The ongoing violence and persecution against Rohingya population in Rakhine State of Myanmar is considered by many as ethnic cleansing and this must stop, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at a press event in London on Thursday. His British counterpart Boris Johnson was also present. At the same time, the UK secretary said that it is the time for Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi to act to mitigate the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas.

“With respect to the horrors that we are witnessing occurring in Burma, I think it is a defining moment in many ways for this new emerging democracy, although it is a power-sharing arrangement. We all clearly understand that. And so we appreciate the difficult and complex situation Aung San Suu Kyi finds herself in,” said Tillerson.

And, he said, “I think it is important that the global community speak out in support of what we all know the expectation is towards the treatment of people, regardless of their ethnicity, and that we must – this violence must stop; this persecution must stop.”

“It’s been characterized by many as ethnic cleansing. That must stop,” he added.

UK foreign secretary Johnson said, “The tragedy that is unfolding and the gross abuse of the human rights of the Rohingya population, nobody should underestimate what is happening now.”

“370,000 Rohingya have fled or are estimated to have fled in desperation. That’s almost half the Rohingya population in Northern Rakhine,” he said.