Azhar Grand Imam Slams Int’l community for Rohingya Crisis

CAIRO – 11 September 2017: Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Shiekh Ahmed el-Tayeb on Sunday criticized the international community for failing to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
Addressing a key note speech during the "Peace Path" conference in Munster, Germany, he condemned atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, stressing that the majority of Arabs and Muslims have “nothing to do with terrorism.”

El-Tayeb said that the intervention of Western countries in regional affairs has played a role in the instability witnessed, also noting the heavy arms industry.

"This region has become a platform for arms and discrimination based on human rights, social class, races, and skin color," he said. He added that Eastern countries are suffering as a result of international and regional polices that have brought harm to people and civilizations.

Earlier, during his presence in Munster, El-Tayeb and German Chancellor Angela Mirkel discussed the cooperation between Al-Azhar and Germany in light of the Rohingya crisis.

The Rohingya Muslim minority population in Myanmar has long been the subject of discrimination in the largely Buddhist country.

The Myanmar government denies members of the Rohingya community from citizenship and regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although they have been living in the country for multiple generations.

A large number of Rohingya civilians have fled to Bangladesh, avoiding the conflict in Myanmar.