Myanmar's military has ended a clearance operation in the country's troubled Rakhine state, government officials said, ending a four-month sweep that the United Nations said may amount to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.
The security operation had been under way since nine policemen were killed in attacks on security posts near the Bangladesh border on Oct 9. Almost 69,000 Rohingyas have since fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, according to UN estimates.
The violence has renewed international criticism that Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has done too little to help members of the Muslim minority. (Courtesy of straitstimes.com)
February 17, 2017
U.N. wants to negotiate with U.S., Canada to resettle Rohingya refugees
The United Nations' refugee agency has asked Bangladesh to allow it to negotiate with the United States, Canada and some European countries to resettle around 1,000 Rohingya Muslims living in the South Asian nation, a senior official at the agency said.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya live in Bangladesh after fleeing Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s, and their number has been swelled by an estimated 69,000 escaping an army crackdown in northern Rakhine State in recent months.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would push for resettlement of those most in need, despite growing resistance in some developed countries, particularly the United States under President Donald Trump, UNHCR's Bangladesh representative, Shinji Kubo, told Reuters on Thursday.
"UNHCR will continue to work with the authorities concerned, including in the United States," Kubo said. (Courtesy of reuters.com)
Tens of thousands of Rohingya live in Bangladesh after fleeing Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s, and their number has been swelled by an estimated 69,000 escaping an army crackdown in northern Rakhine State in recent months.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would push for resettlement of those most in need, despite growing resistance in some developed countries, particularly the United States under President Donald Trump, UNHCR's Bangladesh representative, Shinji Kubo, told Reuters on Thursday.
"UNHCR will continue to work with the authorities concerned, including in the United States," Kubo said. (Courtesy of reuters.com)
Filmmaker: Push for inquiry into Rohingya genocide
Malaysia should take the lead in getting the United Nations’ Human Rights Council to set up a Commission of Inquiry on the atrocities against the Rohingya, said investigative filmmaker Mahi Ramakrishnan.
She said Malaysia was in a perfect position to lead the initiative after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s strong stand on the issue.
She pointed out that no other leader in the region had urged the world to stop the genocide of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority.
“When the killing stops, the Rohingya will stop fleeing Myanmar,” said Mahi after the screening of her documentary Bodies for Sale about Rohingya refugees.
She said non-governmental and civil society organisations should also support this push for an inquiry on crimes committed by Myanmar’s army. (Courtesy of thestar.com.my)
She said Malaysia was in a perfect position to lead the initiative after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s strong stand on the issue.
She pointed out that no other leader in the region had urged the world to stop the genocide of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority.
“When the killing stops, the Rohingya will stop fleeing Myanmar,” said Mahi after the screening of her documentary Bodies for Sale about Rohingya refugees.
She said non-governmental and civil society organisations should also support this push for an inquiry on crimes committed by Myanmar’s army. (Courtesy of thestar.com.my)
February 16, 2017
Retired Myanmar Army Officer Ordered Prominent Lawyer’s Murder, Government Says
A retired military officer allegedly masterminded the killing last month of a prominent Muslim rights attorney and ruling-party advisor in what the Myanmar government has called a politically motivated “terrorist act,” the President’s Office said Wednesday.
A statement issued by the office of President Htin Kyaw said Aung Win Khaing, a former army lieutenant colonel who retired voluntarily from the military in 2014, orchestrated the assassination of Ko Ni on Jan. 29.
Police and the military are on the lookout for Aung Win Khaing, who is on the run, and other possible conspirators, the statement said.
Aung Win Khaing is the brother of Aung Win Zaw, who was arrested on Jan. 30 in Kayin state in connection with the murder. (Courtesy of rfa.org)
A statement issued by the office of President Htin Kyaw said Aung Win Khaing, a former army lieutenant colonel who retired voluntarily from the military in 2014, orchestrated the assassination of Ko Ni on Jan. 29.
Police and the military are on the lookout for Aung Win Khaing, who is on the run, and other possible conspirators, the statement said.
Aung Win Khaing is the brother of Aung Win Zaw, who was arrested on Jan. 30 in Kayin state in connection with the murder. (Courtesy of rfa.org)
Bringing Burma Back From the Brink
The rattle of gunfire awoke a Rohingya man on the morning of Oct. 9 in his hometown of Wa Peik, a dusty hamlet of Kyee Kan Pyin village in a remote corner of Burma’s Rakhine state. “We were very scared,” he told me on the Bangladesh border. “All we could hear was yelling and gunfire.”
Several hundred ethnic Rohingya men and boys had attacked the local police headquarters. Rohingya militants simultaneously targeted two other police posts in the state. In total they killed nine policemen and wounded five, according to the government.
The Burmese army responded with brutal efficiency, rolling into Wa Peik in six vehicles, weapons at the ready. “When the soldiers entered the village, they started shooting,” the man recalled. “I saw them shoot at people as they fled.” (Courtesy of wsj.com/)
Several hundred ethnic Rohingya men and boys had attacked the local police headquarters. Rohingya militants simultaneously targeted two other police posts in the state. In total they killed nine policemen and wounded five, according to the government.
The Burmese army responded with brutal efficiency, rolling into Wa Peik in six vehicles, weapons at the ready. “When the soldiers entered the village, they started shooting,” the man recalled. “I saw them shoot at people as they fled.” (Courtesy of wsj.com/)
Foreign minister: Myanmar has to resolve Rohingya crisis
The Rohingyas, who already entered Bangladesh, will be shifted to Thengar Char in Hatiya, after the completion of total infrastructural development there, AH Mahmood Ali told the media at the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, during a briefing on the prime minister’s upcoming visit to Germany.
“We will seek assistance from our partners to help ensure infrastructural development in Thengar Char,” the minister added.
Mahmood also binned the reports by foreign media on security menaces in Thengar Char, terming them baseless and contradictory.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to leave for Germany on Thursday to attend the 53rd Munich Security Conference. (Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)
“We will seek assistance from our partners to help ensure infrastructural development in Thengar Char,” the minister added.
Mahmood also binned the reports by foreign media on security menaces in Thengar Char, terming them baseless and contradictory.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to leave for Germany on Thursday to attend the 53rd Munich Security Conference. (Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)
February 15, 2017
Myanmar imposes death penalty on border post attacker
A court in western Myanmar has sentenced to death a man arrested for his part in an attack on a border guard post that triggered a crackdown by security forces on the country’s Muslim ethnic Rohingya minority.
The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that the Sittwe District Court sentenced a man named Uruma for murder for the Oct. 9 attack on an outpost on Rakhine state’s border with Bangladesh that killed one officer.
Attacks on two other outposts that same night killed eight other guards and resulted in the attackers seizing a cache of war weapons. The government responded with counterinsurgency operations in northern Rakhine that human rights groups charge has involved rapes, the burning of homes and the killings of possibly hundreds of civilians. The government denies the allegations, but has instituted an official investigation in the wake of a detailed report from the U.N.’s human rights agency alleging serious abuses by the security forces. (Courtesy of washingtonpost.com)
The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that the Sittwe District Court sentenced a man named Uruma for murder for the Oct. 9 attack on an outpost on Rakhine state’s border with Bangladesh that killed one officer.
Attacks on two other outposts that same night killed eight other guards and resulted in the attackers seizing a cache of war weapons. The government responded with counterinsurgency operations in northern Rakhine that human rights groups charge has involved rapes, the burning of homes and the killings of possibly hundreds of civilians. The government denies the allegations, but has instituted an official investigation in the wake of a detailed report from the U.N.’s human rights agency alleging serious abuses by the security forces. (Courtesy of washingtonpost.com)
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