‘Rohingya deal a publicity stunt’
Myanmar army razes homes despite inking repatriation agreement.
YANGON: Myanmar’s army burned down dozens of Rohingya homes within days of signing a refugee repatriation deal with Bangladesh, showing that the agreement was a mere “public relations stunt”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
The rights group, citing analysis of satellite imagery, said buildings in 40 villages were destroyed in October and November, increasing the total to 354 villages that had been partially or completely razed since last August.
Dozens of buildings were burned the same week Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding on Nov 23 to begin returning refugees from Bangladesh within two months, HRW said in a report on Sunday.
“The Burmese army’s destruction of Rohingya villages within days of signing a refugee repatriation agreement with Bangladesh shows that commitments to safe returns were just a public relations stunt,” said Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director, in the report.
He added that safety pledges for returnees could not be taken seriously.
Deadly attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Aug 25 prompted a ferocious military crackdown on the Muslim minority living in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
More than 655,000 of them have fled across the border to Bangladesh since then, bringing horrific accounts of rape, extrajudicial killing and arson.
The United States and United Nations have described the process as ethnic cleansing. The UN rights chief has suggested that the operation contains “elements of genocide”.
Responding to international pressure, Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government inked an agreement with Bangladesh late last month to start the repatriation of Rohingya refugees within two months.
But HRW said it was difficult to believe this could be carried out responsibly.
“Myanmar is playing the most cynical of games, with Suu Kyi and her team signing a refugee repatriation deal that contains no real guarantees of protection to returnees, while on the ground the security forces continue their campaign of torching the villages the Rohingya want to return to,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of HRW’s Asia division.
Aid groups have said they will boycott any new camps set up in northern Rakhine.
Myanmar has in the past blamed fires in villages on insurgents. — AFP