By Reuters

April 6, 2018

MANILA  -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday (April 5) "genocide" was taking place in Myanmar and he was willing to accept Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing from it, though Europe should help too.

The United Nations and rights groups say some 700,000 people, most of them Rohingya, have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh since August last year when Rohingya militant attacks on the security forces sparked a military crackdown.

The United Nations and several Western countries have said the Myanmar action constitutes ethnic cleansing but Myanmar rejects that. It says its security forces have been conducting legitimate operations against "terrorists".

Duterte, in a wide-ranging speech to farmers and agriculture officials at the presidential palace, touched on various issues including his recent decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court over its decision to open a preliminary investigation into his bloody war on drugs.

Drawing the ire of officials in Myanmar, Duterte then expressed sympathy for the Rohingya and offered to help.

"I really pity the people there," Duterte said. "I'm willing to accept refugees. Rohingyas, yes. I will help but we should split them with Europe."

He also mentioned the inability of the international community to resolve problems in Myanmar.

"They can't even solve the Rohingya. That's what genocide is, if I may say so," Duterte said.

Myanmar has rejected any suggestion genocide is taking place and its government spokesman, Zaw Htay, said Duterte's comments did not reflect the real situation.

"He doesn't know anything about Myanmar," Zaw Htay told Reuters.

"The usual behaviour of that person is to speak without restraint. That's why he said that."

Duterte's comments were broadcast live on television and later included in a transcript of his speech, issued by his office.

Such a denunciation by a South-east Asian leader of a neighbour is rare.

Both the Philippines and Myanmar are members of the Association of South East Asian Nations which has long upheld a convention of withholding criticism of fellow members.

Duterte did not refer by name to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been heavily criticised abroad for failing to stand up for the largely stateless Rohingya, only saying: "That woman, she is my friend."

By AFP

April 6, 2018

Five Rohingya stranded at sea for almost three weeks have been rescued by Indonesian fishermen but another five of them died during the harrowing ordeal, officials said Friday.

News of the rescue comes several days after the arrival in Malaysia of another boat carrying dozens of members of the persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar.

The group of two men, aged 28 and 33, a 20-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and an eight-year old boy were spotted Monday in a small boat in waters off southern Thailand and Myanmar, 325 kilometres (176 miles) from Aceh province in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

The fishermen took them back to Aceh on Sumatra island and the group arrived early Friday.

"They were immediately brought to a local hospital for treatment as they were weak," Abdul Musafir, head of the East Aceh search and rescue team, told AFP.

"But I'm sure they will be fit again after a couple of days in hospital."

Musafir added that the group said they had been travelling with some two dozen other Rohingya but got separated. He did not provide further details.

East Aceh police said the rescued five were stranded at sea for about 20 days while five others had starved to death and their bodies were thrown overboard.

It has been rare for Rohingya migrants to attempt the sea routes south since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, sparking a crisis across Southeast Asia as large numbers were abandoned at sea.

But there have been concerns desperate migrants might start taking to the high seas again after mainly Buddhist Myanmar launched a new crackdown last year that forced about 700,000 members of the stateless Muslim minority to flee to Bangladesh.

In 2015 hundreds of Rohingya came ashore in Aceh, where they were welcomed in the staunchly conservative Islamic province.

Special envoy recommends those responsible for violence be brought to justice

By Barry Ellsworth

Anadolu Agency

April 4, 2018

TRENTON, Canada -- The special envoy investigating the plight of the Rohingya Muslims issued a report Tuesday that encouraged Canada to accept refugees displaced by persecution in Myanmar.

The report by former Ontario premier and Toronto MP Bob Rae, also recommended sanctions and prosecution against those in Myanmar who are behind the crisis that has forced Rohingya to flee for their lives to Bangladesh.

There is proof “to support the charge that crimes against humanity have been committed,” the report stated.

Rae, who was appointed special envoy by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, traveled extensively in the region in February and released his report at a news conference in Ottawa.

He visited Bangladesh refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are living in deplorable conditions.

While he was refused permission by Myanmar officials to go to Rakhine State, the home territory of the Rohingya, Rae said he saw enough of the wanton destruction of villages to convince him of the persecution.

“Words cannot convey the extent of the humanitarian crisis people currently face in 

Bangladesh and Myanmar,” the report stated. “In addition to accounts of shooting and military violence, I also heard directly from women of sexual violence and abuse at the hands of the Myanmar military and of the deaths of children and the elderly on the way to the camps.”

Rae made 17 recommendations to help ease the plight of the Rohingya who have been called the most persecuted group on the globe.

They included that “Canada should signal a willingness to welcome refugees from the Rohingya community” from Myanmar and Bangladesh and also encourage other countries to do the same.

Myanmar officials should also help the Rohingya return home, but under close scrutiny so the refugees would be safe from the military and mobs in Myanmar that is predominately a Buddhist country.

Rae also suggested countries, including Canada, should hit “targeted economic sanctions” those who are behind the violence.

“Canada should be actively working with like-minded countries to identify the individuals or parties that should be subject to sanctions,” he wrote. “Canada should also continue its arms embargo and should seek a wider ban on the shipment of arms to Myanmar.”

