By Steven Kiersons

Sentinel Project

September 18, 2013

The Sentinel Project has released a report assessing the risk of genocide against Muslim minorities in Burma and has found the risk level to be high in light of intensified persecution.

The initial enthusiasm surrounding recent political reform in Burma has recently given way to reminders of the dark legacy of the nation’s past. Among the most notable of these expositions was a July 2013 cover story published by Time Magazine in which journalist Hannah Beech showed that the specter of past crimes against humanity, including genocide, have resurfaced in Burma and that extremist forces in the country have focused their attention upon the Muslim minority within the Buddhist-majority state.

In May 2013, in response to the mounting threat against the Muslim Rohingya population in Burma, the Sentinel Project launched an intensive research initiative into the current situation in Rakhine State and Burma as a whole. The purpose of this work was to explore the threat against the Rohingya and provide advanced warning in the event that genocide was found to be imminent. The result of this work – combining analysis of structural factors in the newly-released risk assessment with open-source monitoring tools such as Threatwiki and confidential sources inside Burma – has shown the Rohingya to be at a high risk of genocide, whether by violent extermination or by the slow destruction of the group through isolation and starvation.

While much media attention has emphasized the role of the allegedly “grassroots” 969 movement, which aims to boycott Muslim businesses and customers, the Sentinel Project has found the reformist government, local governments, and Burmese security forces to also be either complicit or actively involved in ethnic cleansing campaigns. The violence which has unfolded during numerous incidents has reportedly taken place in full view of government security forces, which have done little, if anything, to intervene and stop it. In fact, there often appears to be some degree of cooperation between security forces and civilian perpetrators of violence. Violent mobs that have carried out ethnic cleansing in places such as Sittwe and Meikhtila were well-organized, with the Rohingya escorted out of these areas with their hands raised in the air, and the presence of agents provocateurs observed as well as bulldozers which razed Muslim houses in the wake of their departure.

Burma currently presents a textbook case for a country on the brink of genocide, with numerous indicators of virtually all of Gregory Stanton’s Ten Stages of Genocide (besides extermination itself), which the Sentinel Project has adapted into its monitoring framework. The machinery of genocide – the complex systematic processes designed to eliminate the Rohingya – is already operating in Burma and has carried ethnic cleansing and isolation to its current point; mounting evidence supports allegations that genocide in Burma is currently ongoing, and may merely be a matter of scale.

There are many key indicators of genocidal intent, such as the Burmese government’s attempts to limit reproduction amongst the Rohingya ethnic group; proposed restrictions on intermarriage between Muslims and Buddhists; continued employment of hate speech against this minority (both Rohingya specifically and Muslims in general); and forced registration of Rohingya under a “foreign” ethnic identity, thus attempting to provide documentary denial of the existence of the group. All of these factors, outlined in detail in the risk assessment, indicate intent to exterminate the Rohingya.

The Sentinel Project’s risk assessment concludes that, apart from outright violent extermination (i.e. mass killing) of the Muslim Rohingya minority, two conditions would need to be observed in order to declare the campaign against the Rohingya genocide: (1) continued ethnic cleansing and ghettoization of the Rohingya and other Muslims, and (2) continued isolation and deprivation of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

Rather than reducing the risk of mass killing, states in transition, whether from democracy or authoritarianism or authoritarianism to democracy, have been found to be more at risk of mass killing than those which are firmly at one end of the spectrum or the other. Thus, while Burma’s apparent democratization may present the commonly-believed image of a nation backing away from military rule, brutal treatment of minorities, and the brink of genocide, its current transitional state may actually place it in a precarious position that augments the risk of genocide. Recent reforms may prove to be simply cosmetic with the regime and officially-backed 969 movement continuing on the path to systematic extermination. The Rohingya are currently in need of preparations for self-defense, a workable evacuation plan, and possible international intervention (whether diplomatic or military). The Sentinel Project’s ongoing monitoring work will be particularly focused on determining whether Burma changes course or continues on its current path.

New report: High risk of genocide in Burma

RB News 

September 18, 2013 

Maungdaw, Arakan – Four Hlun Htaine police and one civilian robbed a Rohingya house and attempted to rape a girl in Byuhar Gone hamlet. This is in the Aley Than Kyaw village tract of Maungdaw Township in Arakan State. 

On September 9th, at around 12 midnight, four Hlun Htaine police and one civilian knocked the door of Omar Hakim’s house in Byuhar Gone hamlet and said that they want to check the guests. The house owner Omar Hakim told them that he would open the door if the village administrator is with them. Finally the police destroyed the door and entered the house. They tied everyone who was at home up with ropes. They then took gold and cash valued over 3 million kyats. 

The group attempted to rape Omar Hakim's daughter. The girl shouted for help. Instantly, many villagers came and the group of 5 ran out of the home. The villagers tried to catch them but the police opened fire to make their escape. 

The victims informed the village administrator and security outpost in the morning, however the proper authorities didn’t even note the case. The police have been robbing the houses in Maungdaw South and North since past a few weeks under the name of "checking guests lists." The regional and state authorities are not concerned on this issue. They keep silence about the crimes despite the villagers frequent reports. 

The regional authorities in Northern Maungdaw pressured the victims not to tell that the robbers are wearing the police uniform and they were Hlun Htaine police. This is also common, Rohingya being pressured to change their story and bare false witness for their own safety. 

There is also a growing trend of attempted rapes to young girls that are associated with these supposed "guest list checks." Cases of attempted rape previously noted by RB News here: http://bit.ly/155hqPm

RB News 

September 18, 2013 

Maungdaw, Arakan – Replacement of disbanded Nasaka, Western Region Ma Ka Pha mobilized in Kyigan Pyin village tract. This is in the Maungdaw Township of Arakan State. This was where Nasaka’s headquarters used to be. The new group arrived there on September 9, 2013. 

