Myanmar becoming a super-spreader Covid state

ASIA TIMES
Adam Simpson and Nicholas Farrelly
August 1, 2021

Perfect storm of factors including politicized jailing of medics and vaccination program head is fuelling a runaway health crisis

Volunteers wearing personal protective equipment carry the body of a Covid victim during their funeral in Mandalay on July 14, 2021. Photo: AFP

 

Myanmar is facing a catastrophic health crisis that could have ramifications not just for the country’s long-suffering people, but across the region as well.

The country is experiencing a major spike in Covid cases — what one Doctors Without Borders official referred to as “uncontrolled community spread” — fuelled by the military junta’s gross mismanagement of the crisis and a collapsing health sector.

Floods bring new misery for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camps

UNHCR

Hannah Macdonald and Ehsanul Hoque
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
30 July 2021

Refugee volunteers are working day and night in heavy rain to rescue refugees stranded due to severe flooding in the camps. © UNHCR/BDRCS

Heavy monsoon rains had been falling incessantly for days when Meher Khatun, 60, noticed water starting to come into the bamboo and tarpaulin shelter she shares with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild in a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar District.

Bangladesh floods displace thousands of Rohingya refugees

Aljazeera
30 Jul 2021

UN says more than 21,000 refugees ‘affected’ by the flooding, nearly 4,000 shelters have been damaged or destroyed.

Rohingya refugees fish in floodwaters following heavy rains at the Rohingya refugee camp in Kutupalong, Bangladesh [Shafiqur Rahman/AP]

Heavy monsoon rains triggered landslides and flash floods in refugee camps displacing thousands of Rohingya Muslims in southeastern Bangladesh this week, UN and other officials said on Friday, with further heavy rainfall expected.

At least six Rohingya, including three children, died in landslides and flooding while 15 Bangladeshis were killed and more than 200,000 stranded by flooding in Cox’s Bazar, said Mamunur Rashid, the district administrator.

World Bank: Coup and Coronavirus Shrink Myanmar’s Economy by 18%

VOA
Vijitra Duangdee
July 26, 2021

Vehicles make their ways as pedestrians cross a road with Sule pagoda seen the in background in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, July 19, 2021.

BANGKOK - Myanmar’s economy is forecast to shrink by 18% as it grapples with the coronavirus and the political turmoil unleashed by a coup, the World Bank said Monday. The contracting economy threatens millions with poverty, joblessness and hunger.

A decade ago, the Southeast Asian nation was seen as a promising frontier market. Its military began to slacken its grip, the economy opened up to the outside world for the first time in decades and Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party was democratically elected.

Fire destroys 63 homes in Balukhali Rohingya camp, Ukhiya

Prothomalo

Correspondent Teknaf,
Cox's Bazar
Published: 21 Jul 2021,

Fire broke out on Tuesday at the H-2 block of the Rohingya Balukhali camp-9 next to Panbazar in Ukhiya, Cox’s BazarProthom Alo

A fire broke out on Tuesday at the Balukhali Rohingya camp in Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar, destroying 63 homes. Around 4 to 5 persons were injured in the fire. Their identity has not been known as yet.

The Rohingyas said that the fire probably started from a gas cylinder. With Eid ahead, the Rohingya families were preparing all sorts of rice cakes and other special food items and that is when the fire broke out, they feel.

The fire started on Tuesday evening at the H-2 black of Balukhali camp-9 next to Ukhiya Panbazar.

Burma Army Pays Compensation To Family Of Murder Victim in Kachin State

Kachin News Group
Wednesday, July 21, 2021

The military promised to launch a investigate into three soldiers who allegedly raped and murdered a 51-year-old woman in Momauk Township last week.

On Monday, military officials from LIB-616 and LID-88 met with the victim's family in Nuam Lang village to apologize and give them 2.1M kyat ($1,276) in compensation.

“They said action would be taken against the three soldiers according to the law. They didn't call it a rape case, they said it's a murder case,” a local man close to the victim's family told KNG.

