Channel4
May 31, 2013

For a nation on the mend, a one-time pariah shuffling towards responsible, representative government, there was weary, depressing familiarity about events in a place called Lashio this week.

This Burmese city, reluctant host to the latest outbreak of violence and bloodshed between Buddhists and the minority Muslims.

This episode started with a fight at a petrol pump. A few hours later, however, Buddhist mobs were patrolling the streets, burning Muslim homes and businesses and handing out vigilante justice. A man was hacked to death, a mosque and orphanage were destroyed and hundreds of Muslim families are now sheltering in a heavily guarded Buddhist monastery.

The city is relatively remote – more than 400 miles north of the country’s city Yangon (Rangoon) – but the brutality and destruction in this city of 130,000 demonstrates just how quickly anti-Muslim violence is spreading throughout Burma.

As tensions build nationwide, an increasing number of Muslims in Burma are trying to get out – some are leaving for neighbouring countries on foot, others via rickety craft on the open sea. Activists think more than 20,000 Rohingya Muslims may have fled violence-wracked Rakhine state in north-west Burma.

This desperate exodus has serious implications for Burma’s neighbours – with Thailand in particular now struggling to cope with the influx. Six months ago, the Thai authorities said they would find a place for Rohingya Muslims in Thai detention centres and shelters. A few months later, however, the head of Thailand’s immigration authority, Pharnu Kerdlapphon, informed the media that they had run out of space. “The number of Rohingya entering this country is worrying,” he said.

We got a good idea of just how serious these problems are when Channel 4 Newsaccompanied a group of charity workers to an immigration lock-up in a Thai town called Phang Nga. The volunteers, who were members of a local mosque, told us the facility was severely overcrowded and they wanted us to see for ourselves.

You can see what happened next in our exclusive report but here’s a quick summary. We found 276 male Rohingya living in extremely cramped conditions on the second floor – the majority crammed in one of two small “cages”. Inside, there was barely enough room to sit. There were a small number of others living between the two cells suffering from swollen feet and withered leg muscles. The cause was simple – lack of exercise. The men say they haven’t been let out in five months.

My cameraman Matt Jasper and I captured some images of the conditions at Phang Nga – but our pictures do not adequately depict the reality of their squalid existence. This place typically hosts five to 15 men – not 276 – and the smell of sweat, urine and human waste was overpowering. The heat and mosquitos were oppressive and the men seemed to share a deep sense of despondency. A man told my translator that he was ready to tie his clothes together and use them as a rope to hang himself. In another conversation captured on film an inmate told us he had “nothing to live for”. Our translator was forced to plead with them not to kill themselves.

The anxiety and uncertainty experienced by these men is probably a bigger problem than the physical hardships. No-one we spoke to wanted to go back to Burma – but they have no idea what the Thai government is planning to do with them. Back in January, officials said detainees could stay for six months while they sought “another country” to take them – but that period is almost up.

A member of the provincial assembly, Vasit Prayadsap, told me the situation was unacceptable. “I am really concerned,” he said, “because the government still doesn’t know what to do.” At the local level, lock-ups like the one at Phang Nga are clearly not resourced properly. On the day of our visit, Muslim volunteers told us the head of the immigration centre had pleaded with them for donations of cash, clothing and cleaning equipment.

We asked the top government official in the area – the governor of Phang Nga – for an interview. We also sought one from the Thai government – but they both declined. The Thai foreign ministry did provide us with a statement:

“The Thai authorities … are aware of the overcrowding issue at the existing immigration facilities…. alternative arrangements are being identified, and this is a matter of priority. It is hoped that those arrangements will enable the authorities concerned in better addressing the crowdedness issue.”

Still, the head of Thailand’s parliamentary border affairs committee, Samat Malulim, told me the government still had “no concrete plans” for the resettlement of Rohingya. He’s not happy with the current situation either. “The conditions you have seen would even be difficult for animals,” he said.

The foreign ministry points out conditions at other detention centres in Thailand are better than those at Phang Nga and there certainly seems to be some truth to that. We found a women and children’s unit up the coast with outdoor space and adequate supplies of food and medicine.

The living quarters were still crowded, however, and many of the women were depressed – the same air of uncertainty hung over the place. The occupants hadn’t heard from their husbands in months despite the fact that many of them had sailed to Thailand together.

At best, the Thai government’s efforts have been scattered and ad-hoc – but this difficult problem will only get worse if the fighting and the bloodshed in Burma continues.

Follow @c4sparks on Twitter.

Akbar Ahmed & Harrison Akins

Dhaka Tribune

May 31, 2013

IRIN News

May 31, 2013

SITTWE, - Aid workers are calling for better health access for an estimated 140,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, most of them Rohingya Muslims. 

