Thursday, January 25, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Cartoonist Finds New Pleasure in Colorful Crumpled Paper

Posted: 25 Jan 2018 04:36 AM PST

YANGON — Colorful creased pieces of paper manipulated by artist Min Zaw with scissors and spray paint are proving popular with visitors to his fifth solo show.

Min Zaw is the creator of the successful "Bo Bo" comic series of the 1990s and 2000s, which featured the stories of a boy and his extraterrestrial friend.

Despite his success with comics, the cartoonist had his paintings banned by the censorship board of the former military regime because of their political connotations.

The paper pieces will be on display until Saturday at Yangon's Studio Square on the upper block of Maha Bandoola Street.

One day he began playing with the texture of paper and fell in love with it. "I feel satisfied making textured paper and I have made a lot of it. I crumple plain paper and create creased textures with spray paint, and I cut them into the shapes I want," the artist explained.

"Mainly it is about having fun. It is fun to put colorful pieces of paper in place," said Min Zaw, who has turned his memories of landscapes into colorful paper artworks.

Visitors to Min Zaw's latest exhibition can't help but praise the lovely creations and their beautiful colors. Most of the pieces depict pagodas, monasteries and rural customs in red, green and blue.

The paper pieces will be on display until Saturday at Yangon's Studio Square on the upper block of Maha Bandoola Street.

"I didn't expect some colors to match in such a beautiful way. It is quite fun," he said.

His paper pieces will be on display until Saturday at Yangon's Studio Square on the upper block of Maha Bandoola Street. A total of 24 pieces are on display, priced between $300 and $1,200.

"Most of the visitors said they feel happy and pleased looking at my creations. I feel the same way, and I'm happy that visitors feel the same. They get my message," Min Zaw said.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The paper pieces will be on display until Saturday at Yangon's Studio Square on the upper block of Maha Bandoola Street.

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Students Vow to Resume Protest Despite Govt Suspension

Posted: 25 Jan 2018 04:33 AM PST

MANDALAY — Students involved in a four-day demonstration to demand the government increase education spending vowed to resume their protests after they were briefly detained and escorted back to their homes by security officials on Thursday morning.

Seventy-two protesters, including 13 female students, were temporarily held by local authorities. After questioning by officials at the Mandala Thiri Stadium, they were all sent home.

"There were about 100 plainclothes police who pushed us into their vehicles after they had confronted some of our parents," said Min Htet Myat, one of the students.

"The chief minister was there and he told us to go back home. The authorities took personal information from each of us, then they divided us into groups and escorted us back home," he said.

While the students were held inside the stadium, their worried parents were forced to wait outside with journalists covering the news.

The students were then escorted to their homes a few hours later, but their parents were not told. The worried parents expressed anger over the way the authorities had managed the situation.

"The police officer called me and accompanied me to the stadium to see my son. But he left me here and I was not allowed to meet him. When I saw my son was in the car, I called him back to take me home too, but he ignored me and just told me that he would send a car, which I can't accept," said Daw Swe, the mother of one of the protesters, Ko Yar Zar Htun.

"This government was elected by us. But I don't like the way they treat us like this and the way they have handled the protests," she added.

The students said they were sent to the administration offices in their respective towns and were asked to sign an assurance that they would not participate in further protests.

"Most of us did not sign it, but some of were forced to sign. Even though there were no brutal acts committed during detainment, escorting us back home and forcing us to sign such a pledge is an act of oppression," said Kyaw Thura Ye Kyaw, president of the Yadanabon University Student Union.

"We cannot accept being treated like this. We will be back and resume our protest in another different way," he said.

The student protest was criticized widely in social media on the grounds that protesting against an elected government was inappropriate and that the push for a hike in the education budget should be handled through Parliament.

"Many said our country is poor and has many problems so we should not act like this. But do we have to wait for the country to become rich? For how many years? Who made the country poor? Why can't we ask now for the increment which will take time?" said Ye Myo Swe, another student protestor.

Local journalists waited several hours at the regional police office and regional government office to talk to a responsible official but no one was made available to the media.

