UN envoy raises alarm on abuses against Rohingya

YANGON, Apr 8 (AP) Severe shortages of food, water and medical care for Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar are part of a long history of persecution against the religious minority that could amount to "crimes against humanity," a U.N. human rights envoy to the country said in a statement.
Hundreds of local and international aid workers fled Rakhine state - home to almost all the country's 1.3 million Rohingya, tens of thousands of whom are living in crowded displacement camps - after their offices and residences were attacked by Buddhist mobs late last month. Some have tried to return, but have been denied necessary permits.
"Recent developments in Rakhine state are the latest in a long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya community which could amount to crimes against humanity," said Tomas Ojea Quintana as he approaches the end of his six-year tenure as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.
The evacuation of aid workers, who serve as lifeline for members of the religious minority, "will only increase the vulnerability of this community," said the statement, which was released Monday in Geneva.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million people, only recently emerged from a half-century of military rule. Despite international praise from the international community for sweeping democratic reforms implemented by the nominally civilian government in the last three years, the United States and others warn that progress could be undermined by growing religious intolerance.
In the last two years, up to 280 people have been killed and another 140,000 forced to flee their homes by rampaging Buddhist mobs.