UN, NGO staff in Rakhine released

An official from Buthidaung Prison said U Kyaw Hla Aung and U Win Naing of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) from Sittway, U Saw Myint (a) Mamud Nur of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, U Than Naing (a) Adu Highk and U Zaw Myint from Buthidaung were released.

The official said, “We released them at about 5pm after receiving orders from the court.”

On July 30, Lt-General Thein Htay, Union Minister for Border Affairs and for Myanmar Industrial Development, told diplomats and officials of NGOs and UN organisations in Yangon that five staff from the UNHCR, one from WEP and four from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) had been arrested. One had been found not guilty and then freed, he added.

The news of their release surprised local residents, leading to speculation over why the staff had been freed without being brought to trial. The government has not yet explained why.

President U Thein Sein had stressed that the outbreak of violence in Rakhine state had nothing to do with racial and religious differences, but it was the alleged rape and murder of a girl that sparked the violence. He said the retaliation was to blame, from which both sides had suffered.

The violence left 31 Rakhine and 46 Bengalis dead and 112 injured while 4,822 houses, 17 mosques, 14 Buddhist monasteries and three schools were burned down.

The president also told visiting UNHCR head Antonio Guterres and a delegation that it is impossible to accept Rohingyas who sneaked into Myanmar, and that they are not Myanmar nationals. He said the only possible solution to the problem is to accommodate them in refugee camps under the UNHCR, and to send them to third countries, which could accept them. 

In addition, the president said the government had exercised maximum restraint in restoring the rule of law in Rakhine state, and rejected accusations that troops used excessive force.

The government also invited the secretary of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to Myanmar so that it could study the situation on the ground.

On August 4, Indonesian President Susilo Bambung Yudho-yono said the violence in Myanmar had nothing to do with religion and there was no ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. The US also rejected the accusation of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.