Amnesty International pours scorn on army’s probe

YANGON: Human rights group Amnesty International poured scorn on a Myanmar military investigation into alleged atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, branding it a “whitewash” and calling for United Nations and independent investigators to be allowed into the country.

Accusations of organised mass rape and other crimes against humanity were levelled at the military on Sunday by a senior UN official, who had toured Rohingya camps in Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s military had consistently protested its innocence, and on Monday, it posted the findings of an internal investigation on the Facebook page of its commander in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

It said it had found no instances where its soldiers had shot and killed Rohingya villagers, raped women or tortured prisoners. It denied that security forces had torched villages or used “excessive force”.

Amnesty International dismissed the military’s investigation and called for a UN fact-finding mission and other independent investigators to be given full access to Rakhine. Reuters