Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi says misinformation fuelling Rohingya crisis

Yangon: Global outrage over Myanmar’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslims is being fuelled by “a huge iceberg of misinformation”, Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday, after calls for her government to end violence that has forced 1,46,000 to flee to Bangladesh.

Rohingya refugees have poured over the border with Bangladesh, fleeing a massive security sweep in western Rakhine state by Myanmar forces following a series of deadly ambushes by Rohingya militants on August 25.

Ms Suu Kyi’s government has faced international condemnation for the army’s response with refugees bringing with them renewed stories of murder, rape and burned villages at the hands of soldiers.

But in her first public comments since last month’s ambushes, she said sympathy for the Rohingya was being generated by “a huge iceberg of misinformation calculated to create a lot of problems between different communities and with the aim of promoting the interest of the terrorists”. She said her administration was “defending all the people” in Rakhine state.

The comments were made in a statement put out by her office following a call with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been particularly critical of Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya, dubbing it a “genocide”.