Suu Kyi under fire as UN describes attacks on Muslim minority as ‘ethnic cleansing’

AUNG SAN SUU KYI was under growing international pressure yesterday after the UN’S top human rights official accused her government of “textbook ethnic cleansing” and the Dalai Lama criticised Buddhist nationalist attacks on Burma’s Rohingya ethnic minority.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said Burma seemed to be carrying out a “systematic attack” on civilians designed to expel the mainly Muslim minority from the predominantly Buddhist country.

“Because Myanmar [another name for Burma] has refused access to human rights investigators, the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” Mr Zeid told the UN Human Rights Council.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in the past two weeks after violence flared in neighbouring Burma, where the stateless Muslim minority has endured decades of persecution.

Mr Zeid issued the criticism as the Dalai Lama also spoke out for the first time about the crisis, saying Buddha would have helped Muslims fleeing violence. “Those people who are harassing some Muslims, they should remember Buddha,” the Dalai Lama told journalists who asked him about the crisis on Friday evening. “He would definitely give help to those poor Muslims.”

The international anger at the violent treatment of the Rohingya has reportedly made little impact on the Burmese military which is still threatening to burn down villages, human rights activists said.

Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, said he had received multiple calls from desperate residents in Buthidaung, Rakhine state, who said soldiers had threatened to kill them and burn down homes if they stayed. “We are witnessing the most horrific situation in our history,” he said.

Burma says it is carrying out counter-terrorist operations against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a militant group that carried out a series of deadly attacks on border guard posts on Aug 25.

At least 313,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Burma since violence flared on Aug 25, the Inter Sector Coordination Group coordinating the relief operation said. The foreign minister of Bangladesh said on Sunday that at least 3,000 people had been killed in a campaign of “genocide”.