North Korea's Kim warns of 'grave' economic challenge

Yahoo – AFP, December 30, 2019

Kim said the time had come to bring about a "decisive turn" in North Korea's
economic development (AFP Photo/STR)

Seoul (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned top ruling party officials of the "grave situation" facing the nuclear-armed state's economy and called for urgent corrective measures.

His comments, reported Monday by state media, came on the second day of a key party meeting held ahead of a year-end deadline for Washington to shift its stance on stalled nuclear talks with Pyongyang.

Kim, who chaired the meeting, said the time had come to bring about a "decisive turn" in the North's economic development.

He presented the assembled officials with "tasks for urgently correcting the grave situation of the major industrial sectors of the national economy," the official KCNA news agency reported.

The North does not publish economic statistics of its own, leaving outside estimates as the only available figures for its financial performance.

Kim presented the assembled officials with 'tasks for urgently correcting the grave 

situation of the major industrial sectors of the national economy' (AFP Photo/STR)

In July, the South Korean central bank estimated that the North's sanctions-hit economy had shrunk by 4.1 percent in 2018 -- the largest contractions since the devastating famine of the 1990s.

Talks on denuclearising the Korean peninsula have been largely deadlocked since a second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi at the start of this year over what the North was willing to give in return for sanctions relief.

China and Russia -- the North's biggest economic partners -- have proposed the easing of UN sanctions imposed over the North's nuclear weapons programme, and Pyongyang has given Washington until the end of the year to offer fresh concessions.

The KCNA report indicated the plenary session of the party leadership was headed into a third day Monday -- marking the first time since 1990 that it has lasted more than two days.

"Pyongyang's decision to host the plenary event for multiple days illustrates how gravely it views internal and external situations," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute.

India's protests: why now?

Yahoo – AFP, Ammu KANNAMPILLY, December 28, 2019

The new citizenship law has sparked two weeks of protests across India (AFP
Photo/Manjunath Kiran)

New Delhi (AFP) - Mumbai-based copywriter Sarah Syed says she was long alarmed by the Hindu nationalist direction of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi but felt powerless to stop it -- until now.

Like many others taking part in the current wave of protests, the final straw was Modi's new citizenship law and then the images of students being tear-gassed when they demonstrated against it.

"It's not as if one didn't know that things were not right. But for many of us, politics was just too depressing to think about," said Syed, a Muslim married to a Catholic.

"Now though it feels criminal to sit out the protests and say nothing," the 27-year-old told AFP.

The law, which offers fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim nationals from three neighbouring countries, is the latest policy instituted by Modi's government that critics accuse of marginalising Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation.

During his nearly six years in power, Modi's party has renamed places with Islamic-origin names, rewritten history textbooks to diminish or discredit the role of Muslim leaders, and stripped the Muslim-dominated region of Kashmir of its special autonomy.

The new citizenship law offers fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim nationals from 

three of India's neighbouring countries (AFP Photo/NARINDER NANU)

Modi has insisted the legislation will have no impact on Indian Muslims, however his party's 2019 election pledge to conduct a nationwide survey to identify illegal immigrants has raised fears among Muslims of becoming stateless, with no fast-track naturalisation option available to them.

Mumbai-based lawyer Momin Musaddique, who has been providing free legal advice to people worried about the implications of the law, said years of pent-up anxiety among Muslims have finally found an outlet in the protests rippling across the country.

"People have been afraid for so long of this government's Hindu nationalist agenda that they now feel like they have nothing left to fear," he told AFP.

"Now that their very survival in India is under threat, they have no option but to protest," he added.

'We have woken up'

In addition to Muslims, the demonstrations have galvanised large sections of Indian society, from secular Hindus and members of other minorities to intellectuals and opposition politicians.

Historian Zoya Hasan of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University told AFP the protests represented "the biggest challenge to the Modi government in the last six years".

