Why Won't #Obama Speak Out for the #Rohingya?

Published on Monday, November 19, 2012 by Common Dreams
Why Won't Obama Speak Out for the Rohingya?
by Tom Andrews
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, meets with Myanmar's President Thein Sein at the Yangon Parliament building in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
Why is President Obama meeting with leaders in Burma who are systematically fomenting hatred and violence that has already claimed innocent lives, destroyed entire villages and displaced tens of thousands?

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, meets with Myanmar's President Thein Sein at the Yangon Parliament building in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
President Obama traveled to Burma to recognize progress that one of the most brutal regimes on the planet has made toward democracy. Now that modest improvements have been made or pledged by the regime, and Aung San Suu Kyi is free, the U.S. government has decided to lift the economic and diplomatic pressure that made reform in Burma possible.
That is bad news if you are part of an ethnic minority in Burma. And it is life threatening if you are a member of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Systematic hate speech and entreaties for the local population to isolate and attack the Rohingya Muslim minority is pervasive in western Burma. The Burmese military stand aside or actively participate in attacks against innocent men, women and children. More than one hundred people have already lost their lives, tens of thousands have lost their homes, and over one hundred thousand have been displaced.
What is the U.S. government doing about it? Sunday, President Obama became the first President to visit Burma. He is there to recognize and congratulate the military dominated government for making modest reforms toward democracy. As hundreds of thousands of Rohingya continue to live in fear, President Obama is congratulating a government that wants to ethnically cleanse every one of them from Burma.
Burma's President, Thein Sein-who Obama will be sitting down to dine with-has been actively fomenting hatred against the Rohingya community. He has gone so far to ask the United Nations to help him ethnically cleanse Burma by forcing 800,000 Rohingya people out of their home villages and into refugee camps or out of the country altogether!
I saw what violence and persecution looks like first hand in Burma when I snuck into Kachin State last May. I saw entire villages abandoned, its population driven into makeshift camps filled with desperate people without adequate food, shelter of medical care. I spoke with families whose loved ones had been tortured, raped, incarcerated or killed by Burmese troops. Without international pressure on the regime, I know what the Rohingya are experiencing will only continue to get worse.
An entire people are under attack not because of what they have done but because of who they are. Instead of traveling to Burma, President Obama should be leading the call for a United Nations observer mission to investigate the violence in Rakhine State, deter the escalation of the violence and hold the perpetrators accountable. The leading role that the Obama administration played in scaling back sanctions on Burma obligates the U.S. government to act urgently to hold the Burmese government to its responsibilities to protect its ethnic populations.
We've seen these warning signs before. The hateful rhetoric of Rakhine monks is reminiscent of the hateful propaganda directed at the Tutsi population and their sympathizers leading up to, and during the Rwandan genocide. While renewing calls for their expulsion from Burma, several Rakhine monks have urged the local population to sever all relations with the Rohingya, including trade and the provision of humanitarian aid and have called on Rakhines to expose Rohingya sympathizers as national traitors, potentially exposing them to violent attacks.
There is no word to describe the response from the United States and the international community other than inadequate. The conditions that led to two major outbreaks of mass killings in the last few months are worsening daily. Greater loss of life and displacement are a certainty without a change of course.
In a day and age in which technology affords us the ability to connect with people across the world, we can no longer claim ignorance to the fact that the Rohingya people are being slaughtered, displaced, and terrorized. When we look back on the books of history, will this be another example of when we failed to show up or showed up too late?

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Tom Andrews, a former Member of Congress from the first Congressional District of Maine, is President and Chief Executive Officer of United to End Genocide. Tom most recently served as National Director of Win Without War, a coalition of forty-two national membership organizations including the National Council of Churches, the NAACP, the National Organization of Women, the Sierra Club, and MoveOn.  He is also co-founder of New Security Action.

#ASEAN chief: #Rohingya issue could destabilize the region

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan urges the international community to take a more effective stance and faster pace in helping settle Myanmar’s Rohingya problem, since the conflict poses strategic and security challenges that could destabilize Southeast Asia.

“They are now under tremendous pressure, pain and suffering. If the international community, including ASEAN, are not able to relieve that pressure and pain, conceivably, [the 1.5 million of Rohingyas could become radicalized and the entire region could be destabilized, including the Malacca Straits,” Surin said in Jakarta on Monday.

If they became radicalized, he said, the area risked becoming a zone of violence that could damage cooperation in ASEAN and East Asia. “I think it has wider strategic and security implications.” 

He also saw potential dangers for the major sea-lane of the Malacca Straits. The area serves as the main shipping channel between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, linking major Asian economies such as India, China, Japan and South Korea.

Myanmar’s government said on Monday it had boosted security in the western state hit by ethnic unrest as the number of displaced rose to 28,000, most of whom were Muslims.

The latest violence between ethnic Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists, which began Oct. 21, killed at least 84 people and injured 129 more, according to Myanmar’s government. Human rights groups believe the true toll could be far higher.

When asked about concrete ways ASEAN could prevent a worsening of the situation, Surin urged ASEAN to engage in humanitarian efforts, as had been done when Myanmar was hit by cyclone Nargis in 2008. “I think ASEAN is in the position to repeat what we had done in cyclone Nargis, that was humanitarian engagement — relieve them from the suffering.”

He also noted that help and support to relieve people from poverty, dislocation, displacement, should be extended to all sides, the Rohingya and the Rakhine people. “Let’s see what we can do to relieve them from poverty, shortages of food, shelter and sanitation.”

Matters regarding security, political, human rights and democracy issues, Surin said, would be the work of the government in Myanmar and the relevant international agencies. 

Surin also underlined that the Rohingya problem was not a religious conflict between Muslim and Buddhist. “It is strategic and security issue. We have to be extremely careful.” 

Rakhine state spokesman Myo Thant said that security had been stepped up in the state, with additional police and soldiers deployed, but he declined to give details.

The UN Development Program’s resident representative director in Myanmar, Ashok Nigam, said the figure of 28,000 displaced people was likely to rise because some who had fled along the coast by boat had yet to be counted.

An estimated 27,300 of those displaced were Muslims, Nigam said, adding that the UN figure was based on statistics from local authorities.

Human Rights Watch has said that the Rohingyas have suffered the brunt of the latest violence.

Tensions have simmered in the region since clashes first broke out in June, displacing 75,000 people — also mostly Muslims.

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#Myanmar fighting kills 84, displaces at least 22,500

By the CNN Wire Staff

People have been displaced across Rahkine state in western Myanmar.

Some fled from the violence by boat

Hong Kong (CNN) -- The death toll from fighting between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar last week has risen to 84 and at least 22,500 people have been displaced by the sectarian violence, state media and the United Nations say.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Monday that 129 people were also injured during the violence, which erupted on October 21 and has cast a pall over recent reforms in the Asian nation.

However, the paper added that no new clashes had been reported since Sunday and the areas affected had returned to "normalcy."

Following a visit to five townships where the fighting took place, Ashok Nigam, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar, on Sunday said his team had seen "large-scale" destruction of houses and the displaced were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

The swath of arson, the group said, stretched over 35 acres and included houseboats and floating barges. It added that local police shot at Muslims trying to put out the fires.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the government in Myanmar has done little to address the root causes of the violence and the discriminatory treatment that many Rohingya face.

