Myanmar to charge journalists on assignment for Turkish state TV: officials
Arakan News Agency Myanmar police said on Saturday they were preparing to charge journalists working for Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT, their local interpreter and driver for bringing a drone into the country without permission. The police were also expecting to obtain court permission to remand the four for up to 15 days as they prepare […]
Bangladesh eyes sterilisation to curb Rohingya population
Arakan News Agency PALONGKHALI Bangladesh is planning to introduce voluntary sterilisation in its overcrowded Rohingya camps, where nearly a million refugees are fighting for space, after efforts to encourage birth control failed. More than 600,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar in August triggered an exodus, straining resources in […]
Rohingya crisis may be driving Aung San Suu Kyi closer to generals
Arakan News Agency Criticism of the Nobel laureate in the west is angering – and mobilizing – her supporters at home. On the top floor of the Myanmar Traditional Artists and Artisans Association in Yangon, the organisation’s vice-president stands behind his latest creation. It is a towering portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi, robed in […]
Mental health first aid on the frontlines of the Rohingya crisis
Arakan News Agency Many refugees fleeing Myanmar experience unimaginable horrors. When the packed fishing boat broke up in the storm, Nurus Salam was tossed into the sea holding his only son. He held him as tight as he could but waves loosened his grip. Suddenly two-year-old Abdul was gone. “I keep hearing him crying out […]
Myanmar harvests abandoned Rohingya fields, raising fears for return
Arakan News Agency Myanmar’s government began harvesting rice from farmland abandoned by Rohingya in northern Arakan on Saturday, officials said, a move likely to raise concerns about the prospect of return for more than half a million refugees who have fled communal violence in the area.The border region has been emptied of most of its […]
Myanmar Bishops ‘nervous’ about Rohingya issue
Arakan News Agency Myanmar’s Catholic bishops are “nervous” Pope Francis will mention the Rohingya during his visit next month, a spokesman said yesterday, fearing that it would prompt protests from a Buddhist public that loathes the Muslim minority, reports AFP from Yangon. The pontiff’s visit to Buddhist-majority Myanmar, scheduled for November 27, comes after a […]
Malaysia provides medical aid to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Arakan News Agency The Malaysian Ministry of Health is preparing to provide its medical services and expertise to Rohingya refugees displaced from Arakan, western Myanmar (formerly Burma), in Kutubpalong camps in Coxs-Bazar, Bangladesh, according to its Minister Dr. Subramaniam Sathasivam. He added that his ministry was still waiting for the authorities of that country to […]
Amnesty International calls for international action against Rohingya crackdown
Arakan News Agency Amnesty International called for international action to stop the Myanmar army’s campaign against the Muslim minority of Rohingya, which it described as “systematic and planned.” It called on the international community “to stop military cooperation, impose an arms embargo and impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations.” According to […]
Bangladesh frees Myanmar photographers
Arakan News Agency Bangladesh authorities Friday released two Myanmar photographers covering the Rohingya crisis for a German magazine after they were granted bail by a court, police and a lawyer said. Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat were detained early this month in the border district of Cox’s Bazar, where more than 420,000 Rohingya Muslims have […]
Britain calls on Myanmar leader to stop abuses against Rohingya Muslims
Arakan News Agency Britain called on Myanmar Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi to use her influence to stop abuses against the Muslim minority of Rohingya. Britain’s Minister for International Development, Preetti Patal, told a parliamentary hearing in the House of Commons that Suu Kyi has to provide security for the Myanmar Muslim minority and […]
Yunus blames Suu Kyi for Rohingya genocide
Arakan News Agency In an interview with Al Jazeera, Nobel Peace laureate and economist Muhammad Yunus placed the blame on de facto leader and fellow Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in what the United Nations has called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” in Myanmar’s Arakan. In recent weeks more than half a […]
Rohingya girls under 10 raped while fleeing Myanmar, charity says
Arakan News Agency Médecins Sans Frontières says more than half the girls it has treated after sexual assaults are under 18 Rohingya children, some of them under 10 years old, are receiving treatment for rape in camps on the Bangladesh border, according to medics who say that young refugees account for half of those sexually […]
Lawmakers Urge U.S. to Craft Targeted Sanctions on Myanmar Military
Arakan News Agency More than 40 lawmakers urged the Trump administration on Wednesday to reimpose U.S. travel bans on Myanmar’s military leaders and prepare targeted sanctions against those responsible for a crackdown on the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. In a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a group of Republican and Democratic […]