The new group, Western Region Ma Ka Pha claimed that they are to prevent illegal immigrants entering the region and leaving people illegally from Arakan State. The new group’s organization structure is as same as Nasaka. The amount of officers will be the same as well. Every outpost will have at least 7 staff. They arrived to Kyigan Pyin headquarters on September 9th and started mobilization on September 10th. 

They called all village administrators for to a meeting on September 10th at their respective area outposts. 

There were meetings held on September 11th and 12th at Kyigan Phyin headquarters and Magyi Chaung outpost no. (15) with village tract administrators. In the meeting at the outpost on September 12th at 10 am, Ma Ka Pha officer, Immigration Deputy Head of Maungdaw, Soe Win said that the Western Region Ma Ka Pha is to handle Birth certificate, Death certificate and the list of "run-aways" from the country. They will arrest people entering and leaving illegally. They will make surprise checks of guests at villagers homes. Even if people live in the same village, they can’t live in another house without the recommendation from the village administration. The person will be arrested if they fail to have a letter from village administration. They will put red colour sign-boards in some places to mark restricted areas. They will shoot or arrest anyone who passes the restricted area. They will shoot if anyone leaves their home after 10 pm. They won’t issue any birth certificates for those parents didn’t register for the new born baby within 3 months. The government temporarily stopped issuing marriage permits at this time but they are believed to publicize the procedure in about a week. 

The village tract administrators also had a meeting with villagers in the following days and explained about the new group Ma Ka Pha. The information was told by Ma Ka Pha officer Soe Win. Moreover, they distributed the sample forms of birth certificate application and death certificate application, amongst others. 

A villager said “We don’t have illegal immigrants entering. But we have illegally leaving. That’s happening because the authorities are engaging in human trafficking. The authorities are sending people to Malaysia. They are taking money and are arranging the boats.” 

“Now the new group Ma Ka Pha is to prevent illegal entering and leaving. We are happy for that and we welcome them but however we are afraid that they will involve (us) in human trafficking like disbanded Nasaka and that hey will torture and extort money like Nasaka. We are very worried.” the villager continued.

RB News

September 18, 2013

ARU-DG DR. WAKAR UDDIN MEETS WITH U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE AND PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SPECIAL ENVOY TO OIC; MASSIVE ARRESTS, HUMAN SMUGGLING VIA SEA ROUTES, AND UNGA HIGHLIGHTED

Washington - The Director General of Arakan Rohingya Uunion (ARU) met with the United State’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Clements and President Obama’s Special Envoy to OIC Rashad Hussain at U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. In the first meeting with DAS Clements, who heads the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration in State Department, Dr. Uddin extensively discussed the dramatic increase of smuggling of Rohingya victims by Rakhine cartels to remote areas in Thailand. Dr. Uddin detailed the intricacy of the smuggling of Rohingya victims who have been facing widespread abuse, harassments, and torture by Burmese police and security forces. “The setup by the Rakhine smuggling cartel was that it brings in large vessels from Thailand that are anchored several miles off-shore Arakan, and the victims are transported from the land to the large vessels in small boats with assistance from the Burmese police and security forces”. Dr. Uddin explained. “Upon arrival at the destination in Thailand, the victims are taken to camps in remote forests, and have them call their relatives in Thailand and Malaysia for ransom; sever beatings, abuse, and torture reportedly take place if the ransom money is not received as promised by the victims” Dr. Uddin further explained. “This is a well-devised scam to transport Rohingya to Southeast Asian countries that is used as part of ethnic cleansing operation, as Bangladesh no longer provides refuge for the victims due to overcrowding of current Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh and some instances of returning the Rohingya refugees to Burma in the past” he added. Dr. Uddin sought assistance from State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration to help solve this issue, and to pressure Myanmar Government to cooperate with international teams for launching an investigation to this scams in the high seas that is rising at an alarming rate.

In the discussion with Ambassador Rashad Hussain, Dr. Uddin explained the recent events in Arakan including the night-time raids of Rohingya households by Burmese police and security forces, massive arrests of Rohingya and rapidly sentencing them to life imprisonment or long term sentences up to 30 years. “Most of these Rohingya are actually victims of violence who lost homes, properties, and family members; yet they are being arrested and sentenced with false accusation of inciting or committing violence” Dr. Uddin explained. Dr. Uddin and Ambassador Rashad Hussain exchanged views on Rohingya issues at upcoming General Assembly of the United Nations. Ambassador Hussain assured Dr. Uddin that he is dedicated to finding a peaceful solution to the Rohingya political and human rights issues through all diplomatic means with close coordination of U.S. engagement with the OIC on these issues.

By AFP

September 17, 2013

The Dalai Lama on Tuesday urged Myanmar monks to act according to their Buddhist principles, in a plea to end the deadly violence against the country's Muslim minority.

"Those Burmese monks, please, when they develop some kind of anger towards Muslim brothers and sisters, please, remember the Buddhist faith," the Buddhist leader told reporters at an annual human rights conference in the Czech capital Prague.

"I am sure (...) that would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters who are becoming victims," Tibet's exiled spiritual leader said.

Sectarian clashes in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine last year left around 200 people dead -- mostly Rohingya Muslims who are denied citizenship -- and 140,000 others homeless.

Having earned scorn for her failure to clearly condemn the violence, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's pro-democracy icon turned opposition leader, said its constitution had to change for the ethnic violence to end.

"The ethnic problem will not be solved by this present constitution which does not meet the aspirations of the ethnic nationalities," Suu Kyi told reporters at the Forum 2000 conference on Tuesday.

