COX'S BAZAR , Bangladesh, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Myanmar authorities have stepped up persecution of the Rohingya minority to include murder and the burning of villages, a United Nations official said.
About 1 million Rohingya people in Myanmar, Muslims in a Buddhist country, are seen by many citizens as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar's western neighbor. Although the Bangladeshi foreign ministry has said its policy is to discourage illegal entrants from crossing the border at the Naf River, which separates the countries, it has confirmed thousands have entered Bangladesh, and over 32,000 have registered in Bangladesh as refugees; the Myanmar military, meanwhile, is attempting to drive the Rohingya out with an ethnic cleansing drive.