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[Chaos2Frozen]

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...rs-itself-of-rohingya-atrocity-claims-8875134

YANGON: Myanmar's army on Tuesday (May 23) cleared itself of allegations that troops may have carried out ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, but said a soldier had been jailed for taking a motorbike.

More than 70,000 members of the persecuted minority fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after the military launched a widespread crackdown late last year in the north of Rakhine state to hunt down insurgents who attacked police border posts.

UN investigators who interviewed hundreds of escapees documented reports of mass killings, widespread rapes and horrifying accounts of babies being thrown into burning houses.

In a report released in February they said security forces may have committed atrocities so severe they amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

But on Tuesday the military said the results of its own investigation, led by army chief Aye Win, showed those charges were "false and fabricated".

"Out of 18 accusations included in the OHCHR report, 12 were found to be incorrect, with (the) remaining six accusations found to be false and fabricated accusations based on lies and invented statements," said a report by the army's 'True News' team carried in state media, using the abbreviation for the UN's rights body.

One member of the security forces was, however, sentenced to a year in jail and fined for taking a motorbike without the knowledge of its owner, the statement said.

A village head and several villagers were also whipped and two people sent to prison for failing to help put out a fire.

Both the military and the civilian government led by Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi have denied allegations of widespread atrocities against the Rohingya and refused to allow in a UN fact-finding mission to investigate.

 

[ibyea]

What a freaking joke.

 

[Volimar]

Well that should quell any fears the public might have.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

How can a body investigate itself to clear themselves of charges?

 

[m_shortpants]

The world is failing here.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Throwing babies into burning buildings is some fucked up berserk level medieval shit.

How do you hate a baby so badly enough to do that.

 

[theignoramus]

Throwing babies into burning buildings is some fucked up berserk level medieval shit.

How do you hate a baby so badly enough to do that.

Doing that means you have a mind to destroy, in a whole or in part, an entire ethnic group, because killing babies is about wiping out future generations. Genocidal stuff, really.

 

[TheRealTalker]

What does the Noble Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi have to say?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39507350

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Nobel peace prize winner acknowledged problems in Rakhine state, where most Rohingya people live.
But she said ethnic cleansing was "too strong" a term to use.
Instead, Myanmar's de-facto leader said the country would welcome any returning Rohingya with open arms.
"I don't think there is ethnic cleansing going on. I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening," she told the BBC's special correspondent Fergal Keane.
Ms Suu Kyi added: "I think there is a lot of hostility there - it is Muslims killing Muslims as well, if they think they are co-operating with the authorities.
"It is not just a matter of ethnic cleansing as you put it - it is a matter of people on different sides of the divide, and this divide we are trying to close up."

Open arms into a fire pit of death is what she means

 

[Ogodei]

Shame that the new, democratic Myanmar can't get a handle on this, although the military probably retains a lot more institutional autonomy than they should.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Doing that means you have a mind to destroy, in a whole or in part, an entire ethnic group, because killing babies is about wiping out future generations. Genocidal stuff, really.

It's not just the killing babies part that gets me, it's that they deliberately chose one of the most fucked up way of doing it.

 

[RustyNails]

What a pathetic shit show. These fuckers should be tried in Hague.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

I don't think Myanmar realize what it means when they open up to the world, they can't bullshit their way through this and the rest of the world would eat this up.

 

[Earthbound64]

"Myanmar's army on Tuesday (May 23) cleared itself of allegations"

Really?
"The army cleared itself"?

Next up - army approves raise for itself.

 

[emag]

I don't think Myanmar realize what it means when they open up to the world, they can't bullshit their way through this and the rest of the world would eat this up.

It's been working so far. Who's putting any pressure on Myanmar's government in general and Suu Kyi in particular?

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

"Myanmar's army on Tuesday (May 23) cleared itself of allegations"

Really?
"The army cleared itself"?

Next up - army approves raise for itself.

Literally "nothing to see here"

It's been working so far. Who's putting any pressure on Myanmar's government in general and Suu Kyi in particular?

Didn't Malaysia, Indonesia and some other Muslim countries made a stink about this?

Either if they don't, I can't imagine people would be too interested in investing in a genocial prone country, especially if they have little to offer.

 

[Pagusas]

How can a body investigate itself to clear themselves of charges?

You just know Trump is asking that question right now.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

You just know Trump is asking that question right now.

Yeah, whatever shit the world gives America, at least they can't "clear themselves".

 

[kswiston]

It's not just the killing babies part that gets me, it's that they deliberately chose one of the most fucked up way of doing it.

If you read Night by Elie Wiesel, he recounts German soldiers throwing Jewish babies up in the air to be used as target practice before putting their parents on trucks to concentration camps. Humans are capable of some evil stuff.

 

[cameron]

'Not credible' - By Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Yangon (referring to the internal investigation by the military)

Nobody but the most die-hard supporters of the Burmese military will take this report seriously.

The evidence for what United Nations officials are calling "crimes against humanity" is overwhelming. Witness testimony from hundreds of Rohingya, satellite images of burnt villages and video of charred bodies to name just a few.

And then there's the small matter of explaining why more than 65,000 Rohingya decided to flee their homes and risk their lives crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh. Some of the men have gunshot wounds, scores of women have sought treatment for sexual violence.

A smart army response would have acknowledged some failings and promised to address them. Instead the Burmese military is denying everything.

How they arrived at that conclusion is unclear. The army investigators say they spoke to more than 3,000 people but they didn't travel to Bangladesh, so haven't heard from any of those who fled and told graphic horror stories to the United Nations.

After a period of relative quiet on Rakhine this report once again puts Aung San Suu Kyi in a difficult position.

For weeks she's been telling the world that Myanmar doesn't need a United Nations fact-finding mission, and that the Burmese can credibly investigate themselves. This report suggests the exact opposite.

Background info:

The UN report in February - compiled from interviews with those who fled the violence - accused the military of abuses including gang-rapes, savage beatings and murder.

It described incidents in which children were killed as their mothers were raped by groups of soldiers, families - including pregnant women and the elderly - being beaten and houses set alight as people sheltered inside.

"The attacks against the Rohingya population in the area... seem to have been widespread as well as systematic, indicating the very likely commission of crimes against humanity," the OHCHR report said.

OHCHR Report: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/MM/FlashReport3Feb2017.pdf

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

'Not credible' - By Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Yangon (referring to the internal investigation by the military)

Background info:

OHCHR Report: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/MM/FlashReport3Feb2017.pdf

This is where we sanction the shit out of them right?