RB News
August 25, 2017

Maungdaw -- Rohingya civilians at large have come under heavy attacks of the Myanmar armed forces across Maungdaw, Rathedaung and Buthidaung Townships after the members of a Rohingya resiatance group raided dozens of the Boder Guard Police (BGP) Force and military bases this early morning, sources say.

Until now, at least 200 civilians are highly believed to have been killed by the Myanmar military and BGP across the three townships. Due to indiscriminate shootings and killings by the armed forces, many villages have been being entirely displaced in the region.

Torching and burning down of Rohingya homes by the state armed forces in collaborations with Rakhine extremists are quite rampant and widespread. In Rathedaung Township alone, 700 Rohingya homes in Chein Khali village, 200 shelters in the 'Chein Hali' IDP camps have been entirely burnt down by the joint forces of the military, the BGP and the Rakhine extremists since this morning 7am. The Zaydi Pyin village that had been totally blockaded by the state-backed Rakhine extremists for more than three weeks was partially burnt down but all the villagers were forced to leave their homes handing their properties over to the Rakhines.

"Our region is in total chaos now. They have burnt down our homes using fire-launchers, seized our properties and forced us to leave our homes. We have become totally displaced. We don't know where we will have to go now", said a displayed villager from Zaydi Pyin when contacted on phone.

Thousands of displaced Rohingyas in Rathedaung are now hiding in the nearby forests. Their lives are in maximum danger as the Myanmar armed forces can raid their hideouts and kill them at any time.

Other Rohingya villages have been under heavy military offensives are:

1) Kwan Thi Pin, 2) Mi Htaik Chaung Wa, 3) Nat Chaung, 4) Taman Thar, 5) Zee Pin Chaung, 6) Lon Doong, 7) Zin Paing Nya, 8) Ye Myet Taung, 9) Kyi Kan Pyin, 10) Tharay Kun Baung, 11) Pa Nyaung Pin Gyi, 12) Padin, 13) Alay Than Kyaw, 14) Thawan Chaung, 15) Thinbaw Kwe, 16) Udaung, 17) Myint Hlut, 18) Taung Bazaar, 19) Phaung Daw Pyin and many other villages have also come under attacks.

Over 50,000 civilians are reported to have already been displaced across the three townships on this single day alone.

The Rohingya resistance group, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), claimed on twitter that it had to take defensive measures against the Myanmar military and security forces as the atrocities (by the military and security forces) against the Rohingya people have become intolerable. During the clashes between the Myanmar armed forces and the resistance group, both sides are reported to have casualties. Exact figures are unknown yet.

Besides, a Rakhine internal sources reveals that the Myanmar government is now plotting an inter-communal violence between Rohingyas and Rakhines.

In days to come, fightings between the Myanmar armed forces and ARSA members are likely to be more intensified. An urgent humitarian intervention and a ceasefire with international intervention are critically needed.

__________________

UPDATES:

1) The Joint forces of Myanmar and BGP along with Rakhine extremists have burnt down at least 200 Rohingya homes in 'Myint Hlut' village in Southern Maungdaw since 5pm local time.

More and more homes are being set ablaze now.
___

2) At least 11 civilians have been killed and many others were critically injured in 'Kyi Kan Pyin' village during the military raids this morning and afternoon.

Although no action by the ARSA against the Myanmar armed forces have occured in the village, the military conducted raids in the village, indiscriminately opened fire at the villagers at home and while fleeing", said a man from the village on the condition of anonymity.

The victims killed are:

1) Mohammed Taher (32), s/o Mv Osman
2) Abul Boshor (25), s/o Abdu Rozark
3) A middle-aged woman (Wife of Abul Hashim and daughter of Rashid Ahmed)
4) Ammuni (25), d/o Abdu Salam (the military also threw 11-days old son into the stream by shooting him dead.)
5) Ledu (50), s/o ?
6) Mujee Ullah (18), Ledu
7) Rashidullah (16), s/o Ledu (No. 4 is the father and 5 & 6 are his 2 sons.)
8) Osama (17), s/o Mv Abdul Amin
9) Noor Fisal s/o --- age - ?
10) Noor Boshor (17), s/o Noor Mohammed
11) Jahangir (13), s/o Nurul Amin

A teenage girl was critically injured and is struggling to survive. She is 'Rofiqa (18), d/o Noor Hussain.' Another 11 months old baby is also missing due to the chaos of blood created by the military.

3) And in the village of 'Nyaung Chaung' in southern Maungdaw, six people were killed when the military rampantly fired at the fleeing villagers.

4) At least 9 Rohingya civilians were killed by the Myanmar armed forces and the Rakhine extremists in ZediPyin in Rathedaung Township on August 25.

After 3 weeks of blockade, they partially burnt down the Rohingya village including a historical mosque and expelled all the villagers. Nowhere to go.

[MTS reports, MSRB]

[Reported by Rohingya Eye, KSM & other RB Correspondents; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

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

By Dr Maung Zarni

RB Opinion 

August 25, 2017

Here is the Kofi Annan Commission's report:

http://www.rakhinecommission.org/the-final-report/

I watched the Press Conference Kofi Annan and his commissioners earlier today.

