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SINGAPORE (Reuters) – US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday expressed the most severe condemnation ever made by the Trump administration of Myanmar 's treatment of Rohingya Muslims, saying the "persecution" by the government of the country is no longer in danger. Army of his country was "without excuse".
Myanmar State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi and US Vice President Mike Pence hold a bilateral meeting in Singapore on November 14, 2018. REUTERS / Athit Perawongmetha
Pence also asked Suu Kyi to pardon two Reuters journalists who were arrested nearly a year ago and sentenced in September to seven years in prison for breaking the law on official secrets.
"The violence and persecution of soldiers and militiamen who drove 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh are without excuse," Pence told Suu Kyi in an open statement to the media before they enter into private talks on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore.
"I look forward to hearing about the progress you are making in empowering those responsible for the violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and created such suffering, including loss of life," he said. he adds.
The Myanmar Army launched a radical offensive in northern Rakhine State at the end of August last year, in response to Rohingya activists' attacks. Myanmar denies persecuting members of the Muslim minority, claiming that its forces had conducted legitimate counter-insurgency operations.
The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), who will meet with Pence on Thursday, also said in a statement issued Wednesday by the Singaporean president that they are only going to be on the same day. were expecting an investigation commission set up by the Government of Myanmar "an independent and impartial investigation into alleged human rights violations and related issues" in Rakhine State.
The calls seemed to reflect a stronger line of the 10-member ASEAN group, which traditionally works by consensus and is reluctant to get involved in matters that are considered internal to its members.
DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW
Suu Kyi, whose face is pegged to the stone near Pence, replies: "Of course, people have different points of view, but the fact is that you have to exchange these points of view and try to understand yourself better. "
"In one way, we can say that we understand our country better than any other country and I am sure you will say the same as you, that you understand your country better than anyone," she added. .
The United States has accused the military of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, who are widely criticized in Myanmar, which is largely Buddhist.
United States-mandated investigators have accused the army of having launched a campaign of killings, rapes and arson with "genocidal intent".
This week, Amnesty International withdrew Suu Kyi's most prestigious human rights award, accusing her of perpetuating human rights abuses by not denouncing violence against her. against Rohingya.
Once hailed as a champion of the struggle for democracy, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate was deprived of a series of international awards for the exodus of the Rohingyas.
Neither Suu Kyi nor his office publicly commented on Amnesty International's decision.
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay did not respond to calls to solicit comments on Pence's comments on Wednesday.
ARRESTS OF JOURNALISTS
Pence also said Washington wanted to see a free and democratic press in Myanmar, commenting, "In America, we believe in our democratic institutions and ideals, including a free and independent press."
Representatives of the White House told reporters, at the end of their in camera interviews, that he had pressed her "several times" to pardon the two convicted Reuters journalists.
"They had a very candid exchange of views on this," said a senior White House official. He refused to elaborate.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Reuters journalists, two Myanmar nationals, were arrested in Yangon last December. On November 5, their lawyers appealed their conviction.
At the time of their arrest in December, they were working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim villagers during an army-led crackdown in Rakhine State. . Reuters released its investigation of the massacre on February 8.
Suu Kyi said that the imprisonment of Reuters journalists had nothing to do with freedom of expression and that they had been sentenced, not because they were journalists but because they had broken the law on official secrets.
