Is it fair to blame Aung San Suu Kyi for ethnic cleansing in Myanmar?
Soldiers have been accused of rights abuses against Rohingya people, with Nobel laureate called on to do more
As international criticism mounts on Myanmar over a scorched-earth military campaign targeting its oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority, the country’s democracy icon and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi finds herself between a rock and a hard place.
International rights groups this week took their gloves off in condemning the revered Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s ambivalent response to the escalating violence and allegations of widespread rights abuses by soldiers.
And on Thursday, a UN official accused Naypyidaw of seeking the “ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in Myanmar” as the crisis deepened, with tens of thousands in the northwestern Rakhine state displaced and at least 86 killed.
But some experts say the consternation aimed at Suu Kyi is misguided as she wields little power over the military. A democratically elected government, which she leads, took power only this year after more than five decades of junta rule.
The fresh bout of military-backed violence against the Rohingya was triggered as soldiers swooped in to lay siege to the area to hunt down perpetrators of what it says were coordinated attacks against security forces in October.
The UN recognises the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. They are denied citizenship despite tracing their roots to Myanmar for generations.