The unrest is unlikely to derail Modi's Hindu nationalist campaign, said one 

analyst (AFP Photo/Manjunath Kiran)

Several local governments in opposition-ruled states such as Kerala and West Bengal have said they will not conduct surveys for the national citizens' register, responding to the public mood and undermining the prime minister's authority.

Although the protests began as a fight against the citizenship law, many of the demonstrators are now seeking a rollback of the government's push to remake officially secular India as a Hindu nation, said Hasan.

Nevertheless, she added that the unrest was unlikely to derail Modi's Hindu nationalist campaign and risk alienating his base which propelled him to a landslide re-election victory in May.

"The government may take a step back as a result of the protests but they are not going to move away from their core agenda," Hasan said.

For first-time protester Syed, participating in the demonstrations left her with "goosebumps" as she described her elation at seeing people from different communities come together.

"I used to feel so helpless before, like there was nothing I could do to change the way things were in this country," she said.

"The government's strategy has been all smoke and mirrors", she said.

"Now we have woken up."

Indonesia mourns 15 years after Boxing Day tsunami

Yahoo – AFP, December 26, 2019

Nurhayati, 65 (R), who lost her 17-year-old daughter in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami
and is still traumatized, prays at a cemetery containing mass graves in Siron, in
Indonesia's Aceh province on December 26, 2019 (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Banda Aceh (Indonesia) (AFP) - Thousands of mourners flocked to mass graves Thursday in Indonesia's Aceh province to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters in history.

On a grassy field in Aceh Besar district where at least 47,000 victims were laid to rest, family members and relatives prayed, scattered flower petals and comforted each other.

Among them was Nurhayati who lost her youngest daughter in the disaster.

"I came here every year because I miss her so much, she was only 17, just started college," the 65-year-old told AFP, sobbing.

"It's been 15 years but even until now every time I see an ocean, even on TV, I shudder and feel like a big wave would be coming soon," she said.

Many people who lost loved ones in the disaster do not know where they were 

buried. Here, a woman walks past people praying at a cemetery containing mass 

graves in Siron, in Indonesia's Aceh province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Almost 170,000 were killed in Aceh province alone when a 9.1 magnitude undersea quake struck the predominantly Muslim province on December 26, 2004, triggering massive tsunami waves that also killed another 50,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, even as far as Somalia.

Some half a million people were left homeless by the catastrophe that destroyed much of the province.

Muhammad Ikramullah was only 13 when the tsunami hit, killing his parents and younger sibling. He spent years moving around, living with relatives and his parents' friends until he was able to provide for himself.

A cemetery in Ulee Lheue, Banda Aceh, contains mass graves of victims from the 

2004 tsunami which killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean -- 

most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

"I am still traumatised, I don't think I will ever forget what happened," the 28-year-old said.

The remains of his family have never been found, but like most people who visit the mass grave every year, Ikramullah only wanted to pray for his loved ones even though their bodies might not be buried there.

Years after the disaster, bodies are still being discovered. In 2018, the remains of dozens of people were found in a newly built housing complex.

Some have never found where their family members were buried.

Indonesian tsunami survivor Jony, 48 (R), and his daughter (L) pray at a cemetery 

containing mass graves in Siron, Aceh province, on the 15th anniversary of the disaster 
which killed 170,000 people in the province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

"I don't know where my mother was buried," Jony China told AFP.

"But I keep coming here because I have a feeling she was close," he said.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to it position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide.

Last year a tsunami triggered by a volcanic earthquake killed nearly 500 people in Banten province.

Related Articles:

As world honours the dead, Indonesia begins tsunami memorials

"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… Mass Human Death

The final one, dear Human, is the hardest one for my partner and the one we wish to leave you with in this channeling tonight. This is the one that my partner doesn't want to even have me talk about. It's the appropriateness of mass death. For you, built in to your very essence is the honor for life, and the sorrow when it passes. It's correct and appropriate that this is there, and never let it be tempered. But the wisdom of understanding is also needed to help you get past some challenges of the Human heart.

