Скачать или смотреть Villagers flee Rakhine in fear of army operation

(29 Jun 2020) Thousands of people in western Myanmar continued to flee their homes Monday after officials issued an evacuation order ahead of military action against ethnic rebels.
The Rakhine State government had given instructions on June 23 for residents to leave their homes because of army plans to conduct a "clearance operation" against the rebels.
"Clearance operation" is Myanmar military parlance for counterinsurgency action.
The exodus from more than 40 villages is still continuing almost a week later even though the order was revoked on June 26.
On Monday, around 30 people arrived at a monastery in the state capital Sittwe, seeking food and shelter.
More than 10,000 people have said to have fled the region.
The government has been embroiled for more than a year in an intermittent heavy conflict in Rakhine State with the Arakan Army, a well-trained and well-armed guerrilla force fighting for greater autonomy for the area's Rakhine ethnic majority.
The Rakhine are Buddhist, the religion of almost 90% of Myanmar's people.
In 2017 the military carried out counterinsurgency operations against insurgents from the Muslim Rohingya minority, in Rakhine state.
Critics say this then became a campaign of terror to drive the Rohingya out of the country.
An estimated 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where they remain in refugee camps.

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