Arakan News Agency – The United Nations should intervene in Myanmar’s Arakan State to stop further escalation of violence against Rohingya Muslims and avoid another genocide like in Cambodia and Rwanda, said the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s special envoy to Myanmar.
Syed Hamid said the OIC should seek U.N. intervention.
“We don’t want to see another genocide like in Cambodia or Rwanda,” Syed Hamid told Reuters in an interview ahead of the meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
“The international community just observed, and how many people died? We have lessons from the past, for us to learn from and see what we can do,” he said.
The OIC represents 57 states and acts as the collective voice of the Muslim world.
“Malaysia proposed the meeting because of the urgency of the matter, and not because we want to interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs. Neither do we want to confront the Myanmar government.
“This is not a communal issue as claimed by the government but rather a religious issue because they (the Myanmarese) are targeting Muslims in their conflict with the Rohingya,” he further added.
Refugees, residents and human rights groups say Myanmar soldiers have committed summary executions, raped Rohingya women and burned homes since military operations started in the north of Arakan State on Oct. 9.
The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has denied the accusations, saying many of the reports are fabricated, and it insists the strife in Arakan State, where many Rohingya live, is an internal matter.
