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Aung San Suu Kyi makes first visit to site of anti-Rohingya violence Aung San Suu Kyi makes first visit to site of anti-Rohingya violence
(about 3 hours later)
Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived on her first visit to conflict-battered northern Rakhine state on Thursday, an official said, an unannounced trip to an area that has seen most of its Rohingya Muslim population forced out by an army campaign. Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has made her first visit to the conflict-battered northern state of Rakhine, a previously unannounced trip to a region that has been almost emptied of its Rohingya Muslim population fleeing army attacks.
It is her first trip in office to northern Rakhine, which has seen the worst of the communal violence that has cut through the western state since 2012, severely damaging Myanmar’s global reputation. The Nobel laureate has been criticised by the international community for failing to speak up in defence of the Rohingya, a long-persecuted minority in majority-Buddhist Myanmar.
The nobel laureate has been criticised by the international community for failing to speak up in defence of the Rohinyga. Some 600,000 people have fled to Bangladesh in two months, carrying accounts of murder, rape and arson at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces, who say they are responding to militant raids on August 25.
Some 600,000 people have fled to Bangladesh since late August carrying accounts of murder, rape and arson at the hands of Myanmar’s army, after militant raids sparked a ferocious military crackdown. The UN says that crackdown is tantamount to ethnic cleansing, and pressure has mounted on Myanmar to provide security for the Rohingya and allow people to return home.
The UN says that crackdown is tantamount to ethnic cleansing, while pressure has mounted on Myanmar to provide security for the Rohingya and allow people to return home. “The state counsellor [her official title] is now in Sittwe and will go to Maungdaw and Buthiduang too. It will be a day trip,” government spokesman Zaw Htay told Agence France-Presse, mentioning two of the centres of the violence but without elaborating on her schedule.
“The state counsellor [her official title] is now in Sittwe and will go to Maungdaw and Buthiduang too. It will be a day trip,” government spokesman Zaw Htay told AFP, mentioning two of the centres of the violence but without elaborating on her schedule. Images posted on social media showed what appeared to be Aung San Suu Kyi speaking to villagers in Rakhine.
The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority". The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority". 
Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless.Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless.
In 2012, deadly clashes with Buddhists in Rakhine caused 140,000 Rohingya to flee their homes. Many have since paid people smugglers to take them on dangerous sea voyages to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are often exploited.Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.Rights groups accuse Myanmar authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied.In 2012, deadly clashes with Buddhists in Rakhine caused 140,000 Rohingya to flee their homes. Many have since paid people smugglers to take them on dangerous sea voyages to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are often exploited.Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.Rights groups accuse Myanmar authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied.
It was not clear if Aung San Suu Kyi would visit some of the hundreds of Rohinyga villages torched by the army – allegedly aided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist locals – or if she would be taken to see remaining Rohingya, who are living in fear and hunger surrounded by hostile neighbours. It was not clear if Aung San Suu Kyi would visit some of the more than 200 Rohingya villages torched by the army – allegedly aided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist locals – or if she would be taken to see remaining Rohingya, who are living in fear and hunger surrounded by hostile neighbours.
Thousands of others are believed to still be camped on a beach near Maungdaw awaiting boats to Bangladesh in increasingly parlous conditions.Thousands of others are believed to still be camped on a beach near Maungdaw awaiting boats to Bangladesh in increasingly parlous conditions.
The Rohingya are hated in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship and widely dismissed as illegal “Bengali” immigrants. The Rohingya, widely hated by Myanmar’s Buddhist population, are denied citizenship and dismissed as illegal “Bengali” immigrants by many government officials.
Observers say Aung San Suu Kyi has chosen not to criticise the army in fear of a backlash from a powerful institution that controls all security matters. For years, tens of thousands paid people smugglers to get them out the country on dangerous sea voyages. But the current bloodshed has displaced the vast majority of the remaining population, many of them poor rice farmers.
The plight of the Rohingya also garners little sympathy inside Myanmar, making any defence of the minority a politically unpopular cause amid surging Buddhist nationalist sentiment. Life for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, many with bullet wounds and burns, is deteriorating inside makeshift and overcrowded camps amid funding shortfalls.
Aung San Suu Kyi heads a committee charged with rebuilding Rakhine and repatriating Rohingya from Bangladesh who meet strict criteria for re-entry to Myanmar. Aid groups say the risk of significant outbreaks of disease is high.
On Wednesday, spokesman Zaw Htay accused Bangladesh of delaying the start of the repatriation process. Dhaka was yet to send an official list of the Rohingya who had fled since 25 August, he told AFP. The European commissioner Christos Stylianides visited the camps this week and said the conditions were “beyond imagination”.
The Rohingya have packed into makeshift camps on a poor, already overcrowded slip of border land inside Bangladesh. “[The] Rohingya are nothing less than every other human being in the world. This [situation] is, especially for the European Union and also for me personally, appalling,” he was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune after a two-day visit.
Aid groups say the risk of major outbreaks of disease is high while they struggle to deliver food and basic supplies to the unprecedented number of refugees. Aung San Suu Kyi has set up a committee tasked with repatriating Rohingya from Bangladesh, but aid workers fear the displaced may end up forcibly interned.
On Wednesday, a Myanmar government spokesman, Zaw Htay, accused Bangladesh of delaying the start of the repatriation process.
Several observers have explained Aung San Suu Kyi’s choice not to criticise the army as a means to avoid a backlash from generals who still hold significant power, controlling the interior and defence ministries.
Other analysts say she has made a political decision not to publicly support a minority that is despised by her electoral base.
Aung San Suu Kyi has not suggested either theory is correct. She has defiantly backed the army, responding to international condemnations by saying “no one can fully understand the situation of our country the way we do”.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report