Editing UN Team Probing Rohingya Crisis Arrives In Burma For Talks

A UN Security Council team probing Burma�s crisis over its ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority has arrived in the country�s capital.<br><br>The delegation had come from Bangladesh, where about 700,000 Rohingya who fled military-led violence live in refugee camps.<br><br>They will meet with Burmese leaders, state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and military commander Senior General Min Aung Hlaing during a two-day visit before traveling to northern Rakhine state, the area from which the Rohingya fled.<br><br>Rohingya refugees holing placards await the arrival of a UN Security Council team (AM Ahad/AP)<br><br>In Bangladesh, Security Council delegation hears first-hand stories of Rohingya @refugees who fled violence in Myanmar. Here�s how you may help: website pic.twitter.com/lmiqb1p92M<br><br>- United Nations (@UN) April 30, 2018 They are expected to see the aftermath of the army�s crackdown as well as the government�s preparations for taking back the refugees from Bangladesh.<br><br>�The ministers will discuss in detail the repatriation of the refugees agreed by the two countries and resettlement plans for the returnees,� foreign affairs permanent secretary Myint Thu said.<br><br>On Tuesday, the UN delegates would be taken to refugee reception centres as well as villages in northern Rakhine.<br><br>The army launched counter-insurgency sweeps in Rakhine after attacks last August on security personnel.<br><br>The military has been accused of massive human rights violations - including rape, killing, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes - that UN and US officials have called ethnic cleansing.<br><br>More than 687,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have fled to Bangladesh since August.<br><br>Sufia is among some 31,000 refugee women who head their households, many of them widows whose husbands were killed or are missing. website pic.twitter.com/KEBN5AwaoF<br><br>- UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) April 30, 2018 Burma�s government agreed to allow the delegates to enter [http://burmaadventuretour.com/ burma adventure tour] after previously rejecting UN requests for a visit by a specially appointed independent fact-finding committee.<br><br>That team said in March that it found evidence of human rights violations against the Kachin, Shan and Rohingya minorities �in all likelihood amounting to crimes under international law�.<br><br>The Kachin and the Shan are other ethnic minorities who seek greater autonomy and are engaged in armed conflict against government forces.<br><br>#Bangladesh, with #UN and NGO support, has saved thousands of #Rohingya lives. The international community must stand firm and united in support of Bangladesh to face risks of upcoming monsoon season and provide Rohingya refugees with education and livelihood opportunities. pic.twitter.com/bkbcXp5Q6n<br><br>- Karen Pierce (@KarenPierceUN) April 29, 2018 Britain�s UN ambassador, Karen Pierce - a member of the visiting delegation - said after the group went to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh over the weekend that the Security Council would continue to work on enabling the [http://news.Sky.com/search?term=refugees refugees] to return to Burma, but that the Rohingya must be allowed to return under safe conditions.<br><br>Thousands of refugees had gathered amid scorching heat at the camp to welcome the delegation. They carried placards, some of which read �We want justice.�<br><br>Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in Burma, even though many of their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless.<br><br>Advertisement