"Extremists in both communities have been empowered by a lack of accountability where people involved in sectarian violence haven't been bought to justice so it's a very, very bad situation and one that is getting worse," he told CNN.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority who say they have been persecuted by the Myanmar military during its decades of authoritarian rule. Myanmar doesn't recognize them as citizens.

Unrest between the Rohingya and majority Buddhists has tested President Thein Sein's administration, which is trying to seek reconciliation with Myanmar's different ethnic groups and move the country toward more democratic governance.

The government has sent extra security into the troubled region and declared a state of emergency. The president's office warned Thursday that "manipulators" behind the violence can expect to be found and prosecuted.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, speaking in Parliament on Friday, called for a greater security presence and urged authorities to investigate suspected human rights offenses.

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#Hague calls for end to 'terrible violence in #Burma'

Foreign Secretary William Hague calls for peace in Burma's Rakhine state, after the destruction of settlements occupied by Muslim Rohingyas following fierce fighting with Buddhists.

In a statement, Mr Hague said: "Our ambassador is in constant contact with the Burmese government.
"He spoke to the president’s office earlier today to express our grave concerns about recent developments and our readiness to assist at both a humanitarian and diplomatic level in the search for a sustainable solution to this long running issue."
It follows claims of intense fighting in the past week and satellite images from Human Rights Watch that show the widespread destruction of a predominantly Rohingya Muslim part of Kyaukpyu, one of several areas in Rakhine state.
This is where battles between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists threaten to derail the country's fragile democratic transition.
Members of the Muslim Rohingya community say that more than 100 Rohingya were killed on Tuesday and 440 houses burnt by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in a village called Yaing Thay, in the northern part of the state.
Local Rohingya have accused the police of participating in the violence and shooting members of their community. Speaking to Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News, Tun Khin from the Burmese Rohingya Oraganisation in the UK said the kiling amounts to "ethnic cleansing".

Read more from Channel 4 News' Asia Correspondent John Sparks who has been reporting on the Burma crisis since June

The allegations continue - community leaders claim 350 homes, two mosques and a madrassa were burnt in the village of Thayet Oat on 22 October and they say 200 Rohingya houses were burnt in a place called Aung Dine later that same day.
Although the claims have not been independently verified, if true the events would be the worst outbreak of violence since June when fighting left some 75,000 Rohingya and 5,000 Buddhists homeless.

Mr Hague said:
"The UK calls again on all parties to cease the violence and for the Burmese authorities to take all necessary measures to guarantee security in the region. We also call for supplies of humanitarian support to be able to reach all those who need it without delay.
"The UK is at the forefront of the international community's efforts to address the current crisis and to reach a sustainable settlement which respects the legitimate rights of all those who live in Rakhine.
"I have raised this issue with the Burmese foreign minister and continue to do so; we most recently discussed it when we met last month.
"I hope that we will soon see an end to this terrible violence and that peace will return to Rakhine state."

Death toll of #Myanmar western state's renewed riot rises to 84

YANGON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Death toll with week-long renewed riot in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine has risen to 84 and the number of the injured also jumped to 129 as of Oct. 27 from Oct. 21, official media reported Monday.

During the fresh riot, 2,950 houses, 14 religious buildings and eight rice mills were burnt down in arson fire.

The riot, which initially spread from Minbya to as many as nine areas covering Mrauk U, Kyauk Phyu, Myaebon, Yathedaung, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Yanbye and Thandwe has left more than 20,000 people homeless, local sources said.

The official sources also revealed that legal actions have been taken against 1,058 persons involved in the communal violence from June 8 to Oct. 26 undermining the stability of the Rakhine state.

According to the report, the renewed riot has been put under control on Oct. 27 and the situation there is returning to normalcy, thanks to immediate measures taken by Myanmar police force, the military, state authorities, Buddhist monks and community elders.

More security forces have been deployed to the conflicted areas with increased security measures, the report added..

During the early period of the incident in May-June, altogether 50 people had been killed, 54 people injured and over 61,462 people victimized. A total of 2,230 houses, 14 religious building were burnt down up to June 14, forcing the victims to take shelter at relief camps.

Rakhine state has been declared since June 10 a state of emergency along with imposition of dusk-to-dawn curfew in six prior townships -- Maungtaw, Buthidaung, Sittway, Thandwe, Kyaukphyu and Yanbye.

The curfew was extended to Kyauktaw on Aug. 8 and then to Minbya and Mrauk U on Oct. 22 bringing the total number of townships under curfew to nine so far. Enditem

Meanwhile, Myanmar President's Office issued a statement on Oct. 25 warning that manipulators behind recent Rakhine sectarian conflict will be exposed and legal action will be taken against them.

A series of bloody incidents, which took place in May-June, triggered deadly unrest and violence in the Rakhine state starting with Maungtaw township on June 8.

Myanmar government, on Aug. 17, formed a 27-member investigation commission, aimed at exposing the real cause of the conflict in the western Rakhine state in May-June that have undermined peace and stability and rule of law in the region.

Situation in Myanmar's riot-hit Rakhine state basically under control

YANGON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Situation in riot-hit townships in Myanmar's western Rakhine state has been basically under control with security measures reinforced, but arson fire broke out in some areas with no death, official sources said Saturday.

A total of 119 houses and one building in Thandwe, Pauktaw, Kyaukphyu and Yanbye townships were destroyed in arson fire, the sources said.Full story

Myanmar gov't warns manipulators behind Rakhine sectarian conflicts

YANGON, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar President's Office has issued a statement warning that manipulators behind recent Rakhine sectarian conflict will be exposed and legal action will be taken against them.

"There are persons and organizations who are conducting manipulation in the incidents in Rakhine state behind the scene," said the statement released Thursday. 

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'If we stayed, we would have been killed' #Rohingy #Brrma

Refugees accuse Burmese government of ignoring ethnic cleansing: 'If we stayed, we would have been killed'


Refugees accuse Burma's civilian government of standing by as dozens die in communal violence

When the fire truck arrived at his burning village in Burma's western Rakhine state late last Monday, local teacher Khin Maung Kyi thought help had finally come. Muslim villagers in Kyauk Pyu township had been battling the blaze for hours, after a petrol bomb attack by their Buddhist neighbours. But instead of dousing the flames with water, Khin Maung Kyi claims that the firemen sprayed the fire with petrol.

"The firemen threw petrol on the flames, as if it was water! The authorities are one-sided. We can never trust them," he said. Last Wednesday, the entire Muslim community in Kyauk Pyu decided to flee in their fishing boats, joining thousands of others trying to escape a new outbreak of communal violence between the majority Buddhist Rakhine population and the Muslim Rohingya.

"The first sign of trouble was when our Rakhine neighbours began to leave their homes. Then at 8pm [on Monday] we heard the ringing of a bell. Soon after, a car turned up full of Rakhine," said Khin Maung Kyi, 64. "They threw petrol bombs at our homes and then sped away. When we tried to put the fires out, the Rakhine attacked us with swords and spears."

Satellite images of Kyauk Pyu and its coastal surrounds, released by Human Rights Watch at the weekend, show the extent of the devastation. Where once there were houseboats and floating barges moored along a harbour town packed with houses, now there is charred desolation, with 811 homes and other structures destroyed.

