In early November, Zaw Lay and his family were hiding in the basement of a friend’s house in Yekhatchchaung GwaSone village, near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. Two Burmese military helicopters circled overhead, firing indiscriminately at the terrified villagers huddled below. “The helicopters [didn’t] see us but they are firing continuously,” he recently told me over the phone, from a forest enclave in Bangladesh where he now lives. “We don’t [dare] go outside the home, if the helicopter men see us they will kill us.” Once the helicopters stopped their strafing, Burmese soldiers on the ground began burning the village to the ground. There was chaos when Zaw Lay fled, and he learned only later that his elderly mother had been trapped inside a burning building. “My mom’s dead,” he told me.
Rohingya Muslims like Zaw Lay are a small minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. They are becoming smaller still, thanks to a brutal campaign initiated in mid-October by the Burmese military. The spark for the violence came on October 9, when a Rohingya militia attacked a police outpost in northern Rakhine province, killing nine officers and seizing weapons and equipment. The military’s harsh reprisal campaign, designed to retrieve every gun stolen during the initial raid, is believed to have killed hundreds of Rohingya, and sent around 25,000 more fleeing into Bangladesh in what Amnesty International has termed “collective punishment.” (Courtesy of newrepublic.com)
December 22, 2016
UN advisor fears Myanmar situation may get out of hand
A top United Nations official is warning that the ongoing violence in Myanmar's west is in danger of “getting out of hand", and is asking the country's leaders to be more assertive in resolving historic problems faced by the area's Muslim and Buddhist communities.
In an exclusive interview earlier this week, the UN secretary-general’s special advisor on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, told Anadolu Agency that deadly Oct. 9 attacks on police stations in Rakhine State were condemnable, but laid bare “a deep-seated malaise in the place itself”.
He outlined a rising desperation felt by Rohingya Muslims in the area, saying that the government hadn’t done enough to address the “anxiety and insecurity” they felt.
“For almost three years, there hasn’t been any major outbreak of violence in Rakhine, even though the 2012 events were a pointer,” Nambiar said, referring to inter-communal violence in Rakhine in which more than 100 people -- mostly Muslims -- died and over 100,000 were displaced. (Courtesy of thepeninsulaqatar.com)
In an exclusive interview earlier this week, the UN secretary-general’s special advisor on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, told Anadolu Agency that deadly Oct. 9 attacks on police stations in Rakhine State were condemnable, but laid bare “a deep-seated malaise in the place itself”.
He outlined a rising desperation felt by Rohingya Muslims in the area, saying that the government hadn’t done enough to address the “anxiety and insecurity” they felt.
“For almost three years, there hasn’t been any major outbreak of violence in Rakhine, even though the 2012 events were a pointer,” Nambiar said, referring to inter-communal violence in Rakhine in which more than 100 people -- mostly Muslims -- died and over 100,000 were displaced. (Courtesy of thepeninsulaqatar.com)
Asean MPs slam Suu Kyi’s Rakhine briefing as ‘political theater’
A collective of Asean lawmakers expressed disappointment yesterday over the lack of commitments made at the briefing for Asean foreign ministers on Rakhine State in Yangon on Monday, which was hosted by Myanmar Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi.
Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) called for a stronger regional response to human rights abuses in Rakhine State and urged member governments to comply with their obligations to protect human rights under the Asean Charter.
“Through continued inaction, Asean risks failing the people at its center. This meeting should have been an opportunity to take decisive action to protect vulnerable civilians and hold the Myanmar government and military accountable. Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, it seems it was largely an act of political theater,” said APHR chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian Parliament. (Courtesy of yangon.coconuts.co)
Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) called for a stronger regional response to human rights abuses in Rakhine State and urged member governments to comply with their obligations to protect human rights under the Asean Charter.
“Through continued inaction, Asean risks failing the people at its center. This meeting should have been an opportunity to take decisive action to protect vulnerable civilians and hold the Myanmar government and military accountable. Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, it seems it was largely an act of political theater,” said APHR chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian Parliament. (Courtesy of yangon.coconuts.co)
Kader: PM should help Rohingyas
Being a daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should help the Rohingyas, says Krishak Sramik Janata League’s president Kader Siddique.
“Bangladesh always supports the oppressed people and this is our culture,” Kader told reporters after meeting the president at Bangabhaban on Wednesday.
A 12-member team led by Kader met the president as a part of the president’s initiative to consult the country’s major political parties over reformation of the Election Commission.
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingyas as its citizens and dubs them ‘Bangali’ Rohingyas.(Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)
Myanmar says Rohingya rape and abuse allegations “made-up”, despite mounting evidence
One by one, seven Myanmar soldiers raped Yasmin in her home, as she stifled her screams for fear of being murdered.
Sixteen days ago, the military attacked Mukhtar’s village, and now the elderly man sits in a small hut nursing shotgun wounds to his thigh.
Two fingers on two-year-old Anwar’s tiny hand are fused together at the base, after he suffered burns when soldiers set houses on fire. (Courtesy of irinnews.org)
Tales of horror from new arrivals at Rohingya camp
According to the UNHCR, more than 27,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since the military crackdown began in Myanmar's Rakhine state after attacks on border posts on October 9.
Every day, new arrivals at the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar bring familiar horror stories of murder and rape from across the Naf River.
But Mohammed Shah Alam will not be able to tell his story.
Shah Alam, 45, suffered a bullet wound when he was attacked by the Myanmar Army on Sunday night. His cousin Fatema Khatun, 40, took him along to flee on a boat around 4am. (Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)
Malaysia calls for ASEAN to set up aid for Rohingya in Myanmar
Malaysia said on Monday the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar was a regional concern and called for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to coordinate humanitarian aid and investigate alleged atrocities committed against them.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman was speaking at a meeting of the 10-nation bloc in Yangon called by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi after weeks of reports that the army has killed, raped and arbitrarily arrested Rohingya civilians.
Myanmar has denied the accusations, saying many of the reports are fabricated, and it insists the strife in Rakhine state, where many Rohingya live, is an internal matter.
In addition to fending off diplomatic pressure over the crisis, the Myanmar government has also invited a handpicked media delegation to visit the affected region this week. (Courtesy of asahi.com)
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman was speaking at a meeting of the 10-nation bloc in Yangon called by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi after weeks of reports that the army has killed, raped and arbitrarily arrested Rohingya civilians.
Myanmar has denied the accusations, saying many of the reports are fabricated, and it insists the strife in Rakhine state, where many Rohingya live, is an internal matter.
In addition to fending off diplomatic pressure over the crisis, the Myanmar government has also invited a handpicked media delegation to visit the affected region this week. (Courtesy of asahi.com)
Hope Is Too Painful: The Untold Story Of Thousands Of Refugees Trapped In Thailand
Trapped in Mae La refugee camp, eight miles from the Myanmar border in northern Thailand, nearly 40,000 people have fled the world's longest running civil war. Behind them a toxic mix of religious and ethnic difference has fuelled a conflict with such horrors that experts have repeatedly said it is genocide.
Dudu Pho peered across the dark room in his well-built bamboo hut as he continued: "We always hope. But what we hoped for this year still hasn't happened."
There is little prospect those aspirations will be realised this year. Or next year. And that has been the case for the 30 years he has been here. (Courtesy of christiantoday.com)
Dudu Pho peered across the dark room in his well-built bamboo hut as he continued: "We always hope. But what we hoped for this year still hasn't happened."
There is little prospect those aspirations will be realised this year. Or next year. And that has been the case for the 30 years he has been here. (Courtesy of christiantoday.com)
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