The Commission proved that it was categorically more than a "shield" used by Myanmar gov. and more than a White Washing Body.

The Commission was made up of 6 Myanmar nationals, BUT no Rohingya representation: 3 Rakhines, anmattd 3 foreigners including Annan and another 3 Myanmar).

The recommendations "faced squarely" even profoundly sensitive issues such as revising the 1982 Citizenship Law, establishing equality before the law for (Rohingya, Rakhine and the rest), ending

restrictions on various Rohingya freedoms, etc.

The military leadership's response was as expected less than positive: Min Aung Hlaing and his team (of about 6 generals 2 of whom I know personally and worked with) sent out teh Burmese language official response on his Facebook. Judging from the generals' faces, Annan's attempts at securing the

generals' buy-in did NOT succeed. The generals considered Annan's reports containing FACTUAL ERRORS AND THE MESSAGE THAT RAKHINE NATIONALISTS CANNOT ACCEPT.

By all indications, the military WILL NOT implement any recommendation that fundamentally undermines their ultimate mission of cleansing Rakhine region of Rohingyas.

This is the institutionalized mission - not dependent on a single crop of generals - with its massive inertia built up over essentially 40+ years since Ne Win's time.

As Kofi Annan himself admitted the commission's role is only advisory, without any power for enforcement.

Annan commission has made positive contributions, I will admit to the wide movement to end Rohingya genocide.

Annan himself made it clear that his commission is no substitute for UN Fact Finding Mission. For Annan commission did not look into the allegations of international crimes committed against Rohingyas - including crimes against humanity and genocide.

Now from One of the "most persecuted groups", Rohingyas are referred as 'the world's largest stateless population".

As far as the Burmese military, the plight of the Rohingyas will remain as bad or worse.

It is a slow genocide. No less. Whether the word GENOCIDE is palatable to the UN or any powerful entity is irrelevant.

The victims deserve at least the proper name of the crimes by which they are perishing or their lives destroyed.

Alas, the world's bodies are full of moral and intellectual cowards, for the record.

Khmer Rouge's crimes have not been pronounced genocide, nor have Indonesian or West Pakistan genocides.

Aung San Suu Kyi would want to implement some of the recommendations. But she too lacks the power to do anything that the military will NOT accept.

So, the ball is in the activists' and campaigners' court.

Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)

For Immediate 

Release Thursday 24th August 2017

Urgent Action Needed to Implement Rakhine Commission Recommendations

Today the Rakhine State Advisory Commission led by former UN chief Kofi Annan published their final report on Rakhine state. We, BROUK welcome the recommendations made by the commission, but we are concerned whether the NLD-led government will actually implement them, and call on the international community to ensure that the recommendations are implemented as quickly as possible. 

At the top of the government’s agenda should be the revising of the 1982 Citizenship Law in line with “international standards and treaties”, “to ensure full and unimpeded humanitarian access … to all communities in Rakhine State”, to “ensure freedom of movement for all people in Rakhine State, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or citizenship status” and “closing all IDP camps … and ensure that return/relocation is carried out in accordance with international standards”.

The Commission issued its interim report in March with 30 points of recommendations. However, there has been very little implementation of those recommendations, and even those where action was taken were not done in a proper manner, for example proper support for those moved from camps. There is little political willingness to solve the Rohingya issue from the Burmese Military, NLD government and Rakhine State government. In fact they are all currently escalating tensions and increasing the likelihood of further violence. 

Rising tensions, instability, and any further violence is likely to be used as an excuse by authorities for not implementing recommendations.

It is time now for the international community to put collective pressure on the government in Burma to implement the recommendations submitted by the Kofi Annan Commission. 

BROUK President Tun Khin said, "The international community has supported the Kofi Annan commission but unless they now pressure the government to implement the recommendations without delay, the whole process will have been a waste of time. We also need to see action on the serious human rights violations committed by the Burmese army, which was not covered by the Commission.”

For more information, please contact Tun Khin +44 7888714866.

By Antoni Slodkowski

Reuters

August 24, 2017

YANGON -- Myanmar should respond to a crisis over its Muslim Rohingya community in a "calibrated" way without excessive force, a panel led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan said on Thursday, adding that radicalization was a danger if problems were not addressed. 

The treatment of approximately 1.1 million Rohingya has emerged as majority Buddhist Myanmar's most contentious human rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of harsh military rule. 

Annan's commission - appointed last year by leader Aung San Suu Kyi to come up with long-term solutions for the violence-riven, ethnically and religiously divided Rakhine state - said perpetrators of rights abuses should be held accountable. 

Security deteriorated sharply in the western state on the border with Bangladesh last October when Rohingya militants killed nine policemen in attacks on border posts. 

In response, the Myanmar military sent troops fanning out into Rohingya villages in an offensive beset by allegations of arson, killings and rape by the security forces which sent 87,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh. 

