Prominent Myanmar Filmmaker Held in Jail For Facebook Post Criticizing Military.

RADIO FREE ASIA
2019-04-12

Myanmar filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi reports to the Insein township police station in northern Yangon, April 2, 2019. RFA

A Myanmar court on Friday denied bail for a renowned filmmaker and human rights activist sued by a government military officer for allegedly insulting and defaming the armed forces in a Facebook post, sending him to Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison until his next court appearance in late April, his attorney said.

Myanmar Army Launches Helicopter And Jet Strikes in Fierce Fighting in Rakhine State.

RADIO FREE ASIA

2019-04-10

A view of the entrance to the police battalion headquarters in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, March 2019.

The Myanmar military unleashed helicopter and jet strikes in response to the rebel Arakan Army's (AA) on-the-ground attacks on a police residential unit and battalion headquarters believed to contain heavy arms belonging to government troops in war-ravaged Rakhine state’s Mrauk-U township, with spokesmen for the two forces releasing competing, imprecise casualty counts.

Myanmar Army Helicopter Attack Kills at Least 10 Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.

RADIO FREE ASIA
2019-04-04

A Myanmar border guard policeman stands near a group of Rohingya Muslims in front of their homes in a village in Buthidaung township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Jan. 25, 2019.

AFP

A helicopter attack by Myanmar’s army on Wednesday killed at least 10 Rohingya Muslims and injured more than a dozen others in violence-wracked Rakhine state, the latest civilian casualties in the armed conflict between government soldiers and the rebel Arakan Army (AA), local villagers told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

Myanmar Signals It Will Give Cold Shoulder to New UN Rights Investigator on Rohingya.

RADIO FREE ASIA 
2019-04-03

Prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian attends the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in the courtroom of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, based in Leidschendam outside The Hague, the Netherlands, May 16, 2012.

AFP

The United Nations on Tuesday announced the appointment of an American prosecutor as head of an independent team that will probe human rights violations in Myanmar’s volatile Rakhine state, focusing on atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims and other minority groups.

HRW to Bangladesh: Give Rohingya Children Formal Schooling.

RADIO FREE ASIA
2019-04-02

yasmin, a Rohingya who was expelled from Leda High School for being a child of a refugee, helps her younger sister to study in Leda camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh, March 5, 2019.

Reuters

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Bangladesh to offer Rohingya refugees formal secondary education, saying school officials in the southeast had expelled scores of Rohingya children because they lacked citizenship papers although they were born inside the country.

Two Villagers Shot Dead in Latest Fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

RADIO FREE ASIA

2019-03-29

A Myanmar villager is rushed to the hospital after being wounded by gunfire in Outthagan village, Mrauk-U township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, March 29, 2019.
Photo courtesy of the Mrauk-U Ga Yunar Hlaing blood donors group

An armed clash between Myanmar soldiers and rebel Arakan Army (AA) fighters in a village in Mrauk-U township in western Myanmar’s violence-ridden Rakhine state on Friday left two villagers dead and seven others injured, local residents and a Rakhine lawmaker said.

Fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine Estimated to Have Displaced 22,000 People

RFA 
2019-03-27

Members of the Arakan National Party conduct a field visit to a displacement camp in western Myanmar's Rakhine state in an undated photo.Photo courtesy of Htun Aung Kyaw

Intense fighting this week between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine state's Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships has displaced 2,000 villagers, raising the prospect of additional food and water shortages in the war-torn region, relief and disaster management workers said Wednesday.

Report: Rohingya Refugees Suffered Crimes Against Humanity in Massive Human Trafficking Scheme.

RFA
Eugene Whong
2019-03-27

Malaysian forensic team members inspect remains found in an unmarked grave outside Wang Kelian, Malaysia, near the border with Thailand, May 26, 2015.

A human trafficking syndicate committed crimes against humanity between 2012 and 2015 against Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees trying to flee to Malaysia and Thailand, two Southeast Asia-based human rights groups said in a report on Wednesday.

In the joint 121-page work titled “Sold Like Fish,” the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and the Bangkok-based Fortify Rights provides accounts of survivors who were deceived by the traffickers, believing they were boarding boats to seek refuge abroad.

