'Not religious discrimination at all': Myanmar denies persecution at root of migrant crisis

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'Not religious discrimination at all': Myanmar denies persecution at root of migrant crisis

By Antoni Slodkowski

Sittwe, Myanmar: The head of the Myanmar state from which thousands of Rohingya Muslims are fleeing has denied persecution prompted the exodus after the United States called on the country to deal with its root causes.

Many Rohingya have become prey to human traffickers on the journey south to Thailand, Malaysia and beyond as they flee what US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday were "the desperate conditions they face in Rakhine State".

Myanmar's Rakhine camp resident Janankhathu, 48, lost contact with her 17 year-old son Abuhashin who left for Malaysia four months ago.

Myanmar's Rakhine camp resident Janankhathu, 48, lost contact with her 17 year-old son Abuhashin who left for Malaysia four months ago.Credit: Ye Aung Thu

But Rakhine Chief Minister Maung Maung Ohn denied the refugees' motivation was persecution.

"I am disappointed by, and completely disagree and reject such unfounded allegations by the United States," he said after meeting United Nations officials on Friday.

Rohingya women and children register at a confinement area for migrants at Bayeun, Aceh province on Saturday.

Rohingya women and children register at a confinement area for migrants at Bayeun, Aceh province on Saturday.Credit: Romeo Gacad

"This (migration) is human trafficking, not (due to) political or religious discrimination at all."

The denial comes as Myanmar's navy announced it had rescued more than 200 people it claims were from Bangladesh, from a boats off its coast on Friday. The country's military chief General Min Aung Hlaing said then that some migrants were pretending to be Rohingya Muslims so they could receive United Nations aid.

Mr Blinken, who was visiting Myanmar on Thursday and Friday, told the country's leaders they needed to address discrimination and violence against the minority Rohingya.

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"They should have a path to citizenship," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Yangon. "The uncertainty that comes from not having any status is one of the things that may drive people to leave."

Rakhine camp resident Mahmood Husoon, 66, lost contact with his 17 year-old son Eimar Husoon (mobile photo).

Rakhine camp resident Mahmood Husoon, 66, lost contact with his 17 year-old son Eimar Husoon (mobile photo).Credit: Ye Aung Thu

Most of the 3000 migrants who have landed on Malaysian and Indonesian shores this month were Rohingya Muslims, Mr Blinken had told reporters.

The crisis flared in Southeast Asia after a Thai crackdown on human trafficking led criminals to abandon overloaded boats in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea rather than risk trying to smuggle or traffic them through preferred routes in Thailand.

A Rohingya Muslim woman and baby at a camp set up outside the city of Sittwe in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

A Rohingya Muslim woman and baby at a camp set up outside the city of Sittwe in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Credit: AFP

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR estimated on Friday that some 3500 migrants are still stranded on boats with dwindling supplies, and repeated its appeal for the region's governments to rescue them.

Myanmar's navy discovered two Thai trafficking boats off the coast of Rakhine on Thursday, one carrying migrants and the other empty, the state government said in a statement on Friday.

Ethnic Rohingya men play soccer near at  temporary shelter in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia on Friday.

Ethnic Rohingya men play soccer near at temporary shelter in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia on Friday.Credit: Tatan Syuflana

"One is loaded with around 200 Bengali people," it said, using the government term for migrants from Bangladesh.

"The people on the boat were all from Bangladesh," said Rakhine State government executive secretary Tin Maung Swe. "We will deport them."

Bangladeshi children eat meals provided by Indonesian volunteers at a confinement area for migrants at Bayeun, Aceh, Indonesia on Saturday.

Bangladeshi children eat meals provided by Indonesian volunteers at a confinement area for migrants at Bayeun, Aceh, Indonesia on Saturday.Credit: Romeo Gacad

Maung Maung Ohn said he would take a UN group to meet the migrants to show they were victims of trafficking, not persecution.

Myanmar has faced international criticism for not doing enough to help those at sea or stem the flow of migrants.

Migrant boats are often a mix of people from Bangladesh seeking to escape poverty at home as well as Rohingya.

Stateless minority

Most of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions in the state. Almost 140,000 were displaced in deadly clashes with majority Buddhists in Rakhine in 2012. They are denied citizenship and have long complained of state-sanctioned discrimination.

Myanmar denies discriminating against the group and has said it is not the source of the problem. It does not recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic minority, and instead classifies the group as Bengalis. Most Rohingya reject the term and many have lived in Rakhine for generations.

Scores of Rohingya are paying off people smugglers and returning to the squalid camps they used to live in after being held for months on overcrowded ships off the coast of Myanmar.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday pledged assistance and ordered the navy to rescue thousands adrift at sea, and a Thai official said Myanmar had agreed to attend an emergency conference on the crisis on May 29.

Malaysia and Indonesia have said they would allow the thousands still at sea to come ashore temporarily, but Thailand has said it would not follow suit.

Australia has committed additional aid money to Myanmar to help with the crisis but has ruled out taking in the refugees.

Reuters, AFP

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