‘Ethnic cleansing’ condemned

THE persecution of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims has been described by the United Nations as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Yesterday, the United States joined a growing international chorus condemning the violence being inflicted upon the ethnic minority in a state in western Myanmar.

More than 300,000 Rohingya have fled their homes into Bangladesh, bringing stories of villages burned to the ground by Buddhist mobs and Myanmar troops. Hours after the UN statement, its Security Council announced it would meet to discuss the violence.

Myanmar’s de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has faced strong international criticism over the army crackdown, which began after Rohingya militants ambushed security forces in the state of Rakhine on August 25.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein accused Myanmar of a “systematic attack” on Rohingya civilians.

“Myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators so the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” he said.

Picture: GETTY A young Rohingya refugee gathers firewood in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh, after arriving from Myanmar – one of more than 300,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled.