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Monk Ashin Wirathu, pictured in Mandalay in 2014. (PHOTO: Steve Tickner)


By Aye Nai
January 24, 2015

On 23 January, DVB interviewed Wirathu, the controversial and outspoken Buddhist monk from Mandalay who is at the forefront of the 969 movement in Burma. Following a speech last week in which he called UN Rapporteur on Human Rights Yanghee Lee a “whore”, he has faced condemnation both at home and abroad. We asked him if he had any regrets.

Q: The United Nations (UN) has called for political and religious leaders to condemn your comments about Special Rapporteur Human Rights to Burma Yanghee Lee. What is your response to this?

A: In response to the UN’s call, I would like to urge our political and religious leaders to oppose any representative from a foreign country interfering with our sovereignty. I would say, ‘Do not let them determine our future’.

Q: Do you regret making the comments?

A: ‘Regret’ means feeling sorry for doing or saying something wrong. I was defending our religion: the sasana, and I should be glad that I succeeded in making this particular comment. I am delightfully proud.

Q: According to commentators and observers, you promote Islamophobia and hate speech. Are you focused on the Rohingya issue? Or the Islamic issue?

A: I am against Jihadism but not against all Muslims. The Rohingya are Jihadists and so are the Islamic extremists and those plotting to conquer our country under the 786 banner. My activism is focused against them, but not the people who live in peace.

Q: There are rumours circulating on social media that officials from the Religious Affairs Department visited the New Masoyein Monastery on 22 January and informed the abbot that you are to face charges for your remarks. Do you know if that is true?

A: It was true that religious affairs officials visited the monastery. They came around 11:30am on Thursday. But I do not know what they discussed. The abbot has not yet told me anything.

Q: Do you think they came to discuss your comments amid all the international pressure?

A: Well, that is what people are speculating. But I was afraid to talk to the abbot, and I don’t know what they discussed as the meeting took place in his room.

Q: How would you like to respond to the UN statement [condemning your comments]?

A: I would like you to tell them that Burma’s stance on the Rohingya issue is not just about how the government feels about it, but our whole country. The entire national race shares the same sentiment. If [the UN] would like to see peace and coexistence in Burma, they must never use the word ‘Rohingya’, which is a bogus ethnic group.

Wirathu (PHOTO: DVB)


By Aye Nai
January 23, 2015

Officials from the government’s Religious Affairs Department in Mandalay have rejected rumours that they plan to sue controversial Buddhist monk Wirathu after he called the UN’s Special Human Rights Rapporteur Yanghee Lee a “whore”.

According to rumours circulated on social media, officials from the department visited the New Masoyein monastery in Mandalay – where Wirathu resides – on Thursday, when they informed the abbot Kethara Biwunsa of their intentions to sue the nationalist monk for his comments.

It was reported that the controversial monk, renowned for his firebrand anti-Mulsim rhetoric, was to be sued under Article 295(a): Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.

Wirathu was previously indicted for inciting religious hatred in 2003 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was freed in 2010 under a general amnesty.

Kyaw Hlaing, deputy-director of the Religious Affairs Department in Mandalay Division, said that while he and other officials did visit the monastery, they did not to talk about bringing legal action against Wirathu but discussed an upcoming Buddhist ceremony.

“We were at the monastery by invitation from the abbot to discuss an event planned for 2- 3 February to award academic monks who have passed exams,” said Kyaw Hlaing.

“We don’t have a plan to sue Wirathu as claimed by social media reports.”

In a phone interview with DVB on Friday, Wirathu said that officials were at the monastery in the morning of the day before, but that he did not know what they discussed with the abbot.

“They came to the monastery around 11:30am on Thursday – I have not yet spoken to the abbot and he has not told me anything.” said Wirathu.

“There is speculation that the officials are planning to sue me. I don’t know what they discussed because the talks were held privately,” he added.

The UN has condemned the monk’s slurs, which they alleged are sexist and insulting.

The Religious Affairs Department has been involved in some high-profile cases as religious incidents have spiralled in post-dictatorship Burma. Philip Blackwood from New Zealand is facing charges in court after being arrested for “insulting religion” and “hurting religious feelings” last year for posting on Facebook a picture of Buddha wearing headphones as part of a nightclub promotion.

