Yangon--Myanmar Monday acknowledged international "concerns" about waves of boatpeople, many of whom are fleeing from persecution, but denied it is solely to blame as thousands languish in dire straits at sea.
The comments came as fresh details emerged from migrants of brutal fighting with metal bars and knives that left at least 100 dead as food and water dwindled on their rickety vessel as it drifted in Indonesian waters.
Southeast Asia is gripped by an escalating migrant boat crisis that has seen nearly 3,000 migrants swim to shore or be rescued off Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand over the past week.
Others have been turned back to sea, sparking international outrage and fears that time is running out to rescue thousands still believed to be trapped with scarce supplies on the unwanted boats.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, a minority who face daily prejudice and a raft of restrictions in western Myanmar, have long fled in rickety boats across the Bay of Bengal.
In recent years they have been joined by growing numbers of economic migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh looking to escape grinding poverty.
Myanmar's part in the grim and often deadly exodus had been largely ignored by its neighbours.
But the former army-run nation has faced growing international pressure this month after thousands of migrants were abandoned in overcrowded boats by people smugglers following a crackdown on the trade in Thailand, a key transit point.
Myanmar Information Minister Ye Htut said his country understood "the concerns (of) the international community on the people in the sea".
"Instead of blaming Myanmar for all these problems... all these issues should be solved by the regional partners," he added in English following a briefing between government officials and diplomats in Yangon.
Myanmar has balked at the criticism it has faced and has yet to confirm whether it will attend a regional summit on the migrant crisis organised by Thailand.
Authorities in Myanmar deny that the country's 1.3 million Rohingya exist as a minority group on its soil and maintain they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
AFP
