US military and civilian officials has arrived in Myanmar

A delegation of more than 30 US military and civilian officials has arrived in Myanmar at the weekend, in Washington’s most comprehensive push yet to engage with Myanmar’s military and government.






The visit by 22 senior officials with support staff highlights a growing debate, in Europe and in other western countries, about greater engagement with the military, which for decades ruled the country with scant regard for human rights, prompting many governments to impose harsh sanctions.



The US maintained military attachés in Myanmar – even in the years when it imposed sanctions. However, the participation of senior US military officers such as Lt Gen Francis Wiercinski, head of the US Army’s Pacific command, in this week’s visit reflects the growing view in Washington that the support of Myanmar’s military is essential to any lasting reforms, or peace agreements with ethnic minorities.



In a recent report, the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies suggested that the US should start bilateral programmes of training and exchange visits as a precursor to normalising military relations.



This week’s visit follows successful trips to the US last month of President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate and opposition leader who has indicated she welcomed the idea of US engagement with the military.



Myanmar’s government has forged ceasefire agreements with 10 of 11 main ethnic rebel groups. However, fighting continues in northern Kachin state amid reports of military offensives and displacement of villagers.



Even as the government struggles to engage Kachin commanders in peace talks, tensions within other large ethnic groups, particularly the Karen National Union on Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand, have raised concerns about the fragility of agreements signed in the past eight months.



“This visit makes perfect sense,” said Thant Myint-U, who is involved in the government’s peace efforts. “It would be counterproductive for the peace process to proceed without involving Myanmar’s military.”



At the same time as the US delegation’s visit to Myanmar this week, William Burns, deputy secretary of state will also hold high-level talks. Other US officials include Vikram Singh, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, Derek Mitchell, US ambassador to Myanmar, and other senior officials from the state department, National Security Council, homeland security department, and USAid. They are due to meet Thein Sein, Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the military, and other senior officials.



Outside of the government, the US group will meet leaders of ethnic groups. These groups will include Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists from the western coastal state of Rakhine (formerly Arakan), where sectarian violence broke out in June. They will also meet trade unions and religious groups, as well as members of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and Generation 88, a group of former political prisoners.



● Myanmar’s ruling United Solidarity and Development party opened a three-day national meeting over the weekend to elect officials and appoint a chairman to replace Thein Sein, who vacated the role when he won the presidency early last year. The party will also discuss strategy for the 2015 presidential election.



U Htay Oo, the general secretary, told The Myanmar Times, an independent English-language newspaper, that the USDP would greatly expand its two main leadership committees and make other moves to “improve organisation”.



The weekly newspaper cited senior party sources as saying that the speaker of the lower house, Thura Shwe Mann, would be chosen as leader. The party will choose more than 200 executive committee members at the gathering, 35 of whom will be appointed to the central executive committee.



The USDP has been beset by tensions since losing by-elections on April 1 to Ms Suu Kyi’s party, which won 43 of 45 parliamentary seats.

The Rohingya conundrum

    11Rohingya sit in a tractor loaded with bags of donated rice outside a temporary relief camp on the outskirts of Sittwe in Photo: AFP

By Nehginpao Kipgen Monday,  2012


Since May this year, Myanmar has witnessed an escalation in the simmering tension between two groups of people in Rakhine State. The violence between the Rakhine (also known as Arakan) and Rohingya (also known as Bengali) has led to the death of at least 88 people and displacement of thousands of others. Unofficial reports, however, put the number of deaths in the hundreds.



The immediate cause of the violence was the rape and murder of a Rakhine Buddhist woman on May 28 by three male Rohingya. This was followed by a retaliatory killing of 10 Muslims by a mob of Rakhine on June 3. It should be noted that tension between these two groups has existed for several decades.



Several questions are being routinely asked: Why has little apparently been done to resolve the conflict? Is there a possibility of reaching a permanent solution to this protracted problem? Much blame has also been directed at both the Myanmar government and the opposition, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.



As members of the international community are trying to promote their own national interests in newly democratic Myanmar, sectarian violence such as we have seen in Rakhine State has not been paid serious attention, especially by Western powers.



While Human Rights Watch has criticised the Myanmar government for failing to prevent the initial unrest, majority Muslim nations, such as Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Malaysia have criticised what they allege is discrimination against the Rohingya based on their religious beliefs.



The sensitivity of the issue has silenced many from discussing it publicly. Even the internationally acclaimed human rights champion and leader of the democratic opposition, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has made only brief comments about the conflict, emphasising the need to establish an adequate citizenship law.



