New ASEAN envoy to Myanmar says he wants full access when he visits

Reuters
August 7, 2021

Brunei's Second Minister of Foreign Affairs Erywan Pehin Yusof addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 30, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug 7 (Reuters) - The Brunei diplomat appointed by a Southeast Asian regional bloc as its special envoy to Myanmar said on Saturday he should be given full access to all parties when he visits the strife-torn country, where the military overthrew an elected government.

Speaking days after his appointment by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Erywan Yusof gave no date for his visit to Myanmar, whose civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials have been detained since the Feb. 1 coup. read more

They Wait Hours to Withdraw Cash, but Most A.T.M.s Are Empty

New York Times
Richard C. Paddock
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版

Aug. 7, 2021

Myanmar has been crippled by a cash shortage since the military seized power six months ago, plunging the Southeast Asian nation into a financial crisis.

People lining up to withdraw cash in Yangon, Myanmar, in March. Since the military seized power in a coup six months ago, the Southeast Asian nation has been brought to its knees by a critical lack of cash.Credit...The New York Times

The customers, desperate for cash, began lining up at the A.T.M. at 3:30 a.m. By dawn, the queue had swelled to more than 300 people. By noon, when temperatures had reached 100 degrees, many were still waiting, hoping this would be the day they could finally withdraw money from their own bank accounts.

Two men arrested in US over alleged plot to kill Myanmar's UN ambassador

CNN
Helen Regan and Jamie Crawford,
August 7, 2021

Myanmar UN Representative speaks after issuing plea to the world 04:35

(CNN)Two Myanmar citizens have been charged in New York with allegedly plotting to kill or injure Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, the US Attorney's Office said Friday.

The duo are accused of conspiring with an arms dealer in Thailand who sells weapons to the Myanmar military, to "seriously injure or kill" the ambassador "in a planned attack on a foreign official that was to take place on American soil," said Audrey Strauss, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement.

U.S. says plot against Myanmar U.N. envoy fits 'disturbing pattern'

REUTERSMichelle Nichols
August 7, 2021

Myanmar's ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun addresses the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo/File Photo

NEW YORK, Aug 7 (Reuters) - The United States on Saturday condemned a thwarted plot to attack Myanmar's U.N. ambassador in New York, saying it fits a "disturbing pattern" of authoritarian leaders and their supporters seeking to persecute opponents around the world.

World Bank clarifies its position on Rohingya repatriation

Dhaka Tribune

Tribune Desk
August 3rd, 2021

Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas who have fled their homeland in Rakhine State after being persecuted by their own country Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

The global lender recently sent a letter to ERD attaching a document detailing Rohingyas' freedom of movement, birth certificate, educational and employment opportunities, and infrastructure

The World Bank reviews its refugee policy framework every three years before mobilizing funds under the International Development Assistance window.

The international lender recently solicited input on its current policy review from 16 refugee-hosting nations, including Bangladesh.

World Bank’s Proposal: Local Integration Of Rohingyas In Bangladesh Possible? – OpEd

eurasiareview

MD Pathik Hasan

August 4, 2021 

Rohingya's in Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. Photo taken by John Owens/VOA, Wikipedia Commons.

Absolutely not is my answer in this regard. Why will Bangladesh give them shelter permanently? Why will Bangladesh integrate the Myanmar’s citizens with its own inner land.

Bangladesh has been hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char since military crackdowns in 2017 started driving the ethnic minorities out of Myanmar.

Rohingya Repatriation: WB clarifies its position

The Daily Star

Staff Correspondent

Wed Aug 4, 2021

The World Bank addressed its position on the Rohingya issue on its website yesterday.

In a question-and-answer format, the World Bank spoke of Rohingya repatriation, its Refugee Policy Review and other issues.

Recently, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that the World Bank sent a letter attaching a document that spoke of Rohingyas' freedom of movement, birth certificates, privileges of education and job, and infrastructure.

Although the document was not Bangladesh-specific, the government informed the World Bank that it would not agree to those suggestions, the foreign minister had said.

