Worried about the ongoing refugee crisis affecting Myanmar and its neighbors? Relax. Forest Whitaker’s got it.
The Oscar-winning American actor, UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation, was in town on Wednesday to talk solutions to trouble in Rakhine State.
Whitaker, who won a best actor Academy Award for his depiction of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 2006’s Last King of Scotland, visited an NGO that works to alleviate tensions between ethnic communities, according to state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.
The Centre for Diversity and National Harmony was set up after communal violence devastated communities in Rakhine State in 2012.
Quoting the organisation’s director Kyaw Yin Hlaing, New Light reported that Whitaker discussed ‘ongoing works carried out in mitigation of violence there’.
Myanmar has been an object of criticism in recent weeks as reports highlight the desperate struggle of the Muslim Rohingya people fleeing internal displacement camps in western Rakhine state.
Photo: Global New Light of Myanmar