Although a number of NGOs and government mobile clinics are providing basic health services inside the roughly 80 camps and settlements, they are limited, and emergency health referrals remain a serious concern, they say. 

According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), conditions inside the camps, combined with the segregation of ethnic Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya and ongoing movement restrictions, are having a severe impact on health care. 

Movement restrictions were slapped on Rohingyas around Sittwe, the Rakhine State capital, after bouts of sectarian violence in June and October 2012. 

Another concern is the negative attitude of many ethnic Rakhine to assistance provided to Muslim IDPs. 

“With threats and intimidation both to health provider and patient, this becomes an irreconcilable dilemma,” Carol Jacobsen of the medical NGO Merlin told IRIN, adding that “hostile access”, limited transportation and poor security were obstacles to health care for the Muslim population. 

“Pregnant women dying unnecessarily” 

Aside from IDPs, thousands of Rohingyas in their villages or places of origin - many reachable only by boat - are restricted from travelling to local township hospitals in the event of a medical emergency, aid workers report. 

“MSF has just returned from areas where whole villages are cut off from basic services,” said Ronald Kremer, MSF emergency coordinator in Rakhine State. “What we have seen shows that current policies such as movement restrictions are having a detrimental impact on people’s health. This includes TB patients unable to access the treatment they need to stay alive, and pregnant women dying unnecessarily because they have nowhere safe to deliver.” 

It’s estimated there are 5,000 pregnant displaced women living in the camps. 

“Normally, these women would be going to government hospitals or clinics,” said Marlar Soe, field coordinator for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Sittwe, noting that government midwives, who are largely ethnic Rakhine, are not going into the camps. 

Almost one year after the initial violence in Rakhine State, more than half the IDPs are in Sittwe, one of nine strife-affected townships. Most Rohingyas are confined to a series of camps on the outskirts of the town. 

Security forces and metal barricades, topped with razor wire, prevent camp residents from leaving what activists are now describing as a ghetto-like prison. 

Call for action on hospitals 

The 12-bed Dar Pai emergency hospital is the only government-run health facility for the more than 100,000 Muslim IDPs and residents in an area which encompasses 11 IDP camps and makeshift sites, as well as five Rohingya host communities. 

Doctors are rarely seen and medicine is in short supply, say IDPs. 

“You’re lucky if you can get an aspirin there,” said Aung Win, a 57-year-old Rohingya man from the Mawlee quarter of Sittwe, referring to the hospital. 

Edward Hew, head of relief operations for Mercy Malaysia, says it is time for the international community to come together with state health authorities to strengthen the Dar Pai hospital as it is currently the only option available. “Many patients are not comfortable with being referred to Sittwe Hospital,” he said. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) currently provides emergency medical evacuation services to Sittwe Hospital. “This, however, is not always easy given the security situation, as well as the limited number of beds [12] allocated for Muslims,” said one aid worker who preferred anonymity. 

Meanwhile, with monsoon rains having begun, there is growing concern about the risk of water-borne and communicable diseases. 

“Many of the risk factors for an outbreak are present, including overcrowding, open defecation, limited potable water, poor hygiene standards and many living in makeshift shelters,” said Ingrid Maria Johansen, project coordinator for MSF in Sittwe, warning that an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea could spread quickly through the camps.

By Dr. Maung Zarni
May 31, 2013

Associated Press

May 30, 2013

The United Nations says a decision by authorities in western Myanmar to restore a two-child limit on a Muslim minority group would be discriminatory and a violation of human rights of Muslims and the Rohingya community.

U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said Thursday that U.N. human rights bodies have called on the authorities in Rakhine state "to remove such policies or practices."

Authorities in the strife-torn state said this past weekend that they were restoring a measure imposed during past military rule that banned Rohingya Muslim families from having more than two children. The policy applies to two Rakhine townships that border Bangladesh and have the highest Muslim populations in the state.

The order is likely to bring further criticism that Muslims are being discriminated against in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Thousands of Muslims who fled Myanmar's latest bout of sectarian violence have sought shelter in a Buddhist monastery guarded by army soldiers in the northeastern city of Lashio. The army transported Muslim families by the truckload on Thursday out of a neighbourhood in Lashio where overturned cars and motorcycles that had been charred a day earlier left black scars on the red earth. Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Lashio.

Aye Nai

Democratic Voice of Burma
May 30, 2013

Prosecutors in Sittwe have hit seven Rohingyas in Arakan state with myriad charges, including rioting, after they were arrested for refusing to register as ‘Bengalis’.

During a hearing on 23 May, senior immigration official Yan Aung Myint charged the seven suspects from Thetkalpyin displacement camp with robbery, intimidation and disturbing officials on duty. Twenty-four individuals, who authorities claimed might be on the run, were also charged in absentia.