The post Students Vow to Resume Protest Despite Govt Suspension appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Brother Defends Accused Mastermind of NLD Lawyer Assassination in Court

Posted: 25 Jan 2018 04:29 AM PST

YANGON — Aung Win Zaw, the brother of Aung Win Khaing, the accused mastermind behind the January 2017 assassination of U Ko Ni, a prominent lawyer and legal adviser to the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), told a court hearing on Thursday that the suspect had nothing to do with the killing.

In an announcement on Feb. 15, 2017, the President's Office accused Aung Win Khaing, a former military lieutenant-colonel who remains at large, of hiring gunman Kyi Lin to assassinate U Ko Ni outside Yangon International Airport on the afternoon of Jan. 29.

Police have detained Kyi Lin and three alleged co-conspirators: Zeya Phyo, and two brothers of Aung Win Khaing, Aung Win Zaw and Aung Win Tun.

"He [Aung Win Khaing] will appear when time is right. He is not [the mastermind]. I don't want to say more for fear that it will influence the trial. The judges will decide," Aung Win Zaw told reporters after the hearing.

Thursday's hearing was the 40th in the case to be heard at the Northern District Court of Yangon. The trial continues on Friday.

Aung Win Khaing was last seen in the first week of February in the administrative capital of Naypyitaw. Police told the Yangon court in June they had no new leads on his whereabouts.

The Home Affairs Ministry has said that a warrant has been issued for Aung Win Khaing's arrest, and that pictures of him had been sent to ASEAN police forces and Interpol.

The post Brother Defends Accused Mastermind of NLD Lawyer Assassination in Court appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Seeks Advanced Weapons from Russia, but China Remains the Key Player

Posted: 25 Jan 2018 03:54 AM PST

Myanmar's generals have not hidden their displeasure with the quality of Chinese military hardware and jet fighters, but they know that a more assertive and powerful China remains a key player while Myanmar faces mounting international pressure over the crisis in Rakhine State.

Myanmar will seek a more balanced diplomatic approach toward powerful neighbors such as China and India as well as Russia, a UN Security Council member, to provide it with diplomatic cover.

While some remain in denial, top officials and generals are increasingly paranoid over the crisis in Rakhine State and possible international intervention. It is as though Myanmar is reverting to the days when it was ruled by the much-condemned generals, who were constantly worried about Western pressure and UN intervention.

Last week, news media reported that Russia agreed to sell six Su-30 fighter jets to the Myanmar Army during Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu's visit to the country.

"The planes will become the main fighter aircraft of Myanmar's air force to protect the country's territorial integrity and repel any terror threats," Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Alexander Fomin was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS.

The Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter jet developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation and was deployed during Russia's military intervention in war-torn Syria.

In the region, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Vietnam also purchased Su-30 jet fighters from Russia.

Myanmar's air force has advanced MIG-29s and ageing F-6s, F-7s and A-5s that need replacing soon.

To replace its obsolete jet fighters, Myanmar has purchased JF-17s and is in "advanced negotiations" with Pakistan to license-build third-generation models. The JF-17 is co-developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China's Chengdu Aerospace Corporation. These jet fighters can engage in air-to-air battles but also have ground-attack capabilities allowing them to deliver dumb bombs and precision-guided munitions. These jets are suitable for Myanmar, where armed conflict with ethnic rebels is frequent.

Equipping Myanmar's air force with Su-30 twin-engine jet fighters that can carry out air-to-air and air-to-ground missions means the country is looking to protect its territory and preparing for foreign threats.

The price tag on the jets has not been revealed. Sources close to the deal believe those negotiations may still be ongoing.

A Russian Su-30 fighter jet.

A Bigger Defense Budget

The Myanmar Army has long wanted to build a modern military, and this year the Defense Ministry asked Parliament for a budget of more than 1.3 trillion kyats (US$1 billion) for a six-month period.

Last week, Deputy Defense Minister Major General Myint Nwe told Parliament that his ministry was expected to earn 31.76 billion kyats in normal revenue; that its capital expenditures was expected to total 611.09 billion kyats; that its normal expenditures would be 723.11 billion kyats; and that total expenditures for the six months would therefore be 1.33 trillion kyats.

