 |
| An effigy of Aung San Suu Kyi about to be torched in Dhaka |
Suu Kyi tarred by the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Muslim Rohingya
The UN has warned the
international reputation of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s fledgling Myanmar
government is at stake over its handling of the Rohingya crisis, as allegations
of human rights abuses against the Muslim minority continue to leak out from
northern Rakhine state.
The warning from UN special
adviser on the prevention of genocide Adama Dieng reflects an astonishing
reversal of global opinion of Myanmar’s 71-year-old democracy champion, whom
the international community rallied behind for decades as she languished under
military house arrest.
Mr Dieng said allegations of
atrocities “must be verified as a matter of urgency” and urged the government
to allow access to the area.
“If they are true, the lives of
thousands of people are at risk. The reputation of Myanmar, its new government
and its military forces is also at stake. Myanmar cannot expect that such
serious allegations are ignored or go unscrutinised,” he said.
Many had hoped Ms Suu Kyi’s
refusal to speak out against the persecution of Rohingyasin the lead-up to her
National League for Democracy election win last November was a political tactic
to avoid handing advantage to the former military junta generals she unseated.
There is little sympathy in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for its estimated one
million Rohingya, widely seen as illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
But her government is facing
fierce and unaccustomed criticism for its refusal to allow international aid
workers and journalists access to Rakhine to verify claims of atrocities
against the Rohingya, and for failing to act against what one UN official last
week called a military campaign of “ethnic cleansing”.
Hundreds have fled the area
since the military launched its “clearance operation” in early October in
retaliation for a deadly attack on security posts by suspected Rohingya
militants.
Aid groups say some 30,000
Rohingya men, women and children have been displaced from Maungdaw, near the
Bangladesh border, and more than 130,000 have been without critical food and
medical aid since the military purge began seven weeks ago.
Satellite images released by
US-based Human Rights Watch this month, as well as footage smuggled out by
Rohingya activists, suggest as many as 1200 homes have been torched.
Senior UN High Commissioner for
Refugees official John McKissick last week accused Myanmar forces of “killing
men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting
houses, forcing these people to cross the river” into Bangladesh, with the
“ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in Myanmar”.
Ms Suu Kyi’s government, which
she heads as state counsellor because the military-drafted constitution
prevents her from being president, has denied allegations of mass rape of
Rohingya women, and said Rohingya populations are burning down their own
houses.
That has sparked accusations
her government is mimicking the country’s former military junta, and also
created divisions among ASEAN nations, with Muslim-majority countries such as
Malaysia and Indonesia expressing deep concern over the issue.
Earlier this week Ms Suu Kyi
cancelled a visit to Indonesia — ostensibly for security reasons after police
uncovered a terror plot against the Myanmar embassy — even as she pushed ahead
yesterday with a trip to Singapore.
Matthew Smith from Fortify
Rights said yesterday if emergency aid did not soon reach displaced
communities there could be “significant loss of life” and that “villages are
literally burning as we speak”. “These are avoidable deprivations. There is no
impossible logistical hurdle to reach these people,” he said.
“Since October 9, 20 out of 26
international aid workers have had to leave Maungdaw because the government has
refused to renew travel authorities. Aung San Suu Kyi essentially controls the
issuing of travel authorities.”
The violence is the worst since
2012 when hundreds of Rohingya were killed in clashes with Buddhist mobs.