‘Reconciliation means reconciliation with all groups and it’s difficult to imagine how you can resettle 800,000 people in a third country’
PHNOM PENH: Asean chief Surin Pitsuwan said on Sunday that Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar were the victims of “disturbing” ethnic violence, but stopped short of calling the bloodshed genocide.
A wave of violence in western Rakhine state between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims has left hundreds dead and displaced more than 110,000 people since June, overshadowing political reforms in the country.
“I would call it a disturbing trend of ethnic violence that could become destabilising to the region,” Surin told AFP in Phnom Penh at a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“I have already given out a warning that it could be radicalised. That would not be good to anybody in the region.”
But Surin did not endorse a statement from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which on Saturday called the Rohingya victims of “genocide”.
“I think the statement by the OIC reflects the frustration... of 57 countries,” Surin said when asked whether he would call the violence “genocide”. “This is a very very, frustrating, worrisome situation.”
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, whose country is a member of both Aseanand the OIC, was similarly cautious. “Genocide is a very specific term,” he told reporters in the Cambodian capital.
“I think we are not preoccupied with the actual terminology, rather I think... recent developments in the affected state have been quite disquieting and a source of concern and we wish very much for the situation to be quickly addressed.”
Myanmar’s 800,000 stateless Rohingya are seen by the government and many in the country as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. They are described by the UN as among the world’s most persecuted minorities.
Buddhist and Rohingya militants have each accused each other of genocide in recent months, but right groups have been reluctant to employ the term.
Surin called on Aseanto provide humanitarian assistance to “relieve” the suffering of the victims, many of whom have been made homeless by the clashes and are languishing in overcrowded, squalid camps.
Asked whether Aseanwanted Myanmar to grant citizenship to the ethnic minority, Surin indicated it was not for the bloc to interfere with a fellow member state’s handling of the issue.
“I understand the sensitivity, I understand the complexity of the issue,” he said, adding that “the people of Myanmar as a whole will have to warm up to the idea”.
“Reconciliation means reconciliation with all groups and it’s difficult to imagine how you can resettle 800,000 people in a third country,” he said.
“So it has to be resolved through their own national processes, through their own laws... (it) will have to be done by the Myanmese government.”
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