Politics: Military regime in Myanmar criticizes US: No genocide against Rohingya

“Those in the Foreign Minister’s speech “The statements made in the speech of the Secretary of State (Anthony Blingen) are far from reality,” the State Department said in a statement distributed by state media. The military junta said it had “categorically” rejected Blinken’s comments.

Speaking at the Holocaust Museum in Washington on Monday, Blinken said the military in Myanmar had concluded that it had “committed genocide and crimes against the Rohingya.” The assessment includes documents from human rights organizations and the ministry’s own findings.

Junta: Blingen’s statements “politically motivated”

The military junta that seized power in early 2021 stated that “Myanmar has never been involved in genocide and has no intention of destroying any national, ethnic or religious group or any other group in whole or in part.” Blingen’s statements are “politically motivated” and interfere in the internal affairs of the sovereign state.

Human rights groups have long urged the US government to call these atrocities genocide. The governments of US President Joe Biden and his predecessors, Donald Trump, have so far avoided this move. However, a number of sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar.

Rohingyas are brutally persecuted in their homeland. The Myanmar army is said to have massacred thousands of people, raped women and children and razed villages to the ground. In 2017, more than 700,000 people fled to neighboring Bangladesh for fear of being attacked by armed forces in a Buddhist country. They now live in crowded camps there.