The root of the problem begins with the nomenclature itself. Although many of the Muslims in Rakhine State call themselves Rohingya, the Myanmar government and many of the country’s citizens call them illegal Bengali migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.



Since the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh have refused to accept them as their citizens, the Rohingya have automatically become stateless under international law. Under such circumstances, are there any possible solutions to the problem?



President U Thein Sein suggested that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should consider resettling the Rohingya in other countries. Although such proposal may sound ideal to many, there would definitely be challenges in terms of implementation.



For example, will there be a nation or nations willing to welcome and embrace the million or so Rohingya people? Moreover, UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres has rejected the idea of resettlement. Even if the agency reconsidered its position, would the UNHCR offices in Myanmar and Bangladesh have adequate resources to process such a large number of people?



One possible solution is for the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to reach an amicable arrangement to integrate the Rohingya population into their respective societies. There are about 800,000 Rohingya inside Myanmar and another 300,000 in Bangladesh.



This proposition also has its own challenges. Chiefly, will the indigenous Rakhine accept Rohingya as their fellow citizens and live peacefully with them? On the other hand, will the Bangladesh government change its policy and offer citizenship to the Rohingya?



Another possible solution is that Myanmar can amend its 1982 citizenship law to pave the way for the Rohingya to apply for citizenship. As Minister for Immigration and Population U Khin Yi told Radio Free Asia recently, under the existing law foreigners can apply for citizenship only if they are born in Myanmar, their parents and grandparents have lived and died in Myanmar, they are literate in Burmese and meet some additional criteria.



Finally, to prevent a further escalation in tensions, the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh need to secure their porous international borders to prevent illegal movements.



None of the above suggested policies are simple and easy to achieve. Despite the challenges and difficulties, the Rohingya issue cannot be ignored for too long. Without addressing the crux of the problem, the May incident and the violence it sparked could recur, with even more tragic consequences.



Until a solution is achieved, international institutions, such as the United Nations and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, should pressure the Myanmar government to take steps to resolve the problem of Rohingya statelessness in a holistic manner, rather than inciting, or allowing others to incite, hatred along religious or racial lines.



(Nehginpao Kipgen is general secretary of the United States-based Kuki International Forum. His research interests include political transition, democratisation, human rights, ethnic conflict and identity politics and he has written numerous peer-reviewed and non-academic articles on the politics of Myanmar and Asia.)

Rohingya Muslim killed in Buthidaung jail

-Rohingya Muslim killed in Buthidaung jail




Buthidaung, Arakan State: Three Rohingya Muslims were killed in torture by the concerned authorities in Buthidaung jail on the first week of October 2012, said a local trader from Buthidaung on condition of anonymity.







“They were arrested from Maungdaw south by the Burma’s security force during the communal violence earlier.”



The dead bodies were identified as Moulvi Salamat, hailed from Lamba Gona, Abdu Salam, hailed from Washa village and another one is from Gudu Sara village of Maungdaw south.





They were severely tortured by the concerned authorities in the jail after British Ambassador Andrew Heyn accompanied by two others visited in Buthidaung recently, said a reliable source from Buthidaung on condition of anonymity.





The prisoners were severely tortured by the concerned authorities in the jail because the delegation asked them about the recent violence, the present situation of Rohingya community and why the violence was occurred.



However, the dead bodies were not handed over to their family members by the authority, but they were buried in a Rohingya cemetery nearby Buthidaung jail, a villager elder told at Kaladanpress.



A prisoner said on condition of anonymity, “My health is very bad condition that I have been suffering from skin disease and odema in the jail as I don’t get proper treatment from the concerned authorities in jail.”



So, the prisoners are now languishing in the critical condition. They are suffering from food, medical assistance and etc. They can’t take bath very day, but they can take bath once in a week and the water is very limited. The prisoners are provided food with Dal (pulse curry) very imperfect twice a day, said a released prisoner who was released recently.



A widow named Ms Shajan (50), (not to mention her village for security reason), said that her son was arrested by the Burma’s security force during the communal violence. Now, she has been suffering from starvation because she has no other earning source except her son.



Similarly,many Rohingya villagers have been suffering from starvation in Maungdaw south like Ms. Shajan. Many people are not able to go Buthidaung jail to see their sons, brothers and relatives because of financial crisis

Myanmar govt asks Mercy Malaysia to rehabilitate hospital

                                   Dr Ahmad Faizal : ‘Request shows Myanmar government trusts us’





THE Myanmar government has requested the Malaysian Medical Relief Society (Mercy Malaysia) to rehabilitate a hospital in the Rakhine state to offer on-site healthcare services to the Rohingya people stricken by the civil war.



