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August 28, 2017

'We have shown our interest to help Myanmar get rid of its security concerns'

Dhaka has proposed starting a joint anti-terrorism crackdown with Yangoon especially against the Arakan Army and other insurgent outfits of Myanmar.

Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry made the proposal after summoning Myanmar’s acting ambassador in Dhaka, Aung Myint, on Monday.

An official of the ministry, requesting anonimity, said it was a completely new proposal.

“We have shown our interest to help Myanmar get rid of its security concerns,” the official added.

This was the second time the envoy was summoned to the ministry in a span of 48 hours.

In a formal letter issued to the ambassador, Bangladesh has proposed joint operation along its border with Myanmar through cooperation between the border security forces of the two countries.

Though the Myanmarese forces have been carrying out atrocities on the Rohingya minorities in the country’s Rakhine State for the last few days, Yangoon recently claimed that Bangali terrorists were doing so.

When asked if the use of the term “Bangali terrorists” was discussed, the Foreign Ministry official said: “We have expressed our grave concern about the term and asked the ambassador to tell the higher authorities of his government not to use it again.”

Bangladesh had placed another such proposal for joint operation to Myanmar in August 2016, which was not that elaborative compared to the latest one.

The Border Guard Bangladesh and the Border Guard Police held a meeting on this issue in April this year, which ended without any decision.




By Ro Mayyu Ali 
RB News
August 28, 2017

One week before the submission of the Kofi Annan led Rakhine Commission's final report, Suu Kyi's government extended a military troop to trouble Northern Rakhine State. For that regard, Myanmar-based UN special rapporteur Ms. Yanghee Lee and some Human Rights Organizations condemned for such action of Myanmar government. 

Despite the condemnations, the extended military and BGP forces have extended the level of mistreatment to Rohingya people. Since the second week of July, 2017, Rohingya villagers around Zedi Pyin and Ahtet Nan Yar villages in Rathidaung township have been facing the severe blockage of food and water. On 24 of August, 2017, when Kofi Annan, the chairman of Rakhine Commission submitted their final report to Myanmar's president U Tin Shwe, five innocent IDP Rohingya men were shot to dead by Myanmar's Armed Forces in Zedi Pyin, Rathidaung Township. 

Before the predawn of 25 August, 2017, the clash between ARSA and Myanmar's Armed Forces have been intensified again. Since the day broke up, the coordinated military and BGP forces have been shooting the villagers and firing the launchers and machine guns across the Rohingya villages in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathidaung townships. 

On 25 of August, 2017, around 7 am in the morning, hundreds of Rakhine extremists coordinating with military and BGP forces have started to burn down the houses of Chain Khali's Rohingyas in Rathedaung Township. Suddenly the villagers were scattered. All men escaped and hiked to nearby mountain. Husbands had no chance to take their wives. Parents had no chance to think of their children. Everyone was on run and rush to escape. What had happened on Rohingya women and children then? Meet this 28-years-old Abdul Majeed son of Abdul Shukur, an escapee Rohingya man from Chain Khali village. How his three children and wife were slaughtered during that holocaust. He is alive and wants you to listen his jaw-dropping story. His three sons are Risel (5-yo), Fisal (3-yo) and Yaser (6-mo).




"When a launcher hit one of my neighbor's home, I suddenly escaped out. Men were running to mountain. And I followed. I missed my family at home" said Abdul Majeed. "When the fire was ceased, we some men dared and went back home to see our family in village. Soon, I found my wife and her mother lying down on the compound of my home. I lost myself seeing them. Both were killed by gun-shot." he bursted into tears. "While I was trying to find out the bodies of my three children, I saw some half-burnt bodies nearby. And I intended going to see. Suddenly the forces shot to us. And we rushed and escaped from bullets. Two days later, I could move to another village to refuge in." he added. This is his wife, Masheda, 27 years old. The next one is the mother of his wife, Laila, 62 years old.




He thinks himself as a very unlucky man in the world. Because he neither finds out the bodies of his three children nor affords to arrange a funeral for his wife and wife's mother. His all three children are known under five. "Still the dead are lying down in there. No one can go there to bury them. We tried again and again. The forces are standby there and Rakhine villagers collect all properties remained in ablaze." the man assured. " I lost everything in my life" he added. 

Rathedaung's Chain Khali is a hamlet consisting over 800 houses and 6000 Rohingya people. During the holocaust, at least 100 Rohingya old men, women and children were killed by Myanmar's Armed Forces. Almost houses were burnt down. 

Today, someone can find out in there only the primary school stands intact. Everything was almost razed and incinerated. The truth of the same many more holocausts might reveal very soon in other Rohingya villages such as Zedi Pyin in Rathidaung, Pan Daw Pyin and Taung Bazaar in Buthidaung and Hoilla Banga and Myint Hlut villages in Maungdaw. 

RB News
August 28, 2017

We are today into the fourth day of the Myanmar military's full blown offensives on the Rohingya population across Northern Arakan. What we have been witnessing since since August 25 are widespread arson attacks on Rohingya villages, horrific massacres and summary executions of (Rohingya) civilians and other forms for countless atrocity crimes.

Below are the reports we have received so far on the fourth day (August 28, 2017).

1- Approximately, 100 Rohingya children and women were massacred by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists at 'Maung Nu' hamlet of 'Chin Thama' village in northern Buthidaung after 5:30pm August 27.

Men had been arrested and segregated from their women and children before the massacre.

2- Chilling massacres of Rohingya civilians by Myanmar troops and Rakhine extremists at 'Chut Pyin' in Rathedaung on August 27 evening!

Over 350 homes were burnt down, at least 100 Rohingya civilians are believed massacred; 10 corpses were recovered; 50 more abducted by the military & the extremists have gone missing.

[Video: Warning: Disturbing Content; Viewer Discretion Advised]






3- 12:30am 28/8/2017: The remaining parts of 'Myo Thu Gyi' village are being set ablaze by the Myanmar military. Dozens of Rohingya civilian casualties are highly likely.

4- 2:30am 28/8/2017: More than 300 Rohingya homes have been burnt down at Quarter 5 in Maungdaw by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists since August 27 evening.

5- 3am 28/8/2017: Over 1,000 Rohingya homes at 'Myo Thu Gyi' (almost entire village) have been burnt down by Myanmar military by locking the villagers inside.

Many villagers could have been burnt alive in the blazing fire in the village. Hence, feared of extremely high civilian casualties!

6- 8:30am 28/8/2017: 'Khwa Chaung' hamlet of 'Aan Daang,' a Rohingya village, in Southern Maungdaw has been set ablaze by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists.

