The Gambia has dragged Myanmar to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the country of genocide against Rohingya Muslims.
The Gambia, a predominantly Muslim country, is being supported by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The West African country wishes to have Myanmar’s military leaders put on trial for genocide.
There have been reports of violence carried out by Myanmar against Rohingya Muslims, but Myanmar’s government denies its troops carried out such crimes.
Thousands of Rohingya were killed and more than 700,000 fled to neighbouring Bangladesh during an army crackdown in the Buddhist-majority country in 2017, says a BBC report.
The UN’s Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar said in August 2018 that the army’s tactics were “grossly disproportionate to actual security threats” and that “military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages.”
Myanmar rejected the report. It has consistently said its operations targeted militant or insurgent threats.
The gazellenews learnt that prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC), last year, launched a preliminary inquiry into Myanmar’s alleged crimes against its Rohingya Muslim minority.