Gutteres hears of ‘unimaginable’ atrocities

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he heard “unimaginable” accounts of atrocities during a visit on Monday to vast camps in Bangladesh that are home to a million Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar.

Guterres described the situation for the persecuted Muslim minority as “a humanitarian and human rights nightmare”, as he prepared to tour makeshift shelters crammed with people who escaped a huge Myanmar army operation last year that the UN has likened to ethnic cleansing.

“In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, I’ve just heard unimaginable accounts of killing and rape from Rohingya refugees who recently fled Myanmar. They want justice and a safe return home,” Guterres said on Twitter.

“The Rohingya are one of the most discriminated against and vulnerable communities on Earth,” he said in tweet before his visit to the camps in southern Bangladesh.

Accompanied by the head of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, he called it a “mission of solidarity with Rohingya refugees and the communities supporting them. The compassion & generosity of the Bangladeshi people shows the best of humanity and saved many thousands of lives”.

The bulk of the Rohingya in Bangladesh, or some 700,000 people, flooded across the border last August to escape the violence. They are loathed by many in Myanmar, where they were stripped of citizenship and branded illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite calling Rakhine their homeland.

A UN Security Council delegation visited Myanmar and Rakhine state in early May, meeting refugees who gave detailed accounts of killings, rape and villages torched at the hands of Myanmar’s military.