UN rights chief urges Myanmar to probe sectarian killings

Geneva: UN human rights chief Navi Pillay urged Myanmar on Friday to investigate reports that more than 40 people had been killed in attacks on Rohingya Muslims in the country’s strife-torn Rakhine state.
“I deplore the loss of life in (the village of) Du Chee Yar Tan and call on the authorities to carry out a full, prompt and impartial investigation and ensure that victims and their families receive justice,” Pillay said in a statement.
The UN, the statement said, had received “credible information” that eight Rohingya Muslim men were attacked and killed in the village, near the border with Bangladesh, by local Rakhine Buddhists on January 9.
Four days later, a police sergeant in the same village was captured and killed by Rohingya. This in turn prompted village police and local Rakhine to kill at least 40 Rohingya Muslim men, women and children the same evening, the statement said, adding that the UN had passed on the information it had received to the Myanmar government.
“By responding to these incidents quickly and decisively, the government has an opportunity to show transparency and accountability, which will strengthen democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar,” Pillay said.
Myanmar’s western Rakhine state remains tense after several outbreaks of communal bloodshed between Buddhist and Muslim communities since 2012 that have killed scores and displaced 140,000 people, mainly from the Rohingya minority.
Details of the latest unrest have remained unclear, but activists said shortly after the January 13 attack that at least two women and a child were stabbed to death in the village, with possibly several dozen casualties. Myanmar authorities have denied any civilian deaths but confirmed a clash took place in which a police officer was presumed to have been killed.
The United States embassy urged senior Myanmar officials ‘to speak out publicly on the importance of respect and tolerance and to avoid speculating on the details of what took place’. It also called on the government to conduct an impartial investigation with the UN.
‘We are particularly disturbed by reports that some of the deaths and injuries may have resulted from security forces’ use of excessive force,’ a US embassy official told Reuters.
On Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she had received credible reports that at least 40 Rohingya were killed by police and Rakhine residents in violence sparked by the murder of a police officer.
The UN had shared the information with the government, she said.
‘By responding to these incidents quickly and decisively, the government has an opportunity to show transparency and accountability, which will strengthen democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar,’ she said in a statement.
But government spokesman Ye Htut insisted the police officer was the only person killed and said the UN statement would increase tension in the area.
‘It will just fuel suspicions and concerns in Rakhine state and also erode local people’s trust in the UN agencies,’ he said.
Most of the victims were Muslims and the most deadly incidents happened in Rakhine state, where about a million Rohingya live in apartheid-like conditions, denied citizenship with their movements tightly restricted and with little access to health care, jobs or education.
Bangkok-based rights group Fortify Rights said yesterday it spoke to witnesses and other sources who confirmed the massacre, which would be the deadliest incident in Rakhine state since October 2012, when ethnic Rakhine Buddhists fought minority Rohingya Muslims.
Ye Htut urged those who fled the village to return and cooperate with authorities investigating the officer’s death.
‘The police force is giving protection to the people left in the village,’ he said. (REUTERS)