Alleged rapes spur Rohingya upheaval in Indonesia camp
Arakan News Agency BLANG ADOE, Indonesia (AP) — More than 200 ethnic Rohingya stormed out of an Indonesian encampment Tuesday as tensions erupted following alleged rapes and beatings by locals at the site where members of Myanmar’s long-persecuted minority have been held since arriving by boat four months ago. The incident occurred after authorities forced […]
Ben Rhodes says plight of Rohingya is ‘an abomination’
Arakan News Agency US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes is seen as Obama’s right-hand man on foreign affairs, helping shape US policy towards Cuba and Myanmar.… In this web extra, Rhodes says the opening up of relations with Cuba is irreversible because Cubans “overwhelmingly” welcome the policy. “For a new president to shut down […]
Thailand to transfer 29 Rohingya refugees to US
Arakan News Agency Thailand is to send 29 Muslim Rohingya “refugees” to the United States as part of a resettlement plan, an official confirmed Friday. … The Rohingya were either rescued from people trafficking camps or arrived on Thai shores in the aftermath of May’s regional clampdown on people smuggling. The 29 will be resettled […]
Under pressure on all sides, UEC reinstates 11 Muslim candidates
Arakan News Agency Eleven Muslim politicians have successfully challenged their controversial disqualification from contesting the November elections following a surprise reversal by the Union Election Commission. Their reinstatement after appeal followed concerted pressure from the United States and eight other governments, which had urged Myanmar to hold “a credible, transparent and inclusive election” while expressing […]
Myanmar defends decision barring Rohingya from voting
Arakan News Agency WASHINGTON (AP) — Myanmar has defended a decision barring 800,000 ethnic minority people from voting in November elections by saying that green card holders can’t vote in U.S. elections either.… Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin drew awkward laughter Thursday in New York at the Council on Foreign Relations when he likened the […]
‘They beat me with sticks at just 7’: Rohingya refugee opens up about long journey to Australia
Arakan News Agency WHEN he was just seven years old, Salemul Kalam was ripped from his parent’s arms and publicly beaten by the Myanmar army for information that never existed. This is one of the many shocking stories Mr Kalam hopes will change people’s attitudes to ‘boat people’ when he talks at a public forum […]
Asia should stay focused on unsolved migrant dilemmas
Arakan News Agency People are on the move across Southeast Asia, fleeing misery and violence. Just as Europe has become a favored destination for the hundreds of thousands fleeing war-torn Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, so Muslim minorities from the eastern and western fringes of Southeast Asia are finding their way to the region’s more prosperous […]
Thailand seizes more than $1.6 million from traffickers
Arakan News Agency Announcement of record seizure comes as junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha prepares to speak at United Nations general assembly in New York… Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) says it seized a record 60 million baht ($1.6 million) in assets from a trafficking network in September as it sought to clamp down on […]
Displaced Rohingya rocked by devastating floods
Arakan News Agency Sittwe, Myanmar – Amid the mud and drizzle, Khin Maung Myint surveyed the scene from his single-room bamboo hut. With floodwaters reaching knee height in places, he worried about the damage inflicted on his ramshackle home by monsoonal storms. The father-of-six, who also goes by the religious name Elias, lives in the […]
Myanmar Buddhists and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims
Arakan News Agency Rabat – A few months ago, I wrote a note on the savagery with which minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are treated at the hands of their countrymen and countrywomen. What I did not address at the time was the manipulation of the Buddhist religious institution and its monks as part of […]
Myanmar must end its discrimination against minority Rohingya Muslims
Arakan News Agency Thailand has set the right course to helping end the plight of Rohingya Muslims by charging dozens of people, an army general and officials among them, for human trafficking. Southeast Asian nations have to ensure a policy of zero tolerance towards smugglers and those who profit from them by bringing them to […]
30 more human trafficking victims buried today
Arakan News Agency The remains of 30 human trafficking victims believed to be Rohingya migrants from Myanmar, found at Bukit Wang Burma, Wang Kelian last month, were buried at a cemetery in Kampung Tualang today.… Kedah Islamic Religious Department (JAIK) director Datuk Noh Dahya said 28 of the victims were men who were buried en […]
FIF makes shelters for 600 Rohingya refugees
Arakan News Agency Jemaat-ud-Dawa charity Falah Insanit Foundation (FIF) Chairman Abdul Hafiz has said that FIF has established shelters for Rohingya refugees at the cost of Rs20 million to accommodate over 600 migrants where free food and medicinal assistance was provided to them.… He expressed these views while addressing newsmen here on Saturday. He said […]