US Special Envoy: Restoring Democracy in Myanmar Will Ease Bangladesh's Rohingya Burden

Radio Free Asia

2021-04-09

US presidential climate envoy John Kerry (left) speaks during a press conference with Bangladesh foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen in Dhaka, Apri 9, 2021

Updated at 3:25 p.m. ET on 2021-04-09

Democracy must be restored in Myanmar to ease the Rohingya refugee burden on Bangladesh, U.S. special envoy John Kerry said Friday during a lightning visit to the South Asian nation to drum up support for a Washington-hosted climate summit.

The American diplomat heaped praise on Bangladesh for its “extraordinary” generosity in sheltering the refugees from Myanmar, and even mentioned Dhaka’s controversial decision to relocate thousands to a flood-prone island.

He called the current situation in Myanmar “one of the great moral challenges of the planet today,” in referring to a coup and deadly violence against civilians by the same military that caused hundreds of thousands of traumatized Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh in 2017.

EU scales up aid for Rohingya fire victims

FINANCIAL EXPRESS

FE Online Desk

Published: April 08, 2021

The European Union is providing €150,000 (close to BDT 15 million) to step up its support for Rohingya refugees affected by the massive fire that swept through refugee camps in the Bangladeshi southern district of Cox’s Bazar in March this year.

This follows the initial assistance of €500,000 announced last week as an immediate response to the blaze.

“The fire has caused many Rohingya refugees, who have lived in displacement in camps over the past three years, to yet again lose almost everything,” said Daniela D'Urso who oversees the EU’s humanitarian response in Bangladesh.

Rohingya Camp Fire Eyewitness Account: 11 Deaths, 300 Missing

Doctors

Worldwide

April 8, 2021

On the 21st March, our Doctors Worldwide team was in the Camp 9 Clinic in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, visiting IOM colleagues to discuss our emergency care project. Less than 24 hours later, on the 22nd March, the entire structure and surrounding area had been destroyed by a devastating fire.

Below, Georgia Venner (DWW Project Manager) reflects on her experience witnessing the aftermath of the fire, and considers the impact of the event for the Rohingya communities:

The Rohingya Camp Fire: “just call if you start sending anyone, we are ready.”

CNN team confronts Myanmar’s military on deadly coup

CNN
April 8th, 2021

In an exclusive report from Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward, CNN shows a new look at life inside Myanmar’s coup and confronts the military junta about the violent suppression of protests taking place in the country.

CNN was the first international media organisation permitted to enter the Southeast Asian nation since the military unseated the civilian government in a coup on February 1. Since then, the military has waged a brutal clampdown on pro-democracy protesters, which has led to more than 500 deaths.

Ward confronted Major General Zaw Min Tun, a senior member of the military junta, about the intensifying violence taking place against civilians and peaceful protesters.

Video: SC on Rohingya, SC on Anil Deshmukh’s plea

INDIA

LEGAL

April 8, 2021

Supreme Court refuses to release Rohingyas detained in Jammu, says they should be deported to Myanmar

Supreme Court dismisses Maharashtra govt, Anil Deshmukh challenge against CBI probe Make masks mandatory during poll campaigns, plea asks; Delhi HC seeks response from Centre and EC Kashi Vishwanath Mandir-Gyanvapi Masjid dispute: Varanasi court clears ASI survey of mosque

US sanctions on Myanmar gems target key junta funding source

AP

ELAINE KURTENBACH
09 April 2021

FILE - In this May 25, 2012, file photo, a worker carves jade from Myanmar at a jade processing factory in Ruili, near Myanmar border, Yunnan Province, China. U.S. sanctions on Myanmar Gems Enterprise target an army-controlled gems business rife with corruption and abuses that is one of the junta’s key sources of revenue. The sanctions announced Thursday, April 8, 2021, freeze any assets the firm holds in the U.S. or in U.S. jurisdictions and bar American citizens from doing business with it. The company is a major exporter of gems and semi-precious stones like jade, which bring in significant amounts of revenue to government coffers. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

US slaps additional sanctions on Myanmar over coup

THE HILL
TAL AXELROD -
04/08/21

© Getty Images

The Biden administration slapped additional sanctions on Myanmar on Thursday over the military junta’s February coup.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control is instituting penalties on Myanma Gems Enterprise (MGE), a government-owned firm that oversees all gemstone activities in the country, a lucrative industry that helps fund the military regime.

