Myanmar city to be rehabilitated after sectarian rioting

A city in central Myanmar that was wracked by deadly sectarian fighting last month that left 44 dead, should be restored within three months, media reports said Sunday, dpa reported.

Meiktila, in Mandalay division, was the scene of clashes between Buddhist and Muslim communities starting on March 20, sparked by an altercation in a gold shop.

"Recovery will likely be completed within two or three months," Sa William French, deputy director of the Relief and Resettlement Department, told The Myanmar Times.

The violence, most of it directed against the large local Muslim population, killed 44 people, destroyed 1,594 houses and left 8,400 people homeless and forced to live in refugee camps, officials said.

The western state of Rakhine saw clashes between Buddhists and Muslim-Rohingyas last year that left more than 200 dead and 125,000 displaced.

Mandalay Attorney General Ye Aung Myint said the regional government plans to build low-cost houses for the displaced, but it remained unclear how many would be willing to return to their former neighbourhoods.

Ma Nge, 30, a Muslim resident of Meiktila who lost her father and her home in the violence, said she cannot afford to send her 6-year-old son to school and worries that "he may be discriminated against because I am Muslim."