USA TODAY International Edition
Suu Kyi evasive on Rohingya ‘cleansing’
De facto leader of Myanmar offers concern but doesn’t address claims of military’s role in crisis
Myanmar’s de facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi broke her silence Tuesday over claims her nation’s military participated in what the United Nations described as “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya Muslims.
For the most part, she refused to back down or criticize Myanmar’s military or her own lack of reaction to the crisis.
In her first public comments since violence erupted a month ago that has caused an estimated 412,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, Suu Kyi, 72, told foreign diplomats, journalists, military and government officials gathered for her speech in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s capital, that the nation “does not fear international scrutiny.”
“We too are concerned,” she said. “We want to find out what the real problems are. There have been allegations and counter-allegations. We have to listen to all of them. We have to make sure those allegations are based on solid evidence.”
Suu Kyi’s reputation as an international democracy advocate and humanitarian has been badly damaged for failing to speak out on behalf of the Rohingya. She is Myanmar’s state counselor and foreign minister, roles that give her powers similar to that of a prime minister in Myanmar’s slow transition to democracy from military rule.
She had been due to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week but canceled and gave her speech in Naypyitaw instead because of a crisis that U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Suu Kyi has “a last chance” to contain.
Myanmar has blamed the Rohingya themselves for an insurgency that it says has involved “brutal acts of terrorism,” and could be getting international assistance.
While Suu Kyi did strike a conciliatory tone in her speech,
“We want to understand why this exodus is happen ing. We would like to talk to those who have fled and those who stayed.” Aung San Suu Kyi
she said contrary to reports of a brutal military crackdown on Rohingya villages in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state — a mountainous area where about 800,000 Rohingya live — “there have been no armed clashes and no clearance operations” since Sept. 5.
“Nevertheless we are concerned to hear numbers of Muslims are fleeing across the border to Bangladesh,” she said. “We want to understand why this exodus is happening. We would like to talk to those who have fled and those who stayed.”
The Rohingya are a minority in an overwhelmingly Buddhist country formerly known as Burma. They are not recognized by the government as an official group and are denied citizenship. Violence first erupted in Rakhine state on Aug. 25 after Rohingya militants attacked an army base and police post belonging to Myanmar’s military.
In the crackdown that followed, according to human rights groups who have been collecting testimony from Rohingyas fleeing across the border to Bangladesh, there have been forced expulsions, villages set on fire and tales of rape and violent killings.
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, has called the operation against the Rohingya as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
“Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food or water, having left their homes in fear of their lives. I’m particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need,” said Mark Pierce, Save the Children’s Bangladesh country director.
“Beneath the hardship and suffering faced by the Rohingya who’ve arrived in Bangladesh, there is a child protection crisis on our doorstep. We’re seeing numbers of children arriving alone and in desperate need of help,” Pierce said. “Some children have witnessed violence and killing. Some have been shot at, others have seen their homes set on fire. Some have reportedly watched their parents being killed.”
Human Rights Watch published new analysis of satellite imagery from Rakhine state on Monday that showed the near total destruction of 214 villages. Phil Robertson, the humanitarian organization’s deputy Asia director, called on world leaders meeting at the U.N.’s General Assembly on Tuesday to “act to end this mounting crisis and show Burma’s military leaders they will pay a price for such atrocities.”
In her address, Suu Kyi tried to appease her critics, who have included fellow Nobel peace laureates Malala Yousafzai and Desmond Tutu, by saying that Myanmar condemned all human rights violations and unlawful violence and felt deeply for the suffering of all the people caught up in the conflict.
However, she evaded the chief accusations against her government and said that it was working hard to restore normalcy to the region.
“The security forces have been instructed to adhere strictly to the code of conduct in carrying out security operations, to exercise all due restraint and to take full measures to avoid collateral damage and the harming of innocent civilians,” she said.