Tillerson downplays Myanmar sanctions over Rohingya crisis

Washington’s top diplomat on Wednesday said he would not yet push for sanctions against Myanmar over the Rohingya refugee crisis, but he called for an independent investigation into reports that soldiers committed atrocities against the Muslim minority.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was speaking after a oneday stop in Naypyidaw.

Speaking by his side, Myanmar’s de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi hit back at global criticism that she has been silent over the refugee crisis, saying she has instead focused on speech that avoids inflaming sectarian tensions.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled the country since the military launched a counter-insurgency operation in northern Rakhine state in late August. The army insists it has only targeted Rohingya rebels.

Speaking after meetings with the army chief and Suu Kyi, Tillerson said that broad economic sanctions are “not something that I’d think would be advisable at this time.”

“We want to see Myanmar succeed,” he told reporters. “You can’t just impose sanctions and say therefore the crisis is over.”

Both the army and Suu Kyi’s administration have dismissed reports of atrocities and refused to grant entry to UN investigators charged with probing allegations of ethnic cleansing.

But Washington has been careful to focus blame on the military rather than Suu Kyi, whose fledgling civilian administration is in a delicate powersharing arrangement with the army.

Though she lacks any say in security policy, the Nobel laureate has become a punching bag for rights groups disappointed by her failure to publicly criticize the military or defend Rohingya against rising Islamophobia, partly because she was so outspoken during the junta years.

Suu Kyi, who rarely holds press conferences, addressed those criticisms on Wednesday.

“I have not been silent... what people mean is what I say is not interesting enough,” she told reporters.