The situation in the state deteriorated again this month when security forces began a new "clearance operation" with tension shifting to a township, Rathetaung, where Buddhist Rakhine and Rohingya communities live side-by-side. 

"While Myanmar has every right to defend its own territory, a highly militarized response is unlikely to bring peace to the area," the nine-member commission said in its final report. 

"Whatever action is taken, we should make sure that the population do not suffer and (that) they have access to support and necessary humanitarian needs they require," said Annan at a news conference in Yangon. 

Annan added that he discussed the military operation in Rakhine's Mayu mountains with army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who told him that the risk of a negative impact on the civilian population was small due to the remoteness of the area. 

Nevertheless, the commission said that a nuanced and comprehensive response was needed to "ensure that violence does not escalate and inter-communal tensions are kept under control", it said.

The commission warned that if human rights were not respected and "the population remain politically and economically marginalized – northern Rakhine State may provide fertile ground for radicalization, as local communities may become increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists". 

The Rohingya are denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries, with communities marginalized and occasionally subjected to communal violence. 

Annan has visited Myanmar three times since his appointment, including two trips to Rakhine. On Thursday, he presented his findings to Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing.

The United Nations said in a report in February security forces had instigated a campaign that "very likely" amounted to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing. 

That led to the establishment of a U.N. fact-finding mission a month later. 

But Myanmar's domestic investigation team criticized the U.N. report this month and rejected allegations of abuses. 

Myanmar declined to grant visas to experts appointed by the U.N. and instead the government said it would comply with recommendations by the Annan team. 

But Annan's panel - which has a broad mandate to look into, among other things, economic development, education and healthcare - said it was "not mandated to investigate specific cases of alleged human rights violations". 

It said that the government "should ensure – based on independent and impartial investigation – that perpetrators of serious human rights violations are held accountable". 

The commission made a host of other recommendations, ranging from a faster and more transparent citizenship verification process to equal access to healthcare. 

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Robert Birsel

By May Wong

Channel NewsAsia

August 24, 2017

NAY PYI TAW: Myanmar’s western Rakhine state represents a human rights crisis, affecting particularly the Muslim community or Rohingyas there.

The Rakhine Advisory Commission, led by its chairman, the former UN Chief Kofi Annan, gave this assessment, without identifying the Rohingyas by name, in its final report released on Thursday (Aug 24). 

In its 63-page report, the commission said the Muslim community in Rakhine has become particularly vulnerable to human rights violations due to protracted statelessness and profound discrimination.

The report pointed out that about 10 per cent of the world’s stateless people live in Myanmar. And the Muslims, or Rohingyas, in Rakhine make up the single largest stateless community in the world. 

The nine-member team, including three foreigners and six locals, concludes its one-year mandate after submitting its final set of recommendations to the Myanmar government.

Myanmar had tasked the commission to draw up proposals on how the government could develop Rakhine and foster reconciliation among the residents living in the restive state.

Rakhine has been wrecked by regular episodes of violence, most recently, stemming from the attacks against three border posts on Oct 9 last year.

The incident forced more than 87,000 Rohingyas to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, with allegations of atrocities such as rape, extra-judicial killings and arbitrary arrests against the community, levelled at security forces during “clearance operations”.

Myanmar considers the Rohingyas, some one million of them in the country, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The report entitled “Towards a Peaceful, Fair and Prosperous Future for the People of Rakhine” contains 88 recommendations, more than double the suggestions outlined in the commission’s report submitted in March this year.

The final report tackled areas such as economic development, humanitarian access, freedom of movement and citizenship law.

One key recommendation made - allow all living in Rakhine to move about freely, regardless of their religion, ethnicity or citizenship status.

For the last five years, about 120,000 Rohingyas have been confined in displaced persons camps and are not allowed to leave those camps without authorization, resulting in unemployment and no access to healthcare and education.

Another proposal is to review the controversial 1982 citizenship law which does not acknowledge Rohingyas as one of the ethnic groups in Myanmar.

RE-EXAMINE LINK BETWEEN CITIZENSHIP AND ETHNICITY 

The commission called on the government to re-examine the link between citizenship and ethnicity. Monitoring the performance of the security forces is also one of the recommendations.

The commission suggested that one way of doing so was to make sure all security personnel wear visible name badges and identification numbers.

In order to implement the recommendations, the nine members suggest Myanmar should set up a secretariat led by a minister to focus on coordinating the policies to be introduced in Rakhine.

A permanent and well-staffed secretariat should include civilians, military personnel and various Rakhine community leaders. The commission members did not address the allegations of atrocities against the Rohingyas in their report maintaining it’s not under their mandate.

But they did acknowledge that a highly militarized response in Rakhine is not going to bring peace to the area. They added that the situation requires an integrated and calibrated response.

If human rights concerns are not addressed, the commission warns that Northern Rakhine State may become fertile ground for radicalisation.

This may then undermine development prospects and inter-communal cohesion, threatening overall security for Rakhine.

