October 28, 2016
A teenage girl raped by the military a day earlier in Nga Sa Gru, Maungdaw has died on Wednesday.
The 19 year old girl was raped multiple times on Tuesday following yet another rape spree by the Tatmadaw. Soldiers gang raped at least four other girls, all of them in their teenage years. Some sources say more women and girls have been raped in the area, but are keeping quiet either out of shame, or their unwillingness to further demoralise their men folk.
Some of the girls raped multiple times are in a critical condition. But access to all medical facilities is cut off as security forces have drastically limited the movement of Muslims in the area. Locals also allege that even in more ‘normal’ times, they cannot go to the hospital as Rakhine hospital staff often refuse to treat them, or kill them by injecting poison. Pregnant women with birth complications often prefer to struggle in the village, rather than travel to the medical in fear of getting murdered. Denial of medical care has been identified as another one of the strategies devised by the government to implement the ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas without attracting international media attention, according to Rohingya Muslim activists.
Dozens have died in the village tract since the military launched an offensive in the area in the first week of the crackdown. In the past week, the Tatmadaw has changed their strategy from outright killings and disappearances of men to the rape of women.
Activists working with the country’s various ethnic groups allege the Tatmadaw uses rape as a weapon of war to demoralise them and destroy the fabric of their communities before taking control of the region. The military says they are trying to regain control of the Arakan region where the Muslims have rebelled against the government.
