Stepping up pressure on Myanmar, the UN Security Council has come out with a unanimous statement asking it to end the military campaign in Rakhine state and ensure the safe return of Muslim Rohingya refugees driven from their homes.
The 15-membered powerful wing of the UN also demanded safe, unhindered access for its agencies and their partners to provide humanitarian assistance. Britain and France dropped a push for the Security Council to adopt a resolution on the situation to appease council veto power China, a supporter of Myanmar’s former ruling junta.The Council instead unanimously agreed on a formal statement. It is only for the third time in nearly a decade that the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement on Myanmar.
As a result of the alleged atrocities by security forces in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, more than 600,000 individuals, vast majority of whom are Rohingya Muslims, have f
led to neighbouring Bangladesh.The unrest in troubled Rakhine began after deadly attacks on police stations across the state.