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              UN calls for independent inquiry into Myanmar riots 
            
            
            Saturday July 28, 2012 12:50:07 PM, 
            Agencies |  
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              80,000 displaced in Myanmar unrest 
              Some 80,000 
              people have been displaced in the recent inter-communal clashes in 
              Myanmar, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Friday.
              UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told reporters that over 30,000 
              people have received aid from the agency, 
              
            » |  
              Geneva: 
              The UN human rights chief has called 
              for a “prompt and independent” investigation into the ethnic 
              violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
 Navi Pillay said on Friday that an initial move by Myanmar 
              security forces to quash violence in the restive Rakhine state has 
              reportedly turned into a crackdown against Muslim minorities.
 
 "We have been receiving a stream of reports from independent 
              sources alleging discriminatory and arbitrary responses by 
              security forces, and even their instigation of and involvement in 
              clashes," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a 
              statement.
 
 "Reports indicate that the initial swift response of the 
              authorities to the communal violence may have turned into a 
              crackdown targeting Muslims, in particular members of the Rohingya 
              community."
 
 Clashes between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya 
              communities which erupted early June in the western Myanmar state 
              has left at least 78 people dead and 70,000 homeless, Pillay's 
              office said, according to official figures.
 
 Unofficial estimates of the death toll were higher, her office 
              added.
 
 Pillay urged the government to "prevent and punish violent acts" 
              and said she was dismayed at the derogatory language used against 
              the Rohingya by state and some independent media, as well as by 
              some users of social networking websites.
 
 While welcoming Myanmar's invitation to UN investigator Tomas Ojea 
              Quintana to visit from July 30 to August 4, Pillay said it was "no 
              substitute for a fully-fledged independent investigation" into the 
              Rakhine violence.
 
 She also pointed out that it was "important that those affected 
              from all communities in Rakhine are able to speak freely" to 
              Quintana.
 
 An estimated 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar, and the government 
              considers them to be foreigners while many citizens see them as 
              illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with 
              hostility.
 
               
 
 
              
 
 
 
 
              
 
 
 
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