MEIKHTILA, Myanmar: Myanmar’s army took control of a ruined central city yesterday, imposing a tense calm after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left piles of corpses in the streets and buildings ablaze in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year.
Truckloads of soldiers patrolled Meikhtila, taking up positions at intersections and banks as authorities delivered food and water to thousands of displaced Muslims who fled. Some residents, who had cowered indoors since the mayhem began Wednesday, emerged from their homes to inspect the destruction in which at least 35 people died.
President Thein Sein, a former general who vowed to bring democracy to Myanmar after half a century of military rule, imposed a state of emergency in the region Friday.
The unrest was the first of its kind in the country since two similar bouts of bloodshed shook western Rakhine state last year, and its spread underscores both the immense challenges of reform and the government’s failure to rein in anti-Muslim sentiment in a predominantly Buddhist nation. Even monks have armed themselves and staged anti-Muslim rallies, taking advantage of newfound freedoms.
It was not immediately clear which side bore the brunt of the latest unrest, but at least five mosques were torched, and terrified Muslims, who make up about 30 percent of Meikhtila’s 100,000 inhabitants, have stayed off the streets as their shops and homes burned and Buddhist mobs carrying machetes and hammers tried to stop firefighters from dousing the flames.
