Bangladesh hopes Malaysia plays instrumental role to help solve Rohingya crisis

malay mail
Tuesday, 13 Apr 2021

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia Md Golam Sarwar said Malaysia was one of the countries that had immediately responded to Bangladesh’s call for assistance during the early weeks of the Rohingya crisis in 2017. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Bangladesh hopes Malaysia would play an instrumental role to move the issue of Rohingya refugees forward within Asean and help Bangladesh achieve a durable solution to this crisis.

Myanmar’s post-coup civilian death toll tops 700

TAIPEI TIMES

AFP, YANGON, Myanmar 

Mon, Apr 12, 2021 page1

A security guard was wounded in a bomb blast outside a military-owned bank in Myanmar’s second-biggest city yesterday morning, as the civilian death toll from the junta’s brutal crackdown on dissent topped more than 700 at the weekend.

The country has been in turmoil since the military removed Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1.

Myawaddy Bank’s biggest branch in Mandalay was targeted yesterday morning and a security guard was injured in the explosion, local media reported.

A demonstrator carrying a homemade weapon gives the three-finger salute at an anti-coup protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, yesterday. Photo: EPA-EFE

The bank is one of scores of military-controlled businesses that have faced boycott pressure since the coup, with many customers demanding to withdraw their savings.

With Its Economy in Free Fall, Myanmar Braces for the Worst

Bloomberg News
12 April 2021,

Investors are fleeing and businesses are teetering close to the financial edge as the junta’s crackdown worsens.Bloomberg News

Protesters taking part in a candlelight demonstration against the military coup in Yangon's Tamwe township on April 3. Source AFP/Getty Images

With a tea shop right next to key protest zones in Myanmar’s biggest city, Soe is never quite sure whether he should keep the business open.

If protesters enter to evade authorities, the 43-year-old risks getting shot, arrested or having his property destroyed as the military and police hunt them down. But if he turns away fleeing demonstrators, he may face a backlash on Facebook and a boycott of his tea shop, among hundreds in Yangon that have long served as de facto community centers.

Myanmar Coup Puts the Seal on Autocracy’s Rise in Southeast Asia

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Hannah Beech
April 13, 2021, 
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版

A protest this month in Yangon, Myanmar, against the military’s ouster of the civilian government.Credit...The New York Times

Not long ago, democracy seemed to be surging in the region. But in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and elsewhere, it is in trouble.

Late last month, foreign officials in army regalia toasted their hosts in Naypyidaw, the bunkered capital built by Myanmar’s military. Ice clinked in frosted glasses. A lavish spread had been laid out for the foreign dignitaries in honor of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day.

Clarissa Ward takes you behind the scenes in Myanmar

CNN
Reliable Sources

CNN's Clarissa Ward discusses her experience reporting from inside Myanmar.

link: Here

Russia and China Thwarting International Response to Myanmar Crisis: EU

KMJ NOW

AFP
11 April 2021

Russia and China are frustrating the international response to the Myanmar crisis, a top European Union diplomat said Sunday, as the death toll from a military crackdown climbed past 700.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military removed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power on February 1.

International efforts to stem the violence have so far failed to yield results, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying Sunday it was “no surprise” that Russia and China were blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo.

S.Korea provides IOM $1.0m to support fire affected Rohingya families

Financial Express

FE ONLINE REPORT

April 12, 2021 

South Korea has decided to provide emergency support of $1.0 million to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) to support the Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazar.

These funds will contribute to the massive humanitarian efforts required to respond to the devastating fire that broke out on March 22 in several Rohingya refugee camps, said a press statement of IOM on Sunday.

Will Supreme Court Apply Rohingya Case Logic to CAA?

THE LEAFLET

MIHIR DESAI
APRIL 11, 2021

The Supreme Court has refused to stay the deportation of Rohingyas from Jammu, as it ‘cannot comment’ on events taking place in another country. Will the court refuse to decide whether Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and Parsis fleeing Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are persecuted minorities on the same ground? MIHIR DESAI writes in the context of the CAA, 2019.

South Korea provides $1m to IOM to support Rohingyas affected in recent fire

Dhaka Tribune

UNB
April 10th, 2021

Massive fire at Balukhali Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar on Monday, March 22, 2021 Dhaka Tribune

The donation will support activities in response to the recent Rohingya camp fire in Cox’s Bazar

The government of South Korea has decided to provide emergency support of US $1 million to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in order to support the humanitarian activities in response to the massive fire that broke out recently at the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Burmese envoy calls for embargo

TAIPEI TIMES

AFP, YANGON, Myanmar

Sun, Apr 11, 2021 page5

Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN on Friday urged “strong action” against the junta as reports emerged of scores killed in the military’s latest crackdown.

The country has been in turmoil since the military on Feb. 1 ousted Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, with protesters refusing to submit to the junta regime and continuing to demand a return to democracy.

During a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, Burmese Ambassador to the UN Kyaw Moe Tun pushed for more concrete action — proposing a no-fly zone, an arms embargo and more targeted sanctions against members of the military and their families.

‘Come and see for yourselves’

THE Star

IMRAN HILMY

Sunday, 11 Apr 2021

LANGKAWI: Their 30ha settlement is a somewhat secluded neighbourhood hidden away from the iconic eagle in Kuah town and unknown to many Malaysians visiting this “touristy” island.