7- 9am 28/28/2017: Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists began to torch northern Hamlet of 'Kyi Kan Pyin' village in Northern Maungdaw Township.

8- 10am 28/8/2017: Indiscriminate killings and carnage of Rohingya people by Myanmar military are taking place at 'Kyi Kan Pyin' in northern Maungdaw.



9- 9:30am 28/8/2017: 'Myo Thu Gyi' village and its hamlet 'Thaung Paing Nya' in Maungdaw are still being put on fire by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists.

10- 9:30am 28/8/2017: Over 100 Myanmar military are entering 'Ye Mya Taung' village in Northern Maungdaw firing indiscriminately at the Rohingya villagers.

11- 11am 28/8/2017: Myanmar military helicopter gunships are flying over 'Kyein Chaung' and other Rohingya villages in northern Maungdaw.

12- 11am 28/8/2017: Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists from Rakhine hamlets of Baggona village - KanThaYa KareyMraing & Bodi Gone - in Southern Maungdaw are gathering at one place.

Highly likely to torch nearby Rohingya villages!

13- 11am 28/8/2017: Numbers of Rohingya civilians being killed by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists at 'Kyi Kan Pyin' village in Northern Maungdaw are increasing alarmingly. 

[Video: Warning: Disturbing Content; Viewer Discretion Advised]



14- Horrific scenes of Rohingya fleeing as their homes were set ablaze by Myanmar mililtary.

[Vid sent from Maungdaw with #English voice-over]


15- 2:30pm 28/8/2017: 'Kyauk Pandu' village in Southern Maungdaw has been torched by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists. Arson Attacks!

16- 3pm 28/8/2017: 'Kyi Kan Pyin' village in Maungdaw is still burning. Arson attacks on Rohingya villages by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists continue.



17- 3:30pm 28/8/2017: 'Koe Tan Kauk' and 'Tha Wan Chaung' villages in Rathedaung have been being set ablaze by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists.

All villagers are fleeing to nearby hills.

18- 3pm 28/8/2017: 'Guta Pyin' Rohingya village in Buthidaung has been set ablaze by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists. 

19- 3pm 28/8/2017: 'Guta Pyin' Rohingya village in Buthidaung has been set ablaze by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists.

20- 3pm 28/8/2017: Rohingya villagers flee from 'Alay Than Kyaw' as arson attacks & killings by Myanmar army by going house to house growing alarmingly.



21- 5:30pm 28/8/2017: Myanmar military set 'Maazi' hamlet of 'Mi Chaung Zay' in Buthidaung on fire. Arson Attacks on Rohingya!

22- 6pm 28/8/2017: Myanmar military have brought around 50 coprses to the Muslim cemetery at Quarter 2 in Maungdaw for burial, an eyewitness said.

The quarter administrator in advance said 2 corpses would have to be brought to the cemetery. But they turned out around 50. Highly likely Rohingya corpses!

23- 6pm 28/8/2017: Only ashes remain at South, Middle and West hamlets of 'Kyi Kan Pyin' in Maungdaw after tge arson attacks by the Myanmar troops on the Rohingya village at 3pm.

24- 7pm 28/8/2017: The Myanmar Border Guard Police from 'Maggyi Chaung' base are now torching 'Paik Thay' hamlet of Padin village on fire. There are approximately 100 Rohingya households in the hamlet.

25- 8pm 28/8/2017: Arson attacks by Myanmar military on 'Reeda' hamlet of 'Aung Seik Pyin' village in Northern Maungdaw razed 85 Rohingya houses. The fire started at around 6pm has ceased now.



26- 10pm 28/8/2017: The Myanmar military massacred 8 Rohingya civilians at 3 hamlets of 'Alay Than Kyaw' village in southern Maungdaw this morning.

27- 10pm 28/8/2017: About 100 Myanmar military arrived and encamped at 'Kyun Pauk Pyu Suu' BGP Camp in 'Taung Pyo' sub-township in Northern Maungdaw.
Nearby Rohingya villagers fear of arson attacks by the Myanmar military!

To be updated as news breaks....

[Reported by RB Correspondents in Northern Arakan; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

Please email at: editor@rohingyablogger.com to send your reports and feedback.

August 27, 2017

Rights group asks Bangladesh not to turn away refugees, and slams Aung San Suu Kyi's 'unacceptable response' to crisis.

A Rohingya rights group has urged the international community to take action to protect the stateless group [AP]

Bangladesh has detained and forcibly returned at least 90 Muslim Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, as thousands of civilians from the ethnic minority area, on the other side of the border, attempt to escape from continuing violence that has killed scores of people.

At least 20 Rohingya were caught on Sunday and sent back after crossing the Naf river, a natural border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, Ariful Islam, a commander with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), told AFP news agency.

Separately, a group of 70 Rohingya were also sent back by police late on Saturday, after they crossed the "zero line" border zone, where Myanmar soldiers earlier fired mortars and machine guns at Rohingya villagers, making the dangerous dash from Myanmar's northern state of Rakhine. 

The villagers were caught roughly four kilometres inside Bangladeshi territory, en route to a refugee camp in Kutupalong, where thousands of Rohingya already live in squalid conditions, said local police chief Abul Khaer.

"All 70 were detained and later pushed back to Myanmar by the border guards," Khaer told AFP.

"They were pleading with us not to send them back to Myanmar," another police officer said on condition of anonymity.

In its latest report on Sunday, the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, said the death toll from the clashes between security forces and Rohingya rebels that started on Thursday has reached 96 - mostly alleged Rohingya attackers but also 12 security personnel. 

Myanmar's government has accused armed men from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) of carrying out the deadly attack on police outposts, which sparked the latest violence.

Hundreds of Rohingya refugees are still stranded at the "zero line" border zone between Bangladesh and Myanmar [AFP]

Local Rohingya activists have reported higher death toll, but Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the figures. 

Since the violence erupted, thousands of Rohingya have fled towards Bangladesh, but authorities there have refused to let most of them.

'Fleeing for their lives'

Al Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from the Bangladesh side of the border, said hundreds are stranded in at least two temporary camps set up by Bangladesh police. 

"The situation is very dire, and it has taken a new dimension because there is a small-scale insurgency within the Rohingya community in the Myanmar side.

"For Bangladesh, it is a major challenge," he said, pointing that there are already an estimated half a million Rohingya in the country. 

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights, a human rights monitor in Myanmar, described the Rohingya situation as "completely unacceptable" and called on the international community to take an "urgent humanitarian assistance" on both sides of the border.

He said the military attacks carried out by Myanmar troops were indiscriminate.