"The money is used to implement plans to strengthen the structure of soldiers, weapons, equipment for perpetuity of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Union," he said.

It is likely that the budget will be approved. The defense budget has never been trimmed, but rather increased.

National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmakers said the budget requested by the Ministry of Defense made up 12.56 percent of the total proposed budget, while the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Sports asked for 7.56 percent and 3.93 percent, respectively, adding up to only 11.49 percent of the total budget.

As Myanmar expands its naval and air forces, the generals are hoping to deter external threats and possible terrorist attacks.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the visiting Russian defense minister spoke about boosting military cooperation. The general reportedly thanked Russia for its stance on Myanmar's handling of militant attacks in Rakhine State, which has come under heavy criticism from much of the international community, including the UN and US. The Russian defense minister said the attacks were assumed to have political links.

It has been reported that since 2011 military relations between Moscow and Naypyitaw have gone from strength to strength. Under the military rule of the previous decades and the Western sanctions it brought on, Myanmar depended heavily on military hardware from China. But it steadily backed away as the generals complained about the quality of Chinese weapons.

Myanmar began to diversify its search for more advanced weapons and training, and Moscow was ready to assist. Hundreds of Myanmar officers have been sent to Russia for trainings since the  2000s. During the Russian defense minister's recent visit, Fomin said more than 600 of Myanmar's military personnel were currently studying at Russia's higher military education institutions.

In a June 5 interview with the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper, Russia's ambassador to Myanmar, Nikolay Listopadov, said about 6,000 army students had graduated from prestigious Russian universities and that some have received post-graduate and doctoral degrees.

But Big Brother Is China

Myanmar's generals have had their problems with China over the quality of its military hardware and its support for some powerful ethnic armed groups in the north. But when Myanmar faces international criticism and UN resolutions over major crises such as the one in northern Rakhine State, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the generals seek China's diplomatic backing.

China has promised to assist in Myanmar's peace process, and a Chinese special envoy, Sun Guoxiang, helped negotiate a trip by members of several armed ethnic groups in the north to Naypyitaw so that they could attend a government-sponsored peace conference.

In November, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing went to Beijing separately. But first Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi came to visit Myanmar, shortly after the Chinese Communist Party's 19th National Congress. It was a clever move. While Western governments put pressure on Myanmar over the Rohingya crisis, China has shown its solidarity and demonstrated a spirit of long-time friendship and strategic partnership.

After Wang Yi's visit, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi went to Beijing and was followed by Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

Myanmar Military Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and Gen. Li Zuocheng of China's Central Military Commission pose for documentary photo together with the senior military officers from both sides on Nov 22 in Beijing. (Photo: Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing / Facebook )

It is a well known fact that the two do not get along. Diplomatic sources believe that China made a strategic decision to invite both of them to Beijing to assure them of its support and to discuss the situation in Rakhine State while Myanmar moves away from Western allies over the crisis there.

Beijing suggested a three-stage strategy for Myanmar and Bangladesh to work out the Rohingya crisis: Ensuring a ceasefire and restoring stability; talks between the two countries to create a workable solution for repatriation; and poverty alleviation in order to achieve a sustainable solution.

Chinese President Xi Jinping received Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. The issues they discussed included international criticism over the Rohingya crisis, Chinese investment in Rakhine State, and China's new proposal for an economic corridor in Myanmar.

Beijing assured them of its support and is believed to have expressed its concern for the problems in Rakhine State.

After her visit to Beijing, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly held discussions with senior members of her cabinet and some former ruling generals about China's proposal and Rakhine State.

During Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing's visit, Myanmar and Chinese military leaders discussed "promotion of cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries." Li Zuocheng, a member of China's Central Military Commission, said, "In the face of a complex and changeable regional security situation, China is willing to maintain strategic communication between the two countries' militaries."

China wanted greater contact between the two armed forces, deeper training and technical exchanges, and more defense cooperation along their common border to ensure peace and stability, Li added.

It is ironic to see a repeat of recent history as Myanmar now moves closer to its old allies while its honeymoon period with Western governments draws to a close. Myanmar will seek more diplomatic cover from China, but it will no doubt continue to diversify by buying more advanced weapons from elsewhere.

