Top Myanmar general defends military’s ‘clearance operations’ as 400,000 Rohingya flee bloodshed
UN leaders have described the campaign as having all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya
Myanmar’s army chief has urged the country to unite over the “issue” of the Rohingya, a Muslim group he says has no roots in the country, and which his troops are accused of systematically purging.
The military says its “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine state are aimed at taking out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25.
But the violence has engulfed the border region and triggered an exodus of more than 400,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh, where they have told of soldiers slaughtering civilians and burning down entire villages.
The status of the Muslim minority has long been an explosive topic in Myanmar.
Many in the Buddhist majority view the group as foreign interlopers from Bangladesh and deny the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, insisting they be called “Bengalis”.