View source for Key member resigns from Myanmar advisory panel on Rohingya crisis

Some 700,000 Rohingya have fled a Myanmar military crackdown that some have described as wthnic cleansing<br><br>A key member of an international advisory panel on Myanmar's crisis-hit Rakhine state has resigned, telling AFP on Saturday that the Aung San Suu Kyi-appointed board risks becoming "part of the problem" in a conflict that forced 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee.<br><br>Retired Thai lawmaker and ambassador Kobsak Chutikul was secretary for the panel hand-picked by civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to advise her government on how to handle the aftermath of a military campaign that drove the minority out of the country.<br><br>The brutal crackdown started in August last year and left hundreds of Rohingya villages razed to the ground.<br><br>Refugees to Bangladesh have recounted horrifying testimony of widespread murder, rape and torture in violence the UN and US have branded as ethnic cleansing.<br><br>Kobsak Chutikul said his position became untenable ahead of a second full meeting of the panel with officials in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw this week.<br><br>"I verbally gave my resignation in a staff meeting last Tuesday (10 July)," he told AFP by phone from Bangkok.<br><br>The board, he said, risks becoming a "part of the problem".<br><br>"It lulls authorities into thinking they have done enough to respond to the concerns of the international community, that they�ve ticked that box," he added.<br><br>"It becomes dangerous in terms of an illusion that something is being done... that they�re [https://burmatourist.com/things-to-know-before-going-to-myanmar/ before going to Myanmar] [https://burmatourist.com/things-to-know-before-going-to-myanmar/ before going to Myanmar] do something while Rome burns."<br><br>- 'Winging it' -<br><br>The credibility of the advisory board was undermined early on by the resignation of veteran US diplomat Governor Bill Richardson a one-time close confidant of Suu Kyi.<br><br>He left the panel in January in a vicious war of words with the Nobel laureate.<br><br>The government insisted it had terminated his involvement but Richardson said he stepped down due to fears the committee would only "whitewash" the causes of the Rohingya crisis.<br><br>A statement by his office Saturday said that Kobsak's resignation "further reinforces the concerns" he held.<br><br>Kobsak, however, told AFP that he thought Governor Richardson's [http://Www.wired.com/search?query=departure departure] had been premature.<br><br>But he said the board's poor organisation and funding severely curtailed its work.<br><br>"We were winging it on the fly, not really in full grasp of the full facts and figures. Everyone was all over the place -- we don't have a permanent office anywhere," he told AFP.<br><br>Suu Kyi's reputation lies in tatters internationally for her failure [https://burmatourist.com/things-to-know-before-going-to-myanmar/ before going to Myanmar] speak up on behalf of the Rohingya Muslims, a stateless group persecuted over decades in Myanmar.<br><br>There was no immediate reaction from her office or the panel.<br><br>The advisory board has so far dismayed rights groups for not mentioning the word 'Rohingya' -- a name Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejects, preferring the pejorative term 'Bengali' that implies the community are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.<br><br>Kobsak Chutikul said the international community should rally round new UN special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener, who he said "offers the best hope in the circumstances".<br><br>burs-rs/apj/jta<br><br>Advertisement