Johnson urges probe of Rohingya crisis

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Britain’s foreign minister Boris Johnson stopped off in Myanmar on Sunday to press Aung San Suu Kyi on the need for an independent probe into violence in Rakhine state, as the country faces mounting pressure to punish troops accused of atrocities against the Muslim Rohingya. Johnson met with the embattled Myanmar leader, whose reputation among the international community has crumbled over her handling of the Rohingya crisis, in the capital Naypyidaw while on a four-day tour in Asia.

The meeting followed Johnson’s visit to a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, where nearly 700,000 Rohingya have sought sanctuary after fleeing a Myanmar army crackdown launched in northern Rakhine last August. The UN has accused Myanmar security forces of driving the Muslim minority across the border in an ethnic cleansing campaign. Doctors Without Borders estimates at least 6,700 Rohingya died in the first month of violence.

But Myanmar has staunchly denied the charges and blocked UN investigators from the conflict zone, souring relations with a host of western allies. Fresh reports of mass graves in Rakhine — and the arrest of two Reuters journalists investigating an alleged massacre — have heightened pressure on Suu Kyi to condemn the army, who she is in a delicate powersharing arrangement with. (AFP)

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