"We are consistently getting reports of army attacks on civilian populations, burning villages down, killing men, women and children, and this is leading people to flee for their lives."

One video posted on social media showed hundreds of Rohingya, drenched in the rain, clambering up and down a muddy hill while trying to cross a creek. 

Smith urged Bangladesh not to turn Rohingya away, saying its government has an "obligation to give at least temporary protection to refugees ... running through forests, fleeing for their lives, in most cases with only the clothes on their back".

He also criticised Myanmar's Suu Kyi "for waging a very dangerous propaganda campaign" against humanitarian workers helping the Rohingya.

"She's been shockingly irresponsible with this crisis," he said. "The international community needs to speak loudly, clearly and with a singular voice that this is completely unacceptable, and her government needs to change course."

The Rohingya have long faced severe discrimination and were the targets of violence in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people - predominantly Rohingya - from their homes to camps for the internally displaced, where most remain.

Suu Kyi has called Thursday's attacks "a calculated attempt to undermine the efforts of those seeking to build peace and harmony in Rakhine state."

Rohingya women and children are seen waiting on the border to enter into Bangladesh territory to escape the Myanmar army atrocity - Dhaka Tribune

By FM Mizanur Rahaman
August 27, 2017

They entered Bangladesh from Maungdaw after receiving gunshot injuries during the ongoing crackdown of the Myanmar army

Chittagong, Bangladesh -- Four Rohingya Muslim youths, all of them with gunshot wounds sustained during the army’s ongoing crackdown in Myanmar’s north-western Rakhine State, have been admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH).

Three of them were brought in from Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya upazila in the early hours of Sunday while the fourth arrived around 3pm, said CMCH police outpost’s Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Alauddin Talukder.

He said all of the four, identified as Ziabul, 27, Ilias, 20, Mobarak Hossain, 25, and Md Toha, 16, were from Rakhine’s Maungdaw.

Of them, Ilias was in critical condition with bullet wounds on his head and in one hand, said ASI Alauddin.

They were sent to CMCH after they were given first aid at Médecins Sans Frontières hospital at the Kutupalong refugee camp.

Two other Rohingya youths were also admitted to CMCH on Saturday with bullet injuries. However, one of them later died.

The crackdown on Rohingyas started after insurgents wielding guns, sticks and homemade bombs attacked 30 police posts and an army base in the border state of Rakhine and killed 12 security personnel in the early hours of Friday.

While thousands of Rohingya Muslims attempted to flee across the border to Bangladesh, the death toll, according to the Myanmar government, since then has climbed to 98, including some 80 insurgents, reports Reuters.

Rakhine is bisected by religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

The Myanmar government on Sunday said at least 4,000 non-Muslim villagers were evacuated amid the ongoing clashes in Rakhine, reports Reuters.

Fighting involving the military and hundreds of Rohingya across Rakhine continued on Saturday with the fiercest clashes taking place on the outskirts of the major town of Maungdaw, according to residents and the government.

Bracing for more violence, thousands of Rohingyas – mostly women and children – were trying to forge the Naf river separating Myanmar and Bangladesh and the land border as gunfire could be heard from the Myanmar side on Sunday, Bangladesh Border Guard officials said.

Around 2,000 people crossed into Bangladesh since Friday, according to estimates by Rohingya refugees living in the makeshift camps on this side of the border. But fresh clashes triggered another rush of Rohingyas towards the no man’s land between the countries on Sunday.

The violence marked a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered in the region since last October, when a similar but much smaller Rohingya attack prompted a brutal military operation dogged by allegations of serious human rights abuses.

(Photo: Wai Moe/AFP)

Ref: NL20170827 27.08.2017

Press Release

URGENT APPEAL FOR PROTECTION AND SAFETY IN RAKHINE STATE

We, the undersigned Rohingya organizations and communities worldwide are deeply concerned with the recent developments following clashes in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar on August 25, 2017. We appeal the international community to exercise “the Responsibility to Protect” as the Rohingya civilian population plunges into another episode of widespread “crimes against humanity” under the hands of Myanmar Armed Forces.

Less than a year after “clearance operations” in the volatile region where U.N. and several human rights organizations have documented strong evidence which they described as “crimes against humanity”, and “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya, Myanmar military has ramped up the security forces again and is using disproportionate force against the Rohingya civilians following the clashes in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung townships.

The reports that have emerged from the ground since August 25, point to the severe human rights violations being committed. The use of excessive force against the entire Rohingya community, reportedly including machine-gunned helicopters, has resulted in mass civilian casualties surpassing the triple-figure mark in only two days’ time. Thousands of Rohingya from at least 25 villages are displaced as their villages were set on fire with rocket-launchers. Many villagers in isolated locations are attempting to take shelter in the jungle, others have risked crossing the Myanmar-Bangladesh border most are stranded on the Myanmar-side of the Naf River as Bangladesh tightens its border security and continues to push back the fleeing Rohingya. The civilians are inundated with an acute humanitarian crisis and medical emergency. In addition to the existing medical conditions and injuries sustained from indiscriminate firing from the armed forces Rohingya are subjected to the commandeering of their homes, destruction of property and livestock.

In her official statement on August 25, the state-counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself mentioned that her “government has been aware of the risk of attacks to coincide with the release of the Commission’s final report.” Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing showed dissatisfaction of the recommendations and called them “factually flaws and deficient”. 

There are very clear lines to be drawn connecting all the events that have been taking place in the recent weeks: the mobilization of a highly advanced army battalion and other security forces in the northern region of Rakhine State; the high-level meeting between Min Aung Hlaing and Rakhine nationalist party ANP lawmakers; the visit of now-rebranded Ma Ba Tha’s firebrand monk Wirathu to Rakhine State; the failure to pass the proposal in parliament for an increase of security measures and creation of fully trained and armed “people’s militia” against the Rohingya civilians.

There were repeated acts of provocations against Rohingya civilians particularly in Rathedaung township, where several Rohingya villages were under complete blockade with repetitive raids, harassments, physical tortures and arbitrary arrests of village leaders, until it reached the boiling point on August 23 and 24 when almost all Rohingya men from Auk Nan Yar (Razar Bil), Rathedaung were taken away by the armed forces leaving vulnerable women, children and elderly in agonizing humanitarian and emotional crises.

Based on the above facts, it is clear that Myanmar Armed Forces have the hidden agenda of manufacturing clashes to justify mass killing, rape, arrest and the scorched-earth policy that applied during “clearance operations”. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s departments, ministry of information and ministry of state-counsellor office, pave the path for the armed forces to commit “crimes against humanity” by labelling the whole Rohingya community as “terrorists” or “terrorist sympathizers”, although the community is amongst the most peaceful in Myanmar despite being suffered more than four decades of state-sponsored discrimination, persecution and extermination pogroms. 