"Dear Kryon, was the tsunami really necessary?" Yes it was. Almost 200,000 Human Beings passed over. It's an event that for you is filled with horror, sorrow, emotion, and challenge. Back in 1989, we told you of those that might have to leave the earth en masse, and here it is. Yet even my partner [Lee] asks the questions, "Why the children? Why the poorest parts of the earth? Why the seeming inappropriateness of all this death?"

And I say to you the same thing I said with respect to Terri: Do you understand yet that death is often as precious as life on this planet of many energies and lessons? They are not gone! They're all here [speaking from Kryon's perspective]. They're having a great time! They're joyful! It seems like a moment ago they leaned into the wind of birth with us beside them. We said, "How would you like to participate in an event that will change the compassion factor of the planet so that energies can move forward and provide faster acceleration of vibratory shift? How would you like to help create peace on earth through a consciousness shift within Gaia itself? And they said, "Show us the way!"

Do you understand why we are in love with humanity... that you would love the earth and the Universe so much that you would go through these things? So much of what you see is horrible tragedy, yet you're looking at the heroes of humanity as they deliver a gift that will change the very fabric of Gaia through the compassion created as a wave of humanity responds to their plight.

They knew the potentials and they went through with it. Even the children knew, for they're old souls within their divinity. There was so much compassion created at that time, in that one week, the earth has never seen anything like it in your lifetime. Billions of Humans were involved with a compassion that instantly went to the core of the planet. It went into the earth and it's still there. It changed the actual energy of where you walk and it planted a seeds that will grow that will indeed emerge later in Israel, and those surrounding Israel.

And that's what it's about. Yet some of you didn't want to hear that, did you? But they're here, with me now... and with you as well. How could you fit them all in this room, you might ask? They can fit on the head of a pin! That's interdimensional talk. They can go home in your purse or your pocket! That's interdimensional talk, too. And they've got a message for you that we've given before, but you can't hear it enough: "We did our part - now you do yours, Lighthouse! For the ones who remain are the only ones who can manipulate the tools we have helped create."

When you go home tonight, you're not going to be in a survival situation - in a tent in a tribe with no lights or clean water, with no food. You're not going to be in sorrow or despair. Instead, you go home to a warm place with plenty of food and friendship and the love of family. That's why you're the Lighthouses, because you have time for it. You've got the intellect for it. You're not in survival mode, as is so much of humanity on the earth. You have the education for it and the intuition for it. Now, do you understand why there are so many Lighthworkers in the western world? It's because your culture has created a situation where there's abundance of these things, and it allows you to lead the way in changing the energy of earth, instead of having all your time spent just trying to survive. Does this help you understand the responsibility of what you have before you?

Strike the light and send it to the Sudanese. Strike light and send it to those dark places with governments where there's corruption. Strike the light and send it to the scientists and researchers who already have the cures for the more virulent diseases on the planet, but can't begin their work due to the barriers of certain leadership and their old ways. Strike the light and send it to Israel and Palestine and get on with this solution! This is why you're here, and this is the agreement you made when you arrived and selected the culture you live in.

Achievable in your lifetime, it is. Peace and compassion will prevail. You shall see. You shall see.

And so it is.

Kryon

Everyone welcome? Gay football fans prepare for Qatar

Yahoo – AFP, Gregory Walton, Dec 16, 2019

The head of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Nasser al-Khater says "any fan, of
any gender, orientation, religion, race (should) rest assured that Qatar is one of
the most safe countries in the world -- and they'll all be welcome here" (AFP Photo)

Doha (AFP) - World Cup 2022 host Qatar has given the clearest indication yet that LGBT fans will be welcome, engaging with gay supporters as it hosts the Club World Cup -- despite criminalising homosexuality.

Organisers of the 2022 soccer spectacle travelled to Britain in recent months to meet Liverpool fan clubs including the side's gay supporters' group, individuals briefed on the meeting have told AFP.

