MYANMAR ARMY HEAD ‘GUILTY’
New report says 12 military officials oversaw attack on Rohingya
MYANMAR’S military chief and other top brass have been accused by Amnesty International of crimes against humanity for overseeing a “systematic” attack against Rohingya Muslims, according to a report by the rights group yesterday calling for prosecution at the International Criminal Court.
More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee Rakhine state after a military crackdown that the United Nations has said amounts to “ethnic cleansing”.
Myanmar’s military has denied targeting the stateless minority and said it was defending itself against militants who attacked police posts in August last year.
But a new report from Amnesty said army head Min Aung Hlaing and 12 senior military and security officials oversaw an orchestrated campaign of violence in the state where the Rohingya have been historically marginalised.
It is the first time senior military officials have been named and implicated in the violence.
“The ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya was achieved by a relentless and systematic campaign in which the Myanmar security forces unlawfully killed thousands of Rohingya, including young children,” said the report.
“The bulk of these crimes were not the actions of rogue or out-ofcontrol soldiers or units,” it said, rejecting claims by the military that some soldiers might had broken the rules of engagement.
It accused security forces of sexual violence, torture, forced displacement and burning markets and farmland that starved communities and forced them to flee.
“These amount to crimes against humanity under international law, as they were perpetrated as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Rohingya,” the report said.
The report added that some senior military figures and border police oversaw units that directly carried out alleged atrocities, while others knew of subordinates’ actions and failed to prevent, stop or punish them.
The report is the most detailed account of the crisis yet and follows sanctions from the European Union (EU) this week against seven security officials accused of serious crimes.
Min was not hit by the sanctions, but six people on the EU list are named in the Amnesty report, including Major General Maung Maung Soe, the former head of the western command in Rakhine state.
Myanmar’s military said this week he had been sacked for “weakness” in his role.
But some said it was a piecemeal gesture.
“They are grasping for ways to draw a line under international pressure,” Aaron Connelly, director of the Southeast Asia project at the Lowy Institute.