Burma tells Medécins Sans Frontières to leave state hit by sectarian violence
Charity expresses shock after operations suspended in Burma over claims of bias in its medical treatment in Rakhine state
Kate Hodal in Bangkok
theguardian.com,
Rakhine Buddhists hold placards during a protest against Medécins Sans Frontières on Sunday in Burma. Photograph: Nyunt Win/EPA
Médecins Sans Frontières has been ordered by Burma's
government to suspend all operations in a conflict-riddled state
because of what officials described as a lack of impartiality in medical
treatment.
"The state government decision is not against MSF as an organisation," the presidential spokesman, Ye Htut, told the Guardian. "But in Rakhine state, even the local authority do not fully trust their impartiality in the crisis and that is why we have suspended [operations].
"Any organisation which loses trust from any side will not work … The situation [in Rakhine state] is very tense and very fragile."
In a statement, MSF said it was "deeply shocked by this unilateral decision" and "extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of patients currently under our care across the country".
The medical charity treats about 30,000 people with HIV/Aids in Burma as well as more than 3,000 TB patients. MSF is the only source of healthcare for tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees in displacement camps across Rakhine state.
MSF clinics were closed on Friday for the first time in its 22 years of operations in three states across the country.
It is believed the charity has been targeted for its stance on a massacre said to have taken place in Maungdaw township, a restricted area close to the Bangladesh border, where UN and human rights groups claim at least 40 Rohingya Muslims including children were killed by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Burmese security forces in January.
MSF claimed it treated 22 people in the area for gunshot and knife wounds and beatings, but a Burmese government inquiry concluded that only one Buddhist police officer had died.
Htut said the government was unsure how long MSF's suspension would last but said the charity would have to "amend all of their activities and their bias towards one community over another", referring to what he claimed was the group's preference for helping "Bengalis" – the Burmese government's term for Rohingya Muslims – over Rakhine Buddhists.
Almost 300 people have been killed and more than 140,000 others displaced by sectarian violence across Burma since June 2012.
Most of those injured or killed have been Rohingya, a stateless minority who are denied citizenship in Burma and are largely deemed by the government to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Roughly 1.3 million Rohingya live in Burma, although many thousands have fled – a large proportion by boat – to neighbouring countries including Thailand and Indonesia. Many of them perish en route or are sold by authorities to human traffickers.
The US urged the Burmese government to give humanitarian agencies working within the country "unfettered access" in Rakhine state.
"Free, regular and open access is essential to ensure the benefits of humanitarian activities are delivered appropriately to all people of Rakhine state," a US embassy official told Reuters.
A 79-page report released this week by the Fortify Rights group said state and government officials had been involved in "systematically persecuting Rohingya on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and at times gender".
While MSF has worked in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states under a memorandum of understanding with the Burmese health ministry for more than 20 years, "repeated threats and intimidation" to the group's activities in Rakhine have prevented MSF from fulfilling its work, the group said on its website.
Htut said the government would have no problem finding a replacement for MSF's operations until the suspension was lifted. But Fortify Rights said no other group operates at the same scale as MSF to deliver comparable life-saving services.
===="The state government decision is not against MSF as an organisation," the presidential spokesman, Ye Htut, told the Guardian. "But in Rakhine state, even the local authority do not fully trust their impartiality in the crisis and that is why we have suspended [operations].
"Any organisation which loses trust from any side will not work … The situation [in Rakhine state] is very tense and very fragile."
In a statement, MSF said it was "deeply shocked by this unilateral decision" and "extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of patients currently under our care across the country".
The medical charity treats about 30,000 people with HIV/Aids in Burma as well as more than 3,000 TB patients. MSF is the only source of healthcare for tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees in displacement camps across Rakhine state.
MSF clinics were closed on Friday for the first time in its 22 years of operations in three states across the country.
It is believed the charity has been targeted for its stance on a massacre said to have taken place in Maungdaw township, a restricted area close to the Bangladesh border, where UN and human rights groups claim at least 40 Rohingya Muslims including children were killed by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Burmese security forces in January.
MSF claimed it treated 22 people in the area for gunshot and knife wounds and beatings, but a Burmese government inquiry concluded that only one Buddhist police officer had died.
Htut said the government was unsure how long MSF's suspension would last but said the charity would have to "amend all of their activities and their bias towards one community over another", referring to what he claimed was the group's preference for helping "Bengalis" – the Burmese government's term for Rohingya Muslims – over Rakhine Buddhists.
Almost 300 people have been killed and more than 140,000 others displaced by sectarian violence across Burma since June 2012.
Most of those injured or killed have been Rohingya, a stateless minority who are denied citizenship in Burma and are largely deemed by the government to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Roughly 1.3 million Rohingya live in Burma, although many thousands have fled – a large proportion by boat – to neighbouring countries including Thailand and Indonesia. Many of them perish en route or are sold by authorities to human traffickers.
The US urged the Burmese government to give humanitarian agencies working within the country "unfettered access" in Rakhine state.
"Free, regular and open access is essential to ensure the benefits of humanitarian activities are delivered appropriately to all people of Rakhine state," a US embassy official told Reuters.
A 79-page report released this week by the Fortify Rights group said state and government officials had been involved in "systematically persecuting Rohingya on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and at times gender".
While MSF has worked in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states under a memorandum of understanding with the Burmese health ministry for more than 20 years, "repeated threats and intimidation" to the group's activities in Rakhine have prevented MSF from fulfilling its work, the group said on its website.
Htut said the government would have no problem finding a replacement for MSF's operations until the suspension was lifted. But Fortify Rights said no other group operates at the same scale as MSF to deliver comparable life-saving services.
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