We, therefore, urge the United Nations, the European Union, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the members of ASEAN, the neighboring countries – Bangladesh, Indian and China, and the international community to promptly act upon “the Responsibility to Protect” and push Myanmar on the following: 

  1. To abide by rule of law and refrain from human rights violations 
  2. To prevent use of disproportionate force on the Rohingya civilians 
  3. To provide full safety and protection to the Rohingya civilians
  4. To allow access to food, humanitarian and media in the affected area in Rakhine State 
  5. To safely return the civilians to their respective villages 
  6. To stop equipping and training of Civilian populations in the region 
  7. To stop labelling of peaceful-loving persecuted Rohingya population as “terrorists” 
  8. To stop spread of inflammatory and propaganda against the Rohingya community on the state-controlled and privately-own media outlet in Myanmar 
  9. To urge Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to promptly implement the recommendations made by Kofi Annan’s Rakhine State Advisory Commission. 

Signatories: 

  • The European Rohingya Council (ERC)
  • Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO)
  • The Rohingya Community in North America 
  • The Rohingya Community Ireland and UK
  • The Rohingya Community Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands 
  • The Rohingya Community in Diaspora 
  • The Rohingya Community in Myanmar 

For media contact: 

Dr. Anita Schug, +491575 0685496
Dr. Hla Kyaw, +31652358202

RB News
August 27, 2017

We are now into the third day of the Myanmar military's full blown offensives on the Rohingya population across Northern Arakan. Below are the reports we have recieved so far on the third day (August 27, 2017).

1- A Rohingya youth named 'Shafiullah' from 'Saangri Fara' in Minbya Towndhip was reported to havd been killed by the Rakhine extremists at 5pm on August 26

2- 26/8/2017 7pm: The Myanmar armed forces began torching Rohingya homes at 'Wachcha' village in southern Maungdaw


3- 12:30am 27/8/2017: The Myanmar authorities are using Hindus (Rohingya look alike) in the downtown of Maungdaw and making them chant 'Allahu Akbar' to trigger the Rohingyas to come out on streets at night.

4- 10am 27/8/2017: There's a full blown war on the Rohingya population by Myanmar armed forces in over 2 dozens of places now across Northern Arakan.
A total state of chaos, killings, mass-killings! Tortures and burningw all over! International Intervention is urgently needed!

5- 9:30am 27/8/2017: Around 50 Myanmar military have been raiding 'Thay Chaung' village in 'Taung Pyo Let Wai' and indiscriminately shooting anyone encountered to death.

6- 10am 27/8/2017: 'Thiho Kyun' Rohingya village in Northern Maungdaw has been set ablaze by the Myanmar armed forces again.
Ovet 130 homes were burnt down and many were feared killed as they were stuck amid the blazing fire


7- 10am 27/8/2017: The Myanmar military are continuosly firing at the villagers of 'Thin Gana' and 'Bogyi Chaung' in Northern Buthidaung using large-caliber guns. The Military are also planting landmines at 'KudurFaar' mountain-base at 'Bogyi Chaung.'
The military are asking Rohingya villagers to leave their homes and go anywhere.

8- 11:30am 27/7/2017: The Myanmar military are now assaulting the surroundings of KyeinChaung village in Northern Maungdaw.

9- 11am 27/8/2017: 3 Rohingya civilians were killed and other 3 injured during rampant firings by the Myanmar military at 'Maung Gyi Htaung' in Northern Buthindaung.
The Thingana village set ablaze in Northern Buthidaung by the Myanmar military since 10am has almost entirely been razed now.

10- 12:30pm 27/8/2017: The Myanmar military are continuously shelling on 'Phaung Taw Pyin' village in Buthidaung Township.

11- 1pm 27/8/2017: The middle hamlet of 'Haabi' village in Northern Maungdaw has been besieged by the Myanmar military now.

12- 2:30pm 27/8/2017: Almost entire 'Nwa Rone Taung' village in Northern Maungdaw has been burnt down by the Myanmar military by firing fire-launchers, mortars and other large-caliber guns.
Now the military are making towards ShweZar village.

13- 3pm 27/8/2017: Homes are seen burning in the downtown of Maungdaw. Gun-shots are also being heard.



14- 1:30pm 27/8/2017: Myanmar military helicopter gunships fired on the Rohingya people offering afternoon prayer and killed several of them at Du'dan and 'Maung Nama' in Northern Maungdaw.Figures and details are unknown yet.
 
15- 12:30pm 27/8/2017: Rohingya and Hindu homes at DaelFara village nearby the downtown of Maungdaw are being set into fire by Rakhine Buddhist extremists.

And it is being propagated and blamed upon the Rohingya.

16- 3pm 27/7/2017: The 'Chut Pyin' Rohingya village in Rathedaung Township has been entirely burnt down by the Myanmar military from the Commandant 33, the BGP & the Rakhine extremists.

17- 4:30pm 27/8/2017: Arson attacks by the Myanmar armed forces razed 500 houses at Thingana village in Northern Buthidaung.

Meanwhile, 200 houses have been burnt down at Maung Gyi Htaung in the region, and the village still continues to be under arson attacks now.

18- 4pm 27/8/2017: Rakhine extremists continue to torch Hindu homes nearby DaelFara village in Maungdaw downtown & shift the blame on the Rohingya.


19- 5pm 27/8/2017: After burning down 350+ homes at 'Chut Pyin' village in Rathedaung, the Myanmar military in collaboration with the Rakhine extremists are now killing fleeing displaced Rohingya villagers.

20- 5:30pm 27/8/2017: Rakhine extremists and Myanmar military began to torch Rohingya homes at Quarter 4, downtown of #Maungdaw. 3 homes have been burnt down till now!


21- 5:30pm 27/8/2017: Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists slaughtered at 50 Rohingya people at 'Chin Thama Maung Nu' in Buthidaung Township.

And scores of women and children were said to have been abducted.

22- 5:15pm 27/8/2017: Myanmar military are setting 'Myo Thu Gyi' village in Maungdaw on fire now.

