It Isn’t Just the Rohingya. Myanmar Is Now Attacking Buddhists in Rakhine State, Too.

FP   

Jonathan Gorvett 

 October 31, 2019,

This latest battle could be the army’s undoing.

Three people walking along a road are seen during a government-organized visit for journalists in Buthidaung townships close to the surge of fighting between the Arakan Army and government troops in the restive Rakhine state on Jan. 25. Richard Sargent/AFP/Getty Images

 

MRAUK U, Myanmar—Here in the town of Mrauk U, in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state, there has been little to celebrate during this October’s Thadingyut, the second-most important annual festival of the Buddhist calendar. Normally, the auspicious full moon would be hailed with a floating armada of delicate candlelit paper lanterns and song, theater, and dance.

Yet this year, there are no celebrations.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi scolds world for lacking focus on Rakhine 'terrorists'

THE STRAITS TIMES

Oct 24, 2019,

 

In a photo taken on Aug 20, 2019, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers the opening speech during the Myanmar-Japan-US Forum on Fostering Responsible Investment in Yangon.PHOTO: AFP

 
YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has bemoaned the lack of global scrutiny on extremism and "terrorists" inside Rakhine state, where her country's army stands accused of committing genocide against Rohingya Muslims.

The comments from the Nobel laureate are part of a longstanding defence of the army campaign against the Rohingya, which drove nearly three-quarters of a million of the minority into Bangladesh in 2017.
That campaign brought US sanctions on key military figures and allegations of genocide by United Nations investigators. 

Protesters Outside Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo Condemn ‘Silent Genocide’ in Rakhine

The Irrawaddy
By The Irrawaddy
22 October 2019

 Coinciding with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to the Japanese capital, dozens of Arakanese people stage a protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday. / Myat Thaw Khine 

YANGON—In a move timed to coincide with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Japan, dozens of Arakanese people staged a protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday afternoon condemning her government for arresting civilians and expanding the conflict in Rakhine State, a campaign they labeled a “silent genocide.”

The State Counselor arrived in Tokyo on Sunday night in order to attend the Japanese emperor’s enthronement ceremony on Tuesday. Upon her arrival, she was welcomed by a group of supporters who held a banner denouncing the planned embassy protest.

Rebels Dressed as Soccer Players Abduct Bus Passengers in Myanmar

The New York Times
By Saw Nang and Richard C. Paddock
Oct. 13, 2019

Gunmen stopped the vehicle on a highway outside the town of Mrauk U and seized 31 people, most of them firefighters, the authorities said.

MANDALAY, Myanmar — Gunmen dressed in soccer uniforms halted an express bus on a main highway in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State and kidnapped 31 people, most of them firefighters, the authorities said on Sunday.

Muslim Villager Shot Dead by Army While Going Fishing in Rakhine, Locals Say

The Irrawaddy
By Min Aung Khine
9 October 2019

A signpost marking Buthidaung Township / Min Aung Khine / The Irrawaddy 

SITTWE, Rakhine State—A Muslim villager was shot dead by the Myanmar military in Rakhine State’s Buthidaung Township at around 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning, according to local villagers.

Myanmar rejects China proposal to let Rohingyas visit Rakhine

Dhaka Tribune

Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan  

October 2nd, 2019

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen addresses a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 Focus Bangla

'China also said [to Myanmar] to give them [Rohingyas] cell phones so that they can inform their relatives about the situation'

China has joined Bangladesh to ask Myanmar to take some Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh to Rakhine state for them to see the existing condition, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said on Wednesday.

Arakan Army Raids Myanmar Military Base in Northern Rakhine

The Irrawaddy
By Moe Myint
28 August 2019

An undated photo of fighters from the Brotherhood Alliance—a rebel alliance of the Arakan Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army. / Arakan Army Facebook Page

YANGON—A tactical frontline base of the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) was raided and no less than 30 soldiers were killed by Arakan Army (AA) rebels in rural Mrauk-U Township, in northern Rakhine State, at dawn on Wednesday, Arakan Army spokesperson U Khine Thukha told The Irrawaddy.

He said fighting was ongoing between the two sides as of Wednesday evening.

