UK gave £200k to Burmese forces accused of war crimes

THE Burmese army was given £200,000 in British foreign aid last year.

The news comes as the military is facing worldwide condemnation over the ethnic cleansing of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.

Burmese forces are now facing a UN war crimes investigation into allegations of killings, rape and torture.

Some 75,000 Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh late last year after security forces responded to attacks by Rohingya insurgents that killed nine border police.

At least 400 people have died in recent months as a result of the military’s counter-offensive. British spending on the education programme for the military rose to just over £300,000 in the last financial year – 67 per cent of which came from the foreign aid budget. The Ministry of Defence acknowledged that it has not evaluated whether the training has led to an improvement in human rights in the country.

Mike Penning, the Armed Forces minister at the time, said last year that the Government did not know whether soldiers who had received British support were involved in the violence. The pressure group Burma Campaign UK has called for an immediate halt to the training by Britain’s Defence Academy, which has been allocated funds for the purpose since 2013. Its role is to provide educational training and has no combat role.

‘British taxpayers will be horrified to learn that their tax money is spent training an army of rapists and child killers,’ said Burma Campaign UK director Mark Farmaner.

A Government spokesman said: ‘The UK provides the Burmese military with educational courses focused on governance, accountability, ethics, human rights and international law.’