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Rabat – Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has decided it will not allow a UN-led mission into allegations that a state-sponsored “genocide” is being waged against the country’s Rohingya Muslim population.
According to Kyaw Zeya, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “If they are going to send someone with regards to the fact-finding mission, then there’s no reason for us to let them come.”
As a result, the official Myanmar response to the UN mission is to officially deny any participant the entry visa they will require to accomplish their tasks.
Widely criticized in the international community for her failure to protect the Rohingya population and facilitate its integration into Myanmar society, Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi at one time stated that accepting the UN resolution, adopted in March, would “create greater hostility between the different communities.”
The Rohingya have long been regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and, as a result, have been systematically denied citizenship and other basic human rights in Myanmar.
Following the deaths of nine policemen at the hands of Rohingya insurgents, the Burmese army began a crackdown that quickly became known for its unexpected level of violence. Eye-witness reports told of mass beatings, disappearances, gang rapes and killings as nearly 75,000 Rohingya fledRahkine State for safer ground. The most disturbing tales to emerge involved the wholesale slaughter of Rohingya babies while their mothers were raped at the hands of Burmese security forces.
Myanmar has categorically denied the allegations, calling them an “exaggeration” on the part of the international community and media. In the face of these denials, however, the evidence of “crimes against humanity” gathered by UN officials is daunting.
In addition to eye-witness testimony, there is also the presence of aerial photographs showing burned villages and charred human remains. Men have reached refugee camps with gunshot wounds and countless women have been treated for sexual trauma.
In the face of this, Myanmar chooses to call the evidence “propaganda” with Kyaw Zeya saying, “Why do they try to use unwarranted pressure when the domestic mechanisms have not been exhausted?”
“It will not contribute to our efforts to solve the issues in a holistic manner,” he added.