Another recommendation is to prosecute those who have caused “the forcible and violent displacement of more than 671,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State in Myanmar.”

While Canada has already committed more than CAN$45 million in aid to the Rohingya, Rae suggested more was needed and CAN$150 million be given in the next four years.

He said Canada should raise the crisis at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London later this month, as well next month at the G7 summit in Canada.

The Canadian government will review the report and decide on what action to take.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012

Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.

At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders. In a report published on Dec. 12, 2017, the global humanitarian organization said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

To the Bosom of My State 

Ro Mayyu Ali

RB Poem

April 3, 2018

The world I knew is gone

The people I loved were displaced, Missing, incarcerated and dead

My home is completely gone 

And my life is smashed to nothing

I had to escape to another's hands

Now I survive by aids in the world's largest settlement 

Here I'm quite subjected 

As the prey of the earth nature 

And the the victim of creature misbehave 

Oh! You my state! 

So many things despite, I yearn in you

Perhaps, the bond I have for you is still intact

How my heart beats to dwell in your bosom 

It doesn't only mean I can't live without you. 

It so means none other closer than you for me

In my eyes, it is dream for you

On mind, full thought of changes 

In heart, a bunch of desires 

I can stay away from you.

Never I can be without thinking of you 

I can be exiled from you. 

Can nothing remove you from my heart 

Other's love for you could be in heart

What love I have for you is in my blood 

I love you in any circumstance

I love you, my motherland 

I love you, my Myanmar!

The Rohingya that stopped at the Thai island of 'Koh Lanta' on Saturday (Assadawuth Suden/Associated Press)

By AFP

April 1, 2018

A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees trying to reach Malaysia briefly stopped on a Thai island, an official said Sunday, as fears grow about overcrowded camps for the stateless minority fleeing violence in Myanmar.

BANGKOK: A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees trying to reach Malaysia briefly stopped on a Thai island, an official said Sunday (Apr 1), as fears grow about overcrowded camps for the stateless minority fleeing violence in Myanmar.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have sought shelter in southern Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents in August that the US and UN have called ethnic cleansing.

But the refugees have arrived to find cramped settlements and often squalid conditions in Cox's Bazar, where hundreds of thousands who fled previous waves of persecution are already living.

An agreement to repatriate Rohingya from Bangladesh to Myanmar's Rakhine state has yet to see a single refugee returned.

Rohingya migrants attempting the boat routes south have been a rare sighting since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, leaving thousands of migrants abandoned in open waters or jungle camps.

The Rohingya boat arrived off Thailand's western coast in Krabi province early Sunday due to bad weather.

Images showed the passengers being interviewed on shore and then getting back into the boat before departing.

Krabi governor Kitibodee Pravitra confirmed that the people travelling on the boat were Rohingya but did not know where they had come from.

"The initial report said they were docking near Koh Lanta this morning to avoid the storm," he said, referring to an island popular with tourists. "They want to go to Malaysia."

The Rohingya on board would continue toward their destination, he said.

He said there were about 56 women, men and children on board.

Many of the Rohingya ensnared in the 2015 boat crisis wound up in Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia as Thailand stuck to a policy of not accepting the vessels.

Bangladeshi economic migrants have also taken the boat routes.

There are nearly 70,000 Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers living in Malaysia, according to the most recent statistics from the UN refugee agency.

RB News

March 31, 2018

Minbya, Arakan State: On March 30 morning, a Prayer Leader or Imam was brutally beaten and injured by a Rakhine extremist at 'Tha Yet Oak' hamlet, 'Na Ga Ra' village tract, Pan Myaung region in 'Minbya' Township. 

The 57-years-old Ahmed Husson is the Imam in the mosque of Na Ga Ra's Tha Yek Oak (Noyapara) living his life by fishing. In the morning around 7AM on 30th March, he was whacked on his head with a wooden rod by the son of U Kyaw Zaw Aung from Kyun Taw Rakhine village, while he was fishing by a net in the shore of 'Lay Myo' River. As a result of the forceful strike, the head of the Imam was scuffed and severely injured, according to a a villager who spoke to RB News. 

No one has come to investigate the incident yet though the administration members from 'Tha Yet Oak' informed the police station in Pan Myaung via telephone, added the villager. 

"We can't go to police station no matter what we face. We just can move in and around the two neighboring Rohingya hamlets. Those two hamlets are inside Na Ga Ra village tract. We are not allowed to go any other places" said the villager. 

Tha Yet Oak is one of the 11 hamlets in Na Ga Ra village tract. There are 3 Rohingya hamlets including Tha Yet Oak among 11 and Rohingya in there can move around in the Rohingya hamlets and no one is allowed to go to other villages, not even to the police station. 

The condition of the Imam Ahmed Husson is serious but he cannot access yet to any hospital for the required medical treatments. 

Since 2012, the movements of the Rohingya villagers in Na Ga Ra have been restricted within the village and totally trapped in. They have no source to earn money and been surviving doing what they can find. Thus, the villagers often face persecutions of the government's Armed Forces and tortures in the hands of some Rakhine extremists. 

There are often cases of deaths of the Rohingya villagers as a result of tortures by the extremists, say the villagers.

[Translated into English by Mayyu Ali]

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