Boris bears witness to Rohingya horrors
As part of his Asian tour, Boris Johnson visited a burnt-out Rohingya village in Maungdaw, Burma, yesterday. The Foreign Secretary also met Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese leader, and urged her to allow the UN to investigate the Rohingya crisis.
BORIS JOHNSON, the Foreign Secretary, appealed yesterday to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese leader, to allow the UN’S refugee agency to oversee the return of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine state, after the violent crackdown last year which caused 700,000 to flee.
Mr Johnson held a meeting with the embattled leader, whose reputation has crumbled over her handling of the Rohingya crisis, in the capital Naypyidaw while on a four-day tour in Asia.
He called for Ms Suu Kyi to launch an independent investigation into the crisis, amid claims Burmese security forces drove out Rohingya Muslims in an ethnic cleansing campaign.
Burma and Bangladesh have drawn a controversial deal to bring back refugees, but repatriation has yet to begin. Many Rohingya do not feel safe returning to a country where they have faced violent persecution and decades of discrimination at the hands of a state that has denied them citizenship.
“I spoke to her about my own experience witnessing the terrible conditions of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and my deep concern about their future,” Mr Johnson said. “I underlined the importance of the Burmese authorities carrying out a full and independent investigation, and to hold to account those responsible.
He then encouraged the Burmese leader to “put to an end 70 years of conflict in her homeland.”
The meeting followed Mr Johnson’s visit to a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, where nearly 700,000 Rohingya are living.
Burma has staunchly denied the charges of ethnic cleansing.
Fresh reports of mass graves have heightened pressure on Ms Suu Kyi to condemn the army but she has refused to change tack and is accused by critics of adopting a siege mentality.