Myanmar's Suu Kyi under pressure as almost 125,000 Rohingya flee violence

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi under pressure as almost 125,000 Rohingya flee violence

By Simon Lewis and Krishna N. Das

 

Rohingya refugees get off to the boat as they arrive in Bangladesh by boat through the Bay of Bengal in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

 

SHAMLAPUR, Bangladesh/DHAKA (Reuters) - Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi came under more pressure on Tuesday to halt violence against Rohingya Muslims that has sent nearly 125,000 of them fleeing over the border to Bangladesh in just over 10 days.

 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the risk of ethnic cleansing and regional destabilisation. He urged the U.N. Security Council to press for restraint and calm in a rare letter to express concern that the violence could spiral into a "humanitarian catastrophe."

 

Reuters reporters saw hundreds more exhausted Rohingya arriving on boats near the Bangladeshi border village of Shamlapur on Tuesday, suggesting the exodus was far from over.

 

The International Organization for Migration said humanitarian assistance needed to increase urgently and that it and partner agencies had an immediate funding gap of $18 million over the next three months to boost lifesaving services for the new arrivals.

 

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said after meeting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka that Jakarta was ready to help Bangladesh in dealing with the crisis.

 

"This humanitarian crisis shall be ended. I want to repeat, this humanitarian crisis shall be ended", she told reporters in Dhaka, a day after she held talks in the Myanmar capital.

 

The latest violence in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh.

 

Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths, but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings.

 

When asked if the violence could be described as ethnic cleansing, Guterres told reporters on Tuesday: "We are facing a risk, I hope we don't get there."

 

"I appeal to all, all authorities in Myanmar, civilian authorities and military authorities, to indeed put an end to this violence that, in my opinion, is creating a situation that can destabilize the region," he said.

 

The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution.

 

Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against "terrorists."

 

H.T. Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said other countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations could join Indonesia in putting pressure on fellow member Myanmar.

 

Malaysia, another ASEAN member, summoned Myanmar's ambassador to express displeasure over the violence and scolded Myanmar for making "little, if any" progress on the problem.

 

"Malaysia believes that the matter of sustained violence and discrimination against the Rohingyas should be elevated to a higher international forum," Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in a statement.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has said the violence against Rohingyas constituted genocide, told Suu Kyi the violence was of deep concern to the Muslim world, and that he was sending his foreign minister to Bangladesh.

Pakistan, home to a large Rohingya community, has expressed "deep anguish" over the situation.

FULL CAMP

About 210,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October, when Rohingya insurgents staged smaller attacks on security posts, triggering a major Myanmar army counter-offensive.

 

Refugees arriving in Shamlapur, and residents of the village, said hundreds of boats arrived on Monday and Tuesday with several thousand people.

 

Reuters reporters saw men, women and children with a few possessions, including chickens, disembark from one boat.

 

"The army set fire to houses," said Salim Ullah, 28, a farmer from Myanmar's village of Kyauk Pan Du, gripping a sack of belongings. "We got on the boat at daybreak. I came with my mother, wife and two children. There were 40 people on the boat."

 

The new arrivals - many sick or wounded - have strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar.

 

Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said one camp in Bangladesh, Kutupalong, had reached "full capacity" and resources at others were stretched.

 

"We are doing what we can, but will need to seek more resources," Tan said.

 

Bangladesh is concerned about Myanmar army activity on the border and would lodge a complaint if Bangladeshi territory was violated, an Interior Ministry official said.

 

A Bangladesh border guard officer said two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side, after two on Monday fuelled speculation Myanmar forces had laid land mines.

 

One boy had his left leg blown off near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, the officer, Manzurul Hassan Khan, said, adding the blast could have been a mine explosion.

 

The Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts but said in a statement on Tuesday that Rohingya insurgents were planning bomb attacks in Myanmar cities including the capital, Naypyitaw, Yangon and Mandalay to "attract more attention from the world".

 

(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Nurul Islam in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Wa Lone and Shoon Naing in Yangon, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-06

[steven100]

let them flee.  If more of this occurred worldwide there would be less people smuggling and less illegal immigrants trying to enter Australia, US, UK and other developed countries.

 

[retarius]

What a useless disappointment this lady has turned out to be. The Rohingya have been persecuted and murdered for years and not a word from her, not a single word. Take back the peace prize as she is condoning genocide.

[steven100]

OT :  I read where the illegal asylum seekers on Manus island have just been awarded $70m .......     what an absolute disgrace.

[phantomfiddler]

5 minutes ago, retarius said:

What a useless disappointment this lady has turned out to be. The Rohingya have been persecuted and murdered for years and not a word from her, not a single word. Take back the peace prize as she is condoning genocide.

It has often been stated that hypocrisy is the greatest sin of all. Radical rohingyas just attacked a dozen police stations in Burma ! Wherever muslims go there is trouble and violence, and in any country where they predominate, they are the greatest discriminators of other religions, often killing Christians en masse. Do you want these people living next to you ? Well, neither does Aung San Suu Kyi ! Let her keep her prize, as she has the good of the Burmese people as her main concern.

