The United States declared the rohingya massacre in Burma a genocide

The US government announced that the widespread campaign of rape and murder of families of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma constitutes genocide, which could translate into further economic sanctions against the military junta.

The announcement was made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

The official said he was “moved” as every time he visited that place and highlighted the historical context in which the announcement about Burma is being made, with Russia's bloody campaign on Ukrainian territory.

Given the atrocities that are increasingly reported in the invasion, Joe Biden's government has determined to move forward on the case of Burma, where it has been determined that the military government committed “torture, rape and murder” against opponents.

“These abuses were not isolated cases, it was systematic,” Blinken said.

The exhibition entitled “Burma's Road to Genocide”, was held by Blinken in the Museum's Hall of Witnesses.

Five years ago, the Burmese army launched a massacre against the Rohingya ethnic group, expelling nearly a million people from the country, an action that has been considered an ethnic cleansing operation.

Anurima Bhargava, commissioner of the Commission for International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan task force that makes policy recommendations to the Government, told The New York Times that “this is an acknowledgment of the atrocities that have occurred and of the ways in which these atrocities manifest themselves even today.”

“Those who committed this genocide are still in power,” the commissioner added.

US government investigators documented the genocide committed in Burma in 2018, but until now it had not made this legal designation of the crimes due to delays attributed to an internal debate initiated during the previous Administration of President Donald Trump.

ASEAN MEDIATOR

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Special Envoy for Burma, Cambodian Minister Prak Sokhonn, arrived in the country on Monday with the aim of mediating the crisis, although the military has again denied that he is meeting the deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Prak Sokhonn, on an official visit until Wednesday, does plan to meet with representatives of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Suu Kyi and which ruled until the military coup on February 1, 2021, according to sources from the military junta.

In a statement, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that the purpose of the trip is to seek ways to end violence in the country, promote dialogue and send humanitarian aid.

The Burmese junta has so far vetoed any possibility of the ASEAN envoy meeting with the leader of the NLD and deposed State Councillor, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under arrest since the early hours of the military uprising.

Since the asonada, Suu Kyi, who was together with the rest of the deputies in the Burmese capital for the inauguration of the new Legislative when the military seized power, has been sentenced to 6 years in prison in various cases and is still facing a dozen judicial proceedings.

This will be the first trip of the Cambodian special envoy of ASEAN, a figure agreed in April last year between the leaders of Southeast Asia and the coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing.

His predecessor, Brunei Erywan Yusof, failed to travel to Burma, demanding that he be able to meet with the overthrown Government as well.

For his part, the Cambodian minister did not establish conditions or demands on the Burmese military junta for the trip, a decision criticized by some governments in the region.

According to Phnom Penh, the talks during this trip will revolve around the five points of consensus established by the bloc's political leaders and the Burmese coup, including “the immediate cessation of violence” against civilians and a “constructive dialogue” involving all parties.

Despite the agreement, ASEAN believes that since then the Burmese junta has taken “insufficient” steps towards the implementation of the agreement and has even vetoed Min Aung Hlaing's participation in the meetings of bloc leaders.

(with information from EFE)

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