By: LakshmiPS
In 2017 the Myanmar military launched a ferocious crackdown against its Rohingya Muslim population, leading about 740,000 to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
On Thursday the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved a probe into Myanmar’s alleged crimes against the Rohingya.
Here are key dates in the crisis since 2017:
On August 25, 2017 Rohingya militants stage coordinated attacks on police posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, killing at least a dozen officers.
The army retaliates with operations in Rohingya villages ostensibly to flush out insurgents.
It says it killed 400 rebels but opponents say most of the dead were civilians.
The United Nations says at least 1,000 people lost their lives in the first two weeks of the military operations.
By September 5 more than 120,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh, overwhelming its ill-equipped refugee camps.
Many speak of abuses by the army and ethnic Rakhine, who are majority Buddhist.
There are already at least 200,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh from previous waves of violence.
International anger mounts against the Myanmar regime, including after soldiers are accused of burning Rohingya out of their homes, with some world leaders alleging “ethnic cleansing”.
In her first statement on the crisis, Myanmar’s civil leader Aung San Suu Kyi pledges on September 19 to hold rights violators to account but refuses to blame the army.
She says she is open to bringing some of the exiled Rohingya home pending a “verification process”.
Bangladesh and Myanmar on November 23 agree to start repatriating refugees.
But the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says conditions are not in place for their safe return and the process halts.
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on December 5 warns of possible “elements of genocide” and calls for an international investigation.
On August 25, 2018 tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees stage protests to mark the first anniversary of their exodus.
UN investigators call for the prosecution of Myanmar’s army chief and five other top military commanders for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
On September 3 two Reuters journalists accused of breaching Myanmar’s state secrets law while reporting on a Rohingya massacre are jailed for seven years.
They are eventually released more than 500 days later on May 7, 2019.
On September 18, 2018 the Hague-based ICC announces a preliminary probe into the Myanmar military’s alleged crimes against the Rohingya.
In November an attempt to repatriate 2,260 Rohingya fails as they refuse to leave without guarantees for their safety.
On December 20 Myanmar forces carry out new “clearance operations” in Rakhine state after new attacks, with one incident blamed on Rohingya.
On May 29, 2019 Amnesty International accuses Myanmar’s military of committing “war crimes”, extrajudicial killings and torture.
On July 16 Washington announces sanctions against Myanmar’s army chief and three other top officers for their role in “ethnic cleansing”.
About 3,500 Rohingya refugees are cleared to return home but none turn up to take the buses and trucks provided to transport them from August 22.
On September 16 the UN says some 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar face a “serious risk of genocide”.
On November 14 the ICC gives the green light to a full investigation into Myanmar’s alleged crimes against the Rohingya.
(AFP)
