KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak led a protest rally Sunday against what he called a “genocide” of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority, as he urged Asian neighbors and the world to step up the pressure to stop the violence.

Najib said the rally at a stadium in suburban Kuala Lumpur will send a strong message to Aung San Suu Kyi’s government that “enough is enough.”

“U.N. please do something. The world cannot sit by and watch genocide taking place,” Najib said to loud cheers from thousands of Muslims, including Rohingya refugees. “The world cannot say it is not our problem. It is our problem,” he said.

The plight of Rohingya in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar has galvanized Muslims in Southeast Asia and beyond. Denied citizenship although they have lived in Myanmar for generations, Rohingya have faced persecution that exploded in intercommunal violence in Rakhine state in 2012 that left hundreds dead and forced more than 100,000 into squalid camps.

The violence has again flared up as Myanmar’s military launched attacks on Rohingya villages following deadly strikes by unknown assailants on police posts along the border with Bangladesh in October.

The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Russel, said that the escalation of violence risks inciting jihadi extremism in Myanmar and Bangladesh and called on neighboring countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, to resist the urge to stage protests that could further stir religious passions.

Najib said the persecution of the Rohingya is an insult on Islam. He said he had asked Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to stage a similar rally in Jakarta to put the pressure on Myanmar, because he said the charter of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to which all three countries belong, ensures the protection of human rights.

The Malaysian government-led protest marks a departure from the long-standing policy of non-interference by ASEAN members in each other’s affairs.

“I will not close my eyes and shut my mouth. We must defend them (Rohingya) not just because they are of the same faith but they are humans, their lives have values,” Najib said.

Some critics accuse Najib, who is grappling with a financial scandal, of using the rally to win the support of his country’s Muslim Malays ahead of general elections due in 2018, which may be called earlier.

In a strongly worded statement Saturday, Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry said there were some 56,000 Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. It said it has an obligation to halt the “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya and ensure security and stability in the region.

Malaysia has also summoned the Myanmar ambassador over the issue, and withdrew from two scheduled friendly football matches against Myanmar this month. Hundreds also protested outside the Myanmar Embassy last week.</s>Malaysia’s premier has called on the global community to help stop the “genocide” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, slamming the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for her inaction on the bloodletting against the minority community.

Jahangir Mohammad, director of the Center for Muslims Affairs, believes the terrible things that are happening to Rohingyas in Myanmar have finally shocked the Muslim world into action.

“The situation in Myanmar and the persecution of the Rohingyas has been going on for years and finally under pressure from Muslim populations in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and elsewhere, the governments of those countries appear to have taken notice and seem to be making noises,” the analyst told Press TV in an interview on Sunday.

He also criticized the international community for absolutely doing nothing about this genocide, adding that the Muslim world needs to take a practical step to stop it.

He went on to say the Muslim world needs to press the United Nations for war crimes charges to be made against the military junta in Myanmar and those who are responsible for these atrocities.

Mohammad further argued genocide of Rohingyas is due to an “extreme religious ideology” that has taken place in Myanmar, which intends to cleanse Muslims and create a pure Buddhist state.

“It is clear that this is not just a politically motivated genocide. The Rohingyas do not pose a threat in anyway; the Muslims there do not pose a threat to the state. What we have is the rise of Buddhist terrorism and extremism. They want to create a pure state; that is their goal and it seems to have widespread support both within military and amongst the politicians and the society at large,” he said.

Government-allied Buddhist extremists have been waging communal violence in the Rakhine state, where the Rohingyas are concentrated, since 2012. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes as a result.</s>A Muslim woman wears a mask of Myanmar's Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi during a rally against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims, outside the Embassy of Myanmar in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Nov. 25, 2016.

WASHINGTON — It's a scene straight out of Myanmar's dark past: a military offensive waged beyond world view that forces ethnic minority villagers from the smoldering ruins of their homes.

The U.S. government, a key sponsor of Myanmar's democratic transition, says a security crackdown that has displaced tens of thousands Rohingya Muslims and left an unknown number dead risks radicalizing a downtrodden people and stoking religious tensions in Southeast Asia.

