UN report points to ethnic cleansing of Rohingya

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Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said unity is the key to resolving the Rohingya problem. Some half-million Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since late August.

In a nationwide address, the State Counselor said Myanmar and Bangladesh are negotiating the return of the refugees, with Suu Kyi pledging humanitarian aid.

Her speech comes on the heels of a new UN report which describes a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.

As CGTN's Liling Tan reports, UN's credible information points to how Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed Rohingya property, how they scorched homes and entire villages in northern Rakhine State, not only to drive out the population but also to prevent them from returning home.

It also noted that the destruction indicates an effort by security forces to erase landmarks and diminish Rohingya history, culture and knowledge. The report adds weight to warnings from top UN officials and world leaders that ethnic cleansing was taking place.

The UN report also notes the findings contradict the government’s assertion that the casualties were a result of collateral damage from the government’s response to the August 25 attack on its military and police outposts by Rohingya militants.

Witnesses described security forces surrounding entire villages, sometimes accompanied by armed Rakhine Buddhists, firing indiscriminately at villagers, setting houses on fire and ordering Rohingyas to abandon their homes.

The investigation was conducted by a team of three experts from the UN refugee agency who were there last month. It is based on 65 interviews with refugees who fled to Cox’s Bazar, many of whom gave witness accounts of targeted killings, rape and torture.

Witness describes children being beaten and tortured, of abducted girls returning raped and bleeding, how a knife was used during a gang rape of a female, and how a woman’s stomach was slit open after she was raped, and her unborn infant killed.

Tan said the witness accounts contained in this report are some of the most gruesome she have seen since covering this latest Rohingya crisis. As of October 8, the UN estimates that nearly 520,000 people have fled the violence in Rakhine state to Bangladesh.