ASEAN’s humanitarian aid to Myanmar must not legitimise military junta: Progressive Voice & FORUM-ASIA

TOC

The Online Citizen
Asia, Civil Society
04/08/2021

“ASEAN and the international community must recognize and engage with the NUG, and disengage with the junta in provision of humanitarian assistance to prevent them from weaponizing humanitarian aid."

 Protesters hold a banner supporting the National Unity Government (NUG) during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on 11 July 2021 (Source: AFP)

The Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the rest of the international community must provide humanitarian assistance through the COVID-19 Task Force set up by the Ministry of Health under interim government of Myanmar – the National Unity Government (NUG) – and Ethnic Health Organisations, as well as through cross-border channels, local humanitarian networks, ethnic service providers, and community-based organisations, said Progressive Voice and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) in a joint statement on Wednesday (4 Aug).

ASEAN urged to address Myanmar crises, as special envoy named

Aljazeera
4 Aug 2021

Rights groups call on regional political bloc to work with shadow NUG, local health organisations to deliver urgent humanitarian aid.

Volunteers in protective suits carry a COVID patient lying on a bed as they try to relocate oxygen-dependent patients from the COVID centre during floods in Karen state [Karen Information Center/Handout via Reuters]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) urgently needs to address Myanmar’s “dire” human rights and humanitarian crises, which are being compounded by a COVID-19 health emergency and recent flooding, rights groups have said, warning the regional bloc to avoid giving legitimacy to the country’s military.

ASEAN Still Stalemated Over Choice of Myanmar Envoy

THE I DIPLOMAT
Sebastian Strangio
August 03, 2021

A candidate was expected to be announced at yesterday’s Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, but the bloc appears deadlocked on a number of issues.

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) kicked off a week of summitry-by-videolink, it remained deadlocked on the appointment of a special envoy to address the political crisis in Myanmar.

Alongside a discussion of COVID-19 and the South China Sea, yesterday’s 54th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was expected in some quarters to feature the announcement of an ASEAN envoy to shepherd Myanmar’s military junta and its opponents toward the negotiating table.

ရွာသားများကို ဗလီ၌ ပိတ်လောင်ထားသည် ဆိုခြင်းမှာ မမှန်ဟု AA ပြော

ဧရာဝတီ
4 August 2021

AA တပ်ဖွဲ့ ဝင်တဦး / ဧရာဝတီ

ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ် မင်းပြားမြို့နယ် လက်မရွာဗလီတွင် ရွာသားများကို အစာမကျွေးဘဲ ပိတ်လှောင်ထားသည် ဆိုသော ပြောဆို မှုမှာ မမှန်ကြောင်း ရက္ခိုင်စစ်တပ် (AA) က ပြောသည်။

Six months after coup, Myanmar’s political, rights and aid crisis is worsening

UN News
30 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Unsplash/Matteo Massim ,People praying in the grounds of a temple in Yangon, Myanmar, the country's largest city.

It’s been six months since the military coup in Myanmar where there’s grave concern over the widening impact of the deepening political, human rights and humanitarian crisis affecting the country’s people.

Speaking to UN News, the organisation’s top aid official in Myanmar, Acting Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator Ramanathan Balakrishnan, described how people have been severely impacted across the country since the junta’s power grab on 1 February.

The situation in the country is characterized now by instability and a deteriorating socio-economic and security situation and to add to that we have a raging third wave of COVID-19,” said Mr. Balakrishnan in an exclusive interview.

Highlighting the ongoing nature of armed resistance to State security forces “in several ethnic minority areas” including in the states of Shan, Chin and Kachin, the UN official said that more than 200,000 people had been uprooted from their homes there to date.

Displacement swelling

In Rakhine state before the coup, the UN Humanitarian Response Plan pointed to some one million people including internally displaced people in need of urgent assistance, but “this number has only swelled”, Mr. Balakrishnan insisted.

US urges UN Security Council to press Myanmar to return to democracy

Business Standard

AP | United Nations
July 30, 2021 

A senior US diplomat urged the UN Security Council on Thursday to press Myanmar's military to stop violence and restore democracy

A senior US diplomat urged the U. Security Council on Thursday to press Myanmar's military to stop violence and restore democracy, warning that with COVID-19 surging and hunger increasing, the longer we delay, the more people die.

