Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar fight for survival in Bangladesh refugee camps
The UN has confirmed the refugee count is now estimated at 270,000, since Myanmar's military launched a brutal crackdown on Rohingya insurgents in late August.
Myanmar's Nobel Peace prize winning democracy figurehead and state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has been heavily criticised internationally for failing to openly acknowledge the Rohingyas' plight.
Desmond Tutu condemns Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Silence is too high a price'
The Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has called on Aung San Suu Kyi to end military-led operations against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, which have driven 270,000 refugees from the country in the past fortnight.
The 85-year old archbishop said the “unfolding horror” and “ethnic cleansing” in the country’s Rahkine region had forced him to speak out against the woman he admired and considered “a dearly beloved sister”.
Who are the Rohingya and what is happening in Myanmar?
Described as the world’s most persecuted people, 1.1 million Rohingya people live in Myanmar.
They live predominately in Rakhine state, where they have co-existed uneasily alongside Buddhists for decades.
Rohingya people say they are descendants of Muslims, perhaps Persian and Arab traders, who came to Myanmar generations ago.
Unlike the Buddhist community, they speak a language similar to the Bengali dialect of Chittagong in Bangladesh.
The Rohingya are reviled by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants and they suffer from systematic discrimination.
The Myanmar government treats them as stateless people, denying them citizenship.
Stringent restrictions have been placed on Rohingya people’s freedom of movement, access to medical assistance, education and other basic services.
Myanmar could be on the brink of genocide, UN expert says
The violence was sparked when Rohingya insurgents carried out coordinated attacks against police posts, killing 12 officers.
Retaliation from soldiers, the paramilitary Border Guard Police and Buddhist vigilantes has killed at least 370 people, according to the army's figure from almost a week ago.
But there are credible reports of 130 people massacred in a single village, including women and children.
"When they are being killed and forcibly transferred in a widespread or systematic manner, this could constitute ethnic cleansing and could amount to crimes against humanity," Adama Dieng, the UN special advisor for the prevention of genocide, said.
"In fact it can be the precursor to all the egregious crimes — and I mean genocide.
"We are not yet there, we cannot say we are facing a genocide, but it is time to take action."
"Burma" or "Myanmar"?
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