Myanmar army vows action on sexual violence

UN ENVOYS TRAVEL TO NORTHERN RAKHINE, FLY OVER BURNT VILLAGES

Myanmar’s military has assured the United Nations of “harsh” action against perpetrators of sexual violence, state media reported yesterday, as UN envoys travelled to Rakhine State where the military conducted a widely criticised crackdown.

UN and rights groups say nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh after a military crackdown launched in Rakhine State in August that the UN denounced as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Many of the arriving refugees recounted incidents of killings, arson and rape but Myanmar largely rejected those reports as well as the accusation of ethnic cleansing.

The government said its forces were engaged in a legitimate security campaign in response to a string of Rohingya insurgent attacks on the security forces.

“Sexual violence [is] considered as despicable acts,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper cited military Commanderin-Chief Min Aung Hlaing as telling the envoys.

The military was “taking harsh and stronger actions against such offenders”, he said.

The UN Security Council envoys travelled by Myanmar military helicopters to northern Rakhine yesterday, the final day of their four-day visit to the region, flying over burnt and bulldozed villages visible from the air.

The envoys arrived in Myanmar on Monday after visiting refugee camps on the Bangladesh side of the border and government leaders in Dhaka.

In Myanmar, they met separately with government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing.

British UN Ambassador Karen Pierce told Reuters that during Monday’s meeting Min Aung Hlaing was “very forthcoming” on the issue of sexual assaults in Rakhine, adding that the military chief said such offences were “not tolerated”.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, in her nearly hourlong meeting with the envoys, pledged to investigate any credible accusations of abuse, said diplomats who attended.