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An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal. Photo: Reuters
AsiaDiplomacy

Rohingya crisis: UN Security Council to meet on ‘deteriorating situation’ in Myanmar

Sweden, Britain seek UN meeting on situation in Myanmar

Rohingya Muslims
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
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The United Nations Security Council will meet Wednesday to discuss the violence in Myanmar that has sent more than 300,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh, the council president said.

Britain and Sweden requested the urgent meeting amid growing international concern over the ongoing violence in Rakhine state.

“It’s a sign of the significant worry that Security Council members have about the situation that is continuing to deteriorate for the many Rohingyas who are seeking to flee Rakhine state,” British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.

Smoke rises from a burned house in Gawdu Zara village, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar. Photo: AP
On Monday, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein accused Myanmar of waging a “systematic attack” on the Rohingya and warned that “ethnic cleansing” seemed to be under way.

Myanmar’s de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced strong international criticism over the military crackdown on the Muslim minority, which began when Rohingya militants ambushed security forces in Rakhine State on August 25.

The council met behind closed doors in late August to discuss the violence, but there was no formal statement from the council.

Rycroft said he hoped for agreement on a “public outcome” of the meeting on Wednesday.

UN diplomats have said China has been resisting involvement by the top UN council in addressing the crisis.
Fellow Nobel laureates the Dalai Lama, Malala Yousafzai and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu have urged Suu Kyi to distance herself from the military and speak out on the violence.

The UN refugee agency says at least 313,000 Rohingya have now arrived in Bangladesh from Rakhine State since August 25, about a third of the total population of 1.1 million.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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