Mercy Malaysia president Datuk Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus said yesterday the request was extended by the Health Ministry in Myanmar through the Rakhine state health department.

It requested Mercy Malaysia to rehabilitate the station hospital in the Dar Paing internally-displaced persons camp, which is deep in Rohingya territory near the Sittwe capital.



“It shows that the Myanmar government trusts us, which is something quite significant,” Dr Ahmad Faizal told a press conference.



Mercy Malaysia’s vice-president II, Norazam Ab Samad, said the society would also provide equipment and training personnel to work at the hospital, which would be rehabilitated at a cost of about US$50,000 (RM153,530).



The request was made yesterday after Norazam had led a team from Mercy Malaysia comprising executive council member Dr Heng Aik Cheng, Relief Operations head Hew Cheong Yew and volunteer Dr Mohamad Iqbal Omar to visit both Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya camps in Sittwe two weeks ago.



Mercy Malaysia had distributed over 3,000 hygiene kits, including 2,500 drug-impregnated mosquito nets, and RM61,420 worth of medical supplies for flu, fever, cough and malaria.



The violence in the Rakhine region erupted in early June between ethnic Buddhists and both Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims after a woman was raped and killed in the town of Ramri.



Since then, thousands of both Buddhists Rakhine and the Rohingya community have been displaced after the violence swept through Sittwe and the surrounding areas, and the Myanmar government’s restriction of humanitarian access had only compounded matters.



Dr Ahmad Faizal said several international NGOs, such as Doctors Without Borders, were offering healthcare services in camps near Sittwe but the situation remained dire as heavy monsoon rain, crowded living conditions and poor sanitation had led to the spread of diseases such as respiratory infections, skin diseases, diarrhoea and malaria.



He said the society needed RM3.5 million to carry out basic medical services and reconstruction projects, including proper sanitation and drainage systems, for one year and a relief fund had been set up towards this end.



He also said the society had sent another team, headed by executive council member Dr Jitendra Kumar to visit the Syrian refugee camp where medical equipment was sorely needed.



A fund of RM2 million had also been established towards this end.

ARU-DG SPEAKS AT THE IILO CONFERENCE ON OPPRESSED PEOPLE IN MYANMAR

ARU-DG SPEAKS AT THE IILO CONFERENCE ON OPPRESSED PEOPLE IN MYANMAR

Tuesday, October 09, 2012 




 
A conference on oppressed people of Myanmar was convened by the International Islamic Lawyers Organization (IILO) was held in Istanbul, Turkey, October 2-4, 2012. Over one hundred lawyers from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Qatar, Bahrain, United States of America, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Malaysia, and several other countries participated in the conference. Additionally representatives from Rohingya community including Director General of ARU Prof. Dr. Wakar Uddin, ARU Council Member from Turkey Mr. Eyup Han, Rohingya Jalia leaders from Saudi Arabia Mr. Mohammed Ayub, Mr. Abdullah Maruf, and others, RSO leader Dr. Mohammed Yunus, ARNO leader Mr. Nurul Islam, and other Rohingya representatives from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Malaysia, also attended the conference.
On behalf of Rohingya community worldwide, Dr. Wakar Uddin addressed the audience with details of the current situation on the ground in Arakan, role of ARU in OIC’s engagement with Myanmar Government, and the importance of concerted efforts by the international community to help advance the Rohingya cause. Dr. Uddin provided some compelling evidences of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Rohingya, and the ongoing atrocities against Rohingya committed by the Burmese/Rakhine police force and the Rakhine mobs. He also cautioned that those examples are just tips of the iceberg, and the depth of width of the crisis in Arakan is much more profound than the evidences presented in the conference. Dr. Uddin has appealed the IILO, the Muslim Umma, and the international community to help the Rohingya people bring the perpetrators to justice at the International Criminal Court and other entities for the crimes they committed against humanity in Arakan. There were several new developments at the conference, and the details will be available at due course of time

Rakhine women protest in the street in Sittwe on Wednesday

Rakhine Women, Monks Protest OIC


By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY
October 10, 2012

Bangali Rakhine women protest in the street in Sittwe on Wednesday afternoon. (PHOTO: Rakhine Straight Views)



More than 500 Bangali Arakanese Buddhist women took to the streets of Sittwe on Wednesday to protest the government decision to allow the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to open an aid office in Arakan State.



A spokesperson for the OIC, however, told The Irrawaddy that the office was not intended as a flagship for the Rohingya cause, and that it would provide humanitarian aid to both Buddhist and Muslim communities in the form of food and shelter.



