YANGON--Myanmar's government will manage the redevelopment of villages torched during violence in Rakhine state that has sent nearly half a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh, a minister was reported on Wednesday as saying.
The plan for the redevelopment of areas destroyed by fires, which the government has blamed on Rohingya insurgents, is likely to raise concern about prospects for the return of the 480,000 refugees, and compound fears of ethnic cleansing.
"According to the law, burnt land becomes government-managed land," Minister for Social Development, Relief and Resettlement Win Myat Aye told a meeting in the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
Win Myat Aye also heads a committee tasked with implementing recommendations on solving Rakhine's long-simmering tensions. Citing a disaster management law, he said in a meeting with authorities on Tuesday that redevelopment would "be very effective". The law says the government oversees reconstruction in areas damaged in disasters, including conflict.
There was no elaboration on any plan or what access to their old villages any returning Rohingya could expect. The minister was not immediately available for comment.
Human rights groups using satellite images have said about half of more than 400 Rohingya villages in the north of Rankine state have been burned in the violence. Refugees arriving in Bangladesh have accused the army and Buddhist vigilantes of mounting a campaign of violence and arson aimed at driving Rohingya out of Myanmar.
In Washington, lawmakers in the U.S. Congress condemned the treatment of the Rohingya and some questioned the former Obama administration's decision to lift sanctions on Myanmar after a civilian-led government came to power.
Ed Royce, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told a hearing the Myanmar government's response to the crisis had been "appalling." He said national leader Aung San Suu Kyi had a duty to speak out and that her statements on the crisis had been "widely off the mark."
"Perpetrators of this ethnic cleansing must be condemned in the strongest possible terms," he said.
Ted Yoho, Republican chair of the subcommittee, said the military crackdown had been characterised by "sickening crimes against humanity" and said Washington should look at what policy options were available to stop the military violence and encourage the government to take a firmer stand against it.
The Trump administration has stepped up its criticism of the Myanmar military's behaviour, but has refrained from using the terms "ethnic cleansing" or "crimes against humanity" and given no indication of plans to re-impose sanctions on the country where it competes for influence with strategic rival China.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has rejected U.N. accusations of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in response to coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on the security forces on Aug. 25. It has also rejected accusations of crimes against humanity levelled this week by Human Rights Watch.
