Myanmar Military Report Blames ARSA for Rohingya Crisis, Acquitting Itself

Myanmar’s military released a report on November 13^th, acquitting itself of the violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, despite widespread reports from Rohingya refugees of human rights violations including the killing and raping of civilians and the burning of villages.

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine state in in western Myanmar (Burma) since August following a Burmese military response to the August 25^th attack by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on 30 police posts and an army battalion headquarters.

In the report, the Myanmar military said it had found no instances where its soldiers had shot and killed Rohingya villagers, raped women or tortured prisoners. It denied that security forces had torched Rohingya villages or used excessive force and blamed the violence on ARSA. The military said the report was based on interviews with over 2,800 Rohingya and other ethnic groups between October 13 and November 7.

Top U.N. officials and the U.N. Human Rights Council have denounced the violence as a classic example of ethnic cleansing. The report has been widely criticized by several human rights groups in the region. Human Rights Watch cited first-hand interviews with 52 Rohingya women and girls who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh and reported being raped by Myanmar’s security forces.

The U.S. has been considering sanctions against the Myanmar military. Bipartisan legislation proposing targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on military officials was introduced on November 2^nd in the Senate, and November 3^rd in the House of Representatives. The proposed legislation would impose some of the sanctions lifted last year on Myanmar, bar the U.S. from supplying most assistance to the country’s military until those responsible for the violence are held accountable.

The U.S. first imposed sanctions on Myanmar in May 1997 under Executive Order 13047 because the U.S. determined that the government of Burma was committing large-scale repression of the democratic opposition. In 2012, the U.S. began easing certain financial and investment sanctions in response to reforms taking place there. In 2016, the U.S. completely terminated all sanctions against Myanmar in the belief that substantial advances were made to promote democracy.

On November 15^th, Secretary of State Tillerson visited Myanmar and spoke with Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Secretary Tillerson urged the two leaders to investigate the credible reports of widespread violence by the country’s security forces. Suu Kyi defended Myanmar’s security forces.

Secretary Tillerson advised against sanctions on Myanmar as a whole but said targeted sanctions of certain individuals may be called for. Secretary Tillerson has also called for an independent investigation of the Rohingya crisis and that the U.S. will provide more aid to both Bangladesh and Myanmar to address the humanitarian crisis.

The U.S. will need to consider which organizations to trust when providing humanitarian aid in both countries. In October, Bangladesh banned two international Islamic charities, Muslim Aid and Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), for allegedly radicalizing Rohingya refugees. The U.S. has provided aid to IRW in the past through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).