The hearing comes after a scuffle erupted between government officials and the Rohingya on 26 April, after authorities tried to register the internally displaced persons (IDPs) as ‘Bengalis’ in accordance with a programme headed by the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

Prosecutors said that around 100 residents, armed with sticks and swords, quickly gathered at the scene and began attacking authorities, which included policemen and soldiers who were accompanying the officials.

According to the defendants’ attorney Hla Myo Myint, the skirmish began after one of his clients, Suleman, was slapped in the face by an official, which prompted children in the camp to begin throwing rocks at authorities.

Army sergeant Win Aung reportedly sustained a head injury after being struck by a rock at the scene, while local Arakanese team member Tun Hla Aung and immigration official Sai Myint Thu sustained lacerations on their backs.

Security forces reportedly fired shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd as they hurled rocks and screamed “Rohingya! Rohingya!” Seven individuals from Thetkalpyin and two from Bawdupha displacement camps were arrested in the skirmish’s wake.

According to Hla Myo Myint, the officials who went to the camps to register the IDPs had no legal right to force his clients to identify as Bengalis – a term commonly used by government officials that implicitly infers that the group are illegal immigrants

“The officials had no authority to determine their ethnicity – according to the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law, the decision has to come at the last stage and made by a government body,” said Hla Myo Myint.

“Reportedly the [officials] were listing them [as Bengali] by force.”

Hla Myo Myint, who has represented high-profile opposition activists including the National League for Democracy’s chair Aung San Suu Kyi in the past, said his clients’ families and the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) asked that he provide legal counsel to the group. Two of the individuals Kyaw Myint and his son Hla Myint who are being charged are both USDP members.

“I’m doing this for the rule of law – one of the main objectives of the NLD – to allow human rights for them regardless of their religion and ethnicity,” said Hla Myo Myint.

The next court appointment has been set for 6 June, but will likely to be postponed until officials can decide if the 24 individuals charged in absentia have actually fled.

Arakan state is home to more than 140,000 IDPs, after two bouts of religious violence pitting Arakanese Buddhists against Muslim Rohingya last year led to massive displacement.

Press TV

May 30, 2013

Press TV has talked with Myra Dahgaypaw, with the US Campaign for Burma from Washington D.C., to comment on the ongoing systematic persecution of Muslim Rohingyas by the extremist Buddhists in the country.

What follows is a rough transcript of the interview. 

Press TV: Myra Dahgaypaw, let us look at the political developments. 

We had the president of Myanmar who visited Washington recently and we also had Aung San Suu Kyi, who came out and made some statements. 

Can you tell us if any of those two figures have addressed what is going on in Myanmar regarding what many are calling ethnic cleansing, when you see these types of violence erupt there. 

Dahgaypaw: Well, at this point only the words are out there but no action has been taken. 

Press TV: We had President Thein Sein visiting Washington and that reinforces, obviously the ties that the US has in this. 

Don't you think that the US should uphold what it preaches in terms of democracy and in this case apply it by pressuring the government there and not only that but pressuring Aung San Suu Kyi to come up more in defense of what is going on there, of these Muslims who are being persecuted. 

Dahgaypaw: Indeed I totally agree with you that the US government as well as the international community including the UN, should pressure the Burmese authorities to do more for these people. 

It is not okay to keep allowing the abuses to happen to these group of people, I mean the Rohingyas are human beings like us. 

Instead they keep giving them and that is why I am saying, the invitation for Thein Sein to come to the White House is like a slap on the face to the ethnic minorities, to those people who have to suffer at the hands of these Burmese military.

Todd Pitman

Associated Press
May 30, 2013

LASHIO, Myanmar  — More than 1,000 Muslims who fled Myanmar's latest bout of sectarian violence huddled Thursday in a Buddhist monastery guarded by army soldiers as calm returned to this northeastern city, though burnt out buildings leveled by Buddhist rioters still smoldered. 

The army transported terrified Muslim families by the truckload out of a neighborhood in Lashio where overturned cars and motorcycles that had been charred a day earlier left black scars on the red earth. 

"We heard things could get worse, so we waved down soldiers and asked them for help," said 59-year-old Khin Than, who arrived at the monastery Thursday morning with her four children and sacks of luggage along with several hundred other Muslims. "We left because we're afraid of being attacked." 

The violence in Lashio this week highlights how anti-Muslim unrest has slowly spread across Myanmar since starting last year in western Rakhine state and hitting the central city of Meikhtila in March. President Thein Sein's government, which inherited power from the military two years ago, has been heavily criticized for failing to contain the violence. 

