Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou has called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop the genocide of the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar in the first day of a historic court case in The Hague.

Mr. Tambadou, who leads the Gambia’s legal team, told the court in his opening statement today that Myanmar should end the genocide against the Rohingya people in Rakhine state.

“All that The Gambia asks is that you tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings.   

“To stop these acts of barbarity and brutality that have shocked and continue to shock our collective conscience. To stop this genocide of its own people.”

“This is very much a dispute between The Gambia and Myanmar. We seek to protect not only the rights of the Rohingya, but our own rights as a state party to the Genocide Convention, by holding Myanmar to its … obligations not to commit genocide, not to incite genocide, and to prevent and punish genocide.”

Myanmar has denied the genocide charge and its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in The Hague to “defend the national interest of Myanmar”.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, is expected to repeat denials of genocide and argue that military operations in question were a legitimate counterterrorism response to attacks by Rohingya militants.

Last month the Gambia submitted a case against Myanmar accusing it of violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

United Nations investigators have said Myanmar’s military campaign was executed with “genocidal intent”.

This week’s proceedings before a panel of 17 judges will not deal with the core allegation of genocide, but Gambia has requested a court order for Myanmar to halt any activity that may aggravate the dispute.

The tribunal has no enforcement powers, but its rulings are final and have significant legal weight.