‘US Rohingya report consistent with UN’

UNITED NATIONS : Findings of a US state department investigation into Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis are “consistent” with those of a report by UN investigators released this week that called for Myanmar’s commander-in-chief and other generals be tried for genocide, the US ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Addressing the UN Security Council, Nikki Haley said “the world can no longer avoid the difficult truth of what happened.”

She did not use the term “genocide” and the state department has said it had not yet concluded whether it shared the determination of “genocidal intent” that Monday’s UN report attached to the attacks on Rohingya Muslims.

However, Haley said that of the more than 1,000 randomly selected Rohingya Muslims surveyed in the state department’s own report, “fully one-fifth” witnessed more than 100 victims being killed or injured. She said 82% had seen a killing, more than half had witnessed sexual violence and 45% had witnessed a rape.

“The report identifies one group as the perpetrator of the overwhelming majority of these crimes: the Burmese military

and security forces,” Haley said, referring to the US report.

She said the Security Council must hold those responsible for the violence to account and added, “The whole world is watching what we do next and if we will act.”