Burmese President denies sectarian violence reports

Nouran El-Behairy
2 Min Read
A Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, who tried to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, looks on while kept under watch by Bangladeshi security officials after disembarking from an intercepted boat in Teknaf on 18 June (File photo)
Rohingya refugees AFP
A Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, who tried to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, looks on while kept under watch by Bangladeshi security officials after disembarking from an intercepted boat in Teknaf on 18 June (File photo)

Burmese president Thein Sein invited general secretary of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, to observe the situation in the country’s western Rakhine state.

On Sunday, Ihsanoglu proposed sending a delegation to investigate reports of massacres and ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state.

The Burmese president made the invitation in a meeting with Turkish Foreign minister, Ahmet Davut Oglu, who headed a delegation to Burma on Thursday to offer aid for the thousands of people displaced because of violence.

State run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar stated that Sein welcomed the $50 million in Turkish aid, and said that the violence between Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine state has nothing to do with race or religion.

He claimed the violence was caused by the rape and killing of a Buddhist girl by three Muslims, and since then the region has fallen into a spiral of revenge.

Human Rights Watch however recently reported incidents of killing and rape of Rohingya by the security forces and urged the government to take measures to protect Muslims who are denied citizenship in the country.

The government denied these allegations saying that the security forces were doing their utmost to end the conflict.

President Sein also expressed his disappointment with media coverage of the situation, saying that pictures of bodies circulating on the internet are either fake or were taken elsewhere in the world.

Share This Article
News Reporter
3 Comments