NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) – After a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims sparked allegations of ethnic cleansing, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday her country does not fear international scrutiny.
She told the world that even with an estimated 412,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh in less than a month as their villages burned and hundreds were killed, the “great majority” of Muslims within the conflict zone stayed and that “more than 50 percent of their villages were intact.”
The Nobel Peace laureate’s global image has been damaged by violence since Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar security forces on Aug. 25. Rohingya fled their villages in the military crackdown that followed. Many of their villages were in flames when they left. The government has blamed the Rohingya themselves, but members of the persecuted minority have said soldiers and Buddhist mobs attacked them.
Suu Kyi told foreign diplomats gathered for her speech in Naypyitaw, the capital, that the government was working to restore normalcy in the area.
Though fires have continued to flare in recent days in northern Rakhine state, home to most Rohingya, she said “there have been no armed clashes and there have been no clearance operations” since Sept. 5.