“Today’s action highlights Treasury’s commitment to denying the Burmese military sources of funding, including from key state-owned enterprises throughout Burma,” said Andrea Gacki, director of the Office of the Foreign Assets Control, using another name for the country. “The United States will continue to work tirelessly, including with partners throughout the region and the world, to support the restoration of democracy and rule of law in Burma and to bring accountability to those who seek to undermine these values.”

US Targets Myanmar’s Junta-Controlled Jade Sector in New Sanctions

Radio Free Asia

Richard Finney

2021-04-08

A buyer checks a jade stone during the annual Myanmar Jade, Gems, and Pearl Emporium in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, Sept. 16, 2019. AFP

The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions targeting the country’s multi-billion dollar jade industry, a sector long controlled by Myanmar military figures responsible for ousting the country’s democratically elected government in a coup on Feb. 1.

The move follows economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and UK at the end of March on other military companies controlled by the junta, and aims to block the flow of revenue supporting junta leaders and military operations in Myanmar that have killed more than 600 civilian protesters to date.

Myanmar Coup: Russia Calls Sanctions 'dangerous', Says It Could Lead To Civil Conflict

R. REPUBLICWORLD

Bhavya Sukheja

7th April, 2021

Amid political tensions in Myanmar, Russia said that sanctions against authorities in Burma were dangerous and could push country towards civil conflict.

Image: AP

Amid political tensions in Myanmar, Russia on April 6 said that sanctions against authorities in Burma were futile, extremely dangerous and could ultimately push the country towards civil conflict. Since February 1 coup, Myanmar has been embroiled in protest against the military government, which has responded with increasingly totalitarian surveillance and censorship measures in addition to the violence that has left more than 500 dead and thousands arrested. The cup and the subsequent crackdown has led to Western sanctions on the military and its lucrative business.

SC to hear PIL seeking release, protection of Rohingyas

BIG NEWS NETWORK

ANI

8th April 2021,

New Delhi [India], April 7 (ANI): The Supreme Court will pass its order on a petition seeking release and protection of over 150 Rohingya refugees in Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde will pronounce the order on the intervention application filed by Mohammad Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, through advocate Prashant Bhushan.

Malaysia says meeting with Myanmar does not ‘construe a recognition’ of junta

COCONUTS

By Coconuts KL 

Apr 8, 2021

Zahairi Baharim, far left, meets with Aung Than Oo, far right. Photo: Myanmar Politics Watch/Facebook

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said today that the recent meeting between ambassador Zahairi Baharim and a Myanmar official was not a symbol of recognition of that country’s military junta.

The ministry was addressing reactions to photos of the meeting that had been circulating online and prompting concerns that Malaysia was officially recognizing and accepting Myanmar’s military as the country’s leaders. Zahairi met with Electricity and Energy Minister Aung Than Oo at the capital of Nay Pyi Taw yesterday to discuss an offshore project involving a subsidiary of Malaysia-owned Petronas.

Indonesia says UK backs ASEAN push for Myanmar crisis resolution

REUTERS
Reuters Staff
APRIL 7, 2021

JAKARTA (Reuters) - The United Kingdom will support Southeast Asian countries in efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, Indonesia’s foreign minister said Wednesday, after talks with her visiting British counterpart.

FILE PHOTO: Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi delivers her speech during a press briefing with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/File Photo

Indonesia is among several countries leading a push for high-level talks between leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Myanmar, where nearly 600 people have been killed in a crackdown on demonstrators opposing a Feb. 1 coup.

“We discussed... how the international community, including the UK could support the ASEAN effort to help Myanmar in resolving this situation,” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a news briefing after talks with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

The End of Quiet Diplomacy in Myanmar

FP

BY COLUM LYNCH
| APRIL 7, 2021

 
The U.N. dials up the pressure campaign against Myanmar’s putschists.

U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener arrives at Sittwe Airport in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, the site of the mass displacement of Rohingya Muslims, on Oct. 15, 2018. PHOTO BY STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

In the weeks following Myanmar’s military coup, United Nations special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener privately delivered a blunt appeal to foreign diplomats: Shun Myanmar’s military regime lest you lend it legitimacy, impose an arms embargo, and hit the coup plotters with targeted financial sanctions. Make it hurt.