Last year, Religious Affairs Minister Hsan Hsint was ousted from his position following a botched raid on the Mahasantisukha Monastery in Rangoon. He was found guilty of sedition and criminal breach of trust and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment.
Riot police prepare to clear villagers out of the path of a bulldozer at Latpadaung copper mine site in Sagaing Division on 23 December 2014. (PHOTO: Han Win Aung)

By Aye Nai and Colin Hinshelwood
December 23, 2014

International watchdogs and Burmese activists have voiced distress and disdain over the Burmese police handling of protestors at the controversial Latpadaung copper mine site, where a woman was killed on Monday.

Local villager Ma Khin Win, was shot dead and several other local protestors were injured both with live ammunition and rubber bullets in separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday.

David Mathieson, the senior researcher on Burma at the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) pointedly blamed the Burmese authorities for their “abject failure” to resolve the land dispute at the mine site near Monywa in Sagaing Division.

“Ongoing protests at Latpadaung demonstrate the abject failure of the government and the 2013 Investigation Commission to resolve this vexed land dispute peacefully, and the distain both government and companies have to meaningfully consult with and fairly compensate villagers who have had their land forcibly seized by a project that will barely benefit them,” he said on Tuesday.

Mathieson noted that the protestors should not have resorted to violence in frustration, following a report by DVB that villagers had fired stones from slingshots at the police prior to the gunfire.

“Despite their understandable frustration, there should be no resort to violence on the part of the protestors,” the HRW spokesman said.

He added that the tragic killing of Ma Khin Win “shows the police still have a long way to go in deploying the correct use of force during protests.”

Amnesty International also weighed in, calling for a “comprehensive and independent investigation” into the 50-year-old farmer’s death, and noting that this week’s violence is the latest in a series of heavy-handed tactics employed by police when dealing with protestors in the Latpadaung area. The London-based rights watchdog also called for the mining project to be closed down until outstanding issues are resolved.

“The Myanmar authorities must ensure a comprehensive and independent investigation into this killing and other allegations that police fired on protestors at the Latpadaung copper mine. Those responsible must be held to account,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty’s director of global issues.

“While we are aware of reports that some protestors threw stones at police, the resort to firearms raises very serious questions about how the police have handled this situation.

“Under international human rights standards, law enforcement officials must apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. Intentional lethal use of firearms may only be used when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life. The Myanmar authorities must immediately establish whether police violated these standards while policing the demonstration against the Latpadaung copper mine yesterday,” she said.

Gaughran called on the Burmese authorities to respect people’s right to peacefully assemble and stage protests.

“This latest incident is one of many serious human rights concerns surrounding the Latpadaung copper mine,” she said, noting that many locals have been forcibly evicted from their homes by the government since the project was initiated more than 10 years ago.

The Amnesty International chief called on contractors Myanmar Wanbao to “immediately halt all construction at the mine until adequate safeguards are put in place to prevent further human rights abuses.”

Meanwhile, Burmese activist Nay Myo Zin, a former military officer, said he believed Ma Khin Win was shot with live ammunition and called for a “thorough independent investigation” into the incident.

“Judging by the exit wound [in the back of her head], I assume Ma Khin Win was shot with live ammunition,” he told DVB on Tuesday.

“From what I know, there are specific procedures to follow in crowd control, such as when to issue warnings and when [police] are authorised to use live ammunition, which should be as a last resort, and even then, they must aim below the knee,” he said.

Former political prisoner and activist Mee Mee of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society said she visited two villagers at Monywa Hospital on Tuesday and that both bore injuries consistent with bullet wounds.

“One villager suffered a bullet through the arm while the other got shot in the leg,” she said. “They did not receive any assistance from the security forces at the scene, but were later brought here [to the hospital] by fellow villagers on motorbikes.”

“I don’t know much about weapons, but this sure wasn’t rubber bullets they were shot with,” she added.

(Photo: Reuters)

By Aye Nai
December 3, 2014

In his monthly radio address to the nation on Tuesday, Burma’s President Thein Sein said a firm political agreement had been reached with ethnic armed groups to establish a federal union in the country.

“As for the peace-building effort, although there have been skirmishes between troops, fundamental agreements with regard to the peace process have been achieved,” he said. “All ethnic armed groups have agreed to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord [NCA] and the Union Peace-making Work Committee [UPWC] is continuing negotiations.

“A firm political agreement on forming a federal union, which is vital to the peace process, has been reached,” the president continued. “Furthermore, an agreement has also been reached to discuss all other issues – except for secession and anything that might harm the sovereignty of the nation.”

The speech was broadcast across the country on state radio on the morning of 2 December.

The government’s UPWC and ethnic armed groups’ Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) have to date negotiated as far as the third draft of what would be a single-text NCA. However, talks foundered in September when the UPWC suggested revising certain agreements that are already ticked off.

