Aung San Suu Kyi breaks her silence on the Rohingya crisis

In the twenty-first century, a humanitarian crisis is taking place in Myanmar and the Rohingyas are the protagonists of the tragedy.

According to Amnesty International ( AI ), Myanmar authorities have launched major security operations in the area after fatal attacks on police outposts by Rohingya militants in northern Rakhine State in October 2016 .

Since then, fighting between the army and ethnic armed groups has escalated in Myanmar while the government has increased restrictions on access for the United Nations ( UN ), other humanitarian organizations , and media .

Villages burned, unlawful killings, firings on civilians, rape, arbitrary arrests are a few of the crimes committed against Rohingya minority and other Muslim people .

“Access to their livelihoods, to health care including lifesaving treatment, food security and education were greatly restricted,” condemns AI.

The U.N. reported that among 75,000 people have fled to Bangladesh and that Myanmar’s security forces have committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya in a campaign that “very likely” amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing .

In the meantime, First State Counsellor of Myanmar , Aung San Suu Kyi remained silent yet, she delivered a speech from the capital, Naypyidaw breaking her long silence on the Rohingya crisis.

During her speech, Myanmar's de facto leader insisted that there had been “ no conflicts since September 5 and no clearance operations” against the country’s Muslim minority, a contradictory affirmation according to those who have fled the crisis.

Suu Kyi assures that “the great majority of Muslims in the Rhakine State have not joined the exodus” and that “more than 50 percent of the villages of Muslims are intact.”

"We condemn all human rights violations and unlawful violence. We are committed to the restoration of peace and stability and Rule of Law throughout the state, ” Suu Kyi clearly condemns rights abuses, yet she did not address any of the ethnic cleansing allegations.

Moreover, she assures “action will be taken against all people, regardless of their religion, race and political position, who go against the law of the land and violate human rights.”

Amnesty International described Suu Kyi's speech as a "little more than a mix of untruths and victim blaming", and accused her of ignoring the abuses by the army.

In an interview with EL UNIVERSAL , Bangladeshi Ambassador to Mexico, Supradip Chakma comments on the devastating situation: “Myanmar military have used attacks to their security posts as a pretext to suppress the whole of the Rohingya minority, while its government have tried to mislead the world by presenting the current crisis as an isolated case of Islamic terrorism and concealing its root causes. The extremist and terrorist rhetoric has been used to justify actions against an entire community, with the seeming purpose of casting them out of their ancestral territory, while the whole world witnesses how a milenary society with a distinctive culture is being systematically uprooted.”

For more information regarding Myanmar on Amnesty International visit: http://bit.ly/1GZojRH .

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