Myanmar’s authorities committed crimes against humanity in regard to Rohingya-muslims
The treatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims by the country’s military, including allegations of rape and helicopter gunships firing randomly on villages, may constitute crimes against humanity, Amnesty International has said, write theguardian.com.
South-east Asian foreign ministers met in Yangon on Monday for emergency talks about the two-month campaign against a nascent insurgency, during which time Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has failed to respond to international criticism.
More than 27,000 people from the ethnic group have fled to Bangladesh, leading to an open spat within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a regional 10-member bloc.
This month, Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, said “the world cannot sit by and watch genocide taking place”, opening a rift within Asean, which normally maintains a diplomatic tone among members.
Myanmar, which denies allegations of abuse, summoned Malaysia’s ambassador and banned its workers from going to the country.
The Myanmar army says it is hunting militants behind deadly raids on police posts in October. Rohingya survivors have made allegations of rape, murder and arson by security forces.
“The Myanmar military has targeted Rohingya civilians in a callous and systematic campaign of violence,” said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty’s south-east Asia director. “The deplorable actions of the military could be part of a widespread and systematic attack on a civilian population and may amount to crimes against humanity.”
The recent bloodshed is the most deadly since hundreds were killed in clashes in 2012 and more than 100,000 were forced into squalid camps. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace prizewinner and de facto leader of Myanmar, has been criticised for not doing more to stop military action in the area.
Besides facts, expounded above, Amnisty accuses military in torching more than 1500 houses.
