Suu Kyi says Myanmar trying to protect all citizens in Rakhine
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday her government was doing its best to protect everyone in the strife-torn state of Rakhine, as the estimated number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh leapt by 18,000 in one day, to 164,000.
She did not refer specifically to the exodus of the Rohingya, sparked by insurgent attacks on August 25 and an army counteroffensive, but said her administration was trying its best to take care of all citizens.
Critics have accused Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the 1.1 million Rohingya, who have long complained of persecution and are seen in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 to be revoked.
“We have to take care of our citizens, we have to take care of everybody who is in our country, whether or not they are our citizens,” Suu Kyi said.
“Of course, our resources are not as complete and adequate as we would like them to be but, still, we try our best and we want to make sure that everyone is entitled to the protection of the law,” she said during a visit by Prime Narendra Modi to Yangon.
Suu Kyi on Tuesday blamed “terrorists” for “a huge iceberg of misinformation” on the strife in Rakhine but made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled.
Myanmar has said it is negotiating with China and Russia to ensure they block any UN censure over the crisis.
Suu Kyi said the situation in Rakhine has been difficult for many decades and so it was “a little unreasonable” to expect her administration, which has been in power for 18 months, to have resolved it already.