The Rohingya

In his new book, “The Rohingyas” (Hurst Publishing, 2016), Azeem Ibrahim investigates Myanmar’s marginalized and vulnerable ethnic Rohingya, a Muslim minority group in western Rakhine State. Despite their multigenerational history within Myanmar and centuries of coexistence with the Burman majority, violent conflict between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya erupted in 2012 and has persisted. The humanitarian crisis has left hundreds dead and roughly 140,000 Rohingya internally displaced in refugee camps, and cast a pall on Myanmar’s peaceful democratic transition.

On September 27, the Center for East Asia Policy Studies (CEAP) at Brookings hosted Azeem Ibrahim to discuss his book and outline potential solutions to the religious and ethnic divide in Myanmar. Brookings Senior Fellow and CEAP Director Richard Bush provided remarks and moderated the discussion.