The military moved in after armed attacks by unknown assailants on police posts along the border with Bangladesh in October. The attacks in Rakhine State were a possible sign that a small number of Rohingya were starting to fight back against persecution by majority Buddhists who view them as illegal immigrants although many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Russel, is critical of the military's heavy-handed approach and says the escalation of violence risks inciting jihadist extremism in the country also known as Burma. He is also calling on neighboring countries, such as Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, to resist the urge to stage protests that could further stir religious passions.

Assistant Secretary of State Russel told The Associated Press that, "if mishandled, Rakhine State could be infected and infested by jihadism which already plagues neighboring Bangladesh and other countries."

The plight of the Rohingya, once characterized by the U.N. as the world's most friendless people, has attracted the attention of Muslim extremists since a spike in intercommunal violence in Rakhine in 2012 that left hundreds dead and forced more than 100,000 into squalid camps.

The Somali-born student who launched a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University this week reportedly protested on his Facebook page about the killing of minority Muslims in Myanmar. And last weekend, Indonesian authorities arrested two militants who were allegedly planning to attack the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta.

It has also raised hackles in the political mainstream. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, facing domestic pressure over an investment fund scandal, is reportedly planning to attend a protest in his religiously moderate country this weekend condemning the military operation in Myanmar.

Daniel Sullivan at the advocacy group Refugees International said increasing numbers of Rohingya are fleeing across the land border to Bangladesh, and the spike in violence could set off another exodus by sea.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled by rickety boats in recent years to countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, but those routes have been blocked since a crisis in 2015 when thousands were stranded at sea.

The U.S. and other nations have called for an independent investigation into the latest violence in Rakhine. Estimates of the death toll range between dozens and several hundred. Human Rights Watch said Nov. 21 that satellite imagery showed at least 1,250 buildings have been destroyed.

With journalists barred from the affected area, it's been near-impossible to substantiate reports of rapes and killings by Myanmar soldiers — the kind of conduct that has long blighted the military's reputation in ethnic conflicts.

Adama Dieng, U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, said this week that if reports of excessive use of force in Rakhine were true, "the lives of thousands of people are at risk."

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was appointed by Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in August to find ways to help resolve the communal tensions. On a fact-finding visit Friday, he said that security operations must not impede humanitarian access.

That's been a repeated demand from the international community, including the United States, but it's made little impact.

The U.N. World Food Program said Friday that since Oct. 9 it has been able to deliver food or cash to only 20,000 of the 152,000 people who usually receive assistance, and to about 7,000 newly-displaced people.

The Obama administration has diminished leverage. It was instrumental in ending the former pariah state's diplomatic isolation as it shifted from five decades of military rule but the last U.S. sanctions were lifted in October.

The military's crackdown in Rakhine has also exposed the limits of Suu Kyi's power. The Nobel laureate's party won elections a year ago, but the military still controls key levers of government power, including access to sensitive border regions.

Human rights activists who once lionized Suu Kyi now criticize her for failing to defend the stateless Rohingya, but Russel defended her.

"We all should have confidence in her judgment and not fall prey to the idea that she does not get it and she does not care. She does get it, and she does care," he said.

Associated Press writer Michael Astor at the United Nations contributed to this report.</s>Muslim-Majority Malaysia has been increasingly critical of Myanmar's handling of violence and allegations of state abuses in northern Rakhine state, which has driven hundreds of ethnic Rohingya to flee across the borders to Bangladesh.

It described the violence as "ethnic cleansing" on Saturday.

Najib called on the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to intervene.

"The world cannot just sit by and watch genocide taking place," he told the crowd.

Najib's attendance came despite warnings from Myanmar that Malaysia risked violating the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) principle of non-interference in other members' internal affairs.

In response, Najib said ASEAN, which agreed to declare itself a single community last year, had also pledged in its charter to uphold basic human rights.

He also accused Myanmar leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi of inaction, saying that she had declared the Rohingya issue off-limits during bilateral discussions.

"How can this be? We should be allowed to discuss everything," he said.

The gathering, organized by Najib's ruling United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, attracted around 10,000 people, mostly Rohingya.

