Burma denies blame for desparate migrant crisis

Burma has refused to shoulder the blame for an escalating crisis involving thousands of persecuted Rohingya Muslims stranded at sea.

An armed Indonesian police officer stands guard during the visit of Bangladesh’s Ambassador to Indonesia Mohammad Nazmul Quaunine at a temporary shelter in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia. Image by (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

The country doubts whether it will attend a regional meeting in Thailand later this month to find an urgent solution on how to deal with the boats of refugees.

Boats filled with more than 2,000 desperate and hungry people have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and thousands more migrants are believed to be adrift at sea after a crackdown on human traffickers prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their human cargo.

All three countries have dispatched their navies to push boats away or execute a so-called “help-on” policy of giving the boats food and water – and pointing them to other countries.

The migrants are Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in predominantly-Buddhist Burma, and Bangladeshis looking for a better life abroad.

“We are not ignoring the migrant problem, but our leaders will decide whether to attend the meeting based on what is going to be discussed,” said Major Zaw Htay, director of the office of Burma’s president.

“We will not accept the allegations by some that Myanmar is the source of the problem,” he said, using another name for the country.

He directed some of the blame on Burma’s neighbours, saying that from a humanitarian point of view, “it’s sad that these people are being pushed out to sea by some countries”.

And he said: “The gravest violation of human rights are committed by those corrupt officials who are involved in human trafficking activities and colluded with the trafficking syndicates.”

The migrants seem intent on reaching Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country that has hosted more than 45,000 Rohingya over the years but now says it cannot accept any more. Indonesia and Thailand have voiced similar stances.

Thailand has organised a meeting on May 29 with officials from 15 countries to discuss the “root causes” of “irregular migration in the Indian Ocean”.

(Press Association)