"We've got to give our people a sense of security first, they must feel they have equal access to justice.

"If somebody is afraid of being attacked by people from another community, you can't expect them to sit down and talk to one another."

A committee of parliamentarians have until the end of the year to produce a report with their recommended changes to the constitution, which was written by the former junta more than a decade ago.

Suu Kyi said last week that she alone could not stop the anti-Muslim violence and that the solution was to install the rule of law.

The democracy icon spent 15 years under house arrest under military rule in Myanmar before she was freed after controversial elections in 2010.

The Dalai Lama, 78, who fled his homeland for India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, also said there was "too much emphasis on 'we' and 'they'" in the world, and that "this century should be a century of dialogue, not wars".

He and the 68-year-old Suu Kyi, both Nobel Peace laureates, met privately on the fringes of the Prague conference on Sunday.

By IRIN News

September 17, 2013

SITTWE - After an absence of more than a year, Phay Ruscome could not wait to get back in the classroom. 

"I like learning, and I missed my friends," the nine-year-old said. "I wasn't able to attend at all last year." 

Phay is one of hundreds of primary school-aged children now receiving emergency education at the Thea Chaung internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp, home to more than 10,000 Muslim Rohingyas, outside Sittwe, the provincial capital of Myanmar's western Rakhine State. 

The community-led initiative - providing two-and-a-half hours of Burmese and mathematics a day- highlights the unmet needs of thousands of IDP children unable to attend regular school more than a year after sectarian clashesbetween Rohingyas and Buddhist ethnic Rakhine residents in 2012. 

"It's difficult to teach like this, however, we don't have a choice," said Daw Sein Sein Mya, one of eight volunteer teachers now working three shifts a day in the sweltering heat to teach more than 800 primary school children in a 90sqkm makeshift classroom. "We have to think of their future." 

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) more than 176,000 people are in need following two rounds of communal violence in June and October 2012, including more than 140,000 Rohingyas, most of them Muslim, displaced across more than 70 camps and camp-like settings in 10 townships. 

One hundred sixty-seven people lost their lives and more than 10,000 homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed in the violence. 

One year lost 

But aid agencies are still struggling over how best to respond to the thousands of children still out of school. 

Of the 140,000 IDPs in camps, the majority around Sittwe, 60 percent are believed to be children under the age of 18, including an estimated 23,000 primary-school aged children, many of whom who could miss out on a second year of education if further action is not taken. 

"Current needs are real - displaced children cannot be left without education for such an extended time," said Bertrand Bainvel, country representative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which is co-leading the Education Sector with Save the Children.

"We've come to the point of either not supporting education and denying children their rights for another year, or providing emergency education as a short-term measure," said emergency education coordinator Arlo Kitchingman. 

UNICEF considers education an integral part of any frontline humanitarian response - as important as food, shelter and healthcare. 

Schools provide protection and help restore a sense of normalcy for children, enabling them to overcome the emotional trauma they have suffered, whether in natural or man-made disasters, the agency says. 

But addressing that need in the context of Rakhine State - one of the most complex humanitarian crises today - is fraught with challenges. 

Major challenges 

The international community is keenly aware of the need to balance the humanitarian imperative against the risk of inflaming hostilities between the two communities. There are continuing perceptions of bias in the delivery of assistance, for example, and concerns that intervention could aggravate tensions further. And with so many Rohingyas living in displacement camps, separate from the Rakhines, there are fears that certain kinds of aid couldentrench segregation. 

"Initially there was hope that people would be able to return to their places [of] origin, so if you start setting up some more permanent services, it could be perceived as actually promoting and encouraging segregation," UNICEF's Bainvel explained. 

Even before the conflict, this part of Myanmar suffered from some of the worst education indicators in the country; infrastructure was insufficient, and there was an acute shortage of schools and teachers. 

In Rakhine State, net attendance for primary school-aged children (ages 6 to 10) was 76 percent, compared to a national average of 90 percent. In some rural areas of Rakhine, that rate was reportedly as low as 58 percent, studies revealed. 

Illiteracy among the Rohingya community remains stubbornly high, and many Rohingya children cannot speak Burmese, the language of instruction in Burmese schools. 

Ninety-one percent of camps have insufficient or no education structures, facilities or materials, reported the Humanitarian Country Team's US$109 million revised interagency Rakhine Response Plan, released in August.

Meanwhile, ethnic Rakhine teachers, who comprise more than 95 percent of the state's teachers, remain unwilling or unable to teach in Muslim schools or areas, often due to pressure from their own communities, leaving a huge gap in the number of qualified teachers. 

"This is easily one of most difficult scenarios I have ever worked in," said one international aid worker in Sittwe, who asked not to be identified. "And it's having a severe impact." 

Of Muslim children residing in rural camps who managed to take this year's grade 10 final exams, only 21 percent passed, a study revealed. 

Government plan unclear 

Then there is the responsibility of the government to lead the provision of inclusive and equitable education in all areas, however remote, starting with teacher recruitment, training and remuneration in IDP and other excluded communities, as recommended in the Rakhine Inquiry Commission, a 27-member commission set up by Burmese President Thein Sein.

Although it has been involved in some response activities, and attends educator sector coordination meetings in Sittwe, the government has yet to share its own long-term plan for education. 

"We hope to improve access to education for all the IDP children. We have limited resources, but would welcome further international assistance," Hla Sein Tun, deputy director of Rakhine State Education Department within the Ministry of Education, told IRIN. He refrained from providing further details. 

So far, funding for further interventions has been limited, with donors increasingly looking for more durable educational options instead, as well as a clearer picture from the government of what is ahead. 

