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Ayesha Begum joined the exodus of Rohingya fleeing troubled Rakhine state in recent days as fresh violence erupted between Myanmar's security forces and militants fighting for the stateless Muslim minority (AFP Photo/Rehman Asad)

By Sam JAHAN
August 29, 2017

Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh) - Heavily pregnant and confined to a squalid Bangladeshi refugee camp, Ayesha Begum does not regret that her husband will miss the imminent birth of their sixth child as he fights alongside Rohingya militants in Myanmar.

Begum, 25, joined the exodus of Rohingya fleeing troubled Rakhine State in recent days as fresh violence erupted between Myanmar's security forces and militants fighting for the stateless Muslim minority.

But like many, her husband stayed behind in Myanmar to join the growing ranks of Rohingya men answering the call to arms against security forces, say relatives and community leaders.

"He took us to the river and sent us across," Begum told AFP in Kutupalong camp, describing crossing the Naf River by boat with her children into Bangladesh.

"He bid us farewell, saying if I live he'd see us soon in a free Arakan (Rakhine state) or else we'll meet in heaven," she added, breaking down in tears.

The Rohingya largely eschewed violence despite years of suffocating restrictions and persecution.

That dramatically changed last October when a nascent Rohingya militant group launched surprise attacks on border posts.

Myanmar's military reacted with a violent "clearance operation" to sweep out the militants. The UN says that crackdown could have amounted to ethnic cleansing.

Despite the sweeps, violence continued as remote villages were hit by near-daily killings of perceived state collaborators attributed to operatives of the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA).

The militants struck again on a large scale on Friday, with scores attacking around 30 police posts in pre-dawn raids, killing at least a dozen security force members using knives, homemade explosives and some guns.

This time the security response has seen more than 100 people, including some 80 militants, confirmed killed and prodded thousands of Rohingya civilians to dash for Bangladesh.

But the country, which already hosts tens of thousands of refugees from the Muslim minority in the Cox's Bazar area, has refused entry to any more.

Those unable to sneak in are stranded along the "zero line" border zone, where Bangladeshi officials have noticed a conspicuous absence of men among the civilians crowding the checkposts.

"We asked them what happened to their men. They said they all stayed back to fight," a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

- 'Fight or die' -

At the border Rohingya elder Shah Alam, a community leader from Rakhine state, said 30 young men from three villages in his district joined ARSA "for our freedom".

"Do they have any other choice? They chose to fight and die rather than be slaughtered like sheep," he told AFP.

The previously unknown militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in October and more recent strikes against Myanmar's security forces, urging fellow Rohingya to join the fight.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has accused the group of atrocities including using child soldiers, allegations the militants deny.

The government department directly run by Suu Kyi -- the State Counsellor's Office -- has classified the ARSA as "terrorists" and released a flurry of statements and grim pictures of civilians allegedly shot dead by militants.

But ARSA's rallying cry is being answered in Rohingya camps across Bangladesh, despite some doubts over whether their rag-tag units -- seemingly mainly armed with knives and homemade weapons -- can defeat Myanmar troops.

But one young rebel told AFP his Rohingya comrades were determined to fight on, despite the odds.

"There are hundreds of us hiding in the hills. We took an oath to save Arakan, even if it is with sticks and small knives," said the rebel, who declined to give his name, near the border in Bangladesh.

Many of those Rohingya displaced by the violence say they barely escaped with their lives.

They describe Buddhist mobs and security forces shooting unarmed civilians and burning down homes, an abuse repeatedly documented in Rakhine since the upswing in conflict.

For many, it was the final straw.

"Young people are fed up," said one prominent Rohingya activist in Bangladesh who asked to remain anonymous.

"They grew up witnessing humiliation and persecution, so the current consensus among the Rohingya community is unless you fight, they're not going to give us any of our rights."

Outside a camp in Cox's Bazar two young Rohingya men were anxious to join the fight, describing it as "farj" -- a religious duty -- to join the "freedom fighters" in Rakhine.

"We don't have any options. Our backs are on the wall. Even the teenagers in our villagers have joined the fight," one of the men told AFP, vowing "to cross the border on the first chance".

Just one of Hafeza Khatun's three sons crossed with her into Bangladesh last month, the older two staying back to fight.

But her youngest joined them a week later at his mother's blessing, returning to battle Myanmar's security forces "who would kill us anyway" without resistance, she said.

"They are fighting for our rights. I sent my sons to fight for independence. I sacrificed them for Arakan," she told AFP.

Britain's Ambassador to the United Nations Matthew Rycroft delivers remarks during the Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, U.S. April 7, 2017. (Photo: Stephanie Keith)

August 29, 2017

UNITED NATIONS  -- Britain has asked for the U.N. Security Council to meet on Wednesday to discuss escalating deadly violence between Rohingya insurgents and Myanmar security forces in Rakhine state, Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Tuesday. 

“Need to address long-term issues in Rakhine, urge restraint by all parties,” Rycroft posted on Twitter. 

A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Friday has triggered a fresh exodus to Bangladesh of Rohingya Muslim villagers trying to escape the violence. 

Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chris Reese


Rohingya children cross the Bangladesh-Myanmar border fence as they try to enter Bangladesh in Bandarban, an area under Cox's Bazar authority, Bangladesh, August 29, 2017. (Photo: Mohammad Ponir Hossain)

By Ruma Paul and Nurul Islam
August 29, 2017

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh  -- Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh from escalating violence in Myanmar face the growing danger of sickness and attempts by the Bangladesh authorities to send them home, despite a United Nations plea that they be allowed to seek shelter.

A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Friday has triggered a fresh exodus to Bangladesh of Muslim villagers trying to escape the violence.

At least 109 people have been killed in the clashes in Myanmar, according to the government, most of them militants but including members of the security forces and civilians.

The United Nations Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday, at the request of Britain, to discuss the situation in Myanmar.

Bangladesh border guards told Reuters they had sent about 550 Rohingya back across the Naf river that separates the two countries since Monday, despite an appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Dhaka to allow Rohingya to seek safety.

Border patrols were also trying to block people from crossing the frontier.

The treatment of about 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar has become the biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out on behalf of a minority who have long complained of persecution.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries.

The violence marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when a similar, but much smaller, series of Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a fierce military response dogged by allegations of human rights abuses.

The top U.N. human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, called on Myanmar on Tuesday to ensure its security forces refrained from using disproportionate force, adding that the political leadership had a duty to protect all civilians “without discrimination”.

“This turn of events is deplorable. It was predicted and could have been prevented,” he said.

Myanmar’s National Security Adviser Thaung Tun said at a news conference that Myanmar had come under attack and had the full right to defend itself. He added that “security personnel have been instructed to make sure that innocent civilians are not harmed”.

NO MAN'S LAND 

Bangladesh is already host to more than 400,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s. Dhaka has asked the U.N. to pressure Myanmar over its treatment of the Muslim minority, insisting it cannot accept any more.

Still, more than 8,700 have registered in Bangladesh since Friday, the U.N. said.

A Rohingya man carrying his belongings approaches the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban, an area under Cox's Bazar authority, Bangladesh, August 29, 2017. (Photo: Mohammad Ponir Hossain)

Hundreds of new arrivals milled around the entrance of the Kutapalong makeshift camp, the biggest unofficial refugee camp on the Bangladesh side of the border. Village elders said many of the Muslim hamlets near the border were empty, and said troops and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists had set fire to homes.

Around another 4,000 people were stranded in the no man’s land between the two countries near Taung Bro village, where temporary shelters stretched for several hundred meters on a narrow strip between the Naf river and Myanmar’s border fence.

Reuters reporters saw women, some carrying children and the sick, fording the river, which at that location is less than 10 meters wide. Bangladeshi border guards permitted about half a dozen people at a time to cross to access a pile of donated medicines.

“We came here out of fear for our lives, but we can’t cross. So we don’t know what to do,” said Aung Myaing, from Taung Bro Let Way village, standing knee-deep in the river.

When asked about insurgents he said: “We didn’t see them, we have no relation to them. But Myanmar doesn’t distinguish between the terrorists and civilians. They are hunting all the Rohingya.”

Many Rohingya trying to enter Bangladesh were sick and at least six have died after making the crossing, an aid worker said, adding that fear of being caught and sent back meant some refused to seek help.

EVACUATION 

An army source in Rakhine told Reuters that troops were hunting down insurgents across the region, clearing landmines and evacuating non-Muslims and government staff.

The government continued a mass evacuation of thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists from the area, where they are a minority, to larger towns, police stations and army bases.

“All the people want to follow the army to get out of here. We have no cooking oil, we have no vegetables, we only have rice and people are in poor health,” Maung Thein Hla, a Rakhine resident stranded in the village of Taman Thar, told Reuters.

