Arakan News Agency
Myanmar’s government has dismissed a United Nations report citing evidence of atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, describing them as “reckless”.
In a rare news conference, the country’s military defended its actions in the violence-torn Arakan State, saying the actions were necessary to counter insurgency operations and defend the country.
“I want to say that I am very sad because of the kind of reckless accusations and neglect of the good things that the government and military have done for them,” said General Mya Tun Oo, chief of the army’s general staff, referring to media reports quoting Rohingya people.
The UN report on February 3 said it was “very likely” the military’s behaviour in Arakan amounted to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
But General Mya Tun Oo said official investigations failed to substantiate most allegations. He said the increasing population of Rohingya in Arakan, along with an increase in the number of religious leaders and mosques, disproved general charges of genocide and religious persecution.
The denial will intensify calls for a United Nations inquiry into the abuses at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 13.
The UN report was based on interviews with more than 200 of 70,000 Rohingya living in Bangladesh camps. They had fled Arakan after a military crackdown in October which was prompted by an attack by Rohingya on six police border posts.
Atrocities included the slitting of a crying baby’s throat while his mother was being gang raped. Among scores of killings, rapes, burnings and forced disappearances, witnesses told how they saw soldiers stomping on the stomach of a pregnant woman while she was in labour.
The report followed other accounts of widespread atrocities, including by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights.
General Mya Tin Oo claimed the military had “investigated” some media reports and villagers had said they did not know of any abuses.
He also cited international observers who had briefly visited some villages, saying they did not find any evidence of abuses.
