Myanmar plays political card, averts censure over Rohingya
‘ICEBERG OF MISINFORMATION’ Aung San Suu Kyi blames terrorists for violence in Rakhine, makes no mention of Rohingyas fleeing the country
Myanmar said on Wednesday it is negotiating with China and Russia to ensure they block any UN Security Council censure over the violence that has forced an exodus of nearly 150,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh in less than two weeks.
Myanmar national security adviser Thaung Tun told a news conference in Naypyitaw that Myanmar was counting on China and Russia, both permanent members of the ecurity Council, to block a UN resolution on the crisis.
“We are negotiating with some friendly countries not to take it to the Security Council,” he said. “China is our friend and we have a similar friendly relationship with Russia, so it will not be possible for that issue to go forward.”
Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi blamed “terrorists” for “a huge iceberg of misinformation” on the strife in Rakhine but made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled.
Earlier, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, in a rare letter to the Security Council, expressed concern that the violence could spiral into a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
He warned on Tuesday that there was a risk of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar that could destabilise the region.
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he believed the 15-member Security Council had sent a signal — by meeting behind closed doors on the issue a week ago — that it would like to see the situation calm down.
“We called for restraint,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “The Security Council for the time being did what it could do.”
According to the latest estimates issued by UN workers operating in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region, Rohingya arrivals in just 12 days stood at 146,000. This brought to 233,000 the total number who have sought refuge since last October.
On Tuesday, Suu Kyi spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has pressed world leaders to do more to help a population of roughly 1.1 million he says are
facing genocide.
In a statement issued by her office on Facebook, Suu Kyi said the government had “already started defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible” and warned against misinformation that could mar relations with other countries.
She referred to images on Twitter of killings posted by Turkey’s deputy prime minister that he later deleted because they were not from Myanmar.
On Wednesday, she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said he shared Myanmar’s concern about “extremist violence” in Rakhine state.
The latest violence began when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh.
Suu Kyi has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution, and some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 as a champion of democracy to be revoked.