19 people sentenced to death by Myanmar military

CNN
Story by Reuters
April 10, 2021

Myanmar special envoy: It is time for the world to stop another genocide 05:27

Nineteen people have been sentenced to death in Myanmar for killing an associate of an army captain, the military-owned Myawaddy TV station said on Friday -- the first such sentences announced in public since a February 1 coup and crackdown on protesters.

The report said the killing took place on March 27 in the North Okkalapa district of Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. Martial law has been declared in the district, allowing courts martial to pronounce sentences.

The military rulers who overthrew an elected government said Friday the protest campaign against its rule was dwindling because people wanted peace, and that it would hold elections within two years -- the first timeframe it has given for a return to democracy.

Ten Myanmar policemen killed in attack by ethnic armies opposed to junta-report

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

ReutersLast Updated: Apr 10, 2021,

More than 600 people have been killed by the military in the crackdown on protests against the Feb. 1 coup, according to a monitoring group.

An alliance of ethnic armies in Myanmar that has opposed the junta's crackdown on anti-coup protests attacked a police station in the east on Saturday and at least 10 policemen were killed, domestic media said.

The police station at Naungmon in Shan state was attacked early in the morning by fighters from an alliance that includes the Arakan Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, media reported.

Shan News said at least 10 policemen were killed, while the Shwe Phee Myay news outlet put the death toll at 14.

US urges action by UN Security Council on Myanmar coup

the journal.ie
11 April 2021

 

The US wants the UN to issue a resolution to pressure the military junta to restore democracy.

THE UNITED STATES yesterday demanded swift action from the UN Security Council on Myanmar amid a push for a resolution to pressure the military junta to restore democracy.

“The military needs to feel the cost associated with its horrific actions. The stability and prosperity of the region depends on swift action,” US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a Security Council meeting.

China, Russia undermine international Myanmar response, EU's top diplomat says

REUTERS

By Kate Abnett
APRIL 11, 2021

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union’s top diplomat said on Sunday Russia and China were hampering a united international response to Myanmar’s military coup and that the EU could offer more economic incentives if democracy returns to the country.

“It comes as no surprise that Russia and China are blocking the attempts of the U.N. Security Council, for example to impose an arms embargo,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a blog post.

“Geopolitical competition in Myanmar will make it very difficult to find common ground,” said Borrell, who speaks on behalf of the 27 EU member states. “But we have a duty to try.”

Security forces have killed more than 700 unarmed protesters, including 46 children, since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a Feb. 1 coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.

Rohingya issue not Bangladesh’s responsibility alone: Kerry

Prothomalo

Diplomatic CorrespondentDhaka
09 Apr 2021,

John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate speaks at a joint briefing in the state guest house Padma after meeting with the foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on FridayCourtesy

Applauding Bangladesh for its extraordinary support for hosting 1.1 million Rohingya in the country, John Kerry, the United States’ Special Presidential Envoy for Climate on Friday said that the global community must step up its efforts in resolving the Rohingya crisis as it is not the responsibility of Bangladesh alone.

He came up with the views at a joint briefing in the state guest house Padma after meeting with the foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on Friday.

He said the US president Joe Biden is grateful for the support of Bangladesh towards the Rohingya people.

Myanmar’s military junta uses explosives against protesters

LA PRENSA

LATINA MEDIA
April 9, 2021

Bangkok, Apr 9 (EFE).- Myanmar’s security forces on Friday launched explosive devices against anti-coup protesters in the city of Bago, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Yangon, amid continued condemnation by the international community against the repression.

A resident told online news portal Myanmar Now that, since early morning, the security forces have been firing with heavy weapons at a group of protesters after at least two people died in the city the previous day as a result of repression by the authorities.

The news website also published a series of photographs showing a projectile, which could be a piece of mortar.

‘Supreme Court has signed our death warrant’: Rohingya in India

Aljazeera
Aakash Hassan
9 Apr 2021

Supreme Court refuses to stop deportation of about 170 Rohingya detained in the Indian-administered Kashmir region’s Jammu area last month.

India's Supreme Court also underlined government’s claim that Rohingya posed a 'threat to internal security of the country' [File: Altaf Qadri/AP]

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – India’s Supreme Court has refused to stop the deportation to Myanmar of about 170 Rohingya refugees detained in the Indian-administered Kashmir region’s Jammu area, with the members of the beleaguered community calling it a “death warrant” issued by the court.

“Possibly that is the fear that if they go back to Myanmar, they will be slaughtered. But we cannot control all that,” the top court said on Thursday, stating that the fundamental right to settle in India is available only to its citizens.

Security Council Arria formula meeting on Myanmar

UN Web TV
9 Apr 2021 -

On 1 February, Myanmar’s military launched a coup that halted abruptly the country’s democratic transition. The military prevented the convening of the democratically elected parliament and arbitrarily detained the country’s civilian leaders, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. The reaction of the people of Myanmar has been resolute – hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters have taken to the streets to demand that the outcome of November’s election is respected and to call for the reversal of the coup. 

US focuses on Myanmar issues, lauds Bangladesh's extraordinary generosity for Rohingyas

Dhaka Tribune 

UNB
April 9th, 2021

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to be recognized for Bangladesh's leadership in tackling climate crisis

The US remains very focused on helping all concerned in finding a solution to the Rohingya crisis and restoring democracy in Myanmar, John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, said on Friday.

He appreciated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership in demonstrating "extraordinary active generosity" which, he thinks, is very expensive for Bangladesh.

Kerry made the remarks while responding to a question at a joint briefing at state guesthouse Padma after his meeting with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen in Dhaka.

He said the global community needed to step up in demonstrating their responsibility.