Veteran US official to work for Reuters reporters release

Bill Richardson, former US ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary in the administration of President Bill Clinton, said he was chosen by Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi to sit on the 10-member board that will advise on how to implement recommendations of an earlier commission headed by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan regarding the situation in the state.

Richardson, 70, told Reuters he would travel to Myanmar next week, along with the chairman of the advisory board, Surakiart Sathirathai, a former Thai foreign minister, who has also called for the journalists’ release. He said he was seeking an appointment with Myanmar’s Minister of Home Affairs.

“My objective, along with the chairman of the commission, is to get them out while we are there in Myanmar,” Richardson said in a telephone interview.

According to UN estimates, about 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a fierce military crackdown on militants in Rakhine. The Reuters journalists, Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, (photo) had been reporting on the crisis.

They were arrested on 12 December after they had been invited to meet police officers over dinner. Family members have said the two told them they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some documents by the officers they had gone to meet.

Myanmar prosecutors sought charges last week against them under the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

“One of the key (Annan) recommendations is the freedom of journalists to observe and report on the situation,” Richardson said. “Incarcerating these two individuals for potentially 14 years is not a good start.” ■