In Lashio on Thursday, Buddhist monks organized meals for the newly arrived refugees, who huddled together in several buildings in the monastery compound. 

Although a few Buddhist men could still be seen Thursday riding motorbikes with crude weapons such as sharpened bamboo poles, no new violence was reported. Several banks and shops reopened as residents emerged to look at destroyed Muslim shops. Trucks of soldiers and police crisscrossed main roads. They guarded the ruins of Muslim businesses that were reduced to ashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, erecting roadblocks from twisted debris. 

At one corner, where the charred remains of a three-story building still smoldered, Muslim residents sorted through rubble for anything salvageable. One family packed electronics from their shop into the back of a truck. 

A woman who had fled a mob a day earlier was still in a state of shock. 

"These things should not happen," said the woman, Aye Tin, a Muslim resident who slept overnight in a local Red Cross compound. "Most Muslims are staying off the streets. They're afraid they'll be attacked or killed if they go outside." 

The rioting began Tuesday after a Muslim man splashed gasoline on a Buddhist woman and set her on fire. Buddhist mobs responded by burning down several Muslim-owned shops, a mosque and an Islamic orphanage. Roving motorcyclists continued the violence on Wednesday, leaving one person dead and four injured. 

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said 25 people had been detained so far. He said all those arrested were from Lashio. 

The violence is casting fresh doubt over whether Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the racial and religious intolerance plaguing a deeply fractured nation still struggling to emerge from half a century of military rule. Muslims, who account for about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people, have been the main victims of the violence since it began last year, but so far most criminal trials have involved prosecutions of Muslims, not members of the Buddhist majority. 

___ 

Associated Press writer Aye Aye Win contributed to this report from Yangon, Myanmar.

RB News

May 30, 2013

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) and Open in need foundation strongly raised current attacks on Muslims in Burma and tow child policy on Rohingya with EU officials during their two days joint advocacy trip. The joint delegation include BROUK president Tun Khin ,Marek Svoboda head of People in need foundation and his Program manager Anna Kunova. The trip was organized by People in Need foundation. The delegation met MEP Eduard Khan , MEP Plilip Kaczmarek Ph.D , Ranieri Sabatucci head of Southeast Asia Division from European External Action Service and other high level officials of European Union.

The delegation pinpointed Rohingya two child limit policy only to Rohingya people of Burma. Recent attacks on Lasho Muslims and continues attacks to Muslims by 969 Anti- Muslims Groups. 

President Thein government ethnic cleansing policy against Rohingya is moving forward to drive out whole ethnic Rohingya minority from Burma.

The delegation urged European Parliament Members 

(1) To put pressure on President Thein Government to stop attack against Muslim of Burma and to stop anti Muslims campaign in Burma 

(2) To put pressure on President Thein Sein Government to stop blocking Humanitarian aid to Rohingyas. 

(3) To support independent international investigation on Arakan Violence upcoming June session on UN Human Rights Council. 

(4) To stop President Thein government blocking Humanitarian Aid to Rohingya and to call for to amend 1982 citizenship law. 

(5) To provide international Observers or International Task force to Arakan other areas where Muslim were attacked by 969 groups. 

BROUK President Tun Khin said “European Union has to take immediate actions to stop attacks against Muslim in Lasho and Two Child Policy on Rohingya policy in Burma. President Thein Sein Government is implementing the policy on Rohingya to wipe out the whole minority Rohingya and other Muslims of Burma. Internal Commission backed by Government did not show accountability and justice. It is time for EU to support Independent International investigation what happen in Arakan State in 2012 June and October. EU countries must balance their policy. Lifting up sanctions improving dealing with President Thein government is encouraging to move forward cleansing Muslims of Burma”.

BROUK President also joined as an speaker of the One World International Human Rights Film Festival together with Lotte Leicht EU Human Rights Watch Director and Marek Svoboda head of People in Need foundation.

Daniel Schearf 

VOA

May 29, 2013 

BANGKOK — Burmese authorities said they will review a policy in western Rakhine state that imposes birth limits on Muslims to control population growth. The policy, which limits Muslim Rohingyas to only two children has been condemned by rights activists and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a Skype interview with VOA, Burmese presidential spokesman Ye Htut said central authorities first learned of the two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya from reports in foreign media. "We didn't have any information about this order. Only, we saw it on the international media," Ye Htut stated."So, we will check with the state government on this issue."

Restrictions only for Muslims

The birth restriction on Muslims and a limit of one wife, when the religion allows for four, were first reported last week in Burmese media.

Authorities in western Rakhine state say it is being implemented in two districts on the border with Bangladesh, where Rohingya Muslims are in the majority. 

The birth limits are only for Muslims and date back to the previous military government, although enforcement varied.

