Aung San Suu Kyi appoints former UN boss Kofi Annan to oversee commission into abuses in Rakhine State
Thousands of stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled persecution and poverty neighbouring South and Southeast Asian countries
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi picked former UN chief Kofi Annan on Wednesday to lead a commission to stop human rights abuses in Rakhine State, where violence between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims has cast a pall over democratic reforms.
More than 100 people were killed in violence in the northwestern state in 2012, and some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are stateless, took refuge in camps where their movements are severely restricted.
Thousands have fled persecution and poverty in an exodus by boat to neighbouring South and Southeast Asian countries.
“The Myanmar government wants to find a sustainable solution on the complicated issues in Rakhine State, that’s why it has formed an advisory commission,” the government said in a statement released by Suu Kyi’s office.
The Myanmar government wants to find a sustainable solution on the complicated issues in Rakhine State
While Suu Kyi has eased into her role as de facto head of state, former president Thein Sein, who oversaw the early stages of Myanmar’s gradual reopening since 2011, was replaced at the helm of his military-backed party that ran Myanmar until November elections.