Under fire, Myanmar allows top diplomats to visit Rakhine

YANGON — Senior diplomats in Myanmar are set to depart on Wednesday for troubled northern Rakhine State, where soldiers have blocked access for aid workers and are accused of raping and killing civilians, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. The government of Aung San Suu Kyi has invited representatives of the United States, China, Britain and the European Union, and the top United Nations representative in the country, to visit the area over two days. The development comes as Myanmar’s Suu Kyi is facing mounting criticism for her government’s handling of the crisis. The military operation has sharpened the tension between Suu Kyi’s six-month-old civilian administration and the army, which ruled the country for decades and retains key powers, including control of ministries responsible for security. Exposing the lack of oversight of the armed forces by the government, military commanders have ignored requests for information about alleged misconduct by soldiers for more than 10 days, according to a senior civilian official. Troops moved into northern Rakhine, near the frontier with Bangladesh, after militants killed nine border police in coordinated attacks on Oct. 9. Since then, the government has said five soldiers and at least 33 insurgents have been killed in clashes with a group it believes has around 400 members drawn from the mostly stateless Rohingya Muslim minority. While Myanmar’s army-drafted constitution puts the military firmly in control of security matters, diplomats and aid workers say privately they are dismayed at Suu Kyi’s lack of deeper involvement in the handling of the crisis. Suu Kyi, who as well as effectively leading the government as state counselor is also Myanmar’s foreign minister, has pressed ahead with a busy schedule of overseas trips. When fighting erupted in Rakhine, she departed for a four-day visit to India, and is due to leave again on Tuesday for a five-day trip to Japan. “Right now there’s only one person calling the shots — when she’s abroad, nothing gets done,” said an international observer familiar with the situation, echoing previous criticisms of Suu Kyi’s autocratic decision-making style. United Nations human rights experts have urged the government to investigate the allegations of abuses by troops and UN agencies have called for aid access to the area. Suu Kyi has not directly commented on those calls or on statements from human rights monitors, although she has urged the military to exercise restraint and act within the law. In its public comments the government — largely through presidential spokesman Zaw Htay, a former soldier and holdover from the previous military-aligned administration — has backed the military line that the army is conducting carefully targeted sweeps against militants it blames for the Oct. 9 attacks. But residents and rights groups have reported killings, looting and sexual assaults committed by soldiers against civilians. — Reuters