Rakhine armed group seized Myanmar governing party candidates

Aljazeera
19 Oct 2020

Arakan Army says it abducted three candidates of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party ahead of November 8 election.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since fighting began in early 2019 and dozens killed [File: AFP] 

 

A rebel group in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of three candidates of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s governing party, demanding the release of detained student protesters in return for letting them go.

The governing National League for Democracy (NLD) said the three – Min Aung, Ni Ni May Myint and Chit Chit Chaw – were abducted last week while campaigning ahead of the country’s November 8 election.

Myanmar Calls Off Polling in Rakhine, Shan Conflict Zones

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio
October 19, 2020 

 The cancellations were expected, but some say the decisions were selective and benefit the ruling National League for Democracy.

On October 16, Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) announced the cancellation of the upcoming national elections in conflict-ridden regions of the country, including swathes of territory in Shan and Rakhine states.

Myanmar: New evidence of attacks in Rakhine state

AA

SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh
13.10.2020

UN Security Council must urgently refer situation in Myanmar to International Criminal Court, says Amnesty International

Human rights organization Amnesty International announced Monday that it has gathered fresh evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in western Myanmar amid an escalation in an ongoing armed conflict between the country’s military and the Arakan Army.

The evidence suggests that the Myanmar military burned villages and wounded and killed civilians in Rakhine in early September.

Rohingya refugees face continuous violence

NEW FRAME 
Friday, 2 October 2020

Two Myanmar soldiers have confessed to committing atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, giving more evidence of the genocide against the minority group.

Two personnel in Myanmar’s military have confessed to “exterminating” Rohingya Muslims. Human rights defenders believe that this public acknowledgement could substantiate the ongoing international genocide investigation at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar’s military establishment.

Myo Win Tun, 33, and Zaw Naoing Tun, 30, who belong to separate light infantry battalions, claimed they were given orders to “shoot and rape villagers” while raiding “kalar” villages – “kalar” is a derogatory term for Muslim Rohingyas.

HRW asks Myanmar to end harassment of Rakhine media outlets

Financial Express

FE ONLINE REPORT
Published: September 01, 2020

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Myanmar authorities to stop using criminal laws, website blocks, and licensing delays to severely restrict the two ethnic media outlets in Rakhine State.

The international rights organisation, in a statement on Tuesday, said the authorities have filed charges against Aung Marm Oo, chief editor of Development Media Group (DMG), under the rights-abusing Unlawful Associations Act, blocked access to the outlet’s English and Burmese language webpages, and failed to act on DMG’s application to renew the publishing license for its bimonthly print journal. Narinjara News, the other ethnic Rakhine media outlet, has also been blocked since March, the statement pointed out.

Rohingya Crisis: 3 years after Aug 2017, situation deteriorated in Rakhine

Dhaka Tribune
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan 
August 29th, 2020

An aerial view shows burned down villages once inhabited by the Rohingya seen from the Myanmar military helicopters that carried the U.N. envoys to northern Rakhine state, Myanmar on May 1, 2018 Reuters 

UN also asks Myanmar to ensure participation of Rohingyas in upcoming elections in November

Three years after the violence that forced about 800,000 Rohingyas to flee from their homes in Rakhine, the situation has deteriorated and little has been done to create viable conditions for their safe return, a senior official of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has said.

US concerned over situation in Rakhine

NEWAGE
United News of Bangladsh . Dhaka
Aug 27,2020

The United States said it remained concerned over the killing of members of local communities and displacement of thousands in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, which undermines prospects for the voluntary return of Rohingyas and internally displaced persons and erodes prospects for peace.

‘In the face of escalating fighting in Rakhine state, we urge a cessation of violence, dialogue, renewed efforts to protect local communities, and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance,’ said US department of state spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Tuesday.

'Safe Zones' in northern Rakhine: Best option to protect Rohingya

Prothum Alo------ 

Md Shahidul Haque
Opinion
2020.08.28

Weary Rohingya trudging from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Ukhia, BangladeshSyful Islam

In the wake of the mass exodus of the Rohingyas from the Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar from 25 August 2017, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, while opening the border for them, made a call to the international community to create UN supervised ‘safe zones’ inside Myanmar for protection of all civilians irrespective of religion and ethnicity.

Five Muslim Candidates Rejected From Myanmar’s Election

The Irrawaddy
By Htun Htun
18 August 2020

The Rakhine State Election Sub-commission meets to determine the eligibility of proposed candidates. / Rakhine State Election Sub-Commission

Yangon—Five Muslim candidates, including four Rohingyas, in Rakhine State have been rejected by the state election sub-commission to run in the November general election due to the citizenship status of their parents.

Four Rohinyga candidates are from the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP) and the fifth is an independent looking to run for a Buthidaung Township Lower House seat.

“They were rejected mainly because their parents and grandparents were not yet citizens when they were born,” said sub-commission secretary U Thurein Htut.

Myanmar Bars Rohingya Candidate from Election, Activists Denounce Decision as 'Symptom of Ongoing Genocide'

NEWS WORLD 18
AFP
August 12, 2020

Rohingya refugees are seen in a refugee camp.(Representational image: Reuters)

 

Three Rohingya-led parties had hoped to field at least a dozen candidates in November's vote, according to regional watchdog Fortify Rights.

A Rohingya Muslim has been barred from standing in Myanmar's upcoming election, in a decision decried by rights groups as discriminatory and a symptom of the "ongoing genocide" against the persecuted minority.

Myanmar May Postpone Election in War-Torn Rakhine State: Official

Reuters,
Wire Service
By Shoon Naing
July 30, 2020

FILE PHOTO: Myanmar police officer poses for a photograph in Maungdaw, Rakhine July 9, 2019. REUTERS/Ann WangReuters

NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - Myanmar will postpone elections in parts of war-torn Rakhine state if the military declares them unsafe, a senior election official said on Thursday, prompting a backlash from ethnic parties with strong support in the region. 

