UN has no right to interfere in Myanmar: Army chief

Myanmar Army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the UN had no right to interfere in the country, after UN experts recently said that they found elements of deliberate genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

This is his first reaction after the experts recommended that the military chief and other senior officers of the Myanmar Army be investigated over the rapes and killings of Rohingyas in Rakhine state, reports Efe news.

In a speech in the northeastern city of Lashio on Sunday, Min Aung Hlaing maintained that the military's first duty was to defend the independence and sovereignty of the country and added that no group had the right to interfere in Myanmar's internal matters, military-owned newspaper Myawady Daily reported on Monday.

The UN report said that at least 10,000 people were killed and around 725,000 sought refuge in Bangladesh due to military operations in Rakhine, which began on August 25, 2017 in response to insurgent attacks on government security posts.

The experts found "genocidal intent" in the campaign against the Rohingya people in Rakhine as well as evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the states of Rakhine, Kachin and Shan.

The International Criminal Court has opened a preliminary probe into the matter.

The Myanmar government, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, rejected the recommendations of the report and said it had formed an independent commission to investigate the incidents in Rakhine.

Myanmar does not grant citizenship to the Rohingyas and consider them to be illegal Bengali immigrants.

For years, the minority has been subjected to all kinds of discrimination, including restrictions on freedom of movement.

Both the Army and the government have denied accusations of human rights violations of the Rohingya.

--IANS

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