During the course of their work, the commission members held more than 150 consultation meetings, spoke to more than 1,000 people, visited various parts of Rakhine and even traveled to other countries such as Bangladesh and Thailand.

In the report’s foreword, Annan said the members have carried out their mandate "with rigorous impartiality".

And if the recommendations are "adopted and implemented in the spirit in which they were conceived", Annan believes it can "trace a path to lasting peace in Rakhine state".

Annan added that he’s “deeply conscious of the obstacles that lie ahead.”

But he is "convinced that the people of Rakhine can grasp this opportunity to reclaim their future".

RB News
August 24, 2017

New Dehli, India -- A Rohingya refugee youth was shot dead in the Indian Capital City, New Dehli, this morning.

The incident happened at around 8am today (Aug 24) when the victim, living at 'Uttam Nagar' area, was on his way to work at a restuarant around the same area in New Dehli.

The perpetrators behind the crime are identified as members of a gang led by a local man named 'Mustakim Ansary.'

"Some people shot at him. When we rushed upon hearing about it, we found him lying down with bullet injuries and blood spilled all over his body and saw some people running away.

"He died on the way while we were taking him to hospital," said Ahmed, a refugee in New Dehli.

The perperator or killer is a son of the landlord of the deceased and has been absconding since then. What conspired the perpetrator to kill a working refugee man is unknown yet.

The victim is identified as 'Inayat Ullah,' originally Buthidaung Township, Arakan state, Burma, who fled his native country in late 2014.

The UN Refugee Body, UNHCR, in New Dehli has been informed of the crime and is reported taking necessary responses.

An FIR (First Information Report) has also been lodged with the local police in Uttam Nagar. Special Crime Branch Police as well as Intelligence Bureau are reported to have been investigating the case.

On the other hand, since the beginning of this year, hate-crimes targeting the Rohingya refugees have been sporadically taking place and some right-wing Hindu political parties have been often rallying for their expulsions from India. However, the hate-crimes against the refugees are reported to have taken a momentum after the Indian government has announced the plan to deport them back to Burma and Bangladesh.

[Reported by Myo Naing, Abdul Khan & Ali Johar; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

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

By Al Jazeera

August 24, 2017

Team led by Kofi Annan warns against using force and ignoring concerns of world's 'single biggest stateless' community.

Myanmar must scrap restrictions on movement and citizenship for its persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority if it wants to avoid fuelling extremism and bring peace to Rakhine state, a commission led by former UN chief Kofi Annan said on Thursday.

Rights groups hailed the report as a milestone for the Rohingya because the government of Aung San Suu Kyi has previously vowed to abide by its findings.

The mistreatment of approximately 1.1 million Rohingya has emerged as Myanmar's most contentious human rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of military rule.

Annan was appointed by state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to head a year-long commission tasked with healing long-simmering divisions between the Rohingya and Buddhists in the western state, which is one of the poorest in the country.

"Unless current challenges are addressed promptly, further radicalisation within both communities is a real risk," the nine-member commission said in its final report, describing the Rohingya as "the single biggest stateless community in the world".

"If the legitimate grievances of local populations are ignored, they will become more vulnerable to recruitment by extremists," the report added.

Military response decried

Security deteriorated sharply in the state on the border with Bangladesh last October after nine policemen were killed by suspected Rohingya militia in attacks on border posts.

In response, the Myanmar military sent troops fanning out into Rohingya villages in an offensive beset by allegations of arson, killings and rape by the security forces, and which sent 87,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh.

The situation in the state deteriorated again this month when security forces began a new "clearance operation" with tension shifting to a township, Rathetaung, where Buddhist Rakhine and Rohingya communities live side-by-side.

"While Myanmar has every right to defend its own territory, a highly militarised response is unlikely to bring peace to the area," the report said.

The commission warned 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".

The Rohingya are denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries, with communities marginalised and occasionally subjected to communal violence.

Annan has visited Myanmar three times since his appointment, including two trips to Rakhine State. On Thursday, he presented his findings to Suu Kyi and army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

The United Nations said in a report in February security forces had instigated a campaign that "very likely" amounted to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

That led to the establishment of a UN fact-finding mission a month later. But Myanmar's domestic investigation team criticised the UN report this month and rejected allegations of abuses.

'Apartheid-like restrictions'

Myanmar declined to grant visas to three experts appointed by the United Nations and instead the government said Myanmar would comply with recommendations by the Annan team.

But Annan's panel - which has a broad mandate to look into, among other things, long-term economic development, education and healthcare in the state - said it was "not mandated to investigate specific cases of alleged human rights violations".

Rights groups welcomed the report, saying its recommendations tallied with what they had long argued for.

"These apartheid-like restrictions drive communities apart rather than together, eroding security and heightening the risk of mass killing," said Matthew Smith, from Fortify Rights.

Phil Robertson, from Human Rights Watch, said Suu Kyi's government faced a "key test".

"Myanmar needs to throw its full weight behind these recommendations, and especially not blink in dealing with the harder stuff," he said.