Malaysia summoned Myanmar's ambassador last week to express concern over the crackdown on Rohingya. It also canceled the national soccer team's friendly under-22 matches with Myanmar in protest.

Rohingya Society in Malaysia president Faisal Islam Muhammad Kassim said he appreciated Malaysia's efforts to find a solution to the crisis.

"We want the Malaysian government to (send a) message to the Muslim world and the Western countries, to pressure the Myanmar government to solve this Rohingya issue," he said.

The violence in Myanmar is the most serious bloodshed in Rakhine since communal clashes in 2012 that killed hundreds.

Persecution and poverty led thousands of Rohingya to flee Myanmar following the violence between Buddhists and Muslims there four years ago. Many of them were smuggled or trafficked to neighboring countries, mostly to Thailand and Malaysia.

Najib, who has been buffeted by graft allegations he denies, vowed on Thursday to fight to the end for Malays and Islam, as he called on UMNO to prepare for elections that are "coming soon".</s>A protesters wears a headband with "Help Rohingya" on it during a demonstration. Pic: AP

IGNORING calls from Burma not to get involved in their “internal affairs, Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak was present at a rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to protest the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims.

The rally was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and the president and youth chief of Islamist political party Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). Local media reports about 7,000 people gathered at Titiwangsa Stadium to participate.

Slogans such as “Free the Rohingya” and “Rohingya needs your voice to end ethnic cleansing” during the rally. As reported by the Straits Times, Najib was quoted saying: “They warned me, but I don’t care, because I am here in my capacity as representative of the community and the people of Malaysia.

“Asean also protects basic human rights. Don’t read the charter selectively,” he added.

The Burmese government called on Malaysia not to take part in the rally, citing ASEAN principles saying “a member country does not interfere in other member countries’ internal affairs”.

SEE ALSO: Stay out of our internal affairs – Burma warns Malaysia

Deputy director general of the President’s office U Zaw Htay told the Myanmar Times that he believes Najib decided to join the protest in order to appease his countrymen.

But Najib said at the protest today that he would not turn a blind eye towards the plight of the Rohingyas “not just because they are of the same faith, but they are humans, their lives have value”, reports the Straits Times.</s>KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has led a protest rally against what he called a “genocide” of Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar.

Najib says Sunday’s rally at a stadium Kuala Lumpur in Muslim-majority Malaysia sends a strong message to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government that “enough is enough” as he vowed to fight for the rights of the Rohingya.

He said: “The world cannot stand by and watch genocide taking place.”

The plight of Rohingya in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar has galvanized Muslims in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Some critics accuse Najib, who is grappling with a financial scandal, of using the rally to win the support of the country’s Muslim Malays ahead of general elections due in 2018.</s>Myanmar has warned its ASEAN counterpart Malaysia to respect the principle of non-interference after the leader of the Muslim-majority nation reportedly agreed to attend a protest condemning the ongoing military operations in Rakhine State.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s office told AFP that the country’s 63-year-old leader would be taking part in the protest, which has yet to have a confirmed location.

“The major gathering on December 4 is to express our concern over the violence taking place on the Rohingya,” Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi was quoted as saying by the Malay Mail Online on November 29.

In response, deputy director general of the President’s Office U Zaw Htay said yesterday that the neighbouring country should respect sovereign affairs.

“According to ASEAN principles, a member country does not interfere in other member countries’ internal affairs. We have always followed and respected this principle. We hope that the Malaysian government will continue to follow it,” U Zaw Htay told The Myanmar Times.

He added that the protest appeared to be a calculated political decision to win the support of the Malaysian public and had little to do with Myanmar.

“We will call on the Malaysian ambassador regarding the protest and to ask if the Malaysian prime minister is participating. If so, we will monitor the event,” said U Zaw Htay.

The announcement by Mr Najib’s office follows a series of recent moves by Malaysia to dial up the rhetoric in response to violence in northern Rakhine State, where the Tatmadaw has been conducting a crackdown since October 9.

On November 25, the Malaysian cabinet discussed Rakhine State and issued a strongly worded statement condemning the escalation of violence “resulting in the loss of innocent lives and displacement of people”.