According to the Financial Tracking System, of the $4.4 million requested for education through the end of the academic year (March 2014), only about $2 million has been secured, which, in turn, has resulted in a slow response by international agencies. 

There are currently only three agencies and NGOs on the ground - UNICEF, Save the Children and the Lutheran World Federation - and the latter two are only now starting up. 

But according to UNICEF's Bainvel, those activities need to be stepped up. "The children can't wait any more. We need to support temporary learning spaces [TLS] until we find more durable solutions." 

Temporary measure 

Since July, UNICEF, in coordination with the government, has established 26 TLS in 18 camps in three townships - Sittwe, Pauk Taw and Mimbya - covering almost 50 percent of children in need, with plans underway to construct another 35 by the end of the year. Teaching and learning materials will also be provided, as well as volunteer teacher recruitment and support.

Under the programme, volunteer teachers receive training and a monetary stipend of $35 to $40 per month. 

Once in place, the TLSs will cover approximately 85 percent of the emergency education needs of this age group. "These are temporary measures only, not permanent solutions," Bainvel stressed, noting that this is in no way meant to be a replacement for formal primary school education. 

Adolescents and youth 

But while such interventions will temporarily address the education needs of primary school-aged children, little is being done with regard to the estimated 32,760 youth and adolescents also in the camps. 

"There is a significant funding gap for post-primary age groups, and this is a major concern," emergency education coordinator Kitchingman said. 

UNICEF and Save the Children plan to start a non-formal primary education programme that will offer a second chance to complete primary education for children 11 to 14 years old who have never attended school. The programme will cover over 9,000 children, leaving a gap of another 9,000 without access to education. 

An additional 14,000 children aged 15 to 17 have no learning opportunities. 

In addition to the camp population, an estimated 17,000 children living in host communities - many in remote areas only accessible by boat - are also deprived of their right to an education. 

"We've got a huge amount of work ahead of us," UNICEF's Bainvel said. "As a way forward, we need to provide temporary learning opportunities to the displaced, but at the same time take a long-term development approach to the education situation in Rakhine." 

By AFP

September 16, 2013

YANGON – From political activists freed after years in Myanmar's jails to stricken and impoverished families, all are welcome at Yangon's Muslim Free Hospital -- a symbol of unity in a country riven by religious unrest.

There is barely a space left unoccupied in the bustling medical centre. From the soot-smeared front steps, through dusty stairwells and into sweltering wards, people wait for treatments that would be beyond their reach elsewhere in Myanmar's desperately underfunded health system.

The throngs of people -- the hospital sees up to 500 outpatients a day -- are a testament to the diversity of the Buddhist-majority country's main city, with flashes of colour from Myanmar skirt-like longyis and Muslim headscarves.

"I am a surgeon so my responsibility is to cure suffering patients," Tin Myo Win said before setting out on a tour of the wards.

"The policy of this hospital is not to discriminate. It does not matter whether people are rich or poor, or what religion they are," he said.

The doctor, a well-known former political prisoner who has for years been the personal physician for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said he had treated "many monks" during 21 years at the hospital.

The facility is a rare beacon of communal harmony in a country reeling from recent religious violence that has exposed deepening national fractures as it emerges from the shadows of military rule.

Around 250 people have been killed and more than 140,000 left homeless in several outbreaks of violence since June 2012, mainly minority Muslims who have been the target of riots and a nationalistic campaign led by some radical monks.

While the spread of religious unrest has stoked tension in the country, people visiting the hospital in a multicultural quarter of downtown Yangon said differences should be put aside.

"I don't think about it. I have done business with Muslims many times in the past. I have a good friendship with them," said Tin Tin Khaing, a Buddhist, whose 57-year-old father travelled from the Irrawaddy Delta region to have a hernia operation.

The hospital started life as the result of a campaign by young local Muslims as a small dispensary in 1937, when Myanmar was called Burma and run as an outpost of British India under colonial rule.

It now has departments specialising in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, eyes, and psychiatry. Treatments are free to those deemed too poor to contribute, while a small fee is charged to those able to pay.

All services are desperately needed in a country where the previous junta neglected the health system as it focused on military spending.

Some international aid agencies provide limited assistance in certain areas, and there are a scattering of clinics run by the Buddhist clergy and Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party.

But huge swathes of the impoverished population are effectively cut off from even the most basic medical help.

Chronically-underfunded government hospitals operate on a cost sharing basis, with patients charged for everything from the medicines needed to the equipment used.

According to World Health Organization data, total spending on healthcare in Myanmar was $27.9 per person in 2011.

The government accounted for just $2.9 of that -- the lowest contribution in the world. But this was actually an improvement from 2005, when the state spent just 50 US cents per capita.

Tin Myo Win, the only Buddhist department head at the hospital, said the Muslim practice of donating 10 percent of their income to charitable causes was an important source of income for the hospital, as well as paid-for treatments and international donations.

He said the hospital had long stood as a local symbol of tolerance and a refuge for those with nowhere else to go.

Under decades of junta rule, which ended two years ago, Myanmar authorities swept up hundreds of activists into the country's notorious jails, particularly those involved in mass anti-government protests in 1988 and 2007.

Political prisoners were often subjected to dire conditions, held far away from their families, treated with brutality and given no access to proper healthcare.

Many left jail in an extremely poor physical and mental state but were unable to afford treatment in state hospitals, which were also seen as hostile to the released campaigners, said Tin Myo Win.

The doctor spent three years in prison after taking part in a failed 1988 student-led uprising that also saw the rise of Suu Kyi's opposition. He has spent the two decades since his release working at the Muslim Hospital, which welcomed the detained activists.

