The government yesterday said it had suspended its educational training courses for the Myanmar military due to the genocide in Rakhine state.
London said it had “deep concern” about human rights violations and would not be resuming the military courses unless there was an “acceptable resolution” to the ongoing Rohingya crisis.
“The action the military are taking against the Rohingya people needs to stop,” Prime Minister Theresa May told the UK’s Sky News in New York.
“There will be no further defence engagement or training of the Burmese military by the ministry of defence until there’s a resolution of this issue.”
In London, a government spokesman said in a statement: “In light of the ongoing violence in Burma’s Rakhine state, the growing humanitarian crisis it has caused, and our deep concern about the genocide taking place, we have decided to suspend the educational courses provided to the Burmese military until there is an acceptable resolution to the current situation.
“We call on the Burmese armed forces to take immediate steps to stop the genocide in Rakhine and ensure the protection of all civilians, to allow full access for humanitarian aid and to facilitate the civilian government’s implementation of the Rakhine Advisory Commission’s recommendations in full.”
The year-long commission, led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, tasked with healing divisions between the Rohingya and local Buddhists, urged immediate action to heal the divide.
Britain’s junior foreign minister Mark Field has said the UK armed forces provided vocational courses, focused on language training, governance, accountability, ethics, human rights and international law to the Myanmar military.
“Exposing them to how modern militaries operate in a democracy is more effective than isolating them,” he told parliament on September 5.
Britain did not provide combat training, Field said.
Theresa May : deeply concerned
