Arakan News Agency
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman will visit Myanmar on Friday,UN Secretary-General ‘spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“The visit will continue on October 17,” the statement said.
He said the move came for consultations with the relevant authorities in Myanmar on the crisis of the Rohingya Muslims in the province of Arakan, in the west of the country.
Dujarric also noted that the visit “follows repeated appeals by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to end military operations and violence in Arakan.”
“From the Secretary-General’s calls, unrestricted access to humanitarian support; safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of refugees to their areas of origin”.
“Mr. Feltman will hold consultations to address these pressing issues in close cooperation with Myanmar,” the statement said.
“His discussions will also focus on building a constructive partnership between Myanmar and the United Nations to address key issues affecting all communities in the affected areas.”
On Wednesday, a UN report said that the Myanmar government’s strategy in its current military campaign against the Rohingya “was to instill fear and shock in the largest number of them, to force them to leave Arakan, and not to think of returning again.”
The report was prepared by the United Nations Office for Human Rights and was based on 65 interviews conducted with members and groups of Rohingya Muslims in mid-September.
“The refusal of the Myanmar government to grant Rohingya their rights, including citizenship, appears to be a ploy to forcibly transfer many of them without the possibility of their return,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein said in the report.
Since August 25, Myanmar’s army and Buddhist militias have been committing crimes, attacks and brutal massacres against the Muslim minority of Rohingya, killing thousands of them, local activists said.
The massive violations have also pushed some 519,000 Rohingyas to take refuge in neighboring Bangladesh, according to the latest UN figures.
The Myanmar government regards Rohingya Muslims as “illegal migrants from Bangladesh,” while the United Nations classifies them as “the most persecuted religious minority in the world.”
