Former US diplomat and hostage negotiator on visit to Myanmar
Former United States diplomat and hostage negotiator Bill Richardson has arrived in Myanmar on a “private humanitarian mission”, his organisation said, as the country enters nine months under a junta that has detained a US journalist.
Myanmar has been in upheaval since civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was deposed in a February coup. In order to silence discontent, security personnel initiated a deadly crackdown, according to a local monitoring group, which has resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 individuals.
Richardson’s organization, the Richardson Center, stated in a statement announcing his departure on Sunday that he will “address… humanitarian delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment, and other public health needs.”
The statement did not say if Richardson would bring up the case of American journalist Danny Fenster, who was arrested in May and accused with inciting opposition against the military and unlawful association.
Fenster, the managing editor of the local news outlet Frontier Myanmar, was stopped at Yangon International Airport on his way out of the country.
He is currently on trial and faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison if convicted on both counts.
Media outlets in the area Richardson was scheduled to meet with the junta leader and other top officials, according to Myanmar Now.
The military’s spokesman has been contacted for comment by AFP.
According to his center’s website, Richardson, a former governor of New Mexico, has negotiated “the release of hostages and American personnel in North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, and Sudan.”
His most recent trip to Myanmar occurred in 2018, when he was a member of a panel formed to provide advice on violence in Rakhine State, the location of a 2017 army crackdown that resulted in the departure of over 700,000 stateless Muslim Rohingyas.
After the trip, he immediately quit, accusing Suu Kyi of lacking “moral leadership” in the crisis.
Richardson also stated that he resigned because he was concerned that the committee would “whitewash” the roots of the Rohingya issue, for which Myanmar is currently under investigation for genocide.
During the 2017 crackdown, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, currently the junta chief, was in charge of the armed forces.