Myanmar military implausibly plays the Rohingya card

ASIA TIME

BERTIL LINTNER

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

Coup regime bids to deflect rising international condemnation by suggesting it may allow Rohingya refugees to return home

Rohingya refugees scuffle as they wait to receive aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh September 25, 2017. Image: Agencies

CHIANG MAI – After grabbing power in a February 1 coup that has been resisted by massive demonstrations and condemned by the US, EU and UN, Myanmar’s military regime would appear to have few cards to play to win acceptance.

But one the coup-makers amazingly think they can play is the plight of Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who were driven across the border during brutal military campaigns in 2016-17, and those who have remained behind in Myanmar.

Shortly after overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, the new military regime sent a letter to Bangladesh’s government through its ambassador in Myanmar to explain their reasons for the coup, namely unsubstantiated allegations of fraud at the November 2020 election Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) resoundingly won.

Biden announces US will sanction Myanmar's military leaders following coup

CNN

By Jennifer Hansler,
February 10, 2021

Washington (CNN)President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that the United States will sanction Myanmar's military leaders after last week's coup in the country.

In brief remarks, the President said he had approved a new executive order allowing the United States to "immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members." He said they would identify targets of those sanctions this week.

"The US government is taking steps to prevent the generals from improperly having access to the one billion dollars in Burmese government funds held in the United States," Biden noted.

Singaporean Withdraws From Myanmar Military-Linked Tobacco Venture

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Sebastian Strangio
February 09, 2021

A week on, the military coup is exacting an increasingly steep economic cost.

The Singaporean businessman Lim Kaling has become the latest foreign investor to cut his ties to Myanmar’s military following the latter’s coup d’etat on February 1.

Lim, the co-founder of Hong Kong-listed gaming group Razer, was a minority shareholder in Virginia Tobacco Company through RMH Singapore Pte Ltd, which owns 49 percent of the Myanmar firm. The rest of Virginia Tobacco is owned by Myanmar Economic Holdings (MEHL), one of two tentacular conglomerates run by Myanmar’s military, or Tatmadaw.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Lim announced that he would divest himself of his holding in Virginia Tobacco because of “grave concern” over the political situation in the country. He added that he was “exploring options for the responsible disposal of this stake.”

The Significance Of Aung San Suu Kyi's Detainment By Myanmar Military

npr

February 1, 2021

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Laurel Miller, director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group, about Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and her detainment by the Myanmar military.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Myanmar's military staged a coup today and detained the country's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. It is the latest turbulent turn in that country and a return to detention for Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She was put under house arrest after the military refused to accept the results of the previous year's election that saw her party win an outright majority. She later became the country's de facto leader after the military decided to loosen its grip on power in 2011. And while she remains popular within the country, internationally, her reputation has suffered. Joining us now for more is Laurel Miller, director of the Asia Program for the International Crisis Group.

Myanmar military allays coup fears, says it will protect constitution

REUTERS

Shoon Naing
APAC
January 30, 202

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar’s military said on Saturday it would protect and abide by the constitution and act according to law, a move that could allay concerns that the armed forces might attempt to seize power. 

The statement comes a day after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Western embassies in Myanmar expressed serious concerns about the possibility of army intervention in Myanmar, a country ruled by the military for 49 years after a 1962 coup.

The military, known as the Tatmadaw, said recent remarks by its commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, about abolishing the constitution had been misinterpreted.

“The Tatmadaw is protecting the 2008 constitution and will act according to the law,” it said. “Some organisations and media assumed what they want and wrote as Tatmadaw will abolish the constitution.”

U.N. voices alarm about Myanmar after military threats, coup fears

 REUTERS

Shoon Naing, Poppy McPherson
APAC
January 29, 202

 

FILE PHOTO: Myanmar's Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing salutes during the Martyrs' Day ceremony in Yangon on July 19, 2020.Ye Aung Thu/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo 

YANGON (Reuters) - The United Nations and Western governments voiced alarm on Friday over threats by Myanmar’s military that have stirred fears of a coup in the aftermath of an election the army says was fraudulent.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was following with “great concern” developments in Myanmar, where the army has said it would take action if complaints about the election are not addressed. An army spokesman on Tuesday declined to rule out the possibility of seizing power.

Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union and United States, and 12 other nations, in a separate statement urged the military to “adhere to democratic norms”.

Arakan Army blames NLD, UEC for election impasse

mizzima

By Mizzima
01 January 2021 

Photo: Myanmar State Counsellor Office

The Arakan Army and politicians blamed Myanmar’s ruling party and electoral authorities Thursday for the failure to hold elections in Rakhine State, as analysts warned that holding a vote will be critical to keeping a fragile ceasefire going into 2021, RFA reported.

British Banks Tied to A Military Accused of Genocide

BYLINE TIMES 

 Steve Shaw
24 December 2020

Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive/PA Images

Steve Shaw reports on the loans that connect British banks to a telecommunications firm that provides money for Myanmar’s military, which has been accused of genocide

Standard Chartered and HSBC have provided tens of millions in loans to Viettel Global Investment, a defence company owned by the Vietnamese Government and the biggest investor in Mytel, a telecommunications firm part-owned by Myanmar’s military. Along with being the biggest shareholder in Mytel, Viettel is authorised to provide Myanmar with “defence and security products”.

HSBC, Standard Chartered in hot water for lending to company with links to Myanmar military

The Daily Star 

Star Online Report
December 21, 2020

 AP file photo

 

Two major UK banks face pressure for lending millions of dollars to a technology company that is partly owned and used by the Myanmar military accused of genocide against the Rohingyas.

UK-based The Observer, a sister concern of The Guardian, on Sunday reported that human rights groups are demanding that two of Britain's biggest banks explain why they have lent tens of millions of pounds to such a company.

HSBC and Standard Chartered have loaned a total of $60m (£44.5m) to Vietnamese telecom giant Viettel, which has stakes in Myanmar mobile network Mytel, in the last four years.

Over that period, the Myanmar military has been accused of committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Why Is Jordan Selling Arms to the Sanctioned Myanmar Military?

Published December 15th, 2020

A report published lately by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project has revealed a Jordanian role in supporting efforts of the military in Myanmar to acquire European-manufactured aircrafts, in an attempt to circumvent international sanctions on the Tatmadaw.

Myanmar Military, Arakan Army Confirm Indirect Talks as Some Refugees Head Home

Radio Free Asia
2020-11-30

Residents, who fled from conflict between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army (AA), arrive at a temporary refugee camp at a monastery in Sittwe, Rakhine State, June 29, 2020.
 AFP

Myanmar’s military and the rebel Arakan Army are holding indirect talks through mediators to try to build on a three-week lull in fighting in Rakhine state since elections, spokesmen for the warring sides told RFA.

While contacts through a third party attempt to put an end to a two-year-long war between rebel troops and government forces has killed more than 300 civilians and displaced about 226,000 others, some war refugees have already to villages, in the face of landmines and other unexploded ordnance.

Leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her ruling National League for Democracy won a second five-year mandate in Nov. 8 general elections that were followed by an NLD outreach to ethnic-based political parties, gestures toward peace talks from the country’s powerful military, and three weeks without fighting in Rakhine state.

British sanctions against Myanmar military are ‘toothless’, says UK-based pressure group

Myanmar Now
Published on Oct 20, 2020

  

None of the 16 people subject to sanctions in the UK have had any assets frozen there, says Burma Campaign UK 

A member of the border guard force seen in Buthidaung township, Rakhine early last year. (Aye Chan Khaing/Myanmar Now) 

Senior members of Myanmar’s military and security services have been completely unscathed by “toothless” British sanctions imposed in response to the mass killing of Rohingya in Rakhine state, a rights group said.

A recent annual review from the British Treasury showed that none of the 16 individuals, including commander-in chief Min Aung Hlaing, have had any of their assets frozen as a result of measures.

Amnesty blasts Myanmar military's ‘utter disregard’ for civilians in Rakhine

 Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 13, 2020

Rights group says it has new evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians 

An IDP camp in Rathedaung, Rakhine, that houses over 700 people (Kaung Mrat Naing/Myanmar Now) 

Myanmar’s military has shown an “utter disregard” for civilians caught up in its conflict with the Arakan Army (AA), Amnesty International said on Monday.

