Attacks on Rohingya are ethnic cleansing, says UN
MYANMAR: Aung San Suu Kyi was under growing international pressure yesterday after the United Nation’s top human rights official accused her government of ‘‘textbook ethnic cleansing’’ and the Dalai Lama criticised Buddhist nationalist attacks on Myanmar’s Rohingya ethnic minority.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said Myanmar seemed to be carrying out a ‘‘systematic attack’’ on civilians – designed to expel the mainly Muslim minority from the predominantly Buddhist country.
‘‘Because Myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators, the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,’’ Zeid told the UN Human Rights Council.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in the past two weeks after violence flared in neighbouring Burma, where the stateless Muslim minority has endured decades of persecution.
Zeid’s condemnation came as the Dalai Lama also spoke out for the first time about the crisis, saying Buddha would have helped Muslims fleeing violence.
‘‘Those people who are harassing some Muslims, they should remember Buddha,’’ the Dalai Lama said. ‘‘He would definitely give help to those poor Muslims.‘‘
The growing international out- rage condemning the violent treatment of the Rohingya has reportedly made little impact on the Burmese military who were still threatening to burn villages, said human rights activists.
Tun Khin, president of the Myanmar Rohingya Organisation UK, said he had received multiple calls yesterday from desperate residents in Buthidaung, Rakhine state, who said soldiers had threatened to kill them and burn down their homes if they remained.
‘‘They [military] are telling villagers ‘we will kill all of you, we will burn all the villages’,’’ he said. ‘‘The villagers are asking if the international community can do anything. We are witnessing the most horrific situation in our history.’’
Burma says it is carrying out counterterrorist operations in Rakhine state against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a militant group that carried out a series of deadly attacks on border guard posts on August 25.
At least 313,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Burma since violence flared on August 25, the group co-ordinating the relief operation said.
The figure means at least 400,000 people, or more than a third of the estimated 1.1 million Rohingya population of Rakhine, have entered Bangladesh since an outbreak of violence last October.
– Telegraph Group
Isis ‘losing will’
There are hopes Islamic State militants in Iraq could be crushed by the time the beleaguered nation heads to the polls next year. Air Commodore Terry van Haren, who heads Australia’s air combat operations over Iraq and Syria, believes the Iraqi security forces and US-led coalition have now reached a ‘‘tipping point’’. ‘‘There’s operational momentum,’’ van Haren said. Commander of the task unit group Captain Steve Young says there are signs Isis is losing will. ‘‘If you’re an optimist you could say we’re breaking the back of Daesh,’’ he said.
Young migrants ‘exploited’
More than three out of four of migrants aged 14-24 report being subjected to forced labour, sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy, the United Nations’ children’s and migration agencies said in a report yesterday. Children from central and southern Africa face more abuse, including discrimination and racism, relative to young migrants from other places, UNICEF and the International Organisation for Migration said in the report. Among its recommendations are for European Union authorities to set up ‘‘legal migration pathways’’ for children and youths to reach the continent and to seek alternatives to the detention of young people caught immigrating illegally.
Tax-cutting PM wins
Norway’s tax-cutting Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg declared victory yesterday after a parliamentary election, narrowly defeating a Labour-led opposition with her promises of steady management of the oil-dependent economy. The win is historic for Solberg, whose supporters compare her firm management style to that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, because no Conservative-led government has retained power in an election in Norway since 1985. ‘‘It looks like a clear victory,’’ for the Centre-Right, a beaming Solberg told cheering supporters in Oslo following Monday’s voting. ‘‘Our solutions have worked. We have created jobs,’’ she said, but warned, ‘‘We have some challenges ahead . . . Oil revenues are going to be lower. We all must take responsibility.’’