Arakan Army Says It Is Holding 11 Myanmar Soldiers After Fierce Weekend Fighting.

RADIO FREE ASIA 

2019-03-12

The Arakan Army displays weapons and ammunition it seized during a weekend attack on Myanmar Army soldiers near Pyan So village in Paletwa township, western Myanmar's Chin state, March 11, 2019.

Photo courtesy of the Arakan Army's website

The Arakan Army has taken 11 Myanmar Army soldiers prisoner and seized arms following a weekend clash in Chin state’s Paletwa township, which abuts volatile Rakhine state where hostilities have intensified between the two sides since late last year, an AA official said Tuesday.

Myanmar Army Fight With Arakan Rebels Ensnares Local Bus Companies.

RADIO FREE ASIA 
2019-02-19

Residents hold bullet shell casings following fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic Arakan Army in a village in Rathedaung township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Jan. 28, 2019. AFP

The Myanmar military on Tuesday denied an accusation by the rebel Arakan Army that it has been using passenger buses and cars to transport its troops in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the two forces are fighting each other, a national army spokesman said.

The Arakan Army (AA) on Monday warned private bus companies in volatile Rakhine not to transport Myanmar soldiers, who it said were using private vehicles along with military trucks to move personnel into conflict zones, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported.

New 45-Member Parliamentary Committee to Create Bill Amending Myanmar’s Constitution.

RADIO FREE ASIA 
2019-02-19

Military officers who serve as members of Myanmar's parliament arrive for a parliamentary session in Naypyidaw, Feb. 19, 2019.

Myanmar’s parliament on Tuesday approved the creation of a 45-member joint committee to write a bill to amend the army-drafted 2008 constitution that the current government views as undemocratic, despite opposition by lawmakers from the military and the main opposition party, legislators said.

Village Head Shot Dead by Unknown Assailants in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

RADIO FREE ASIA 

Feb. 12, 2019. 

Maung Kyaw, administrator of Kyauk Khot village, was killed by unknown assailants at his home in Minyba township's Tharyarkone village tract, western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, 

Feb. 12, 2019.

A village administrator was shot dead on Tuesday at his home in a township in western Myanmar’s violence-ridden Rakhine state, prompting speculation by local officials that the rebel Arakan Army, whose fighting with Myanmar forces has intensified in recent months, was behind the killing.

Myanmar’s Military Warns Ethnic Armies Against Trying to Expand Territory During Cease-fire.

2019-01-25

 Major General Tun Tun Nyi, vice chairman of the Myanmar military’s information committee, prepares to discuss the recent Arakan Army conflict at a rare military press conference at the Defense Services Museum in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, Jan. 18, 2019.

Myanmar’s military on Friday warned ethnic armed groups to end hostilities in five of its command regions around the country and to stop attempts to expand their territory during the temporary unilateral cease-fire that the armed forces imposed in December, or risk damaging the nation’s teetering peace process.

Armed Group Attacks Myanmar Border Guard Post in Rakhine State, Injuring Three

An armed assault on a Myanmar border guard station leaves a gaping hole in the wall of one building and a blown-out door on another structure in Maungdaw township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, near the border with Bangladesh, Jan. 24, 2019.

Photo courtesy of Myanmar's Ministry of Information

UPDATED at 10:48 A.M. EST on 2019-01-25

Members of an unidentified armed group on the Bangladesh side of the border separating the country from Myanmar injured three people in a shooting on Thursday at a border guard outpost in conflict-ridden Rakhine state, a spokesman for the military’s Western Command and a township official said.

Rakhine Political Parties to Meet Over Myanmar Official’s Remarks on Ethnic Army.

2019-01-09

A Rakhine political party said Wednesday that it will hold a meeting in Rakhine state’s capital Sittwe to discuss a warning by a central government spokesman this week against support for the region’s ethnic military force following a deadly attack it conducted on police outposts.

Bangladesh: No ARSA, Arakan Militant Bases in Country.

2019-01-09

Bangladesh’s government on Wednesday vehemently denied allegations by neighboring Myanmar that Rohingya and Arakan militants were operating bases on Bangladeshi territory, after officials in Naypyidaw vowed to “crush” Arakan Army insurgents in Rakhine state.