YANGON: Myanmar’s army and civilian leadership held a rare “national security” meeting on Friday and discussed an internal investigation into the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state, the president’s office said.
The meeting — only the third of its kind since Aung San Suu Kyi’s government took power in 2016 — follows a deal to allow the UN to enter Rakhine to assess when refugees may be able to return.
Some 700,000 of the Muslim minority have fled over the border to Bangladesh after the military launched a violent crackdown on Rohingya insurgents last August that the UN and US have called “ethnic cleansing”.
Until this week’s deal with the UN, Myanmar had dragged its feet for months over the repatriation of the stateless minority, insisting the region is safe for their return but refusing access to outsiders to evaluate conditions.
Suu Kyi and Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing were among the 15 attendees at Friday’s meeting in Naypyidaw, a Facebook post by the office of President Win Myint said. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
