Rohingya Forced to Fight Alongside Myanmar Army Tormentors

The Irrawaddy
by AFP
May 29, 2024

Rohingya refugees walk down a path at a camp in Ukhia in Bangladesh's southeastern Cox's Bazar district in May 2024. / AFP

 

KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh—Rohingya mother Sofura Begum has spent years in a squalid refugee camp after fleeing Myanmar. Now her teenage son has been taken to fight alongside the troops that put her there.

Over a dozen Rohingya killed in Myanmar army attacks: Activist

AA
Islam Uddin, ANKARA
27.01.2024 

Dozens others also injured in shelling in last 2 days, says co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition

FILE PHOTO

Over a dozen Rohingya Muslims were killed in Myanmar army's artillery attacks in the country's western Rakhine state, said a human rights activist on Saturday.

Entire Myanmar army battalion surrenders to MNDAA in Shan State

mizzima
11/29/2023,

ကုန်းခြံမြို့နယ် / Photo: Google

The spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) confirmed that the complete Light Infantry Battalion No. (125), stationed in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone in Northern Shan State, surrendered on 28 November.

Solution caught in trilateral geopolitics

NEWAGE
by Md Zillur Rahaman
Published: Sep 03,2023 

The Rohingyas gather at Ukhiya in Bangladesh on August 25 for a rally marking the sixth anniversary of genocide day. — Agence France-Presse/Tanbir Miraj 

 

SINCE August 25, 2017, the Myanmar army began a large-scale violence against the Rohingyas in Rakhine State. Rohingya victims said that mobs joined the crackdown of the military junta, forcing more than 700,000 Rohingyas to take refuge in Bangladesh. More than 1.1 million Rohingyas now stay in 34 refugee camps at Teknaf and Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar. The Rohingyas say that the Myanmar army forced them to come to Bangladesh with indiscriminate killing, rape and arson.

Broker for Israeli Arms to Myanmar Arrested in Thailand for Drug Dealing, Money Laundering

HAARETZ
Oded Yaron
Oct 27, 2022

Documents reveal that a corporation implicated in corruption, served as a middleman between IAI, Elbit, and Israel Shipyards and Myanmar's brutal junta, despite international sanctions over the Rohingya genocide.

A Myanmar military officer at an Israeli arms fair in 2019Moti Milrod

A corporation in Myanmar implicated in crime and corruption – whose top executives were arrested in Thailand on drug and money laundering charges – served as a middleman between Israeli arms exporters and the brutal military junta ruling the country, according to documents unveiled by the Justice for Myanmar organization. The corporation's senior executives maintain business and family ties with senior junta and Myanmar military figures. Britain imposed sanctions on the corporation, Star Sapphire Trading, for its ties to the Myanmar army during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

The documents leaked to the organization are the subject of a letter sent by Israeli attorney Eitay Mack to Attorney Genera

“Myanmar army could be interested in Rohingya repatriation”

The Daily Star 

 Tuesday, December 13, 2022 

In conversation with Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, Professor at the Dept. of International Relations, University of Dhaka 

Rohingya people waiting for relief. Photo: Anisur Rahman

The Daily Star (TDS): Please provide a historical background of the Rohingya crisis.

Imtiaz Ahmed (IA): There is evidence that Rohingya people participated in elections in Myanmar and they had representatives in the cabinet. However, these people were denied their identity and became stateless.

More specifically, some regulations were formulated against them in the last two or three decades to make them stateless. They were forced to leave during the 70s and 90s but a huge number of displaced populations were able to return to the country both times, and this happened under military rule.

Rohingya Muslims stuck between Myanmar’s military junta, rebel Arakan Army

AA
Halil Ibrahim Medet
ISTANBUL
28.11.2022

Effect of military coup in country led to even more pressure on Rohingya after decades of oppression, says Arakanese activist

File Photo - A Rohingya Muslim man, fled from oppression within ongoing military operations in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, recites Adhan (call to prayer) as they take shelter at a makeshift camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on September 24, 2017

After suffering decades of oppression, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are now caught between two fires from the country’s repressive military junta and the rebel Buddhist Arakan Army, according to local Arakanese activists.