Satellite imagery analyzed by New York-based Human Rights Watch showed widespread burnings in at least 10 areas in northern Rakhine since the Friday raids, the group said. 

Home Affairs Minister General Kyaw Swe said construction materials imported by international aid groups to northern Rakhine, such as steel pipes, have been used by insurgents to make weapons. 

"We have found out that those things were used in handmade mines and handmade cartridges when it got to extremists and (were used to) attack our security forces," said Kyaw Swe at a news conference. 

The U.N. and international aid groups evacuated all "non-critical" staff out of the area after Suu Kyi's office repeatedly published pictures of World Food Programme energy biscuits allegedly found at an insurgent camp and after it said it was investigating aid groups support for the insurgents in one incident. 

The army source said the militants had produced a large number of landmines and were ambushing troops before quickly vanishing into the forests and mountains. 

"This is their region. Any village can be their base camp - any mosque can be their headquarters," he said. "We cannot distinguish who are insurgents or who are villagers." 

Reporting by Ruma Paul, Nurul Islam and Reuters staff; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Alex Richardson and Cynthia Osterman

A Rohingya woman urges the member of Border Guard Bangladesh not to turn them back to Myanmar, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 27 August 2017. Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

By Mike Woods
August 29, 2017

The United Nations cautioned Myanmar’s government on Tuesday against a heavy-handed response to last week’s attacks by a new Rohingya armed group, which provoked a crackdown that has once again highlighted the plight of the Muslim minority and thrown into question a series of UN recommendations meant to improve their conditions.

Some 6,000 people are held up at the border with Bangladesh as they flee repercussions of last week’s attacks on police outposts in Rakhine state, home to most of Myanmar’s 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya.

“The reports that we’re receiving from our Rohingya sources are that the military offensive against Rohingya areas, targeting villages, is escalating on a bigger scale than the military offensive in October last year,” says Mark Farmaner of the UK-based Burma Campaign.

He was referring to the crackdown that followed the first attacks of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which also claimed responsibility for the much larger assaults on police outposts that left at least 109 people dead late last week.

Myanmar's government calls the ARSA a terrorist group, while activists view it as emerging from long-held frustration.

“They are young angry Rohingya men who expected the international community to solve their problems, but seeing no action, they decided to take up arms,” says Europe-based Rohingya blogger Nay San Lwin, who rejects the terrorist label being applied to the group.

“There is no evidence they have committed any terrorist crime, so the government cannot call a group terrorist just for attacking government troops.”

Rohingya treatment

Despite being in Myanmar for decades or even centuries, the Rohingya have no status as citizens, and the government considers them to be Bengali immigrants.

Mark Farmaner notes the particular way the government has responded to the ARSA’s appearance, contrasting it with armed groups involved in other ethnic conflicts around the country.

“Until last year, the Rohingya were one of the few significant ethnic groups in the country that didn’t have an armed organisation claiming to advocate on their behalf and defend the people,” he notes.

“But while the government is now engaging with most of the armed ethnic organisations and trying to organise a peace process with them, its response to this Rohingya organisation has been completely different.

[…] There’s an almost hysterical response from the government to whip up anti-Rohingya fever in the country, playing on the prejudice against the Rohingya that already exists there.”

UN recommendations

The ARSA attack came the same day as a commission on the Rohingya situation led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan sent the government a list of recommendations that include promoting economic development, ensuring social justice and revisiting the question of citizenship.

“The report was issued the day the attacks happened, and the government welcomed it then,” notes the International Crisis Group’s Asia Programme Director Anagha Neelakantan, who believes the government should find it possible to take at least some of the recommendations on board.

“The commission might have been headed by Kofi Annan, who is very respected, but most of the members were from Myanmar, so this is a national body in some ways,” she says. “It should be in the government’s power to create the conditions in which to implement some of these recommendations.”

Nay San Lwin is less optimistic and doubts the government has any real intention of taking the recommendations to heart.

“The military launched this operation against the ARSA to provoke the situation, and the group claims it has no alternatives, because their bases were attacked by the military,” he argues. “The government is creating this situation so they don’t need to implement the plan.”

In any case, Anagha Neelakantan doubts the appearance of the armed group and crackdown will do anything to help the Rohingya cause.

“None of this is going to create much sympathy in Myanmar, where there’s already not much sympathy among the general public and among many politicians for the Rohingya cause,” she says..