"They don't just come here because of financial problems. It is also maybe because they believe in me. We understand each other very well. Only those who stayed in jail know how we suffered inside for food and health. The situation inside was terrible," he said.

Political reforms that have swept the country since a new quasi-civilian government took power in 2011 mean that former detainees are no longer shunned by state hospitals.

But old loyalties remain firm.

"The doctor is like my family member. We trust him, so we went to the hospital after we were released," said Kyaw Soe Naing, a five-time political prisoner who is now a close aide to Suu Kyi.

The 44-year-old said he hoped the Muslim Hospital would continue to grow and that more medical centres could follow its example.

"Whatever religion people believe in, they must receive treatment when they are sick. I want many such hospitals," he said.

By Shwe Aung

Democratic Voice of Burma

September 14, 2013

Some 3,000 mostly Muslim residents from Mekhtila remain homeless nearly six months after their homes were burnt to the ground in a deadly bout of religious violence, as a dispute over resettlement plans continues to escalate.

The government wants the residents, who are mostly farmers, to move into a series of apartment blocks away from their original homes. But the displaced Muslims say they will not be able to care for their livestock living in apartments and want their old land plots back.

U Win, an influential figure in the town, blamed the residents for being too stubborn to accept the new housing.

“Our country’s leaders, with utmost good-will, are looking to move them into new apartment buildings from previously living in small huts, but as some of them don’t like the idea and are refusing to sign a resettlement agreement, authorities are unable to go ahead with the plan,” he told DVB.

Some locals have even urged the government to forcibly relocate the residents if they are unwilling to move voluntarily.

“They should be resettled immediately – whether with use of authority or through reasoning – I would like to see something decisive as now it has been over six months,” said Khin Nan from the local charity, Htila Thukha Thamagi.

“Whether the authorities want to go ahead with the [apartment block] plan or the other way around, they should just go ahead.”

He added that although the IDPs, who are currently sheltered in government offices, sport stadiums and make-shift camps, receive regular donations from locals, they live like “prisoners”.

But critics say the new housing plan could enforce segregation between Muslims and Buddhists in Meikthila, and harm the reconciliation process. Some also worry that land belonging to local Muslims may be taken over by Buddhists. 

Local humanitarian groups sent a letter of objection to President Thein Sein in July asking that the IDPs just be allowed to rebuild their old homes. 

“Many of us are farmers who breed animals such as goats and horses. It’s not convenient to be housed in an apartment. Where will we keep our animals?” a displaced Meikhtila resident told Mizzima in July. 

Over 10,000 people, mostly Muslims, were displaced in March after a brawl in a Muslim-owned gold shop culminated in Buddhist mobs ransacking the town, destroying mosques, homes and murdering dozens of Muslim civilians – including 20 children. 

Thousands of people, whose houses survived the March riots, have already returned home.

By Dhaka Tribune

September 14, 2013

They had talked with the refugees introducing themselves as 'journalists'

Three foreigners were detained on Friday from the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, for unauthorised entrance into the restricted zone.

Two of the arrestees were from New Zealand and one from Singapore.

According to an eyewitness account, the individuals entered the camp around 12pm without prior authorisation from local administration.

They had cameras and laptops with them and talked with the refugees introducing themselves as “journalists.”

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the three and brought them to Ukhiya police station. However, the officer in charge of the station, Gias Uddin Mia, said they were not arrested but “taken into custody.”

He also said the foreigners admitted they were conducting a research on the Rohingya people. Whether or not they were journalists could not be confirmed, he added.

By AFP

September 14, 2013

BUDAPEST - Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday in Budapest that her country "cannot be a democratic nation as long as the (present) constitution is in effect".

Speaking in Hungary during a tour of central Europe, Suu Kyi said a report ordered by the legislature and due by the end of the year on possible changes to the constitution would "show how genuine the present government is about democratisation".

"The next few months will be crucial for the country's future," she said.

The constitution was crafted under the former military regime and blocks anyone, like Suu Kyi, whose spouses or children are foreign nationals from leading the country.

"If the government does not support moves to amend the constitution then we can conclude that the government is not interested in genuine democracy," Suu Kyi, who has said she will run for president at elections in 2015, told reporters.

Answering a question from a reporter who asked if boycotting the elections was an option, Suu Kyi said "we believe in keeping doors open for as long as possible."

Suu Kyi, 68, was speaking after meetings with Hungarian President Janos Ader and Deputy Foreign Minister Zsolt Nemeth.

Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest under military rule in Myanmar, before she was freed after controversial elections in 2010.

The democracy icon is now an opposition lawmaker as part of sweeping reforms under a new quasi-civilian regime that took office in 2011.

She arrived in Hungary from Poland and travels Saturday to the Czech Republic.

By Danny Gold - Photos: Andrew Stanbridge

VICE

September 13, 2013

Last month, United Nations human rights worker Tomas Quintana was set upon by a mob as he tried to visit a camp for Muslim refugees in the central Burmese city of Meiktila. “My car was descended upon by a crowd of around 200 people, who proceeded to punch and kick the windows and doors of the car while shouting abuse,” Quintana said in a statement.

Yet Burma's government seemed relatively untroubled by the incident. Ye Hut, a presidential spokesman, told members of the media that Quintana had simply misinterpreted the situation. Apparently, the mob wasn't a mob at all, but a welcoming party of peaceful protesters who were trying to give him a letter and a T-shirt. A few days earlier, through no small amount of bureaucratic wrangling, the photographer Andrew Stanbridge and I were able to visit the camp Quintana had been headed towards, as well as a few others nearby. I guess we weren't as welcome there as the big UN hotshots, however, because we weren't greeted by hundreds of people battering our car while trying to pass notes through the window. 

The internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in question has housed 1,600 Muslims since they lost their homes during Buddhist riots in Meiktila earlier this year. The violent anti-Muslim demonstrations started after an argument in a gold shop between a Muslim owner and a Buddhist customer spilled out into the street. Things escalated quickly: Muslims allegedly pulled a monk from his motorbike and set him on fire before Buddhists retaliated by burning down Muslim businesses and homes and hacking and burning Muslims to death as police stood by, either unwilling or unable to help.

Estimates put the number of those displaced by the riots at anywhere between 10,000 and 18,000, with at least 43 killed. According to officials in Meiktila, there are currently 4,000 people split between four IDP camps—three for Muslims and one for Buddhists. 

Confrontations between Buddhists and Muslims have been causing chaos in Burma—the Southeast Asian country formally known as Myanmar—since 2007, when the country began its so-called transition to democracy and freedom after an uprising against the military-led government in the Saffron revolution.

Violence in Rakhine, a state on Burma's western coast, started in mid-2012 when fights broke out between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic minority that many Burmese Buddhists refuse to accept as citizens. But while there's a long history of tension between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine, the situation is different in Meiktila, where the lineage and citizenship of Muslims is not in dispute and there's no real history of conflict except for a few minor incidents over the years. Many Muslims from the area claim to have lived in harmony with Buddhists.

Aung Thein, a lawyer and Muslim community leader, confirmed those claims when we met with him in one of the only mosques in Meiktila that wasn't destroyed during the riots. Thein echoed a number of Muslims we spoke to who didn't wish to be identified when he told us that prior to the attacks Muslims and Buddhists had maintained good relations, doing business and eating and sitting at tea shops together. He blamed the prolific spread of hate speech for inflaming the hostility. Much of this anti-Islam vitriol has been perpetuated by the extremist monk Ashin Wirathu and his followers in 969, a Buddhist nationalist group.

When I went to visit Wirathu at his monastery, he told me it was Muslims who had been initiating the sectarian clashes. According to him, his people, the rioters, were merely defending themselves. “Most of the Muslim people are aggressive… They are the reason for this racial conflict," he said. "When Buddhist Burmese people feel it’s unbearable, they counterattack them and [take] the law into their own hands, like vigilantes."

Despite his frequent sermons about the scourge of Muslims infiltrating Burma, Wirathu claimed that he was now trying to avoid more disorder: "I’m trying to encourage all the people to live in harmony and peace with people of different faiths. I’m starting to lay out the plans of how to live in peace and harmony with the local people."

Thein dismissed Wirathu's statements, telling us that following sermons by the 969 leader, pamphlets and DVDs featuring virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric were distributed all across Meiktila. "After the Rakhine violence, I found the hate speeches were spreading here and the local authorities did nothing to stop it," he said. 

He went on to explain how local police now refuse to let Muslims gather in groups—"The authorities are always pressuring us that it could happen again if we don’t listen to their orders"—and that while a lot of the hatred and anger had died down, he still didn’t feel safe. He also said that the authorities were making excuses to not allow the Muslim IDPs back to their homes.

The tension in the city remains, and it’s clear that many Muslims are still on edge. Many of those who haven't been displaced may be living alongside Buddhist neighbors who killed their friends or family members, Thein told us. "There are some people walking around [who were involved in the riots]. A woman had her husband killed. She knows who did it and she told the government, but they haven't done anything."

A Physicians for Human Rights report on the persecution of Muslims in Burma was released at the end of last month. It noted that there are still elements in place that could lead to "potential catastrophic violence in the future, including potential crimes against humanity and/or genocide".

The report also stated that many of those who had been responsible for the conflict had not been brought to justice, including police who facilitated some of the aggression. "Police in some cases were involved in direct attacks… in other cases, the police stood by and watched and did nothing to stop it," it reads.

When the report was released at the Bangkok Foreign Correspondents Club, its author, Bill Davis, said that though the clashes had stopped for now, the atmosphere of violence was still present. "It’s creating a culture of hatred and a culture that it’s kind of OK for this to go on," he said.

The latest reports say that 87 people have been arrested, and that only 38 of them were Buddhists. "Most of the people really involved in the planning are still free," a Muslim IDP told us. "It’s just the followers [who have been arrested], not the leaders."

While many hold Wirathu and his followers responsible for instigating the Buddhist rampage, theories abound as to what’s really behind it. Many see the violence as the product of manipulations by certain elements of the government who want to push the country back towards the military and away from democracy. Others think that it’s a simple land grab to push the Muslims off Meiktila's prime real estate and open up the area for development.

The word "cronies" is often thrown around, referring to members and friends of the old military junta who either want to maintain their grip on power or use it to get rich now that the country is opening up for business. "These cronies and the government want to move the country backward, and they create this Meiktila violence very systematically," said a trader who spoke with us at the mosque.

Punya Wontha, a monk who was one of the leaders of the Saffron revolution, agreed that "cronies" were behind the violence. But he saw the disorder as being motivated more by financial greed than an attempt by the displaced military junta to win back political power. "The problem here is about land ownership and corruption," he said, before pointing out another example of how Muslims are being persecuted in the country: Apparently it's now common for government officials to refuse to give Muslims their land back because they lack the correct "documentation." In many cases, the documentation never existed—and the land they're refusing to return could make a lot of members of Burma's former government very rich if they were to develop it.

"There are orders that they’re not allowed to go home," said Bill Davis. "These guys said they have to provide documents to prove that they actually own this land, which, first of all, nobody in Burma has, because that hasn’t been the system. And second, their houses have been destroyed, so even if they did have documents, they probably don’t have them any more."

