January 16, 2016

Rakhine Extremist Send Rohingya Man to Hospital after Failed Attempt to Murder

A Rakhine (Magh) extremist sent a Rohingya man to hospital after his failed attempt to murder him (the Rohingya) in Sittwe (Akyab) Township yesterday (i.e. January 15, 2016) morning, the local sources report.

The Rakhine extremist is identified to be ‘U Kyaw Bo (son of) U Hla Tun Phru, 39, from Rakhine hamlet of ‘Thae Chaung’ village tract. He trapped the Rohingya man after reportedly hiring him for plucking Coconuts from his ‘Coconut Farm.’

Meanwhile, a Rohingya man passer-by witnessed that he (i.e. the Rakhine extremist) along with a Rakhine extremist group was beating him up and attempting to kill the Rohingya man (hired as a labour). As soon as the man witnessed that, the extremist group leader, U Kyaw Bo, called up the village administrator, U Kyaw Win Swe (also known to be an extremist leader), and the commander of the Security Force (Hlun Htein) Battalion 36, Captain U Than Shwe (a staunch supporter of Rakhines); and sent the victim to the ‘Thakkay Pyin’ clinic. (Courtesy of Rohingya Vision TV)

Rakhine Refugees Await Return After Arakan Army Clashes

More than 250 people are waiting on the green light from the government to return to their villages after clashes between the Arakan Army and the military sent them fleeing from their homes at the end of last year.

Several days of fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army beginning on December 27, around 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Sittwe at the border between Kyauktaw and Mrauk U townships, left an unknown number of military personnel dead and more than 30 civilians missing.

The Tatmadaw has not released casualty figures but it is believed that at least five soldiers and an officer have been killed in the fighting. State-run media carried an obituary on December 31 for an officer who died in action.

A senior government official in Rakhine State told Frontier that troops had been deployed to Mount Yamchaung, where fighting broke out, to examine the situation on the ground and make a decision as to whether it was safe for the refugees to return. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)

Rakhine IDPs call for international aid

More than 300 civilians, all of whom are said to be ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, have fled to the safety of monasteries following fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army. A week of clashes on the fringes of Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U townships subsided on January 5, but more offensives are feared following the military’s warning last week that it intends to “eliminate” the ethnic armed group.

Camps have been set up in Kyi Yar Pyin village and Zaydi Taung village in Mrauk-U and also in Ywar Ma Pyin village in Kyauktaw township.

U Kyaw Kyaw San, who is managing the Kyi Yar Pyin monastery camp, told The Myanmar Times that international NGOs and United Nations agencies had not provided any aid as yet, but that they had come to assess the situation of the IDPs. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)

Manipur Deputy CM to Attend Business Conclave in Myanmar

Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam will attend a Regional Investment and Business Conclave to be held at Monywa in Sagaing Region of Myanmar on January 18-19.

The conclave, which will also discuss about the banking sector, is being jointly organised by Consulate General of India, Mandalay, Myanmar in association with the government of Sagaing Region and North East chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce, Guwahati, officials informed today.

The Reserve Bank of India discontinued the Indo-Myanmar barter trade from December 1, 2015 to switch over completely to normal trade. Under this system trading is done without exchanging of money. The RBI took the decision following improvement in banking presence in the border. (Courtesy of Eastern Mirror)

Myanmar Opposition Lawmaker Warned About Targeting Army-owned Businesses

The powerful speaker of Myanmar’s lower house of parliament on Friday chided a lawmaker from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party for targeting the long-ruling army’s involvement in key economic sectors during debate over a draft bill on national plans for the upcoming fiscal year.

Speaker Shwe Man interrupted NLD lawmaker Aung Moe Nyo as he discussed the military’s Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, Ltd. (UMEHL), an army-owned conglomerate that includes garment factories, copper mines in Mount Letpadaung in northern Myanmar’s Sagaing region, Myawaddy Bank, and the shipping firm Myanma Five Star Line, and suggested it only benefited military officers, not  rank-and-file soldiers.

“In my constituency, soldiers are extremely poor because they don’t have enough clothing and food,” he said. “It shouldn’t be that way. If high-ranking officers are excessively rich while ordinary soldiers are deprived, ...”

But Shwe Mann, a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), interrupted him and said: “Don’t use words that damage the dignity of the organization [army]. This should be the last warning.”

Aung Moe Nyo, however, continued his comments about the government army and its grip on the economy, strengthened over decades of unchallenged military rule. (Courtesy of RFA)

Twin Accidents Create Traffic Logjam on Muse Road

Two accidents in as many days along the road outside Muse have left the highway blocked for more than three days, bottlenecking the main border trade point between China and Burma, according to sources near the border.

Vehicle traffic has all but ground to a halt and drivers have been forced to sleep on the road, with only a trickle of four-wheel traffic and some motorcycles able to pass through.

“I have been here [in Muse] three nights already, and still cannot go back to Yangon [Rangoon] as there are no buses traveling,” a frequent traveler to Muse told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

The road has been blocked since Tuesday, when the first of the two traffic accidents took place, according to the source, who said he had to sleep two nights on the road to get to Muse from Rangoon. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)