Admitted killings tip of iceberg
YANGON: The Myanmar military’s involvement in the deaths of 10 Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine State, admitted by the commander-in-chief, is just a fraction of the abuses for which security forces are culpable, rights groups say.
After the discovery of a mass grave in Inn Dinn village, the military launched a probe into the incident last month.
On Wednesday, it admitted that ethnic Rakhine villagers and security forces killed the 10 Rohingya Muslims in the village on September 2 last year.
In separate statements, Fortify Rights, Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) all described the admission as the “tip of the iceberg” and urged an international probe.
Matthew Smith, co-founder and chief executive of Fortify Rights, said the group, based in Bangkok, had documented similar atrocities across the northern Rakhine State, where a military crackdown prompted by Rohingya militant attacks has forced 650 000 Rohingya to flee the country.
“Massacres and mass graves have been a reality in all three townships in the north,” Smith said, referring to the areas of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung, where the Muslim population lived.
Amnesty had documented “overwhelming evidence” in the area that the “military has murdered and raped Rohingya, and burnt their villages to the ground,” Amnesty regional director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, James Gomez, said.
Deputy HRW Asia director Phil Robertson urged Myanmar to “get serious about accountability by allowing the UN-appointed fact-finding commission to enter the country”.
His words echoed a comment from the spokesperson from the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Myanmar yesterday, who said: “The (military) statement underscores the need for an independent investigation and media reporting on allegations of violations.”
The Myanmar government – headed by one-time democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi – has been accused by the US and the UN of “ethnic cleansing”. – dpa/African News Agency/ANA