23- 6pm 27/8/2017: Myanmar military are setting MyoOo (Italia) village now.
It seems Myanmar is destroying the whole Rohingya community. Genocide!
-
[Reported by RB Correspondents in Maungdaw & Buthidaung; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

Please email to: editor@rohingyablogger.com to send your reports and feedback.
_________________________

An Open Letter to Mr. Kofi Annan

By Habib Siddiqui

Dear Mr. Annan,

I am very disappointed with your statement, dated August 25, 2017, concerning the latest violence in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. You stated, “I am saddened to hear of the loss of life of members of the security forces. The alleged scale and gravity of these attacks mark a worrying escalation of violence. No cause can justify such brutality and senseless killing. Perpetrators should be held to account.”

From the first sentence of that paragraph, it is not difficult to understand where your sympathy lies. It is, sadly, with the Myanmar government that sponsored your Commission and its criminal perpetrators – the Myanmar security forces and surely not with the Rohingya victims who should have deserved such. You equivocated when it was necessary to take the moral high ground and to call a spade a spade. I am very worried that such mixed messaging will only justify the on-going genocidal crimes against the Rohingyas, much like what happened in Rwanda that you continue to regret for happening under your watch as the UN Chief. 

Has not history taught us all that violence is the last resort of an oppressed community when all pleas and other non-violent means for stopping violence directed against it have been ignored or shut down by the oppressor? And even then, the so-called violence of the oppressed against the much better armed, equipped and financed oppressor is motivated by the single factor: defending or protecting its own community. It would be gross misjudgment to equate their struggle for self-defense with the extermination campaign of the more powerful oppressor. 

I am sorry to observe that you have been misinformed. 

It is an irony that the victims of the genocide - the Rohingyas - are now framed as the ones in the wrong side because of their alleged attacks on Myanmar security forces this past week or back in October of last year. Forgotten in that calculus are decades of genocidal crimes of the successive military regimes since the days of General Ne Win that were to continue full-blown to this very date under Suu Kyi’s government. Overlooked in that context is the mere fact that being denied citizenship simply because of its racial and religious identity more than half the Rohingya population has been forced out of its ancestral land in Arakan (Rakhine state). Ignored also are the facts that Myanmar epitomizes apartheid policy in our time and flouts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by denying such rights to the Rohingya people. As a matter of fact, when it comes to the Rohingya – rightly recognized by the United Nations (that you once led) as the ‘most persecuted people’ in our planet – not even one of the thirty rights (Articles) enshrined in the UDHR is honored by the Apartheid Myanmar. 

I would like to believe that as the Chairperson of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, you know that the Burmese military (a.k.a. Tatmadaw - long known as the Rapist Burmese Army) has been building its troops in Rohingya areas of northern Arakan since August 10, effectively blockading those areas and terrorizing the already marginalized community. Under the name of interrogation, hundreds of Rohingya men and boys were taken away by military from the IDP camps. They were tortured and many were killed while Rohingya women left behind were raped as a weapon of war to ethnically cleanse them. Their homes were torched, too. The UN and Human Rights Watch, amongst many human rights groups, all were asking the Myanmar military to back off but to no avail. 

The latest episodes of atrocities perpetrated by the military resulted in fresh influx of thousands of Rohingyas into Bangladesh. That is despite stepped-up patrols by Bangladeshi border and coast guards, who last week had pushed back a boat carrying 31 Rohingya, including children. The Balukhali camp (in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh) alone saw new arrivals of some 3,000 Rohingya refugees in the last few days. And all these happened days before the alleged attack by the Rohingya ‘insurgents’ against Rakhine police. 

As I write this letter, per credible reports, on August 25, in the early AM hours 25 Rohingya villages were bombed by Burmese military reportedly using six gunship helicopters, navy ships and tanks as Rohingyas were sleeping in the middle of the night. It is feared that hundreds of Rohingyas have been slaughtered and more than a thousand homes set on fire on Friday making tens of thousands of Rohingyas homeless because of the latest military action. 

When life on earth has become unbearable and worse than death for the oppressed Rohingya is it difficult to fathom why some would ‘radicalize’ and choose to fight back – and justifiably so – with whatever means available? Now the criminal Burmese military claims that 59 "insurgents" and 12 soldiers were killed after Thursday midnight. They say that "insurgents" were armed with machetes. As you know too well, farmers use machetes, "insurgents" don’t. 

No one would disagree with you that violence is not the solution and that exercising restraint is important to avoid further escalation. However, the ball is in the military’s court and it is they who need to be restrained from harming the Rohingya people. Truly, if our world leaders had the moral fortitude these war criminals would have been tried long time ago in the International Criminal Court for their decades of crimes against humanity - which by no means were limited to the Rohingyas alone but also to other ethnic minorities that have been fighting for their survival. It would be sensible to reflect that for the last 40 plus years Rohingyas have been peacefully asking for the restoration of their citizenship and other rights whereas the other ethnic groups, non-Bamar Buddhists and Christian, in Myanmar are fighting the government with guns.

Suu Kyi and her brutal military have been too cunning for too long to deflect international pressure. Bluntly put, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that you chaired was one such window-dressing attempt by the Myanmar government to ease pressures from the international community and humanize the hideous face of Myanmarism that has contributed to so much human suffering: the destruction of tens of thousands of homes, businesses, schools and mosques, the encampment of some 140,000 Rohingyas in the concentration-like IDP camps, widespread rape of women, let alone the forced exodus of nearly 87,000 to neighboring Bangladesh, since 2012 alone. [According to the UN, 52% of the women they surveyed in refugee camps in Bangladesh were raped by the Tadmadaw. Seventy percent of these 87,000 refugees are women and children since men are either killed or imprisoned.]

Suu Kyi’s government won’t even allow any international investigation team to visit the troubled Rakhine state and inquire about serious charges of war crimes perpetrated by the government security forces - all committed in cahoots with ever growing fascist elements within the broader Buddhist society that see no place for religious minorities to live inside Myanmar. 

Mr. Annan, you have admitted in your own report the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that she formed "is a national entity and the majority of its members are from Myanmar". Its mandate did not allow the use of the term 'Rohingya' in accordance with the wishes of Ms. Suu Kyi. In spite of such obstacles you faced, I am glad that the report you submitted is a milestone for the Rohingya by calling for lifting restrictions on movement and citizenship for its persecuted Rohingya minority if Myanmar wants to avoid fueling "extremism" and bring peace to the Rakhine state. 

Suu Kyi, sadly, has never been sincere to resolving the Rohingya problem. She has denied their very existence and has been widely condemned by all quarters, including fellow Nobel Laureates. 

Did you ever ponder about why the so-called insurgency of the Rohingya who had hitherto, by all accounts, been the most non-violent minority happened just shortly after your appointment as the chair to the commission and also within hours of submission of your final report this week? Who benefits from such violence, and who loses? 

