Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday visited restive Rakhine State for the first time since the latest wave of violence broke out there in late August, sparking an exodus of more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees.

Suu Kyi, accompanied by ministers responsible for home affairs, border affairs, immigration, and relief and resettlement, among others, arrived by plane in the state capital Sittwe and later proceeded by helicopter to Maungdaw in the northern part of the state.

(Myanmar State Counsellor Office)

From there she visited PannTawPyin village, which is populated by Rohingya.

Reporters who accompanied Suu Kyi said she told the villagers that she came to check the situation at firsthand before proceeding with projects aimed at rebuilding fractured communities, which will be implemented in consultation with them.

She is the head of "Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine," which was set up last month.

Suu Kyi also told them that all communities surely desire to live peacefully and thus they should make joint efforts to that end, including properly educating children.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has faced strong international criticism over the last three months for her failure to act decisively to protect Rohingya in Rakhine from brutalities of the security forces and to alleviate the humanitarian crisis there.

Her government also faces pressure to take back the over half-a-million refugees who have fled Myanmar since August and hundreds of thousands more who did so during previous waves of violence.

(Myanmar State Counsellor Office)

Until now, at least, Suu Kyi has avoided deeply involving herself in the crisis for fear of opposition from her support base in the predominantly Buddhist country.

In an address to diplomats on Sept. 19, she sought greater international understanding of her government's efforts to restore peace and stability in Rakhine and vowed no impunity for abusers of human rights there.

Myanmar authorities have said military operations there were aimed at restoring stability and eliminating the threat of "terrorism."

The crackdown was prompted by coordinated attacks on over two dozen security outposts in the strife-torn western state on Aug. 25 by militants calling themselves the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

Rohingya who have fled Rakhine since then have told of atrocities committed by security forces and villages being razed, leading U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein to remark weeks ago that the situation there appears to be "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

Suu Kyi has said her government is determined to implement the recommendations made recently by an advisory commission led by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, while it is also ready to start a process to facilitate the return of Rohingya "who have been verified as refugees from this country."

The government has refused to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country's many ethnic groups, instead considering them to be illegal migrants or their descendents.

Earlier this week, Myanmar blamed Bangladesh for delaying the start of a repatriation process, suggesting that the government in Dhaka could be stalling until it receives million dollars of international aid.

However, Bangladeshi media quoted Robert Watkins, the outgoing U.N. resident coordinator in Dhaka, as telling reporters Thursday that it is "very clear that Bangladesh has the clear interest in rapid and durable solution to the problem."

According to him, repatriation from Bangladesh and policy changes on the part of Myanmar's government and military are only part of the solution to the problems in Rakhine State.

Citing the "very deep-rooted antagonism" on the part of the state's majority Buddhist population toward the persecuted Muslim community, he said "that is unfortunately going to take a long time to address."

stead considering them to be illegal migrants or their descendents.