Rohingya refugees: ‘We are hostages’

GULF NEWS
 ASIA
August 27, 2019
Reuters

Two years on, Rohingya still in Myanmar trapped by new war

Rohingya refugees gather to mark the second anniversary of the exodus at the Kutupalong camp in    Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on August 25. Image Credit: REUTERS

Yangon: When Myanmar officials toured refugee camps in Bangladesh last month, inviting Rohingya Muslims who fled the country to return, they brought with them pamphlets adorned with cartoons showing hijab-wearing women passing through checkpoints and happily grasping identity cards.

They did not mention the new war being waged at home.

Armed clashes cut off 3000 people in Rakhine’s Minbya

MYANMARTIMES

Khin Myat Myat Wai  

13 Aug 2019

People take photos of unexploded ordnance in northern Rakhine in this file photo. Some 3000 people in Minbya remain trapped by fighting between the military and an armed ethnic group. Photo - EPA 

About 3000 people remain trapped after more than a week of fighting between the Tatmadaw (military) and Arakan Army (AA) in Minbya township, Rakhine State, said Ko Zaw Zaw Tun of the Rakhine Ethnic Congress (REC).

More refugees flee fighting in Rakhine

MYANMAR TIMES  

Thursday, August 08, 2019

A woman carries a bag through a refugee camp in Rakhine State. Officials say the number of refugees near Minbya township continues to rise due to recent fighting in the area. Photo: EPA

Fighting between the Tatmadaw (military) and the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State’s Minbya township has intensified and the number of refugees has increased to nearly 6000 over the past 10 days, a state official said on Tuesday.

Minbya township MP U Hla Thein Aung said that aid for the refugees is urgently needed.

Myanmar citizens deported from Singapore over alleged insurgent ties remanded in custody

REUTERS
July 26, 2019

Thu Thu Aung

YANGON (Reuters) - Six Myanmar nationals deported from Singapore over alleged links to an ethnic minority insurgent group were remanded in custody in Yangon on Friday, a court spokesman said, as relatives of the accused said they were being held incommunicado.

Ohn Tin, the mother of Hein Zaw, the arrested Arakanese Association-Singapore chairperson, speaks to the media outside of Mayangon court in Yangon, Myanmar, July 26, 2019. REUTERS/Myat Kyaw Thu 

“We issued another remand this morning for them,” Min Thant, an information officer at the Western District Court in the commercial capital of Yangon, told Reuters by telephone, without giving further details.

The five men and one woman were arrested in Singapore in early July and later deported to Myanmar, where they were arrested shortly after arriving.

Nine held in Myanmar in Arakan Army fundraising probe

Frontier
MYANMAR

Friday, July 26, 2019 

By AFP

Ko Tin Hlaing Oo from Arakan Association (Singapore) arrives at Yangon International Airport after being deported from Singapore on July 10 along with three others over alleged links to the Arakan Army. (Thuya Zaw | Frontier)

YANGON — Nine people subject to a police probe over fundraising for the Arakan Army in Rakhine State were remanded in custody Friday, including several recently deported from Singapore.

Among the deportees is Ko Aung Myat Kyaw, who is believed to be the brother of Brigadier General Tun Myat Naing, the chief of the AA.

Rakhine Rebels Eager for Foreign Investment

The Irrawaddy
By Moe Myint
23 July 2019

Myanmar police patrol inside the Chinese state-owned CNPC oil storage tank compound on Maday island in 2017. / Moe Myint / The Irrawaddy

YANGON—The Arakan Army (AA) has signaled to foreign developers it wants them to invest in Rakhine State, noting that the region is on an essential part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—the proposed comprehensive trade and logistics route linking China and Europe through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia.

The AA’s political wing, the United League for Arakan (ULA), announced in a three-part statement that it is accepting investments from foreign investors, including BRI-related projects.

Army Officer, 2 Navy Personnel Killed in AA Rocket Attack in Rakhine

The Irrawaddy
By Moe Myint
22 July 2019

A Myanmar Navy frigate, F-23, docks at the Danyawaddy Naval Base in southern Rakhine's Kyaukphyu Township. / Moe Myint / The Irrawaddy

YANGON—An army captain and two naval personnel based in southern Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township were killed when the Arakan Army (AA) launched rocket attacks on two naval vessels on a river in Myebon Township last Friday.

