International organization: Myanmar continues to persecute Rohingya
Arakan News Agency The organization Peace Without Borders has accused the Myanmar government of continuing to persecute the Rohingya Muslim minority. The United Nations describes the Rohingya minority in Myanmar as the most persecuted minority in the world, and observers and human rights activists describe the Rohingya people as the most disadvantaged people in the […]
Burmese Buddhists pen open letter calling for Rohingya peace
Arakan News Agency A GROUP of 72 Burmese people from Buddhist backgrounds have released an open letter denouncing violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslims, a rare expression of dissent amidst what has been deemed by the UN as ethnic cleansing. Coordinated by the organisation Saddha: Buddhists for Peace, the open letter was signed by many […]
Myanmar not ready for return of Rohingya refugees: UN official
Arakan News Agency Myanmar is not ready for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, said the most senior United Nations official to visit the country this year, after Myanmar was accused of instigating ethnic cleansing and driving nearly 700,000 Muslims to Bangladesh. “From what I’ve seen and heard from people – no access to health services, […]
Need more verification time for Rohingya repatriation, says Myanmar minister
Arakan News Agency Myanmar Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Win Myat Aye says more time is needed to verify people before beginning the repatriation of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, reports Radio Free Asia. Aye is set to visit Bangladesh on Apr 11 and Apr 12 for a meeting with the ministers of foreign […]
Myanmar judge to rule next week on dropping journalists’ case
Arakan News Agency A Myanmar judge said on Wednesday (April 4) he would decide next week on whether to throw out a case against two Reuters journalists who were arrested while reporting on military abuses against Rohingya Muslims. Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, could face up to 14 years in […]
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi urges nation to stay united amid ‘challenges’
Arakan News Agency YANGON- Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on Sunday for her people to remain united, saying the Southeast Asian country faces “challenges” at home and abroad, as she marked two years since her party swept to power in a historic vote. In a televised speech, Suu Kyi made only […]
Bangladesh calls for global pressure on Myanmar to repatriate Rohingyas
Arakan News Agency Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the international community to continue pressurising Myanmar to take Rohingya refugees back as soon as possible. In her meeting with World Health Organisation-South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO-SEARO) Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh at the Gono Bhaban here this week, Hasina said Rohingyas were given shelter in […]
Is Myanmar blocking the return of Rohingyas?
Arakan News Agency Around 28,000 people are working round-the-clock to manage the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the international community to keep up the pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingya Muslims who have taken refuge in her country. Bangladesh has given shelter on humanitarian grounds to more than […]
U.N. in talks with Bangladesh about relocating Rohingya to safe areas as monsoon looms
Arakan News Agency UNITED NATIONS – Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled to camps in Bangladesh from Myanmar must be relocated to avoid floods and other dangers from the monsoon, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. About 150,000 Rohingya are living in flood-prone areas in the crowded camps of Cox’s Bazar and could […]
Buddhist Extremists assaulted a Rohingya elderly in his 50s
Arakan News Agency A Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar was attacked by Buddhist extremists, those who have inflicted many injuries on the victims body while he went fishing on Friday morning. Ahmad Hussein, 57, who runs the village of Noyapara in the town of Minbya, was beaten by Buddhist extremists at seven in the morning while […]
Bangladesh government finalizing list of 10,000 Rohingya for repatriation to Myanmar
Arakan News Agency DHAKA: Bangladesh’s government is finalizing a list of 10,000 Rohingya refugees whom it wants repatriated to Myanmar. The list will be given to Myanmar for verification during the next Joint Working Group meeting scheduled in Dhaka at the end of April. “To facilitate the repatriation, we are building two transit centers at […]
Bob Geldof describes Aung San Suu Kyi as a ‘pig’ as he opens up about handing back Freedom of Dublin
Arakan News Agency Bob Geldof has said he didn’t want to hand back the Freedom of Dublin but didn’t want to be associated Aung San Suu Kyi, who he described as a “pig”. The Boomtown Rats frontman publicly handed back the honour in November to protest against the Myanmar leader also having received the award. […]
Myanmar has bulldozed entire Rohingya villages to make way for a massive camp at the centre of a stalled plan to house returning refugees, an analysis of new satellite imagery shows.
Arakan News Agency One rights group describes the imagery as evidence of an escalating push to demolish former Rohingya land and militarise vast swathes of northern Arakan State – the flashpoint for violence that last year drove out more than 671,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh. An analysis of satellite images done for IRIN by UNOSAT, a […]