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

Anadolu Agency

August 23, 2017

YANGON, Myanmar -- Former UN chief Kofi Annan on Wednesday submitted his final report on Rakhine state, where Rohingya Muslims have faced widespread abuses, to the government.

Annan, whose advisory commission was appointed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi a year ago, presented the report to President Htin Kyaw in capital Nay Pyi Taw, the commission said in a statement.

The former secretary general is due to met Suu Kyi on Wednesday or Thursday to discuss violence between the Rohingya and Buddhist communities in the western state.

Commission member Aye Lwin said earlier this month that the final report included recommendations for a solution to the conflict.

“But it will not include the recent alleged human rights violations in Rakhine's north,” he said in an email to Anadolu Agency.

A security clampdown launched in October last year in Maungdaw, where Rohingya form the majority, led to a UN report on human rights violations by security forces that indicated crimes against humanity.

The UN documented mass gang rape, killings, including of babies and children, brutal beatings and disappearances. Rohingya representatives have said approximately 400 people were slain during the operation.

The commission, which is set to hold a news conference in Yangon on Thursday, was briefed with exploring conflict prevention methods, ensuring humanitarian aid and promoting long-term development.

It has interviewed 1,000 people over the past 12 months, including politicians and a cross-section of the Buddhist and Muslim population.

Rakhine is a home to around 1.2 million stateless Rohingya, viewed by many Buddhists as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, although they have lived in the area for generations.

By Jesmin Papri and Abdur Rahman

BenarNews

August 23, 2017

Dhaka and Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh -- The leader of Southeast Asia’s newest Muslim insurgent group struck a diplomatic tone as he expressed gratitude to Bangladesh for hosting Rohingya refugees and pledged not to harm the country’s honor and interest.

But Ata Ullah (also known as Abu Ammar Jununi), chief of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), hammered Myanmar for allowing government forces to seal off villages and launch a crackdown against suspected militants in the Rakhine State.

More than 75,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since October 2016 as a result of a military crackdown in Rakhine. As security officials ordered a lockdown and soldiers hunted for militants through torched villages, according to a United Nations report, terror-stricken refugees fled on foot, witnessing mass gang-rapes of women and killings of children.

Ata Ullah, in a 19-minute video posted on YouTube on Aug. 16, vowed that his group would take “extreme care and caution” not to harm Bangladesh, describing it as a “great neighbor.”

“The government of Bangladesh leads all the host countries who did not think twice in extending their helping hands to our destitute people in this very needy time,” said Ata Ullah, who emphasized ARSA was not affiliated with any foreign terror network.

In the video, he spoke while seated amid a lush forest backdrop while guarded by four masked men clutching assault rifles.

“Our primary objective under ARSA is to liberate our people from dehumanized oppression perpetrated by all successive Burmese regimes,” he said.

Ata Ullah and ARSA, which formerly called itself Harakah al-Yaqin (Arabic for “Faith Movement”), captured worldwide media exposure in December 2016 when the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a lengthy report about the new armed challenge faced by Myanmar.

Ata Ullah, according to the ICG report, was born in Karachi, Pakistan, to a migrant father who fled religious persecution in his native Rakhine State. His family moved to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where he was enrolled in an Islamic religious school.

The report said Ata Ullah claimed to have left Saudi Arabia in 2012 shortly after serious ethnic clashes between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted, killing more than 100 people.

“Though not confirmed, there are indications he went to Pakistan, and possibly elsewhere, and that he received practical training in modern guerrilla warfare,” ICG said.

Security analysts have not determined the exact number of ARSA’s forces and Burma has not officially acknowledged its existence. But BenarNews sources within the refugee camps confirm their existence.

“There are more than 150 members of Myanmar’s separatist Rohingya groups in Ukhia-Teknaf areas, who go back and forth across the borders,” said a high-ranking source at a refugee camp who requested anonymity.

More than 1 million Rohingya live in northwestern Rakhine, where they are despised by the Buddhist majority, according to U.N. officials. Human rights activists said the Rohingya – who have been dubbed as “the most oppressed people in the world" – are denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to basic services and healthcare.”

A community leader at the Kutupalong refugee camp recently spoke to BenarNews and confirmed reports that ARSA supporters have been seen at camp for a few days. The source declined to say if they were armed.

“But they do not do anything that might harm Bangladesh’s image,” the source said, referring to the insurgents.

Kutupalong is one of the two government-run refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Its combined Rohingya population with the Nayapara Refugee Camp is about 30,000, officials said.

Myanmar, a secluded country of almost 60 million people, sits in the corner of Southeast Asia between India and China.

Bangladesh security officials expressed doubts on the presence of insurgents in the area, telling BenarNews security forces on high alert would have blocked free movement.

“In this side, there is no activity of any Myanmar-based revolutionary group,” said Lt. Col. Ariful Islam, a border battalion official. “Stronger monitoring in the Rohingya camps is already in place.”

Policy of no interference 

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam said he was not aware of Ata Ullah’s video and Bangladesh has no ties with insurgent groups.

“As per our foreign policy, we never interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs,” he said. “The policy of the current government is that the land of Bangladesh is not for any militant group.”

Security analysts said ARSA is active in the jungles of the northern Rakhine State, where their presence could stoke religious tensions. They said ARSA’s emergence as an armed group signals a dangerous phase that could attract the attention of extremists in Pakistan and the Middle East.

On Oct. 9, 2016, ARSA militants, who were then known as Harakah al-Yaqin, launched coordinated attacks on police posts and killed nine officers. They posted videos on YouTube claiming responsibility for the attacks.

Myanmar responded by launching military operations that led to allegations of gang rapes and mass killings.

On Aug. 14, Myanmar government ministers met 11 Buddhist monk leaders from the administrative capital Sittwe and discussed security issues in Rakhine, border affairs minister Lt. Gen. Ye Aung said.

The meeting came four days after the Myanmar government dispatched hundreds of soldiers from an army battalion to Rakhine to increase security in the region.

The military will use armored cars and helicopters in its operation against militants in northern Rakhine state, Ye Aung told reporters.

By The Daily Star

August 23, 2017

Approximately 87,000 Undocumented Myanmar Nationals (UMNs) have so far entered Bangladesh following an outbreak of violence on October 9 last year in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

The influx slowed in late February 2017; however, more new arrivals from Myanmar were reported in the month of July, according to an assessment made by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Though the assessment showed 80,000 new arrivals, the figure stood over 87,000 with more new arrivals in July and August this year, officials in Cox's Bazaar said.

The majority of UMNs are living in Ukhia and Teknaf upazilas of Cox's Bazar district, a district bordering Myanmar identified as the main entry area for border crossing.

A total of 57 sites were assessed.

Some 1,64,000 UMNs were identified in two upazilas of Cox's Bazar district.

An additional four sites with a population of 635, according to NPM Round 2 (April 2017), were not assessed in this round due to limited access.

Among those assessed, 52% are women and girls.

Some 87,000 arrived since October 2016, with an increase in both makeshift settlements and host communities, due to newly arrivals of UMNs across the border from Myanmar in the month of July.

The National Strategy on Myanmar Refugees and Undocumented Myanmar Nationals (UMN) formulated by the government of Bangladesh highlighted the fact that more than 3,00,000 Rohingyas have crossed the border and are living in Bangladesh.

Needs and Population Monitoring (NPM) is designed to regularly and systematically capture, monitor and disseminate information to provide a better understanding of the movements and evolving needs of populations on the move, whether on site or en route.

The NPM tools operate at two levels (baseline and site assessments) and capture baseline information, population movement dynamics and community level needs by sector. Currently NPM is only conducted in two upazilas, and the population assessed does not represent the overall Rohingya population.

By Shoon Naing

Reuters

August 22, 2017

YANGON -- Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims have been blockaded inside their area by their Buddhist neighbours in a western Myanmar village, residents say, as religious tensions in troubled Rakhine state spread to a more ethnically mixed part of the region. 

Monitors and aid workers worry that violence that has until now been largely confined to the Rohingya-majority northern part of Rakhine, bordering Bangladesh, could erupt in an area where the two communities live side-by-side in much larger numbers. 

Residents, aid workers and monitors told Reuters that Muslims in the village of Zay Di Pyin had been blocked from going to work or fetching food and water for the last three weeks, although a small number had been allowed through the blockade to buy provisions on Tuesday. 

Police said Rakhine Buddhist villagers were restricting the amount of food the Rohingya could buy, but denied their movement around the village and access to work had been blocked. 

"I think they are just afraid and aren't going out," said Myanmar police headquarters spokesman Colonel Myo Thu Soe. 

The government said it was working to improve security in the area. 

The stand-off has raised fears of a repeat of the communal violence that broke out in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe in 2012, leading to the killing of nearly 200 people and displacement of some 140,000 - most of them Rohingya. 

"The concern in Zay Di Pyin is that this could escalate into violence between the two communities," said Chris Lewa of Arakan Project, a Rohingya monitoring group. 

Rakhine has long been riven between ethnic Rahkine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. Around 1.1 million Rohingya live in the state, but are denied citizenship and face severe travel restrictions, with many Buddhists across Myanmar regarding them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. 

More than 87,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Rohingya insurgents killed nine police in northwest Rakhine in October. That prompted a military crackdown beset by allegations of rape, killings and arson by the security forces. 

PENNED IN 

In Zay Di Pyin, a large, mixed village of some 5,000 people with a mosque and a Buddhist monastery, Rakhine residents have penned about 700 Rohingya inside their neighbourhood by blocking entry points with a fence since late July, preventing access to a market and a pond used as a source of drinking water, according to two Muslim residents and monitors. 

Local people said tensions had spiked in late July, when a Rakhine Buddhist man from a nearby village went missing. Three Rohingya residents were found killed in the area in the same period. 

