Myanmar ex-minister says UN has ‘no proof’ of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya.
Amid international criticism and claims of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is defiant.
“Myanmar does not fear international scrutiny,” Suu Kyi said in a speech Tuesday.
The Nobel laureate did not blame her country’s army in her first public address since the current crisis began in late August. She said there were “allegations and counter-allegations,” but unlike Suu Kyi, international observers and Rohingya Muslims aren’t equivocating.
- Suu Kyi condemns ‘all human rights violations’
- here is fire-detection data, there’s satellite imagery, photographs, videos — they show entire Rohingya villages being burned down by vigilante Buddhist mobs [and] also by Myanmar security forces. Given all that evidence, how can you deny what’s happening? What the satellite images show is that villages are burning. There is also Rakhine villages that are burning. So satellite photos just show the image. There is no proof who is responsible. But I admit it. This is not a good thing for our country.
They tell stories of villages burned to the ground by Myanmar security forces, refugees shot and killed as they try to flee, and the mass exodus of more than 400,000 Rohingya people crossing into Bangladesh.
Ye Htut is Myanmar’s former minister of information, who oversaw the transition to Suu Kyi’s de facto leadership. He spoke with As it Happens guest host Helen Mann from Singapore. Here’s an excerpt of that conversation:
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called the situation in Rakhine state “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” How do you respond to that?
I reject the remark. … You need the strong, legal evidence to use this term. Without this type of precaution, you will give the Rohingya group, like ISIS, a good propaganda platform.