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Muslim And Buddhist Fighting In Myanmar Kills 67

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Myanmar, also known as Burma, has won praise for its unexpected transformation from military dictatorship to civilian rule. But that progress has been overshadowed this week. Fighting among Muslims and Buddhists, in the west of the country, has killed at least 67 people. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: State television reported that since Sunday, fighting between ethnic Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists has destroyed nearly 3,000 homes, and sent more than 60,000 people fleeing to refugee camps in western Rakhine state. The government has not given a breakdown of the victims' ethnicity.

Tun Khin is president of the London-based Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K. He says this fighting should not be happening, under the state of emergency that the government declared after more than 80 people died in previous violence, in June. Tun Khin argues that the fighting is not about religion.

TUN KHIN: There is no way this violence would continue if the government genuinely wanted to stop it. These are not communal clashes.

KUHN: He calls it state-organized, and state-sanctioned, ethnic cleansing; the vast majority of whose victims are Rohingya. Many Buddhists agree it's not about religion. They see the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Neither Bangladesh nor Myanmar recognize the Rohingya as their citizens, leaving them stateless. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland says the U.S. calls on the Burmese government and society...

VICTORIA NULAND: To take immediate action to halt the ongoing violence, to grant full humanitarian access to the affected areas, and to begin a dialogue towards a peaceful resolution.

KUHN: Rohingya activist Tun Khin says that the outside world has focused too much on Myanmar's progress with elections and civil liberties, while largely ignoring the lack of progress on ethnic rights.

Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Jakarta.

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You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Anthony Kuhn is NPR's correspondent based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and the great diversity of Asia's countries and cultures. Before moving to Seoul in 2018, he traveled to the region to cover major stories including the North Korean nuclear crisis and the Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster.