The United Nations probe into the Myanmar army found that its bloody persecution of Rohingya Muslims amounted to genocide, a report said Tuesday.
In a 444-page report released Tuesday, the investigators said the Myanmar army committed four of the five acts constituting genocide against the minority.
The report, one of the longest ever published by the U.N., also called on Myanmar's civilian government to remove the army from politics, reiterating calls for prosecution.
The civilian government "should further pursue the removal of the Tatmadaw from Myanmar's political life," the U.N. report said, referring to the nation's military.
An estimated 700,000 Rohingya have fled over the border to Bangladesh since an army crackdown was launched in Rakhine State in August 2017. Myanmar blames Rohingya militants for an Aug. 25 strike on security posts in Rakhine that triggered a fierce army crackdown. At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine State from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The death toll includes 730 children below the age of 5. In a report last December, the global humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent, or 6,700 Rohingya, were caused by violence.
The stateless Rohingya have been the target of communal violence and vicious anti-Muslim sentiment in mainly Buddhist Myanmar for years. Myanmar has denied citizenship to Rohingya since 1982 and excludes them from the 135 ethnic groups it officially recognizes, which effectively renders them stateless. The Rohingya trace their presence in Rakhine back centuries. But most people in majority-Buddhist Myanmar consider them to be unwanted Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh.
