The Hague: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the case brought against her country at the World Court was "incomplete and misleading" as she began her defence to accusations of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority on Wednesday.

Gambia, a small West African country, has launched a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest court, alleging it has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi enters the court room prior to addressing judges of the International Court of Justice. Credit:AP

Leading Myanmar's defence herself at the court in The Hague, Suu Kyi, Myanmar's top political leader and a Nobel Peace prize laureate, acknowledged disproportionate force may have been used at times by the military, but said the conflict in the western Rakhine state was "complex and not easy to fathom".

"Gambia has placed an incomplete and misleading picture of the factual situation in Rakhine state in Myanmar," she said.