The NCCT are UPWC are meeting on Tuesday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where negotiations will continue.

Responding to the president’s remarks about a federal union, NCCT spokesperson Hkun Okker said, “If the president’s comments can be taken word for word, then we welcome them. However, the wording [in the NCA draft] is a little different from what he apparently said. Therefore we hope the NCA is updated to match the president’s announcement.”

Asked to elaborate, Hkun Okker said, “The NCA includes a clause that all sides agree ‘to form a union with a federal system’ in accordance with the results of political dialogue. It does not specify a ‘federal union’, but rather ‘to form a union with a federal system’. And it is only a contingency clause.”

In an interview with DVB this weekend, the Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA’s) Vice-chief of staffGen Gun Maw accused the government delegation of backtracking on agreed points and of “not telling the truth” or twisting the truth in its dealings during the peace process.

Some days earlier, NCCT Vice-chairman Nai Hongsa said it would now be “completely impossible” to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement by the end of this year following the Burmese army’s deadly assault on a boot camp near Laiza, headquarters of the KIA, which killed 23 cadets.

He said the fatal shelling has effectively brought negotiations to a standstill.

DVB reported in August that Burma’s central government had agreed to the principle of establishing a federal union in the country, citing Hla Maung Shwe of the Myanmar Peace Center, among others, after negotiations in Rangoon.

In this photo from 2012, ethnic Arakanese men hold homemade weapons as they walk in front of a house that was burnt during fighting between Buddhist Arakanese and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe (Photo: Reuters)

By Aye Nai
August 16, 2014

The High Court of Arakan State on Friday rejected an appeal by lawyers of seven men accused of murdering 10 Muslim pilgrims in 2012. The trial will now go ahead as scheduled at Sandoway [Thandwe] District Court.

Charged in May with the murder – which involved a Buddhist mob grabbing a group of Muslims from a bus in Taunggup and beating them to death – the seven suspects had appealed against the charges to the regional high court.

The appeal was dismissed on 12 August, according to Aye Nu Sein, a lawyer for the accused.

“The High Court confirmed the original charges and dismissed our appeal,” she said. “If we do not now appeal to a higher court, the trial will go ahead as scheduled at district level.”

She confirmed that the only higher authority in the land was the Supreme Court in Naypyidaw, but elaborated no further on whether such an appeal would be launched.

Aye Nu Sein said it appears strange that her clients were not residents of Taunggup Township in southern Arakan State, but were from other places.

“The accused are not Taunggup locals,” she said. “They are all from northern Arakanese towns such as Rathedaung and Mrauk-U. Only one is local. The six who I represent are not. I think this is strange.”

The 2012 lynching of the 10 pilgrims in Taunggup was a catalytic incident in the wave of mob violence between Buddhists and Muslims that has plagued the western region ever since.

In this file photo from June 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi talks to Muslim leaders at the NLD head office in Rangoon as they appeal to her to intervene following a wave of anti-Muslim attacks in Arakan State. (Photo: Reuters)

By Aye Nai
July 31, 2014

The Arakanese High Court has yet to announce its decision on whether to uphold an appeal against murder charges levelled at seven men indicted for the 2012 lynching of 10 Muslim pilgrims at a bus station in Taunggup.

The incident is widely seen as one of the main precursors to the communal violence between Buddhist and Muslim communities which erupted across the state two years ago.

Defence lawyers for the seven – who were convicted in May this year under Penal Code articles 302 and 34 by the district court in Sandoway, officially known as Thandwe – launched an appeal on 10 July to the High Court against the formal murder charges.

“I presented an argument at the High Court today [10 July] stating that the charges against my clients are not in conformity with legal procedures, and therefore should be dropped,” lawyer Aye Nu Sein told DVB earlier this month.

At that time, defence lawyers said they expected a decision by the High Court within seven to ten days. However, as weeks have passed, no official announcement has been made on this most sensitive of cases.

Aye Nu Sein, who represents six of the appellants, said she and lawyer Kyaw Nyunt Maung, representing the other defendant, believed Sittwe High Court was taking longer than usual to make a decision on the appeal.

However, Supreme Court lawyer Ko Ni said the delay is nothing unusual, and in some cases, the court may take up to about two months before announcing its verdict.

“It could be that the judge needs more time to thoroughly study the case,” said Ko Ni.

He said if the High Court rejects the appeal, the murder trial will proceed at the district court, but if it accepts the appeal the suspects will be unconditionally discharged.

