KABUL (SW): The UN human rights chief has slammed Burma (Myanmar)'s apparent "systematic attack" on the Rohingya minority, warning that "ethnic cleansing" seemed to be underway.
"Because Myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told the UN Human Rights Council.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in recent weeks after violence flared in neighbouring Burma, also known as Myanmar, where the stateless Muslim minority has endured decades of persecution.
The United Nations says 294,000 bedraggled and exhausted Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since the militants' attacks on Burma security forces in neighbouring Rakhine state on August 25 sparked a major military backlash.
Tens of thousands more are believed to be on the move inside Rakhine after more than two weeks without shelter, food and water.
"The operation… is clearly disproportionate and without regard for basic principles of international law," Mr Zeid said.
"We have received multiple reports and satellite imagery of security forces and local militia burning Rohingya villages, and consistent accounts of extrajudicial killings, including shooting fleeing civilians," he said.
Burma's population is overwhelmingly Buddhist and there is widespread hatred for the Rohingya, who are denied citizenship and labelled illegal "Bengali" immigrants, the telegraph has reported. Burma's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been condemned for her refusal to intervene in support of the Rohingya, by fellow Nobel laureates Malala Yousafzai and Desmond Tutu.
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