Rohingya Group Casts Doubt Son International Fact-Finding Visit To Rakhine State

BANGKOK, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- A Thailand-based Rohingya association has cast doubts on a recent visit by United Nation's representatives and foreign envoys to Myanmar's troubled-Rakhine state where the local Rohingya community is allegedly facing human right abuses. According to Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) president Maung Kyaw Nu, the fact-finding visit was pre-planned and a ploy to deceive the foreign delegation on the current conditions faced by the Muslim minority ethnic group. "We received reports claiming that two to three days before the visit, the authorities visited the affected villages and warned villagers not to give any bad information to the delegates." "They (the villagers) will face arrest if they talk (gave a negative account) to the delegates," he told Bernama in an interview here recently, adding that the delegates' did not get the true picture based on a "rehearsed" tour. Maung, who claimed to be a former student activist and served jail time in Myanmar before fleeing abroad, said Rohingyas in Rakhine State were prohibited from speaking openly because of a fear of reprisals. The international media has reported of alleged systematic rape and killing of civilians by Myanmar soldiers in Rakhine state following a border post attack by armed men on Oct 9 which left nine Myanmar border guards dead. The authorities blamed the attack on an unknown Rohingya armed group, but the accusation has been disputed by the community and international observers. Following mounting international criticism, the Myanmar government allowed the fact-finding mission -- BERNAMA