The seven suspects, all local Taunggup Buddhist men, were arrested one year after the lynching, which involved at least 100 people.

President Thein Sein last year pledged that Burma’s judiciary would take firm action against all individuals and organisations convicted of instigating and committing acts of violence.

In this file photo from June 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi talks to Muslim leaders at the NLD head office in Rangoon as they appeal to her to intervene following a wave of anti-Muslim attacks in Arakan State. (Photo: Reuters)

By Aye Nai
July 12, 2014

Seven Buddhists charged for their participation in the murder of 10 Muslim pilgrims in Arakan State town of Taunggup in June 2012 are appealing against their indictment.

The district court in Sandoway, officially known as Thandwe, indicted the seven for murder in May this year under Penal Code articles 302 and 34.

Defence lawyers Aye Nu Sein, representing six of the group, and Kyaw Nyunt Maung; who represents the other, submitted an appeal against the charges on Thursday.

“I presented an argument at the high court today stating that the charges against my clients are not in conformity with legal procedures, and so should be dropped,” said Aye Nu Sein.

The Arakanese Regional High Court is due to pass a decision on the appeal within seven to ten days.

In an incident that was one of the main precursors of the communal violence erupting in Arakan State, in early June 2012 hundreds of people in Taunggup dragged ten individuals off a bus filled with Muslim pilgrims and beat them to death. The bus was then set ablaze as members of the mob urinated on the victims.

The attack was sparked by an incident the month before when three men, two of whom were assumed to be Muslim, were accused of raping and murdering a local Buddhist woman. Two of the suspects were sentenced to death while the third committed suicide in prison.

Arakanese police originally arrested 30 persons in connection with the lynching of the 10 Muslim pilgrims. However, eye-witnesses reported that local police in Taunggup stood by and watched as the lynch mob murdered the pilgrims.

A file photo of a Burmese border guard looking across to Bangladesh. (Photo: DVB TV)


By Aye Nai
June 8, 2014

Burma and Bangladesh will reschedule talks on the current border crisis after the Burmese delegation rejected proposals at a flag meeting in Maungdaw last week.

Bangladeshi media quoted Maj-Gen Aziz Ahmed, the director-general of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), saying that no clear decision was made at the border flag meeting and so talks will be scheduled for Naypyidaw in the near future.

Aziz said that Burma refused a demand to withdraw its troops from positions close to the common border, and also rejected a Bangladeshi proposal to conduct joint patrols along the border.

The flag meeting was held after a recent spate of hostilities between the border guard forces of both countries which resulted in one Bangladeshi corporal shot and killed on 28 May.

During the flag meeting, Burma’s delegation handed back the gun and equipment of the dead Bangladeshi soldier. The body of Corp. Nayek Mizanur Rahman was handed over on 2 June.

Both countries had previously agreed not to position troops within five kilometres of the land border. Bangladesh accuses Burmese border guard units of breaking that agreement. Burma, for its part, maintains that Rohingya militants are active in the area surrounding boundary posts 50 to 52 and that they must protect their sovereignty.

The 23-member Bangladeshi delegation was led by Cox’s Bazar Sector Commander Khandakar Farid Hasan while the Burmese team was headed by border guard police commander Brig-Gen Tin Ko Ko and the Maungdaw immigration department director.

Tin Ko Ko is reported saying at the meeting that Burmese security forces shot at Corp. Mizanur as they believed him to be a member of the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO). He noted that the insurgents frequently wear uniforms similar to the BGB.

The Bangladeshi commander reportedly rejected the allegation that the RSO maintains bases on Bangladeshi soil.

Men offer Friday prayers in a temporary mosque after returning to a Rohingya IDP camp from a shelter from cyclone Mahasen, outside of Sittwe, on 17 May 2013. (Reuters)
Aye Nai

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.
Aye Nai

Burma’s electoral commission has ordered a newly formed political party to expel six of its senior members for listing their ethnicity as “Rohingya” in their official biographies, according to party members. 

Earlier this month, the Union Election Commission (UEC) forced the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP), which was formed in March this year, to oust six of its central executive committee members for allegedly being “non-citizens”. 

UEC director Tin Maung Cho told DVB that the six members had “breached” existing regulations for political parties as the Muslim Rohingya are not recognised as an official ethnic group in Burma. 

According to Article 10(a) of the Political Parties Registration Law, a person can only become a political party member if they qualify as a Burmese citizen, an associate citizen, a naturalised citizen or a temporary certificate holder. 

