Suu Kyi refuses to defend Muslims in ethnic conflict
Democracy leader declines to take sides in violence between Buddhists and Muslims in conflict-torn state, saying careful analysis needed
Aung San Suu Kyi has declined to speak out on behalf of Rohingya Muslims and insisted she will not use "moral leadership" to back either side in deadly communal unrest in west Myanmar.
The Nobel laureate, who has caused disappointment among international supporters for her muted response to violence that has swept Rakhine state, said both Buddhist and Muslim communities were "displeased" that she had not taken their side.
More than 100,000 people have been displaced since June in two major outbreaks of violence in the state, where renewed clashes last month uprooted about 30,000 people.
Dozens have been killed on both sides and thousands of homes torched.
"I am urging tolerance, but I do not think one should use one's moral leadership, if you want to call it that, to promote a particular cause without really looking at the sources of the problems," Suu Kyi told the BBC on Saturday.
Speaking in the capital, Naypyidaw, after talks with European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, who has said the European Union is "deeply concerned" about the violence and its consequences for Myanmar's reforms, Suu Kyi said she could not speak out in favour of the stateless Rohingya.
