Arakan News Agency
Mr Johnson said he spoke to de facto Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi about the situation – but cast doubt that she understood “the full horror” of what had happened.
The Foreign Secretary urged the Nobel Peace Prize victor to show “leadership” in response to the humanitarian situation in the country, which he described as unprecedented in his lifetime.
Bangladesh reached a deal with Myanmar late a year ago to repatriate the almost 700,000 Rohingya who have fled across the border since August to escape a brutal military crackdown. Mr Johnson toured the camp and afterwards said the “horrendous living conditions” further strengthened his commitment to finding a solution.
A statement issued by Britain’s Foreign Office after Johnson met with Aung San Suu Kyi said he had raised the case of the two journalists without providing details. “I have seen nothing like it in my lifetime”. “
And, really, what I was trying to get over to her is the importance of her leadership”.
I think she’s done incredible things in her life. “I believe she can still make a change and make a difference”.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met Monday with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and officials to discuss neighboring Myanmar’s persecution of ethnic Rohingya Muslims and plans for elections in Thailand to end military rule.
The Foreign Secretary warned of a need to be “realistic” about the pace of the return of Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar, as he highlighted how there is “a lot of fear” among those displaced.
He also called for Suu Kyi to launch an independent investigation into the crisis, amid claims Burmese security forces drove out Rohingya Muslims as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign.
Earlier this month, a senior United Nations official said the violence bears “the hallmarks of a genocide”.
He said during the visit: ‘I have seen for my own eyes the horrendous living conditions the Rohingya people are having to endure and it has only further strengthened my commitment to working with global partners to improve the lives of these people in 2018.
“I don’t know whether you’ve ever seen anything like it done by mankind against our fellow man”. Others have no home to return to after their villages were torched. Johnson is scheduled to visit Arakan later on Sunday. He said: ‘We had this farcical account that villagers themselves had set light to their homes.
