Burma clashes could put transition to democracy at risk, prime minister says Thein Sein, the Burmese prime minister warned that racial and religious divisions could affect Burma's stability. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters Sectarian violence could put Burma's transition to democracy at risk, President Thein Sein has warned as the government declared a state of emergency in the country's west after clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left at least eight people dead and 17 wounded. Earlier on Sunday, authorities imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew on four towns in Arakan state, where tensions have been steadily growing since the killing of 10 Muslims aboard a bus in early June. In a televised addressed, Thein Sein said the violence had been fanned by hatred and the desire for revenge. "If we put racial and religious issues at the forefront, if we put the never-ending hatred, desire for revenge and anarchic actions at the forefront, and if we continue to retaliate and terrorise and kill each other, there's a danger that [the troubles] could multiply and move beyond Arakan," the president said. If this happens, the general public should be aware that the country's stability and peace, democratisation process and development, which are only in transition right now, could be severely affected and much would be lost. The announcement marked the first time since he took office last year that the president has imposed a state of emergency, which effectively allows the military to take over administrative functions. The order will "remain until further notice," he said. A 12-year-old girl identified as Razen Bibi became the eighth person to die in the unrest after reportedly being shot on Sunday by riot police outside her home in the town of Maungdaw. Foreigners are barred from entering Maungdaw, but local staff working undercover for the Arakan Project, an international NGO that monitors the situation in Burma's westernmost state, said they saw the body being taken away by police. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is due to visit the UK later this month, appealed for calm amid the rioting. It is not yet clear if the state of emergency will affect her decision to travel, but the violence threatens to take the shine off her tour, which is being billed as a potent signal of progress in her country. The unrest appears to have its roots in the 3 June incident in which a group of Muslim pilgrims were beaten to death by Buddhists from Arakan, allegedly in response to the gang rape and murder of a 26-year-old woman by three Muslim men in late May. The three accused had already been arrested, and are awaiting trial. Ethno-religious tension is not new in Arakan, which sits on the border with Bangladesh and has the country's highest concentration of Muslims. But the current violence is the worst seen in over a decade, and state media warned of anarchy unless the situation is brought under control. Maung Zarni, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, said the situation was all the more tragic considering both sides of the conflict have experienced persecution by the Burmese authorities. He added that the nominally civilian government could well benefit from the unrest, given that it diverts attention from the military's continued attacks on other ethnic groups. In a statement, Christian Solidarity Worldwide deplored the "rising racism [and] intolerance" in Burma, which it says "follows a steady increase in racist propaganda against Muslims generally." Several Facebook groups have been set up since the 3 June lynching, including one called "Kalar Beheading Gang." Kalar is a pejorative slur popularly employed by Burmese to refer to Muslims of south Asian descent. The CSW statement singled out the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group denied citizenship by the government, as subject to particularly inhumane treatment. Up to 300,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to escape state-sanctioned abuse and discrimination by Arakanese locals. They are the only ethnic group in Burma subjected to a two child policy and severe travel limitations, while Rohingya babies born out of wedlock are placed on blacklists that deny them entry to school and forbid marriage. Chris Lewa, who runs The Arakan Project, told the Guardian that contrary to media reports claiming calm has been restored to the western state, the situation was getting "worse and worse," particularly in Maungdaw where hundreds of additional soldiers have been deployed. Several quarters in Sittwe, the state capital, have been set ablaze and Lewa said that with an equal ratio of Muslims to Buddhists in Sittwe, turmoil there could dramatically escalate. Various overseas Rohingya groups have blamed Arakanese locals for the deaths over the weekend, although Lewa said that it was largely troops who had been attacking Muslims. That was echoed by Tun Khin, head of the Burma Rohingya Organisation UK, who said that the Friday unrest was triggered by security forces firing at a crowd leaving a prayer ceremony for the 10 people killed on 3 June, killing two. The flames of animosity have been fanned even by prominent members of Burma's pro-democracy movement. Ko Ko Gyi, a former political prisoner and leader of the 1988 student uprising, earlier this week referred to the Rohingya as terrorists, adding: "We want to say clearly that Rohingya are not one of the Myanmar [Burma] ethnic nationalities." Benedict Rogers, East Asia team leader at CSW, told the Guardian: "The exact history of the Rohingya can be discussed and debated among scholars in a civilised way, but no one can dispute that they have lived in Burma for generations, and as such should be recognised as citizens of the country." Concerns have extended to the potential for the rioting to destabilise Burma's fragile reform process. The military-drafted constitution allows for the army chief to retake power in a national emergency, but remains vague on what exactly that constitutes.