He admitted that he could not confirm this theory and said there was no conclusive proof, but added, "A lot of the land is along the main road, which is very valuable for business and trading. Especially with the economy taking off, people want that land." Davis also mentioned that there have been similar situations of the government seizing land through nefarious means in other Burmese states, like Kachin and Karen.

Parts of the city look like they had been hit by an airstrike. As we wandered through the affected areas we saw scavengers digging up what could be salvaged and, in one burned-down neighborhood, goat herders and their flocks wandered through what used to be someone’s living room, grazing over shattered tea plates.

Sometime shortly after we had lunch, our fixer pointed out a comically obvious secret police officer who had tailed us as we drove to interview some of the IDPs at a location far from downtown. When we pulled up outside a house to meet the IDPs, our fixer invited the policeman into the house where we would be conducting interviews. I offered him a deal: if he could defeat Andrew in an arm wrestle (using both hands), he could stay. But if Andrew won, he would have to leave. After ten or so minutes of awkward loitering, he eventually left.

Though he seemed bumbling and inept and didn't pose any threat to us Western journalists, his presence was more ominous for our interview subjects and fixer. Despite the “Burmese Spring” and President Thein Sein’s constant assurance that he will free political prisoners, Muslims and human rights activists all over Burma told us they feared the consequences of being seen speaking to Western journalists by secret police and informers.

In July, an elderly Rohingya activist who frequently spoke out against the government was jailed on trumped-up charges, despite the fact he is in poor health and cannot access proper medical attention in prison. Another activist was arrested a few weeks later after sharing photos on Facebook of a police crackdown in the IDP camps in Rakhine.

The men we met who were living in the IDP camps all told a similar tale of their experiences since the violence began. They had lived in peace with the Buddhists for a long time, but had noticed tensions slowly rising. One, a retired police captain who had his house burned down, said, "I don’t know why this [happened]—our community did nothing wrong." Another said that Buddhists in his quarter were very familiar with him and that he had cooked for them before.

All of them blamed Wirathu for the attacks and said that the military and government were complicit. "In former times, we had peace, but the hate speeches spread systematically, and—slowly, slowly—they got into people," said one.

They told us there was no longer trust between the communities, and told us that the government needed to "make a policy" to ensure their safety. For now, though, their main concern is getting out of the camps.

The first camp we visited is called "the district playground"—an abandoned sports complex where 600 of the 900 residents lived in a small gym.

They’d been stuck like that for five months, since March 21. There was no privacy, no dividers between the plots of gym floor. Instead, there were just carpets or mats laid down, with a person’s possessions and bags of clothes serving as a perimeter marking the boundaries of their home. The floor was so crowded that two people couldn’t walk down the pathways side by side. One man said that he stayed on his piece of carpet with seven relatives.

No one seemed sure what their future held or what their best option was. "We have to go back to our houses. We don’t feel free here," one man said. Another chimed in to say that if he could go back tomorrow, he would.

Others said they didn’t feel safe out in the streets. "We have no future," said a woman whose house had been burned down. "We don’t want to go back."

Unlike our experience in IDP camps in other parts of Burma, in Meiktila, we were followed everywhere by an entourage of police—some uniformed, some not. It was hard to get a question in before a police officer or official inserted himself into the conversation, and once that happened, there was no point in continuing.

Outside the gym, other IDPs had set up bamboo shelters. Some cooked, some had little shops selling snacks and vegetables. There was a football field, and some had decided to use the concrete stands as shelter.

After leaving the district playground, we stopped at a Buddhist IDP camp closer to town. Conditions there weren’t much better. People were crammed into dark, dingy shelters, though there was fewer police present.

At the other Muslim camp that Quintana had intended to visit, IDPs live in a water supply plant. Some mingled outside, chopping firewood, while others played chinlone, a sport similar to volleyball, only you use your feet to kick a rattan ball. Bamboo shelters and single-story administrative buildings were divided up into approximately ten by ten-foot spaces for each family. Conditions seemed better in this camp, if not extremely cramped, even though our fixer had told us that it was viewed as the worst place to find yourself housed in.

At this camp, our entourage picked up even more cops and nameless intelligence officials. They joked among themselves, nipping at our heels as we walked around trying to find space to conduct interviews, our efforts mostly in vain. The stifling heat, cramped quarters, and fetid conditions—paired with the uncomfortable feeling of leading a veritable security brigade around the camp—left me feeling nauseous. We left after a brief walk through, exchanging pleasant farewells with our escorts outside the police-manned gate.

The IDP camps remain open with no clear date in sight for when the residents will be allowed to return to their homes, or what’s left of them. There doesn’t appear to be a plan in place for reconciliation among communities, or even a policy geared towards mitigating a chance of further violence.

Speaking of the mob attack in Meiktila, Quintana said, "The fear that I felt during this incident, being left totally unprotected by the nearby police, gave me an insight into the fear residents would have felt when being chased down by violent mobs during the violence last March, as police allegedly stood by as angry mobs beat, stabbed and burned to death some 43 people."

When authorities are either unable or unwilling to protect a UN envoy, it doesn’t bode well for the future of Muslims in Meiktila. 

Follow Danny on Twitter: @DGisSERIOUS

See more of Andrew's work on his website.

Danny Gold's reporting was made possible by a grant from the International Center for Journalists.

By AFP
September 13, 2013

BANGKOK - More than 200 Muslim Rohingya boat people have landed in southern Thailand, authorities said Thursday, a possible sign that vessels from Myanmar are risking the journey before the end of the monsoon season.

The group, believed to be fleeing sectarian violence in unrest-torn Rakhine State, western Myanmar, landed on a remote beach during a storm in southern Satun province on Wednesday, an official said.

"We gave them water, food and fixed their boat," the official from the local Internal Security Operation Command, who did not want to be named, told AFP, adding the group then returned to the boat and set sail.

