Aung San Suu Kyi meets US secy of state, UN chief

MANILA: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi faced rising global pressure Tuesday to solve the crisis for her nation’s displaced Rohingya, meeting the UN chief and America’s top diplomat in the Philippines.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told the Nobel laureate that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who had fled to Bangladesh should be allowed to return to Myanmar.

The meet with Guterres came hours before Suu Kyi sat down with US secretary of state Rex Tillerson on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila.

Washington has been cautious in its statements on the situation in Rakhine, and has avoided outright criticism of Suu Kyi.

Supporters say she must navigate a path between outrage abroad and popular feeling in a majority Buddhist country where most people believe the Rohingya are interlopers.

At a photo opportunity at the top of her meeting with Tillerson, Suu Kyi ignored a journalist who asked if the Rohingya were citizens of Myanmar. AFP