Bangladesh's leader demanded that Myanmar allow the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled recent violence in the Buddhist-majority nation — a crisis she said left her speechless.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh would offer the refugees temporary shelter and aid, but that Myanmar should soon "take their nationals back." She said on Tuesday at the Kutupalong refugee camp, near the border town of Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar district:
We will not tolerate injustice.
At least 370,000 Rohingyas have flooded into Bangladesh since 25 August, when Myanmar’s military responded to a major insurgent attack with what it called “clearance operations” to root out the rebels.
Many of the fleeing Rohingya have said Myanmar soldiers shot indiscriminately, burned their homes and warned them to leave or die. Others said they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.
The crisis has drawn sharp criticism of Myanmar's government and its leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. On Tuesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the killing of Muslims a political disaster and called Suu Kyi a "brutal woman."
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said the Rohingya were victims of what “seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
Two human rights groups on Tuesday accused the UN Security Council of ignoring the crisis. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International spoke at the UN headquarters ahead of closed council discussions Wednesday about the Myanmar situation.
This is an international peace and security crisis and there is no excuse for the Security Council sitting on its hands.Louis Charbonneau, UN director, Human Rights Watch to AP
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world's largest Muslim body, is urging Myanmar to allow in UN monitors so they can investigate what it alleges is systematic brutality against the Rohingyas.
The UN Human Rights Council approved an investigative mission earlier this year, but Myanmar in June refused to allow it to enter. An envoy’s visit in July was met with protests.
In Myanmar, a Rohingya man said security forces arrived on Monday in the village of Pa Din, firing guns, setting new fires to homes and driving out hundreds of Rohingya. The villager said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety, “People were scared and running out of the village.”
(This article has been edited for length)
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