Myanmar: satellite images show helipads and military installations built on burned Rohingya land
New Amnesty report uses satellite imagery and interviews to point to a rapid increase in military infrastructure and other construction since the start of the year that researchers say amounts to a ‘land grab’
Myanmar is building security installations on top of razed Rohingya villages, Amnesty International said Monday, casting doubt on the country’s plans to repatriate hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents six months ago that the US and UN have called ethnic cleansing.
Myanmar rejects that accusation, saying it was responding to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in late August.
But critics accuse the military of using the insurgent attacks to launch disproportionate, scorched-earth “clearance operations” as a pretext to push out the loathed minority.
The new Amnesty report, Remaking Rakhine State, uses satellite imagery and interviews to point to a rapid increase in military infrastructure and other construction since the start of the year that researchers say amounts to a “land grab”.