UK BULLETINS

Burma action ‘ethnic cleansing’

DOWNING Street believes that Burma’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority “looks like ethnic cleansing”, Theresa May’s official spokesman has said.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman repeated calls for Burma’s military to end a campaign of “inhumane violence” in Rakhine state, which he said was to blame for a major humanitarian crisis in the south-east Asian country.

Attacks on Rohingya villages, which have taken place since August, have prompted more than 600,000 people to cross the border into Bangladesh.

Mrs May’s spokesman said: “It’s a major humanitarian crisis which has been created by Burma’s military and it looks like ethnic cleansing.” Former international development secretary Priti Patel described the treatment of the Rohingya Muslims as “systematic ethnic cleansing inflicted by the Burmese military” in the House of Commons last month.