Don't interfere in Myanmar's internal matters

Amid an international outcry over the military persecution of Rohingyas in Rakhine, Russia yesterday called on other countries to refrain from interfering in Myanmar's internal affairs.

"Moscow supports efforts to settle the crisis in Myanmar and calls on other states to refrain from interfering in the country's internal affairs," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"It is important to understand that the intention to meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign state may result in further deterioration of an inter-religious conflict. I stress that we welcome efforts to establish inter-religious dialogue in Myanmar, with engagement of religious leaders of all faiths," Zakharova said, reported Russian news agency Sputnik.

She noted that the Myanmar authorities were taking steps to return the internally displaced people to their homes and expressed optimism that the same measures would also be taken for other people affected by the crisis.

"Attempts at intervening in Myanmar's internal affairs may have only one net effect -- still deeper interreligious discord," reported TASS quoting Zakharova.

The foreign ministry spokeswoman said Moscow welcomed the Myanmar government's efforts to implement recommendations made by the commission under former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

US OFFICIAL TO VISIT MYANMAR

The USA has said it is assessing the situation in Myanmar.

"I can only say that we are assessing the situation on the ground. There is still -- I mean, despite the horrific pictures that you've seen and the reporting and some of the harrowing details that you've read about, there's still not a lot of information that, as a government, we've been able to independently verify, in terms of from our own people being able to ask those questions and getting enough good answers, solid answers that are verifiable," US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told journalists during a briefing on Thursday in Washington.

She was responding to a question if there was a review going on with the US State Department lawyers in terms of trying to determine whether the situation in Myanmar constituted any type of effort towards genocide or ethnic cleansing.

Nauert said the US ambassador in Myanmar had a lot of conversation with the representatives of the Myanmar government.

She said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy would travel to Myanmar to meet officials this weekend.

Murphy would voice Washington's concerns and press for greater access to the conflict area for humanitarian works, the State Department said, adding that he would also visit Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, and meet its governor.

Murphy summoned Myanmar's ambassador to the US, Aung Lynn, on Wednesday to express US concerns about the violence, including recent attacks on Rohingya villages, according to a senior State Department official, who called the message sent by the move "a tough one."

The deputy assistant secretary told the ambassador that Myanmar should publicly acknowledge that Rohingya groups, in particular, have fled across the border into Bangladesh, the official said, and that those refugees should now be allowed to return home.

In reply to another question, Nauert said she did not know if Murphy would visit Bangladesh.

"We have been pretty clear in thanking the government of Bangladesh for accepting so many of the Rohingyas into their country to provide them at least a safer place," she said, adding, "But I don't know if he's travelling beyond Burma [Myanmar]."

Meanwhile, Myanmar yesterday said a visiting US official would not be allowed to go to a region where violence has triggered an exodus of nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims that the UN has branded a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing", reports Reuters.

Myanmar officials said the US deputy assistant secretary of state would meet government leaders in the capital, Naypyitaw, and attend an address to the nation by Suu Kyi on Tuesday.

He would also visit Sittwe, the state capital, and meet the governor of Rakhine, the state government secretary, Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters, but the north of the state, where the conflict erupted on August 25 would be off limits.

INFLUX OF REFUGEES CONTINUES

Over three weeks into the beginning of a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine, thousands are still flooding over the border to Bangladesh for safety.

UN refugee agency UNHCR has said the Rohingyas are in urgent need of shelter, food and medical care.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary‑general, in his daily press briefing on Thursday in New York, quoting humanitarian colleagues, said 10,000 people reportedly crossed into Bangladesh in the last 24 hours alone.