Bangkok: Some of the fiercest fighting in years has broken out between Myanmar's army and ethnic rebel groups as evidence mounts of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in a separate conflict in western Rakhine state.
A peace deal the country's State Counsellor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi made the cornerstone of her government after winning landmark elections 13 months ago is in tatters as Myanmar's army faces a newly formed rebel Northern Alliance of more than 17,000 fighters in north-eastern Shan State.
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Fighting has also escalated between the army and the Kachin Independence Army, one the country's strongest rebel groups in Kachin State.
Ms Suu Kyi, whose fledgling administration has almost no control over the military under a junta-era constitution, has called an unprecedented informal meeting of foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) amid growing alarm over Rakhine, where Rohingya militants allegedly attacked a police border post in October.
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The United Nations has described Myanmar's handling of the Rakhine crisis as "short-sighted, counterproductive and even callous" and warned the fallout from the surge in violence is spilling over into the wider region.
In a new report released on Monday, Amnesty International accused Myanmar security forces of unlawful killings, multiple rapes, arbitrary arrests and the burning down of houses in a campaign of violence against Rohingyas that it said may amount to crimes against humanity.
The organisation's director for South-east Asia and the Pacific, Rafendi Djamin, accused Ms Suu Kyi of failing "to live up to both her political and moral responsibility to try to stop and condemn what is unfolding in Rakhine State".
Amnesty said it based its findings on extensive interviews in Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh as well as analysis of satellite images and photographs.
![Sufia Begum, a Rohingya who recently crossed over to Bangladesh from Myanmar's Rakhine state.](/web/20161220191333im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/6/w/r/8/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gte1b9.png/1482157682821.jpg)
Human Rights Watch has published similar evidence.
"We are worried that the horrific tales of violations we have uncovered are just the tip of the iceberg," Mr Rafendi said.
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The International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned in a comprehensive report that Asia is facing the emergence of a new Muslim insurgency centred on Rahkine, following years of persecution of almost a million Rohingyas who have been living in Myanmar for generations but have been denied citizenship and other basic rights.
The ICG said the insurgent group refers to itself as Harakah al-Yaqin (Faith Movement, HaY) which is led by a committee of Rohingyas living in Saudi Arabia and commanded on the ground by Rohingyas with international training and experience in modern guerrilla tactics.
The insurgents benefit from the legitimacy of international and local fatwas in support of their cause and enjoy considerable sympathy and backing from Muslims in the northern part of Rakhine, including several hundred locally trained recruits, according to the ICG.
Some Myanmar-based reporters and civil society groups have questioned the ICG's report, pointing out that most of the Rohingyas targeted by the military were only armed with knives or ancient guns.
But other analysts say the army's ferocious response to the October police post attacks has spurred widespread sympathy for Rohingyas in the Muslim world.
Ms Suu Kyi's calling-together of ASEAN foreign ministers on Monday and Tuesday reflects concern within her government over mounting international criticism of the Rakhine violence, including from Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia.
More than 20,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Rakhine and crossed the border into Bangladesh in recent weeks, prompting concerns about a new wave of refugees across the region.
And the escalating clashes in Myanmar's border regions, where various ethnic minority groups have for years been seeking autonomy or independence, are reminiscent of the country's dark era of military dictatorship.
Anthony Davis, a Thailand-based security analyst and writer for IHS Jane's, said the latest upsurge of hostilities in Shan State is much more than just another season in a decades-old conflict.
With beginnings dating back to 2014, the Northern Alliance comprises the ethnic-Chinese Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the ethnic Palaung Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the Kachin Independence Army and the Arakan Army.
"In short, an alliance now fielding an estimated 17,000 to 18,000 troops and willing to launch frontal attacks on urban centres presents a critical challenge to already overstretched government forces," Mr Davis said.
The Shan State fighting has caused refugees to flee across the border into China, causing tensions with Beijing.
Diplomats say the surge in violence across the country is stoking concerns the military, which already controls key ministries and holds a quarter of all seats in parliament, will intervene further in Myanmar's politics, further sidelining the government.
The former ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party and 12 other parties last week demanded a meeting of the country's military-dominated National Defence and Security Council to discuss what they claimed were threats to the country's territorial sovereignty.