UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it is "an absolutely essential priority" to stop all violence against Burma's Rohingya Muslims, allow them to return to their homes, and grant them legal status.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Burma against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Government forces stood by and watched as sectarian violence erupted last month in western Burma and then opened fire on Muslim Rohingyas as they tried to save their burning homes, Human Rights Watch said today.