By Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has formally determined that the Myanmar army committed genocide and crimes against humanity in a violent campaign against the Rohingya minority, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, warning that , as long as the military junta is in power, no one in the country will be safe.
Announcing the decision, which was reported firsthand by Reuters on Sunday, Blinken said the attacks on the Rohingya were “widespread and systematic” and that evidence points to a clear intention to destroy the majority Muslim minority.
The definition could boost efforts to hold Myanmar’s generals accountable and prevent further atrocities, US officials believe. Activists welcomed the measure but called for concrete measures, such as tougher sanctions on the military junta.
In his speech at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, the top US diplomat read aloud horrifying and tragic accounts of victims, who suffered rape, torture and gunshots to the head.
The Myanmar Armed Forces launched a military operation in 2017 that forced at least 730,000 Rohingya to leave their homes and flee to neighboring Bangladesh. In 2021, the country’s military seized power in a coup.
“Since the coup, we are seeing the Burmese military forces use the same tactics. Only now is the military attacking anyone in Burma that it sees as opposing or damaging its repressive command,” Blinken said. “For those who did not understand before the coup, the brutal violence employed by the military forces since February 2021 has made it clear that no one in Burma will be safe from atrocities as long as they are in power,” he added.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk)
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