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| Pope Francis to meet Aung San Suu Kyi on first full day in Myanmar | Pope Francis to meet Aung San Suu Kyi on first full day in Myanmar |
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| Pope Francis is spending his first full day in Myanmar travelling to the country’s capital on Tuesday to meet the civilian leader, the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. | |
| The meeting is the most anticipated of his visit, given the international outcry over the crackdown on Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority, which the US and UN have described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing. | |
| The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority". | The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority". |
| Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless. | Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless. |
| In 2012, deadly clashes with Buddhists in Rakhine caused 140,000 Rohingya to flee their homes. Many have since paid people smugglers to take them on dangerous sea voyages to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are often exploited.Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.Rights groups accuse Myanmar authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied. | In 2012, deadly clashes with Buddhists in Rakhine caused 140,000 Rohingya to flee their homes. Many have since paid people smugglers to take them on dangerous sea voyages to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are often exploited.Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.Rights groups accuse Myanmar authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied. |
| The operation, launched in August after Rohingya militants attacked security posts, has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they have reported entire villages were burned and looted, and women and girls were raped. | The operation, launched in August after Rohingya militants attacked security posts, has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they have reported entire villages were burned and looted, and women and girls were raped. |
| On Monday evening Oxford city council stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of the freedom of the city award it gave her 20 years ago, saying those who turn a blind eye to violence tarnish its own reputation. | On Monday evening Oxford city council stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of the freedom of the city award it gave her 20 years ago, saying those who turn a blind eye to violence tarnish its own reputation. |
| Myanmar’s Catholic leaders have stressed that Aung San Suu Kyi has no voice to speak out against the military over the operation, and have urged continued support for her efforts to move Myanmar towards a more democratic future that includes all its religious minorities, Christians in particular. | |
| In Yangon, Francis spoke to interfaith leaders at the archbishop’s residence and separately met a prominent but controversial Buddhist leader. | |
| The pope stressed a message of “unity in diversity” in his 40-minute meeting with Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders. He told them they should work together to rebuild the country and that if they argue, they should argue like brothers, who reconcile afterwards, his spokesman Greg Burke said. | |
| His meeting with the Buddhist monk Sitagu Sayadaw was “always in an effort to encourage peace and fraternal coexistence as the only way ahead”, according to Burke. | |
| Francis tackled the Rohingya refugee crisis hours after arriving on Monday by meeting the commander responsible for the crackdown, Gen Min Aung Hlaing. The Vatican did not provide details of the contents of the 15-minute “courtesy visit,” only to say that “they spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition”. | |
| Burke did not say if Francis used the word Rohingya in his meeting with the general. Myanmar’s Catholic church has publicly urged Francis to avoid saying it since the ethnic group is not a recognised minority in the country, and urged him to toe a delicate line in condemning the violence, given the potential for blowback against Myanmar’s tiny Catholic community. | Burke did not say if Francis used the word Rohingya in his meeting with the general. Myanmar’s Catholic church has publicly urged Francis to avoid saying it since the ethnic group is not a recognised minority in the country, and urged him to toe a delicate line in condemning the violence, given the potential for blowback against Myanmar’s tiny Catholic community. |