Nigeria condemned “the horrendous human suffering’’ of the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar on Tuesday.

The federal government, in a statement in Abuja, also expressed regret at the desperate human rights situation in Rakhine state.

It described the situation as a “very reminiscent of what happened in Rwanda in 1994 and in Bosnia Herzegovina in 1995.”

The statement reads: “The Federal Government condemns the horrendous human suffering caused by what is now confirmed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in his statement, to be a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’ of the Rohingya people.”

It, therefore, called on the UN to invoke the principle of the “Responsibility to Protect” and intervene in Myanmar to stop the ongoing ethnic cleansing and create the conditions for the safe return and rehabilitation of the fleeing Rohingya people to their motherland.

“The government similarly calls on all members of the civilized world to condemn this heinous act and to demand for appropriate punishment to the perpetrators,’’ it added.

Thousands of ethnic Rohingya people were forced to flee to Bangladesh in recent weeks following alleged killings, raping and destruction of their properties by government forces.

The action had drawn international condemnation with about 400,000 people signing a petition calling for the withdrawal of Nobel Peace prize conferred on the country’s leader, Aung Suu Kyi.

THE NATION