UN Rights Chief Warns Myanmar Heading Toward Syria-like Civil War

GENEVA - The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michele Bachelet, warns Myanmar could be headed toward a bloody civil war like Syria unless the violence is brought under control. 

Bachelet is calling on all states with influence, especially Myanmar's neighbors, to apply concerted pressure on the ruling military junta to end its campaign of repression and slaughter of its people.  She said many of the grave human rights violations being committed by Myanmar's military might amount to crimes against humanity and must be stopped. Bachelet's spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, said the high commissioner fears a continuation of these crimes could tear the country apart and lead to a civil war.  "The high commissioner states that there are clear echoes of Syria in 2011," Shamdasani said. "There too, we saw peaceful protests met with unnecessary and clearly disproportionate force. The state's brutal, persistent repression of its own people led to some individuals taking up arms, followed by a downward and rapidly expanding spiral of violence all across the country."