Myanmar: probe can only aggravate troubles
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's security adviser told diplomats yesterday that a UN mission looking into allegations of rape, torture and killings of Rohingya Muslims would only "aggravate" troubles in the western state of Rakhine.
Myanmar has declined to grant visas to three experts appointed by the United Nations in May to look into allegations of abuses against the powerful armed forces.
Last week, the US ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Nikki Haley, called on Myanmar to accept the mission, which was mandated in a Human Rights Council resolution.
"We dissociated ourselves from the decision because we found that it was less than constructive," said National Security Adviser Thaung Tun, speaking to UN officials and diplomats, including US Ambassador Scot Marciel.
The decision of other countries - including China and India - to join Myanmar in distancing themselves from the resolution was a "principled stand", Thaung Tun said.
"We feel that that mission can only aggravate the situation on the ground," he said.
The treatment of the roughly one million Muslim Rohingya has emerged as majority Buddhist Myanmar's most contentious rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of harsh military rule.
The Rohingya are denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries, with communities marginalised and occasionally subjected to communal violence.
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