“Malaysia also calls on the government of Myanmar to take all the necessary actions to address the alleged ethnic cleansing in northern Rakhine State,” the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Last week, Malaysia summoned the Myanmar ambassador in Kuala Lumpur while around 500 people staged a protest outside Myanmar’s embassy.

Malaysia also abruptly pulled out of two scheduled football matches against Myanmar this week. The last-minute cancellation was announced on November 30 and cited the handling of the Rakhine State crisis as the reason Malaysia would not compete in the December 9 and 12 matches.

According to the Tatmadaw’s True News and Information Team, 69 people have been killed and hundreds of suspects have been rounded up in the Muslim-majority townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw since the military began sweeps to find suspects connected to a spate of lethal attacks on border-guard posts on October 9. The Myanmar government has repeatedly denied allegations of abuse and has said the situation on the ground is being carried out within the parameters of the rule of law. Journalists and outside observers have been restricted from accessing the military operation zones, making it impossible to independently verify information.

According to the UN refugee agency, as many as 10,000 Muslim residents of Rakhine State who self-identify as Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh over the past few weeks. The UN estimates that 30,000 people in northern Rakhine State have been displaced by the violence.

U Zaw Htay said that amid the public denunciations and protests in Malaysia, the government is concerned for the safety of Myanmar citizens living in the country. He advised them to keep in contact with the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

“Myanmar citizens should be careful and they should not go outside without companions,” he said.</s>FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2016, file photo, a Muslim woman wears a mask of Myanmar's Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi during a rally against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims, outside the Embassy of Myanmar in Jakarta, Indonesia. It’s a scene straight out of Myanmar’s dark past: a military offensive waged beyond world view that forces ethnic minority villagers from the smoldering ruins of their homes. The U.S. government, a key sponsor of Myanmar’s democratic transition, says a security crackdown that has displaced tens of thousands Rohingya Muslims and left an unknown number dead risks radicalizing a downtrodden people and stoking religious tensions in Southeast Asia. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a scene straight out of Myanmar's dark past: a military offensive waged beyond world view that forces ethnic minority villagers from the smoldering ruins of their homes.

The U.S. government, a key sponsor of Myanmar's democratic transition, says a security crackdown that has displaced tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims and left an unknown number dead risks radicalizing a downtrodden people and stoking religious tensions in Southeast Asia.

The military moved in after armed attacks by unknown assailants on police posts along the border with Bangladesh in October. The attacks in Rakhine State were a possible sign that a small number of Rohingya were starting to fight back against persecution by majority Buddhists who view them as illegal immigrants although many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Russel, is critical of the military's heavy-handed approach and says the escalation of violence risks inciting jihadist extremism in the country also known as Burma. He is also calling on neighboring countries, such as Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, to resist the urge to stage protests that could further stir religious passions.

Assistant Secretary of State Russel told The Associated Press that, "if mishandled, Rakhine State could be infected and infested by jihadism which already plagues neighboring Bangladesh and other countries."

The plight of the Rohingya, once characterized by the U.N. as the world's most friendless people, has attracted the attention of Muslim extremists since a spike in intercommunal violence in Rakhine in 2012 that left hundreds dead and forced more than 100,000 into squalid camps.

The Somali-born student who launched a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University this week reportedly protested on his Facebook page about the killing of minority Muslims in Myanmar. And last weekend, Indonesian authorities arrested two militants who were allegedly planning to attack the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta.

It has also raised hackles in the political mainstream. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, facing domestic pressure over an investment fund scandal, is reportedly planning to attend a protest in his religiously moderate country this weekend condemning the military operation in Myanmar.

Daniel Sullivan at the advocacy group Refugees International said increasing numbers of Rohingya are fleeing across the land border to Bangladesh, and the spike in violence could set off another exodus by sea.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled by rickety boats in recent years to countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, but those routes have been blocked since a crisis in 2015 when thousands were stranded at sea.

The U.S. and other nations have called for an independent investigation into the latest violence in Rakhine. Estimates of the death toll range between dozens and several hundred. Human Rights Watch said Nov. 21 that satellite imagery showed at least 1,250 buildings have been destroyed.