Myanmar’s Junta Tries – and Fails – to Appoint a New UN Ambassador

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio

July 21, 2021

But the military’s takeover has trapped foreign governments between dueling moral and diplomatic imperatives.

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Myanmar’s military junta has attempted – unsuccessfully – to replace the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, foreshadowing a looming battle over diplomatic recognition at the world body.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres dated May 12, a copy of which was obtained by the news agency, the junta’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin said he had appointed the former military commander Aung Thurein as Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador.

Wunna Maung Lwin said in an accompanying letter that Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s currently recognized U.N. ambassador, “has been terminated on Feb. 27, 2021, due to abuses of his assigned duty and mandate.”

‘We can’t breathe... and the whole world is silent’: Myanmar begs for oxygen as Covid crisis worsens

The Telegraph

ByNicola Smith, and Nandi Theint
ASIA CORRESPONDENT
IN YANGON
16 July 2021

Just like in India, Myanmar's citizens take their desperate pleas for help to social media.

People are lining up across Myanmar to find lifesaving oxygen CREDIT: Ye Aung Thu/AFP

Myanmar’s people were first deprived of their democratic rights, and are now being starved of oxygen itself, by a February coup that has plunged the Southeast Asian nation into a political and medical crisis.

As a deadly wave of Covid-19 fueled by the Delta variant sweeps a country where the healthcare system has virtually collapsed, people have flooded social media with pleas for oxygen supplies and coveted hospital beds as their loved ones suffocate at home.

Myanmar government slams UN on Rohingya resolution

CNA
15 Jul 2021

Members of the internally displaced Rohingya Muslim community are seen on Jun 5, 2021 at the Thet Kay Pyin camp in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. (Photo: AFP/STR)

YANGON: Myanmar's government rejected on Wednesday (Jul 14) a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for reconciliation with the persecuted Rohingya minority, slamming "one-sided allegations" over its treatment of the stateless community.

The country has been in turmoil since the government of Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted in a February coup, sparking huge pro-democracy protests and a bloody military crackdown.

China, Myanmar named in US genocide report

UCA News

UCA News reporter
Published: July 14, 2021

Report highlights China's treatment of Uyghurs and Myanmar military's ethnic cleansing and post-coup atrocities

Protesters gather outside the Belgian parliament in Brussels on July 8 as MPs vote on a resolution to recognize China's policies towards Uyghurs as genocide. (Photo: AFP)

China, which has been accused of ill treatment of its Uyghur minority, and its neighbor and ally Myanmar, which faces allegations of ethnic cleansing, have been named in a new US genocide report.

The State Department’s annual report to Congress on countries where there is risk of atrocities being committed named China and Myanmar along with Eritrea, Syria and South Sudan.

Fighting Ensues Between Military And KNPP in Loikaw Township

Kantarawaddy Times

Thursday, July 15, 2021

The Karenni Army (KA), the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), came under fire this Monday during its third clash with the Burma Army this month.

According to a Karenni soldier, KA Battalion 3, under Tactical Command 1, fought with Burma Army LIB-530, LID-66 and People’s Militia Force (PMF) all day in Loilen Lay, a sub-township of Loikaw Township.

The soldier said the conflict started at 8 am with LIB-530 and PMF between Ner Kwe and Teelon villages. KA exchanged gunfire with LID-66 near Kon Ner and Wam Khine villages at 1:40 pm. By the late afternoon until about 6 pm, Karenni soldiers were battling Burma Army near Dawta Hey village.

Blinken urges ASEAN to take ‘immediate action’ on Myanmar

Aljazeera

14 Jul 2021

In first meeting with ASEAN, US secretary of state calls for action on Myanmar and rejects China’s claims in South China Sea.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed US's commitment to ASEAN centrality during Wednesday's video conference [Jim Watson/Pool via Reuters]

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed “deep concerns” about the military coup in Myanmar and called on Southeast Asian nations to take action to end violence and restore democracy in the country.

UN resolution calls for reconciliation in Myanmar

Frontier
MYANMAR
AFP
JULY 13, 2021

The UN Human Rights Council on Monday adopted a resolution condemning human rights violations by Myanmar’s military against the Rohingya and other minorities, and called for a process of reconciliation.

