Myanmar digs itself a big hole

Source : Bangkok Post

Myanmar may not even be aware of it, but it is digging its way into a huge diplomatic hole over the recent communal riots in the country's western region.

Over the past few weeks, the Nay Pyi Taw government has turned progressively secretive, censorious and combative over the June riots and continuing unrest in Rakhine state. In short, it is taking entirely the wrong direction over the violence.

The riots in the region formerly known as Arakan peaked in June. Truthful reports on casualties and damage are as difficult to come by as details of the fighting and how the Myanmar authorities responded. However, available reports indicate that several hundred people died or were maimed, the number of buildings destroyed was more than 1,000, and the army and police behaved atrociously.

Myanmar's current problem, apart from trying to calm Rakhine state, is how to deal with international concern and anger.

The instinctive reaction of the Myanmar authorities is still to try to clam up and ignore the world's concern.

This will not do, not from a country demanding attention as a newly emerging democracy trying to throw off the shackles of a 50-year military dictatorship.

Everything that Myanmar has done since the riots has been wrong. Its refusal to open the region to objective reporters and its own media caused massive anti-government press from virtually everywhere outside its borders. Human rights groups have "demanded" _ a favourite word _ impartial reporting.

The result was that Myanmar, almost unbelievably, cracked down on the press again. Last week, the government banned two newspapers for refusing to submit stories to official censors. On Saturday, Myanmar reporters staged a public demonstration to demand an end to the censorship system.

Worldwide, members of the free press automatically sympathised with the Myanmar media who were brave enough to defy the system. The United Nations' Special Rapporteur for Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, suggested the country hold a truth commission to try to discover the causes and effects of the riots, and come up with ways to prevent more communal battles.

Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin criticised the UN official for daring to suggest that the army and police might have used excessive force, specifically against the Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine.

And that extremely unthoughtful outburst caught the attention of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The OIC proposed sending a mission to Myanmar to look into the massacres of Rohingya by the Buddhist majority. That sort of inflammatory language is certain to result in the OIC rejecting such a proposal, but it is a lose-lose situation for Nay Pyi Taw. In addition to being a powerful political group, the OIC comprises Asean partners Indonesia and Malaysia. Thailand is an OIC observer.

Myanmar has only a couple of options of where to go next, neither of them attractive. It can try to continue to stonewall and earn the sort of criticism that was heaped on the country while it was run by army juntas.

It can release information and open the Rakhine area to objective observers, which will almost certainly result in even more criticism of its treatment of the Rohingya, a religious minority whose members are denied citizenship in their own country.

However, it would be a mistake for Myanmar and cause strong repercussions in Asean if the country takes the repressive road.

US Denies ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ in Burma

Source : By LALIT K JHA / THE IRRAWADDY

The United States remains “deeply concerned” over increasing sectarian tensions in western Burma and reiterated calls for restraint by all parties, but refused to back allegations of “ethnic cleansing” made by the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC).

“We have obviously expressed our concern over the tension there,” a senior State Department official said on Wednesday regarding the situation in Arakan State before denying that the Burmese security forces were trying to decimate the Rohingya population. It is understood that US officials accompanied UN human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana on his visit to the affected area last week.

The US remarks came hours after the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed disappointment at the inaction of the international community to stop the “massacres, violations, injustice and ethnic cleansing” perpetrated by the Burmese government against Rohingya Muslims.

He suggested that the UN Islamic Group in Geneva should send an urgent request to the body’s Human Rights Council to dispatch a fact-finding mission to delve into the alleged atrocities.

In addition, Ihsanoglu proposed setting up an Islamic investigation committee on the events and that a report should be submitted to the next foreign ministerial conference. An Islamic ministerial contact group should also be established to find a radical solution by contacting all relevant parties, including the Burmese government, as well as international and regional organizations, he added.

Earlier in the day, a US State Department spokesman said it was monitoring developments in the strife-prone areas of Burma. “We continue to monitor … sectarian tensions in Burma, in Rakhine [Arakan] State in particular,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters.

“And as we said before, we continue to urge all parties to exercise restraint, to refrain from further violence, and to uphold principles of nondiscrimination, tolerance and religious freedom. We obviously have some concerns about making sure that [the displaced] get humanitarian aid.”

Meanwhile, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) announced on Wednesday that it will hold a new session on the plight of Rohingya Muslims at its four-day national convention in Washington set to begin on Aug. 31.

The ISNA said it is increasingly concerned about the desperate condition of the minority Rohingya community which has long experienced great hardship and oppression in their home country of Burma.

“Rohingya Muslims require government permission to marry, are forbidden from having more than two children per family, and are subjected to modern-day slavery through forced labor,” it said. “A recent wave of violence and brutal force from the Burmese military and law enforcement officials necessitates a closer look at this tragic situation.”

