November 22, 2017

The United States on Wednesday declared the violence and atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma to be a campaign of “ethnic cleansing,” and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that U.S. sanctions may be forthcoming.

Tillerson blamed the Burmese military and security forces as well as local vigilantes for what he called “horrendous atrocities” that have caused more than 600,000 Rohingya to flee Burma’s western Rakhine state for the safety of neighboring Bangladesh. But he placed most of the criticism on the government, demanding the security forces respect human rights and punish the guilty.

“Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable,” he said in a statement, reiterating his call for an independent investigation into what has caused a refu­gee crisis in which Rohingya men have been executed, women raped and their babies murdered.

Read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-declares-attacks-on-burmese-rohingya-muslims-ethnic-cleansing/2017/11/22/cfde1a32-cfd8-11e7-81bc-c55a220c8cbe_story.html?utm_term=.114c1ea789fb