Trump urges 'strong, swift' UN action

US President Donald Trump has urged the UN Security Council to take "strong and swift action" to bring Myanmar's Rohingya crisis to an end, US Vice President Mike Pence said yesterday.

Speaking at a Security Council meeting on peacekeeping reform, Pence also called the violence there a threat to the region and beyond.

He accused the Myanmar military of responding to militant attacks on government outposts "with terrible savagery, burning villages, driving the Rohingya from their homes."

Pence repeated a US call for the Myanmar military to end the violence immediately and support diplomatic efforts for a long-term solution.

"President Trump and I also call on the Security Council of the United Nations to take strong and swift action to bring this crisis to an end and bring hope and help to the Rohingya people in their hour of need," Pence said.

His remarks were the strongest yet from the US government in response to the violence in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine that began last month and has forced 422,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh, fleeing a military offensive the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing.

Pence called the violence and the "historic exodus" of Rohingya, including tens of thousand of children, a "great tragedy."

The violence began on August 25 when Rohingya insurgents attacked about 30 police posts and an army camp, killing about 12 people.

Unless the violence was stopped, it would only become worse and "consume the region for generations to come and threaten the peace of us all," the vice president said.

"The images of the violence and its victims have shocked the American people and decent people all over the world," he said.