Nobel winner links terrorism to illegal immigration
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday that the world is facing instability and conflict in part because illegal immigration spreads terrorism, as her country faces accusations of violently pushing out hundreds of thousands of unwanted Rohingya Muslims.
Suu Kyi did not mention the refugee exodus in a speech to European and Asian foreign ministers in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw. But her speech highlighted the views of many in the country who see the Rohingya as immigrants who arrived illegally and accuse them of terrorist acts.
Suu Kyi said the world is in a new period of instability as conflicts around the world give rise to new threats and emergencies, citing “Illegal immigration’s spread of terrorism and violent extremism, social disharmony and even the threat of nuclear war. Conflicts take away peace from societies, leaving behind underdevelopment and poverty, pushing peoples and even countries away from one another.”
Myanmar has been widely criticized for the military crackdown that has driven more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee Rakhine state into neighboring Bangladesh. The United Nations has said the crackdown appears to be a campaign of “ethnic cleansing,” and some have called for reimposing international sanctions that were lifted as Myanmar transitioned from military rule to elected government.
Foreign ministers and representatives of 51 countries are meeting in Naypyitaw in a forum that aims to further political and economic cooperation but takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis.
A flurry of diplomatic activity preceded Monday’s opening, with the foreign ministers of Germany and Sweden joining the European Union’s foreign policy chief in a visit to the teeming refugee camps in Bangladesh. China’s Wang Yi was also in Bangladesh and met privately with Suu Kyi on Sunday in Myanmar following that trip.
Suu Kyi is Myanmar’s foreign minister and state councilor, a title created for the country’s onceleading voice for democracy since she is constitutionally banned from the presidency. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate does not command the military and cannot direct its operations in northern Rakhine state, but her remarks in seeming support of the brutal crackdown have damaged her global reputation.
In her speech to the visiting foreign ministers, Suu Kyi also cited natural disasters caused by climate change as compounding the world’s problems. She said mutual understanding of problems like terrorism would be crucial for peace and economic development.
The EU’s top diplomat said earlier Monday that she is encouraging Suu Kyi to implement the recommendations of an expert panel on ensuring stability in Rakhine state and work was still needed on that.
The commission, led by former U.N. SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan, called for promoting investment and community-directed growth to alleviate poverty in Rakhine, which Myanmar officials have supported. But it also called for Myanmar to grant citizenship and ensure other rights to the Rohingya, concessions that have been resisted.