State spokesman Win Myaing said the new push on the limitations is part of efforts at family planning recommended by a presidential commission in April to reduce tensions between Buddhists and Muslims.

But Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said, since 2005, Rakhine state border guards have sought to more strongly implement the rules.

"I think what they're trying to do is control the terms of debate, that they are saying this is 'what we've done and it's justified by the national government of Burma.' It falls on the national government of Burma to now respond and say whether this is their policy or not," added Robertson.

The Rakhine Commission is investigating the root cause of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims last year that left 200 dead and 140,000 displaced, most of them Rohingyas.

Controlling over population 

The commission said a fast-growing Muslim population had raised Rakhine Buddhists' fears that they could soon be outnumbered and overruled in Burma's emerging democracy. It recommends better assimilating Muslims and family planning to limit the growth. But the commission warns any non-voluntary measures could cause more tensions.

Spokesman Ye Htut said President Thein Sein has not yet decided if he wants to support the birth restrictions. He said he will announce a position after talking to Rakhine authorities and studying the commission's recommendations.

"Up to now, we cannot say whether we support or not because we have to review all the recommendations made by the Rakhine commission on every issue. So, I cannot make that comment on particular case, whether we will (be) doing or not," said Ye Htut.

Human Rights abuse?

Rights groups condemned the two-child policy as one of many ongoing abuses against the Rohingya, who are not recognized as citizens in Burma despite many living there for generations.

Human Rights Watch said Rohingya's who want to register their marriage must promise to only have two children. Any more than two, or children born out of wedlock, are not able to go to school or receive government services.

The rights group said anyone caught breaking the two-child rule faces fines and jail time. To avoid the punishment, it said some Rohingya women have resorted to unsafe abortions. 

Ye Htut dismisses the concerns of Human Rights Watch and its call for the policy to be abolished. "Most of their comment[s] are based on their one-sided information. So, what we are now trying to do is to implement the recommendation by the Rakhine commission and we will consider every aspect on these issue[s] from a human rights aspect and other local law and order, and also from the international norm[s] and standard[s]," Ye Htut said.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday said the two-child limit is discriminatory and a violation of human rights.

Jared Ferrie 

Reuters

May 29, 2013

Lashio, Myanmar - Buddhist mobs armed with sticks and machetes burned Muslim homes on Wednesday for a second day in the northern Myanmar city of Lashio, contradicting claims in state media that soldiers and police had restored calm.

A Reuters reporter saw scores of young men and boys on motorbikes and on foot marauding through the city of 130,000 people in a mountainous region about 700 km (430 miles) from the commercial capital Yangon.

One person was killed and four were wounded in fighting that began at about 2 p.m., Ye Htut, spokesman for President Thein Sein, said in a Facebook post. Police fired their guns to disperse the crowd, he said.

By early evening, Muslims shops and homes were still burning in one quarter, underlining the difficulty the president faces in containing mounting religious violence in an era of historic reforms since military rule ended in March 2011.

"I don't know where the Muslims are. They all ran away," said Kyaw Soe Win, a Buddhist resident of a mixed neighbourhood where motorbikes and household possessions lay burning in the streets. Nearby, a man with a sword and a stick combed through the remains of one burned-out shop.

State television said a mosque, a Muslim religious school and a number of shops were gutted by fires started on Tuesday by Buddhists who rampaged after hearing reports of a Muslim man setting a Buddhist woman on fire and badly wounding her. State media said calm had returned by Wednesday.

Myanmar has struggled with religious unrest since June last year when fighting between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya erupted in western Rakhine State.

That was followed by organised Rakhine attacks on Rohingya communities in October that New York-based Human Rights Watch said amounted to ethnic cleansing. The government calls the stateless Rohingya illegal "Bengali" immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

"KILL ALL BENGALIS"

British tourist Stephen Barker, 46, told Reuters he saw a group of about 100 machete and stick-carrying youths rallying around his hotel in the early afternoon, including four or five monks. Police and military moved them on and arrested half a dozen people.

"I got a light for my cigarette from one and he told me to kill all Bengalis while waving this 18-inch blade around."

Muslims appeared to have fled a mixed Lashio neighbourhood known as Quarter Number 17.

Tuesday's unrest in Lashio was sparked by a quarrel between two people, named by state media as Aye Aye Win, 24, a Buddhist woman who sold petrol, and Ne Win, a Muslim man aged 48.

MRTV television said Ne Win poured petrol over Aye Aye Win and set her on fire. She was in hospital, it said.

After police detained Ne Win, Buddhists surrounded the police station and demanded he be handed over. When they refused, the crowd went on the rampage, attacking Myoma Mosque near Lashio market, residents said.