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Richardson Quits Advisory Board Following Clash With Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Posted: 25 Jan 2018 02:27 AM PST

NAYPYITAW — The Myanmar government expressed regret that Bill Richardson, a former American diplomat and an old friend of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had quit the Advisory Board on Rakhine State. President's Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay said that it was, however, out of the government's control.

Richardson abruptly resigned from the board after he was stopped from discussing the arrest of two Reuters journalists during the initial meeting between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Advisory Board on Monday, U Zaw Htay said.

"He might have feelings about the Reuters reporters. But the meeting was about the Rakhine issue, and the advisory board needs to know that it should only give advice on the Rakhine issue. He got angry with that and left, but it is out of our control," U Zaw Htay said.

Richardson was the only board member who raised the issue of the Reuters reporters while other members focused on the Rakhine problem, he added.

In a statement released to the media after his resignation, Richardson said his decision was a matter of conscience.
"In the past three days, however, in initial meetings with members of the Advisory Board and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, it has become clear that I cannot in good conscience serve in this role [on the Advisory Board].

"I was taken aback by the vigor with which the media, the United Nations, human rights groups, and in general, the international community were disparaged," he said.

U Zaw Htay said the statement, in which Richardson also criticized Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for a lack of "moral leadership" in the Rakhine issue and expressed his disappointment at her "furious response" to his appeal for action on the case of the Reuters journalists, brought into question his mandate, duties and responsibilities.

The American politician was requested to give advice on the Rakhine issue only and was not asked to discuss all the issues of Myanmar, the President's Office spokesperson said.

"We are sorry that he left. But we will continue doing what is necessary for Rakhine State," U Zaw Htay said.

"We invited him, hoping that we could get his advice. But, it was wrong to discuss the reporters issue at a meeting on Rakhine State. It is not his mandate, and the advisory board was not formed to discuss that issue."

The Myanmar government invited individuals to take part in the advisory board based on their popular reputations, and they do not represent particular countries or governments, U Zaw Htay said.

"We will continue working with other members of the board. We are dedicated to solve the Rakhine problem and create stability there for our national interests," he said.

In his statement, Richardson questioned the sincerity of the Advisory Board, calling it a "cheerleading squad" for the policies of the Myanmar government as opposed to a vehicle for advocating genuine policy changes for peace and stability in Rakhine State.

He was harshly critical of the board chairman, former Thai deputy prime minister Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai, saying he was not genuinely committed to implementing the Rakhine Advisory Commission recommendations out of fear of confronting "our Myanmar hosts."

The government formed the Advisory Board on Rakhine State led by Surakiart on Dec. 14, 2017.

A government committee led by Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr. Win Myat Aye has been implementing the 88-point final report submitted by Kofi Annan-led Rakhine State Advisory Commission in August.

Richardson was the US Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration and Governor of New Mexico. He was a staunch supporter of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi while Myanmar was under military control.

The post Richardson Quits Advisory Board Following Clash With Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Third Session of Panglong Peace Conference Delayed Until February

Posted: 25 Jan 2018 12:28 AM PST

YANGON — The third session of the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference will be delayed until February to accommodate recent developments in the peace process, a spokesman for the President's Office said. The talks were previously slated to be held in the fourth week of January.

"It won't be possible to hold the conference by the end of this month. We'll have to discuss a date in February with the ethnic armed organizations [EAOs]," U Zaw Htay said.

The New Mon State Party (NMSP) and Ladu Democratic Union (LDU), both of which are members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) bloc of EAOs, met State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Army Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday, and agreed to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

The government wants to give the NMSP and LDU time to prepare to join the third session of the conference, the spokesman said.

"The NMSP and LDU will need to engage in consultations prior to the conference. So, we need to give them time," he said.

The third session of the Panglong Conference was originally scheduled for December, before being postponed to January.

The national-level political dialogue is required under the terms of the NCA. It calls for regional stakeholders to solicit suggestions and recommendations at large-scale public consultations, which are then shared by the community's representatives at the Union Peace Conference, also known as 21st-Century Panglong.

