8 Matthew J. Walton and Susan Hayward around Thandwe, a town in Rakhine state, in early October 2013. President Thein Sein was already en route to the region when the violence erupted, and he visited affected areas and met with local officials (Robinson 2013). An independent commission established by President Thein Sein following the initial outbreak of sectarian violence in Rakhine state in 2012 carried out field interviews and issued its analysis and recommendations to the president in July 2013 (Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2013). The commission identified several causes as leading to the outbreak of violence, which included rising extremism on both sides of the conflict divide, political polarization, lack of economic opportunity and development, and corruption. Its report highlighted the breakdown in communication between the two sides and called for measures to promote reconciliation and coexistence, including interfaith dialogue, civic education, implementation of the rule of law, and economic development. In January 2014, a violent episode took place in Du Chee Yar Tan, a village in Rakhine state, that underscores the complex politics surrounding incidents of religious violence. The United Nations made immediate public statements urging the government to investigate reports that scores of Rohingya were killed (OHCHR 2014). An independent commission established by the government investigated these allegations and determined there was no evidence for these claims, and allegations of mass murders in Du Chee Yar Tan remain unproven (Radio Free Asia 2014a). On July 1, 2014, riots flared for several days in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city. Two people were killed (one Buddhist and one Muslim), scores injured, and many Muslim houses and businesses burned in unrest that was provoked by rumors of a Buddhist woman raped by a Muslim man, which later turned out to be untrue (Shwe Aung 2014). This time, authorities acted more quickly to investigate and make arrests, although residents still expressed frustration that they did little to intervene during the actual violence (Bookbinder 2014). Although the riots were thought to be driven, in part, by the rumor being shared on U Wirathu’s Facebook page (Campbell 2014), monks also played prominent roles in trying to calm crowds and prevent violence in the midst of the rioting (Bookbinder 2014). Many analysts saw a political motivation behind these riots, as Aung San Suu