US President Barack Obama urged Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday to conduct his crime war “the right way”, after 3,000 people were killed in the crackdown in just over two months.
“As despicable as these (crime) networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important from our perspective to make sure that we do it the right way,” Obama told reporters when asked about his conversation with Duterte on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos.
“Because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way are innocent people get hurt and you have a bunch of unintended consequences that don’t solve the problem.”
Relations between long time allies the US and the Philippines saw a spectacular setback this week after firebrand politician Duterte branded Obama a “son of a whore”.
The outburst on Monday was in response to being told Obama planned to raise concerns about his war of drugs.
Obama thereafter cancelled a meeting with Duterte following the outburst despite saying that he was not personally offended by the Phillipine President’s outbursts.
In election campaigns prior to his election, Duterte had pledged to kill 100,000 people and urged people living in Manilla slum to kill drug addicts in their community.
The UN has warned that incitement to kill is a crime under international law.
Despite growing condemnation of what human rights group refer to as extrajudicial killings, Duterte has vowed to continue ”until the last pusher is out of the streets.’’