With journalists barred from the affected area, it's been near-impossible to substantiate reports of rapes and killings by Myanmar soldiers — the kind of conduct that has long blighted the military's reputation in ethnic conflicts.

Adama Dieng, U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, said this week that if reports of excessive use of force in Rakhine were true, "the lives of thousands of people are at risk."

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was appointed by Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in August to find ways to help resolve the communal tensions. On a fact-finding visit Friday, he said that security operations must not impede humanitarian access.

That's been a repeated demand from the international community, including the United States, but it's made little impact.

The U.N. World Food Program said Friday that since Oct. 9 it has been able to deliver food or cash to only 20,000 of the 152,000 people who usually receive assistance, and to about 7,000 newly-displaced people.

The Obama administration has diminished leverage. It was instrumental in ending the former pariah state's diplomatic isolation as it shifted from five decades of military rule but the last U.S. sanctions were lifted in October.

The military's crackdown in Rakhine has also exposed the limits of Suu Kyi's power. The Nobel laureate's party won elections a year ago, but the military still controls key levers of government power, including access to sensitive border regions. Human rights activists who once lionized Suu Kyi now criticize her for failing to defend the stateless Rohingya, but Russel defended her. "We all should have confidence in her judgment and not fall prey to the idea that she does not get it and she does not care. She does get it, and she does care," he said. Associated Press writer Michael Astor at the United Nations contributed to this report.</s>Matthew Smith is co-founder and CEO of Fortify Rights. Follow him on Twitter @matthewfsmith. The opinions expressed here are solely his.

(CNN) Four years ago, I was in Myanmar's Rakhine State soon after deadly violence erupted between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Rohingya Muslims. It was a horrendous scene. And it's happening again.

Back then, Buddhist civilians and state security forces unleashed coordinated attacks against Rohingya and other Muslims. I documented pre-dawn raids and cold-blooded massacres.

In a small village in Mrauk-U Township on October 23, 2012, 70 Rohingya were killed, including 28 children -- 13 under the age of 5. Children were hacked to death. Some were thrown into fires.

Entire villages were razed; smoke billowed from homes and mosques in 13 of 17 townships statewide and bodies were disposed in mass graves, none of which have been exhumed for forensic purposes. I personally documented four separate mass gravesites.

At the time, an unpublished United Nations investigation obtained by Al Jazeera's investigative unit, found more than 100 Rohingya women and girls were raped. The authorities then corralled more than 130,000 Rohingya into more than 40 squalid interment camps, where they remain confined today.

This all happened under former President Thein Sein, a longtime military general lauded by the West as a reformer.

Now Nobel-laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is State Counselor, the de facto head of state --and the same atrocities are happening again.

Meantime, the civilian government and military continue to block all access to affected areas. Pre-existing aid programs, which were keeping thousands of Rohingya alive, have been suspended for eight weeks.

According to the UN, the authorities are denying at least 130,000 men, women and children access to humanitarian aid -- food, nutrition and health care. Thirty thousand are likely displaced in the blackout zone. An estimated 3,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition.

Without urgent aid, they will likely die.

Nearly all of the international aid workers in Maungdaw Township have left as the government has not renewed their travel authorizations. Independent monitors and media are still barred.

Make no mistake: this is genocide talk. And it is happening with Aung San Suu Kyi's imprimatur.

The dominant narrative suggests Suu Kyi's hands are tied and that she has no control over the military. This is a half-truth.

By law, the military controls the ministries of Defense, Home Affairs and Border Affairs. These are instrumental ministries with respect to abuses in northern Rakhine State and Suu Kyi doesn't control them.

But in military lockstep, the State Counselor's office has flatly denied any abuses may have taken place since October 9. And she's since doubled down, accusing the international community of "always drumming up cause for bigger fires of resentment.

Her office has demanded apologies from the BBC and the UN's refugee agency after the latter alleged "ethnic cleansing" was taking place.

Moreover, Suu Kyi does control the ministries of Information, Foreign Affairs and others, and she could swiftly renew travel authorizations for aid workers. But she isn't.

