MYANMAR REBUFFS
Rohingya militants declared a ceasefire to allow delivery of humanitarian aid
YANGON
MRODRIGO DUTERTE, Philippine president
YANMAR yesterday rebuffed a ceasefire declared by Muslim Rohingya insurgents to enable the delivery of aid to thousands of displaced people in the violence-racked Rakhine State, declaring simply that it did not negotiate with terrorists.
Attacks by militants on police posts and an army base on Aug 25 prompted a military counteroffensive that triggered an exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh, adding to the hundreds of thousands already there from previous spasms of conflict.
According to the latest estimate by United Nations workers in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, about 294,000, many of them, sick or wounded, arrived in just 15 days, putting huge strain on humanitarian agencies’ operations.
Thousands of Rohingya remaining in Rakhine were left without shelter or food, and many were still trying to cross mountains, dense bush and rice fields to reach Bangladesh.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) insurgent group declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire starting yesterday so that aid could reach these people.
The impact of Arsa’s move was unclear, but it did not appear to have been able to put up significant resistance against the military force unleashed in Rakhine.
Arsa’s declaration drew no formal response from the military or the government of Buddhist-majority Myanmar. However, the spokesman for Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said on Twitter: “We have no policy to negotiate with terrorists.”
Myanmar said its security forces were carrying out clearance operations to defend against Arsa, which the government declared a terrorist organisation.
Human rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya said the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Rohingya, whose population was estimated to be 1.1 million.
In Cox’s Bazar, crowds of desperate people, mostly women and children, queued for handouts of food and clothes.
More than 300 people arrived on small boats and fishing trawlers on Shah Porir Dwip island, near the mouth of the Naf river that separates the countries. Many collapsed on the beach from motion sickness and dehydration.
Three Rohingya were killed by landmines on Saturday as they tried to cross from Myanmar, a Bangladeshi border guard said.
Amnesty International said there were two landmine incidents yesterday, including a blast that blew off a man’s leg.
“All indications point to Myanmar security forces targeting locations that Rohingya refugees use as crossing points,” said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s crisis response director.
In Astana, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation yesterday (OIC) condemned Myanmar for “systematic brutal acts” against the Rohingya and asked it to accept international monitors.
The 57-member OIC expressed “serious concern about recent systematic brutal acts committed by the armed forces against the Muslim community of Rohingya in Myanmar”.
It urged Myanmar to accept UN monitors to carry out “a thorough and independent investigation of all established violations of international human rights... and bring those responsible to justice”. Agencies A Rohingya refugee pulling a child towards the shore after arriving in Shah Porir Dwip island, Bangladesh, yesterday.