Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan told reporters in Yangon on Thursday that the commission he is leading on Rakhine state is not looking to carry out a big investigation into hidden abuses but rather to give advice.
“We are not here to do a human rights investigation and write a human rights report,” he said after spending a few days in Sittwe where he visited the camps of displaced Rohingya Muslims.
Buddhist-Muslim clashes in 2012 pushed many of the Rohingya into the camps, where they live in squalid conditions. Rakhine Buddhists have also been displaced though in much smaller numbers.
The communities have lived apart for years since the fighting, which killed dozens, and Annan and his eight-member commission have been brought in to advise the government on what to do.
He stressed the advisory nature of the commission’s role in his press conference on Thursday.
“I think I’ve indicated very clear the mandate for this commission… The mandate is for us to make recommendations that will help reduce tensions [and] support development in Rakhine state.”
The commission will take about a year to complete the fact-finding process and publish a report.