No one in the country has as much moral authority to change public opinion and counteract hate speech as Suu Kyi.

So UN officials and governments are rightly sounding alarms.

But this is not enough.

Left to its own devices, Myanmar will continue to destroy this ethnic and religious minority. We can't let that happen.

What can be done

In his final days in office, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon should travel to Myanmar and personally ensure the authorities provide immediate and unfettered access to all populations in need in Rakhine State. Any failure to end this despicable aid blockade will result in significant loss of life -- indeed, it likely already has.

In addition, UN member states should push for a UN Commission of Inquiry into what is happening in Rakhine State.

In August, Aung San Suu Kyi appointed an "Advisory Commission" on Rakhine State, which is led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Fortify Rights welcomed the move, but Annan himself has said the commission does not intend to focus on human rights. It's unclear if that directive comes from him or the State Counselor, but regardless, for the Rohingya, it's a problem.

Annan is expected to address the press this afternoon following a three-day guided tour of Rakhine State. We don't expect him to address ongoing human rights violations, but he should. At this point, it's a moral imperative.

His commission isn't the only one expected to abandon human rights. Last week, Suu Kyi's government appointed yet another body to look into the situation in Rakhine State since since October 9. It has all the markings of a whitewash -- it's led by retired army general Myint Swe, a man formerly blacklisted by the US government -- and doesn't include a single Muslim commissioner.

Now is the time for independent UN-mandated Commission of Inquiry to address the totality of the human rights situation in Rakhine State, including grievances from the Rakhine Buddhist communities.

Such an investigation would provide much-needed credibility and could cooperate with Kofi Annan's team while also delving deep to establish the facts, identify perpetrators and make recommendations to end, once and for all, the cycle of atrocity crimes against Rohingya -- before it's too late.

Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be watching a possible genocide unfold. The international community must not.</s>In this Dec. 3, 2016 photo, members of Bangladesh Coast Guard walk down from a speedboat after patrolling in the Naf River to guard against Rohingya from Myanmar crossing over to Bangladesh in Teknaf, near Cox's Bazar, a southern coastal district about, 296 kilometers south of Dhaka, Bangladesh. | Photo Credit: AP

Dozens are missing and feared drowned after a boat packed with Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar and trying to reach Bangladesh sank in a border river Monday, reports and a Bangladeshi fisherman said.

Thousands of Rohingya, a stateless ethnic minority, have arrived in Bangladesh after an outbreak of violence in western Myanmar, where the military is alleged to have committed mass rape and murder and burned villages.

A Bangladeshi fisherman said he had rescued one woman who told him her “overcrowded” boat had sunk in the Naf river after it was chased by a Myanmar Army speedboat.

“We heard a woman's desperate cry for help in the morning while we were fishing in the Naf. We quickly paddled to the spot and saw she was fighting to stay afloat,” fisherman Suman Das told AFP by phone.

“The woman told us that their boat was overcrowded with Rohingya villagers who tried to cross the river to enter Bangladesh.”

The woman did not know what had happened to the others and Das could not say how many people were on the boat.

But the private UNB news agency, quoting a Bangladeshi village councillor, said there were at least 31 Rohingya on board.

A Rohingya source told AFP by phone that the bodies of 13 women and children, two of whom had bullet wounds, had washed ashore in his village on Myanmar's side of the Naf.

This could not be independently confirmed, however, and Bangladesh police and border guards said they were not aware of the disaster.

An estimated 30,000 Rohingya have been forced to leave their homes since a bloody October crackdown by the Myanmar army in Rakhine state, where many of them live.

At least 10,000 have arrived in Bangladesh, the United Nations said last week, although Bangladesh says it has prevented large numbers from entering.

Myanmar has denied allegations of abuse, but has also banned foreign journalists and independent investigators from accessing the area to investigate.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak leads a protest rally against the persecution of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority in the predominately Buddhist country, and calls on Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations to address the Rohingya's plight and end the violence. Myanmar's president's office said the rally is timed for Malaysian political purposes, and that Malaysia should respect the Association of Southeast Asian Nations's principle on sovereignty.