Paul Amann, founder of Liverpool's LGBT supporters' club Kop Outs, then undertook a fact-finding mission to Doha along with his husband in November at the invitation of the World Cup organisers.

"I'm very satisfied that their approach is to provide an 'everyone is welcome' ethos that does include respect, albeit through privacy," he told AFP. "I'm not sure if rainbow flags generally will ever be accepted 'in-country', but maybe in stadia."

Amman said he felt "paranoia is not needed as people will not pry into your personal business".

"There was clearly some apprehension, indeed my husband said on the eve of flying that he wished he had not agreed to go," the 50-year-old council worker wrote in a report for Kop Outs that he shared with AFP.

'Being gay is haram'

The Kop Outs boast 150 full members and thousands of followers on social media. It is unclear how many LGBT fans from Liverpool and the other six teams participating in the Club Cup will make the journey to the Gulf for the tournament.

Club chief executive Peter Moore said in November that Liverpool had "received a number of assurances" on the issue from Qatari authorities.

There are no openly gay or bisexual players in the English men's Premier League, 

but major clubs have implemented zero-tolerance policies for homophobia and 

embraced the "rainbow laces" campaign against discrimination (AFP Photo/Paul ELLIS)

There are no openly gay or bisexual players in the English men's Premier League, but major clubs have implemented zero-tolerance policies for homophobia and embraced the "rainbow laces" campaign against discrimination.

Openly LGBT players are well represented in the English women's game however, with former Lionesses captain, the defender Casey Stoney, the best known.

The chief executive of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Nasser al-Khater said in September that "any fan, of any gender, (sexual) orientation, religion, race (should) rest assured that Qatar is one of the most safe countries in the world -- and they'll all be welcome here".

However he stressed that "public displays of affection are frowned upon, it's not part of our culture -- but that goes across the board to everybody".

Amann said that "if people basically observe the no PDA advice, then I can't see them being necessarily identifiable".

Though there are no openly gay venues in Doha, a handful of bars are known to be more gay-friendly and attract a loyal clientele of airline staff, hospitality workers and other expatriates.

Web users do not face restrictions accessing gay dating apps like Grindr in Qatar, unlike other Gulf countries, although users rarely display identifiable pictures.

"We are living in a society where gay people are not recognised yet. Being gay is haram to their religion," said a gay barman from the Philippines living in the conservative Muslim country who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"I think Qatar is not ready for it yet."

He shared a commonly held fear that police monitor gay apps and periodically deport homosexuals -- although there is limited evidence for this.

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, with some gay visitors describing the country 

as "challenging" (AFP Photo/STR)

During a recent visit by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, three independent experts did however warn that at least one transgender person had been detained "until they changed their behaviour".

The experts, who are independent of the UN, also reported the detention of individuals because of crimes linked to their sexuality.

"No one should be detained because of who they love," said group member Elina Steinerte, a Latvian human rights expert.

'Police yourself'

A gay choreographer visiting Qatar from South Africa described the country as "challenging".

"The hardest thing is not being able to show any public displays of affection," said the man who also declined to be named.

"You don't quite realise how difficult it is to police yourself until you have to."

During the last World Cup in Russia, international anti-discrimination network FARE opened a match-screening area for gay and ethnic minority football fans in Moscow.

The LGBT-friendly venue opened despite queer activism being severely restricted in Russia under a 2013 "gay propaganda" law forbidding the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relationships" to minors.

Neither FIFA nor the Qatari Supreme Committee organisers have so far publicised any special measures for gay fans ahead of the World Cup.

Pavel Klymenko of FARE said "we do have in mind something similar (for 2022) but need to see what is possible".

"Qataris are good at engaging with people, assuring them all is fine -- like with the Liverpool LGBT group. But in reality the level of tolerance for these issues might be way lower than in Russia."

