Myanmar's government says its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, will head a legal team it will send to the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands to contest a case of genocide filed against it by Gambia on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The announcement Wednesday night was posted on the Facebook page of the office of the state counsellor, a position Suu Kyi holds along with that of foreign minister.
Myanmar's military has been accused of carrying out mass rapes, killings and the torching of homes during a counterinsurgency campaign launched in western Myanmar in August 2017 after rebel attacks. The violence sent more than 700,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.
Myanmar has strongly denied carrying out organized human rights abuses.