Indonesia is prepared to cooperate with the Myanmar government amid reports of continued violence against the Muslim Rohingya minority in troubled Rakhine state.

The government has conveyed that it is “ready and willing” to help Naypidyaw through inclusive dialogue, officials have said.

“Inclusiveness [in Rakhine] is a very important key,” said Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, who revealed that Indonesia had played a part in advocating for a better and more peaceful Rakhine state and Myanmar.

The efforts include capacity building that covers issues like good governance, democracy and human rights, as well as technical assistance to improve the welfare of Myanmar people.

Foreign Ministry representatives also met with the Myanmar ambassador on Monday morning to seek clarification on the situation in Rakhine.

More than 1,000 homes have been razed in Rohingya villages in northwest Myanmar during a military lockdown there, according to analysis of satellite images from Human Rights Watch (HRW) released on Monday, which fly in the face of government denials.

Troops poured into a strip of land along the Bangladesh border, an area largely home to the stateless Rohingya minority, since a series of coordinated and deadly attacks on police border posts last month.

Security forces have killed almost 70 people and arrested some 400 since the lockdown began six weeks ago, according to state media reports, but activists say the number could be far higher.

Presidential spokesman Zaw Htay played down the latest satellite images. “What we have seen on the ground is not that widespread,” he told AFP.

“Both the government and the military have strongly prohibited any human rights violations, especially against women and children,” he said.

Indonesia expressed hope that the new civilian government of Myanmar, led by Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, would do its best to dampen the effects of resurgent violence in the area, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said.

“We are following the developments very closely and of course we are concerned about [the situation] in Rakhine,” Arrmanatha told reporters on Monday. “But at the same time we also hope that [...] Myanmar will continue doing its utmost to maintain peace and stability.”

Indonesia is confident that Suu Kyi will remain committed to protecting human rights, on account of her past activism, which ultimately earned her the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I think she knows the situation very well, and the issue of violations of human rights is very close to her heart,” he said. “I am sure she is moving in a way that will respect human rights for all people in Myanmar.”

Suu Kyi’s administration faces one of its most critical challenges just seven months after it took power, as the satellite images allegedly show the extent of the violence brewing behind the curtain of the military lockdown.

Witnesses and activists have reported troops killing the long persecuted Rohingya, raping women and looting and burning their houses, but Naypidyaw rejects the allegations as part of a misinformation campaign planted by “terrorists”.

Independently verifying facts on the ground has been hampered with the government refusing to allow in international observers, but evidence of widespread destruction to villages is mounting.

HRW said on Monday that by using satellite imagery it had identified 820 more structures destroyed in five Rohingya villages between Nov. 10 and 18. In total, the rights group said 1,250 buildings had been destroyed during the military lockdown.

“Instead of responding with military-era style accusations and denials, the government should simply look at the facts,” said HRW’s Asia director Brad Adams.

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