The UN and other international human rights organizations have called the violence against the country’s Rohingya “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide,” saying the Muslim group is “the most persecuted minority in the world.”

 

Bangladesh Army asks Myanmar Army to be cautious during operations at common border

THE BUSINESS STANDARD
UNB
28 October, 2022

Photo: ISPR via UNB

Bangladesh Army has asked the Myanmar Army to maintain more caution in conducting its operations along the common border areas.

A three member delegation of Myanmar Army led by Lt Gen Phone Myat, Command Bureau of Special Operation visited Bangladesh Army Chief General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed at the Army Headquarters on October 26, according to a press release of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued on Thursday night.

The delegation highlighted the ongoing security situation in Myanmar during the visit apart from exchanging courtesies. It said they are trying to keep their country's peace and discipline under control while maintaining mutual friendship with Bangladesh.

Myanmar Army Probe: Rohingyas to testify before Argentina court

The Daily Star

Afp, Yangon

Wed Aug 18, 2021 

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown were set to testify in a court in Argentina for the first time yesterday to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

The witnesses will testify remotely to a court in Argentina, which is considering invoking the principle of "universal jurisdiction" to bring a case against Myanmar's leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Rohingya to give first testimony in push for Myanmar army probe

THE STRAITS TIMES
17 August 2021

A photo from Sept 10, 2017, showing a Rohingya refugee pulling a child as they walk to the shore in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh.PHOTO: REUTERS

YANGON (AFP) - Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown are to testify in court for the first time on Tuesday (Aug 17) to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority group to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

The witnesses will testify remotely to a court in Argentina, which is considering invoking the principle of "universal jurisdiction" to bring a case against Myanmar's leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity. The legal premise holds that some acts - including war crimes and crimes against humanity - are so horrific they are not specific to one nation and can be tried anywhere.

Rohingya to give testimony to Argentine court in push for Myanmar Army probe

BuenosAires Times

17 August 2021

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown are to testify before Argentine court. They will use the principle of "universal jurisdiction" to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them. 

TUN KHIN, PRESIDENT OF THE BURMESE ROHINGYA ORGANISATION UK, PREPARES TO GIVE TESTIMONY. | TWITTER.COM/TUNKHIN80

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown are to testify in court for the first time Tuesday to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

Myanmar army clashes with anti-junta militia in major city

B B C   

23 June 2021

A military handout photograph shows soldiers and police arresting people during a raid in Mandalay

The army in Myanmar's second city, Mandalay, has clashed with a local militia opposed to February's military coup.

The clashes are the first time the People's Defense Forces (PDF) have come up against the army in a major city.

The defence force is a collective name for militia groups that have sprung up in Myanmar since the coup.

China Boosts Support for Myanmar Army, Countering U.S. Sanctions

Bloomberg News
9 June 2021

China says its policy toward Myanmar remains unaffected by the country’s domestic situation, bolstering support for a regime that has faced multiple rounds of sanctions from the U.S. and its Western allies following a coup four months ago.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin during a meeting on Tuesday in Chongqing that Beijing would continue implementing bilateral projects in the Southeast Asian nation, Myanmar state broadcaster MRTV reported.

Myanmar Shadow Government Pledges Citizenship for Rohingya

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio
June 04, 2021 

The National Unity Government has called for the besieged community to join in the “Spring Revolution” against the military junta

In a move designed to burnish its claims to international support and recognition, Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government (NUG) has promised to grant the country’s beleaguered Rohingya minority population citizenship.

In a policy statement released yesterday, the NUG, which was formed to oppose the military junta that seized power in February, said that the Rohingya are “entitled to citizenship by laws that will accord with fundamental human rights and democratic federal principles.”

It added, “We invite the Rohingyas to join hands with us and with others to participate in this Spring Revolution against the military dictatorship in all possible ways.”

The NUG statement promised to repeal Myanmar’s problematic 1982 Citizenship Law, which is underpinned by a complex taxonomy of 135 “national races,” from which the Rohingya are excluded, complicating their ability to gain citizenship. It said that whatever law replaces it “must base citizenship on birth in Myanmar or birth anywhere as a child of Myanmar citizens.”

