(Reuters) - The European Union said on Monday it was satisfied with Myanmar's "measured" handling of the Muslim-Buddhist violence that engulfed one of its biggest towns at the weekend, while the United States urged all ethnic groups to work at reconciliation.
As rival mobs of Muslims and Buddhists torched houses in Sittwe, the biggest town in northwestern Myanmar, police fired into the air and Muslims fled to neighboring Bangladesh.
The fighting was the worst communal violence since a reformist government replaced a junta last year, began to allow political pluralism and vowed to tackle ethnic divisions. Those reforms helped persuade the United States and the European Union to suspend economic sanctions.
The European Union welcomed the "measured response" of Myanmar President Thein Sein, who has warned against "never-ending hatred, desire for revenge and anarchic actions".
"We believe that the security forces are handling this difficult intercommunal violence in an appropriate way," said Maja Kocijanic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "We welcome the priority which the Myanmar government is giving to dealing with all ethnic conflicts."
EU states suspended most sanctions after the government released many political prisoners, allowed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD party to contest by-elections, and lifted some repressive measures.
The United States, which had imposed more stringent and comprehensive sanctions on Myanmar, also suspended curbs on U.S. investment and the provision of financial services in response to changes in the country.[/U
]At least eight people were killed and many wounded, authorities said, after fighting erupted on Friday in the town of Maungdaw, and quickly spread to Sittwe and nearby villages.
Sate-run MRTV announced curfews in three towns, including Thandwe, the gateway to Myanmar's tourist beaches, and Kyaukphyu, where China is building a port complex.
Western firms are keen to help meet Myanmar's vast need for investment in health, telecommunications, housing, energy and other infrastructure after decades of isolation.
Buddhists and Muslims have long lived in uneasy proximity in Sittwe, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists were carrying bamboo stakes, machetes, slingshots and other makeshift weapons at the weekend after Muslims were seen setting houses on fire.
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Some victims of the violence were from the stateless Rohingya group of Muslims, who live in abject conditions along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh and are despised by many Rakhine, who belong to the predominantly Buddhist majority.
Rohingya activists have long demanded recognition in Myanmar as an indigenous ethnic group with full citizenship by birthright, claiming a centuries-old lineage in Rakhine State, where they number some 800,000.
But the government regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Bangladesh has refused to grant Rohingyas refugee status since 1992.
The authorities have blamed Rohingya mobs for the violence. But Rohingya activists and residents accuse ethnic Rakhine of terrorizing their communities.
The western region has been tense for more than a week after the gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman, widely blamed on Muslims, and the reprisal killing of 10 Muslims by a Buddhist mob a week ago.
State media said three men had gone on trial on Friday for the rape and murder.
