Suu Kyi asks Myanmar leaders for extra troops to end unrest

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged the government to send more troops to western Myanmar to restore peace to a region gripped by violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

The Nobel laureate, who has been criticised for failing specifically to condemn the treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, called for an end to the unrest in Rakhine state that has left at least 180 people dead and 110,000 displaced since June.

"Everyone is responsible for respecting human rights, without discriminating between majority and minority, ethnicity and religion," she said in a statement on Wednesday.

The democracy champion said more security forces must be sent to bring "peace, stability and the rule of law" to Rakhine. The statement followed a meeting of the parliamentary committee on the Rule of Law and Stability, which Suu Kyi chairs.

It did not mention the Rohingya by name, but addressed the "concerns" of ethnic Rakhine.

The unrest pivots on the Rohingya's lack of legal status in Myanmar, where they are seen by the government as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.