"We want them to go away out of the country... They do not want to stay here and authorities here do not want to take them", he said, adding the Rohingya normally want to head on to neighbouring Muslim countries.

While he did not mention any countries by name, the Rohingya generally prefer to aim for Malaysia or Indonesia.

Thousands of Muslim Rohingya boat people -- including women and children -- have fled the former junta-ruled country since Buddhist-Muslim clashes a year ago in Rakhine.

But most make the perilous journey after the monsoon season has waned in October when high seas calm.

A local village official confirmed late Wednesday that the group had made land in Satun province, after a 15-day voyage through rough seas.

"They are all men -- aged between 15 and 45-years-old... they looked skinny, they had no energy -- some could not even walk," Somnuk Khunsuek told AFP, adding they wanted to reach Malaysia.

Thailand has faced criticism from rights groups for detaining hundreds of Rohingya boat people in overcrowded and insanitary facilities while it waits for a "third country" to offer to take them.

But overseas help has not been forthcoming so far, leaving the refugees in limbo, and separated from their families.

The kingdom initially said the asylum-seekers would be allowed to stay for six months while the government worked with the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, to try to find other countries willing to accept them.

It has extended the deadline to early next year, but rights groups say the Rohingya remain vulnerable to exploitation while they do not have full legal status in the kingdom.

In January Thai authorities opened an investigation into allegations that army officials were involved in trafficking Rohingya.

A spokeswoman for the UN's refugee arm said boat people should never be "pushed on", adding those fleeing unrest "must be able to access asylum where they arrive".

RB News 

September 12, 2013

Buthidaung, Arakan – A group of Hlun Htaine, police, soldiers and village administrators raided Rohingya houses. They arrested 10 Rohingyas including 3 women. This happened in Phaya Aung Pyin Pa village in Nyaung Chaung village tract of Buthidaung Township in Arakan State. 

On September 7th, at 10 pm a group of police along with Hlun Htaine, soldiers and village administrators raided the houses in Phaya Aung Pyin Pa village and arrested 10 Rohingyas on baseless accusations and later the arrestees had money extorted from them.

“The accusations were found more or less people at home than the list in family registration list. They just accused whatever they have in their mouths. And also some were accused as using Bangladesh mobile SIM. They arrested 10 Rohingyas including some women with those false accusations.” a Rohingya told RB News. 

The arrestees were brought to Buthidaung police station. The police asked them to pay 100,000 kyats for their release. Furthermore, the police threatened them that they will be arrested again if they inform the media or any others about the arrest and extortion. Reportedly, the arrestees were beaten and scolded by the police. Although the arrestees couldn’t afford it, they borrowed the money from others to give to the police. They feared that otherwise, they would be sentenced with false allegations. 

The village administrator of Phaya Aung Pyin village is a Rakhine. He is always collaborating with police, Hlun Htaine and soldiers to extort money from local Rohingyas.

The 10 Rohingyas who were released after paying 100,000 kyats in extortion are:

(1) Einus, son of Kala Miah (45-years-old) 

(2) Zahir Uddin, son of Abdul Salam (49-years-old) 

(3) Amir Hussein, son of Mawtaw Lab (39-years-old) 

(4) Halima, daughter of U Shaim (35-years-old) 

(5) Aisha, daughter of Nazir Ahmed (37-years-old) 

(6) Hasina, daughter of Musa Miah (40-years-old) 

(7) Abu Bakr, son of Abdul Gani (53-years-old) 

(8) Abdul Rahman, son of Kala Miah (54-years-old) 

(9) Abdul Qader, son of Muter (43-years-old) 

(10) Qader Hussein, son of Abdul Rahman (37-years-old)

By AFP

September 12, 2013

WARSAW — Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Thursday that she alone could not stop the anti-Muslim violence that has shaken her country and that the solution was to install the rule of law.

"It's not something that I could learn to do, but I think what this whole society has to strive to do," the democracy icon told reporters in Warsaw during a tour of central Europe.

"We need rule of law in order that our people may feel secure and only secure people can talk to one another and try to establish the kind of relationship that will assure harmony for the future of our nation."

Suu Kyi was answering a question from a reporter who asked if she personally could do anything to stop the sectarian violence.

While she is venerated for her struggle for democracy, some international human rights activists have accused the Nobel Peace laureate of failing to clearly condemn anti-Muslim violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Sectarian clashes in the western state of Rakhine last year left about 200 people dead, mostly Rohingya Muslims who are denied citizenship.

Suu Kyi, 68, was speaking after having lunch with Polish anti-communist firebrand Lech Walesa.

The fellow Nobel Peace laureate was leader of the Solidarity trade union, which negotiated a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989.

The following year he became Poland's first democratically elected president since World War II.

Walesa, 69, said he thought Myanmar would one day achieve democracy like Poland.

"Before we achieved success, we lost a couple battles," he said.

"They are in a similar situation: they're losing some battles. But on balance they will probably win the war."

Suu Kyi, who has said she will run for president in 2015, stressed the need to amend Myanmar's current constitution, which she said "is against all democratic values".

The document was crafted under the former military regime and blocks anyone, like Suu Kyi, whose spouses or children are foreign nationals from leading the country.

Warsaw's mayor announced she was making Suu Kyi an honorary citizen of the city, a distinction only offered to one other foreigner, the Dalai Lama.

Earlier Thursday, Suu Kyi met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Bronislaw Komorowski.

Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest under military rule in Myanmar, before she was freed after controversial elections in 2010.

She is now an opposition lawmaker as part of sweeping reforms under a new quasi-civilian regime that took office in 2011.

The democracy icon next heads to Hungary and the Czech Republic.