Myanmar complies with int’l recommendations on Rohingya crisis: Suu Kyi

April 29, 2017

State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi told President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that Myanmar had partly complied with recommendations issued by the Advisory Committee for Rakhine State to solve humanitarian conflicts in the region.

She explained the progress achieved in the implementation of the recommendations during their bilateral meeting in Manila, the Philippines, on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, who accompanied Jokowi during the meeting, said the recommendations issued by the committee led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan were in line with the cause Indonesia had campaigned for in the past year on a solution to the Rohingya conflicts.

“We discussed reports from Kofi Annan’s commission. Some of the recommendations have been followed up [by Myanmar],” said the minister, without elaborating.

Jokowi took the chance to approach Suu Kyi to discuss about the Rohingya crisis on the sidelines of the 30th ASEAN Summit in Manila, which took place from April 26 to 29.

The Kofi Annan report proposed a series of measures to resolve the humanitarian crisis, including allowing humanitarian aid workers access to the affected areas in northern Rakhine and for an independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of crimes committed on and since Oct. 9, 2016.

It also urges the Myanmar government to grant protection of rights, freedom of movement and access to health and education for the Rohingya Muslim minority group, as well as the edification of Rakhine’s cultural heritage.

A report released by the London-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) stated that at least 30,000 people in Rakhine have been internally displaced, while ongoing violence has led to shortages of food and aid for more than 70,000 people in the area.