Saturday, October 7, 2017

Rohingya crisis not resolved, Prince Charles Cancel to Myanmar

Prince Charles and his wife, Duchess of Cornwall of Britain canceled a visit to Myanmar amid allegations that Myanmar's government and military are carrying out an "ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslim minority residents.

Britain's heirs will travel 11 days to Asia from late October and official statements state that he and his wife will visit Singapore, Malaysia and India.

Media in Britain reported that Myanmar was dropped from the list of countries visited "although there has been talk of a planned visit to the country".

There has been speculation that Prince Charles will remain in Myanmar despite turmoil in some parts of the country but when officially announced, Myanmar is not on the list.

"When discussing the preparation of the trip, we looked at some options and finally we decided to visit Singapore and Malaysia," said Philip Malone, director of Southeast Asia at the Foreign Office.

Malone added that the preparation of the Asian tour was done over several months.

"We are coordinating with Prince Charles' personal secretary to determine which countries to visit," he said.

Meet Suu Kyi in 2016

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla meet with Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi at their official residence in London, Clarence House, in May 2016, before the Rohingyas crisis in Rakhine.

Suu Kyi has been criticized by the international community for being "not doing much about the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine" which caused more than 500,000 Rohingyas to escape into neighboring Bangladesh.

Oxford University downgraded Aung San Suu Kyi's photo at St Hugh's College and replaced it with Japanese paintings.

The Oxford City Council has also revoked Suu Kyi's honorary title on the grounds that the situation at Rakhine has made her "no longer worthy of the honorary title of the Freedom of Oxford".

Suu Kyi studied at Oxford in philosophy, politics and economics from 1964-1967 and also married a college researcher.

The UN secretary general says what happened to the Rohingyas "is ethnic cleansing".

The crisis broke out after the military conducted an operation in Rakhine to respond to Rohingya militia attacks against several security posts in late August.