“They were listed as the ‘Rohingya’, which is not recognised by the state,” said Tin Maung Cho. “Foreigners are not allowed to take part in political parties,” he said, backing the government-held view that the Muslim minority are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

He added that the UEC had instructed the party to submit biographies of all other members of their central executive committee. 

But the DHRP chairperson, Kyaw Min, insisted that members had already listed as “Rohingya” before the party was formally registered in March, but no issues had been raised at the time. 

“We had to submit members’ biographies when we applied for the party registration and they were listed as [Rohingyas],” said Kyaw Min. “Now the [UEC] is asking us to re-submit everyone’s biographies.” 

It appears that the six members are being regarded as “non-citizens” simply on the basis of calling themselves “Rohingya” – a term the government rejects – although they are likely to hold Burmese citizenship. “We have to look into this,” said Kyaw Min. 

The term Rohingya is heavily disputed in Burma, with state officials and most Burmese people referring to the group as “Bengali”. But the Muslim group, which comprises some 800,000 people mainly residing in northwestern Burma’s Arakan state, insists the term had been used for centuries until the military junta stripped them of their citizenship in 1982. 

Earlier this year, Shwe Maung, a self-proclaimed Rohingya MP from Maungdaw township, stirred controversy by calling for official recognition of the term, and prompted some nationalist groups to call for his citizenship to be “investigated”. 

The Burmese government was recently implicated in ethnic cleansing against the stateless group, which has been described by the UN as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. 

But state officials have remained unrepentant. “How can it be ethnic cleansing? They are not an ethnic group,” Arakan state spokesman Win Myaing told Reuters this week. 

The DHRP has played a vocal role in defending the rights of the Rohingya, which is likely to have irked members of Burma’s political elite. Both reformist President Thein Sein and opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, have come under fire for refusing to speak up for the predominantly stateless minority. 

Its chairman, Kyaw Min, originally won a seat in parliament for Buthidaung, northern Arakan state, in the annulled 1990 elections and has since worked with Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. 

He was sentenced to 47 years in prison in 2005 for championing labour rights, but was released in a general amnesty in January 2012.
A member the Bangladeshi border guard force comforts a Rohingya man after being arrested while trying to cross the border in Teknaf, 18 June 2012 (Photo - Reuters)

Aye Nai
Democratic Voice of Burma
January 4, 2013

Over 80 Rohingyas, fleeing violence and persecution in Arakan state, were detained by Burmese authorities on Wednesday in a coastal town near the Thai border, after traffickers abandoned them en route to Malaysia. 

The Rohingyas, including 13 children and eight women, were taken for questioning by police when the boat was discovered at the dock in Tenasserim Division’s Kawthaung town in the southernmost tip of Burma. 

A local politician from the Democratic Party-Myanmar, Than Htun, who met with the boat people told DVB they believed they had arrived in Malaysia. 

“The [Rohingyas] paid [human traffickers] around 150,000-300,000 Kyat (USD$175-350) each to take them to Malaysia. They said the boat owner told them they had already arrived in Malaysia and they believed him,” said Than Htun. 

The group is now being kept in a derelict hospital building in town, before being returned to Arakan state’s capital Sittwe. Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship by the Burmese government and are considered one of the world’s most persecuted minorities by the UN. 

Thousands of Rohingyas have fled Arakan state in western Burma in the wake of sectarian clashes with Arakanese Buddhists last year, which killed over 180 people and displaced 110,000 since June. 

“More than 10,000 Rohingya from northern Rakhine State have left on these boats since October last year according to our findings,” Chris Lewa, campaigner for the Arakan Project told Alertnet on Thursday, adding that more and more women and children are now making the perilous journey along with men. 

Many head for neighbouring Bangladesh, and increasingly to Malaysia, but often end up in Thailand by accident. 

This week, 73 Rohingyas, including women and children as young as three, travelling to Malaysia were detained by Thai authorities when their boat washed ashore in Phuket. They were deported back to Burma yesterday, despite severe condemnation by international human rights groups. DVB understands that the group had still not arrived back in Burma as of Thursday evening. 

According to the New York based advocacy group, Human Rights Watch, many deported Rohingyas fall prey to human traffickers on their return, who demand extortionate fees for another attempt to be transported to Malaysia. 

According to Than Htun, the Burmese Navy discovered another boat with Rohingyas in the Andaman Sea around mid-November, but pushed it back into Thai waters. The Thai authorities are also known to push boatloads of unwanted Rohingya refugees back into the sea. 

Thailand, which is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, insists it cannot accept Rohingyas leaving Burma, but will help them resettle in third countries.

    • Rohingya Exodus