Critics round on Suu Kyi over Rohingya crisis

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday stood accused of failing to protect Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims from what rights groups say is a systematic campaign of abuse by the army, reports AFP from Yangon. The democracy icon, garlanded by the international community as a moral force during Myanmar’s junta years, has remained near-silent despite mounting evidence of army abuses in Rakhine State.The United Nations has said recent security operations amount to “ethnic cleansing” of the Muslim Rohingya minority, with thousands fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh. Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, has seen her halo start to slip since her party took power this year after winning the country’s first free elections in a generation. Her failure to speak out in support of the Rohingya “is baffling to an international audience that persists in casting her as a human rights icon,” said David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch.
“One version to explain her silence is callous indifference, another is calculated limited messaging... but the most likely is she simply has no control over the Burmese army.”
Thousands of Rohingya have fled the army lockdown in Rakhine to Bangladesh, bringing with them horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmar’s military. Rights groups say the military has used attacks on police border posts last month as an excuse for a crackdown on the Rohingya, a Muslim group reviled by many Myanmar Buddhists. The government flatly denies the allegations, saying troops are defending the country from an armed insurgency. It has barred investigators and foreign journalists from the locked-down area and lashed out at reports of abuse as “fabrications”. Suu Kyi, who has travelled to India and Japan during the six-week crisis, has commented only to say a probe into the attacks was underway in accordance with the law. But she has faced growing criticism for her inaction. The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, has slammed the lockdown as “unacceptable”. Researchers at Queen Mary University London said her silence amounts to “legitimising genocide” and entrenching “the persecution of the Rohingya minority”.

 

Critics round on Suu Kyi over Rohingya crisis

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday stood accused of failing to protect Myanmars Rohingya Muslims from what rights groups say is a systematic campaign of abuse by the army, reports AFP from Yangon. The democracy icon, garlanded by the international community as a moral force during Myanmars junta years, has remained near-silent despite mounting evidence of army abuses in Rakhine State.The United Nations has said recent security operations amount to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority, with thousands fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh. Suu Kyi, Myanmars de facto leader, has seen her halo start to slip since her party took power this year after winning the countrys first free elections in a generation. Her failure to speak out in support of the Rohingya is baffling to an international audience that persists in casting her as a human rights icon, said David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch. One version to explain her silence is callous indifference, another is calculated limited messaging... but the most likely is she simply has no control over the Burmese army. Thousands of Rohingya have fled the army lockdown in Rakhine to Bangladesh, bringing with them horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmars military. Rights groups say the military has used attacks on police border posts last month as an excuse for a crackdown on the Rohingya, a Muslim group reviled by many Myanmar Buddhists. The government flatly denies the allegations, saying troops are defending the country from an armed insurgency. It has barred investigators and foreign journalists from the locked-down area and lashed out at reports of abuse as fabrications. Suu Kyi, who has travelled to India and Japan during the six-week crisis, has commented only to say a probe into the attacks was underway in accordance with the law. But she has faced growing criticism for her inaction. The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, has slammed the lockdown as unacceptable. Researchers at Queen Mary University London said her silence amounts to legitimising genocide and entrenching the persecution of the Rohingya minority.