“What it will do especially if the military response is very aggressive and targets civilians – is what the insurgents want, which is to keep international attention focussed on the situation in northern Rakhine and the Rohingyas, but not necessarily in a productive way.”



Date- 29th August 2017

Invitation- Protest against Mass Killings of Rohingya in Northern Arakan/Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar

From 25th August Myanmar army and police forces have been carrying out indiscriminate killing of Rohingya civilians, torching and wholesale destruction of their homes and villages. More than 700 Rohingyas, mostly old men, women and children were massacred, and at least 18 Rohingya villages were burned down in the townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung in Rakhine State. As of Today at least 80,000 people are internally displaced causing a great humanitarian disaster. Due to curfew order, blockade and extensive destruction of foodstuff and essentials, there is an acute shortage of food, medicine, and other necessities. The situation is exponentially worsening.

The Rohingya Community in the UK is holding a demonstration in front of the Foreign & Common Wealth Office of the U.K. to urge the U.K. Government to put pressure on the Myanmar Government to stop this unprecedented campaign of terror and brutality, and to immediately discuss the issue in the UNSC. 

We would like to invite you to join with us and raise your voice to protect Rohingya lives in Arakan. Thank you so much.

Please show your solidarity with us. 

The demonstration will take place as follow;

Time: 14:00-15:00

Date: 30th August 2017 (Wednesday)

Place: Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH

Nearest Tube Station Westminster (District Line and Jubilee Line)

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

The follow interview was originally conducted and published in Burmese language by the Thazin Pan Khaine News Journal. Later, it was published by the media for reasons best known to them. Original link to the interview here:

http://bit.ly/2wFP438

By Aung Myint Thu (Man Aung)
Tazin Pann Khine, August 29, 2017

"We INGO are not fleeing from Maungdaw. If the government did not order us to return, we wish to stay there. No part of Rakhine is lost yet as people say it would be. There is no terrorist group as people say." 


Q- Andrew Kyleriley,  we saw that you guys were fleeing from Maungdaw. Can you let us know about the situation? 

Andrew - No! We were not fleeing. The government told us there we could not live, if not we wish to stay there. As people think, there is no terrorism. I think it has happened because of no human rights in there. 

Q- So, is not ARSA a terrorist?

A- ARSA says they have responsibility. They have already stated in social media. They have already told they attacked the police check posts. But they do not attack the civilians. 

Q- In last month, Myo ethnic people were killed. That day, Hindus were killed. Do you know that? 

A- I do not know. It could but very few be included during the attacks. 

Q- There are video files that ARSA collects the children and train them like to terrorize. Do you know that? 

A- I have not found that. I want to ask you is 'Why are you asking about the killing of those few people only'. There are many people have been killed from them. But you do not ask more about them. 

Q- That day, police check posts were attacked in the same. How do you think about that? 

A- Just around (30) police check posts. But there are many check posts. Now, around (30). ARSA takes the responsibility of attacking the check posts. They have no plan to attack the civilians. I totally disagree for any terrorism. But they are not terrorist group. 

Q- UN has been working for these issues by pitching up. Why does that group that says they are Rohingya become so popular in the world? Are they the most miserable human beings? 

A- Who suffers in Myanmar like them? I want to ask that question. Come to see. How they are friendly! They never make violences. Let's say about the boy who comes my office! He says there is no right of movement for him like Rakhine People. Moreover, no right for education. He says he does not know what he can. 

Q- Why are the indigenous people in Myanmar afraid of that terrorists? Do you think it is because of religion? 

A- Some could be of religion. However, they are not able to attend a good school like you. No good hospitals. No education. They are very miserable people. 

Q- Andrew, do you know that there are issues of many children giving birth? All say that a family has many children. 

A- That is their choice how many children they wish to give birth. That's human rights. They give birth as many as they wise. Is not that? 

Q- How do you think of new people coming from Bangladesh? 

A- Why do the people come from Bangladesh? How do they come to there where there are killing? No one comes from Bangladesh. 

Q- Andrew, it is heard that your America reduces the supports to UN. During this current American government. So, do you think Islamic countries support more to UN in that situation? 

A- American is continuously supporting. I did not hear that news. 

Tazin Pann Khine- Such thoughts are quite different with what Myanmar people think. So, we'll post it for Myanmar people how the ones like Andrew who work for INGO think about that. 

Andrew- Thank you. I have a thing to add. I totally disagree for any terrorism. But what is happening now in Rakhine is not like the terrorist group what the government say. 

