Asean ignores Rohingya exodus but Myanmar quietly removes general in charge of Rakhine crackdown
The Rohingya have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh since military clearance operations were launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on August 25
A draft of the statement to be issued after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit made no mention of the flight of Rohingya from military operations in Myanmar’s Rakhine state that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing.
However, Myanmar’s army yesterday replaced the general in charge of Rakhine state following the military crackdown that has driven more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh amid reports of mass rape, torture and other crimes against humanity.
One paragraph of the Asean statement mentioned fleetingly the importance of humanitarian relief for “affected communities” in Rakhine state.
The statement was drawn up by the Philippines, current chair of the 10-member Asean, which includes Myanmar.
It’s time for Asean to transcend its do-nothing approach to atrocities among its members
It did not use the term Rohingya for the persecuted Muslim minority, which Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has asked foreign leaders to avoid. The government in mostly Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and does not recognise the term.