The resolution, brought forward by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, was approved without a vote in the Geneva-based council.

China, one of the 47 council members, said it could not join the consensus but nonetheless did not insist on bringing the text to a vote.

UNHRC adopts resolution emphasising justice and repatriation of Rohingyas back to Myanmar

The Daily Star

Star Digital Report
Mon Jul 12, 2021

UN Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a resolution on the "Human Rights Situation of Rohingya Muslims and other Minorities in Myanmar" today, calling on the international community to continue providing humanitarian assistance until they return to Myanmar.

The resolution also emphasized bringing all responsible for torture, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against Rohingyas to justice, while also acknowledging the ongoing criminal proceedings in the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

U.S. Repeats 'Genocide' Accusations Against China

Radio Free Europe
Radio Liberty
RFE/RL

July 12, 2021

Uyghurs and others pray in the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region during a government-organized trip for foreign journalists in April.

The United States has repeated genocide allegations against China over its treatment of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups.

The message came alongside additional sanctions warnings against Burma, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Sudan over ethnic cleansing in their respective conflicts.

All were contained in materials sent by the Biden administration as part of the State Department's annual report to Congress on the prevention of genocides and atrocities.

Media freedom in Bangladesh under “pressure”, political freedom “restricted”: UK

UNB

UNB NEWS
DHAKA
JULY 08, 202

The United Kingdom (UK) has said media freedom in Bangladesh is under “pressure” while political freedom “remained restricted”.

In its latest report titled "Human Rights and Democracy Report 2020", the UK said there was no overall improvement in the human rights situation in Bangladesh in 2020.

The UK government said it will continue to address governance and human rights concerns in Bangladesh through diplomatic engagement and development programming.

Analysis: Myanmar turmoil deepens as clashes spread

REUTERS
July 7, 2021

  

July 7 (Reuters) - The farming town of Depayin joined Myanmar's list of shattered communities when the army moved in to crush a local anti-junta militia armed with makeshift weapons.

When army trucks arrived at Depayin around dawn last Friday, local youths assembled to fight back but were quickly overwhelmed, six residents told Reuters by telephone. Dozens of people were killed afterwards by the soldiers and thousands have since fled with whatever they could carry, the residents said.

UN rights expert urges sanctions on Myanmar's oil, gas sectors

REUTERS
July 7, 2021

Summary:

• UN rights expert calls for sanctions on oil and gas sector
• Bachelet urges ASEAN to foster dialogue to resolve crisis
• Nearly 900 killed since Feb. 1 coup, 5,200 detained

GENEVA, July 7 (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights investigator called on countries on Wednesday to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar's oil and gas sector to cripple the junta that took power five months ago.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government on Feb. 1, unleashing nationwide anger that quickly turned into protests and strikes brutally suppressed by security forces, with nearly 900 killed.

WFP, Korea working together to help Rohingyas in Myanmar, Bangladesh

Dhaka Tribune

Tribune Desk
July 7th, 2021

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

Korean contribution to help WFP provide assistance for over 860,000 Rohingyas living at Cox’s Bazar camps

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a contribution of $800,000 from the government of the Republic of Korea to support operations in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT ANNOUNCES US$250,000 IN EMERGENCY GRANT FUNDING IN RESPONSE TO DEVASTATING FIRES AT ROHINGYA REFUGEE CAMP IN BANGLADESH

 EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT

Photo: UNICEF/UN0431936/Saeed

With new funding, local non-profit BRAC and partners will rebuild learning centers, provide mental health services for vulnerable children and youth, and build back better

6 July 2021, New York – The massive March fires in the Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp in Bangladesh took 15 lives and affected more than 61,000 Rohingya refugees. In response to the devastating fires, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) announced today a US$250,000 first emergency response grant that will support non-profit BRAC and other local partners in rebuilding learning centers, and building back better from the tragic disaster that continues to put vulnerable refugee children and youth at risk.

While many major international non-profits and UN organizations have already stepped up their response to the fires, smaller organizations like BRAC lack the funds to fully rebuild.