ASEAN foreign ministers to meet on Rohingya

BANGKOK, Dec 17 (TNA) -- Myanmar’s State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi has invited foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to hold a special meeting on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar next Monday, said a spokesman of the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry. Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai will leave Thailand for Myanmar on Sunday for the meeting, the spokesman said. The meeting will be held in the former capital of Yangon, he said. Violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state where most Rohingya Muslims are settling now began since late May 2012. Many Rohingya have fled suppression in Myanmar and arrived in Thailand by sea and hoped to settle in Thailand’s neighbouring countries. The meeting comes on the heels of a military crackdown of Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State following a series of deadly attacks on several border guard posts. After that, stories of security officers abusing Rohingya residents and torching their villages have spread on social media and human rights groups although nothing has been officially verified. (TNA)