UN Envoy, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Discuss Rohingya Crisis

TEHRAN (IQNA) – The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar met with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw on Friday to discuss the Rohingya crisis in beleaguered Rakhine state, where the repatriation of some of the 720,000 Muslim refugees who fled to Bangladesh last year during a crackdown has yet to get under way.

Christine Schraner Burgener, appointed to her post in April by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, spoke with Myanmar’s leader about how the UN can help with the return and resettlement of the Rohingya, said Chan Aye, director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A former Swiss diplomat, Burgener met with Aung San Suu Kyi, who also serves as foreign affairs minister, at the start of a nine-day visit, Radio Free Asia reported.

She had earlier met with Lt. Gen. Soe Win, vice chief of staff of the Myanmar Army, on Monday to discuss the Rakhine issue and the use of child soldiers by the military, Chan Aye said.

Burgener will also meet with Win Myat Aye, minister of social welfare, relief, and resettlement, who is overseeing the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, with Attorney General Htun Htun Oo, and with officials in Rakhine state, he said.

Myanmar has agreed to take back Rohingya refugees who have been verified as eligible to return to Rakhine state, though the process has not begun in earnest.

Burgener, who has an office in Naypyidaw, is tasked with enhancing cooperation between the UN and Myanmar to address the crisis in Rakhine, help bridge differences in the ethnically and religiously divided state, and assist the Myanmar government with its peace process efforts.

She will issue a statement about her latest visit after it ends on Oct. 20.

Burgener previously spent two days in Rakhine’s Maungdaw township in June, where she toured repatriation facilities and villages affected by violence during the brutal military campaign that targeted Rohingya civilians following deadly attacks on police outposts by a Muslim militant group.

The UN and other members of the international community have said that the crackdown amounted to ethnic cleansing and genocide.

During that visit, she also met with Aung San Suu Kyi and military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

 “This visit is quite important,” said Myanmar political analyst Aung Thu Nyein. “The UN has recently been putting a lot of pressure on Myanmar, and the government has so far refused to grant a UN investigation commission permission to enter.”