Suu Kyi scolds world for lacking focus on Rakhine ‘terrorists’

By AFP
25 October 2019
Suu Kyi scolds world for lacking focus on Rakhine ‘terrorists’
Ataullah Abu Amar Jununi, centre, heads the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA video, YouTube screengrab)

Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has bemoaned the lack of global scrutiny on extremism and "terrorists" inside Rakhine state.

The comments from the Nobel laureate are part of a long-standing defence of the army campaign against the Rohingya, which drove nearly three-quarters of a million of the minority into Bangladesh in 2017.

That campaign brought US sanctions on key military figures and allegations of genocide by United Nations investigators.

The Myanmar military has said their actions were necessary and proportionate to stamp out Rohingya terrorists -- a defence Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated in an interview with Japan's Nikkei newspaper on Wednesday.

"There are certain extremist elements who do not want peace in Rakhine... because for many terrorists, problems are what they thrive on," she said, referencing attacks by Rohingya rebels in 2017 that sparked a scorched earth army operation.

"So we are disappointed... that the international community has paid very little attention to the terrorist element of the problems in Rakhine," she said.

Ethnic Rakhine rebels, who are Buddhist, are also fighting the army in a state ruptured by conflict and communal hatreds.

Suu Kyi, who spent a total of 15 years under house arrest during Myanmar's junta regime, was once regarded as an icon of freedom.

But her international reputation has been tarnished in the wake of the Rohingya crackdown.

© AFP