The Council on Foreign Relations, a prestigious Washington-based think-tank, released a background paper on Wednesday that said many people are now hopeful that recent reforms have heralded a new era of democracy and fresh possibilities for the beleaguered Southeast Asian nation.

Experts said that increased foreign investment and the lifting of international sanctions will allow Burma to progress even further, but a combination of increasing sectarian violence and disproportionate economic growth could still handicap the country.

'Truth Commission' Proposed

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

 The U.N. asks Burma to set up a South African-style panel to probe human rights abuses.

AFP U.N. Human Rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana talks to journalists at the Rangoon international airport, Aug. 4, 2012

A senior United Nations human rights expert has called on Burma to establish a "truth commission" to investigate human rights abuses committed mostly under the previous military junta's harsh rule, as the country enters a new era of liberalization.

UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana, speaking late Saturday after a week long visit to the country, also called for an "independent and credible investigation" into the June violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslim Rohingyas in Rakhine state.

He said that he had discussed with various "stakeholders" in Burma, including ethnic groups, political party leaders, and members of parliament, a proposal for establishing a truth commission based on a model used by South Africa to address rights violations during apartheid rule.

The military junta especially under retired general Than Shwe's two decades of ironclad rule has been accused of widespread rights abuses.

The well-documented abuses, including forced labor, killings, torture, displacement of ethnic minority people, and use of rape as a weapon to terrorize them, may amount to war crimes, some U.N. officials and human rights groups have said.

"I remain of the opinion that addressing grievances from decades of human rights violations is crucial for democratic transition and national reconciliation.  Acknowledging the suffering of victims and allowing them to heal will help to prevent future violations from occurring," Quintana said in a lengthy statement after his Burma visit.

He said that the Burmese parliament, as the only multi-party and multi-ethnic public institution, was the most appropriate body for the creation of such a probe commission.

"As a first step, there should be a process of consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including victims of human rights violations, in order to get their advice and views on how this truth commission should be shaped," he said, adding that U.N. and other international organizations could provide assistance in the endeavor.

'Serious'

Quintana, who also visited violence-hit Rakhine during his trip, said the human rights situation in the western Burmese state is "serious."

"I am concerned...at the allegations I have received of serious human rights violations committed as part of measures to restore law and order.  These include the excessive use of force by security and police personnel, arbitrary arrest and detention, killings, the denial of due process guarantees and the use of torture in places of detention," he said.

"While I am in no position to be able to verify these allegations at this point in time, they are of grave concern."

He said it is therefore of "fundamental importance to clearly establish what has happened in Rakhine State and to ensure accountability.

"Reconciliation will not be possible without this, and exaggerations and distortions will fill the vacuum to further fuel distrust and tensions between communities." he said, calling for "an independent and credible investigation into these allegations of human rights violations as a matter of urgency."

The Burmese government has moved to restore law and order in Rakhine state, including the deployment of additional security forces to the area, and the establishment of a commission to investigate the incidents that sparked the communal violence.

Both the Rakhines and the Rohingyas have been blamed for sparking the violence but human rights groups say the minority Muslim Rohingya group bore the brunt of action by the Burmese security forces.

U.S. based Human Rights Watch said government forces had sided with ethnic Rakhines and committed killings and rape on Rohingyas.

Witnesses told HRW they saw security forces opening fire on Rohingya villagers fleeing their homes and groups of armed Rakhines traveling together with police, the rights group said.

'Systematic discrimination'

Quintana also highlighted what he called "systematic discrimination" against the Rohingya community, citing a host of concerns including the Burmese government's denial of citizenship or legal status to the minority ethnic group as well as limitations on their freedom of movement and marriage restrictions.

"I hope that steps will be taken to address these issues, including a review of the 1982 Citizenship Act to ensure that it is in line with international human rights standards," he said, referring to the law which barred citizenship for the Rohingya group.

Burma does not recognize the Rohingya as one of its ethnic groups, considering them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh even though they have lived in the Southeast Asian country for generations.

The U.N. says about 800,000 Rohingyas live in Burma and they are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

Quintana also said he received allegations of attacks on civilians, sexual violence, torture and recruitment of child soldiers in northern Kachin state, where violence between troops and Kachin rebels resisting calls for dialogue have displaced at least 50,000 people.

"I must therefore reiterate that it is vital for these allegations to be addressed as a matter of priority," he said.

President Thein Sein's administration has struck ceasefire agreements with 10 ethnic armed groups since taking over from the junta in March last year, aside from a series of democratic reforms including releasing hundreds of political prisoners.

Reported by RFA's Burmese service. Written in English with additional reporting by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

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