Aung San Suu Kyi rejects genocide charges against Myanmar

Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday categorically rejected charges of the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority, which have been placed against Myanmar's military by West African nation of Gambia.

Speaking at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, the global human rights and democracy icon, said that the Rohingya conflict was a domestic matter for her country to resolve.

Myanmar is "dealing with an internal armed conflict, started by coordinated and comprehensive attacks" by militants, she told the ICJ, as cited by the Washington Post.

"If war crimes have been committed by members of Myanmar's defence services, they will be prosecuted through our military justice system, in accordance with Myanmar's constitution," she added.

The matter centers around the massive crackdown in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State in 2017 that forced over 700,000 Muslims to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The international community since then has accused Myanmar of perpetrating systematic abuses against the Muslim minority, including murder, rape, arson, and other atrocities.

The government has, however, vehemently denied the accusations and claimed that it has already punished its troops, who were proven to have committed abuses in Rakhine.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had arrived in the Hague yesterday, accompanied by U Kyaw Tint Swe, Minister of the State Counsellor's office, U Kyaw Tin, the Minister of International Cooperation, and other senior officials.

The Gambia filed the lawsuit against Myanmar at the ICJ on November 11 for violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention. The lawsuit seeks to ensure Myanmar's responsibility as a state for genocide committed against Muslims in northern Rakhine.

Most Myanmar people consider northern Rakhine Muslims illegal immigrants from Bangladesh although they have lived in the state for generations.