Os Rohingyas, uma etnia de muçulmanos que há séculos vivem em Mianmar, estão sendo cruelmente dizimados pelo Exército nacional que é budista. Cerca de 1,1 milhão deles concentra-se no estado de Rakhine, estimando-se que 400 mil tenham sido expulsos do país. A grande maioria dos que foram banidos está numa terra de ninguém - em Cox's Bazar no estado de Chittagong - no lado de lá da divisa com a vizinha Bangladesh.

A Prêmio Nobel Aung Suu Kyi, laureada por sua luta contra a ditadura que oprime seu país, somente agora pronunciou-se após manter um prolongado silêncio cúmplice a respeito da sistemática ofensiva dos militares, auxiliados pelos monges, queimando vilas inteiras e assassinando os miseráveis royingas aos quais sequer a cidadania birmanesa (denominação antiga para os que vivem em Mianmar) é concedida.

MUNDO SÉCULO XXI (que anteriormente já enfocou este tema) reproduz, a seguir, texto da revista britânica The Lancet - Os últimos dias dos Rohingya de Rakhine - que reforça o crescente apelo internacional para que cesse o massacre em Mianmar.

Last days of the Rohingya of Rakhine

The Lancet - 23 September 2017 - DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32517-5

While the UN Security Council issued a statement last week calling to end the violence against the Rohingya Muslim population of Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, military forces were burning more villages. In 3 weeks, over 400 000 people (more than half of them children and 400 newborn babies) have made the perilous boat voyage to Bangladesh, fleeing a violent campaign of scorched homes, killings, rapes, and landmine injuries. Although Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi finally broke her silence this week condemning all human rights violations in Rakhine, she fell short of criticising the notorious Tatmadaw national army, which has a gruesome record of human rights abuses and of acting in flagrant disregard for international law. This is a population in extreme precariousness, and access to humanitarian aid on both sides of the border must be immediately prioritised.

Bangladesh must be supported to manage the major humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding with risks of infectious disease outbreaks, lack of basic water and sanitation, and exploitation of the population, especially of women and children (around 1000 unaccompanied minors). The UK Department of International Develop-ment has just announced £25 million to aid the humani-tarian effort. Satellite images show that nearly a third of Rohingya villages in Northern Rakhine are now empty. Burnings continue, but aid agencies have no access. Chris Lewa of The Arakan Project, which focuses on local research and advocacy, told The Lancet that even the 120 000 intern-ally displaced persons camps in Southern Rakhine have had severe restrictions to food and medical aid. A steering committee has been established to oversee the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Rakhine Advisory Commission on the long-term human rights, security, and development crisis, including interventions for Rakhine Buddhists whose perceived social neglect by NGOs has fuelled local intercommunal tensions.

In a Comment, Chris Beyrer asks if, in 2017, this is ethnic cleansing of the estimated 1·1 million stateless Rohingya in Rakhine. Forgotten by the world many times over, all diplomatic, legal, and humanitarian means must now be urgently deployed to protect the very existence of a ravaged Rohingya population.