U.S. Diplomat Quits Rohingya Panel Over Disput Wtih Aung San Suu Kyi

Bill Richardson, the veteran U.S. diplomat, has resigned from an international panel on the Rohingya crisis, calling it a “whitewash” and accusing the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi of lacking “moral leadership”.  Richardson, a former Clinton administration cabinet member, quit  the 10-member advisory board as it was about to make its first visit to Rakhine state, from where nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled in recent months.

“The main reason I am resigning is that this advisory board is a whitewash,” Richardson said, adding he did not want to be part of “a cheer leading squad for the government”.  Richardson said he got into an argument with Suu Kyi during a meeting 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’s secrets act.

Reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were working on Reuters coverage of the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine, where 688,000 Rohingya fled an army crackdown on insurgents in late August. The government was not happy with the international press coverage of the crackdown and the two reporters were detained in December after being lured into their arrest by a seemingly friendly dinner invitation with some police officers.   After the arrest, the government claimed they were arrested for possessing secret security documents.

Richardson said Suu Kyi responded furiously to the discussion of the reporters' situation.  She believed that the reporters case was not related to the panel's work advising the government on the Rohingya crisis.  The argument continued at a dinner later that evening, the former New Mexico governor said.

The Myanmar government disputed Richardson's version of events, claiming that Richardson was pursing his own agenda outside the advisory panel and the government had decided that his participation was not in the best interest of all concerned.

Heather Nauert, a US state department spokeswoman, called Richardson’s decision to resign from the board and his reasons for doing so “cause for concern”, but noted he had been acting as a private citizen in joining the board.