FB blacklists Myanmar hardline Buddhist group
Arakan News Agency Facebook has blacklisted a group of Myanmar Buddhist hardliners including monks notorious for bilious hate speech against Rohingya Muslims, the company said on Thursday, as it scrambles to show it is tackling inflammatory content. The social media company plays an outsized role in a country that has only recently come online and […]
Myanmar defense lawyers say documents from Reuters reporters’ phones ‘not secret’
Arakan News Agency Documents Myanmar police say they found on the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing state secrets were not confidential, defense lawyers said on Tuesday, because the information was publicly available before they were arrested.’ Judge Ye Lwin accepted as evidence copies of newspaper articles the defense said showed the […]
UN: International experts should help probe Myanmar abuses
Arakan News Agency The U.N. Security Council is urging Myanmar’s government to allow international investigators help probe allegations of human rights violations committed against Rohingya Muslims, saying it remains “gravely concerned” at their current plight. In a letter to Myanmar’s leaders obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, the council noted the government’s commitment to investigate […]
Safety and ‘identity’ key for Rohingya returnees: U.N. chief in Myanmar
Arakan News Agency Safety and “identity” need to be in place for Rohingya Muslim refugees who return to Myanmar, the head of the United Nations in the country said on Wednesday, as Myanmar and U.N. agencies signed an outline deal on returns. The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government and U.N. development […]
‘They want to eliminate us!’ Christians say they are being ETHNICALLY CLEANSED in Burma
Arakan News Agency ’THE Burmese military have been increasingly attacking a Christian minority group who fear being “ethically cleansed” by the dictatorship. Christian Kachin people, who mainly live in the northern mountains of the country close to China and India, are being targeted in a new genocide campaign in Myanmar. The national military have been […]
Burma continues to brutalize minorities with impunity
Arakans New Agency While the United States debates reimposing targeted sanctions on top military leaders in Burma, much of the focus is on the heart-rending Rohingya crisis. But military aggression has escalated recently against the Kachin, an ethnic minority in the north. The Kachin have suffered systemic discrimination for more than six decades. As a citizen of both Burmese […]
Myanmar, UN sign pact on initial steps for Rohingya return
Arakan News Agency Myanmar and U.N. agencies signed an agreement Wednesday that could eventually lead to the return of some of the 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled brutal persecution by the country’s security forces and are now crowded into makeshift camps in Bangladesh. The memorandum of understanding promises to establish a “framework of cooperation” that […]
Rohingya say Myanmar targeted the educated in genocide
Arakan News Agency Mohammed Hashim hid in the hills and watched as his brother begged for his life, his arms bound behind his back as soldiers marched the 35-year-old teacher away. It was the last time he saw him alive. It was Aug. 26, the day after Rohingya Muslim separatist attacks on military outposts in […]
New UN Envoy to Visit Myanmar’s Arakan State in Mid-June, Official Says
Arakan News Agency A new United Nations envoy for Myanmar will visit violence-wracked Arakan state in mid-June and meet with officials to discuss the Rohingya Muslim refugee crisis, a Myanmar government official said Monday. Christine Schraner Burgener, Switzerland’s former ambassador to Germany, was selected for the post in April following a visit to Myanmar by […]
Skepticism over Myanmar’s stated willingness to repatriate Rohingya
Arakan News Agency Bangladeshi diplomats and analysts have expressed skepticism over a statement on Saturday by Myanmar’s National Security Adviser Thaung Tun that his country is willing take back all 700,000 Rohingya refugees if they return voluntarily. Rohingya refugees have also expressed skepticism over his statement: “If you can send back 700,000 on a voluntary […]
Myanmar detains Rohingya refugees ‘voluntarily’ returning
Arakan News Agency Myanmar has detained dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees it claims voluntarily crossed the border back into their home country from Bangladesh over the last four months, pending a decision to “pardon” them before resettlement. A total of 58 Rohingya refugees have returned to Myanmar after they could “no longer find it tenable” […]
Chevron shareholders vote on cutting business ties with genocide-complicit governments
Arakan News Agency Chevron shareholders voted today on a resolution to evaluate a policy of cutting business ties with governments engaged in genocide or crimes against humanity. Filed by seven socially responsible investing organizations, the proposal cites specifically the nation of Myanmar, whose military stands accused of committing atrocities against the Rohingya ethnic minority. Chevron […]
Myanmar says willing to take back all Rohingya refugees
Arakan News Agency Myanmar is willing to take back all 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled to Bangladesh if they volunteer to return, the country’s National Security Adviser Thaung Tun said on Saturday. He was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security conference in Singapore, where he was asked if the situation in […]