#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.

Source

Bringing Myanmar killers to justice tops summit agenda

DAMMAM: SIRAJ WAHAB

Sunday 12 August 2012

The ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is one of the key issues to be discussed at the Islamic solidarity summit convened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in Makkah on Aug. 14-15.

With just two days to go for the conclave of the world’s most important Muslim leaders in the most holy city, pressure is mounting on Myanmar’s military junta to allow international and Islamic relief agencies access to the besieged Muslim population of the Arakan province.

Two important delegations to Myanmar — one led by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the other by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — this week have revealed signs of panic and desperation among the junta’s top leadership.

“They have been caught out and have now realized that what they have done to Rohingya Muslims constitutes a war crime,” one of the diplomats at the Jeddah-based OIC told Arab News.

“There is no doubt that the state was and possibly still is involved in the planned pogrom of Arakan Muslims, and they are now trying to reach out to the Muslim world to lessen the impact of the expected robust and unified Muslim response at the Makkah summit,” he said.

Besides Davutoglu, the Turkish delegation included Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wife Emine and daughter Sumeyye. The delegation called on Myanmar President U Thein Sein and Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and visited Rohingya Muslims staying in the Banduba refugee camp where more than 8,500 Rohingya Muslims have taken shelter.

The delegates received a first-hand account of what exactly happened to the Rohingya Muslims. They talked to a number of victims, and at one point, according to reports in the Turkish media, the prime minister’s wife was reduced to tears while listening an account being recounted by an affected Rohingya Muslim woman.

Davutoglu later told journalists that he would present his findings to the Muslim leaders at the Makkah summit. His findings will hold the key to the future course of action from the Muslim world at the summit.

According to a top Jeddah-based diplomat, there are a number of measures that the Muslim world can think of against Myanmar.

“We can haul the country’s top military leadership, including President Thein Sein and the Arakan provincial head, to the International Court of Justice in The Hague and try them like Solobodan Milosevic and other Serbian leadership,” he said. “Among the other viable options are that of approaching the UN Security Council and UN Human Rights Council.”

The diplomat also hinted at pressurizing and persuading the world’s leading powers to constitute an international peace-keeping force to save the Rohingya Muslims from being obliterated and uprooted from their historic homeland.

The OIC delegation to Myanmar was headed by former Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Among others, it included OIC Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Atta Manan Bakhiet and presidents of the Qatari Red Crescent and Kuwaiti International Humanitarian Commission.

The OIC delegates conveyed to President Thein Sein of the outrage in the Muslim world at the deplorable humanitarian conditions in the Arakan province of Myanmar.

The delegation asked for access to Muslim humanitarian organizations to provide emergency aid to inhabitants of the worst-hit Arakan province “without any religious discrimination.”

According to a press note issued by the OIC yesterday, Myanmar president welcomed the OIC delegation and stated that that what had happened was not a direct result of religious differences. Instead, he blamed the massacre on what he called as “social problems between various ethnicities in the province.”

Thein Sein pointed out to the OIC delegates that the international media distorted the events and presented wrong information and exaggerated the killings.

“President Thein Sein stressed his eagerness for the Muslim world in particular to know the truth about what occurred in Arakan, and he mentioned that he had sent an invitation to OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu recently to visit Myanmar to observe the real situation in the affected province,” said the OIC press note.

The president welcomed the OIC humanitarian delegation to Arakan and agreed to allow the OIC and its partner organizations to provide humanitarian aid to the province in an urgent manner and to open an office in the region in coordination with the central government in Yangon and the local authorities in the province.

He instructed the relevant ministries to sign an agreement with the OIC to complete the arrangements.

'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.

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

Massacre of Muslims in Burma; NAMF call Canadian Govt to Act

Source: S.O. News Service, I.G. Bhatkali

North American Muslim Foundation (NAMF) has called for urgent action to halt killings, rapes and expulsions being carried out in western Burma against ethnic Rohingya (Muslim) Burmese citizens.

In a press statement on Aug 4, NAMF condemn the attack and brought to the attention of the issue of the current genocide of fellow Muslims in Burma. It said that the United Nations calls them as -one of the most persecuted minorities of the world.- Most recently, over 1000 Rohingya Muslims were killed, 1,200 plus are missing and more than 100,000 have been displaced due to rape, arson and killing. 1,336 homes belonging to the Rohingya Muslims have been burnt to ashes during the recent unrest.

It further said that, the Burmese military government, far from trying to resolve the problem and protecting the Rohingya, has been silently convening with the rioters to add to their plight and suffering. This atrocity must stop now

In order to avoid the worsening of the situation NAMF demanded the Canadian government to take urgent action in addressing this issue with the UN Security Council in order to pressure the Burmese government to stop all atrocities.

NAMF also demanded International relief organizations to be allowed to provide immediate access and humanitarian aid to the victims.

NAMF demanded the Ministry of Canadian Foreign Affairs to put pressure on the Bangladeshi government to open its borders to the fleeing Burmese refugees who are in dire need of aid and protection.

"We request all Canadians to protest against the Burmese state-sponsored oppression against the Rohingya and strongly denounce all acts of cruelty against them", it added.