Under the NCA, signatories can hold national-level dialogues (NDs) based on one of the following: region, theme or ethnicity.

However, the government has not allowed the political dialogue to proceed in Rakhine State, citing security concerns. The Myanmar Army also stopped public consultations in Shan State in December.

In a joint statement released on Jan. 12, the Peace Process Steering Team (PSST) of eight NCA signatories insisted that the third session of the Panglong Conference should only be held after agreements are reached on holding national political dialogues in Shan and Rakhine states.

The post Third Session of Panglong Peace Conference Delayed Until February appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China’s Illegal Opioids Enter US Through Postal Service Gaps: Probe

Posted: 24 Jan 2018 09:05 PM PST

WASHINGTON — Illegal shipments of the powerful and addictive opioid fentanyl are pouring into the United States by mail from China and the US Postal Service must step up the use of high-tech detection methods to fight the problem, according to a congressional report unveiled on Wednesday.

A yearlong probe by a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs investigations subcommittee found there is easy access for buyers in the United States to purchase fentanyl, often in relatively large quantities, through the Internet.

The drugs are mailed by "labs" in China to individuals who consume them or to middlemen who dilute them for resale.

Investigators refused to divulge the names of the labs.

According to the report, the US Postal Service has failed to widely deploy a system to capture advanced electronic data (AED) about packages destined for American ports, which would help identify suspicious mail to be turned over to US Customs and Border Protection agents.

The US Postal Service said in a statement it was "working aggressively with law enforcement and key trading partners to stem the flow of illegal drugs entering the United States."

USPS is "prioritizing obtaining AED from the largest volume foreign posts, which collectively account for over 90 percent of inbound volumes," the statement added.

Express Mail

Staff of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee said they focused on six "very responsive" providers in China, out of hundreds of pages of websites offering fentanyl for sale.

The result was the identification of 500 online transactions involving fentanyl, mainly in powder form, with a street value of about $766 million.

US fatalities linked to opioids including fentanyl have been rising dramatically and totaled more than 42,000 in 2016, according to government data.

Online sales from China tracked by the Senate investigators were linked to seven confirmed synthetic opioid-related deaths in the United States, they said.

The investigation was overseen by Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the subcommittee chairman, and Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, the panel’s senior Democrat.

Investigators said the Chinese sellers were eager to ship the fentanyl using Express Mail Service, which operates worldwide through each country’s postal operations, including the US Postal Service.

Surcharges are applied, the investigators said, for customers demanding shipment through private delivery services, such as FedEx, DHL and United Parcel Service, because of the greater likelihood the goods would be seized.

The Senate investigation concluded that the US Postal Service received advanced electronic data on 36 percent of all international packages, meaning about 318 million parcels last year were not monitored.

"We now know the depth to which drug traffickers exploit our mail system to ship fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the United States," Portman said in a statement.

The Senate panel scheduled a hearing for Thursday to question postal, border protection, State Department and other officials.

The report recommended tighter monitoring of international shipments, increased inspections and other steps.

The post China’s Illegal Opioids Enter US Through Postal Service Gaps: Probe appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Richardson Quits Myanmar’s ‘Whitewash’ Rohingya Crisis Panel

Posted: 24 Jan 2018 07:18 PM PST

YANGON — Veteran US diplomat Bill Richardson has resigned from an international panel set up by Myanmar to advise on the Rohingya crisis, saying it was conducting a "whitewash" and accusing the country's leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of lacking "moral leadership."

Richardson, a former Clinton administration cabinet member, quit as the 10-member advisory board was making its first visit to western Rakhine State, from where nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled in recent months.

"The main reason I am resigning is that this advisory board is a whitewash," Richardson told Reuters in an interview, adding he did not want to be part of "a cheerleading squad for the government."

Richardson said he got into an argument with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during a meeting on Monday with other members of the board, when he brought up the case of two Reuters reporters who are on trial accused of breaching the country's Officials Secrets Act.

He said Suu Kyi’s response was "furious," saying the case of the reporters "was not part of the work of the advisory board." The argument continued at a dinner later that evening, the former New Mexico governor said.