"If we had stayed, we would have been killed," said Khin Maung Kyi. "This is like Bosnia. This is ethnic cleansing." The violence stems from an incident in May, when a Rakhine Buddhist woman was raped and killed, allegedly by three Muslim men.

A few days later, 10 Muslims were killed on a bus. In the violence that followed, around 100 people were killed, and 100,000 fled to camps in and around the state capital, Sittwe – the vast majority of them Muslim Rohingyas, an ethnic minority described by the United Nations as one of the most oppressed groups in the world. While tensions calmed for a few months, unrest flared again last week, with at least 67 people killed.

The violence in Rakhine state has placed the new civilian government in a difficult position, as it emerges from decades of dictatorship. There is widespread hatred in Burma of the Rohingya, who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. But accusations from abroad of ethnic cleansing are not what the government needs when it trying to attract foreign investment and diplomatic recognition. A recent report by Human Rights Watch accused the government of "both failing to intervene to stop sectarian violence and directly participating in abuses". Villagers fleeing the stricken areas say police have opened fire indiscriminately, injuring both Muslims and Buddhists.

"At first the army protected us," said Mohammed Salim, 31, who fled Pauk Taw township. "But the Nasaka border security force told us this is Rakhine land and we should leave. If anything happened, they couldn't protect us. They refused to take any responsibility for our safety."

A spokesman for Burma's President, Thein Sein, told the BBC at the weekend that "there have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burnt down in Rakhine state", and said police had been deployed to restore order. The government has in the past denied any abuses in the area, and said security forces act with "maximum restraint".

Buddhist residents of Rakhine also speak of atrocities against them. In the grounds of a Buddhist monastery in Sittwe, mother-of-three Ma May Than, 34, feeds balls of rice to her daughter. She fled Pauk Thaw and arrived here on Saturday. "The Muslims are buying and making diesel to set fire to our houses," she claimed. "They surrounded our village and tried to set it on fire. We were so afraid, so all the women and children from our village have come here. There's no way we can ever live together again."

While the inaccessibility of the worst-hit regions, and the long history of animosity between the communities, make the claims and counter claims difficult to verify, the scale of the exodus speaks of the horrors on the ground. UN and government officials said yesterday that 20,000 more people – mostly Muslims – had fled the latest violence. Some have set up makeshift shelters on the beaches, while other pack into already crowded refugee camps. Those who fled and made it ashore also allege that the authorities have prevented boatloads of Rohingya from landing on the coast near Sittwe. At least 20 boats from Kyauk Pyu were held offshore on Thursday. Villagers who had made it to land said two women had given birth on the boats and two people had died. Former residents of Pauk Taw said that a government ferry had rammed their fishing boats at sea, with dozens drowning. Officials at the ferry's jetty in Sittwe refused to answer questions about the incident.

The inhabitants from Number 3 and Number 4 village in Pauk Taw fled on Monday. "The violence began on 23 June, when the Rakhine set fire to our homes. The security forces intervened and fired at both sides. Two Rakhine were injured. But that didn't stop them," said Noor Nahar, 27. "They threw stones, bamboo and spears at our homes the whole night. We didn't dare to go outside."

So when violence flared again this month, the Muslims of Pauk Taw decided it was safer to leave, and set sail in their fishing boats with their families. They left just in time: the latest rumour around Sittwe is that their village is now up in flames as well.

The violence began in May, when a Rakhine woman was raped and killed, allegedly by Muslims
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#UN says 22,000 displaced in latest #Myanmar unrest

SITTWE, Myanmar — Victims of Myanmar's latest explosion of Muslim-Buddhist violence fled to already packed displacement camps along the country's western coast, with a top U.N. official saying the unrest has forced more than 22,000 people from their homes.

State television reported the casualty toll has risen to 84 dead and 129 injured over the past week in nine townships in Rakhine state. The figures have not been broken down by ethnic group, but New York-based Human Rights Watch has said Rohingya Muslims bore the brunt of the unrest and the true death toll may be far higher.

On Sunday, wooden boats carrying some refugees arrived outside the state capital, Sittwe. The people trudged to the Thechaung camp, already home to thousands of Rohingya who took refuge there after a previous wave of violence in June.

"I fled my hometown, Pauktaw, on Friday because there is no security at all," said 42-year-old fisherman Maung Myint, who arrived on a boat carrying 40 other people, including his wife and six children. "My house was burned to ashes and I have no money left."

Another Muslim refugee said she fled her village, Kyaukphyu, on Thursday after attackers set her home on fire.
"We don't feel safe," said 40-year-old Zainabi, a fish seller who left with her two sons, aged 12 and 14. "I wish the violence would stop so we can live peacefully."

Human Rights Watch released dramatic satellite imagery of Kyaukphyu on Saturday showing a vast, predominantly Rohingya swath of the village in ashes. The destruction included more than 800 buildings and floating barges.

There were no reports of new violence Sunday. It was unclear what sparked the latest clashes, but ill will between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state goes back decades and has its roots in a dispute over the Rohingya's origins. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are seen as foreign intruders who came from Bangladesh to steal scarce land.

Today, the Rohingya also face official discrimination, a policy encouraged by Myanmar's previous military regimes to enlist popular support among other groups. A 1984 law formally excluded them as one of the country's 135 ethnicities, meaning most are denied basic civil rights and are deprived of citizenship.

Neighboring Bangladesh, which also does not recognize the Rohingya as citizens, says thousands of Rohingya refugees have sought to flee there by boat. Its policy, however, is to refuse them entry.

Rights groups say Myanmar's failure to address the root causes of the crisis means the situation may worsen.

Over the weekend, Border Affairs Minister Lt. General Thein Htay traveled to the affected areas with the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, Ashok Nigam.

Nigam said 22,587 were displaced and they included both Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, but he gave no breakdown.

Speaking to The Associated Press on Sunday while visiting Thechaung camp, Nigam said getting aid to the new wave of displaced people will be a challenge as some fled on boats and others have sought refuge on isolated hilltops.

"The situation is certainly very grave and we are working with the government to provide urgent aid to these people," he said.

Some 4,600 homes were also destroyed, according to the U.N, which said it had begun distributing emergency food and shelter supplies to refugees.

The latest unrest pushes the total displaced to nearly 100,000 since the clashes in June, when at least 90 people died and 3,000 homes were destroyed. About 75,000 people, mostly Rohingya, have lived in refugee camps since then.

"It is critically important that the government ensures that the rule of law prevails, prevents any further spreading of this violence and continues to communicate strong messages of harmony," Nigam said in a statement later Sunday.

"The violence, fear and mistrust are contrary to the democratic transition and economic and social development that Myanmar is committed to," Nigam said. "It should not become an impediment to progress."

___

Associated Press writers Aye Aye Win in Yangon and Todd Pitman in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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#MYANMAR: #UN calls for urgent action on #Rakhine

Photo: Dsuniaga/FLickr

The UN is calling on all partners

BANGKOK, 25 October 2012 (IRIN) - The UN is calling for urgent action in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State as levels of communal violence worsen.

"The needs of the displaced people in Rakhine are urgent,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ashok Nigam told IRIN from Yangon. “Significantly more resources are needed to sustain the humanitarian efforts. I would urge all partners to help us meet these challenges in Rakhine State immediately."

The call comes amid a fresh wave of communal violence between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic (mainly Buddhist) Rakhine this week which has already left at least four people dead and over 1,000 homes burned.

