US Vice President Mike Pence held a bilateral meeting with Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday in which they discussed the ongoing humanitarian crisis involving the Rohingya Muslim minority as well as the fate of two imprisoned journalists.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2018) US Vice President Mike Pence held a bilateral meeting with Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday in which they discussed the ongoing humanitarian crisis involving the Rohingya Muslim minority as well as the fate of two imprisoned journalists."The violence and persecution by military and vigilantes that resulted in driving 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh is without excuse," Pence said ahead of his meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi in Singapore. "I'm anxious to hear about the progress that you're making, holding those accountable who are responsible for the violence that displaced so many hundreds of thousands and created such suffering, including the loss of life."
Following the meeting, a senior Trump administration official said that Pence and Aung San Suu Kyi had a candid exchange of views when discussing the ongoing Rohingya crisis.
More than 700,000 Rohingya fled from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh after the authorities launched an offensive in the Rakhine state in response to an attack by Rohingya insurgents on security posts in the area on August 25, 2017. The situation prompted an acute humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh.
Pence also told Myanmar's State Counselor that he wanted her to pardon two journalists of the Reuters news agency that were sentenced to seven years in jail in Myanmar in September, a senior Trump administration official stated.
The two journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, had been reporting on the Rohingya crisis and were convicted for violating the state secrets act of Myanmar, according to published reports.