It is the Rohingya that loses the game played in such an uneven playing field. It is the Myanmar government and its Tatmadaw that win. They never wanted a peaceful solution to the decades-long problem, which they had initiated. And they don’t want to implement the recommendations you have put forth in your commission report either. So, they planned, moved to the Rohingya areas, cordoned off and committed war crimes to trigger off the latest episode blaming once again their victims to justify their on-going atrocities under the pretext of being attacked by the insurgents. The violence that they unleashed this week and before is all part of a very sinister long-term strategy to ethnically cleanse minority Rohingyas. It was no accident and did not happen in vacuum!

Your commission report rightly noted that if human rights were not respected and "the population remain politically and economically marginalised - northern Rakhine State may provide fertile ground for radicalisation, as local communities may become increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists". "While Myanmar has every right to defend its own territory, a highly militarised response is unlikely to bring peace to the area," the report also said.

The perpetrators of violence are the Myanmar security forces who should be held to account. They have failed to heed to your recommendations, and won’t be sobered by mixed messaging coming from international dignitaries like you. It is high time to try these brutes and savages in the International Criminal Court to save humanity, failing which I am afraid, Mr. Annan, we may see the end of Rohingya community in the den of intolerance called Myanmar. She remains the last vestige of an apartheid state in our time.

On March 26, 2004, you stated with respect to Rwanda genocide, “If the United Nations, government officials, the international media and other observers had paid more attention to the gathering signs of disaster, and taken timely action, it might have been averted. Warnings were missed.” 

Sir, there is no excuse this time. There is no ‘guilt of sin of omission’ within us. Ms. Yanghee Lee, the United Nations special rapporteur, has warned us; the international media, Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights, Amnesty International and other observers have all warned us repeatedly about the Rohingya catastrophe. It needs a leader like you to stop their extinction. In this regard, remember that genocide is a process and not an outcome. Stop it when it is not late.

Please, be forceful in condemning Myanmarism and its viciousness that have caused so much human suffering in our time. If it is not you, who will? The lessons from Rwanda should make you better prepared to stop this slow-burning genocide that the minority Rohingyas are facing today. Help them to survive and live as equal citizens in Myanmar. Please, take the lead in this noble cause. 

Thanking you for reading my letter.

Kind regards,

(Dr.) Habib Siddiqui
Philadelphia, USA

At least 92 people have died in the latest violence in restive Rakhine state [Wai Moe/AFP/Getty Images]

August 26, 2017

Bangladeshi border guards say troops fired mortars and machine guns at Rohingya civilians trying to escape bloodshed. 

Myanmar soldiers opened fire on fleeing Rohingya civilians - mostly women and children - as they attempted to cross the border into Bangladesh and escape surging violence. 

On Saturday an AFP news agency reporter at Bangladesh's Ghumdhum border post counted more than a dozen mortar shells and countless machine gun rounds fired by Myanmar security forces in nearby hills onto a large group of Rohingya desperately trying to cross. 

It was not immediately clear if any were hit, but the civilians scattered to evade the barrage. 

"They have fired on civilians, mostly women and children, hiding in the hills near the zero line," Border Guard Bangladesh's (BGB) station chief Manzurul Hassan Khan confirmed. 

"They fired machine guns and mortar shells suddenly, targeting the civilians. They have not consulted with the BGB," he added.

Anita Schug of the European Rohingya Council, speaking from the Swiss city of Solothurn, told Al Jazeera her organisation could verify the report.

"We have videos from the ground and we can share them if requested confirming that this news is true," she said.

"Burmese military together with the Rakhine extremists armed with knives, swords, machetes and guns are attacking the Rohingya innocent civilians who are not armed at all."

Thousands trapped

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims escaping violence in Myanmar were trapped at the border with Bangladesh as new fighting erupted in restive Rakhine state.

Clashes began on Friday between security forces and Rohingya rebels leaving at least 92 people dead, including 12 soldiers, forcing civilians to flee. 

"Many Rohingya people are trying to enter the country, but we have a zero tolerance policy - no one will be allowed," Mohammad Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar district near the Myanmar border, told Reuters news agency.

Later on Saturday, Mohammad Nur - a Rohingya leader at an unregistered camp in Cox's Bazar - told the AP news agency by phone he heard about 100,000 Rohingya had gathered along the border to try to enter Bangladesh. That figure could not be confirmed.

Gunfire rang out across the northern part of Rakhine state on Saturday as clashes between the two sides continued.

Bangladeshi officials regularly advocate a tough approach to refugees in official interviews, but typically end up letting them through.

An AFP reporter at the scene said hundreds of Rohingya made it across the porous border early on Saturday when border patrols were relaxed because of heavy rain, with some swimming across the Naf river.

An emergency ward doctor said two Rohingya men who had been shot in Myanmar entered Bangladesh and were taken to a hospital.

"One of them, aged 25, died hours after he was admitted here," the doctor said on condition of anonymity.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees are already in Bangladesh and 87,000 have arrived since October 2016, after an attack by rebels killed nine security forces and resulted in a major crackdown in Rakhine state. 

Bangladeshi officials regularly advocate a tough approach to refugees in official interviews [Sam Jahan/AFP/Getty Images]

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de facto leader, "strongly condemned" Friday's "brutal attacks by terrorists on security forces in Rakhine state".

"I would like to commend the members of the police and security forces who have acted with great courage in the face of many challenges," Suu Kyi said.

The government said it had evacuated officials, teachers, and hundreds of non-Rohingya villagers to army bases and police stations.

The focal point of Friday's unrest was Rathedaung township. The area has seen a heavy build-up of troops in recent weeks, with reports filtering out of killings by shadowy groups, army-blockaded villages, and abuses.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for Friday's attacks in a Twitter post but did not mention casualty figures or how many fighters were involved.

ARSA, accusing the Myanmar forces of killings and rape, said on Friday it was "taking defensive actions" in more than 25 different locations.

The government has declared the group a "terrorist" organisation.

Observers worry the latest attacks will spark an even more aggressive army response and trigger communal clashes between Muslims and Buddhist ethnic Rakhines.

"25 Aug attack in N Rakine utmost concern! Violence must stop in Rakhine. Heartfelt sorrow 4 deaths. Beg all sides 2 take restraint! Everyone!" Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said on Twitter.

The Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship in Myanmar and are classified as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries.

About 1.1 million Rohingya live in Myanmar.

The mistreatment of the Rohingya Muslims, often described as the world's most persecuted minority, has emerged as Myanmar's most contentious human rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of military rule.



