June 24, 2016

EU SAYS FOCUSED ON ‘CONSTRUCTIVE’ SOLUTIONS TO RAKHINE IMPASSE

The European Union Ambassador to Myanmar has said that communal tensions in Rakhine State remain “very high on the international agenda” during a policy briefing Wednesday.

Speaking at the Shangri La Hotel in downtown Yangon, Roland Kobia highlighted the EU’s humanitarian and development commitments in Rakhine while seeking to remain above the fray over the renewed controversy over use of the term Rohingya to refer to part of the state’s Muslim population.

“We wish to be helpful and supportive of solutions, and not to create additional layers of complexity,” he said. “For us the issues of substance in the short term are more important than nomenclature at this stage in the process.”

The Rohingya, a population of more than one million predominantly Muslim residents of Rakhine State, were the disproportionate victims of communal violence in 2012 that left hundreds dead and displaced more than 100,000 others. (Courtesy of frontiermyanmar.net)

No comments:

Post a Comment