Myanmar opens new probe into deadly sectarian violence

The state New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Saturday that the 27-member commission is mandated to find the circumstances behind the unrest and find solutions for communities with different religious beliefs to live together in harmony.

Burmese authorities say 87 people have been killed since late May when riots and retaliatory attacks erupted after three Muslim men were blamed for the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman.

The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Burma is a member, pledged Saturday to lend necessary support in addressing humanitarian assistance needed in Rakhine State.
 
President Thein Sein’s website announced the commission on Friday, more than two months after the June clashes that also displaced tens of thousands of people.
 
The nation’s authorities have faced heavy criticism from rights groups after the deadly unrest in western Rakhine state raised international concerns about the Rohingya’s fate inside Myanmar.
 
The 27-member commission, which includes religious leaders, artists and former dissidents, will “expose the real cause of the incident” and suggest ways ahead, state mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar said.
 
The newspaper said the commission will aim to establish the causes of the June violence, the number of casualties on both sides and recommend measures to ease tensions and find “ways for peaceful coexistence”.
 
The commission is expected to call witnesses and be granted access to the areas rocked by the violence, which saw villages razed and has left an estimated 70,000 people – from both communities – in government-run camps and shelters.
 
The new commission is tasked with proposing solutions to the longstanding hatred between the two communities and is to submit its findings by September 17.
 
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the establishment of the commission, which “could make important contributions to restoring peace and harmony in the state and in creating a conducive environment for a more inclusive way forward to tackle the underlying causes of the violence, including the condition of the Muslim communities in Rakhine,” UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said late on Friday.
 
Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
 
A statement issued on behalf of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Myanmar will chair in 2014, pledged regional support to “humanitarian assistance in Rakhine State”.
 
Welcoming moves by Myanmar to address the situation, the statement said “harmony” among the nation’s different communities should be an “integral part of Myanmar’s ongoing democratisation and reform process”.
 
Source: www.timesofearth.com and Agencies