Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 03-10-2017
A top Myanmar official has appealed for democracy in the country to be given “a chance to survive” amid international anger over a military campaign against Rohingya Muslims that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing.
At least 507,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since insurgents attacked security posts near the border on Aug. 25, triggering fierce Myanmar military retaliation.
Myanmar says more than 500 people have been killed, most of them insurgents.
National Security Adviser Thaung Tun told Reuters that he has spoken with his US counterpart, H.R. McMaster, on the phone and visited members of the US Congress in Washington last week.
Tun says sanctions were not specifically discussed.
The United States called last week on countries to suspend providing weapons to Myanmar’s military, but it stopped short of threatening to reimpose US sanctions, which were suspended under the Obama administration.
Tun told Reuters in an interview at the United Nations that government leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has only been in office for 18 months.
“We need to ensure that democracy has a chance to survive in Myanmar. This is a young democracy.”
Tun says Myanmar has a a lot of challenges that cannot be overcome in a day.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day. So we can’t undo 50 years of challenges.”
Suu Kyi assumed power following a landslide election win after former military leaders initiated a political transition.
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