Bob Geldof: Burma could create ‘another Palestine’ in Asia with Rohingya crisis
Singer and campaigner spoke out in support of Rohingya Muslim refugees during a protest in Dublin
The Burmese military are in danger of creating another Palestine in Asia, Bob Geldof said.
The singer and campaigner spoke out in support of the Rohingya refugees during the protest in Dublin.
Burma’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi recently visited the conflict-ridden area of northern Rakhine state for the first time.
Geldof claimed the crisis did not seem to have people’s attention.
“It is so odd that 600,000 people who lived in this country for hundreds of years are suddenly bombed in their straw villages or mass-raped, the men are killed, the children abused, driven across impenetrable borders with nowhere to go.
“So they are true stateless people.
“Are we going to see an Asian Palestinian state? This is impossible.”
Palestinians were driven from their homes following Israel’s declaration ofindependence in 1948.
Geldof has a long record of humanitarian intervention in international disasters but this is his most public attack on Suu Kyi’s handling of the Burmese crisis, which he branded a genocide.
He added: “It is brutal oppression and so you say something if it is your thing.”
The Prime Minister’s spokesman has stopped short of using the word “genocide” in relation to the attacks on Rohingya villages which have taken place since August, prompting more than 600,000 people to cross the border into Bangladesh.
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