By Haikal Mansor
RB Article
August 26, 2017

The clashes between Rohingya insurgents at a number of Burmese police posts in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships on August 25, 2017, are followed by month-long provocations from Burmese Military and Rakhine Extremists.

These offensive and provocative acts are believed to be strategic moves towards militarisation by the military intelligence, with an aim to create further fears and chaos among the communities living in the northern Rakhine State.

These provocations–expanded upon below– are a calculated attempt to undermine the recommendations made by Kofi Annan’s Advisory Commission, which officially submitted the final report to Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy NLD government on Friday, August 25.

The recommendations of the commission: providing Rohingya with citizenship, healthcare, education, freedom of movement, access to justice, media, humanitarian aid, and avoidance of excessive forces, are incompatible to the long-term policies of Tatmadaw (Burma’s Armed Forces) in the region which is seen as one of the frontiers of its survival or strength against the influential NLD government in Rakhine. When the creation of commission was announced, Tatmadaw, Tatmadaw-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), now-rebranded Ma Ba Tha Islamophobic monk organization and Rakhine nationalists jointly rejected the commission which was seen as “foreigners’ intervention”,

Rakhine nationalists protest against “Kofi-led commission” he arrived in Sittwe - EPA 

It is no coincidence that the attacks took place on the same day the government welcomed the commission’s recommendations, which the military finds “factual flaws and deficiencies”.

Wednesday, August 9 – TATMADAW AND RAKHINE LAWMAKERS MEETING

Arakan National Party Chairman Aye Maung, standing, and other ANP officials meet Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing and other Tatmadaw leaders in Naypyidaw on Wednesday. (Photo: Office of the Commander-in-Chief)

Commander-in-chief of Tatmadaw Senior-general Min Aung Hlaing finds the Rakhine nationalist Arakan National Party (ANP) as the best suitable partner to affiliate with in order to influence their respective presence in the region. Min Aung Hlaing received ANP leader Aye Maung and party lawmakers in Naypyidaw on August 9, where ANP suggested arming and training Rakhine and Buddhist settlers, and to form a ‘people’s militia’ against Rohingya Muslim civilians.

Both Tatmadaw and ANP share the same ideology – finding a scapegoat in Rohingya community for their failures and fulfilment of their ultimate goal in getting rid of Rohingya from Rakhine State.

Thursday, August 10 – BUILD-UP OF ARMED FORCES

Tatmadaw troops arrive in Sittwe on August 10 [Myanmar Press Photo Agency]

A day after the high-level meeting between Tatmadaw and Rakhine lawmakers, Min Aung Hlaing deployed a fully equipped battalion to Maungdaw township at the request of the lawmakers for the security and training of Rakhine and Buddhist settlers­– who are resettled on land that was confiscated from Rohingyas in strategic locations in Rohingya-majority townships such as Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

U Pe Than, an ANP lawmaker from Myebon Township in the Lower House said the following on August 10. “We’ve officially asked for further deployment of Tatmadaw forces for the security of Rakhine State. We pointed out that existing security forces are too small to protect ethnic villages.” The army chief said the Tatmadaw has large forces and that he would increase the troops if necessary. The plan was executed today.

The military has been expanding the security posts in the region. “We have been building 30 more security posts [in Maungdaw], so there will be 126 posts. We started building them yesterday [October 20, 2016]. We will deploy more security police as well,” said Chan Thar, Rakhine State’s Social Welfare Minister.

Sunday, August 13 – RAKHINE EXTREMISTS PROTEST

Rakhine and monks rally against INGOs, creation of People’s militia and armament of Buddhist villagers [Rakhine Media]
Rakhine hardliners and fanatic monks staged mass protests in 15 out of 17 townships in Rakhine State, calling the central government and the military to “implement 1982 Citizenship Law precisely”; “wipe out” Rohingya; “form [people’s] militia for security of ethnic people”; “expel all International NGOs including UNHCR and WFP [from] Rakhine State as soon as possible”.

In a statement released on August 9, Sittwe Administration Committee ordered Rohingya IDP [internally displaced persons] camps management across the State, to ban U.N. and International NGOs from conducting Data Assessment and Survey Activities. The organizations are falsely accused of being bias towards Rakhine, and of supporting Rohingya insurgents.

On November 7, 2016, more than 100 recruits between the age of 18 and 35, were provided a 16-week training in Sittwe

“They [people’s militia] will be given weapons and other equipment, like police,” claimed Lin Lin Oo, an assistant to the commander of Border Guard Police in Maungdaw.

Tuesday, August 15 – FARMERS TORTURED IN CHUT PYIN, RATHEDAUNG

Rohingya farmers in Chut Pyin tortured by the armed forces [Ground Photo]

While Rohingya farmers in Chut Pyin (Fringdaung) were removing grasses and sedges from their paddy fields, a group of armed forces and Buddhist settlers stormed the village and tortured the farmers.

Eight Rohingya identified as the victims of the raid were Adulatif (50, s/o Nur Ahmed), Abdullah (43, s/o Abul Hakim), Habiroon (39, s/o Baru), Rohim Ullah (39, s/o Abdul Salam), Younus (20, s/o Rohim Ullah), Ramzan (25, s/o Hafez Ahmed), Younus (21, s/o Siddique) and Mohammed Alam (13, Abdul Hamid).

On the following day, two teenage brothers Sayedul Rahman (20) and Abdul Rahman (15), sons of Roshan Ali were also inhumanely beaten by the armed forces.

Another two Rohingya – MD Kasim (55, s/o Abdu Boshir) and Kadir Huson (50, s/o Sultan Ahmed), were beaten with military boots and rifle butts in Thin Ga Net village leaving one of them in critical condition.

The villagers also claimed that a herd of their cattle were forcefully taken away by the settlers who were supported by the armed forces in the looting.

Saturday, August 19 – FISHERMAN DECAPITATED IN THA PYAY TAW, RATHEDAUNG

A Rohingya fisherman was decapitated in a river near Tha Pyay Taw (also known as Saw Prang), Hpet Leik village tract, Rathedaung Township on August 19.

The victim was identified as Sharif Hossain, son of Siddque Ahmed who went fishing to the river at around 4:30pm (GMT +6:30). He was reportedly attacked by some Rakhine extremist settlers, brutally decapitated before throwing the body into the river.

After receiving a distress call from another Rohingya fisherman who saw what believed to be a part of Mr. Sharif body in the river, the villagers went to the site where the murder took place. They found the presence of blood, but no body.