The authorities attempted to restore order late on Tuesday by banning unlawful assembly under a state of emergency in the city, which is about 190 km (120 miles) from the Chinese border.

In March, at least 44 people, most of them Muslims, died in the central city of Meikhtila after a rampage by Buddhist mobs incensed by the killing of a monk by Muslims, shortly after a violent row between a Buddhist couple and Muslim shop owners.

Muslims make up about 5 percent of Myanmar's 60 million people.

(Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun in Yangon; Writing by Andrew R.C. Marshall; Editing by Jason Szep, Robert Birsel and Ron Popeski)

Todd Pitman
Associated Press

May 29, 2013

LASHIO, Myanmar (AP) — Hundreds of Buddhist men on motorcycles waved iron rods and bamboo poles and threw rocks in a northeastern Myanmar town on Wednesday, a day after a mosque and a Muslim orphanage were torched in a new wave of violence targeting the religious minority. Residents said a movie theater was burned as the mob sped around the town. 

Many Buddhists and Muslims stayed locked inside their homes and shops were shuttered after Tuesday's violence in Lashio town, near the border with China, the latest region to fall prey to the country's spreading sectarian violence. The rioting in Lashio was sparked by reports that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman. 

Deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims has occurred since last year in other parts of Myanmar, first in a western region and then in central towns. The new flare-up will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the violence and crack down on racial and religious intolerance. 

Wednesday morning was quiet, but by afternoon several hundred young men, screaming and waving sticks, roamed the downtown area on motorcycles near City Hall. A Buddhist monk was seated on the back of one of the motorcycles, waving a stick. 

On another street, the crowd threw rocks at buildings. Many people were too afraid to step outside. Smoke could be seen over at least one area of town, and local politician Sai Myint Maung said a movie theater had been burned and that there were rumors that more troublemakers were gathered on the outskirts of the town. 

"The situation has changed 180 degrees. It was quiet the whole day and all of a sudden there is a fire and the situation has changed," he said. 

An officer from the No. 1 Lashio police station said police had been dispatched by truck to try to quell the new violence. The officer, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to release information, said at least four people were hurt. 

"My family is staying inside. We are afraid of being attacked," said one Muslim resident, Ko Maung Gyi, who spoke by telephone earlier from inside his locked home in Lashio's main Muslim neighborhood. 

"I never expected that such racial violence would erupt in Lashio," he said. "Our small town is multiethnic and we have lived in peace for a long time." 

There were no reported fatalities after Tuesday night's violence in the remote mountain town. 

Order was initially restored after authorities banned gatherings of more than five people. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed and many shops and streets were empty, Sai Myint Maung said. 

The government appealed for calm. 

"Damaging religious buildings and creating religious riots is inappropriate for the democratic society we are trying to create," presidential spokesman Ye Htut said on his Facebook page. The message noted that "two religious buildings and some shops" in Lashio were burned, without specifying whether they were Muslim or Buddhist. 

"Any criminal act will be dealt with according to the law," Ye Htut said. 

A 48-year-old man accused of setting fire to a 24-year-old Buddhist woman was arrested, state television reported. It said the man, identified as an Indian Muslim, threw gasoline on the woman. The report appeared to put to rest earlier questions over the man's religion. 

The man was charged with causing grievous injuries and arson, as well as drug possession due to stimulants found in his pocket, the TV report said. The woman was being treated for burns to her chest, back and hands. 

The report did not mention whether any members of Tuesday night's Buddhist mob were arrested, an omission likely to fuel more questions over whether minority Muslims can find justice in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar. 

Minority Muslims have been the main victims of the deadly violence, but so far there have been no criminal trials against members of the country's Buddhist majority. 

After Tuesday's alleged immolation, an irate crowd of more than 100 people, including Buddhist monks, gathered outside a police station demanding that the alleged attacker be handed over, state TV reported. 

The crowd then rampaged through the town, setting fire to Lashio's largest mosque and several shops, the television report said. 

The mob also set fire to a Muslim school and orphanage that was so badly charred that only two walls remained, said Min Thein, a resident contacted by telephone. Police and other witnesses confirmed the school burning. 

Myanmar's sectarian violence first flared in western Rakhine state last year, when hundreds of people died in clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that drove about 140,000 others, mostly Muslims, from their homes. 

The clashes seemed confined to that region, but in late March, similar Buddhist-led violence swept the town of Meikthila in central Myanmar, killing at least 43 people. Earlier this month, a court sentenced seven Muslims from Meikthila to prison terms for their role in the violence. 

Several other towns in central Myanmar experienced less deadly violence, mostly involving the torching of Muslim businesses and mosques. 