"It is necessary to have peace and stability to hold elections," said Union Election Commission chair Hla Thein, adding that the army-controlled ministries of defence and home affairs would soon determine whether the region was stable.

Harrowing stories remain unheeded

theSundaily
Nutmeg Verses - Himanshu Bhatt  

19 Jul 2020

MUNAWIR, a Rohingya man in his 20s, was at home in Sittwe, a district in Rakhine state of Myanmar, when his neighbourhood was attacked and houses there burnt by assailants. Eighteen people were killed in the ensuing massacre, including his two brothers.

Seeing his desperation, an agent later persuaded him to board a ship to Malaysia, promising him a better life and assuring that he did not have to pay anything.

However, once Munawir was on the small vessel, a gang approached his mother in Sittwe to demand 600,000 Burmese kyat (RM2,000) for his journey, which she fearfully paid. 

Myanmar uncovers Sino-Pak nexus in arms supply to two rebel groups in Rakhine

o-Pak nexus in arms supply to two rebel groups in Rakhine

THE ECONOMIC TIMES
Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury,
ET Bureau
Jul 18, 2020,

 New Delhi: Myanmar is believed to have discovered an alleged Sino-Pak axis that is supplying China made arms to two rebel groups in the country’s restive Rakhine province to target Indian assets including Kaladan multi modal project. The groups are also allegedly fuelling terror both in Myanmar and across the border in Bangladesh.

The nexus has been revealed following arrests by the authorities of Thailand along the Thai-Myanmar border. The Thai authorities shared details of the investigation with Myanmar’s security establishment, ET has learnt. The revelations came to light close on the heels of Myanmar Army's top brass expressing public displeasure against China's role in fuelling insurgency in the country.

Experts urge Rohingya-Rakhine Buddhists reconciliation

AA
Md. Kamruzzaman
DHAKA, Bangladesh
17.07.2020

Changing attitudes to Rohingya by Buddhists, media paving way for reconciliation, Rohingya rights worker says

Experts at the first Rohingya-Rakhine online seminar Thursday urged reconciliation of minority Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists to restore sustainable peace in Rakhine state in Myanmar.

“Interestingly we are seeing many Rakhine brothers and sisters, and Rakhine media changing their attitude towards us. It gives us an opportunity to start contemplating and aspiring to a Rohingya - Rakhine reconciliation,” Ro Nay San Lwin, co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition said at the conference.

What Future for Rakhine?: End Games for the Arakanese (Rakhine, Rohingyas and Other Co-habitants)

Co-organised by SOAS, FORSEA & Free Rohingya Coalition
 

UN Human Rights Council 44 Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Myanmar

Mirage
July 15, 2020 

Thank you, Madame President.

Thank you Special Rapporteur for your update. We welcome you to the role and encourage Myanmar to work with you as you fulfil your mandate.

Across Myanmar, the indiscriminate targeting of civilians remains a military tactic. The physical and mental suffering those civilians face, including sexual violence, is deeply disturbing.

The Tatmadaw’s ‘four cuts’ strategy endangers lives disproportionately and causes lasting damage to property and livelihoods. This month in Rakhine, Tatmadaw ‘clearance operations’ saw villages shelled and burnt, with reports suggesting the displacement of at least 10,000 civilians.

Rohingya-based Party Urges Myanmar to Allow The Muslim Minority to Vote And Run For Office

Radio Free Asia
2020-07-09

A Rohingya Muslim woman displays her "white card" in western Myanmar's Rakhine state in an undated photo. RFA

A political party representing Myanmar’s persecuted ethnic Rohingya is pressing election authorities to allow members of the Muslim minority who hold temporary “white card” IDs to vote and to run in November nationwide elections.

Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya — more than 740,000 of whom were driven out of their communities in northern Rakhine state in a military-led crackdown and to refuge in Bangladesh in 2017 — has brought Western sanctions and war crimes charges against the country’s military in international courts.

Myanmar Army Actions in Rakhine State Should be Tried as ‘War Crimes,’ Says Amnesty

Radio Free Asia
2020-07-08 

Houses burn in abandoned Letka village in Mrauk-U township amid armed conflict in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, May 16, 2020. Residents fled the community in April 2019 following clashes between Myanmar and ethnic rebel forces, and sought shelter in displacement camps.
Associated Press

Myanmar’s army has shelled villages and burned homes in Rakhine state in recent months, killing and displacing civilians in “attacks that amount to war crimes” that should be tried by the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Myanmar: Court Martial Latest Accountability Sham

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

  July 3, 2020

Convictions Obscure Widespread Military Impunity

Rohingya refugees who fled the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin stand on a hill in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, January 14, 2018. © 2018 Manish Swarup/AP Photo 

(Bangkok) – Myanmar’s court-martial conviction of three military personnel for crimes against ethnic Rohingya reflects ongoing government efforts to evade meaningful accountability, Human Rights Watch said today. Myanmar authorities have repeatedly failed to adequately investigate and prosecute grave abuses against Rohingya in Rakhine State, including crimes against humanity.

Thousands in western Myanmar flee as army plans operations, monitors say

WKZO

Thomson Reuters 

Saturday, June 27, 2020 

 

(Reuters) - Thousands of villagers have fled their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after a local administrator warned dozens of village leaders that the army planned “clearance operations” against insurgents, a lawmaker and a humanitarian group said.

But a government spokesman said late on Saturday an evacuation order issued by border-affairs officials had been revoked. Border affairs acknowledged issuing the order through the local administrator but said it affected fewer villages.