It is genocide in Rakhine, says Dhaka minister

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s foreign minister yesterday said genocide was being waged in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

“The international community is saying it is a genocide. We also say it is a genocide,” A.H. Mahmood Ali said after briefing diplomats here.

Ali met Western and Arab diplomats and heads of United Nations agencies based in Bangladesh to seek support for a political solution and humanitarian aid for the Rohingya.

He said some 300,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in the past two weeks, taking the number of such refugees in the country to more than 700,000. “It is now a national problem.” At least two diplomats who was at the briefings said the minister told them as many as 3,000 people might have been killed in the latest round of violence.

The UN said 294,000 Rohingya refugees had arrived in Bangladesh since attacks by Rohingya militants on Myanmar security forces in Rakhine on Aug 25 sparked a military backlash.

Ali accused Myanmar of running a “malicious propaganda” campaign to term the Rohingya as “illegal migrants from Bangladesh” and the militants as “Bengali terrorists”.

He said the Rohingya in Rakhine were a “mixed group of people” with a history dating back 1,500 years, and their ancestors included Arab and Indian-origin people.

Ali described actions following the militant attacks on security forces on Aug 25 as “revenge” by Myanmar troops.

“Should all people be killed? Should all villages be burnt? It is not acceptable,” he said, adding that Dhaka wanted a peaceful solution, not a “war” against Myanmar.

“We did not create the problem. Since the problem started in Myanmar, they should resolve it. We have said we’ll help them.”

A commission led by former UN chief Kofi Annan last month said Myanmar must scrap restrictions on movement and citizenship for the Rohingya if it wanted to avoid fuelling extremism and bring peace to Rakhine.

Ali called on the international community to urge the Myanmar government to immediately implement the recommendations “in its entirety”. AFP