U.S. accuses Myanmar military of 'planned and co-ordinated' Rohingya atrocities

A U.S. governmentinvestigation has found that Myanmar's military waged a"well-planned and co-ordinated" campaign of mass killings, gangrapes and other atrocities against the Southeast Asian nation'sRohingya Muslim minority.

The State Department report, which was released onMonday, could be used to justify further U.S. sanctions or otherpunitive measures against Myanmar authorities, U.S. officialstold Reuters.

But it stopped short of describing the crackdown as genocideor crimes against humanity, an issue that other U.S. officialssaid was the subject of fierce internal debate that delayed thereport's rollout for nearly a month.

LastThursday, Canadian members of Parliament adopted a motion condemning the acts of the Myanmar military against Rohingya Muslims as an act of genocide.

The U.S. report, which was first reported by Reuters, resultedfrom more than a thousand interviews of Rohingya men and womenin refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, where almost 700,000Rohingya have fled after a military campaign last year inMyanmar's RakhineState.

"The survey reveals that the recent violence in northernRakhine State was extreme, large-scale, widespread, andseemingly geared toward both terrorizing the population anddriving out the Rohingya residents,"according to the 20-pagereport. "The scope and scale of the military's operationsindicate they were well-planned and co-ordinated."

Reports of mass graves

Survivors described in harrowing detail what they hadwitnessed, including soldiers killing infants and smallchildren, the shooting of unarmed men, and victims buried aliveor thrown into pits of mass graves. They told of widespreadsexual assault by Myanmar'smilitary of Rohingya women, oftencarried out in public.

Myanmar government spokespersonZaw Htay declined to commentwhen reached on Tuesday and said he was unable to answerquestions by telephone.

Calls to military spokespersonMaj.-Gen.Tun Tun Nyi wereunanswered.

One witness described four Rohingya girls who were abducted,tied up with ropes and raped for three days. They were left"half dead," he said, according to the report.

Human rights groups and Rohingya activists have put thedeath toll in the thousands from the crackdown, which followedattacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in RakhineState in August 2017.

UN report found 'genocidal intent'

The results of the U.S. investigation were released inlow-key fashion posted on the State Department's website nearly a month after UNinvestigators issued their own reportaccusing Myanmar's military of acting with "genocidal intent"and calling for the country's commander-in-chief and fivegenerals to be prosecuted under international law.

The military in Myanmar, previously known as Burma, whereBuddhism is the main religion, has denied accusations of ethniccleansing and says its actions were part of a fight againstterrorism.

U.S. Senior State Department officials said the objective ofthe investigation was not to determine genocide but to "documentthe facts" on the atrocities to guide U.S. policy aimed atholding the perpetrators accountable. The report, however,proposes no new steps.

One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity,said it would be up to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeowhether to make such a "legal" designation in the future and didnot rule out the possibility.

Stronger label could comewith legal obligations

A declaration of genocide by the U.S. government, which hasonly gone as far as labelling the crackdown "ethnic cleansing,"could have legal implications of committing Washington tostronger punitive measures against Myanmar. This has made somein the Trump administration wary of issuing such an assessment.

The International Criminal Court last week said it had begunan examination of whether the alleged forced deportations ofRohingya could constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Asked whether the new U.S. findings could be used to bolstersuch international prosecution, the State Department officialsaid no decision had been made on seeking "judicial
accountability" over the Rohingya crisis.

The Trump administration, which has been criticized by humanrights groups and some U.S. lawmakers for a cautious response toMyanmar, could now face added pressure to take a tougher stand.

Sarah Margon, director of the Washington office of HumanRight Watch, said: "What's missing now is a clear indication ofwhether the U.S. government intends to pursue meaningfulaccountability and help ensure justice for so many victims."

The United States on Monday announced it was almost doublingits aid for displaced Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh andMyanmar, with an extra $185 million.

"The stories from some refugees show a pattern of planningand pre-meditation," the report said, citing the military'sconfiscation in advance of knives and other tools that could beused as weapons.

Large majority report witnessinga killing

About 80 per cent of refugees surveyed said they witnessed akilling, most often by military or police, according to thereport.

"Reports of mutilation included the cutting and spreading ofentrails, severed limbs or hands/feet, pulling out nails orburning beards and genitals to force a confession, or beingburned alive," the report said.

Later on Monday, the Public International Law and PolicyGroup, a Washington-based human rights law firm contracted bythe State Department to conduct the refugee interviews, issued acompanion report saying it provided 15,000 pages ofdocumentation of "atrocity crimes."

The State Department's investigation was modelled on a U.S.forensic examination of mass atrocities in Sudan's Darfur regionin 2004, which led to a U.S. declaration of genocide thatculminated in sanctions against the Sudanese government.