IN MYANMAR, POPE STAYS MUM ON ROHINGYA CRISIS
PERSECUTION OVERLOOKED In a speech to Myanmar’s ruling elite, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, Pope Francis failed to condemn the military’s campaign against the Muslim minority.
• Human rights groups and Rohingya activists expressed disappointment after Pope Francis avoided publicly referencing persecution of the Muslim minority group in a speech to Myanmar’s ruling elite.
The Pope called for “justice and a respect for human rights” in an address to officials including Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s civilian leader, in the capital city of Naypyidaw Tuesday.
But in apparent deference to Myanmar diplomatic sensitivities, he did not use the word “Rohingya” or mention allegations of ethnic cleansing.
“The future of Myanmar must be peace, a peace based on respect for the dignity and rights of each member of society, respect for each ethnic group and its identity, respect for the rule of law, and respect for a democratic order that enables each individual and every group — none excluded — to offer its legitimate contribution to the common good,” he said in a broadly framed address.
Francis landed in Yangon on Monday to kick off a weeklong trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh, which both have small Catholic minorities.
Myanmar i s home to around 700,000 Catholics and the Pope is due to give an open- air mass attended by up to 200,000 people on Wednesday.
The trip was planned before the outbreak of the Rohingya refugee crisis three months ago.
A military crackdown against the Muslim minority has led to 620,000 people fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh since August.
Refugees have described fleeing a systematic campaign of house burnings, rape and murder by Myanmar soldiers and civilian vigilantes who say they are carrying out counterterrorist operations against a Rohingya insurgent group.
The UN and Western governments have described the campaign against the Rohingya Muslims as an example of “textbook ethnic cleansing.”