By Lalit K JhaWashington, Oct 19 (PTI) US Secretary of State RexTillerson has said that he holds the military leadership inMyanmar responsible for the current refugee crisis affectingthe country's Rohingya Muslims.
Tillerson said it is up to the military leadership ofMyanmar to decide what direction they want to play in thefuture of the country because the US consider Myanmar as animportant emerging democracy.
"But this is a real test. It's a real test of thispower-sharing government as to how they're going to deal withthis very serious issue," he said.
The US is extraordinarily concerned by what is happeningwith the Rohingya's in Myanmar, he added.
Tillerson has been in contact with Aung San Suu Kyi, theleader of the civilian side of the government.
"As you know, this is a power-sharing government that hasemerged in Myanmar. We really hold the military leadershipaccountable for what is happening with the Rohingya area,"Tillerson said.
"What's most important to us is that the world can't juststand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are beingreported in the area," he said.
"What we've encouraged the military to do is, first, weunderstand you have serious rebel/terrorist elements withinthat part of your country as well that you have to deal with,but you must be disciplined about how you deal with those, andyou must be restrained in how you deal with those," he said.
Tillerson said that Myanmar must allow access in thisregion again so that the US can get a full accounting of thecircumstances.
He described the situation in Myanmar as heart breaking.
"We have been asking for access to the region. We've beenable to get a couple of our people from our embassy into theregion so we can begin to get our own firsthand account ofwhat is occurring," he said.
The US is encouraging access for the aid agencies so thatthey can at least address some of the most pressinghumanitarian needs, he said.
"But more importantly, so we can get a full understandingof what is going on. If these reports are true, someone isgoing to be held to account for that," Tillerson saidreferring to news reports of human rights violations againstRohingya Muslims. PTI LKJAJR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.