‘Ethnic cleansing’ continues

‘WIDESPREAD AND SYSTEMATIC VIOLENCE AGAINST THE ROHINGYA PERSISTS’ We don’t drive out the refugees, says defensive government spokesperson

Myanmar’s “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya Muslims is continuing, a senior United Nations human rights official said yesterday, more than six months after insurgent attacks sparked a security response that has driven nearly 700 000 people into Bangladesh.

Andrew Gilmour, the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, made the comment after a four-day visit to the Cox’s Bazar district in neighbouring Bangladesh, where he met people who have fled from Myanmar recently.

“I don’t think we can draw any other conclusion from what I have seen and heard in Cox’s Bazar,” Gilmour said in a statement.

After Rohingya insurgents attacked 30 police posts and an army base on August 25, Myanmar soldiers and police swept through villages in what the government says was a legitimate operation to root out “terrorists”.

Rohingya who sought shelter in Bangladesh have reported rape, killings and arson by security forces. The UN and United States have concluded the campaign amounted to ethnic cleansing.

Gilmour spoke to refugees who recounted abductions by security forces and at least one apparent death of a Rohingya man in custody in February, the statement said.

“It appears that widespread and systematic violence against the Rohingya persists,” Gilmour said.

“The nature of the violence has changed from the frenzied blood-letting and mass rape of last year to a lower intensity campaign of terror and forced starvation that seems to be designed to drive the remaining Rohingya from their homes and into Bangladesh.”

Despite Myanmar saying it was ready to accept back refugees under a pact signed with Bangladesh in November, he added, “Safe, dignified and sustainable returns