YANGON: Rohingya refugees cannot return to Rakhine state
until "real Myanmar citizens" are ready to accept them, the country's
army chief said on Thursday (Nov 16), casting doubt over government pledges to
begin repatriating the persecuted Muslim minority.
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| US_FM Rex Tillerson & S.Gen Ming Aung Hlaing |
More than 600,000 Rohingya are languishing in Bangladeshi
refugee camps after fleeing a brutal Myanmar army campaign launched in late
August.
The UN says the scorched-earth operation, which has left
hundreds of villages burned to ash in northern Rakhine state, amounts to ethnic
cleansing of the stateless minority.
But Myanmar's hardline army chief Min Aung Hlaing has
steadfastly denied all allegations of abuse, insisting troops only targeted
Rohingya insurgents.
He has also taken to Facebook throughout the crisis to
fan anti-Rohingya sentiment among the Buddhist public, branding the Muslims as
foreign interlopers from Bangladesh despite many having lived in Rakhine for
generations.
On Thursday he signaled repatriation of the Rohingya was
a long way off, saying their return must first be accepted by ethnic Rakhine
Buddhists - many of whom loathe the Muslim minority and are accused of aiding
soldiers in torching their homes.
"Emphasis must be placed on wish of local Rakhine
ethnic people who are real Myanmar citizens. Only when local Rakhine ethnic
people accept it, will all the people satisfy it (sic)," the statement,
written in English, said on his Facebook page.
Conspirators of terrorist attacks and families flee to
Bangladesh: http://bit.ly/fb2mvSoty
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| US_FM Team & S.Gen Ming Aung Hlaing Team |
The army commander also said Myanmar would not allow the
return of all Rohingya in Bangladesh, a country that was already hosting
hundreds of thousands of the minority from previous waves of persecution.
"It is impossible to accept the number of persons
proposed by Bangladesh," the army statement said, after branding the
refugees as "terrorists" who fled with their families.
The general's comments came a day after he met with US
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who on Wednesday called on the army to
support efforts to return "all refugees", adding that the reports of
widespread atrocities by Myanmar's soldiers were "credible".
Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed in principle to begin
repatriation but are still tussling over the details.
Questions are mounting over how many Rohingya will be
allowed to return, where they will live after they homes have been burned down
and how they will coexist peacefully among ethnic Rakhine neighbours.
Tensions between the two groups have simmered for years,
erupting into bouts of bloodshed in 2012 that pushed more than 100,000 Rohingya
into grim displacement camps.
The Muslim minority has for years suffered under
discrimination from a government that denies them citizenship and severely
restricts their access to work, healthcare and education.