Aung San Suu Kyi calls on Burma to send more troops to end violence

08 Nov 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi has called on Burmese government to send more troops to end the sectarian violence in the west of the country

Four months after tensions between the Muslim Rohingya minority and Buddhists in western Burma's Rakhine State erupted in clashes which have left over 100 people dead and more than 100,000 displaced, Ms Suu Kyi has bowed to the pressure on her to speak out on the violence.

In a joint statement issued with lawmakers from Burma's various ethnic groups, Ms Suu Kyi called on the government to send more troops to the region to ensure peace and stability. The statement also calls for the government to explain its policies towards the Rohingya, as well as for a review of Burma's restrictive citizenship laws, which render the vast majority of the estimated 800,000 Rohingya stateless.The Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of Burma's opposition has been the subject of rare criticism from human rights groups for her failure to take a stand on the sectarian violence which in the last month alone has left an estimated 30,000 Rohingya homeless. Last weekend, Mrs Suu Kyi again appeared to duck the issue when she said she would not use "moral leadership" to speak out on the plight of the Rohingya.

The reluctance of both Ms Suu Kyi and Burma's President Thein Sein to back the Rohingya has been ascribed to their fear of alienating voters ahead of the 2015 elections. Many Burmese regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, despite evidence suggesting they have been a presence in Rakhine State since the early Nineteenth Century.The statement, while not mentioning Bangladesh by name, appears to apportion some of the blame for the situation on Dhaka. "Both governments that share common boundaries should respect and take common responsibility for border security and immigration matters," it said. "It is imperative that both countries systematically prevent border crossings."