Dr. Aye Maung, the chairman of Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), said that his party would accept all the help and humanitarian aid that was provided to those affected by the sectarian violence in the region. He stressed, however, that the RNDP objected to an OIC office in Arakan State capital Sittwe, and suggested that the group base its operations out of either Rangoon or Naypyidaw.



The 57-member OIC is a mostly Muslim bloc of nations which includes all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. It encompasses some 1.6 billion people worldwide.



The OIC signed an MoU with the Burmese government on Aug. 11 to permit the group to open an office for humanitarian purposes in Rangoon and Sittwe. A delegation from the OIC then traveled to Arakan State in September to inspect the aftermath of communal clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in the strife-torn region.



Approximately 200 women began demonstrating on Wednesday afternoon in central Sittwe wearing t-shirts with slogans reading “No OIC.” As the protest gained momentum, an estimated 300 more women joined in.



“We are protesting because we heard that the OIC is coming to our country. We do not want them based here,” said protester Nyo Aye.



She told The Irrawaddy that the Buddhist women demonstrators supported the 1982 Citizenship Law, which fails to recognize the Rohingya as an indigenous ethnic group of Burma.



“The Bengali Muslims [Rohingyas] are illegal immigrants,” she said. “They should be sent to other countries.”



The demonstration took place just a day after some 500 Buddhist monks held a similar protest in Sittwe in front of the Bangladeshi consulate. A spokesman for the monks said they were demanding that the Burmese government rescind its offer to the OIC to open an office in Arakan State, because it would be used only to support Muslim people.



The Buddhist monks also delivered a letter to the Bangladeshi consulate calling for Dhaka to investigate and take action against those who destroyed Buddhist temples and pagodas in southern Bangladesh recently.



On Monday, Buddhist monks held a demonstration outside the US embassy in Rangoon where they voiced similar sentiments and offered their condolences to the US for the death of its ambassador in Libya last month.



Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, prominent Buddhist monk Ashin Ottama, who led the protest in Sittwe, said, “We will not let the OIC open an office in Arakan State even if the government has already agreed it.”



A delegation from the OIC met with representatives of Burma’s Ministry of Border Affairs in Rangoon during the second week of September. According to Dina Madani of the Muslim Minorities and Communities Department at the OIC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Burmese ministry agreed to cooperate with the OIC in its humanitarian role and in establishing offices in the country.



Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday from OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Ms. Madani said, “We are laying the groundwork to open our offices in Burma by cooperating with non-government organizations that deal with humanitarian affairs. We will hopefully open our offices soon.”



In response to a question about the protests by Rakhine women and Buddhist monks, Ms. Madani said, “That’s unfortunate. But it’s certain people’s opinion, not the Burmese government’s.



“The OIC is only coming [to Burma] for humanitarian affairs,” she said. “We will help both sides—Buddhist and Muslim. There should be no discrimination when it comes to humanitarian affairs.



“I wanted to tell them [the protesters] that we are reaching out to both societies. We want to be partners in peace-building and trust-building. We are not there to discriminate on whether they [partners] are Buddhist or Muslim.



“Without dialogue, there will be more conflict. I do not think the people want this,” she said.



In the meantime, RNDP Chairman Aye Maung said that his party would raise an objection in Parliament to the OIC offices.



He said that the Arakanese people would accept help and humanitarian aid “from any organization and from any country,” but that it was unnecessary for the OIC to open an office in the region.



“We are afraid that the OIC will influence religion and politics in Arakan State,” he said. “It could even threaten the rule of law in our country.”



He reiterated that his party and the majority of Rakhine Buddhists at large would not object if the OIC opened offices in Rangoon or Naypyidaw in coordination with other members of the international community.

BREAKING NEWS (Sittwe) 3:00 PM loacl time

BREAKING NEWS (Sittwe) 3:00 PM loacl time

Sunday, October 07, 2012  

Now, About 3:00pm, Rakhine peoples fired recently attacks to the ancient big mosque compound including many houses on the main road in Sittwe. Rakhine peoples and authorities are trying to kill Rohingya Muslim and fire Aung Mingala village. Now they are surrounding Muslim village in Sittwe but military and security forces are trying to control the crowd.

At first the caretaker house and Imam houses were set fired by the mob of racist Maugh. Rohingya in Mawlek ,Koshai para are at tense. Now the whole compound of Mosque is burning.

Now, About 3:00pm, Rakhine peoples fired recently attacks to the ancient big mosque compound including many houses on the main road in Sittwe. Rakhine peoples and authorities are trying to kill Rohingya Muslim and fire Aung Mingala village. Now they are surrounding Muslim village in Sittwe but military and security forces are trying to control the crowd.

On Phone