UN investigators: Cut all ties with Myanmar military, prosecute commanders

(Patria) – United Nations investigators have stated that the world must cut financial and all other forms of support for the Myanmar military.

The UN investigation team has also officially requested that generals be prosecuted for their responsibility for crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country.

The Myanmar military is accused of mass killings, rapes, and burning of houses, which caused around 730,000 Rohingya to flee from western Rakhine to neighboring Bangladesh.

Official Myanmar has rejected most of the allegations, as well as the UN report which, among other things, states that Myanmar military officers led a campaign against the Rohingya with 'genocidal intent' and should therefore be tried.

While the expert team was banned from entering the country, they visited the region, including refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Although the UN report does not specify which countries should cut financial ties with Myanmar, Reuters writes that it is known that the country's military, among others, procures weapons from China and Russia. Many Western countries have halted training in Myanmar due to human rights violations and imposed an arms embargo.

The Human Rights Council formed the investigation team in March 2017 with a mandate to investigate crimes against the Rohingya as well as crimes committed in other conflicts with ethnic groups in Myanmar.

Military spokesman General Tun Tun Nyi commented by phone to Reuters that these are false allegations: 'Our country is an independent country, and we do not accept interference in our affairs,' Nyi emphasized, stating that the military cooperates with a team formed by the government with a similar mandate.

The UN claims that reports of human rights violations are still arriving in the provinces of Rakhine and Chin, where conflicts between the military and ethnic Buddhist rebels have led to the displacement of more than 30,000 people.