By Wa Lone
YANGON, July 18
(Reuters) - Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's security adviser told diplomats
on Tuesday that a U.N. mission looking into allegations of rape, torture and
killings of Rohingya Muslims would only "aggravate" troubles in the
western state of Rakhine.
 |
| Myanmar's Security Adviser U Thaung Tun |
Myanmar has declined
to grant visas to three experts appointed by the United Nations in May to look
into allegations of abuses against the powerful armed forces.
Last week, the U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Nikki Haley, called on Myanmar to
accept the mission, which was mandated in a Human Rights Council resolution.
"We dissociated
ourselves from the decision because we found that it was less than
constructive," said National Security Adviser Thaung Tun, speaking to U.N.
officials and diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel.
The decision of
other countries - including China and India - to join Myanmar in distancing
themselves from the resolution was a "principled stand", Thaung Tun
said.
"We feel that
that mission can only aggravate the situation on the ground," he said.
The treatment of the
roughly one million Muslim Rohingya has emerged as majority Buddhist Myanmar's
most contentious rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of harsh
military rule.
The Rohingya are
denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh,
despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries, with communities
marginalised and occasionally subjected to communal violence.
The government
denounces the violence but has done little to improve the lot of the Rohingya.
'INCREASING
TERRORIST ACTIVITY'
The European Union
proposed the investigation after the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
said the army's operation in the northern part of Rakhine State - where most
people are Rohingyas - likely included crimes against humanity.
Troops fanned out to
villages after Rohingya militants killed nine policemen in attacks on border
posts in October. The operation sent an estimated 75,000 people across the
nearby border to Bangladesh, where many gave accounts of abuses.
Reuters was among
international media escorted to the area last week in a tour closely overseen
by security forces.
Rohingya women told
reporters of husbands and sons arbitrarily detained, and of killings and arson
by security forces that broadly match the accounts from refugees in Bangladesh.
Myanmar has largely
denied the accusations, and says most are fabricated.
Thaung Tun did not
directly address the allegations, but said Myanmar had a "clear right to
defend the country by lawful means" as it tackles "increasing
terrorist activities".
Officials say a
domestic investigation, led by Vice President Myint Swe, a former lieutenant
general, is sufficient.
A commission headed
by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan is looking into the problems in Rakhine State,
but is not tasked with investigating rights abuses.
Thaung Tun said the
government had started implementing interim recommendations the panel proposed
in March, which included shutting camps where more than 120,000 Rohingya have
languished since communal violence five years ago.
(Reporting
by Wa Lone; Writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Source: http://dailym.ai/2vwKVKA
Also read here:
Myanmar bars UN: http://thestatesman.com/opinion/myanmar-bars-un-1500323040.html