Govt says UN, media distort ethnic conflict

False reporting  by UN agencies, international media and other organisations could complicate the situation in Rakhine state, Myanmar government officials said in a press briefing.

The briefing on a recent incident in Ducheertan village in Rakhine’s Maungtaw township was held at the Foreign Ministry in Yangon on Wednesday. Foreign diplomats and officials from UN and international organisations attended the briefing.

Foreign Affairs Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, Home Affairs Minister Lt-General Ko Ko, Rakhine Conflict Investigation Commission Secretary Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing and Deputy Border Affairs Minister Major General Maung Maung gave their accounts of the incident.

The Indonesian and Bangladeshi ambassadors also gave their accounts, while the US ambassador raised some questions, which the foreign minister answered.

Wunna Maung Lwin denied that many people died in a violent incident on January 13, as reported by some media. He urged UN organisations and media to report to the government if they have any evidence of the incident. 

In his briefing, the home affairs minister said police Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein went missing after the incident in Ducheertan village. He was among a group of policemen who, while on a regular patrol in the area, dispersed after they were attacked by a mob of Rohingyas, he said.

The Rohingya group was led by K Faik Dular, 23, who had completed training by the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) in a neighbouring country, the minister said. About 10 days before the incident, he was reported to have trained his friends on how to handle guns, he said.

“Organisations should release reports based on reliable sources. Groundless information could exacerbate the situation and harm the rule of law. It should be noted that the local people would not forgive when the truth appears,” said Lt-Gen Ko Ko. 

According to Ye Htut, presidential spokesperson and deputy information minister, the government took systematic measures so that unnecessary problems could not occur, as the missing person is a police sergeant as well as a citizen.

“We have dealt with the incident as an ordinary crime in order not to cause unnecessary problems. But actually, the culprits released false information with intent to cover up their offence. But there are those who believe the information. I mean news agencies, UN agencies and international organisations in that region. They are there to help resolve the conflict and ensure stability. But what they have done causes more confusion to the situation. We cannot accept that,” said Ye Htut. 

The Ducheertan village incident was deliberately engineered by people committing crimes and spreading false news, the spokesman said. Some people believed the news too easily and spread rumours, which led to some news agencies and organisations fabricating the news, he said. Because of them, suspicions between the two groups in Rakhine state have intensified, said Ye Htut.

AP news agency and Irrawaddy magazine, while describing the Ducheertan village incident, wrote that violence had broken out there, and that some Muslim women and children were killed. According to a local resident of Maungdaw township, about 40 were killed in that incident, and some of the dead had knife wounds. These are the one-sided reports and are false, the government said. 

Deputy Minister Ye Htut urged domestic media to respond to the international accusations, and to those who want to profit from the conflict and publish biased reports.