The country of Burma (Myanmar), faced with accusations of ethnic cleansingover its brutal campaign against Rohingya Muslims, is on the defensive.

The international community has ratcheted up its condemnation against the country’s military and its Nobel laureate leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for a crackdown which has sent an estimated 688,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border to Bangladesh.

In response, authorities have all but sealed off Rakhine state, where the alleged atrocities occurred. The United Nations’ human rights investigator, Yanghee Lee, has been barred from entering Burma, along with a three-person UN fact finding mission. Journalists and independent observers have been similarly blocked from accessing large areas of Rakhine. In December, two reporters for Reuters were arrested in Rangoon (Yangon) while reporting on the Rohingya crisis, and face 14 years in jail.

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