World must not forget Myanmar's ethnic minorities

NEKKEI ASIA

Denis D. Gray
March 31, 2021

Escaping Karen villagers, pictured on Mar.28: more than 10,000 members of the ethnic minority have been driven from their villages. © Karen Teacher Working Group/Reuters

Denis D. Gray is a former Associated Press correspondent. He has reported on Myanmar's ethnic minorities since the 1970s.

The world's attention has been focused on atrocities taking place in Myanmar's central heartland: the towns, cities and villages largely populated by the ethnic Burman majority, where pro-democracy demonstrators, enraged by the Feb. 1 coup, are being gunned down by the junta's forces.

But on the country's edge, ethnic minorities making up about 40% of the population are also being brutalized. The new push by Myanmar's military to target ethnic rural areas has opened up a dangerous front in the junta's bid to "pacify" the population, which has soundly rejected the power grab by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

The Politics of Identity in Myanmar the Rohingya, Kachin & Wa Ethnic Minorities

The Politics of Identity in... by washalinko

Military Extends Ceasefire in Kachin, Shan for 2 Months

The Irrawaddy
By The Irrawaddy
1 May 2019

Peace Commission members (right side of the table) and representatives of the Northern Alliance comprising the KIA, TNLA, AA and MNDAA (left) hold talks in Muse, northern Shan State, on April 30, 2019. They agreed to hold further discussions on bilateral ceasefire agreements. / Hla Maung Shwe / Facebook

YANGON—The Myanmar military on Tuesday extended its unilateral ceasefire in five regional commands in Kachin and Shan states for two months on Tuesday, with restive Rakhine State remaining exempt from the truce.

EU extends sanctions against Myanmar over Rohingya.

PRESS TV 
Tue Apr 30, 2019

A Myanmarese border guard stands near a Rohingya Muslim family in front of their home in a village during a government-organized visit for journalists in Buthidaung Township in the restive Rakhine State, Myanmar, on January 25, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The European Union (EU) has extended sanctions, including a weapons embargo, against Myanmar for one year over the Myanmarese military’s deadly crackdown on minority Muslims in the country.

The European Council said in a statement on Monday that the sanctions included restrictions on arms, dual-use products, and surveillance equipment that could be used for “internal repression” in Myanmar’s Kachin, Rakhine, and Shan states, where minority Rohingya Muslims have been subjected to state-sponsored violence.

The Original Panglong.

The Irrawaddy
By WEI YAN AUNG | 26 March 2019

Shan chieftains pose for a photo at the 1946 Panglong in Shan State

Today marks the 73rd anniversary of a conference held in advance of the historic 1947 Panglong. The 1946 conference, which ran through March 28, also in Shan State’s Panglong Township, has been recognized as the first Panglong but is less known than the one that followed.

‘Do more to stop trafficking’.

THE Star ONLINE

Friday, 22 Mar 2019

BANGKOK: Authorities in China and Myanmar are failing to stop the brutal trafficking of young women, often teenagers, from the conflict-ridden Kachin region for sexual slavery, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

‘We Are Taking More Action’: Facebook Bans Pages of Violent Myanmar Insurgents

Sputnik Internalonal
05-02-2019

On Tuesday, Facebook announced that it had banned the accounts of four armed insurgent groups in Myanmar that it says were using the platform to incite violence against other ethnic groups in the region.

"Over the past year, we have repeatedly taken action against violent actors and bad content on Facebook in Myanmar. The ethnic violence happening in Myanmar is horrific, and we don't want our services to be used to spread hate, incite violence or fuel tension on the ground," Facebook wrote in its Tuesday blog post.

Facebook targets 'dangerous' armed groups in latest Myanmar bans

Reuters Published: 05 Feb 2019

A rebel soldier of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) holds his rifle as he guards near a military base in Kokang region Mar 11, 2015. REUTERS 

 

Facebook has banned four insurgent groups fighting against Myanmar’s military from its social network, the company said on Tuesday, saying it wanted to prevent offline harm by removing groups it branded “dangerous organisations”.

The US-based social media giant says it has removed hundreds of accounts, pages and groups for links to Myanmar’s military, or misrepresentation, since last August.

Myanmar's Civil War is Moving Closer to India's Borders, Threatens to Cross Over.

Two districts of Manipur - Saiha and Lawngtlai – where thousands of Myanmar’s citizens have come taken refuge, is where a few clashes between Myanmar Army and Arakan Army have been reported.

Suhas Munshi | News18.com

January 22, 2019, 8:42 AM IST

The influx of thousands of refugees is not the only concern for India as far as the decade's old civil war in Myanmar is concerned. The war is actually coming closer home. 

Sources in the home ministry have told News18 that the civil war between Arakan Army, the Rakhine-based insurgent group, and the Myanmar Army, understood to be almost over, is still simmering intermittently and has come very close to India.

China faces backlash as it bids to rekindle stalled US$3.6 billion Myitsone Dam project.

-  Ethnic community leaders in Kachin state speak out against Beijing’s efforts to restart        
   project suspended since 2011
- Beijing emboldened by changing face of Myanmar’s relations with the West over its 
  handling of Rohingya crisis

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 20 January, 2019, 8:31am

Political and religious leaders in Myanmar’s Kachin state have hit back at apparent efforts by Beijing to breathe new life into a controversial China-funded dam project as the Southeast Asian nation comes under fire from the West over its treatment of the Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar Denies Entry Of UN Human Rights Expert

Flag of Burma (Myanmar)

January 16, 2019 

By John Zaw

Myanmar has refused a U.N. human rights expert entry as she visits Thailand and Bangladesh investigating abuses being committed in the country.

Myanmar has barred Yanghee Lee, the U.N. special rapporteur to Myanmar, from their country since December 2017. Lee has said she still seeks to engage with the Myanmar government and that she remains committed to her mandate of monitoring the human rights situation in the country.

State Counsellor calls for support for federal union.

MARAN | 11 JAN 2019

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday called on all people in Myanmar to strive for developing a true democratic federal union, urging them not to rely on the government alone.