Surakiart slams Richardson over attacks on Rakhine advisory board

An advisory board chaired by former Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai has lashed out at the recent resignation of US member Bill Richardson, saying his accusation that the board was “whitewashing” or “cheerleading” Aung San Suu Kyi over the Rohingya crisis completely lacked legitimacy.
Richardson’s statement and personal attack on Suu Kyi and himself are groundless, Surakiart said.
In a statement late on Thursday, the board said Richardson, who is a long-time friend of Suu Kyi, had to be asked to leave the body.
“The board feels that constructive and positive work can be done to help bring peace, reconciliation and economic progress for all communities in the Rakhine state,” the statement said.
In the meantime, a Myanmar government spokesman also hit back on Thursday, accusing Richardson of over-stepping the mark in his stinging resignation letter. “He should review himself over his personal attack against our State Counsellor,” government spokesman Zaw Htay told AFP, using Suu Kyi’s title.
“We understand his emotion about the two Reuters correspondents. However, he needs to understand, rather than blaming the Myanmar nation and the State Counsellor.”
Zaw Htay said the issue of the arrests was not in Richardson’s mandate and he should not have brought it up at his meeting with Suu Kyi.
Myanmar national journalists Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, working for Reuters face a possible 14 years in prison under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act for allegedly possessing classified documents that they say were given to them by two policemen.
Richardson quit the board, as he was incensed over the suppression of press freedom in Myanmar, among other issues. He accused Aung San Suu Kyi of lacking the sincerity and moral leadership needed to tackle the crisis.
Richardson, a former governor of the US state of New Mexico and former US ambassador to the United Nations, was one of five members who agreed to join the Advisory Board on the Implementation of Recommendations on Rakhine State last year.
He publicly expressed concern that Surakiart was not “genuinely committed” to implementing the recommendations made last August, just as the current crisis erupted, by the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan.
Richardson also did not feel Surakiart was committed to addressing the root causes of the conflict in Rakhine.
Surakiart “parroted the dangerous and untrue notion that international NGOs employ radicals and that the humanitarian agencies are providing material support to ARSA”, he said, referring to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a militant group that launched attacks on Myanmar security outposts last summer.
Surakiart rejected the allegation, saying he had never made such a statement. On the contrary, the board welcomed more participation of the United Nations and the international community. It had made recommendations for more press freedom, he said. 
The August attack ignited the exodus of more than 650,000 refugees from Rakhine state to Bangladesh as well as atrocities against the displaced persons. Nay Pyi Taw and Dhaka agreed to repatriate them within two years. The process was supposed to begin on Tuesday but has been delayed due to the Rohingya refusing to return unless their human rights are recognised and with NGOs and the UN reporting ongoing burning of Rohingya villages along with killings and rape.
Surakiart said the board had recommended a national initiative to set up an independent fact-finding probe into the August incident and its aftermath. 
In the statement, the board said it intended to engage in an open dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, although it recognised that it is not an investigation body. “Its aim is to develop mutual trust and respect and to demonstrate our desire to understand the hopes, fears, and aspirations of the people of Rakhine and of Myanmar,” it said.
International members of the board visited Myanmar between Monday and Thursday as it had its first meetings with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other key officials in her government. They also visited the strife-torn Rakhine State to meet with the local people of all communities – Rakhine Buddhists, Muslim minorities and Hindus. 
The challenges that lie ahead in Rakhine state will not be resolved quickly or easily and, ultimately, it will be up to the people to determine how to achieve a more peaceful and prosperous Rakhine state, it said.