According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar on 23 October, 531 houses in six villages in Minbya Township and 508 houses in two villages in Mrauk-U Township were burnt down. Many say the real number of casualties could be much higher.

The Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority of 800,000, unrecognized as citizens by the Burmese government, have long faced persecution and discrimination in Myanmar.

Ethnic and religious tensions have prompted thousands to flee, mostly to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Fresh violence

This week’s violence follows major troubles in June when more than 90,000 residents, mostly Rohingya Muslims, were displaced after the alleged rape and murder of a Rakhine woman by a group of Muslim men in May. At least 78 people were killed and more than 4,800 homes and buildings were destroyed in the May violence.

Currently some 75,000 are displaced in Rakhine. They are living in 40 camps and temporary locations in Sittwe (capital of Rakhine State) and Kyauktaw. Most are Rohingya in nine overcrowded camps in Sittwe, separated from the rest of the community due to security concerns.

Camp conditions are poor, with many not meeting international Sphere standards (best practice in food aid, nutrition, health, water and sanitation and emergency shelter provision), say aid workers on the ground.

There are indications that some displacement may also be taking place between villages. However, only a few affected villages can be reached at the moment, said the latest humanitarian bulletin from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Photo: Contributor/IRIN

Conditions inside the camps remain poor

Humanitarian partners are currently working with the authorities to identify individuals in need, and are doing their utmost to provide assistance.

More than 20 UN agencies and international NGOs are currently working in Sittwe. Food, non-food, health, education, water and sanitation are urgent needs, they say.

Humanitarian and development assistance programmes in the area were interrupted from June to September during the monsoon. The area sees the highest incidence of malnutrition and health problems - a critical issue that needs addressing beyond the needs of existing camps, say aid workers.

In late September, some partners, including the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency and some NGOs managed to resume some of their activities, but it is unclear how the latest violence will affect operations.

Residents describe the current situation as “fluid” with police deploying reinforcements in the townships of Minbya and Mrauk-U where curfews are in effect.

Humanitarian imperative

Aid workers have been issuing warnings: “It’s just going from bad to worse,” said one aid worker on the ground, who asked not to be identified. “I just don’t think people know what is happening here. The message is just not getting out.”

Under the Rakhine Response Plan - an inter-agency strategy launched in July to provide assistance for some 80,000 people affected by the crisis until the end of the year - just US$14.9 million of the $32.5 million requested has been disbursed or pledged.

Of this, $4.8 million came from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), set up in 2005 to provide more timely humanitarian assistance to those affected by natural disaster and armed conflict.

“I really don’t think donors know how serious the issue is… The reality of donors not doing enough is just making the suffering of these people worse. The humanitarian imperative to deliver life-saving assistance has never been greater. The time to act is now,” the aid worker said.

ds/cb

Top #US official to visit #Burma

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will visit Burma on Wednesday during a five-country trip to Asia in which he will meet with President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Deputy US Secretary of State William Burns. Photo: US gov

It will be the highest-level US official visit to the country since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited in December, became the first US secretary of state to visit in more than 50 years.

The U.S. has since rolled back sanctions in response to democratic reforms in the military-dominated country. 

In the latest step this week, President Barack Obama authorized U.S. support for international development banks to restart lending to Burma.

The legislation will allow the US to back international financial institutions that support Burma’s economic and social development.

The legislation, rushed through Congress last month, comes on the heels of the US lifting financial and other sanctions on Burma in an effort to support President Thein Sein’s move toward democracy after decades of military rule.

The move will allow international institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other groups to rapidly move into Burma to offer development loans to boost the economy and upgrade the country’s inadequate infrastructure. 

“Implementation of this law will provide the United States with the ability to shape the policies and activities of these institutions in a way that advances reform, good governance, transparency and accountability in Burma,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin.

Washington lifted sanctions on American investment in Burma in July, enabling a major US trade delegation to visit the country.

US businesses have began to show interest in investing in Burma as the country is even now considering its new foreign investment law, which is working its way through Parliament.

Before visiting Burma, Burns will travel to Japan and South Korea. He will also visit India.

New 'retaliatory' attacks on #Myanmar's #Rohingyas

Rohingya activists have alleged that Myanmar's Buddhist protesters have launched fresh attacks on Muslims in retaliation to last week's attacks by Muslims on Buddhist temples and houses in Bangladesh.

Nurul Islam, a Rohingya activist in Bangladesh, told DW that a number of Myanmar Buddhists took out a protest rally on Sunday against the attacks on Buddhist temples and houses in Bangladesh. He alleged that the protesters attacked a 400-year-old mosque and burnt hundreds of copies of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, and other religious texts.

"In the past few days, many Burmese Buddhists have launched a series of attacks on Muslims," Islam said. "They are posting derogatory texts and pictures about Islam on social networking websites. They seem to be retaliatory attacks.”

Last month, an outbreak of anti-Buddhist rioting in Bangladesh left at least four temples and dozens of homes gutted by fire. Muslims had taken to the streets to protest against an internet photo they said defamed Islam. At least 20 people were believed to have been injured in these riots. The rioters targeted the Bangladeshi town of Ramu and its adjourning villages, some 350 kilometers (216 miles) from the capital, Dhaka.

Deadly riots erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine state in June. Rohingya activists claim that more than 650 Rohingyas have so far been killed in these riots.

"After the violence broke out in Rakhine in June, the Buddhists started using social networking sites to organise attacks on Rohingyas," Aung Kyaw Oo, a member of the Rohingya community, told DW. "Now, after the attacks on Buddhists in Bangladesh, they have taken the anti-Rohingya campaign to a new height."

The prejudice

Bangladesh has started turning Rohingya away

Myanmar's Rohingyas live predominantly in the western state of Rakhine. They are not officially recognized by the Burmese government as an ethnic minority group, and for decades they have been subjected to discrimination and violence by the Buddhist majority.

Viewed by the United Nations and the US as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, many Rohingyas have fled to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh and India to escape persecution.

Despite the fact that Myanmar has embarked on a series of political and economic reforms, human rights organizations and activists say the situation of Myanmar's ethnic communities has not improved significantly.

Mark Farmaner, head of the Burma Campaign UK, says that anti-Muslim prejudice is not restricted to the Rohingyas, and that it is certainly on the rise.

"While I was in Myanmar just before the start of the crisis, I came across anti-Muslim prejudice everywhere. This prejudice is encouraged by the Burmese government, with ministers making derogatory remarks about Muslims publicly," said Farmaner.

But experts say it is difficult to get credible information out of the region. They say it is hard to tell the difference between rumors, propaganda and the truth.

Source

#OIC ignored by head of the state, #Burma blocks opening of office for Islamic body #OIC

My comments : 
TOWARDS A DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION IN BURMA. Burma is not going towards A Secular Democratic Country. Its Going Towards 65% Burmese Dominating Racist and Fundamental new type of overaggressive country. only one religion rights is only Theravada Buddhism. Only One Dharma kill other religion. #Karen and #Rohingya minority. demolishing. the chin and others will come like Formar #Yugoslavia. I can see a Slobodan #Milošević.        

Monks have voiced their anger at plans by the OIC for an office

Burma's president has blocked a global Islamic body from opening an office to help Muslims involved in recent communal violence in the west of Burma.

