Displaced Rohingya people in Rakhine State By Foreign and Commonwealth Office – Flickr, OGL The world had high hopes that persecution towards the Rohingya community would stop when the National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power. This was a party that been met with admiration for its non-violent approach in opposing the military dictatorship that had governed Burma for several decades. The hope was all the more justified by the fact that the party’s leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who had also been honored by other countries and international organizations. Unfortunately, hope has been replaced by a sense of deep disappointment as the suffering of the Burmese people has worsened. Beyond its commitment to respecting human rights, the situation in Burma made waves online among Africans, particularly those in West Africa where the Muslim population often exceeds 90%. There, they practice a tolerant Islam, despite attempts by jihadists to impose their own ideology and vision of Islam. For example, the Senegalese people, of whom 95% are Muslim, had elected Léopold Sédar Senghor, who is a Christian, to be their prime minister. Pan African website pressafrik.com published a review by Bougane Gueye Dany, from Senegal, Dakar, that explores crimes against Rohingyas. In it, he denounces the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the country as well as the apathy of the Burmese political leaders and the international community: ‘Rohingya tu n'existes pas’. Ce roman d’Yves Bourni est d'une actualité grave et brûlante. Au moment où l'un des drames les plus ignobles touche ces musulmans birmans, le monde affiche une indifférence coupable qui montre à suffisance une cruauté, illustration d'une indignation à géométrie variable… Le leader birman, leur principal bourreau, Ashin Wirathu estime que ‘l'Islam est une religion de voleurs par qu'il permet d'épouser une femme de confession différente’. Il va même jusqu'à dire publiquement dans des videos qui circulent que les chiens, les alcooliques et les drogués valent mieux que les musulmans… La communauté internationale a les yeux rivés ailleurs. Ce n’est pas non plus la tasse de thé de la presse africaine particulièrement sénégalaise… Qui ne dit mot consent. Notre silence est troublant. Où est notre diplomatie ?… Il faut en parler, il faut s'indigner, il faut les aider. ‘Rohingya tu n'existes pas’ (‘Rohingya you don’t exist’) is the title of the major topical work of Yves Bourni. At a time where one of the most heinous tragedies affecting Burmese Muslims is taking place, the world has shown a reckless indifference that amounts to cruelty, and is an example of unequal outrage in the face of tragedy… The Burman leader, their main executioner, Ashin Wirathu, stated, ‘Islam is a religion of thieves for it allows men to marry a woman of a different faith’. Wirathu goes as far as publicly stating in videos making the rounds online that alcoholics and drug addicts are worth more than Muslims… The international community seems to be indifferent and the situation of the Rohingya in Burma is no longer a burning topic in the African press, especially not in the Senegalese news… Silence is consent. Our silence is troubling. Where is our diplomacy? We need to speak out about this, we need to get angry, we need to help them. News site Africa News published the words of the South African Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu, who broke his media silence to express his deep sadness at the situation: ‘Je suis maintenant vieux, faible et officiellement à la retraite, mais je romps mon voeu de garder le silence en raison de ma profonde tristesse au sujet de la situation désespérée [des Rohingyas]’, a écrit Mgr Tutu dans une lettre adressée à la prix Nobel de la paix Aung San Suu Kyi. ‘Si le prix politique à payer pour votre ascension politique en Birmanie est votre silence, le prix est assurément trop élevé (…). Il est incongru pour un symbole de justice de diriger ainsi un pays’, a-t-il estimé… Mercredi, cette dernière est sortie de son silence pour dénoncer un ‘iceberg de désinformation’ dans la crise dans son pays. ‘I am now old, weak and officially retired, but I’m breaking my vow of keeping silent because of a great sadness I feel about the tragic situation [of the Rohingyas]’, Desmond Tutu writes in a letter addressed to Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. He continues, ‘If silence was the political price you paid that got you to where you are at today, then the price is certainly too high […] It is incongruous that a justice system like this governs a country.’ On Wednesday, Ang San Suu Kyi came out to denounce an ‘iceberg of misinformation’ surrounding the reporting of the crisis of her country.