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.

Twitter launches #MilkTeaAlliance emoji to mark 1-year anniversary of solidarity movement

COCONUTS

Coconuts Hong Kong 

Apr 8, 2021 

The Milk Tea Alliance, originally a loose coalition that brewed among activists in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand, has grown into a broader movement against growing authoritarianism in many parts of Asia. Photos: Twitter

Twitter has introduced an emoji for the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag to mark the the first anniversary of the solidarity movement, which has united protesters in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and beyond in their fights against authoritarianism.

MSF and the Rohingya 1992-2014

Analysis
Source :MSF 

8 Apr 2021

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.

Jokowi's ASEAN leadership

ELEVEN

THE JAKARTA POST/ANN

7 APRIL 2021

Police personnel stand guard during a demonstration by supporters of detained Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu in front of a court house in Yangon on November 3, 2020. (AFP/Sai Aung Main)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has received a strong mandate to host an ASEAN special summit to discuss how the regional grouping should deal with the crisis unfolding in one of its member states, Myanmar, after the military seized power from the democratically elected government on Feb. 1.

This is a diplomatic scoop for Jokowi, who has previously shown little appetite for foreign affairs but now is taking firm action to assist the Myanmar people.

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.

Massive fire in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps leaves 45,000 people displaced

OXFAM

By Oxfam

April 6, 2021

Oxfam Senior Public Health Promotion Associate Arif Hossen helps refugees collect drinking water in the aftermath of a devastating fire in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps on March 22. The blaze spread rapidly for several hours in the densely populated camps, destroying homes and critical water and sanitation infrastructure. Oxfam emergency response teams are on the ground providing safe drinking water, hygiene kits, and emergency latrines. Mutasim Billah / Oxfam

Oxfam assisting survivors with clean water, soap, emergency latrines

A massive fire that swept through the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 22 has left 10,000 families—roughly 45,000 people—displaced and in urgent need of food, water, and sanitation services. The fire was yet another devastating blow to the Rohingya people who fled shocking violence and persecution in Myanmar.

Myanmar coup: Asean leadership offers best chance to avert a refugee crisis

South China Morning Post

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III

Opinion

7 Apr, 2021

• Many international actors are vying to play the role of peacemaker in Myanmar, but Asean – flaws and all – remains the most suited to broker talks

• The efforts of Indonesia, along with other key members, show genuine interest to stop growing instability in the country from spilling across the region

Myanmar refugees line up to receive rescue materials in a camp in Manghai, a small border town between China and Myanmar in Yunnan province, in November 2016. Continuing violence in Myanmar has neighbours China, India and Thailand worried about a fresh exodus of refugees fleeing across their border. Photo: Simon Song

A breakthrough could be in the offing as China lends support to an Asean-led initiative to de-escalate the situation in Myanmar and bring warring parties to a dialogue. Last week, foreign ministers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines flew to Nanping in southeastern Fujian province to meetForeign Minister Wang Yi.

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.

Religious freedom must be guaranteed for everyone, everywhere, all the time

THE HILL

BY SAM BROWNBACK AND GAYLE MANCHIN, 

OPINION CONTRIBUTORS  

04/06/21 

 
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

© Getty Images

Merdan Ghappar was put in a prison camp in China for being a Muslim. Pastor Youcef was thrown in jail in Iran for following Jesus and helping others do the same. Twenty-five-year-old Ravinder Singh was killed in Pakistan for being a Sikh. And just last week in Indonesia, two terrorist suicide bombers targeted Roman Catholics as they were leaving Sunday morning mass.

What do they have in common? Religious persecution.

OPINION - Political calculations to settle Myanmar crisis

AA

Ramdhan Muhaimin
JAKARTA, Indonesia
06.04.2021

Myanmar’s military coup has put Association of Southeast Asian Nation at crossroads

The writer teaches at the Center for Peace and Defense Studies (PSPP), University of Al-Azhar Indonesia.

Since the military forcibly seized control and forced the exit of the National League for Democracy (NLD) from the government on Feb. 1, the socio-political conditions in Southeast Asian nation Myanmar have again moved towards uncertainty.

The coup, led by the head of Tatmadaw -- the national armed forces – Gen. Min Aung Hlaing shortly after Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD won the election, has become a nightmare for people in the country.

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..."