Deputy US Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said Myanmar is reeling from a surge in COVID-19 cases and faces a burgeoning health catastrophe as a direct result of the military's brutality and administrative failures since its coup six months ago.

UK should self-examine before advising others on human rights, democracy: Momen

The Daily Star

Star Digital Report
Mon Jul 12, 2021 

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen. File photo

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has suggested that the UK pay attention to its position before advising others on human rights and democracy.

"They should look at themselves in the mirror before advising others. If they cannot improve their situation, they should stop this practice," he said in response to queries from reporters at his ministry today regarding the UK's global report on Human Rights and Democracy of 2020.

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.

Fighting Myanmar's regime with compassion and military skills

NIKKEI ASIA
DENIS D. GRAY, Contributing writer
August 1, 2021 

Free Burma Rangers help thousands fleeing brutal attacks by security forces

David Eubank, founder of the Free Burma Rangers aid organization, rescues a 5-year-old Demoa after her mother was killed by Islamists in the battle for Mosul. (Courtesy of Free Burma Rangers)

     CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- David Eubank, a former U.S. Special Forces officer, believes that some causes are worth dying for. His Free Burma Rangers aid organization, founded to help victims of an earlier Myanmar crisis, has since brought frontline help to many thousands in war-scarred Syria, Iraq and Sudan. Now, it is back in Myanmar helping ethnic minorities to flee escalating attacks by the regime's security forces.

Bangladesh-Myanmar Economic Ties: Addressing the Next Generation Challenges

moderndiplomacy

Shazzad Hussain
August 1, 2021

Bangladesh-Myanmar relations have developed through phases of cooperation and conflict. Conflict in this case is not meant in the sense of confrontation, but only in the sense of conflict of interests and resultant diplomatic face-offs. Myanmar is the only other neighbor that Bangladesh has on its border besides India. It is the potential gateway for an alternative land route opening towards China and South-East Asia other than the sea. Historically, these two countries have geographic and cultural linkages. These two bordering countries, located in separate geopolitical regions, have huge possibilities in developing their bilateral economic relations. At the initial phase of their statehood, both countries undertook numerous constructive initiatives to improve their relations. Nevertheless, different bilateral disputes and challenges troubled entire range of cooperation. Subsequent to these challenges, Bangladesh and Myanmar have started negotiation process on key dubious issues. The economic rationales over political tensions in Bangladesh-Myanmar relations prevail with new prospects and opportunities.

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.

အာဏာသိမ်းပေမယ့် အာဏာမထိန်းနိုင်သေးပါ

ဧရာဝတီ
အောင်မျိုးမင်း
31 July 2021 

ဦးအောင်မျိုးမင်းသည် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၏ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ ဝန်ကြီး ဖြစ်သည် / ဧရာဝတီ

 

ရွေးကောက်ပွဲအတွင်း မဲသမာမှုများရှိသည်ဆိုသည့်အကြောင်းပြချက်ဖြင့် အာဏာသိမ်းယူခဲ့သော စစ်ကောင်စီ ၏ မတရားအာဏာသိမ်းယူမှုသည် သြဂုတ်လ ၁ ရက်နေ့တွင် ခြောက်လပြည့်ပြီဖြစ်သည်။

မတရား အာဏာလုယူခဲ့သည့်နောက်ပိုင်း နိုင်ငံ‌ရးခေါင်းဆောင်များအား ဥပဒေမဲ့ဖမ်းဆီးခြင်းမှအစ ဆန့်ကျင် တော် လှန်သူများကို တရားမဲ့နှိမ်နှင်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှုများအလယ် မြို့ရွာတခုလုံးကို ပစ်ခတ်တိုက်ခိုက်ပြီး ‌ဒေသခံ ပြည်သူများကို နေရပ်မှ အတင်းအကြပ်မောင်းထုတ်ခြင်းများအဆုံး နိုင်ငံတကာရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကျူးလွန်   နေလျက်ရှိသည်။