The United Nations Security Council has called for immediate steps to end the violence in Myanmar.
Ahead of the Security Council meeting, on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged that Rohingya Muslims were being ethnically cleansed in Myanmar and called for a halt to a military campaign in Rakhine state.
Guterres described reports of security forces attacking civilians in Rakhine as “disturbing” and “completely unacceptable.”
“I call on the Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence, uphold the rule of law and recognise the right of return of all those who had to leave the country,” the secretary general said in a press conference.
Asked if he agreed the Rohingya population was being ethnically cleansed, he replied, “When one-third of the Rohingya population has got to flee the country, can you find a better word to describe it?”
The crackdown by Myanmar’s army, which followed attacks by Rohingya militants late last month, has prompted around 380,000 to flee across the border into neighboring Bangladesh.
