Pope calls for peace in Myanmar on diplomatically fraught trip

Pope Francis shakes hands with Bhaddanta Kumarabhivasma, chairman of the state Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, during a meeting with the Buddhist committee in Yangon, Myanmar 29 November 2017 - Reuters

Yangon (Reuters): Pope Francis called on the people of Myanmar on Wednesday to embrace peace and reconciliation as their country emerges from nearly five decades of military rule still riven by ethnic conflicts and communal strife.

The pope made his appeal at an open-air mass in Yangon on the third day of a visit fraught with diplomatic risk over a military crackdown that has triggered the flight of about 625,000 Muslim Rohingya from the predominantly Buddhist country.

In a speech on Tuesday, he did not use the highly charged term ‘Rohingya’, following the advice of Vatican insiders who feared it could set off a diplomatic incident and turn Myanmar’s military and government against minority Christians.

However, his call for justice, human rights and respect for all were widely seen as applicable to the Rohingya, who are not recognised as citizens or as members of a distinct ethnic group.

The mass exodus from Rakhine state to the southern tip of Bangladesh began at the end of August when the military launched a counter-offensive in response to Rohingya militant attacks on an army base and police security posts.

Scores of Rohingya villages were burnt to the ground, and refugees told of killings and rapes. The United States said last week that the military’s campaign included “horrendous atrocities” aimed at “ethnic cleansing”. Myanmar’s military has denied all accusations of murder, rape and forced displacement. Only about 700,000 of Myanmar’s 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them travelled from far and wide to Yangon to see the pope, and many attended Wednesday’s mass on the grounds of what had been racecourse during British colonial times.Among the tens of thousands there were priests, nuns, diplomats, leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy, and members of ethnic groups in traditional garb who sang songs and waved Myanmar and Vatican flags as they waited for the pope.