UK's Hunt says pressed Suu Kyi on 'justice and accountability' for Rohingya

Myanmar must ensure there is "no hiding place" for those responsible for crimes against its Rohingya minority if it is to avoid a lasting stain on the country's reputation, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday.

Hunt told Reuters he pressed Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the importance of holding the armed forces accountable for any atrocities, adding that if that did not happen within the country other options should be considered, including referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"If there isn't accountability through domestic processes the international community will not let it rest at that," said Hunt in an interview at the end of a two-day visit to the former British colony previously known as Burma.

"We need to be absolutely clear that there can be no hiding place for anyone responsible for these kinds of atrocities."

Myanmar's main government spokesman Zaw Htay was unavailable for comment.

United Nations-mandated investigators have said Myanmar's military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with "genocidal intent" in an operation in Rakhine state, in the west of the country, that drove more than 700,000 refugees across the border to Bangladesh.

The investigators called for commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and five generals to be prosecuted for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Myanmar has rejected the UN findings as "one-sided". It says the military action, which followed militant attacks on security forces in August last year, was a legitimate counterinsurgency operation.

Myanmar has launched several domestic probes that have largely dismissed allegations made by Rohingya refugees. In July, Suu Kyi appointed a commission chaired by retired Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo to investigate the allegations of human rights violations.