[joecoolfrog]

3 hours ago, steven100 said:

let them flee.  If more of this occurred worldwide there would be less people smuggling and less illegal immigrants trying to enter Australia, US, UK and other developed countries.

 

Yes because refugees fleeing from persecution just vanish I suppose , are you insane ?

[steven100]

10 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

Yes because refugees fleeing from persecution just vanish I suppose , are you insane ?

Well then the government of that country needs to be held accountable ....  why should others pay for the persecution. ?

Not my taxes.

[spidermike007]

She was a hero to so many, for so many years. And now that she is in power, she has turned out to be weak, ineffective, and unable to resist the mind boggling degree of hatred, ignorance, racism, xenophobia, and intolerance coming from a large part of the Burmese population and alot of the ignorant Buddhist clergy in that country, being expressed toward these rather helpless minorities. 

 

Is she a racist? A xenophobe? A nationalist? I am not certain. But, more and more she is appearing to be. She needs some good PR assistance. Or she needs to grow a set, and start standing up to the truly ignorant, and making a case for compassion and tolerance. So far, she has been fabulously unimpressive, as a leader. 

[nausea]

No surprise, really, the writing was on the wall, or rather in the New York Times, some time ago:

 

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ... advised the United States ambassador against using the term “Rohingya” to describe the persecuted Muslim population."

.RICHARD C. PADDOCK
May 6, 2016, NYT

 

The writer goes on to say that many nationalist Buddhists reject the name Rohingya and call them Bengalis, implying that they are interlopers from Bangladesh. He could well have said British imported Bengalis, just to add a bit of history.

[Zack61]

She's as weak as piss. What a poor excuse for a human being. Gutless. She promised so much more and delivered nothing. 

[spidermike007]

She is now engaging in pathologic lies. Telling the media, the UN, and the world community that they are protecting the Rohinga. Such deceit. Shame on her. She has gone from being a hero, and an icon, to being a liar, who will apparently say anything, to defend the heinous military, that still have huge influence over Burma. Please, do not call this country Myanmar. Please. It is a sign of respect for the military, and a fabulously cruel, corrupt, and heartless government. It is Burma. The people are Burmese. 

[colinneil]

55 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

She is now engaging in pathologic lies. Telling the media, the UN, and the world community that they are protecting the Rohinga. Such deceit. Shame on her. She has gone from being a hero, and an icon, to being a liar, who will apparently say anything, to defend the heinous military, that still have huge influence over Burma. Please, do not call this country Myanmar. Please. It is a sign of respect for the military, and a fabulously cruel, corrupt, and heartless government. It is Burma. The people are Burmese. 

Spot on mate, she promised so much, and has then done nothing, gone back on her word.

Makes her no better than scum.

[Morch]

 

I don't know enough about Myanmar politics to judge the constraints under which Suu Kyi operates, and how much of what she does is effected by such considerations. When it comes to our own countries, or countries we are more familiar with, it is easier to account for a fuller picture.

 

That said, she obviously falls short of the image created (at least in the West) over many years resisting the military regime. Whether this should come as a surprise or not can be debated - vaguely remember an article published prior to her ascent, which did question the scope of her attributed commitment to the values expressed. Then again, such things are sometimes laid aside in favor of focus on "greater" goals.

[spidermike007]

On 9/6/2017 at 5:34 PM, colinneil said:

Spot on mate, she promised so much, and has then done nothing, gone back on her word.

Makes her no better than scum.

 

She is obviously a bigot and a racist. She obviously shares the hatred of the minorities, that the majority of "so called Buddhists" feel toward the Muslim Rohinga. And she is obviously too cowardly to defy her support base, nor the despot military, who still run the show in Burma.

 

Her diplomats are working with Russia and the UN to prevent criticism of the government at Security Council level, and she herself has characterised the latest violence as a problem of terrorism.

 

Quoted from By Fergal KeaneBBC News

Originally, her talk about bringing the country together, was a language which Western journalists (including myself), were eager to hear. Many who found their way to Myanmar in those days were veterans of recent tragedies in Rwanda and the Balkans. 

After witnessing genocide and ethnic cleansing, we were inspired by the words of the lady by the lake. 

Complex ethnic rivalries

Here was a peacemaker in a world made dark by the actions of Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, Franjo Tudjman of Croatia, and the Hutu power extremists of Rwanda. 

In retrospect, we knew too little of Myanmar and its complex narratives of ethnic rivalries, deepened by poverty and manipulated over decades by military rulers. And we knew too little of Aung San Suu Kyi herself.

 

We did not calculate that the stubbornness which refused to concede to the military junta might, if she came to power, prove equally forceful when confronted with foreign criticism. 

Her greatest strength in adversity could prove a defining weakness. Old friends in the international human rights movement and some previously sympathetic politicians have become strongly critical. 

 

Anybody who has spent time in her company knows that shifting her mind when she is set on a course of action is extremely difficult.

 

 

The Rohingya crisis: Why won't Aung San Suu Kyi act?

By Fergal KeaneBBC News

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41187517