Myanmar army denies raping and murdering Rohingya Muslims after 'internal investigation'
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| A Rohingya refugee woman, who crossed the border from Myanmar, jumps during her walk to the Kotupalang refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. REUTERS/Jorge Silva |
November 13, 2017
Myanmar's army on Monday released a report denying all allegations of rape and murder of Rohingya Muslims, after replacing the general in charge of the operation that drove more than 600,000 of the oppressed group out of the country.
A report posted on the Facebook page of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar army's commander-in-chief, said an internal investigation had cleared the security forces of all accusations of committing violent atrocities against the Rohingya.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have made the fraught journey to Bangladesh since the Myanmar military launched a crackdown in Rakhine state in August.
It was not explained why Major General Maung Maung Soe was transferred from his post as the head of Western Command in Rakhine state.
Over the weekend, a senior UN official who had toured the refugee camps in Bangladesh accused Myanmar's military of conducting organised mass rape and other crimes against humanity.
The denial came ahead of a visit on Wednesday by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is expected to deliver a stern message to Myanmar's generals, over whom de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi exerts little control.
Senators in Washington are pressing to pass legislation imposing economic and travel sanctions targeting the military and its business interests.
In September, another senior UN figure said the actions of the Myanmar military against the Rohingya seemed a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
The government in Buddhist-majority Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
Myanmar says the clearance operation was necessary for national security after Rohingya militants attacked security posts and an army base.
