UN calls on Suu Kyi to visit crisis-hit Rakhine state

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has faced growing international criticism for not stopping the military's campaign, which has pushed more than 20,000 Rohingya over the border to Bangladesh, bringing tales of mass rape, murder and arson. The crackdown was launched in response to deadly raids on police posts in October. Malaysia has accused the army of "genocide" -- charges Myanmar officials have vehemently denied. Suu Kyi has described the situation as "under control" and asked the international community to stop stoking the "fires of resentment". Fformer UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, centre, and commissioner Aye Lwin, right, of the multi-sector advisory commission meet with the Muslim community in Kyatyoepyin village in Maungdaw, located in Rakhine State near the Bangladesh border AFP  In a statement released in New York on Thursday, UN special adviser on Myanmar Vijay Nambiar appealed directly to the peace icon to intervene. "The adoption of a generally defensive rather than proactive approach to providing security to the local population, have caused frustration locally and disappointment internationally," he said. "I also appeal to Daw Suu to visit Maungdaw and Buthidaung and reassure the civilian population there that they will be protected," he added, referring to the locked down area in Rakhine. The bloodshed presents the biggest challenge to Suu Kyi since her party won Myanmar's first democratic elections in a generation last year. In this photograph taken on September 7, 2016, minority Muslim Rohingya children and elders gather during a meeting with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan at the Thet Kal Pyin displacement camp in Sittwe after the Rakhine State has been effectively split on religious grounds between Buddhists and Muslims since bouts of communal violence tore through the state in 2012, killing scores and forcing tens of thousands to flee AFPIt has galvanised Muslim nations around the region, with protesters decrying the latest crackdown as the culmination of years discrimination and abuse suffered by the stateless Rohingya. On Sunday Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak taunted Suu Kyi, who the former junta kept under house arrest for almost 20 years, before a crowd of some 5,000 protesters in Kuala Lumpur.