Irish international pop star Bob Geldof described Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi as “the biggest perpetrators of ethnic cleansing” and sharply criticized several world leaders, including presidents of the United States, China, Turkey and Russia.
Geldof, who is also known for his political activism, spoke at the World Youth Congress in the Colombian capital of Bogota, where 1,400 young leaders from 196 countries are attending, attended by four Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Yemeni human rights activist Tawakul Kerman and Bangladeshi economist Mohammed Yunus.
Geldof’s attack on Aung San Suu Kyi is the latest in a series of criticisms of her Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her stance on the persecution and purge campaigns targeting her country’s Muslim minority of Muslims. About half a million of them have been forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Harsh conditions.
Before this criticism, the British city of Oxford stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of a human rights award, while British institutions themselves drew on the leader who was a symbol of the defense of human rights.
The Oxford City Council unanimously voted this week to withdraw the Freedom of the City Award from Myanmar’s leader, citing deep concerns about the treatment of Muslim Rohingya under its rule.
Earlier, the University of Oxford’s St. Huiz College removed from its entrance a painting depicting Aung San Suu Kyi. The Times newspaper said the college’s administration had replaced the leader of Myanmar, which holds the honorary fellowship of the college, with a Japanese flower board.
