Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi has denied that members of the Rohingya minority group have experienced ethnic cleansing. The remarks came in an interview with BBC correspondent Fergal Keane.

Fergal Keane: “Do you ever worry that you will be remembered as the champion of human rights, the Nobel laureate, who failed to stand up to ethnic cleansing in her own country?”

Aung San Suu Kyi: “No, because I don’t think there’s ethnic cleansing going on. I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what’s happening.”

Fergal Keane: “It’s what I think I saw there, I have to say.”

Amnesty International has accused the Burmese military of murdering, raping and torturing Rohingya civilians in an ongoing campaign the human rights group says may amount to crimes against humanity. At least 20,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee into Bangladesh to escape the violence.