Yangon - Veteran U.S. diplomat Bill
Richardson was pursuing "his own agenda" and was asked to step
down from Myanmar's international advisory board on the Rohingya
crisis, a statement from the government said on Thursday.
Richardson said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday
that he was resigning from the board because it was conducting a
"whitewash" and accused Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, of
lacking "moral leadership".
The departure of Richardson, a former Clinton administration
cabinet member, came as the 10-member advisory board was making
its first visit to western Rakhine State, from where around
688,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled in recent months.
Thursday's statement from Suu Kyi's office said it became
evident in discussions on Jan. 22 that Richardson's intent was
not to provide advice "but to pursue his own agenda".
"In view of the difference of opinion that developed, the
government decided that his continued participation on the board
would not be in the best interest of all concerned," the
statement added.
A separate statement from the nine remaining members of the
advisory board on Thursday said they met this week "with open
minds" and agreed "to speak with one voice".
"Therefore, any statement about the Advisory Board
'whitewashing' or 'cheerleading' for anyone lacks complete
legitimacy," it said.
The board was informed that Richardson "had to be asked to
leave", it said.
Former South African Defence Minister Roelof Petrus Meyer,
one of the four remaining international members of the board,
said Richardson's departure was "really unfortunate".
After touring temporary repatriation camps set up by
Myanmar, Meyer said he thought the country was ready to take
back the Rohingya refugees under an agreement with Bangladesh,
where they are currently sheltering.
"The security will be provided...the subject is so
internationally covered so I don't think people should be
scared," he said.
ARGUMENT WITH SUU KYI
Richardson said in the interview that he got into an
argument with Suu Kyi during a meeting on Monday, when he
brought up the case of two Reuters reporters who are on trial
accused of breaching the country's Officials Secrets Act.
He said Suu Kyi's response was "furious", saying the case of
the reporters "was not part of the work of the advisory board".
The argument continued at a dinner later that evening, the
former New Mexico governor said.
Richardson accused Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, of
lacking "moral leadership" for declining to speak out against
the Myanmar military's campaign in northern Rakhine.
The armed forces have been accused by Rohingya witnesses and
human rights activists of carrying out killings, rapes and arson
in a campaign senior officials in the United Nations and United
States have described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects that
label and has denied nearly all the allegations.
Reporters Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, had worked on
Reuters coverage of the crisis in Rakhine. They were detained on
Dec. 12 after they had been invited to meet police officers over
dinner in Yangon.
The Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of
the Recommendations on Rakhine State was set up by Myanmar last
year, to advise on enacting the findings of an earlier
commission headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Thursday's statement from Suu Kyi's office said the
government was committed to "implementing the recommendations of
the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State to the fullest extent
possible and in the shortest timeframe, in accordance with the
situation on the ground".
In its own statement, the advisory board said it was
recommending that U.N. agencies, including the UNHCR, should be
invited to take part in the return and resettlement of the
Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.
In an apparent reference to the military's
counter-insurgency campaign, launched after Rohingya militant
attacks on Aug. 25, the statement called for an "independent
fact-finding commission" to look into "the situation in Rakhine
state after August 2017".
The commission statement also calls for "wider media access
to all affected areas in Rakhine State".