"They accused us of killing the missing Rakhine person and blocked us from going out because of that," a Rohingya man told Reuters by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A second Rohingya man inside the blockaded area told Reuters the residents were being stopped from going to work at the local river jetty, where many carry loads for a living. They were also prevented from praying at the village mosque, which is outside the blocked area, he said. 

Rakhine villagers, some armed with swords and sticks, had set up makeshift checkpoints at six points around the Rohingya quarter, the men told Reuters. Both of them said there has been no major violent incidents so far. 

Police spokesman Colonel Myo Thu Soe said authorities had received a complaint about the blockade last week and had brokered a meeting on Friday, at which it was agreed 15 Rohingya residents would be allowed to leave their neighbourhood to fetch food twice a week. 

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's spokesman Zaw Htay said the issue was resolved on Friday and that the "villagers can go out", adding that the government was planning to provide security for them. He did not give more details. 

One of the Rohingya men confirmed that 15 people had been allowed to go out to buy food for the community on Tuesday, but said they were still not permitted to move around freely. 

"They said that 15 people will be able to leave twice a week - but we can't work so I don't know how we'll be able to afford food," said the man. 

WILL THE FOOD LAST? 

Zay Di Pyin is located in the ethnically mixed Rathedaung district, some 65 km (40 miles) north of Sittwe. 

In another incident that has added to tensions in the area, residents in the neighbouring village of Auk Nan Yar, where the Rohingya are the majority, said they were being prevented from leaving their village by security forces. 

It follows a confrontation in early August between hundreds of Muslims and security forces who were trying to arrest six Rohingya men accused of raising money for militants. In a separate incident on that day seven Buddhists were killed in a different part of northern Rakhine. 

In the week following the incidents, Suu Kyi convened a high-level security meeting in the capital Naypyitaw and declared a curfew in the area, while the army sent some 500 soldiers to reinforce around Aug. 10. 

Police said the military was conducting a "clearance operation" in the nearby Mayu mountain range, where the government suspects Rohingya insurgents have been training. 

"The nearby villagers were warned to be careful when they go out to the mountains in order to avoid getting arrested by mistake," said spokesman Myo Thu Soe. 

Two villagers from Auk Nan Yar told Reuters that they too were now unable to get to a market to buy food or to work. 

"Now we're sharing the food we have left with each other in the village," said one of the villagers. "We don't know how long the food will last." 

Reporting by Shoon Naing; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Antoni Slodkowski and Alex Richardson

By Adil Sakhawat

Dhaka Tribune

August 22, 2017

Myanmar stands as unstable and fractious as ever, is Aung San Suu Kyi still committed to the ideals she had when she came to power?

By Oliver Ward

Asean Today

August 22, 2017

During Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK in 2015, Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, took the opportunity to praise the leader of the opposition in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi. During his introductory address, he lauded Mrs Suu Kyi as “the noble peace prize winner, democracy champion and international symbol of the innate human right to freedom.” Now, more than 18-months into her leadership term, the situation in Myanmar is beginning to make his comments look misplaced.

She began her leadership with hope and promise

When the National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power after the general elections in November 2015, with Aung San Suu Kyi at the helm, the population hoped for their leader to bring peace to ethnic conflicts and promote democratic values across the country.

Despite the military’s lingering power within government, Aung San Suu Kyi enjoyed some early success. She freed 69 student activists who had been jailed for their involvement in education protests the previous year and immediately established a UN advisory commission to offer counsel on the situation of the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. She also entered peace negotiations with armed groups from the Kachin and Shan states in an attempt to bring peace to the regions.

Instead of bringing peace to Myanmar, conflicts have escalated under her leadership

Despite her initial triumphs, Aung San Suu Kyi has been unable to fulfil her promises of bringing peace to Myanmar. The Rohingya situation has dominated international headlines for the alleged crimes against humanity taking place across the Rakhine State, yet Aung San Suu Kyi has remained silent on the issue. In the northern Shan and Kachin states, heavy artillery and air strikes in January led to a further 6,000 displaced civilians as fighting continues to rage across the region.

Since her initial decision to set up the UN advisory commission led by Kofi Anan, Aung San Suu Kyi has refused to cooperate with any UN attempts to investigate the Rohingya situation. Her government refused to grant entry visas to Myanmar for the three UN experts tasked with investigating violence against Muslims in the country. When a fact-finding mission did go ahead, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government removed the top UN official in the country from her post and distanced herself from the report’s findings.

Is bringing peace to Myanmar still a priority of her government? 

Given her reluctance to engage with UN attempts to investigate the atrocities committed and her lack of success in bringing stability to northern Myanmar, it would be fair to assume that bringing peace to the country is no longer of primary concern to her government.

At an event to mark the first anniversary of the creation of the State Counsellor’s Office earlier this year, Aung San Suu Kyi advised, “don’t only think about self-interest,” she added, “if the public can take pride in our civil servants, we will be able to take pride in our country.”