Muslims account for about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people. Anti-Muslim sentiment is closely tied to nationalism and the dominant Buddhist religion, so leaders have been reluctant to speak up for the unpopular minority. 

Thein Sein's administration, which came to power in 2011 after half a century of military rule, has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect Muslims. He vowed last week during a trip to the U.S. that all perpetrators of the sectarian violence would be brought to justice. 

___ 

Associated Press writers Aye Aye Win in Yangon and Jocelyn Gecker and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Associated Press

May 28, 2013

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is calling on the government of Myanmar to stop the imposition of a two-child limit on a Muslim minority group that has been targeted in bloody communal unrest.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Tuesday the U.S. is deeply concerned about reports that authorities in two townships of western Rakhine State plan to enforce the limit on minority Rohingyas.

Ventrell says the U.S. opposes coercive birth limitation policies, and urges Myanmar, in his words, “to eliminate all such policies without delay.”

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Islamic leaders have also expressed their dismay. Myanmar has been accused of discriminating against Muslims.

The Buddhist-majority country is also known as Burma.

RB News

May 27, 2013

Washington DC: The protests against Myanmar President U Thein Sein were organized by US Campaign for Burma, Myanmar Muslim Civil Right Movement and Free Rohingya Campaign and held on May 19 and 20 respectively. 

The protests were held in front of VOA, White House and Chamber of Commerce at Washington DC. More than 80 people participated in the protests on 19th May evening and 20th May. Of them, sixty people were Rohingya and Burmese Muslims, 16 were from Fort Wayne Indiana, 5 from Chicago, one from Wisconsin, 4 from New York City, 21 people were from Utica NY and the rest were from Oregon, New Jersey and other states of USA.

The protest started in front of VOA about 5PM on May 19. The protesters demanded U Thein Sein to stop promoting false democracy, lying to international communities and sponsoring ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas and Burmese Muslims in Burma. Media like RFA, VOA Burmese, VOA Indonesia, BBC Burmese and some online bloggers interviewed some of the protesters.

The much larger crowd gathered to protest in front of White House. Many speakers took turn to speak to the protesters about rights of Rohingya and Burmese Muslims and how government of Burma instigated hatred among Burmese population to create religious violence for political advantage. Speakers had spoken directly to President Obama so as to brief him about the Secret Service Group from Burma before he met U Thein Sein.

About 20 media organizations covered the protest news at different time. Some of them were ABC Australia, Al Jazeera, AFP, BBC Burmese, VOA Burmese, Genocide Watch, Channel 5 and others.

The protesters shouted "Thein Sein is a Liar" and demanded to "Stop Genocide" and "Stop Killings" while U Thein Sein was entering the white house.

Some members of the Secret Service Group from Burma also took pictures and made videos of the protesters at the chamber of commerce by pretending as if taking breaks outside the building. Kachins, Rohingyas, and Burmese Muslims took turn to condemn Burmese supremacist policy that suppresses ethnic minorities such as Kachin, Rohingya and Burmese Muslim. It was a very successful protest according to the organizers.

Human Rights Watch

May 28, 2013

(Bangkok) – Burma’s government should publicly revoke a discriminatory population control regulation that restricts Rohingya Muslims to having two children. Implementation of this policy is consistent with the wider persecution of the largely stateless Rohingya, violating international human rights protections, and endangering women’s physical and mental health. 

The Arakan State spokesperson, Win Myaing, told the media on May 26 that local authorities had reaffirmed a 2005 regulation for Rohingya Muslims in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in northwestern Arakan State along the Bangladesh border. The discriminatory two-child rule has been enforced alongside regulations that require Rohingya couples seeking to marry to obtain permission from the authorities by paying hefty bribes. Couples often have to wait for extended periods, sometimes as long as two years, before receiving permission. Officials have also forced many women to undergo pregnancy tests as part of the marriage application process. 

“Implementation of this callous and cruel two-child policy against the Rohingya is another example of the systematic and wide ranging persecution of this group, who have recently been the target of an ethnic cleansing campaign,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “President Thein Sein says he is against discrimination. If so, he should quickly declare an end to these coercive family restrictions and other discriminatory policies against the Rohingya.” 

Rakhine State Spokesperson Win Myaing claimed local officials sought to implement a recommendation by the government Inquiry Commission on the Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State, a 27-member body appointed to examine the causes of last year’s deadly violence between ethnic Arakanese (Rakhine) Buddhists and Rohingya and Kaman Muslims. The commission’s summary report, released on April 29, 2013, called for “implementation of family planning programs amongst Bengali [Rohingya] communities” to address its “rapid population growth.” However, the report said that “government and other civil society organizations should refrain from implementing mandatory measures which could seem unfair and abusive.” The commission included political leaders of Arakanese Buddhists but did not include any Rohingya members. 