A statement on the president's website said such an office was not in accordance with the people's wishes.

Thousands of monks have joined protests against the Organisation of Islamic Conference's plans to open an office.

Tensions in western Rakhine state have been high after deadly clashes between Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists.

But the issue remains a highly sensitive one with many across the Buddhist-majority nation.

"We cannot accept any OIC office here," Oattamathara, a monk leading the Mandalay protest, told the AFP news agency.

A statement posted on the presidential website reflected this: "The government will not allow the opening of an OIC office as it is not in accordance with the desire of people."

The OIC told the BBC it had not yet been notified of the president's decision.

Rakhine clashes

The violence in Rakhine state began in late May when a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered by three Muslims. A mob later killed 10 Muslims in retaliation, though they were unconnected with the earlier incident.

Sectarian clashes spread across the state, with houses of both Buddhists and Muslims being burnt down. The attacks left many dead and forced thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.

There is long-standing tension between Rakhine people, who are Buddhist and make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims, many of whom are Rohingya.

Many Rakhine Buddhists have said that much of the violence in June was carried out against them by Rohingya groups. Rohingyas say they have been forced to flee because of the violence.

The Burmese authorities regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants.

In August Burma set up a commission to investigate the violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the west of the country, in which dozens died. Authorities earlier rejected a UN-led inquiry.

Source

#US urges #Myanmar, #Bangladesh on group's rights

WASHINGTON — The United States called Tuesday for Myanmar and Bangladesh to protect the rights of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group that has faced wide discrimination, but acknowledged a tough task ahead.

Violence that broke out in Myanmar's Rakhine state in June has left almost 90 people dead from the Rohingya and majority Buddhist community, and neighboring Bangladesh has barred new refugees from entering.

A team of four US officials traveled to the two countries last month to meet officials and civil society representatives as they assessed the conditions of the Rohingya, whom Myanmar does not consider to be citizens.

Kelly Clements, deputy assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said that she and her colleagues spoke to authorities in Myanmar about "a path to citizenship for those Rohingya with claims."

"Peace is possible in Rakhine state only through economic development, poverty alleviation and ensuring basic rights for residents," she told an event held by the Open Society Foundations and Refugees International.

The 800,000 Rohingya in Myanmar, also known as Burma, speak a dialect similar to one in Bangladesh and are seen by many Burmese as illegal immigrants.

Home to some 300,000 Rohingya, Bangladesh has barred foreign charities from assistance for fear that they would encourage a new influx of refugees.

Clements said that the United States has been a "steadfast" supporter of aid to Bangladesh and hoped that the country would assist Rohingya on its soil, most of whom are undocumented.

"We have urged the government of Bangladesh to register this population and improve their living conditions, as well as those of the Bangladeshi community that hosts them," she said.

But Clements, who has worked on the Rohingya issue for two decades, said she saw growing needs among the community with rising malnutrition rates and more parents pulling children from school to earn money.

"Sadly, solutions to this protracted displacement appear increasingly elusive," she said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the Rohingya mission as the United States seeks to encourage dramatic recent reforms in Myanmar, whose President Thein Sein has freed prisoners, eased censorship and reached out to ethnic rebels.

Opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent most of the past two decades under house arrest, has been elected to parliament and paid a landmark visit to Washington last month.

Plight of #stateless #Rohingyas hinges on #citizenship: #US official

The lack of citizenship must be addressed for any long-term solution to the distress in the Rohingya community to occur, a top US refugee official said on Tuesday.

Conditions are rough in Teknaf camp in Bangladesh. Movement of refugees is restricted and housing is in need of repair or renewal. Photo: UNHCR

Kelly Clements, a US deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, spoke to the Open Society Foundation and Refugees International in Washington, DC, on the Rohingya issue.

In a transcript of his talk, released on Wednesday, he said citizenship is a core concept that defines the relationship between a state and an individual – each has obligations to the other.

“Citizenship is often the gateway to a person’s ability to realize a range of human rights and basic services, including freedom of movement, freedom from discrimination, arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to vote, access to education, and property ownership,” he said.

The former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Earl Warren, described citizenship as “the right to have rights,” he said.

For this reason, stateless persons are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, including gender-based violence, trafficking in persons, and arbitrary arrest and detention, he said.

“Combating statelessness requires first that governments, civil society groups, and international, regional, and local organizations recognize the problem, its causes, and the suffering and indignities it inflicts on millions of people around the world,” he said, calling it an under-recognized issue.

He said the US is the single largest donor to the UN commission of refugees, contributing over $775 million to UNHCR’s work on protection, assistance and statelessness this year.

“The Rohingya’s ethnic identity and origin are highly disputed,” he said. “While some historical accounts note that they are indigenous to the kingdom of Arakan since the 9th century, which at times, also occupied southern parts of modern Bangladesh; others claim that Rohingya migrated to the region during British colonialism. This latter claim has consistently fueled anti-Rohingya sentiment, leading to periodic tension and violence against the Rohingya by the former military regime after Burma gained independence.”

He said approximately 800,000 stateless Rohingya live in a region that has experienced significant displacement and periodic violence over decades.

“Much needs to be done: to reduce tensions, to improve the humanitarian situation, and to work towards a sustainable and just solution for all those who have suffered from the conflict and longer-term deprivation of rights,” he said.

“Some of the tough issues to be addressed include lasting security and stability, freedom of movement for Rakhine and Rohingya, protection (and when I say protection, including the provision of physical security and basic rights), and unimpeded humanitarian access and assistance to meet basic immediate needs.”

He said that at the same time as the Burmese government works to address the underlying causes of ethnic conflict, “We believe a regional approach is necessary to address mixed flows of refugees and migrants by land and sea and ensure that those fleeing are treated humanely.”

He said, “Sadly, solutions to this protracted displacement appear increasingly elusive. I noticed a definite increase in tension and desperation since my last trip in 2011, and an escalation in humanitarian need. School enrollment is down as parents pull children from classes to become income earners, and malnutrition rates exceed emergency levels and continue to rise. Unfortunately, at the same time, organizations are facing greater obstacles to help ameliorate the situation.

“In our field visits to the official camps, refugees demonstrated for the right to nationality, highlighted human rights violations, and advocated for more services and education for their children. Outside the camps, the undocumented Rohingya population suffers even more without access to school, health care or decent shelter,” he said.

He said the US would continue to work to organize an effective plan to address the Rohingya issue involving Burma, Bangladesh and the international community.

Source 

No end in sight to the sufferings of 'the world's most persecuted minority' - Burma's #Rohingya Muslims

Nearly 75,000 of those made homeless during inter-communal conflict in June and transferred to temporary camps are living in conditions “worse than animals”, according to the Rohingya Human Rights Association in Bangkok

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There is no end in sight to the sufferings of what the UN has called “the world's most persecuted minority” - the Rohingya Muslims of Arakan state, in the far west of Burma.

Nearly 75,000 of those made homeless during inter-communal conflict in June and transferred to temporary camps are living in conditions “worse than animals”, according to the Rohingya Human Rights Association in Bangkok. In some of the camps 100 people are sharing a single latrine, and many are reportedly falling ill with diarrhoea and fever.