Neither Suu Kyi nor her spokesman Zaw Htay, who is also the government spokesman, responded to requests for comment.

Reporters Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, had worked on Reuters coverage of the crisis in Rakhine, from where 688,000 Rohingya have fled an army crackdown on insurgents since late August, according to estimates by the United Nations.

They were detained on Dec. 12 after they had been invited to meet police officers over dinner in Yangon. The government has cited police as saying they were arrested for possessing secret documents relating to the security situation in Rakhine.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert called Richardson's decision to resign from the board and his reasons for doing so "cause for concern," but noted he had been acting as a private citizen in joining the board and visiting Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

"The Burmese government has pledged to implement the final recommendations of the Annan Commission, and we have urged the government to fulfill its pledge as a matter of urgency," she said.

"Ultimately, the Burmese government and military have the authority to determine whether the Advisory Board will succeed," Nauert said. "The United States has made clear that we are willing to support good faith efforts to implement the Annan Commission recommendations."

The Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State was set up by Myanmar last year, to advise on enacting the findings of an earlier commission headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The armed forces have been accused by Rohingya witnesses and human rights activists of carrying out killings, rapes and arson in a campaign senior officials in the United Nations and United States have described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects that label and has denied nearly all the allegations.

Richardson said he was also "taken aback by the vigor with which the media, the United Nations, human rights groups and in general the international community were disparaged" during the last three days of meetings the board held with Myanmar officials.

"She's not getting good advice from her team," Richardson said of Suu Kyi, whom he said he has known since the 1980s. "I like her enormously and respect her. But she has not shown moral leadership on the Rakhine issue and the allegations made, and I regret that."

Suu Kyi's national security adviser, Thaung Tun, told Reuters he had escorted the other board members on a trip to Rakhine on Wednesday, but that Richardson had not taken part.

"He said he was unhappy about the situation but I am not sure what he was unhappy about," he said. "This is just the initial stage, this is the start of a whole year of business so I don't know what happened to make him feel like that."

Panel Chairman Slammed

Before Richardson quit the advisory board had 10 members, including five from overseas, chaired by former Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.

Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, also had harsh words for Surakiart.

The board chairman, he said, was not "genuinely committed" to implementing recommendations regarding the issues of Rohingya safety, citizenship, peace, stability and development.

"He parroted the dangerous and untrue notion that international NGOs employ radicals and that humanitarian agencies are providing material support to ARSA," Richardson said, referring to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militants.

Surakiart was travelling with other members of the board in Rakhine and did not respond to requests for comment.

Another board member, former South African Defense Minister Roelof Meyer, told Reuters the visit to Rakhine had been "very constructive."

"If anybody would say that we are just a rubber stamp or a voice on behalf of the government that would be completely untrue, unfair," he said. "We haven't done any recommendations so far."

Other members of the board, which also includes British doctor and politician Lord Darzi of Denham and speaker of the Swedish parliament Urban Ahlin, were not immediately available for comment.

Richardson said he declined to join the advisory board's tour of a new repatriation camp in Rakhine State on Wednesday, instead travelling to Yangon.

Mass Grave

Myanmar's military said earlier this month its soldiers had taken part in the killings of 10 captured Muslim "terrorists" during insurgent attacks at the beginning of September, after Buddhist villagers had forced the captured men into a grave the villagers had dug.

It was a rare acknowledgment of wrongdoing during its operations in Rakhine by the Myanmar military, which said legal action would be taken against members of the security forces who violated their rules of engagement and the villagers involved.

Richardson said he has asked the board to recommend that the Myanmar government set up an independent investigation into "the mass grave issue, especially as it pertained to … the involvement of the military." He did not say how the board had responded.

The Rohingya crisis erupted after ARSA attacks on security posts in Rakhine on Aug. 25 triggered a fierce military response. Myanmar says its troops were engaged in legitimate counterinsurgency operations.

The UN on Wednesday called on Myanmar to give aid agencies unhindered access to camps it has built for tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees after agreeing a deal with Bangladesh on their return.

The post Richardson Quits Myanmar's 'Whitewash' Rohingya Crisis Panel appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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