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| Southeast Asia |
| Myanmar army claims peace and stability restored in Rakhine, some troops withdrawn |
| 2017-10-28 |
| [Dhaka Tribune] The Myanmar army, Tatmadaw, has said they have withdrawn some troops from Rakhine state after claiming that peace and stability have been restored in the aftermath of the post August 25 military crackdown. A statement from the military read that the latter had to "carry out area clearance operations in response to the attacks launched by the Arakan Rohingya Salavation Army (ARSA) terrorist groups against 30 police outposts and an army unit base in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships," reports Myanmar Times. The operations in the area were necessary because "the rule of law and community peace and tranquillity" were disrupted, the statement added. It also said that "engagements were on the decrease after 5 September" and since the areas in northern Rakhine state are quite stable in terms of rule of law, some of Tatmadaw columns have been withdrawn from the two townships. The military crackdown by the Myanmar army has resulted in severe criticism from the international community over serious human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violation, with the UN even labelling the operations as "ethnic cleansing". Both the Myanmar government and army deny these accusations. The crackdown since late August has seen more than 600,000 people of the Moslem majority Rohingya ethnic minority community flee over to Bangladesh from Rakhine. On October 23, the US State Department had announced withdrawal of military assistance to Myanmar military, on the ground that it used disproportionate force in counter-terrorism operations. That also includes travel ban to the military leadership. Similarly, the EU has suspended earlier this month invitations to senior Myanmar officials to its member states. It also said it was considering imposing economic sanctions against Myanmar if humanitarian situation in Rakhine state does not improve. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Get rid of the terrorists and you get rid of the terrorism. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2017-10-28 14:03 |
| #1 Can I take it that there are no more Muslims in the area? |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-10-28 01:57 |