Myanmar military junta 'categorically rejects' US allegation of Rohingya genocide

Myanmar military junta on Tuesday said that it "categorically rejects" the US allegation that its armed forces committed genocide against Rohingya Muslims five years ago.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar following the 2017 crackdown, which is now the subject of a genocide case at the United Nations' highest court in The Hague.

On Monday, the US declared officially that violence against Rohingya community amounted to genocide. The US said that there was clear evidence of an attempt to "destroy" the group.

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Myanmar's junta-appointed foreign ministry slammed the declaration as "far from reality" in a statement on Tuesday.

"Myanmar has never engaged in any genocidal actions and does not have any genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, racial or religious group or any other group," it said, as quoted by AFP

Around 850,000 Rohingya are languishing in camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, recounting mass killings and rape during the crackdown.

Another 600,000 members of the community remain in Myanmar's Rakhine state where they report widespread oppression.
Since ousting Aung San Suu Kyi's government last year, the junta has doubled down on widespread perceptions that the Rohingya are interlopers from Bangladesh and continues to deny them citizenship, rights and access to services.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing -- who was head of the armed forces during the 2017 crackdown -- has dismissed the word Rohingya as "an imaginary term".

(With inputs from agencies)