Myanmar investigation branded a ‘whitewash’

YANGON: Human rights group Amnesty International poured scorn on a Myanmar military investigation into alleged atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, branding it a ‘‘whitewash’’ and calling for UN and independent investigators to be allowed into the country.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since late August, driven out by a counterinsurgency clearance operation in Rakhine State that a top UN official has called a classic case of ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’.

Accusations of organised mass rape and other crimes against humanity were levelled at the Myanmar military on Sunday by another senior UN official, who had toured Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s military has consistently protested its innocence, and on Monday posted the find ings of an internal investigation on the Facebook page of its commander in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

It said it had found no instances where its soldiers had shot and killed Rohingya villagers, raped women or tortured prisoners. It denied security forces had torched Rohingya villages or used ‘‘excessive force’’.

The military’s selfexoneration came as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson prepared to visit Myanmar today for talks with leaders.

With a push in the United States for sanctions against Myanmar, Tillerson is expected to deliver a stern message.

Coincidently, on Friday the commanding officer in Rakhine State, Majorgeneral Maung Maung Soe, was replaced. No reason was given for his transfer.

PHOTO: REUTERS Mohammad Shobaik (12), a Rohingya refugee boy who said he was shot by the military during an attack on his village in Myanmar, shows his wound at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh yesterday.