Muslim-majority Kyrgyzstan on Monday cancelled an international football match with Myanmar over “a potential terror act,” as fears grow for Rohingya Muslims in the Southeast Asian nation.
At least 87,000 Muslims have arrived in Bangladesh after fleeing clashes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, according to the UN.
Social media users in Kyrgyzstan had suggested staging a peaceful protest against the violence in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar ahead of Tuesday’s Asian Cup qualifying match.
“The match was cancelled according to the decision of Prime Minister Sapar Isakov and because of the potential threat of a terrorist act,” a spokeswoman for Kyrgyzstan’s football federation told AFP by telephone.
The head of Kyrgyzstan’s football federation Semetei Sultanov said the match may be held in another country. The federation also announced on its website that it will offer refunds for tickets to the cancelled match.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” in western Myanmar and urged the country’s security forces to show restraint after 400 people – most of them Rohingya Muslims – died in communal violence.
Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces – as well as by militants – have raised fears that the violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control.
This is not the first time the Rakhine State conflict has interfered with international football. In December 2016, Malaysia cancelled two friendly football matches against Myanmar in a move that was believed to have been motivated by Myanmar’s clearance operations in northern Rakhine State, which left dozens of Rohingyas dead.
The Myanmar Football Federation responded by announcing that it would play no friendly matches with Malaysia for the foreseeable future.
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