The envoy’s outreach marked a stark departure from the U.N.’s traditional nonconfrontational approach to diplomacy, which places a premium on maintaining cordial relations with regimes in power. In the past, U.N. envoys to Myanmar, including Burgener, and other top officials have largely held their tongues in public, even when the country’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, threatened democracy and carried out mass atrocities against the country’s minority Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar coup: Indonesia tries a difficult mediation

ASIANEWS.it

Ati Nurbaiti
04/07/2021

President Jokowi calls on ASEAN to intervene to ensure the safety of the people of Myanmar whose generals are more interested in Thailand’s military coup than Indonesia’s model of democratic transition. In Indonesia there is little empathy for protesters in Myanmar.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Indonesia needs to continue efforts to open communication channels with Myanmar’s military, which carried out a coup against the civilian government of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

To stop the crackdown against the anti-coup protest movement, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has called for an emergency meeting of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN). Such a move, which Malaysia supports, has met with opposition by some ASEAN nations, which usually insist on non-interference in the domestic affairs of the group’s members.

Fire becomes new fear for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

DW
Author Arafatul Islam
07.04.2021

Several deadly fire incidents in overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh over the past several weeks point to a "very worrying trend," say experts.

A Rohingya refugee stands among the remains of burnt materials after a fire broke out recently at a camp in Cox's Bazar

Three Rohingya men died after a fire gutted shops at a makeshift market near the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh's southeastern Cox's Bazar district on Friday.

Their bodies were found in one of 20 shops burned after the fire broke out before dawn at the market near the Kutupalong refugee camp.

Dhaka seeks serious regional, multilateral initiatives over Rohingya repatriation

Dhaka Tribune

UNB
April 7th, 2021

Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

The crisis might turn into a broader regional and global security issue, speakers said during the webinar

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said they should now seriously consider regional or multilateral initiatives for the repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar as it remains a compelling priority for Bangladesh.

"Canada, with its global stature and standing on human rights issues, may consider taking a lead in such initiatives. Bangladesh always stands ready to work with Canada and other partners in this direction," he said.

Death threats and hate speech make Rohingya activist's Malaysia refuge a prison

the japan times

BY ROZANNA LATIFF AND EBRAHIM HARRIS
REUTERS
Apr 6, 2021


Rohingya refugee and activist Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani and his wife look out from their home in Kuala Lumpur. | REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR – Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, a Rohingya Muslim refugee and activist who fled persecution and ethnic strife in Myanmar, has called Malaysia home for nearly three decades.

Now, it’s more like a prison.

Zafar, 51, has not left his home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur for nearly a year, after misinformation spread online that he had demanded Malaysian citizenship — triggering a wave of hate speech and death threats against him and his family.

“I’m still scared. For a year, I’ve not set foot outside. I’ve not seen the earth outside,” said the father of three.

Bloodshed in Myanmar as troops open fire on protesters

WHBL

By Syndicated Content
Apr 7, 2021 

(Reuters) - Myanmar troops stormed an anti-coup protest camp on Wednesday, a resident said, in a pre-dawn operation that local media said killed and wounded several demonstrators, as activists defied a bloody crackdown and internet blockade by the ruling junta.

Myanmar has been in chaos since a Feb. 1 coup that ended a brief period of civilian-led democracy and sparked nationwide protests and strikes, despite the ruling military's use of lethal force to quell the resistance.

AFTER RAGING FIRES, FUTURE OF ROHINGYA REFUGEES REMAINS UNCERTAIN

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER

April 6, 2021

Last month, a massive fire swept through the largest refugee camp in the world in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees live. The fire took 15 lives and burned down thousands of shelters and health facilities, leaving more than 45,0000 people displaced.

Our teams met Ismael, 35, in the middle of the crowds and confusion. Ashes and burned debris are all we could see. His eyes fixed on the horizon, Ismael told one of Action Against Hunger’s psychosocial workers: "I was in the tea shop when I heard a fire broke out. How many more times I may witness my shelter being burnt down to ashes..."

Thousands of Rohingya Refugees in Northwest India Live in Fear of Deportation

VOA

VOA News

06 April 2021

 Thousands of Rohingya refugees live in temporary camps in India’s northwestern Jammu and Kashmir region, where they fear deportation back to Myanmar. VOA Urdu Service’s Zubair Dar visited a camp of people in Bathindi Narval who said they fled abuses and do not want to go back. Roshan Noorzai narrates the story. VOA Khmer's Leakhena Sreng narrates the story in Khmer. 

Link : Here