Myanmar govt faces its next Rakhine showdown
International pressure is again mounting on the Myanmar government over its treatment of ethnic communities in the strife-torn western region of Rakhine. Unprecedented violence there over the last 12 months has forced more than 700,000 Muslim refugees — or Rohingya — to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh for safety.
International attention on this humanitarian crisis will again be centre-stage this weekend, during a high-level visit by the United Nations Security Council. This extraordinary visit by the 15 members of the UN Security Council will seek a firsthand assessment of the progress that is being made in preparation for the repatriation of the refugees and Myanmar’s plans for resettlement, reconciliation and development in Rakhine. Before visiting Myanmar, the delegation will spend two days in Bangladesh, including visiting the site of the refugees at Cox’s Bazar.
The Peruvian representative at the UN in New York — the current president of the council — will lead the delegation, which will include the permanent representative of the UK and the deputy permanent representatives of the US, Russia, France and China.
These countries are the permanent members of the council. The rest of the members are the permanent representatives from Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the deputy permanent representative from Ivory Coast. These are the 10 non-permanent members, including Peru, elected for a two-year term.
The international visitors will spend Sunday in the capital Nay Pyi Taw, being briefed by senior government officials, including the State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is effectively the country’s civilian leader, on the government’s plans for repatriation, resettlement and the development of the Rakhine region.
Then they will visit the Rakhine capital, Sittwe, to see the progress being made to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan commission, according to Myanmar officials.
Last August, after a year of investigation, the Kofi Annan Advisory Commission on Rakhine State published their recommendations for a “peaceful, fair and prosperous future for the people of Rakhine”.
Although the horrendous violence and mass exodus of refugees came after the report was published — it has been widely adopted as a blueprint for the longer-term solutions to the inherent problems of Rakhine. Even the UN Security Council recognised the recommendations as an essential roadmap for the future of Rakhine.
The Security Council visit will be an opportunity for Myanmar to showcase the progress it has made on implementing these recommendations. Last year, the Security Council, at the prompting of UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, endorsed the recommendations as a crucial step to end the violence in Rakhine, build trust between the different communities and push development concerns.
“They will see what’s happening on the ground, albeit in a fractured system, but being done with political and compassionate will,” said a source involved in the government’s implementation of the recommendations, on condition of anonymity.
“They will visit reception centres and transit camps in Rakhine. And are likely to visit three villages that have undergone construction for the returnees,” said the official.
Earlier this year Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to establish five transit camps in Bangladeshi territory, from which refugees will be repatriated to two reception centres in Myanmar — Taung Pyo Letwe and Nga Khu Ya.
Myanmar has set Hla Phoe Khaung village in Maungdaw township as a transit camp for repatriated refugees, before sending them back to their homes in Rakhine.
The repatriation was to start in January but was delayed, though Myanmar continues to express its readiness to receive the repatriate refugees. But so far this has been a painstakingly slow process.
Several months ago, Bangladesh submitted a list of more than 8,000 refugees who want to return home to Rakhine.
But in the meantime, the Myanmar authorities have approved less than a thousand for actual repatriation. The problem according to Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement, who also heads the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State drawn from Kofi Annan’s report, is the government needs more time to verify the credentials of those who have applied to return.
But not everything is so rosy: The UN team on the ground and the government are at loggerheads over the way forward. While there is an MoU between the UN and Bangladesh on repatriation on that side of the border, none yet exists between the UN and Myanmar, which is holding up progress on the return of the refugees.
Negotiations between the two sides are ongoing, according to senior government sources. There is currently an impasse over a draft MoU between UNDP and UNHCR — the two main operational parts of the organisation on the ground, who would be lead agencies involved in any repatriation and development in Rakhine — and the government. The Myanmar authorities heavily edited the original document, inserting many conditions that are unacceptable to the UN bodies, according to reliable sources.
The state counsellor wants to mend fences with the UN generally, and involve them both in the repatriation programme and the reconciliation process in Rakhine. She understands the UN must be part of the solution, according to sources close to her. She recognises that this is not optional: The UN’s participation is essential if the government is to fully implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission, according to government insiders.
Myanmar cannot go it alone. But it also needs to be a constructive engagement. It is now time for the international community and the UN to meet the Myanmar government and Aung San Suu Kyi halfway, suggested a foreign adviser who has intimate knowledge of developments. The hope is that the imminent visit by the UN Security Council may help provide the impetus to break the apparent deadlock between the two sides.
The UN secretary-general has decided to appoint Switzerland’s ambassador to Germany, Christine Schraner Burgener, as his special envoy on Myanmar. This is a position that has been vacant for more than two years, though there has been pressure on him to appoint some one for the last six months, since.
The UN Security Council took an acute interest in the Rakhine crisis last year, amid a plethora of UN reports suggesting the human rights abuses at the hands of the military in Rakhine were at the very least ethnic cleansing but had the hallmarks of genocide.
Perhaps the new envoy will be able to help broker better relations between the UN and Aung San Suu Kyi. This would be essential if the refugees are to return and their safety guaranteed. It would also be needed if the country is to solve the longerterm problems of Rakhine.
The UN — quite rightly — has harped on about the continuing, atrocious human rights abuses in Myanmar over the past two years, despite the election to power of a more democratic government, under Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy. But the UN has failed to provide adequate practical support to the government on the ground to improve the situation for the people as a whole.
Apart from the problems of Rakhine, the government is facing a number of significant crises, including the military’s conduct in other ethnic areas, especially in Kachin State. And an improved working relationship between the UN and the Myanmar government would be of untold benefit to all.