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±±±±±±±±±The Rohingya Muslims are a minority group in Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia. The Rohingya are treated very poorly. Their situation has been getting a lot of attention recently.

Last week, the United Nations criticized the government of Myanmar.

Treatment Described As "Ethnic Cleansing" The United Nations, or U.N., is made up of representatives from nearly every country. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein is the top U.N. official for human rights. He called the treatment of the Rohingya Muslims "ethnic cleansing."

Ethnic cleansing is the killing or removal of a particular group from a country.

The U.N. official said Myanmar's military and Buddhist villagers are terrorizing the Rohingya. Their villages have been cleared out and burned. The Rohingya are being forced out of the country.

400,000 Have Fled To Bangladesh In Past Month Even after ongoing mistreatment since the late 1970s, 1.1 million Rohingya had remained in Myanmar. However, more than 400,000 have escaped to neighboring Bangladesh in the past month. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees already live there. Most are women, children and the elderly.

Conditions are unpleasant. Food is scarce. Aid agencies are worn out from trying to help. The monsoon rain is torrential.

The country of Myanmar is also known by its former name, Burma. The name was changed by military rulers in 1989.

The human disaster has captured the world's attention. It is also causing some confusion, though. Didn't Myanmar just make changes to become a freer country? Isn't it led by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi? Why are Buddhists, a group known for seeking enlightenment and fair treatment, treating Muslims so violently?

How Did We Get Here? The mass escape of the Rohingya from Myanmar has connections to events that took place hundreds of years ago.

The coast of what is now Myanmar's Rakhine state was the center of what was once called the Kingdom of Arakan. Arakan is a name that has since morphed into Rakhine and Rohingya. Rakhine describes the native people there, and Rohingya describes the Muslim people.

Muslims lived in Arakan both as traders and as slaves captured from nearby Bengal by the king's army. Over time, they developed a language. The Muslims, however, have always been seen as outsiders by the Arakanese.

Native people in the region resent the Rohingya. They think the Rohingya are taking their jobs. Sometimes the tensions have turned deadly.

Government Does Not Recognize Ethnic Group In Myanmar, the government's official position is that the Rohingya ethnic group doesn't even exist. Instead, they are referred to as "Bengali." Although they share cultural similarities with people from Bengal, now known as Bangladesh, it is a foreign land that many of the Rohingya have never stepped foot in. Myanmar doesn't recognize the Rohingya as citizens. This means they cannot use public services like education and health services.

Aung San Suu Kyi is an important figure in Myanmar. She won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring about change in her country. Last week, Suu Kyi was supposed to attend the U.N. General Assembly, the yearly meeting of all U.N. members. Instead, she stayed in Myanmar and gave a speech there.

Suu Kyi's Power Is Limited In Myanmar For many years, people in Myanmar did not have many freedoms. This began to change in 2010. The world praised Suu Kyi because she spent many years trying to bring freedom and the chance to vote to people in Myanmar.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited her in Myanmar. Suu Kyi won a free election by a landslide.

But Myanmar's rules are written in a way that prevents Suu Kyi from becoming an official president. This is because she has a foreign-born husband and children.

While Suu Kyi is considered Myanmar's unofficial leader, the military still controls the country. That means the military could replace Suu Kyi if they felt she was interfering with their plans.

Brutal Campaign To Push Out Muslim Group The Myanmar government says at least 176 Rohingya villages have been emptied.

"Leave, or we will kill you all," an armed group of Rakhine Buddhist civilians told the Rohingya of one village. This incident was reported in Myanmar last week.

In some cases, people have been killed.

"We were all watching what the military did. They slaughtered them one by one," said Soe Win, a 10th-grade teacher.

Rohingya families have been crossing the Naf River, which separates Myanmar and Bangladesh.

One group gathered on the banks of the Naf, gazing back at the smoke rising from the fields they once called home. They are doubtful of what lies ahead.