An American diplomat has resigned from a panel that advises Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the Rohingya refugee crisis after feuding with her, saying she lacks “moral leadership,” and calling the panel a “whitewash.”
Former US ambassador to the UN and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson joined the Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State last year, when it was set up to enact the findings the Annan Commission.
He quit the panel the same day he was scheduled to join the other members on a tour of a repatriation camp for Rohingya refugees in Rakhine State. He travelled to Yangon instead.
“The main reason I am resigning is that this advisory board is a whitewash,” he told Reuters, adding he did not want to be part of “a cheerleading squad for the government.”
Richardson’s departure is the conclusion to an argument between him and Aung San Suu Kyi that began on Monday, when he tried to discuss the case of two Reuters journalists who are currently in detention and facing charges under the Official Secrets Act, which carries a potential sentence of 14 years in prison.
He told Reuters that Suu Kyi grew “furious” and told him that the case is not part of the work of the advisory board.”
Government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed that Richardson departed over a topic that was “outside the agenda of the meetings.”
“We feel sorry for his resignation due to the misunderstanding,” he said.
Reporters Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested on Dec. 12 immediately after receiving documents from two police officers that are thought to have contained information about an army massacre and mass grave in a Rakhine State village. The army has since claimed responsibility for the massacre and the mass grave.
Upon his resignation, Richardson also said he was “taken aback by the vigor with which the media, the United Nations, human rights groups and in general the international community were disparaged” during the panel’s meetings with Myanmar officials.
He said of Suu Kyi, whom he has known since the 1980s: “She’s not getting good advice from her team. I like her enormously and respect her. But she has not shown moral leadership on the Rakhine issue and the allegations made, and I regret that.”
Read Richardson’s full statement here:
Here is Bill Richardson’s full statement. pic.twitter.com/9jfUWXOBIQ
— Jonah Fisher (@JonahFisherBBC) January 24, 2018
