Suu Kyi takes election bid to Myanmar's strife-torn Rakhine

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi began her campaign in volatile Rakhine state Friday with a hundreds-strong security force, as she risks a rare brush with hostility in a region where Buddhist hardliners accuse her of sympathising with maligned local Muslims.

The opposition leader was whisked out of Thandwe airport in a convoy surrounded by supporters of her National League for Democracy (NLD) passing on its way around two dozen riot police gathered in the town.

Suu Kyi has mostly received a hero's welcome in her criss-crossing of the former junta-run nation in pursuit of victory in the landmark November 8 polls, but is braced for a mixed reception in western Rakhine.

"Security will be very tight. We are going to use more than 1,000 people for security. We are worried and taking precautions because we do not want any problem," Win Naing, chairman of Suu Kyi's NLD in Thandwe, told AFP earlier.

Concerned officials had "negotiated" in the region for a peaceful trip, he said, adding that many local people would like to "welcome her warmly".

Suu Kyi has opted to skirt state capital Sittwe and other more hair-trigger areas of Rakhine, which remains deeply scarred by two bouts of communal unrest between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims that erupted in 2012 and left more than 200 dead.

Most of the 140,000 people displaced as a result of the bloodshed and arson are Muslims. They remain trapped in miserable camps or have attempted to escape on rickety boats in a desperate exodus from Myanmar that has swelled in recent years.

While Suu Kyi has faced international disappointment at her reluctance to speak out in support of the minority Rohingya, she is viewed with suspicion among Rakhine hardliners who see her as supportive of Muslims.

During a recent interview with India Today the Nobel laureate defended her reticence, saying "flaming words of condemnation" were the wrong way to achieve reconciliation.

'Bit worried'

Tensions are spiking in the Buddhist-majority country as it heads towards the elections, which many hope will be the freest in generations for the former pariah state.

Suu Kyi has accused her opponents of using religion -- and the rise of a powerful nationalist monk-led movement -- as part of their political campaigns.

At Thandwe -- the gateway to Myanmar’s upscale nearby beach resorts -- dozens of supporters crowded the airport, many holding placards welcoming Suu Kyi or waving her party's flag, as the democracy icon was whisked away for her first rally.

"I am a little bit worried about her. But I think people will keep the situation calm," said 37-year-old supporter Nay Lin Oo, adding he was voting for the NLD because he wanted a "clean government".

The 70-year-old will begin the two-day Rakhine campaign with an afternoon rally at Taunggote, some 45 miles (70 kilometres) away from Thandwe and one of the sites of violence that triggered the 2012 unrest.

Periodic bouts of religious bloodshed have overshadowed Myanmar's reform efforts in recent years as it began to emerge from the grip of outright military rule under a quasi-civilian government, which came into power in 2011.

In a statement released Thursday commending Myanmar on signing a limited truce with several ethnic minority armies, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for "an open and peaceful electoral process".

He urged authorities and political parties to avoid any kind of intimidation or violence against individuals or groups based on their ethnic identity, religion or political views.