But the camp-dwellers may be the lucky ones: according to Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, hundreds of thousands more Rohingya in northern parts of Arakan state, where outsiders are not permitted to travel, are being deliberately bottled up in their homes by security forces and antagonistic locals. Meanwhile in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan state, fire broke out in the grounds of the centuries-old central mosque, allegedly started by the Muslim community’s enemies. The extent of the damage is disputed.

The ghost of General Ne Win still haunts the country he tyrannised for so long. Most of Burma’s 130-plus minorities have been brutalised at one time or another by the Burmese army during its half-century of domination, but the Rohingya is the only major one barred from citizenship in the Citizenship Law introduced in 1982.

For Ne Win, a Burman chauvinist who did everything he could to ensure that the majority community faced no serious challenges to its power, this was perhaps second best to expelling them en masse – the fate of 300,000 ethnic Indians settled, many for generations, in Rangoon and other cities, who were sent penniless to their “homes”. But the consequences of the Rohingya’s legal marginalisation continue to rumble on today: on 12 July Burma’s new strongman President Thein Sein, hailed in Washington in recent days as a courageous reformer, said he wanted the Rohingya removed. “We will send them away,” he said, “if any third country would accept them.”

The pogrom of Rohingyas in June, the killings and house burnings that drove 100,000 of them from their homes, caught the outside world on the hop, coinciding as it did with real breakthroughs in the country’s reform process. It occurred precisely as Aung San Suu Kyi started travelling for the first time since 1988, visiting Thailand, Norway, Britain and most recently the US, picking up medals and prizes awarded long ago for her humanitarian stand. Meanwhile the Potemkin-like parliament in Naypyidaw, mostly packed with military stooges elected in the grotesquely fixed polls of 2010, started behaving like a real legislative body, challenging the executive, holding vigorous debates. Democracy, it seemed, was beginning to find its feet.

Meanwhile a community whose roots in the country go back at least two centuries – the term “Rooinga” was first mentioned by a British historian in 1799 – and probably much further, was being targeted for the most cold-blooded attempt at ethnic cleansing since Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic bombarded downtown Sarajevo.

The uncomfortable fact is that these two phenomena – the flourishing of Burmese democracy and the brutal crackdown on a community long stigmatised as alien – are closely related.

In the by-elections held in Burma in April, Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won 43 of the 44 seats it contested. These were the first fair polls since the NLD won a landslide – ignored by the military – in 1990. The fact that they were relatively free and fair showed that President Thein Sein recognised that if Burma wished to continue to improve its ties with the rest of the world, it could not go on fixing elections as it had done in 2010.

His problem was that in April the party he leads, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the military’s proxy, was trounced everywhere it stood. If this result was repeated in the general elections in 2015, it would be swept into the dustbin of history. Somehow the USDP must tear the support of the masses from the grip of Ms Suu Kyi and her colleagues.

It has tried to do so in a way that is as ugly as it is effective: by appealing to the strong chauvinistic vein in the majority population, manufacturing (Rohingyas claim) a local atrocity – the rape and murder of a non-Rohingya girl – then orchestrating the vicious reaction. Thein Sein is now reaping the reward: crowds greeting him as a hero, monks demonstrating in Mandalay demanding the Rohingyas’ expulsion.

Aung San Suu Kyi – who was persuaded to enter politics by a Muslim poet, Maung Thaw Ka – knows that if she speaks out against the persecution of the Rohingya she risks alienating at a stroke the millions who love and support her. Thein Sein knows it too. Negotiating this conundrum and emerging with both the support of the Burmese millions and the respect of the world may be the biggest challenge she has yet faced.

Burmese Rohingya Group Issues Strong Condemnation Letter

Salem-News.com

Advocates say Burma's government is not taking any action intentionally.

Police stand in from of a mosque in Akyab, Arakan State, Myanmar. Courtesy: Facebook

(MILWAUKEE, WI) - We, the members of the Burmese Rohingya American Friendship Association (BRAFA) strongly condemn the burning of the 800 years old ancient Akyab central mosque (Jamei Masjid) on the date of October 07, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. in Akyab (Sittwe) by a group of Rakhine Buddhist extremist in the collaboration with the Burmese security forces- Hluntin and police.

On the basis of available authentic information by phone, the security forces blocked those Rohingya people who were approaching to extinguish the fire from nearby area the mosque and let loose the extremist Rakhine Buddhists to burn down even the other houses and guesthouse inside the compound of the central mosque.

Besides burning the central mosque in Akyab, about 3,000 Buddhist Rakhine extremist surrounded remaining the Rohingya villages Aung Mingala and Maueik to attack, killing and to destroy whole villages at any time according to the source from Akyab.

We hold the President Thein Sein of the Burmese Union Government is fully responsible for failure to restore peace and security in Akyab (Sittwe) and all affected areas in Arakan State even though the President Thein Sein promised in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to solve the problems of the Arakanese Rohingya people according to international norms.

The Burmese Government is not taking any action intentionally, whereas the Government was able to control the 1988 student led nationwide pro-democracy uprising, so, it is clear manifestation the involvement of Burmese security forces with Rakhine extremist group in the burning of historical Akyab central mosque and houses of Muslims in the daylight.

In this context, we, the members of the Burmese Rohingya American Friendship Association (BRAFA) strongly demand President Thein Sein of Burmese Government to stop all violence and burning of Muslim holy place (Mosque) and the houses of the Muslims of Arakan without any delay and also ask the Government for the establishment of peace and security in the affected areas of Arakan State-Burma.

Provided to Salem-News.com by
The Executive Committee
Burmese Rohingya American Friendship Association (BRAFA)
United States of America.

Rights Group Slams #China for Forcibly Returning Burma #Refugees

Human Rights Watch has sent a letter to China accusing it of violating international law by forcing thousands of Burmese to return to their conflict-torn homeland.
The group says Beijing recently returned at least 4,000 ethnic Kachins who had fled to China's Yunnan province. It said they were sent home in late August after the government “summarily declared” they were not refugees.
Tens of thousands of people have fled fighting in northern Burma since June 2011, when a 17-year cease-fire between the military and the Kachin Independence Army collapsed.
China has denied forcibly returning the Kachins, saying they voluntarily crossed the border when the fighting ended. But Human Rights Watch says the violence continues in Kachin state and that thousands more are being displaced.
The group's letter to the Chinese foreign ministry said the up to 10,000 Kachin refugees who have been allowed to enter China have not been provided humanitarian assistance and have been denied access to U.N. human rights officials.
Bill Frelick, Refugee Program Director at Human Rights Watch, said China is creating “its own refugee status determination process” rather than honoring international law on refugees.
Last week, the U.S. State Department also called on China to give temporary protection for Kachin refugees in Yunnan, saying they should only return home by their own choice when it is safe to do so.
Burma's government has reached cease-fire deals with several ethnic minority rebel groups in recent months. But negotiations with the Kachin have so far been unsuccessful.

Source

#SuuKyi, #Clinton Discuss Refugees

The Burmese opposition leader begins her US visit with a meeting with the top American diplomat.

RFA

Aung San Suu Kyi (l) speaks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (r) at the State Department in Washington, Sept. 18, 2012.

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi opened her visit to the United States with talks Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the welfare of Burmese refugees in America.

The 67-year-old Nobel laureate, who arrived on Monday for a nearly three-week visit, met with Clinton at her office in the State Department.

