US pushes for UN resolution on Rohingya crisis

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May 15, 2018 2:31 AM

US envoy Nikki Haley called Monday for the UN Security Council to take rapid action on the Rohingya crisis, which has seen over 700,000 people driven from their homes in Myanmar.

US envoy

"The active involvement of the Security Council is essential to bring an end to the Rohingya crisis," Haley said.

"We have unique tools to encourage Burma to take real steps towards resolving this crisis, and we must use them," she said, without specifying if she meant sanctions.

Haley said the council should "move quickly to adopt a resolution," while acknowledging the inherent challenges as "some members of the council have kept us from taking action for cynical and self-interested reasons."

She was apparently referring to China, which has resisted a British-led push at the council to increase pressure on Myanmar to try those responsible for attacks on the Rohingya.

Some 700,000 people from the stateless Muslim minority have fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine state into neighboring Bangladesh since August to escape a bloody military crackdown.

The violence has left a trail of torched villages in its wake, amid allegations of murder and rape at the hands of troops and vigilantes.

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