Suu Kyi skips UN meet, but to address the nation next week

Qaida warns Myanmar of ‘punishment’ for its ‘crimes’

• Al-Qaida militants have called for support for Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, warning that Myanmar would face “punishment” for its “crimes” against their fellow Muslims
• The Islamist group behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Untied States issued a statement urging Muslims around the world to support their fellow Muslims in Myanmar with aid, weapons and “military support”.
• “The savage treatment meted out to our Muslim brothers … shall not pass without punishment. The government of Myanmar shall be made to taste what our Muslim brothers have tasted,” Qaida said in a statement

97 killed so far in bid to reach B’desh

• Bangladesh has recovered the corpses of nine Rohingyas, including three women and three children, from the River Naf, that separates Bangladesh and Myanmar
• The latest deaths raised to 97 the toll of Rohingya refugees who have died while crossing over to Bangladesh through the river route
• The exodus of Muslim refugees from Buddhist-majorityMyanmar was sparked by a fierce security force response toa series of Rohingya militant attacks on police and army posts

The 1.1-million strong Rohingya have suffered years of discrimination in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship even though many have long-lasting roots in the country. Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi will address the crisis engulfing Rakhine state next week, in her first speech since scores were killed in violence that has sent nearly 400,000 rohingya Muslims feeling to Bangladesh as has sullied reputation as a defender of the oppressed. A crackdown by Myanmar’s army, launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on August 25, has pushed vast numbers of refugees from the stateless Muslim minority across the border.  Aung San Suu Kyi has however, decided that she would not attend the upcoming UN General Assembly because of the crisis, her office said; and she missed the meeting on Wednesday.  Her Critics have called for Suu Kyi to be stripped of her Nobel peace prize and the UN rights agency said was a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

At a press conference the government spokesman Zaw Htay said Suu Kyi would “speak for national reconciliation and peace” in a televised address on September 19.  Suu Kyi, in her first address to the UNGA as leader last year, defended efforts to resolve the crisis over treatment of the Muslim minority. This year she will not be attending because of the security threats posed by the insurgents and her efforts to restore stability . “She is trying to control the security situation, to have internal peace and stability , and to prevent the spread of communal conflict,” Zaw Htay , her spokesman, said. The US has called for protection of civilians, and Bangladesh said all the refugees would have to go home. But, China said it backed Myanmar’s efforts to safeguard “development and stability”.

Aid agencies would have to step up operations “massively“ in response to the refugee flow into Bangladesh, an UN official said, adding that the $77 million the UN had appealed for last week would not be enough. But a Bangladeshi officer said the number of people crossing into his area had fallen sharply , apparently because everyone had left districts most affected by the violence.