Myanmar army says no ASEAN envoy visit until stability restored

Aljazeera

8 May 2021

At least 774 people have been killed and more than 3,700 detained in the military’s crackdown on opponents as army raids against ethnic rebels surge.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup, which unleashed anger amongst a public unwilling to tolerate a return to military rule [Stringer/Reuters]

Myanmar’s ruling military, which is facing nationwide protests against the coup that removed the elected government three months ago, has said that it would not agree to a visit by a Southeast Asian envoy until it could establish stability, prompting concerns that it would carry out more deadly violence against demonstrators and ethnic minorities.

Myanmar's Armed Groups Shifting Loyalty To China?

THE ASEAN POST

Maria Siow

29 March 2021

This file photo shows Rakhine ethnic people attending an ANP (Arakan National Party) event in Yangon for the Myanmar general election. (AFP Photo)

After weeks of silence as Myanmar ’s military cracked down on civilians protesting against the 1 February coup, the Arakan Army (AA), a major player among the country’s more than two dozen ethnic armed groups, this week announced it was on the side of the people.

“The current actions by the Burmese army and police are very cruel and unacceptable,” AA spokesman Khine Thu Khahe said on Tuesday (23 March), adding that “the oppressed ethnic people as a whole will continue to fight for their freedom from oppression”.

The AA’s statement was significant, as it comes just weeks after Myanmar’s junta removed the militia from its list of terrorist groups as a means of establishing peace across the nation of 55 million.

Amid Fragile Ceasefire, Frustration Over Missed Election in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

Radio Free Asia ( RFA ) 

2020-12-31 

People wearing face shields and face masks to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus queue to vote at a polling station in Rakhine state, Nov. 8, 2020.

 

Rakhine’s ethnic army and politicians blamed Myanmar’s ruling party and electoral authorities Thursday for the failure to hold elections in the war-torn state, as analysts warned that holding a vote will be critical to keeping a fragile ceasefire going into 2021.

After a violent 2020 in Myanmar’s westernmost state, Rakhine residents were largely left out of voting in Nov. 8 general elections, with only a quarter of the state’s registered voters able to go to polls after authorities scrapped the election, citing security concerns.

Report documents Myanmar army rape of Rohingyas

Dhaka Tribune 

 Tribune Desk
October 25th, 2020

File photo of a Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
 

Interviews with health workers who have treated Rohingya survivors in Bangladesh corroborate allegations of sexual violence by the Myanmar military

A new report from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has documented widespread sexual violence committed by the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar, and Myanmar security forces against the Rohingyas.

 

International Criminal Court: Prosecute and Offer Witness Protection to Myanmar Army Deserters

FORTIFY RIGHTS
Myanmar
September 08, 2020

Two Myanmar Army soldiers now in ICC custody in The Hague

(BANGKOK, September 8, 2020)—The International Criminal Court (ICC) should swiftly prosecute two Myanmar Army soldiers who confessed to their involvement in massacres, rape, and other crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar, and the court should facilitate witness protection for them, said Fortify Rights today. Fortify Rights has reason to believe Myanmar Army Private Myo Win Tun, 33, and Private Zaw Naing Tun, 30, are in the custody of the ICC and in The Hague.

“This is a monumental moment for Rohingya and the people of Myanmar in their ongoing struggle for justice,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “These men could be the first perpetrators from Myanmar tried at the ICC, and the first insider witnesses in the custody of the court. We expect prompt action.”

Take initiatives for inter-regional diplomacy: BNPTake initiatives for inter-regional diplomacy: BNP

The Daily Star

Staff Correspondent
October 03, 2020

Expressing concern over mobilisation of Myanmar army in the border area, BNP yesterday asked the government to take initiative for inter-regional diplomacy.

"The government's weak foreign policy is clear to Myanmar. Taking full advantage of this, Myanmar showed the courage of mobilising their military forces in Bangladesh-Myanmar international border," said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the party.