Malaysian ship delivers aid
YANGON, Myanmar — A Malaysian ship carrying 2,000 tonnes of food and medicine to help members of Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority arrived in Yangon on Thursday as rights groups accuse the army of mass killings, rapes and other crimes targeting the ethnic group.
The “Food Flotilla for Myanmar” arrived following a sweeping counterinsurgency campaign in Rakhine state, where most of the estimated 1 million Rohingya live. Last week, UN human rights investigators said it was “very likely” that Myanmar forces were guilty of crimes against humanity in the crackdown.
Organizers of the aid shipment say they trust the Myanmar government to deliver the supplies as promised despite its record of discrimination.
“We have to respect Myanmar’s sovereignty,” said Razali Ramli, from the 1Putera Club Malaysia, which helped organize the shipment along with a coalition of nongovernment organizations. “We hand over the aid in good faith.”
The Rohingya have long faced persecution in Myanmar, a majority-Buddhist country. Most do not have citizenship and are regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even when their families have lived in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for generations.
The army launched its most recent crackdown in October following attacks on guard posts near the Bangladesh border that killed nine police officers. According to the International Crisis Group, the border attacks were co-ordinated by a new insurgent group calling itself Harakah al-Yaqin, or the Faith Movement.
The government has denied abuses and has blocked independent journalists and aid workers from visiting the military’s operation zone in Rakhine. On Wednesday, the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said a government-appointed commission on Rakhine will investigate some of the recent accusations of abuse.
“Where there is clear evidence of abuses and violations, the government will take necessary measures,” she said in a statement carried by the country’s state-run newspaper.
On Thursday, dozens of Buddhist monks protested outside the port where the aid ship arrived, denying that the ethnic group Rohingya even exists. Many in Myanmar refer to the Rohingya as Bengalis, suggesting they belong in Bangladesh.