Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has urged world leaders to condemn the on-going killings in Myanmar, likening the situation to the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
“The Myanmar crisis is very reminiscent of what happened in Bosnia in 1995 and in Rwanda in 1994. The international community cannot remain silent and not condemn the horrendous suffering caused by what, from all indications is a state-backed program of brutal depopulation of the Rohingya inhabited areas in Myanmar on the bases of ethnicity and religion,” BUhari said in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The brutal violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is considered one of the world’s deadliest.
The UN Secretary Gerenal Antonio Guterres in early September acknowledged those crimes against humanity, urging authorities to end military action and uphold the rule of law.
“I call on the Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence, uphold the rule of law and recognise the right of return of all those who had to leave the country,” he said.
The violence has forced close to 400,000 people to flee their homes, accounting for nearly half of the total Rohingya population in the Southeast Asian nation.
President Buhari, in his speech, also called on the UN to be mindful of “widening inequalities within societies” which may cause “frustration and anger leading to spiralling instability.”
The New York trip is the 74-year-old’s first since he returned to Abuja following a three-month stay in London for treatment for an undisclosed illness.
The Nigerian presidency last week announced that he would pass through London on his way back, but did not provide more details on the purpose of that stopover.
Other African heads of state that are attending the world leaders’ assembly include South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Malawi’s Peter Mutharika.