A staff member from Kyaukphyu General Hospital confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Monday that three bodies arrived for postmortems on Saturday. According to the staff member, the bodies were identified as those of an army captain from Kyaukphyu-based Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 543 and two personnel from Danyawaddy Naval Base, situated 4 kilometers east of downtown Kyaukphyu. Some Kyaukphyu locals said that the army officer was identified as Captain Soe Htet Aung.

Military to Investigative In-Custody Deaths in Rakhine

The Irrawaddy
By Nan Lwin
15 July 2019

Security forces conduct a manhunt through rural areas of Maungdaw Township, northern Rakhine State, in pursuit of those behind recent attacks on border guard posts. / Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy 

YANGON—The Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) has formed a team to investigate the deaths of civilians held in its custody, amid criticism over the rising number of civilian deaths during their military operations against the Arakan Army (AA) in war-torn Rakhine State.

An announcement from the Tatmataw’s True News Information Team on Friday said the investigation will cover the death of “some civilians” while in detention, plus an investigation of civilian deaths related to the AA and AA-affiliated suspects in four townships in northern Rakhine State.

In Myanmar's conflict-torn Rakhine, fresh allegations of 'war crimes'

KFGO
Friday, July 12, 2019
By Poppy McPherson and Thu Thu Aung

 FILE PHOTO: Recently displaced children play around the ancient pagodas in Mrauk U, Rakhine state, Myanmar June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ann Wang 

MRAUK-U, Myanmar (Reuters) - When 35-year-old Ah Hla showed up to a police station in western Myanmar in late April hoping to see her husband among the prisoners, she didn't know whether he was alive or dead.

Several dozen men, including her fisherman husband, had been detained weeks earlier when the military raided their village in central Rakhine state's Mrauk-U township and accused them of belonging to a rebel army, residents told Reuters.

Singapore, six Burmese arrested for supporting Rakhine Buddhist rebels

AsiaNews.it

07/11/2019,

Brother of the military leader of the Arakan Army (Aa) among detained.  The armed group is fighting for greater autonomy in the Rakhine and Chin states.  Also known as Arakan, the territory is at the center of world attention for the Rohingya crisis.  But the clashes between Aa and government troops this year have already caused 35,000 displaced people.

Singapore (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Singaporean authorities have arrested six citizens of Myanmar, accused of mobilizing support for armed violence against the Naypyidaw government.

The Interior Ministry of the city state said yesterday evening that the group had "organized and mobilized" members of the Burmese community in Singapore to support the Arakan Army (Aa).

The members of the armed group belong to the ethnic minority Rakhine (or arakanese) which, of Buddhist religion, constitutes about 4% of the Burmese population.

MHA arrests at least six supporters of Myanmar insurgent group in Singapore

THE STRAITSTIMES

Linette Lai

Political Correspondent

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has arrested a group of Myanmar nationals for using Singapore to mobilise support for armed violence against their government.

Their actions in support of the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group that has conducted violent attacks in Myanmar, are “inimical to Singapore’s security”, MHA said in a statement on Wednesday (July 10). It added that those found involved in activities of security concern will be deported.
The ministry’s statement came following reports in the Myanmar media that six leaders of the Arakan Association (Singapore) had been picked up, and that their computers and mobile phones were seized.

Refer Myanmar to ICC for Rakhine situation

theindepedent
4 July, 2019
UNB, Dhaka 

UN expert Yanghee Lee reiterates call

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee yesterday repeated her call that the situation in Rakhine should be referred to the International Criminal Court. She implored the international community to maintain pressure on Myanmar amid a deterioration of human rights in the country.

Investigator: UN, International Community Fail to Hold Myanmar Accountable for Crimes Against Rohingya

VOA

By Lisa Schlein
July 3, 2019 

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee gives her report to the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 11, 2019. 

GEVENA, SWITZERLAND - A U.N. investigator says the United Nations and international community have failed to hold the government of Myanmar accountable for decades of persecution and repression against the minority Rohingya Muslims. The report from the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar is under discussion at the U.N. Human Rights Council.

More than one million Rohingya refugees have fled to Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh to escape violence, persecution and death in Myanmar. U.N. investigator Yanghee Lee says she is concerned the international community is beginning to overlook their situation.