(Recasts with statement from Medecins Sans Frontieres)
By Jared Ferrie
YANGON Feb 28 (Reuters) - Myanmar has ordered Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) to halt all its work in the country, leaving
tens of thousands of people without vital care, the medical aid
group said on Friday.
MSF did not give a reason for the suspension, but local
media reported government officials had been angered by the
charity's public comments on the western strife-torn state of
Rakhine.
The Nobel Prize-winning aid group has been giving care there
to both ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, a mostly
stateless minority who live in apartheid-like conditions and who
otherwise have little access to healthcare.
The United Nations and human rights groups say at least 40
Rohingya were killed by security forces and ethnic Rakhine
Buddhist civilians in a restricted area of the state in January.
Myanmar's government denies that any massacre took place.
Government spokesman Ye Htut accused MSF, in comments to local
media on Friday, of falsely reporting that it had treated
victims near the scene of the alleged mass killing.
If confirmed, the massacre would take to at least 277 the
number of people killed in religious conflict across Myanmar
since June 2012. More than 140,000 people have been displaced.
Ye Htut and other government officials were unavailable for
comment on Friday.
"INTERNAL AFFAIR"
MSF said it was shocked by the decision to suspend its work
and "extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of
patients currently under our care across the country," it a
statement out if its Amsterdam office.
It said it had to close clinics serving 30,000 HIV/AIDS
patients, and more than 3,000 people with tuberculosis would not
be able to get vital medicine.
"MSF's actions are guided by medical ethics and the
principles of neutrality and impartiality. MSF is in discussions
with the Government of Myanmar to allow our staff to resume
life-saving medical activities across the country and continuing
addressing the unmet heath needs of its people," the statement
read.
The U.S. embassy in Myanmar had earlier urged the government
to give aid agencies "unfettered access" after initial reports
emerged that MSF had been barred from Rakhine.
Reports of incidents in Rakhine are difficult to verify
independently as large parts are off limits to journalists. The
government also controls access by international aid groups,
despite a wave of democratic reforms since military rule ended
in 2011.
Myanmar's government has repeatedly rejected reports by MSF,
the United Nations and human rights groups that Rohingya
villagers in Maungdaw township were attacked and their homes
looted.
On Jan. 29, the government called diplomats to a briefing
where officials said they had found no evidence of a massacre
but promised further investigation.
A request by U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell to include an
international representative on the investigating team was
denied by Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, who said it was "an
internal affair".
(Additional reporting by Thin Lei Win in Bangkok; Writing by
Alan Raybould; Editing by Robert Birsel and Andrew Heavens)
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