Myanmar unrest: Kabul demands ‘special’ UN probe

KABUL government on Monday asked the United Nations (UN) to launch ‘a special’ investigation into the communal violence against Muslims in Myanmar.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a statement received by Pajhwok Afghan News said “the Afghan government strongly condemns the massacre of Muslims in Rohingya area of the country by the state’s army.”

The violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority has forced tens of thousands to flee and has left nearly 400 people dead in clashes.

Aid officials said relief camps were reaching full capacity as thousands of Rohingya refugees continued to pour into Bangladesh on Sunday fleeing violence in western Myanmar.

Some 73,000 people have crossed the border since violence erupted on August 25 in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Vivian Tan.

The MoFA said such ‘hideous acts were against the international human rights and should be prevented.  The MoFA asked the UN to investigate the killings of Myanmar’s Muslims in a ‘special manner.’

Meanwhile, Taliban Rasool faction also denounced the oppression of Muslims in the overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar also known as Burma.

The Taliban statement said: “We are ready for any kind of support to the oppressed Muslims in Myanmar. Our thousands of youth are waiting to help the Myanmar Muslims.”

It asked all Muslim countries, especially Bangladesh, to allow the Afghan insurgents to go to Myanmar.

The statement criticized human rights defenders for remaining silence on the issue.

The violence and the exodus began after Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar police and paramilitary posts in what they said was an effort to protect their ethnic minority from persecution. In response, the military unleashed what it called “clearance operations” to root out the insurgents.

Myanmar has a long history of communal mistrust, which was allowed to simmer, and was at times exploited, under military rule, with the government not doing enough to head the violence off.

sns/ma

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