Arakan News Agency
Some church officials in Myanmar became upset after the government refused to issue visas to three members of a United Nations fact-finding mission who were supposed to look into allegations of human rights violations committed against the Rohingya minority.
In a statement to the Union of Catholic Asian News, Bishop Alexander Pyone Cho of Pyay expressed disappointment over Myanmar’s decision. He said Aung San Suu Kyi’s government seems to be faced with a difficult problem with the country’s military, which is accused of abuses against the Rohingya minority, and the international community.
“Allegations of ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity should be fully and independently investigated,” Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon said of the crisis last month. “The warnings of potential genocide need to be heeded.”
Rev. Kyaw Nyung, Judson Church in Yangon’s associate pastor, said Myanmar is prioritizing national interest over human rights. He said the government seems to think that the UN fact-finding mission might cause conflict in their internal affairs.
Suu Kyi and the previous military rulers who were in power until 2015 have been criticized over the treatment of the Rohingya minority. In 2012, more than 120,000 of them fled to refugee camps after around 200 were killed in the military’s four-month campaign against insurgents. Suu Kyi has sided with the military amid international rights groups’ accusations of ethnic cleansing.