# It is the interview with Andrew at Myay Ni Gone (Yangon) on 28 of August. The reason to start the interview is from seeing the banner of "No Human Rights for Terrorists", a collection for Rakhine Indigenous Victims . Andrew saw the texts in the banner and took pictures. And he told Tazin Pann Khine Journey that he does not agree with that and there are no terrorists in Rakhine. It is the facts of one-hour-long interview with him.

Translated by RB Team.




RB News
August 29, 2017

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

Below are the reports we have recieved so far on the fourth day (August 29, 2017).

1- 8:30am 29/8/2017: The Myanmar military carried out mass summary executions of 130 Rohingya men between the age of 10 and 90.l at 'Maung Nu' hamlet of 'Chin Thama' village in Buthidaung on 27th August 2017.

The dead bodies were taken away to their Battallion Base at the Chin Thama village after the summary executions. And More than 60 women were moslested and their jewelries and money were looted by the military.

2- 8am 29/8/2017: Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists continue to set fire on 'Koe Tan Kauk,' 'Tha Wan Chaung' & 'Inn Din' in Rathedaung.

Most Rohingya villages and communities have already been ethinically cleansed up by Myanmar army in Rathedaung Township. Yes, right before your eyes!

3- 8:30am 29/8/2017: Myanmar military have set fire on 'Zin Paing Nya' in Northern Maungdaw since this early morning. The Rohingya village still continues to flame!

4- 8:30am 29/8/2017: Rakhine extremists continue to threaten Rohingya residents at 'MyoOo' village, Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 in Maungdaw downtown that they will burn down their homes. The Rakhine extremists and Buddhist monks have been attempting to expel from their homes since last night.

The reason why the Rakhine extremists havent set fire on their homes yet seems these Rohingya homes are located mixed with Rakhine homes.

5- 10am 29/7/2017: The Myanmar military continue arson attacks on South hamlet of 'Kyi Kan Pyin' village in Northern Maungdaw.


6- 12:30pm 29/8/2017: Myanmar military and Rakhine began arson attacks on 'Tharay Kone Baung' Rohingya village in southern Maungdaw.

7- 1pm 29/8/2017: The Myanmar Government is evacuating only Rakhine civilians, not Rohingya villagers, from 3-mile-area in Maungdaw and transporting them to Buthidaung downtown.

The Rohingya villagers left behind are now extremely terrified of large-scale arson attacks and mass-killings by the Myanmar military.

8- 1:30pm 29/8/2017: 'Chein Khali' Rohingya hamlet of 'Alay Than Kyaw' village in Southern Maungdaw was set ablaze by the Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists.

9- 3pm 29/8/2017: During the arson attacks by Myanmar military on 'Myo Thu Gyi' village in Maungdaw,10 elderly Rohingya men were burnt to death

10-

11- 5pm 29/8/2017: Summary Executions

Over 100 Rohingya children and women were slaughtered by the Myanmar military at 'Byu Ha Hmuu' in 'Alay Than Kyaw' in Southern Maungdaw.

12- 7pm 29/8/2017: Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists set fire on Rohingya homes Quarter 5 (Ywa Thik Ke Ywa) in Maungdaw downtown since 5pm.

[Pic: scene seen from far]



13- 9pm 29/8/2017: Eastern Rohingya hamlet of Quater 5 in Maungdaw downtown has been set ablaze by Myanmar military and Rakhine extremists. It continues to burn.

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.






By Cansu Dikme
August 28, 2017

Deputy PM Bekir Bozdag urges international community to take action against killings in Rakhine state

ANKARA -- Turkey is highly concerned about violence in Myanmar, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag stated on Monday.

On his Twitter account, Bozdag expressed “sorrow and concern” felt in Turkey for Rohingya Muslims.

"We feel deep sorrow and concern for the violence, deaths and the injured [in Myanmar],” Bozdag wrote.

Bozdag also urged the international community to take action on the situation in Myanmar.

“The UN, UNSC and international community should not remain silent against these genocide-reminiscent massacres,” Bozdag added.

Deadly attacks on border posts in western Myanmar's Rakhine state broke out on Friday, resulting in mass civilian casualties. 

Later, media reports emerged saying Myanmar security forces used disproportionate force and displaced thousands of Rohingya villagers, destroying homes with mortars and machine guns. 

The region has seen simmering tension between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out in 2012.

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 had taken place.

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



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


    • Rohingya Exodus