But she might have benefited from taking her own advice when filling the positions of her own government. She was obsessed with filling positions with those loyal to her and the party. Several members of her government have phoney degrees, prompting questions about the suitability of their appointments to the national government. Suu Kyi also allegedly instructed NLD legislators not to raise tough questions to her in parliament. Her government appointments suggest that for Aung San Suu Kyi, self-preservation and loyalty is a higher priority than appointing experienced, qualified and capable ministers, up to the difficult task of bringing peace to the fractious country.

She wants to maintain a good relationship with the army, at the expense of minorities

It is not only her pursuit of peace which has had to take a back seat now she has come to power, it seems she has also forgotten about her commitment to championing rights for minority groups.

In 2015 the NLD asked Muslim candidates not to run as election candidates and since she has come to power, leading figures in her NLD party have been openly unsympathetic to rights of minority groups. Ko Ko Gyi called the Rohingya “terrorists” and accused them of infringing on Myanmar’s sovereignty. Nyan Win, NLD spokesman also said: “the Rohingya are not our citizens”.

While Suu Kyi herself may not be anti-Muslim or anti-minorities, she knows that by defending the Muslim minority, she risks losing the backing of Buddhist elements in the country and will ignite clashes with the army. Rather than risk this, she seems content to let the promotion of human rights for minorities take a less prominent role in her government.

The government are silencing critics through repressive media restrictions

However, curbing the free press is certainly becoming a leading feature in her administration. Between coming to power in 2016 and the start of 2017, 38 people faced online defamation charges for criticising her government. The 66D clause was the same clause in the telecommunications law that the military government used against Aung San Suu Kyi’s own supporters before she came to power. Now she is wielding it against her own critics.

Activist, Aung Win Hlaing was imprisoned for 9 months after criticising the NLD in a Facebook post and calling President Htin Kyaw an “idiot”. Three journalists were also put on trial under the Unlawful Associations Act for meeting armed ethnic groups in Shan State in a clear clamp down on the free press.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s advisor, Win Htein remembers a conversation the two shared in 1988, “she told me since she decided to get involved in politics, she would change everything. Any criticism directed towards her, she wouldn’t care”. Now in 2017, her words seem hollow as Suu Kyi’s government represents more continuity with her predecessors than change.

Her government cares about criticism from the army, so they allow minority rights to be abused. They care about criticism from the Buddhist majority, so they no longer champion Muslim rights. They care about public criticism, so they imprison poets and activists for posting critical Facebook statuses.

The Aung San Suu Kyi who won a Nobel Prize and made speeches standing on tables about the importance of democracy and human rights are almost unrecognisable to the woman in government today. Rather than representing the solution, she has become part of the problem, standing idle while Myanmar descends into genocide. If the Aung San Suu Kyi of 1988 could have a conversation with the woman of today would she still see herself as the noble peace prize winner and democracy champion that John Bercow described in 2015? Almost certainly not.

RB News

August 21, 2017

Maungdaw -- At least 11 civillians have been arrested during raids by the Burmese armed forces in two separate Rohingya villages in Maungdaw Township since yesterday evening, sources said.

A joint force of approximately 500 Burmese army personnel and Border Guard Police (BGP) have been carrying out raids in the village of 'Italia (officially called Myo Oo)' since around 4:00am this morning. At least 5 Rohingya civilians have been arbitrarily arrested by the armed forces and detained in the Police Detention Cell notorious as 'Cell of Hell' in the downtown of Maungdaw.

"The reason behind the raids by the Burmese armed forces is unknown yet. They haven't found anything illegal in the raids in the village. But most villagers have fled in fear of arbitrary arrests, tortured and extra-judicial killings or summary execution by the Burmese armed forces", said a human rights activist based in Maungdaw.

During a separate raid on the village of 'Nurullah' in southern Maungdaw yesterday (on August 20) evening, the Burmese military and BGP tortured many villagers and arrested 6 of them.

"The BGP and military launched raids on Nurullah village yesterday evening. During the raid, they tortured innocent villagers. They set their dogs on the fleeing villagers; had the dogs clamp them down and bite them.

"Of 20 people initially arrested, they released three after torturing them, and have detained 6 others in the BGP Police Camp at 'Maggyi Chaung' village. They are reported to have been being brutally tortured in detention now", a village man in southern Maungdaw said.

The 6 people arrested have been identified as:

1. Abdu Shukur s/o Ismail (50)

2. Noor Islam s/o Yusuf Zalal (40)

3. Md Faisal s/o Noor Islam (17)

4. Shamshu Alom s/o Kasim (40)

5. Dil Muhammad s/o Md Hason (33)

6. Md Sadak s/o Kasim, (21)

The raids on the Nurullah village have been carried out and the villagers tortured and arrested as a form of collective punishment on the whole village following the killing of a government informer, identified as Mohamed Younose 57, in the village by two men on August 15 morning. The government informer -- backed up by the Burmese authorities -- had earlier forced the families of the two young men to permanently flee from their homes to Bangladesh for reportedly not complying with his demands for ransom.

[Reported by Aung Kyaw Hla & MT Edited by M.S. Anwar]

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

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