Buddhists protest UN human rights envoy in Myanmar

SITTWE, Myanmar -- Buddhist demonstrators have protested the arrival of the UN human rights envoy to Myanmar for an information-gathering trip in troubled Rakhine state, where security forces have been accused of rights abuses against the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Less than 100 protesters from the state's ethnic Rakhine Buddhist community held signs Wednesday as Yanghee Lee passed in her car, calling her unfair and unwanted. Ms Lee has criticised the government's treatment of the Rohingya minority, the target of mob violence by some Rakhine extremists since an outburst of communal tension in 2012.

The army conducted aggressive sweeps through Rohingya villages last October after assailants presumed to be Rohingya attacked police outposts along the border with Bangladesh, killing nine officers and seizing weapons and ammunition.