maungdaw, where 5,000 Rohingya Muslims fled last year.}

& # 39; There is nothing left & # 39;

Our government officials denied us access to Tula Toli because of "security" and "transportation" issues. Later, we also asked a local manager, Yee Htoo, the deputy administrator of Maungdaw District, who seemed confused by our request.

"Everything about Bengali (Rohingya) was burned, there is nothing left … I do not know why you want to go there."

^{Rakhine state.}

The mysterious message has been reinforced by the people we meet on the other side of Rakhine: the Rohingyas are gone, so there is nothing to see.

In the "model village" of Shwe Zarr, near Maungdaw, main town, we are led into a classroom where rows of handpicked villagers wait to be interviewed. Local administrator Mgtin Soe, 37, tells us that 5,000 Rohingya left the village last year. But he denied that they were forced to leave.

"The Muslims went to Bangladesh because they could not make a living here," said Mgtin Soe. "More business."

^{The villagers of the "model village" of Shwe Zarr, where no one admitted to having seen 5000 Rohingya flee last year.}

"The government keeps us as prisoners"

Many Rohingya who spoke to CNN and who did not flee the Rakhine State were not able to express themselves freely, terrorized by reprisals.

Mohammed Uddin, a 50-year-old Rohingya from Maungdaw, initially described the situation in Rakhine as "good, very good". Then, after a pause, he added, "No real answer."

Aye Myint, a 24-year-old Rohingya, told us that there was a "big problem" with us talking, because "government collectors" were nearby.

In the town of Maungdaw, 21-year-old Maung Amin spoke to CNN by phone, too scared to meet in person.

^{Maungdaw, the main town in northern Rakhine State, is visibly impoverished. Even before the start of violence in 2017, the poverty rate in Rakhine State was 78%.}

"There is no freedom, no peace for Muslims," ​​he said. "I do not have work, no education, we can not go anywhere, the government keeps us as prisoners."

The approximately 240,000 Rohingya still in Rakhine state are in a precarious situation: they are subjected to strict curfews and movement restrictions, combined with their fear of the security forces, which means that many of them are too afraid to leave home, exacerbating their current economic situation. deprivation. Even before the violence of 2017, the poverty rate in Rakhine State was 78%.

"While some restrict their movement to create a sense of real or perceived insecurity, or fear of neighboring communities, others – particularly Muslim communities – are not allowed to move freely", UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said on October 5, after UN agencies made an initial needs assessment visit to northern Rakhine State after being largely blocked in the area during the last year.

^{The coast near the village of Din Inn, where Rohingya villagers fled for safety when their homes were set on fire.}

"We are afraid for our lives"

Outside the tightly controlled northern part of Rakhine, many Rohingyas are still physically locked up, but they feel a little safer to talk freely. This includes the 5,000 refugees trapped in a makeshift camp located in the "No Man's Land", a one-kilometer strip of land located between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

"We are scared for our life," said Dil Mohammed, one of the refugees who spoke to us through the border fence with barbed wire. "Our main importance is to save lives."

They are too afraid to return to Myanmar and claim that border guards prevent their entry into Bangladesh. They survive thanks to the help provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross – their only lifeline.

Their tents made of bamboo bricks and plastic were ravaged by the recent monsoon rains. The absence of sanitary facilities means that sewage flows into the camp.

^{A watchtower at the heavily policed ​​border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.}

They have fled from one hell to another, but they say it's better than risking their lives.

"Nobody wants to stay in these conditions," says Dil Mohammed. "(But) the situation is still not safe for us in Myanmar."

He says the Rohingyas "want to return quickly to our country", but not until they have obtained justice and the guarantee of their safety.

"(The) ICC must sue the perpetrators" for the "genocide" they committed, he added.

However, the story of the military repression is very different on the side of the Myanmar barrier.

^{More than 5,000 Rohingya refugees are stranded in the limbo of "No Man's Land", a small piece of land located between the borders of Myanmar and Bangladesh.}

"Genocide never happened"

"Genocide has never occurred in our country," said U Myint Khine, a director of Maungdaw Township, during an official briefing. "Why are Muslims still here if there was genocide?"

U Myint Khine also accused Rohingya militants of burning their own villages and accused the Rohingyas of stirring up violence, accusing them of seeking to "build up an autonomous region" for years. 1940.

"Muslims will kill members of the ethnic group when they get the chance," he says.

Officials were interrogated on a video recently published by the human rights organization Fortify Rights, which appears to show a Myanmar soldier informing a crowd of civilians that they would "wipe out" the villages quickly and severely. Rohingya "and would encourage villagers to join them. Yee Htoo said the government would seek to check the video and "if it is true, bring legal action".

^{A police officer monitors the barrier between Myanmar and no man's land.}

"The Tatmadaw must defend national sovereignty and everything she did was within the limits of the law," said Yee Htoo. "Nevertheless, there may be mistakes made by individuals."

Under Myanmar's quasi-democratic system and constitution, the military retains full control of the security forces. As a result, the civilian government has little power to question military operations.

During our tour, we meet dozens of police officers and immigration officers, many of whom closely monitor our activities. But the Tatmadaw – the military of Myanmar – are remarkably absent everywhere we go.

A Myanmar-based journalist said that soldiers were on the street – sometimes on the move – during these press tours, but they stopped appearing several months ago.

Myanmar: no Rohingya will return home

One of the places the government wants to show us is the camp, known as Taung Pyo Letwe, which they built at the border to accommodate all returning refugees. Here, they say, the refugees would stay for a few days before being sent to other camps and then to new facilities. But no schedule or guarantee has been defined so far.

Myanmar and Bangladesh have signed three repatriation agreements, but the reality is that any large-scale resettlement is a distant prospect.

Yanghee Lee, of the UN, said that Myanmar had "made no progress" or "shown a real willingness" on the issues at stake.

^{Myanmar immigration officials said the camp was built to accommodate 150 Rohingya Bangladeshi refugees from Bangladesh, but so far only 11 of them have arrived.}

To date, only 11 people have returned to Taung Pyo Letwe camp.

Yee Htoo told us that "verified" refugees can return but added that "a citizen and a non-citizen can not be equal" and that refugees should stop "asking for impossible things".

Immigration officials have also admitted that Rohingya returnees will not be allowed to return to their villages of origin – a major stumbling block for any repatriation.

"What they are asking for is that they return to their place of origin," said Ahmad Ullah, a Yangon-based Rohingya activist. "We are not asking the government to build luxury homes, we do not want it, we just want to recover our properties."

Living in an "open prison"

One of the biggest fears among refugees is that if they return to camps inside Myanmar, they will never be allowed to leave.

This fear is rooted in historical precedents. In 2012, a previous period of violence in Rakhine had displaced thousands of Rohingyas into camps in a temporary movement.

^{A refugee camp located near Sittwe, in Rakhine State, where thousands of Rohingya have been stranded since 2012.}

Despite government promises to close them, nearly 130,000 people remain in camps to date, with little or no access to food, health care and education.

"It sounds a lot like living in an open prison," says Saed, a 32-year-old Rohingya living in Thet Kaye Pyin, one of the camps located near Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine. "But even in prison, prisoners know how long they have to be there, but how long do we have to stay here, we do not know."

When asked if he had a message for refugees in Bangladesh, Saed replied, "I will tell them not to come back now." It's not the right time. "

"The refugees have to go home, they do not want to go to camps," Saed said. "It's like cheating, as they cheated us, we can not trust our government."

Editor 's Note: The Rohingya names that spoke to CNN have been modified to protect their safety.