MYANMAR (BURMA) - SUU KYI ACCUSED OF MASSACRES

Myanmar military accused of killing dozens of fleeing Rohingya villagers

Bob Geldof has excoriated Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump as "autocrats [who] insult us as human beings" and described Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi as "one of the great ethnic cleansers of our planet".

 

Speaking at the One Young World summit in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, the activist and musician launched into a wide-ranging tirade, saying he was "fed up with this world" and "sick of these leaders".

 

"I am sick of Putin, I am sick of Xi Jinping, I am sick of Trump, I am sick of Erdogan," he told the summit of 1,400 young leaders from 196 countries. Also present were four Nobel peace laureates: Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian president, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, Yemeni journalist Tawakkol Karman and Bangladeshi entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus.

"I am sick that on this stage are some of the greatest people who have fought for justice and peace and equality in our world," he said, before invoking 1991 Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi without mentioning her name. "And one of their number in Myanmar insults them, insults them all, who took the greatest prize that humans can give to another and then becomes one of the great ethnic cleansers of our planet. This is a disgrace."

 

Geldof's attack is the latest in a string of criticisms levelled at the 72-year-old politician, who has come under intense international scrutiny for not speaking out against what the UN deems "ethnic cleansing" taking place in Rakhine state against the Rohingya minority.

Kate Hodal
The Guardian
Friday 6 October 2017