Myanmar's neighbors call for "accountability" in the Rakhine crisis: draft declaration

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Southeast Asian nations will demand that those responsible for the atrocities committed in Rakhine State, Myanmar, be held "fully accountable," according to a statement prepared for the day. A regional summit, reflecting the strengthening of the line of action within the group.

The president's draft statement, which was reviewed by Reuters but may change before Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong presented it at the close of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings. East (ASEAN), composed of 10 members, announced the situation The state of Rakhine was a "subject of concern".

The Singapore Government did not immediately comment on the draft declaration.

A final statement could be issued after ASEAN leaders began their meeting late Tuesday.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay did not respond to calls for comment on the summit's message.

In the month of August, a report published by the United States reported mass murders and genocidal group rapes as part of a crackdown by the Burmese army in 2017, which had led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine to neighboring Bangladesh. She called for her commander-in-chief and five generals to be prosecuted under international law.

Myanmar denied most of the allegations contained in the report.

Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who will join the Singapore summit, has been widely criticized for her handling of the crisis.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the highest ASEAN leader, was scathing against the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Tuesday when he was questioned about the situation in Myanmar.

"It would seem that Aung San Suu Kyi is trying to defend what is indefensible," told reporters at the age of 93, reporters in Singapore. "We are very disappointed because an already detained person knows the suffering and must not inflict it on others."

Mahathir and Suu Kyi were sitting side by side at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit and a welcome dinner. The television coverage showed them that they were studiously ignorant.

Amnesty International announced Tuesday that it had withdrawn its most prestigious human rights award in Suu Kyi, accusing it of perpetuating human rights violations by not denouncing violence in the country. 39 against Rohingya.

"We called on the Myanmar Government's independent inquiry commission to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into allegations of human rights violations and related issues, and hold those responsible fully accountable," he said. the draft declaration of the President of ASEAN.

The Rohingya crisis is one of the largest man-made disasters involving a member since the establishment of ASEAN in 1967, and one of the thorniest ones to which a group works traditionally by consensus to its members.

In July, Myanmar set up an inquiry commission to investigate allegations of human rights violations in Rakhine, consisting of two local members and two international members from Japan and the Philippines.

Draft declaration reiterates ASEAN's previous appeals to the importance of repatriating displaced people in Myanmar, humanitarian aid and reconciliation among communities, but goes further by calling for accountability of perpetrators of atrocities alleged.

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan emphasized strengthening rhetoric in the draft declaration. He said his counterparts in ASEAN had urged Myanmar to give the inquiry commission a full mandate to hold those responsible accountable.

A source close to the pre-summit talks, voicing anonymity, said Singapore was bent for a stronger stance because it was the ASEAN member the most internationally committed and felt responsible as the organizer of the summit to protect his credibility.

It was not clear if all members of the group would support the most severe statement of ASEAN so far on the Rakhine problem.

The Muslim-majority members of ASEAN – Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei – tend to take the toughest stance on the Rohingya issue, while Myanmar has close regional allies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Under military control in recent years, Thailand has also provided coverage to Myanmar.