Myanmar beauty queen Shwe Eain Si says she has been stripped of her title over a video clip. LONDON, Oct 04 (BBC): Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will visit Singapore, Malaysia and India this autumn, but not Myanmar, where violence has forced nearly 600,000 Muslim Rohingya to flee in the past year, royal officials announced on Wednesday.
Charles, heir to the British throne, and Camilla will depart for Asia on October 30 for an 11-day tour, on an itinerary intended to cement relations ahead of the Commonwealth Summit in Britain in April 2018.
British media reports last month said the Foreign Office was considering including Myanmar on the tour, despite an ongoing military crackdown against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the country that the UN says amounts to ethnic cleansing.
But unveiling details of the travel plans on Wednesday, Clarence House -- the prince and duchess' official residence -- made no reference to Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
A spokeswoman referred enquiries on the matter to the Foreign Office.
"(The) government makes decisions on royal visits based on recommendations from the Royal Visits Committee, taking into account advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
Mark Farmaner, director of non-governmental advocacy group Burma Campaign UK, welcomed the omission.
"It was a ridiculous suggestion from the Foreign Office... and we welcome the decision to drop Burma from the proposed schedule," he told the agency.
During the upcoming tour Charles and Camilla will meet the prime ministers of Singapore and India, as well as senior dignitaries in Malaysia, which hosts a Commonwealth Summit in 2020.
Meanwhile, the city council has withdrawn Myanmar de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi's Freedom of Oxford honour over the Rohingya crisis.
The Myanmar state chancellor was given the honour in 1997 for her 'long struggle for democracy'.
However, in light of recent events, the Oxford City Council said it was 'no longer appropriate' for Suu Kyi to hold the honour.
Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for her handling of the Myanmar military crackdown in Rakhine state, which has forced nearly half a million Rohingyas to flee across the border to Bangladesh.
It was an 'unprecedented step' for the Oxford City Council, said council leader Bob Price, who supported the motion. The council was 'absolutely appalled' by the crisis in Myanmar and called Suu Kyi's response to it 'extraordinary'.
Several other organisations are considering withdrawing the honours they awarded to Suu Kyi, said BBC world affairs editor John Simpson.
"I think it is perfectly natural to look around for ways of saying we disapprove utterly of what you are doing," he told BBC Radio Oxford.
St Hugh's College, Oxford has already removed a portrait of the Myanmar leader it had displayed on the campus.
Meanwhile, a Myanmar beauty queen says she has been stripped of her title over a video clip she made on the ongoing violence in Rakhine.
In the graphic video posted last week, Shwe Eain Si accused Rohingya militants of spreading violence, said a report by the BBC.
The 19-year-old, who was crowned Miss Grand Myanmar earlier this year, did not mention the Myanmar army's activities in Rakhine, where it has been accused of conducting "ethnic cleansing".
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