Burma’s campaign of violence forces Britain to suspend military support
BRITAIN will stop training Burma’s armed forces until Aung San Suu Kyi’s government halts a campaign of violence against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority, the Government announced yesterday.
The move came as Ms Suu Kyi, Burma’s de facto leader, sought to restore her tarnished reputation and defend her country by claiming that most Rohingya Muslim villages had not been affected by the violence that has forced 400,000 refugees to flee the country.
However, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was condemned by Amnesty International for refusing to attach blame to Burma’s army for the abuses.
“There will be no more defence cooperation or training with the Burmese army until we are satisfied that this has been resolved,” Theresa May’s spokesman said in New York yesterday.
“We want this situation resolved and until it is this cooperation will cease…. What is happening there simply can’t continue.”
Britain spent £305,000 last year on teaching English, democracy and leadership skills to the Burmese military. Combat training was not included.
The decision to suspend military cooperation came after Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, joined eight other countries to raise the issue with Burma’s national security adviser on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The world has watched with growing concern as Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh amid claims of rape, torture and murder at the hands of Burma’s powerful army in the troubled Rakhine state.
The “security offensive” was branded by the UN as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
Yesterday, Ms Suu Kyi, who is not attending the UN gathering, tried to defend her handling of the crisis in a televised speech. She said “more than half ” of the Rohingya villages were unaffected by the military response, and she invited diplomats into Rakhine to see for themselves.
“We have to make sure these allegations are based on solid evidence before we take action,” she told the nation.
“We are a young and fragile country facing many problems, but we have to cope with them all,” she said. “We cannot just concentrate on the few.”
Ms Suu Kyi said anyone found guilty of abuses will be held to account.
“Human rights violations and all other acts that impair stability and harmony and undermine the rule of law will be addressed in accordance with strict laws and justice,” she said.
James Gomez, Amnesty International’s director for south-east Asia and the Pacific, said it was “positive” to hear Ms Suu Kyi condemn rights abuses. However, he criticised her for being “silent” on the role of security forces in carrying out ethnic cleansing.
“She and her government are still burying their heads in the sand over the horrors unfolding in Rakhine,” he said. “At times, her speech amounted to little more than a mix of untruths and victim blaming.”
The UN said on Monday that nearly half the 1.1million Rohingya Muslims who lived in Rakhine state had now fled into neighbouring Bangladesh. Additional reporting by Kathleen Prior in Cox’s Bazar