08/30/2017
Security Council discusses Rohingya conflict in Burma / Myanmar
Bangladesh should take up refugees – Human rights activists accuse winner of the Nobel Peace Prize of a “total failure” in the Rohingya conflict (Press Release)
At least 5,200 members of the persecuted Muslim minority are waiting along the border to Bangladesh, hoping to find shelter – but in vain. Photo: Steve Gumaer via Flickr
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has urged the government of Bangladesh to take up Rohingya refugees who are on the run from the escalating violence in Rakhine state in neighboring Burma. “At least 5,200 members of the persecuted Muslim minority are waiting along the border to Bangladesh, hoping to find shelter – but in vain. Last night, refugees had reported about more violence in villages near the border,” said the STP’s director, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Wednesday. Today, at the request of Great Britain, the Security Council will address the tense situation in Burma and the Rohingya conflict.
Further, the STP accused Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, of a “total failure” in the Rohingya crisis. Delius criticized her behavior as irresponsible, embarrassing, and odd. “Burma’s former peace icon is not trying to find a political solution to the Rohingya conflict, but is simply backing the military and its course towards another escalation. Instead of pacifying, she is stoking violence.” Thus, Aung San Suu Kyi’s office had used Facebook to accuse human aid workers of helping armed Rohingya fighters to carry out “terrorist attacks” – but she didn’t condemn the army’s massive violent attacks against unarmed Rohingya in November and December 2016.
Burma’s coalition partners in Asia fear that large migration movements of the Rohingya might destabilize the region. Recently, leading politicians and governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand had demanded a political solution to the conflict. “Burma’s problem is not to be seen in an armed Islamic movement that is – supposedly – fighting for a caliphate, as the army claims. The real problem is that the government is apparently unable to assert itself against the army – and that it doesn’t recognize the Rohingya as equal citizens,” said Delius. “The latest wave of violence is home-made. It could be resolved quickly if Burma’s government were to aim at a credible political solution to the conflict.”
In the north of Rakhine state, at least 109 people have lost their lives in counter-measures against an armed Rohingya group since August 25. Some Rohingya groups even stated that 18 villages were burnt down and that more than 700 people were killed.
Header Photo: Steve Gumaer via Flickr
