Minister calls on Suu Kyi to end Rohingya persecution

BRITAIN’S minister for Asia has told Aung San Suu Kyi that her government must heed UN calls to halt violence against Burma’s Rohingya minority or see it “derail” the country’s recent democratic reforms.

Mark Field met Ms Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw before visiting Rakhine State, the epicentre of what the UN has called a campaign of “textbook ethnic cleansing” that has displaced nearly half a million people.

The meeting came as the Myanmar government announced it would assume management of all burnt property and land, raising fears about the viability of refugees returning home.

Mr Field, who met Burmese officials and visited a displaced persons camp in Rakhine, called the situation “an absolute and unacceptable tragedy”.

“During my meetings ... I strongly emphasised the need for Burma to heed the Security Council’s call to end violence and allow humanitarian access to those in need of aid,” Mr Field said. “Burma has taken great strides forward in recent years. But the ongoing violence and humanitarian crisis in Rakhine risks derailing that progress.”

Refugees arriving in Bangladesh have described a campaign of house burnings, killings and rape by soldiers and mobs led by government officials.

Fears about ethnic cleansing were further compounded yesterday when Win Myat Aye, Myanmar minister for social development, relief and resettlement, told a meeting in Sitwe: “According to the law, burnt land becomes government-managed land.”

Soldiers and government-backed vigilantes have been accused of burning Rohingya villages, like this one near Maungdaw, a town in the north of Rakhine State, Burma