Question

What are the reasons behind the massacres against Muslims in Myanmar?

Answer 1

What is the religious angle to the violence?

In Rakhine state, there have been particularly bitter tensions between the Rakhine people, who are Buddhist and make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims.

Most of these Muslims identify themselves as Rohingya, a group that originated in part of Bengal, now called Bangladesh.

In the towns bordering Bangladesh, where several clashes have taken place, the majority of the population is Muslim.

Overseas-based Rohingya rights groups have said that Rohingyas bore the brunt of the violence. Rakhine Buddhists said Rohingyas were mainly to blame.

In central Myanmar the violence is not thought to involve Rohingya Muslims. Instead members of Myanmar's other Muslim communities have been affected.

It was also unclear whether the Muslims involved in the June 2014 clashes were Rohingyas.