The top U.S. diplomat briefly spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi on the resettlement of Burmese refugees in the United States and the visitor's trip next week to Fort Wayne in Indiana state, home to a large number of Burmese.

There is "so much excitement and enthusiasm about the fact that you can actually come," Clinton told Aung San Suu Kyi, according to journalists and photographers who were allowed a couple of minutes to witness their meeting before they went into closed talks.

Aung San Suu Kyi said she had heard about Fort Wayne while tracking Burmese news when she was under house arrest for nearly two decades during the rule of the previous military junta.

Since 2006, about 55,000 Burmese refugees, most whom were living in Thailand, have been resettled in the United States. Many of them had fled nearly five decades of harsh military rule and fighting between government military troops and armed ethnic groups. 

Aung San Suu Kyi will take part later Tuesday in a Washington forum organized by the Asia Society on the ongoing transition in Burma and the challenges facing the country. Clinton will make introductory remarks at the event.

Landmark trip

Clinton made a landmark trip to Burma nine months ago in the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state in more than 50 years to begin reconciliation with the nominally civilian government of President Thein Sein who took over in March last year.

The two countries then named ambassadors to each other's capitals, formalizing diplomatic relations for the first time since Washington withdrew its ambassador in 1990.

The United States also eased investment and financial restrictions to reciprocate nascent reforms in Burma but said it will maintain an import ban amid continuing human rights and ethnic conflict concerns.

The Obama administration is believed to be considering easing a ban on imports from Burma into the U.S., one of the main remaining sanctions imposed on the country. The U.S. Congress last month renewed the ban for another year.
Aung San Suu Kyi may also meet President Barack Obama during her trip, which is her first to the U.S. in 40 years.

The White House has yet to announce whether she will meet Obama but sources say he could hold talks with her despite his hectic re-election campaign.

Just before Aung san Suu Kyi landed at the Dulles airport in Washington Monday, Thein Sein ordered the release of another 514 prisoners, including dozens of political detainees, in an apparent bid to pave the way for the U.S. to further ease sanctions ahead of his trip to attend the U.N. meeting.

Aung San Suu Kyi is also scheduled to attend a high-level meeting organized by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, a day before Thein Sein addresses the General Assembly, reports have said.

Reported by RFA's Burmese service. Written in English by Chris Billing and Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

#Mekong security in focus as #China tries #Myanmar drug lord

KUNMING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- A three-day trial of a Myanmar drug lord and five of his top aides for alleged murders of 13 Chinese sailors in a crime-ridden section of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia last October, began in China Thursday.
Naw Kham, the 43-year-old of the ethnic Shan minority, and five gang members -- all foreign nationals -- stood trial in a local court of southwestern Chinese city of Kunming over charges of murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping and ship hi-jacking. Police investigations found that Naw Kham, core members of the gang and a small number of Thai soldiers attacked, hijacked and finally murdered 13 Chinese sailors on two cargo ships, the Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8, on Oct. 5, 2011, near a port in Thailand on the Mekong River.
Prosecutors said they would bring to court a large amount of evidence from DNA test results, autopsy reports to witness testimonies. Police officers and civilians from Laos and Thailand will also testify in court.
Though he confessed to the murders in police custody, Naw Kham denied wrong-doings in court, saying he was not fully informed by his fellow gang members of the attack.
"I did not know about it at that time," he told the court. "They did not tell me. I was only informed afterwards."
Formerly an aide to the notorious Shan rebel commander Khun Sa, Naw Kham grew his clout by re-organizing the war lord's residue forces after his surrender to the Myanmar government in 1996. It is estimated that Naw Kham controlled a militant army of 100 people and had become a figure to be reckoned with in the region, according to police accounts.
The ring was busted by a joint police operation in April. By August, Naw Kham and the core members had all been transferred to Chinese police custody.
Though the verdict was not expected to be out soon, the police said they hoped the trial would send a warning to the lawless militants in the region that they would be held responsible for crimes against Chinese nationals even outside the country's borders.
The new forms of security cooperation between China and Mekong countries, initiated to bust Naw Kham's ring, have also paved the way to improving safety of Mekong voyages, the police added.

With a length of almost 5,000 km, the Mekong starts from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China and flows across the border to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Businesses have flourished since China, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand signed a Mekong shipping agreement in 2000. Trade in the Mekong waterways in the region surged from 500 tonnes to about 200,000 tonnes a year over the past decade.
Wang Ronghua, owner of "Jiafu 3" ship, said a boat with 200-tonnes loading capacity can bring about 90,000 yuan in profit a month during the peak shipping season from September to January.
But the lucrative waterways were soon overshadowed by the rise in the number of crimes. Drug rings and armed militia from the mountains of the drug-producing "Golden Triangle" region at Myanmar-Laos-Thailand borders came to prey on Mekong traders. Drugs started to flow across the borders through the waterways and casinos -- some run or protected by militant groups -- rose on the Mekong river banks.
"There were about a dozen armed rings operating around the Mekong waterways at their prime. Naw Kham's group was the most powerful," said Ai Zhen, a foreign affairs official of Yunnan's border prefecture of Xishuangbanna.
Liu Yuejin, a senior Chinese police official in charge of the Naw Kham case, said security has become a major concern for developing trade in the Mekong River. Chinese police receive about a dozen armed robbery reports by Mekong traders a year.
Naw Kham's group alone has carried out 28 attacks targeting Chinese nationals traveling on the Mekong over the past four years, killing 16 of them and wounding another three, Yunnan police said.
Before the killings occurred, about 1,000 Chinese nationals worked on more than 136 commercial vessels owned or operated by the Chinese in the Mekong waterways, officials said.
Wang, the ship owner, said almost all the ships had been searched or looted by militant groups. Some of the crew even experienced kidnappings.
"The sailors were aware of the dangers. But they were really poor and some knew no other way to make money. That's why they would continue to work here," said Li Jinbo, a deputy police chief of Xishuangbanna.
JOINT PATROLS TO EXPAND
China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand began joint Mekong River patrols in December last year as a response to the killings.
Huang Wei, an official with Yunnan provincial border police forces, said China and Laos reached an agreement to expand the joint patrols from waterways to "key spots" on land.
The patrols primarily aim to curb crimes targetting commercial vessels traveling along the Mekong River. At present, the boats are allowed to sail into Mekong waterways of the countries' territories but patrollers are not yet allowed to take combat operations on land.
Five joint patrols have been conducted in the past ten months, said Zhu Dezhong, deputy chief of Yunnan provincial border police forces.
Zhu said joint patrols had escorted 15 voyages of 89 ships in the Mekong River and helped traders recover 30 million yuan (4.8 million U.S. dollars) of looted assets.
"At the beginning, some neighboring countries still had doubts. But after we explained, the patrols proceeded quite smoothly and we made new 'breakthroughs' in every patrol," Zhu said.
He said the headquarters for the initiative was established in China, while liaison offices were set up in the other three countries to share intelligence and coordinate operations. The Chinese patrol forces are composed of hundreds of maritime border police officers based in Yunnan.
The joint patrols boosted the confidence of terrified Chinese traders, according to officials.
Huang, the official, said all of around 80 Chinese ships sailing on the international routes of the Mekong resumed regular voyages after the fifth joint patrol.
"After Naw Kham's downfall, his men threatened to launch sympathizing attacks. But now, most of the ring members have surrendered, posing no threats to the waterways," Huang said.
Related:
Mekong River attack suspects' trial opens in Yunnan
KUNMING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Six people suspected of taking part in an attack last year on the Mekong River that left 13 Chinese sailors dead went on trial on Thursday in a court in southwest China's Yunnan Province.
The trial of Naw Kham, head of an armed drug gang from Myanmar, along with five other gang members, started at 9:35 a.m. at the Intermediate People's Court of Kunming City, capital of Yunnan.  Full story
Mekong murder trial a model of regional judicial cooperation
BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Six foreigners suspected of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River went on trial at a Chinese local court Thursday, in a successful regional judicial cooperation among China and southeast Asian countries.
It is uncommon in China's judicial practice for foreigners who commit crimes against Chinese nationals outside this country to be brought to justice before a Chinese court.

