YANGON (Reuters) \u2013 Veteran U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson has resigned from an international panel set up by Myanmar to advise on the Rohingya crisis, saying it was conducting a \u201cwhitewash\u201d and accusing the country\u2019s leader Aung San Suu Kyi of lacking \u201cmoral leadership\u201d.<\/p>\n
Richardson, a former Clinton administration cabinet member, quit as the 10-member advisory board was making its first visit to western Rakhine State, from where nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled in recent months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main reason I am resigning is that this advisory board is a whitewash,\u201d Richardson told Reuters in an interview, adding he did not want to be part of \u201ca cheerleading squad for the government\u201d.<\/p>\n
Richardson said he got into an argument with Suu Kyi during a meeting on Monday with other members of the board, when he brought up the case of two Reuters reporters who are on trial accused of breaching the country\u2019s Officials Secrets Act.<\/p>\n
He said Suu Kyi\u2019s response was \u201cfurious\u201d, saying the case of the reporters \u201cwas not part of the work of the advisory board\u201d. The argument continued at a dinner later that evening, the former New Mexico governor said.<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi\u2019s spokesman, Zaw Htay, told Reuters on Thursday that the Advisory Board was meeting about the \u201cRakhine issue\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Richardson) talked on a topic outside the agenda of the meetings and went beyond the framework,\u201d Zaw Htay said. \u201cWe feel sorry for his resignation due to the misunderstanding.\u201d Reporters Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, had worked on Reuters coverage of the crisis in Rakhine, from where 688,000 Rohingya have fled an army crackdown on insurgents since late August, according to estimates by the United Nations.<\/p>\n
They were detained on Dec. 12 after they had been invited to meet police officers over dinner in Yangon. The government has cited police as saying they were arrested for possessing secret documents relating to the security situation in Rakhine.<\/p>\n
\u2018GOOD FAITH EFFORTS\u2019<\/p>\n
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert called Richardson\u2019s decision to resign from the board and his reasons for doing so \u201ccause for concern\u201d, but noted he had been acting as a private citizen in joining the board and visiting Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.<\/p>\n
\u201dUltimately, the Burmese government and military have the authority to determine whether the Advisory Board will succeed,\u201c Nauert said. \u201dThe United States has made clear that we are willing to support good faith efforts to implement the Annan Commission recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State was set up by Myanmar last year, to advise on enacting the findings of an earlier commission headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.<\/p>\n
The armed forces have been accused by Rohingya witnesses and human rights activists of carrying out killings, rapes and arson in a campaign senior officials in the United Nations and United States have described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects that label and has denied nearly all the allegations.<\/p>\n
Richardson said he was also \u201ctaken aback by the vigor with which the media, the United Nations, human rights groups and in general the international community were disparaged\u201d during the last three days of meetings the board held with Myanmar officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not getting good advice from her team,\u201d Richardson said of Suu Kyi, whom he said he has known since the 1980s. \u201cI like her enormously and respect her. But she has not shown moral leadership on the Rakhine issue and the allegations made, and I regret that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi\u2019s national security adviser, Thaung Tun, told Reuters he had escorted the other board members on a trip to Rakhine on Wednesday, but that Richardson had not taken part.<\/p>\n