Friday August 18 – ROHINGYA FAMILY TORTURED IN THAN GAN NET, RATHEDAUNG

A Rohingya Than Gan Net village of Thein Taung tortured [Ground photo]

On Friday, 18 August, Mohammed Tayoub (33, son of Nur Mohammed) and his two young daughters were harassed and tortured by the armed forces and Rakhine extremists while fishing in a river. The family belonged to, Rathedaung, where the attack took place.

Mohammed Tayoub was a firewood seller in profession, however he is unable to go to forests to collect firewood due to the increase violence and the restriction of movement against Rohingya. As a result, he, along with his daughters went to a nearby river to catch some fish in order to support his family.

When they were caught fishing, the forces took them to nearby Than Zin Myaing Rakhine village where they were harassed and tortured by Rakhine extremists and military personnel. The family is then released leaving behind severe marks sustained from the torture, and unable to afford or get medical treatment.

Friday, August 4 – RAID IN AUK NAN YAR, RATHEDAUNG


The armed forces and Rakhine extremists suddenly raided Auk Nan Yar (Razar Bil), Rathedaung leaving behind five Rohingya injured and several arrested. 

The villagers were fired gunshots when they attempted to stop arresting a community leader and harassing Rohingya women.

The Rohingya who injured were identified as Abdu Subhan (17, s/o Abul Kassim), Sayed Ullah (14, s/o Karimullah), Bashir Ahmed (20, s/o Mohammed Hassan), Younus (24, s/o Noor Alam) and Mv. Abdu Shukur (40, s/o Motiur Rahman).

Meanwhile, five more men were arrested and detained by the police including a father and a son. They were Rahmatullah (30, s/o Amir Hamza), Amir Hussain (41, s/o Rahmatullah), Naser Ullah (20, s/o Noor Mohammed), Hir Hussain and Khari Rahmat.

Saturday, July 15 – ROHINGYA BANNED SHOPPING, RATHEDAUNG

Rohingya from Koe Tan Kauk, Rathedaung were warned to stop shopping in southern Maungdaw by the office of Border Guard Police (BGP) Outpost No. 8 Kyaung Taung, after a group of Rohingya villagers were trying to buy household goods and essentials such rice, oil, dried fish and fertilizer.

One Rohingya villager said, “For daily shopping, we used to go to Chein Khar Li (Rakhine) village and Rakhine came to our village. However, we are not allowed to go to their village or any other markets since the 2012-violence against Rohingya.

So many of internally displaced Rohingya in Rathedaung were dependent on ration of WFP (World Food Programme) for survival. Having the ration cut off by WFP, Rohingya from IDP camps and ghettos are forced to seek long and dangerous journey to buy household products from southern Maungdaw across many security posts, Rakhine villages and rivers.”

The villagers were ordered not to travel for shopping in the future, and threatened with heavy fine and imprisonment if they travelled again.

Another Rohingya villager from Koe Tan Kauk which is one of the villages faced severe human rights abuses during “Clearance Operations” including mass killings, rape, torture, arrest and destruction of houses and properties, said “Last year, we were killed with guns, our women were raped by the army and our houses were burnt down. Now the army wants to kill us all with mass starvation.”

Friday July 28 – SEIGE OF ZAY DI PYIN VILLAGE AND MANY ROHINGYA VILLAGES, RATHEDAUNG

Zay Di Pyin, a small Rohingya village in Rathedaung Township, 65km from Sittwe, has been under blockade by Rakhine extremists preventing working, fishing, fetching water since July 28, 2017.

The situation of Rohingya villagers remained uncertain and critical as they have been barred and imposed restricted movement between villages for food, water, healthcare and other basic necessities for livings.

Besides the restriction of movement, the villagers are the frequent target of Rakhine extremists armed with weapons such as machetes, swords and sticks accompanying the police forces, who frequently harass the persecuted Rohingya villagers on daily basis.

The groups are also stealing Rohingya livestock and personal belongings such as boats as well as destruction of houses and properties with the help of police, while Rohingya face with extremely limited supply of food.

A 20-strong Police force came to arrest injured Rohingya men on August 5, when unable to find them, they took Village Administrator Ameen and 65-year old Ahmed (s/o Kulla Mia) to the police outpost.

On August 6, a secret meeting was held in Zay Di Pyin between Border Guard Police captain Thura San Lwin and Rakhine villagers. The villagers remain in fear of further violence and abuses.

Wednesday-Thursday, August 23-24, MASS-ARREST, RATHEDAUNG 





A leaked video of Rohingya women and children crying showed the alarming situation of Rohingya who are provoked in Rohingya villages of Rathedaung.

Between August 23 and 24, almost all the Rohingya men were taken away from Auk Nan Yar village by the armed forces. This village has been subjected to recent human rights abuses such as indiscriminate shooting, arbitrary arrest, torture and harassment.

The village was also under siege leaving the vulnerable women, children and elderly in mass-starvation. The villagers requested the international community to help resolve their sufferings through the leaked video, however, there was no response for either Aung San Suu Kyi’s government or international governmental or non-governmental organizations.

Friday August 25 – POLICE POSTS ATTACKED IN MAUNGDAW, BUTHIDAUNG & RATHEDAUNG

The security forces escort in a demolished Rohingya hut [AFP]

In the early morning of Friday, Rohingya insurgents who vowed to protect both Rohingya and Rakhine civilians from the atrocities of Burmese armed forces, clashed at about 20 police posts in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung, where the crimes against humanity taking place for many decades, worsen during ‘clearance operations’.


According to the office of State-counsellor, the clashes left 12 armed forces and 16 Rohingya insurgents dead.

Soon after the clashes, the Tatmadaw used excessively disproportional force to punished the entire Rohingya community, announcing curfew and locking-down the region as the campaign of atrocities is undertaken, as witnessed during the ‘clearance operations’ following October 2016 clashes.

As the campaign enters the second day evidence of human rights violations is coming out of the region, reportedly machine-gunned civilians and fired rocket-launchers from helicopters on at least 25 Rohingya villages.

The villagers are on the move to cross the Burma-Bangladesh border where Bangladesh ramps up security on August 17, 2017. At least 400 Rohingya civilians were pushed back by the Bangladesh navy and thousands are reportedly stranded at the border in Maungdaw.

Many Rohingya are also temporary taking shelters in forests as their villages were set on fire by the armed forces.

Reports from the ground suggest that the civilian casualties now exceed 200. With hundreds of civilians injured and without medical treatment or aid.

These clashes on August 25 were the result of calculated provocations to intensify the campaign of extermination against Rohingya in order to accomplish anti-Rohingya agendas of both the armed forces and Rakhine nationalists who are reportedly taking part in the ongoing campaign along with Ming Aung Hlaing’s army.


    • Rohingya Exodus