Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will go to Myanmar next week, the State Department said, becoming the most senior US official to visit since the start of the Rohingya crisis. The United States, while condemning the violence, has been careful to say it holds the military responsible, not Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government. Tillerson has been pressing her to speak up, and for the powerful military to allow diplomatic observers and humanitarian workers to operate freely within northern Rakhine. Myanmar has been transitioning from rule by military junta to elected civilian leadership since elections were held under a new constitution in 2010. Observers say Suu Kyi chose not to criticize the army in fear of a backlash from powerful generals and their rich friends.

Source: Dhaka Tribune November 02, 2017 17:26 UTC