Members of the US Congress said on Tuesday operations carried out against the Rohingya Muslims in Burma had “all the hallmarks” of ethnic cleansing, while the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed doubts about allegations of rights abuses.
“The first phase it to effect a ceasefire on the ground, to return to stability and order, so the people can enjoy peace and no longer be forced to flee.”
Burmese government says 23 men were charged last week with terrorism offences after a series of raids by security forces in Rakhine State.
International Relations Lead Story News
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Burma and Bangladesh from this weekend, his ministry said on Thursday, amid a crisis over Burma’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims.
International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Wednesday for a credible investigation into reports of human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims committed by Burma’s security forces after a meeting with its civilian and military leaders.
Arakan Lead Story Military News Rohingya
Human rights groups pour scorn on a Burmese military investigation into alleged atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, branding it a “whitewash” and calling for UN and independent investigators to be allowed into the country.
International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
The United Nations Security Council urges the Burmese government to “ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine State,” where violence has forced more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian nation.
Proposed US sanctions targeting Burma’s military for its treatment of Rohingya Muslims would hinder the fledgling civilian government sharing power with the generals, a spokesman for de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday.
A Shan State court on Friday sentenced two Kachin pastors to harsh multi-year prison sentences after they were caught up in conflict in Muse Township, with the two men found guilty of all charges brought against them, including “unlawful association.”
International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke on Thursday with Burma’s army chief and expressed concern over reported atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State, the US State Department said in a statement.
Arakan International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States held Burma’s military leadership responsible for its harsh crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Lead Story News Politics Suu Kyi
Hundreds of party faithful rallied at a staging grounds in Taungoo on Saturday morning in a show of support for beleaguered State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy’s longtime figurehead.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Burma’s military has launched an internal probe into the conduct of soldiers during a counteroffensive that has sent more than half a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh, many saying they witnessed killings, rape and arson by troops.
Aung San Suu Kyi announces the creation of yet another body with the challenging portfolio of improving the situation in crisis-stricken Arakan State, saying it would include a broad spectrum of actors, both domestic and foreign.
“At the age of 10, I got my tattoos,” says Ma Lha Sen.
Western trade and investment in Burma is small, but there were hopes that reforms would prise open an economy stunted by international sanctions and decades of mismanagement under military rule. That now appears to be on hold.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
There were mixed reactions to State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech this morning on her government’s efforts to address the crisis in northern Arakan State.
Arakan International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
The US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he had spoken with Aung San Suu Kyi and that she said she was working to get aid to the Muslim areas in Arakan State that were affected by violence.
Lead Story News Technology & Science
Hackers targeted several government websites this week, according to state media, apparently in retaliation for Burma’s treatment of the country’s Muslim minority, as international attention on the plight of the Rohingya in Arakan State intensifies.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Two blasts rocked an area in Burma near the Bangladeshi border on Monday, accompanied by the sound of gunfire and thick black smoke, as violence that has sent nearly 90,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh showed no sign of easing.
The formal withdrawal of charges in the high-profile “unlawful association” case involving three journalists and three others in Shan State’s Hsipaw Township was postponed on Monday, with the legal bureaucracy delaying their official exoneration for another several days.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Nearly 90,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Burma in August, pressuring scarce resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Burma.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Thousands of fearful Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhist civilians have fled the worst fighting to grip Burma’s northwest in five years, with 104 people killed and the United Nations and international aid groups forced to pull out some staff.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Burma’s government said it has evacuated at least 4,000 non-Muslim villagers amid ongoing clashes in northwestern Arakan State, as thousands more Rohingya Muslims sought to flee across the border to Bangladesh on Sunday.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
About 1,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing escalating violence in Burma had been halted at the border with Bangladesh, Bangladeshi security officials said on Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted in Burma’s northwestern Arakan State.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Muslim militants in Burma staged a coordinated attack on 30 police posts and an army base in Arakan State on Friday, and at least 59 of the insurgents and 12 members of the security forces were killed, the army and government said.
The Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) ethnic armed group has offered to assist the Arakan State government in securing its citizens as the western state continues to grapple with unrest.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Burma rejects allegations of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during a crackdown against Rohingya Muslims last year, accusing the United Nations of making exaggerated claims in its report on the issue.
Two men from Kaing Gyi village in Maungdaw Township were shot dead on Thursday morning and four women were reported missing in the latest killings and disappearances to plague northern Arakan State.
The trial of three journalists and three other men accused of “unlawful association” with an ethnic armed group began in earnest on Friday, with a court in Hsipaw Township, Shan State, taking testimony from the case’s plaintiff, an army major.
