Francis finally uttered the word “Rohingya” at an emotional encounter Friday with a group of refugees who travelled from camps in Cox’s Bazar to Dhaka. Francis said he was well aware of the criticism leveled at Suu Kyi for having failed to speak out enough, or soon enough about the atrocities being committed against the Rohingya. But he said it was difficult to judge what is possible in a country undergoing a political transition after decades of military dictatorship. He said in such cases, it’s likely that a country will make “two steps forward, one step back” as it progresses. “So the possibilities have to be evaluated through this optic,” he said. Despite his apparent sympathy toward Suu Kyi’s tenuous position in dealing with the Burmese military, Francis said he made sure his true feelings were known in private, especially during his meeting Monday with the general, who is responsible for what the army says are “clearance operations” against Rohingya militants in Rakhine. “I didn’t negotiate the truth,” Francis said. Without divulging the contents of the private encounter, Francis said: “I did it in such a way that he understood that it’s not viable to redo today the way things were done in the past.” “It was a good meeting,” he added. “Civilized. And even there, the message arrived.” Francis also confessed that he wept during his encounter with Rohingya refugees on Friday, in which he begged their forgiveness for the hurt they had endured and the “indifference of the world” to their plight. Read More… http://ift.tt/2jb5gkL
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