Source

Latest Burmese amnesty not good enough: #HRW

Activists and rights groups are responding cautiously to Burma's latest release of political prisoners, saying hundreds more are still being held despite the government's promise to release them, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Thursday.

Burmese President Thein Sein's amnesty came a week before he travels to the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly session. Human Rights Watch called for governments to use the UN visit to press him to release all remaining political prisoners and allow international monitors unhindered access to Burma's jails.

The Burmese government this week released 514 prisoners, and activists estimate that around 90 were prisoners of conscience.

It was the fourth amnesty declared in the past year by the Burmese government, which has also eased press restrictions, allowed greater political participation, and signed cease-fire deals with some rebel groups.

But Human Rights Watch said the amnesty falls short of the president's commitment to release all political prisoners.

The New York-based group called for independent monitors to be allowed into Burmese prisons to determine how many political prisoners remain behind bars.

Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on said Tuesday that her party, the National League for Democracy, estimates there are still 200 political prisoners behind bars. The Nobel laureate, currently on a tour of the United States, said Burma cannot have real democracy until all prisoners of conscience are released.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that Burma still has “a lot of work to do,” citing the political prisoners that remain in detention, as well as ongoing communal unrest in Rakhine State and other ethnic areas.

Source 

US wants open Bangladeshi border but safe return of Rohingya to Myanmar in long term

DHAKA, Bangladesh — The United States on Thursday urged Bangladesh to keep its border open to Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar in the wake of June violence but advocated their safe repatriation as a long-term solution.

A delegation of the U.S. State Department recently visited the troubled region in Myanmar where violence between Rakhaine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in June left at least 80 people dead. The team later visited refugee camps of Rohingya in Bangladesh’s southern Cox’s Bazar district.

Source

Burma’s Parallel Government announces dissolution in support of national reconciliation

By Zin Linn 

Dr. Sein Win, Prime Minister of ‘The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma’ in exile, released a press statement declaring dissolution of the NCGUB today. The NCGUB is a “parallel government” formed in Manerplaw on 18 December 1990 by elected representatives of various political parties, including the National League for Democracy, other ethnic nationality parties and independents.

The then members of NCGUB were members of parliament elected in 1990 General Elections. They left Burma in order to implement the results of the multiparty democratic general elections of 1990 and realizing the ardent democratic aspirations of the people of all nationalities, who had expressed their determination through the elections.

The NCGUB had been formed with the energetic support of the organizers and other elected representatives of the National League for Democracy when the idea to form a parallel government was conceived inside the country, according to the statement dated 14 September 2012.

It also said that the “parallel government” may not emerge without the friendly recognition from the Manerplaw-based leaders of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) and other democratic forces who extended financial as well as other needed assistance.

The press statement clarifies NCGUB as the government in exile which has firmly adhered to democratic principles in democratically electing its members once every four years at the Congresses of the Members of Parliament Union (MPU).

PM Dr. Sein Win Meeting with the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris,
September 26, 2007 (Photo: www.ncgub.net)

The statement also highlights important objectives of the NCGUB saying to bring an end to the military dictatorship, implement the results of the 1990 elections, achieve internal peace and build a genuine democratic federal union guaranteeing democratic and basic human rights to every citizen of Burma.

NCGUB had firmly ensured that all its fundamental programs and policies were in harmony with the policies and objectives of the NLD which won landslide victory in 1990 Elections.  The statement also underlines that NCGUB has persistently endeavored to carry out the political aspirations of the NLD.

It says that the situation of human rights and democracy have not yet reached the goals. However, the NLD is now re-registered as an official political party, Aung San Suu Kyi and some elected representatives of the 1990 elections are now in the parliament after contesting in and winning the by-elections of April 2012, and ethnic political parties of 1990 have also re-registered as political parties.

NCGUB also gives details in its statement that the present situation permits Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected members of parliament, political leaders, and student leaders to travel freely around the country and overseas to perform services needed by the country. Moreover, many exile opposition leaders are allowed to visit the country.

“Under such changing conditions, the NCGUB believes that its dissolution will contribute to the achievement of national reconciliation which is inevitably needed in Burma as well as to the endeavors being made for the emergence of a national political program that all deserving participants can join. In accordance with this belief, the NCGUB discussed the issue of dissolution with the leaders of the Members of Parliament (MPU), which had democratically bestowed official rights to NCGUB through MPU Congresses held once every four years,” the statement says.

“With the approval of the MPU, the NCGUB, which was formed on 18 December 1990 in Manerplaw, the headquarters of the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Democratic Alliance of Burma, hereby declares that it will officially be dissolved with effect from Friday, 14 September 2012,” it says.

The NCGUB expressed its deep gratitude to the elected representatives of the 1990 elections, NLD leaders and members at various levels, and individuals who participated and assisted in the establishment of the NCGUB.

It also showed profound credit to the leaders of the NDF and the DAB, ethnic nationality forces and democratic forces who cordially welcomed and provided financial and other forms of assistance to exile elected representatives when they arrived in the liberated areas. It also expressed its deep gratitude to the leaders of the KNU at different levels, who, before the fall of the old KNU headquarters in Manerplaw had provided security, food and other needs and facilitated the travels of NCGUB members.

In conclusion, the statement puts emphasis on expressing its special thanks to the governments and humanitarian and human rights organizations which for many years have regularly supported democracy and human rights programs of the NCGUB. Its unique testimony goes to the International Center for Human Rights and Democracy Development (ICHRDD) or (Rights & Democracy) based in Canada, the Foreign Ministry of Norway and the Norwegian Burma Council, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) based in Washington, DC, the Open Society Institute and (OSI) based in New York, the Foreign Ministry of Denmark and the Danish Burma Committee (DBC), and the Foreign Ministry of Ireland and the Burma Action Ireland (BAI).

The statement says as well of the highest honor to colleagues who sacrificed their lives for the cause of democracy and human rights, like NLD members U Hla Pe, elected representative from Pyawbwe Constituency (2), Mandalay Division, and U Win Ko, elected representative of Ye-U Constituency (1), Sagaing Division, and also to comrades who served long prison terms in connection with the formation of the NCGUB.

It also expresses its thanks to all the news agencies and radio stations inside and outside Burma for distributing NCGUB’s policy statements and opinions.

Although the NCGUB will no longer exist as an institution, its members are committed to continue supporting all democratic forces of different nationalities until a genuine democratic federal union emerges, the statement says.

A short summary of NCGUB’s activities and achievements in the past 21 years was also released with the statement which was signed by Dr. Sein Win who is a cousin of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

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