One of the reasons for former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson's resignation from the international advisory panel on the massive Rohingya refugee crisis is his difference of opinion with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to Richardson, Suu Kyi has been blaming others for the Rohingya crisis instead of honestly looking at the factors that forced nearly 700,000 Rohingyas to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh.
"She believes there's a concerted international effort against Myanmar, and I believe she is wrong," Richardson said Wednesday, according to LA Times.
"She blames all the problems that Myanmar is having on the international media, on the U.N., on human rights groups, on other governments, and I think this is caused by the bubble that is around her, by individuals that are not giving her frank advice."
Calling the advisory board a whitewash and a cheerleading operation for the Myanmar government, Richardson said there were serious issues of human rights violations that needed to be addresses. But, he felt his advice wouldn't be appreciated, and that was one of the reasons he quit.
Repatriations of Rohingyas were set to begin on Tuesday under agreements signed by Myanmar and Bangladesh. But it might take a while before they can go home, as attacks on Rohingya Muslims has not dwindled, a senior United Nations official was quoted as saying by the media.
“The situation isn’t safe for the returns to begin,” UNICEF deputy director Justin Forsyth said during a visit to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh. “I spoke to one young woman who had been on the phone to her aunt in Rakhine in Myanmar. And they were attacking villages even today.”