Experts quit Hong Kong police probe, in blow to government

Yahoo – AFP, December 11, 2019

The Hong Kong government has repeatedly rejected demands from protesters
for a fully independent inquiry into police behaviour during the protests (AFP
Photo/DALE DE LA REY)

An international panel of experts hired to advise Hong Kong on the police response to huge pro-democracy protests announced Wednesday they were quitting, saying the watchdog was not fit for purpose "in a society that values freedoms and rights".

The group's damning conclusion is a blow to Hong Kong's government, which has insisted its Independent Police Complaints Commission is capable of holding the force to account over snowballing claims of brutality.

"We ultimately concluded that a crucial shortfall was evident in the powers, capacity and independent investigative capability of IPCC," the experts said.

Critics have long charged the body lacks adequate powers, is stacked with pro-establishment figures and has been toothless when it comes to keeping the police in line.

The watchdog can only handle complaints forwarded by the police themselves and it cannot subpoena documents or compel witnesses to testify.

Such limitations, the expert panel said, do not "begin to meet the standards citizens of Hong Kong would likely require of a police watchdog operating in a society that values freedoms and rights".

Police detain protesters after they attempted to escape the campus of the
Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November (AFP Photo/ANTHONY WALLACE)

Protests have rocked Hong Kong for more than six months, with up to two million people taking to the streets, initially against a now-shelved extradition bill.

Latterly, one of the core demands of protesters -- alongside fully free elections -- has been an inquiry into the police, who have been left to battle increasingly violent black-clad activists and are now loathed by significant chunks of the deeply polarised population.

But both chief executive Carrie Lam and the police have repeatedly rejected those calls.

Pro-democracy lawmaker Tanya Chan described the resignation of the expert group as a "vote of no confidence" in the IPCC and the interim report it is expected to produce next year.

Political scientist Ma Ngok said the panel's decision confirmed Hong Kong people's doubts on the IPCC's ability to find the truth.

"The government's strategy of making the report independent by having a panel of overseas experts has failed," Ngok told AFP.

Police officers point their guns at protesters in Tseun Wan in Hong Kong 

in August (AFP Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

Public row

The panel was announced in September and was chaired by Sir Dennis O'Connor, who was tasked by the British government to write a report on the police after the 2011 London riots.

It included current or former police watchdog chiefs from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and a British specialist on crowd behaviour.

A month ago, a leaked statement from the group revealed they felt the police watchdog was not equipped to carry out a proper investigation, and suggested a fully independent inquiry would be better suited.

But their frank assessment was not welcomed by Anthony Neoh, the IPCC's head.

He gave an interview to a mainland Chinese media outlet rebuking the panel, saying they "do not understand Hong Kong's situation".

On Sunday, an estimated 800,000 people marched peacefully through the city's streets in a movement that has become a popular revolt against Beijing's authoritarian rule.

Police arrest a protester at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University 

in November (AFP Photo/DALE DE LA REY)

The last three weeks have seen a rare lull in the violence and vandalism after pro-democracy parties won a landslide in local council elections.

"Do not waste time, and please grab this golden opportunity to persuade Beijing... to support an independent commission of inquiry," lawmaker Chan added.

An end to violence is something Lam has insisted must be a precursor to meaningful dialogue.

But she has shown no sign she is willing to budge, leading to fears clashes could resume.

In her weekly press conference on Tuesday she dismissed protesters' demands once more as she announced plans to go to Beijing this weekend where she is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

China has publicly thrown its support behind both Lam and the city's police, even as their approval ratings take a hammering.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi rejects genocide claims at top UN court

Yahoo –AFP, Danny KEMP and Jan HENNOP, December 11, 2019

Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi defended Myanmar's treatment
of the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice (AFP Photo/Frank Van BEEK)

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi rejected allegations of genocide against Myanmar in the UN's top court Wednesday, despite admitting the army may have used excessive force against Rohingya Muslims.