The two-child regulation is a further example of state persecution of the Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said. Government security forces, local Arakanese political party officials, and Buddhist monks participated in crimes against humanity during a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya and other Muslims in June and October 2012. To date, no one has been held accountable for these crimes. Should further widespread or systematic attacks be carried out against the Rohingya population, enforcement of the two-child policy could amount to crimes against humanity.

Renewed Call for Two-Child Policy Latest Form of State Persecution

The 2005 two-child regulation was an addition to longstanding discriminatory marriage restrictions on Rohingyas in Arakan state. Advance permission to marry came from the Na Sa Ka (in Burmese, Nay Sut Kut Kwey Ye), a corrupt interagency border guard force comprising military, police, immigration, and customs. Rohingya couples seeking to marry have had to give a written undertaking that they will have no more than two children. Flouting the two-child restriction is punishable with fines and imprisonment. 

To avoid paying fines or being arrested, Rohingya women who became pregnant before getting official approval to marry or after having two children have resorted to unsafe and illegal abortions. Some underwent multiple unsafe and self-induced abortions at home. Article 312 of the Burmese penal code criminalizes all instances of abortion except those that are carried out to save a woman’s life, already posing a tremendous barrier for women seeking abortion services. These barriers to safe abortion services are exacerbated for Rohingya women because of the marriage restrictions and two-child policy. Rohingya also face severe restrictions on their right to freedom of movement, requiring advance travel permission from the Na Sa Ka even to seek emergency medical treatment. Permission is frequently refused unless bribes are paid. Unsafe abortions are a leading cause of maternal deaths in Burma. 

“Fear of punishment under the two-child rule compel far too many Rohingya women to risk their lives and turn to desperate and dangerous measures to self-induce abortions,” Adams said. 

The 800,000 to one million Rohingya in Burma are particularly vulnerable to government abuse because most are denied citizenship under Burma’s discriminatory 1982 citizenship law. Rohingya children born out of wedlock or in a family that already has two children do not receive any status whatsoever from the government, making them ineligible for education and other government services, unable to receive travel permissions, and they are later not permitted to marry or acquire property. They are subject to arbitrary arrest and detention.

To evade these regulations, Rohingya women pay bribes to register them with other legally married adults, or keep their children hidden and unregistered to avoid being fined or imprisoned. In instances that the Na Sa Ka learns of families having more than two children, these children are sometimes placed on a government blacklist. The Inquiry Commission estimated that the number of unregistered Rohingya children was 60,000. Because of these restrictions, “the majority of the Bengali [Rohingya] population marry in secret without the necessary administrative approval and children born under these circumstances remain unregistered.”

Local government authorities and the Na Sa Ka oversee a web of tight regulations governing Rohingyas, Human Rights Watch said. These include restrictions on travel, birth, death, immigration, migration, marriage, and land ownership. Na Sa Ka officials enforce these restrictions by frequently detaining, beating, and extorting money from Rohingya. In 2012, Na Sa Ka arbitrarily detained an estimated 2,000-2,500 Rohingya for “offenses” both serious and trivial, including repairing homes without official permission and owning “unregistered” livestock, according to informed sources.

In all instances, contraception should not be used with the objective of “population control,” least of all by selectively targeting ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said. Contraceptive services together with other reproductive and sexual health services should be provided in a non-discriminatory and non-coercive manner to all women. Women and men should have the option of adopting contraception of their choice and deciding on the size of their family.

In March 2012, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors state compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, called upon Burma to “abolish the local order restricting marriages for Rohingya people and cease practices which restrict the number of children of Rohingya people.”

Parliamentary opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on May 27 said about the two-child policy that, “it is not good to have such discrimination. And it is not in line with human rights.”

Human Rights Watch called upon the government of Burma to: 

· Immediately revoke the regulation establishing a two-child limit for ethnic Rohingya in Buthidaung and Maugdaw townships in North Arakan State, and other coercive or discriminatory policies, rules, regulations or laws regarding population; 

· Repeal provisions of the penal code that criminalize abortion, especially those provisions that punish women and girls who have had an abortion; 

· Provide unfettered access for international humanitarian agencies to provide medical and other services to all persons in need in Arakan State, with special focus on needs of internally displaced persons and other populations with restricted freedom of movement; and 

· Investigate and appropriately prosecute all persons, regardless of position or rank, implicated in serious human rights abuses in Arakan State since 2012. 

“Governments who care about reform in Burma need to speak out about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims,” Adams said. “If this policy had been announced by a Burmese government official before the reform process began, donors would have denounced it in the strongest terms. Now, when the international community’s influence is much greater, governments and donors need to find their voices.”