As Rohingya flee Myanmar, leader Suu Kyi skips UN meeting
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Facing global condemnation for weeks of violence that has driven minority Rohingya to flee — a crisis U.N. officials have described as “ethnic cleansing” — Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, pulled out of this month’s U.N. General Assembly meetings.
The president’s office said Wednesday that Suu Kyi would miss the assembly’s ministerial session, which opens Sept. 19 and runs through Sept. 25, to address domestic security issues.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the violence that has driven some 380,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims to flee to safety in neighbouring Bangladesh. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that ethnic cleansing was taking place against Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The term “ethnic cleansing” is defined as an effort to rid an area of an unwanted ethnic group — by displacement, deportation or even killing.