Myanmar Says It Will Not Let Outside World Investigate Rohingya ‘Genocide’ Claims

Myanmarese de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Naypidaw, 8 Shawwal 1438/2 July 2017 (MINA) – Myanmar will refuse entry to members of the UN trying to investigate the alleged killing, violence and abuse against the Rohingya people, independent.co.uk reported, citing an official.

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The government of Aung San Suu Kyi has already said it would refuse to cooperate with a UN mission following a resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council in March.

Kyaw Zeya, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “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.”

Mr Zeya added that visas to enter Myanmar would not be issued to any staff working on the mission.

The Myaanmarese government has repeatedly denied claims that the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group is facing genocide in the country’s remote Rakhine State. It previously brushed away evidence of human rights violations as fake news and “propaganda”.

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It also deemed “exaggerated” a UN report published in February which found babies and children were reportedly slaughtered with knives amid “area clearance operations”.

The report concluded counter military operations by security forces were subjecting the Rohingya population to brutal beatings, disappearances, mass gang rape and killings.

Ms Suu Kyi, who came to power last year as apart of a transition from military rule, has been criticised for failing to stand up to the more than one million stateless Rohingya Muslims.

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Domestic investigation

People in Myanmar, which is a Buddhist-majority country, have long seen the Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Some 75,000 Rohingyas fled the northwestern state of Rakhine to Bangladesh last year following security operations carried out by the Myanmarese army.

In March, the EU called for a mission to look into the allegations of abuse in the north of the country.

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Indira Jaising, an advocate from the Supreme Court of India, was appointed to lead the mission in May.

But Myanmar insists that a domestic investigation, which is headed by former lieutenant general and Vice President Myint Swe, is sufficient to look into the allegations in Rakhine.

“Why do they try to use unwarranted pressure when the domestic mechanisms have not been exhausted?” said Kyaw Zeya.

“It will not contribute to our efforts to solve the issues in a holistic manner,” he said. (T/RS5/RS1)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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