Reuters
23 May, 2017
YANGON (Reuters) -
Myanmar's army on Tuesday rejected allegations of human rights abuses during
its crackdown on Rohingya Muslim last year, made by the United Nations in a
report on the offensive that forced some 75,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring
Bangladesh.
The crackdown, in
response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents on border guard posts on Oct. 9,
poses the biggest challenge yet to Myanmar's leader and Nobel laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, who took power more than a year ago.
Myanmar's security
forces committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya in a campaign that
"very likely" amounted to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic
cleansing, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in
a report published in February.
"Out of 18
accusations included in OHCHR's report, 12 were found to be incorrect, with the
remaining six found to be false and fabricated, based on lies and invented
statements," the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said in
an article on Tuesday that summed up the internal military inquiry.
It said military
investigators, among others, interviewed nearly 3,000 villagers from 29
villages and "wrote down" testimony from 408 villagers, 184 military
officers and troops.Three low-ranking soldiers were jailed for minor offences,
such as stealing a motorbike or beating up villagers in one incident, it added.
Apart from the
completed military inquiry, a national panel set up by Suu Kyi in December and
chaired by vice president Myint Swe, a former head of military intelligence, is
also looking into the allegations.
Besides the latter
investigation, the ministry of home affairs, which is controlled by the army,
is also carrying out an inquiry. Separately, the U.N. has ordered a
fact-finding mission to examine allegations of human rights abuses.
(Reporting by Antoni
Slodkowski; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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