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Myanmar Muslims hope UN envoy's visit will bring change

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AP Kyee Kan Pyin
Muslim villagers in western Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state say they hope positive change will result from a UN envoy's visit to the region, where soldiers are accused of widespread abuses of minority Muslims, including murder, rape and the burning of thousands of homes.

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Yanghee Lee concluded a three-day visit Sunday to probe the situation in northern Rakhine, where an army crackdown has driven an estimated 65,000 Muslim ethnic Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh in the past three months.

Lee is on a 12-day visit to Myanmar to assess the rights situation. She is focusing her attention on the Rohingya, who mostly live in Rakhine state. She said she would present a report to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

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First Published: Jan 15 2017 | 5:13 PM IST

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