Myanmar stops ‘clearance operations’ in Rakhine

70,000 fled to Bangladesh & Hundreds of Rohingyas are thought to have died since the army crackdown.

 In northern Rakhine,Myanmar's army has halted "clearan operations". a senior official said Wednesday, stoping a four-month crackdown by security forces the UN has warned may amount to crimes against humanity, reports AFP from Yangon. Hundreds from the Muslim minority are thought to have died and almost 70,000 have fled to Bangladesh since the military launched a campaign to find militants who attacked police border posts.prisoners have given harrowing accounts of how security forces raped, killed and tortured Rohingya and burnt their houses to the ground during the four-month operation. A UN report based on accounts from refugees in Bangladesh said troops had carried out a "calculated policy of terror" that probably amounted to crimes against humanity. For months Myanmar has dismissed similar testimony gathered by foreign media and rights groups as fabricated and curtailed access to the region. But the UN allegations have piled pressure on Myanmar's civilian government Try it Yourself » led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to rein in the military, which still controls key levers of power. Late Wednesday her office said the soldiers had ended their campaign and left the locked-down area under police control.
Suu Kyi has been criticised for not speaking out against the recent crackdown, which has sapped the goodwill she built up during years fighting for democracy under the former military government. Last week Pope Francis weighed in, saying Rohingya had been tortured and killed “simply because they wanted to live their culture and Muslim faith”. Suu Kyi’s power is curtailed by a junta-era constitution that gives the military control of key ministries, including defence, and a quarter of parliamentary seats.