Group says Myanmar leaders need 'moral leadership' to stop violence

President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi must show "moral leadership" if Myanmar is to stem communal violence between Muslims and Buddhists, the International Crisis Group said yesterday.

Unrest has left at least 180 people dead since June and displaced 110,000, mostly Rohingya Muslims, in western Rakhine state, prompting international calls for the president and Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to defend the minority group.

"The flare-up in Rakhine state represents a deeply disturbing backward step" from Myanmar's reforms after decades of junta rule, the Brussels-based rights group said in a report on the crisis due to be released tomorrow.

"This is a time when political leaders must rise to the challenge of shaping public opinion rather than just following it. A failure to do so will be to the detriment of the country," it added.

Urging the government to curb nationalistic rhetoric from the ethnic Rakhine, who are Buddhists, the report warned of the threat of rising "identity politics" in Myanmar as reforms give new freedoms to interest groups.

The volatile Rakhine situation needs "decisive moral leadership ... by both President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi to prevent it spreading and contribute towards long-term solutions", the study said.