The United States Calls for Immediate Approval of UN Security Council Resolution Regarding Myanmar

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has urged the Security Council to take immediate 'practical' action regarding the crisis of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador, stated on May 13 that 'active engagement by the Security Council to end the Rohingya crisis is vital.' She added, 'We have unique tools to persuade the Burmese (Myanmar) government to take real steps forward and end this crisis; and we must use these [tools].' From the perspective of the U.S. ambassador, there is an urgent need for the approval of a resolution in the Security Council. She also criticized 'some members of the Security Council' for blocking the actions of this body 'due to personal and hypocritical interests.' It seems that Ms. Haley's reference is to the People's Republic of China, which had previously blocked the approval of a proposed resolution by Britain to hold accountable those responsible for the attacks and killings of the Muslim minority. Since the violence against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar began last summer, about 700,000 people have fled across the border to Bangladesh. The Myanmar government has been accused of the violence or ignoring its occurrence. The United Nations and the United States have previously described the Myanmar military's operations against the Rohingya Muslims as 'ethnic cleansing.' The Myanmar government has denied these accusations and blames Muslim militants and other armed separatist groups for the attacks and outbreak of violence. An investigative report by Reuters on the situation of mass killings of the Rohingya minority last February prompted the U.S. to call for an independent investigation into the matter. Two Reuters journalists working on this report were arrested in Myanmar and remain in detention.