BREAKING NEWS

Myanmar gives citizenship to 209 displaced Muslims, including Rohingya

By REUTERS

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014 13:08

YANGON - Myanmar gave citizenship on Monday to 209 Muslims displaced by sectarian violence, after the first phase of a project aimed at determining the status of about a million Rohingya whose claims to nationality have been rejected in the past.

The Rohingya Muslim minority live under apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine State in the west, needing permission to move from their villages or from camps where almost 140,000 remain after being displaced in deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012.

The government and many people in the predominantly Buddhist country refer to them as "Bengali," a term that implies they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although Rohingya families have lived in the area for generations.

Officials from Myanmar's immigration ministry told Reuters that 1,094 Muslims took part in the pilot verification process in displacement camps in Myebon, which is about 51 km (32 miles) from the state capital, Sittwe, and accessible only by boat.

Some of the 209 who received citizenship were members of the Kaman Muslim minority, who are recognized by the government as indigenous to Myanmar, but there were also Rohingya.

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