Al-Azhar called Tuesday on the international community to intervene to stop ethnic cleansing targeting Muslims in Myanmar.

Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb said in a statement that the Islamic world should offer all kinds of support for Rohingya Muslims in South Asia.

Tayyeb said that the Muslim minority in Myanmar is suffering from collective punishment orchestrated by the Buddhist majority for no reason.

“Racist massacres occurred on a large scale against the Muslims in Burma... but these horrific events have been ignored,” Tayyeb said.

The sheikh addressed all Islamic nations, saying, “Your brothers in Burma are in great need of your moral support against the assault of the unjust majority; also they need relief assistance.”

Violence flared in the Western Rakhine region in June. Egyptians protested several times at the Myanmar Embassy in Cairo over the massacre of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma.

The Rohingya, a Muslim people of South Asian descent, were subject to what has been called one of the worst instances of sectarian violence in the recent history of Burma, a Buddhist majority country.

Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission said on 11 July that at least 78 people have been killed since the violence began, but unofficial estimates exceed 100.

Between 50,000 and 90,000 people — with lower figures coming from the government and higher ones from UN agencies — are estimated to have been displaced.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm