A top human rights group is warning that Burma is in danger of creating a long-term state of religious segregation if it does not take steps to resettle minority Rohingya Muslim refugees.
About 100,000 Rohingya were displaced following a deadly outbreak of Muslim-Buddhist violence last year in western Rakhine state. Months later, the refugees remain in poorly supplied camps, cut off from the rest of the population and prevented from leaving by government security forces.
In a report Wednesday, Human Rights Watch says the government's failure to make efforts to return displaced Rohingya "heightens concerns of a long-term intent to segregate the population." In the city of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, it says the Muslim population is now "completely segregated."