Citing witness testimonies, satellite images, and videos obtained from within Rakhine state, the group said in a report it had found “new evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians.”

“The Myanmar military’s utter disregard for civilian suffering grows more shocking and brazen by the day,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for campaigns. 

“The UN Security Council must urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court,” she added.

Can a Lawsuit Stop a Genocide?

COMMONWEAL

By Paul C. Saunders

October 13, 2020

 

The case against Myanmar 

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh (Alamy/Mahady Hasan Riad)

On January 23, 2020, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, informally known as the World Court, rendered a historic judgment. The decree ordered the government of Myanmar to comply with several directives: to take measures to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people; to ensure that its military refrain from acts prohibited by the Genocide Convention; and to preserve evidence and submit a report to the court within four months, detailing compliance with the court’s order. The unanimous decision by the fifteen-judge court represented only the third time that the Genocide Convention has been invoked before the World Court in a contentious case—and the first case ever to consider the claims, under the convention, of non-contiguous, non-warring countries.

Rohingya refugees face continuous violence

NEW FRAME 
Friday, 2 October 2020

Two Myanmar soldiers have confessed to committing atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, giving more evidence of the genocide against the minority group.

Two personnel in Myanmar’s military have confessed to “exterminating” Rohingya Muslims. Human rights defenders believe that this public acknowledgement could substantiate the ongoing international genocide investigation at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar’s military establishment.

Myo Win Tun, 33, and Zaw Naoing Tun, 30, who belong to separate light infantry battalions, claimed they were given orders to “shoot and rape villagers” while raiding “kalar” villages – “kalar” is a derogatory term for Muslim Rohingyas.

Amnesty probe reveals global business ties to Myanmar military units accused of human rights abuses

The Telegraph

By Nicola Smith, 
Asia Correspondent and
Julian Ryall Tokyo
10 September 2020

Investigation finds Myanmar military units accused of abuses have links to conglomerate with foreign business partners

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were displaced due to an ethnic cleansing campaign Credit: Barcroft Media via Getty Images

A new investigation by Amnesty International has revealed how a secretive Myanmar conglomerate, linked to multiple foreign businesses, has funded the Southeast Asian country’s powerful military, including units accused of human rights abuses and crimes under international law.

Myanmar’s Arakan Army Captures 30 Government Troops, Battalion Commander

Radio Free Asia
2020.03.12

Myanmar government troops are shown in custody with their weapons after their capture by the Arakan Army, March 11, 2020.
Screen grab from video

Myanmar’s rebel Arakan Army captured 30 government soldiers, including a battalion commander, near the Paletwa township in western Myanmar’s Chin state during heavy fighting this week, the ethnic armed group said in an announcement on Tuesday.

Behind Myanmar’s Military Alibi: A Path for Compliance with the ICJ’s Order to Protect Rohingya

JUST SEURITY
Grant Shubin and
Akila Radhakrishnan
February 3, 2020

In the wake of the ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Myanmar to prevent genocide against the Rohingya going forward, the initial excitement was tempered by pragmatics—how this important court order can be enforced so that it actually protects the 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State.

Military Atrocities ‘Relentless and Ruthless’ in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State Share Amnesty International has gathered fresh evidence that the Myanmar military is con

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
10/23/2019

Amnesty International has gathered fresh evidence that the Myanmar military is continuing to commit atrocities against ethnic minorities in the north of the country, with civilians bearing the brunt of offensives against multiple armed groups. The conflicts show no sign of abating, raising the prospect of further violations.

A new report, “Caught in the middle”: Abuses against civilians amid conflict in Myanmar’s northern Shan State, details the harrowing conditions of civilians arbitrarily arrested, detained and tortured by the military. It also highlights the abusive tactics used by ethnic armed groups as they confront the military and each other to exert control in the region.

Belgian Company on 'Dirty List' Cuts Ties With Myanmar Military

VOA

By Joshua Carroll

August 12, 2019 

Members of Islamist groups gather during a rally to siege Myanmar's embassy for the recent violence against Rohingya Muslim in Myanmar, in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka on September 18, 2017.

YANGON, MYANMAR - A Belgian company has become the first to announce it is cutting ties with Myanmar’s military after a United Nations fact-finding mission called on businesses to sever all financial links to the country’s generals.