Source: Reuters

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar has established a commission of inquiry to probe allegations of human rights abuses in conflict-torn Rakhine state, authorities said on Monday, as the country faces growing calls for accountability over accusations of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims.

The four-person commission will be comprised of two local and two international members – Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo and Kenzo Oshima, Japan’s former ambassador to the U.N – the Myanmar President’s Office said in a statement. Manalo, 82, a former undersecretary of foreign affairs, will chair the commission.

The two local members are lawyer Mya Thein and Aung Tun Thet, an economist and former UN official. Aung Tun Thet was last year appointed by de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi to a key role in Myanmar’s response to the Rakhine crisis, and in April told a Bangladesh newspaper that Myanmar had “no intention of ethnic cleansing”.