Suu Kyi visits ravaged state of Rakhine
▶ Myanmar leader tries to counter accusations of failing to help Rohingya
Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi arrived on her first visit to the conflict- battered northern Rakhine state yesterday, on an unannounced trip to an area where most of the Rohingya Muslim population has been forced out by an army campaign.
Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who leads Myanmar’s pro-democracy party, has been heavily criticised by the international community for failing to use her power to speak up in defence of the Rohingya.
About 600,000 of the stateless minority have fled to Bangladesh since late August, telling of murder, rape and arson at the hands of Myanmar’s army and Buddhist mobs, after militant raids sparked a ferocious military retaliation.
The UN says the crackdown could be considered ethnic cleansing, while pressure has mounted on Myanmar to pro- vide security for the Rohingya and let people return home.
In addition to the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, Ms Suu Kyi is visiting two of the main centres of the violence, Maungdaw and Buthidaung, as part of the “one-day trip”, said Zaw Htay, a government spokesman.
It is her first trip in office to northern Rakhine, which has suffered some of the worst of the community violence that has cut through the state since 2012.
It was not clear if Ms Suu Kyi would visit some of the hundreds of villages torched by the army – claimed to have been assisted by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist locals. She met Rohingya in Maungdaw, local media reported.
The Rohingya who remain in northern Rakhine are living in fear, surrounded by hostile neighbours who refuse to let them farm or move freely.
Yesterday, the UN again called for full humanitarian access to a zone under army lockdown. Also yesterday, 2,500 Rohingya arrived by land at the Bangladesh border, a sign that hunger and fear are still driving people from their homes.
“We were not paid for any work and couldn’t go to markets. How long is it possible to live like that?” one refugee asked.
Ms Suu Kyi leads a committee responsible for rebuilding Rakhine. She was joined yesterday by businessman Zaw Zaw, one of a host of military cronies who thrived under junta rule and are now taking prominent roles in rebuilding the battered region.
There are fears a carve-up of contracts in Rakhine by big business will further separate the Rohingya from their land.
The leader, who has the title of state counsellor, says the Rohingya who fled are welcome back if they meet verification criteria for re-entry.
But the Rohingya are loathed in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, denied citizenship and denigrated as illegal Bengali immigrants. The Buddhists say that Rohingya are foreign interlopers.
A Rohingya resident who has remained in Maungdaw town appealed to Ms Suu Kyi to reconsider a controversial national verification card for the minority. The card grants them limited rights of residence in Myanmar but does not recognise them as an ethnic group with citizenship.
“We are not Bengalis from Bangladesh, we are Rohingya living here for generations,” the resident said.
Observers say Ms Suu Kyi has chosen not to criticise the army for fear of a backlash. The plight of the Rohingya receives little sympathy inside Myanmar.
Rohingya are loathed in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, denied citizenship and treated as illegal immigrants