Suu Kyi denied "misleading and incomplete" claims by The Gambia that a 2017 military operation had attempted to exterminate the Rohingya, in a rare address by a state leader to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Once hailed worldwide as a rights icon for her defiance of the same generals she is now defending, Suu Kyi also warned the Hague-based court that its involvement in the case risked "feeding the flames of extreme polarisation".

Nearly three-quarters of a million Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after the Myanmar military launched a huge offensive that it said was in response to attacks by local militants.

"Regrettably, The Gambia has placed before the court a misleading and incomplete factual picture of the situation in Rakhine state," said Suu Kyi, wearing traditional Burmese dress and flowers in her hair.

Timeline showing how Aung Sang Suu Kyi's international 

reputation has unravelled following the Rohingya crisis in 

Myanmar (AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

Brushing off international criticism, the 74-year-old civilian leader said Buddhist-majority Myanmar was dealing with an "internal armed conflict" and that troubles in the area go back centuries.

"Please bear in mind this complex situation and the challenge to sovereignty and security in our country," she said.

"Surely under the circumstances genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis."

Lawyers for Myanmar argued that to prove genocide, international law required concrete proof of the intention to destroy a race of people.

ICJ judges have only once before ruled that genocide was committed, in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia.

Flag-waving supporters have joined rallies in support of Suu Kyi in 

several Myanmar cities (AFP Photo/Sai Aung Main)

'Bluntly lying'

UN investigators last year concluded that Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya amounted to genocide.

The Gambia, a small west African state that is mainly Muslim, claims Myanmar breached the 1948 genocide convention and wants the court to take emergency measures to stop further violence.

It has the backing of the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Cooperation plus Canada and the Netherlands.

The case is being closely watched by the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya still in Bangladesh.

"Suu Kyi was our hope. But since she came out of imprisonment, she shattered it. How does she deny Myanmar army's atrocities?" Mohammad Yunus, Rohingya imam at the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp, told AFP after hearing Suu Kyi speak.

Robi Ullah, another Rohingya, said: "She is bluntly lying in front of the highest court. Such a shame!"

Aung San Suu Kyi said the case painted a "misleading and incomplete 

picture" of the situation in Rakhine state (AFP Photo/Koen Van WEEL)

In The Hague, former war crimes prosecutor Stephen Rapp told a panel discussion organised by pro-Rohingya activists "we see echoes of the Holocaust and Rwanda" in Myanmar's persecution of the minority group.

"This was a genocide... and I am profoundly disappointed that Aung San Suu Kyi presented these arguments," said Rapp, who was also a former US ambassador-at-large for global justice under the administration of former US president Barack Obama.

But Suu Kyi's decision to personally lead her country's case at the court has proved popular at home, where the Rohingya are widely regarded as illegal immigrants.

Around 250 pro-Myanmar protesters gathered in front of the ICJ on Wednesday, carrying placards with Aung San Suu Kyi's face reading "We stand with you".

"These allegations against Myanmar and Suu Kyi are rubbish," said Chomar Oosterhof, 53, a Burmese woman living in the Netherlands.

Flag-waving supporters joined rallies in support of Suu Kyi in several Myanmar cities on Tuesday. Huge billboards of Suu Kyi and three smiling generals have also appeared around the country.

Around 250 pro-Myanmar protesters gathered in front of the International 

Court of Justice on Wednesday (AFP Photo/Koen Van WEEL)

'No tolerance' for abuses

A day after sitting through hours of graphic accounts of violence read out by The Gambia's lawyers, Suu Kyi admitted there may have been civilian casualties including some killed when a helicopter opened fire.

But she argued these were an inevitable part of the conflict.

"It cannot be ruled out that disproportionate force was used by members of the defence services... or that they did not distinguish clearly enough between fighters and civilians," she said.

Myanmar was leading its own investigation and "if war crimes have been committed", then its justice system would deal with them, she added.

