- United Nations Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar led by Marzuki Darusman has called for an international probe and prosecution of Myanmar’s army chief and five other top military commanders for genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority.
- The UN panel said that Myanmar’s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin and Sha n States.
- Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown in August last year on insurgents amid accounts of arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the mainly Buddhist country.
- UN investigators called today for Myanmar’s army chief to resign and for him and five other top military commanders to be prosecuted in an international court for genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority.
- The call prompted Facebook, which has been criticised for allowing hate speech against the Rohingya to flourish, to ban the army chief and remove other pages tied to the country’s military. Some 700,000 Rohingyas fled northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown in August last year on insurgents.
- However, Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Rohingya rebels.
