UN official probes conflict zone in Rakhine State

UN special rapporteur on human rights Yanghee Lee yesterday visited the conflict zone in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State where the military allegedly has been committing human rights abuses against the Muslim minority Rohingya for months now.Lee visited the border guard posts, the attacks on which in early October triggered clearance operations by the army.She also visited a prison and met with villagers. “We spoke to Rakhine Buddhists as well as Muslim people,” her spokesman Aye Win said.According to the United Nations, at least 65,000 people have fled Rakhine State across the border to Bangladesh since October.The crisis puts Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration under international pressure, with rights watchdog Human Rights Watch criticising the government of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for failing to hold the country’s military accountable for the crackdown on Rohingya.Yanghee Lee is scheduled to continue her travels through the conflict zone today before returning to Yangon later in the week.