Arakan News Agency
Myanmar Vice President Henry van Thio said during his address to the UN General Assembly that he was concerned about reports of Muslim exodus to Bangladesh.
He added that the security situation in Arakan (Rakhine) region has improved as no confrontations have been reported. “I am pleased to inform you that the situation has improved and no armed clashes have been reported since 5th September,” he said.
However, Van Thio stressed that his country was deeply concerned about the situation in the province and expressed its sympathy for the families of innocent civilians and police officers who had lost their lives.
The vice president’s statement coincided with the contents of the first speech by Myanmar’s State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi on the crisis after international criticism of her arrest for the Arakan massacres.
“The majority of Arakan’s Muslims have not fled the region,” Suu Kyi said in a speech. “We want to find out why this migration continues.”
Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina renewed her call on Myanmar to allow the return of 500,000 displaced Rohingya Muslims who had fled to Myanmar to escape the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias who participated in acts of violence – described as genocide – against this Muslim minority.
“We told Myanmar, these are your citizens, and you have to take them home, keep them safe and provide them with shelter,” she said during a meeting with Bengal activists in New York, where she attended the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly. Persecution or torture “, stressing that” the Government of Myanmar does not respond to appeals. “
Since August 25th, the Myanmar army has committed genocide against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan province, killing and injuring thousands of civilians, according to activists from the province.
About one million Rohingya Muslims in camps in Arakan state were denied citizenship under a law passed by the government in 1982 as irregular immigrants from Bangladesh, while the United Nations classifies them as “the most persecuted religious minority in the world.”
