Myanmar plays diplomatic card to avert UN censure over Rohingya

Myanmar said on Wednesday it is negotiating with China and Russia to ensure they block any UN Security Council censure over the violence that has forced an exodus of nearly 150,000 Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh in less than two weeks. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi blamed "terrorists" for "a huge iceberg of misinformation" on the strife in the northwestern state of Rakhine but, in a statement, she made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled. She has come under increasing pressure from countries with Muslim populations, including Indonesia, where thousands led by Islamist groups held a rally in Jakarta on Wednesday, to demand that diplomatic ties with Buddhist-majority Myanmar be cut.

Rohingya eat after arriving in Bangladesh.

120,000 refugees in last 2 wks 400,000 trapped in Myanmar conflict zones UN aid still blocked pic.twitter.com/qWOMQXDNL0— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 5, 2017

In a rare letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern that the violence could spiral into a "humanitarian catastrophe". He warned there was a risk of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar that could destabilise the region.

Grievances & unresolved plight of Rohingya have festered too long, becoming undeniable factor in regional destabilization -@AntonioGuterres pic.twitter.com/kyXo4KX2t4— United Nations (@UN) September 5, 2017

Myanmar National Security Adviser Thaung Tun told a news conference in the capital, Naypyitaw, that Myanmar was counting on China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, to block a UN resolution on the crisis. "We are negotiating with some friendly countries not to take it to the Security Council," he said. "China is our friend and we have a similar friendly relationship with Russia so it will not be possible for that issue to go forward." According to the latest estimates issued by UN workers operating there, arrivals in just 12 days stood at 146,000. This brought to 233,000 the total number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since last October.

'Fake information'

The surge of refugees – many sick or wounded – has strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar. Many have no shelter, and aid agencies are racing to provide clean water, sanitation and food. "People have come with virtually nothing so there has to be food," a UN source working there said. "So this is now a huge concern – where is this food coming from for at least the elderly, the children, the women who have come over without their husbands?" Suu Kyi spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has pressed world leaders to do more to help a population of roughly 1.1 million he says are facing genocide. In a statement issued by her office on Facebook, Suu Kyi said the government had "already started defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible" and warned against misinformation that could mar relations with other countries. She referred to images on Twitter of killings posted by Turkey's deputy prime minister that he later deleted because they were not from Myanmar. "She said that kind of fake information which was inflicted on the deputy prime minister was simply the tip of a huge iceberg of misinformation calculated to create a lot of problems between different countries and with the aim of promoting the interests of the terrorists," her office said in the statement. Suu Kyi on Wednesday met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said he shared Myanmar's concern about "extremist violence" in Rakhine state. Modi's government has taken a strong stance on an influx into India of some 40,000 Rohingya from Myanmar over the years, vowing last month to deport them all.

Sharing my remarks at the joint press meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. https://t.co/3qc9vFzxGR

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 6, 2017