1,000 in Myanmar protest Annan's role on Rohingya commission

SITTWE, Myanmar — More than 1,000 Buddhists in a Myanmar state wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesday's arrival of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the country's affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict.

The Southeast Asian country set up the commission last month to help find solutions to "protracted issues" in western Rakhine state, where human rights groups have documented widespread abuses by majority Rakhine Buddhists against minority Rohingya Muslims.

The state's dominant Arakan National Party and the Rakhine Women Network led the protest about 300 meters (yards) from the airport in Sittwe, the Rakhine capital, where Annan and other members of the Rakhine Advisory Commission arrived Tuesday morning. As Annan's car passed, the crowd shouted, "Dismiss the Kofi Annan-led Rakhine Advisory Commission now."

"We came here because we don't want that foreigner coming to our state," said May Phyu, a local Rakhine Buddhist resident. "I don't know exactly what this group is and what they are doing, but I came here to protest as I don't like them to come here.

"I cannot accept them talking about the Rakhine and kalar case in our state," said protester Soe Thein. "Kalar" is a derogatory word used in Myanmar to refer to Muslims.

Many Buddhists in Rakhine and across Myanmar consider Rohingya to be Bangladeshis living in the country illegally, though the ethnic group has been in Myanmar for generations. Hundreds of Rohingya were killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes in 2012 unrest in Rakhine state, and many continue to be confined to squalid camps there.

Before Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's government created the commission, her international reputation as a Nobel Peace Prize-winning democracy icon had been diminished by what some have viewed as her inaction on the Rohingya issue. Her government still does not even use the word "Rohingya."

"You will see for yourself all the problems on the ground now," Suu Kyi, officially Myanmar state counselor and foreign minister, told Annan and other commission members at a news conference Monday. "You will be able to assess for yourself the roots of the problems itself, not in one day, not in one week. But I am confident that you will get there, that you will find the answers because you are truly intent on looking for them."

The commission is to address human rights, ensuring humanitarian assistance, rights and reconciliation, establishing basic infrastructure and promoting long-term development plans.

Annan said Monday he is "confident that we can assist the people of Rakhine to chart the common path to the peaceful and prosperous future."

During their six-day Rakhine trip, the commission they will visit the Rohingya camps and meet members of political and religious groups. But the Arakan National Party said it will not meet or work with the commission.

"Rakhine state is in Myanmar and our country has its own sovereignty and there is no way we can accept a commission that is formed by foreigners," ANP official Aung Than Wai said Tuesday.