Massacre Rohingya survivors say history is repeating
Hamida, a 22-year-old Rohingya woman, is surviving with the support of other refugees in a camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. She is grappling with the trauma of the horrors she endured in Myanmar, where a brutal civil war is unfolding between the military and rebel groups, including the Arakan Army.
'They forced their way into my home, beat me, and as I struggled to escape, they raped me,' Hamida recalls.
Hamida, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect her identity, says that seven Arakan Army soldiers gang-raped her during an attack in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state in late July.
'I screamed, but they silenced me by covering my mouth with their hands,' she says. 'They raped me, beat me with their guns, and kicked me. I still can't move without feeling pain.'
During the assault, her husband, who heard her cries, rushed into their home to save her. But he was overpowered and forced to watch the horrific scene unfold.
'They murdered my husband after they raped me,' she says. 'Four Arakan Army soldiers held him down while another one slaughtered him with a large, sharp knife.'
In the sprawling refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, often referred to as the world’s largest, over a million Rohingya Muslims live in makeshift shelters. Most of them fled there in August 2017, after Myanmar’s military launched a brutal campaign that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 10,000 people, which United Nations experts have classified as genocide.
Now, new arrivals like Hamida are bringing fresh reports of mass killings, bombing attacks on civilians, and burning villages. These incidents echo the atrocities of 2017, but this time, the ethnic Rakhine rebel group, the Arakan Army, is being accused of the violence.
According to Bangladeshi officials, more than 5,000 Rohingya have recently crossed into Bangladesh, fleeing the renewed fighting in Myanmar.
.png "Advertisement")