"There will be no tolerance of human rights violations in Myanmar," she added.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh watched a livefeed of Aung San Suu Kyi's 

appearance at the ICJ on Wednesday (AFP Photo/Munir UZ ZAMAN)

Aung San Suu Kyi was once mentioned in the same breath as Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, having won the Nobel Prize in 1991 for her resistance to Myanmar's junta, which ran the country for nearly half a century.

The military's rule was characterised by brutal civil conflicts, biting poverty and isolation.

After 15 years under house arrest, Suu Kyi was freed in 2010 and led her party to victory in elections in 2015.

But her defence of the same military that once kept her locked up has since caused international condemnation.

Myanmar meanwhile faces a number of legal challenges over the fate of the Rohingya, including a probe by the International Criminal Court -- a separate war crimes tribunal in The Hague -- and a lawsuit in Argentina personally mentioning Suu Kyi.

Rohingya call for Myanmar's Suu Kyi to acknowledge atrocities

Yahoo – AFP, Sam JAHAN, December 10, 2019

Dildar Begum, with her daughter, says Myanmar soldiers killed her husband and
two young sons (AFP Photo/Munir UZ ZAMAN)

From squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh, Rohingya who fled a brutal Myanmar military crackdown are calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to acknowledge the mass atrocities as she defends her country against genocide charges at the UN's top court.

The Nobel peace laureate arrived Tuesday at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to lead the defence against claims brought by Gambia that Myanmar's military tried to systematically wipe out the Muslim minority in 2017.

The violence sparked a mass exodus of some 740,000 Rohingya to refugee settlements in Bangladesh border towns, where survivors are still haunted by the rape and murder of loved ones by soldiers and vigilante mobs.

"Suu Kyi cannot deny anything. The international community must listen to our voice because we are the real victims," Sayed Ulla, a Rohingya leader, told AFP at one of the camps.

"I want to see the convicts go to the gallows. They killed us mercilessly. I won't get back my family," added widow Saida Khatun, who witnessed her parents, husband and three children being slaughtered.

"Only seeing them (perpetrators) being punished for their deeds will make me happy."

Rohingya children play at at Jamtola refugee camp in Ukhia. Nearly one million 

Rohingya live in squalid camps in Bangladesh after fleeing the Myanmar 

military crackdown (AFP Photo/MUNIR UZ ZAMAN)

Widow Dildar Begum told AFP her village of Tula Toli was razed and two of her children killed.

Revealing scars she said were caused by soldiers smashing her head with boots and rifle butts after raping her, Begum recalled how her husband and two sons, aged one and five, were hacked to pieces.

"I still can hear my sons' voices in my dreams cursing me as I failed to save them," the 35-year-old said, breaking down in tears.

UN investigators have concluded that the 2017 violence amounted to genocide, with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) estimating that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of the crackdown alone.

The case brought by the tiny west African nation of Gambia is the first international legal attempt to bring Myanmar to justice over the crisis.

Gambia, acting on behalf of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, on Tuesday will ask the ICJ to take emergency measures to halt Myanmar's "ongoing genocidal actions" against the Rohingya.

Rohingya fleeing the violence in Myanmar head into Bangladesh in this picture from 

October 17, 2017. Gambia has brought genocide charges at the ICJ over the military 

crackdown (AFP Photo/MUNIR UZ ZAMAN)

Myanmar's military has insisted its crackdown was needed to root out Rohingya militants who attacked border police posts in 2017.

Suu Kyi has kept silent over the plight of the minority and defended the same generals who once kept her under house arrest for 15 years.

The hearing comes amid growing impatience in Dhaka over the presence of the refugees, who now number nearly one million, after two failed attempts to voluntarily repatriate them back to Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Ahead of Suu Kyi's ICJ appearance, hundreds of refugees gathered at one of the camps on Tuesday morning, chanting "Gambia, Gambia" and raising their fists.

"We prayed and chanted slogans for Gambia for filing the case against Myanmar," one refugee, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP after the rally.

"We hope we'll get justice."