Zarif warns about crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned about the continuation of the ongoing crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

ID: 49128 | Date: 2017/09/09
In a letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres published on Friday, the top Iranian diplomat also urged the international community and the United Nations in particular to take swift action to end the crisis.


“It is expected that the United Nations act swiftly and undertake all necessary measures towards addressing international concerns about the deteriorating situation in Myanmar,” Zarif said 


Zarif added that UN support for deescalating the violence, ensuring the dispatch of humanitarian assistance to the people in need and finding a sustainable solution to the crisis is essential and the body must act immediately.


On Thursday, the Iranian foreign minister chided the international community for remaining silent on the violence directed toward Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and called for swift action to end the genocide.


“The international community has no excuse to allow the genocide of Rohingya Muslims to continue in front of our eyes,” Zarif tweeted.


The developments come as Myanmar's security forces have been attacking the Rohingya Muslims and torching their villages since October 2016 in a bid to push them out of the western state of Rakhine.


The Rohingya have been subject to communal violence by extremist Buddhists for years, forcing large groups of Muslims to take perilous journeys and seek refuge in Bangladesh and other neighboring countries.


The attacks have intensified since August 25, following alleged armed attacks on police and military posts in Rakhine.


The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed Thursday that some 164,000 Rohingya Muslims had fled Myanmar’s Rakhine to seek refuge in camps in Bangladesh since the harsh crackdown against them.