Saudi accuses Myanmar of 'ethnic cleansing' of Rohingya Muslims

RIYADH // Saudi Arabia has accused authorities in Myanmar of "ethnic cleansing" against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the west of the country, state media reported today.

The Saudi cabinet said it "condemns the ethnic cleansing campaign and brutal attacks against Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya citizens, as well as violation of human rights by forcing them to leave their homeland," in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
The cabinet, chaired by King Abdullah, urged the "international community to take up its responsibilities by providing needed protection and quality of life to Muslims in Myanmar and preventing further loss of life."

Fighting in western Rakhine state between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya has killed 80 people since June, with three killed on Sunday, a government official in Yangon said.

The violence initially broke out following the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman and the subsequent lynching of 10 Muslims by a crowd of angry Buddhists.

The bloodshed has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by President Thein Sein, that have included the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

The Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Sunday proposed sending an OIC mission to probe the "massacres" of Rohingya Muslims.

There has also been peaceful protests outside Myanmar embassies in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Egypt over the past few days.

Myanmar's government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

Decades of discrimination have left them stateless and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities. source here

Amnesty International's T. Kumar to Speak at the Islamic Society of North America's Convention

Amnesty International's T. Kumar to Speak at the Islamic Society of North America's Convention Advocacy Director T. Kumar to Speak on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma) Contact: Carolyn Lang, clang@aiusa.org, 202-675-8759 /EINPresswire.com/ (Washington, D.C.) -- Amnesty International Advocacy Director T. Kumar will address the Islamic Society of North America's 49th Annual Convention "One Nation Under God: Striving for the Common Good," in regards to the minority community of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma) on Saturday, September 1, at 11:30 am at the Washington DC Convention Center.

Iran Ready to Dispatch Medical Teams to Myanmar

TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of the Basij Organization of Iran's Medical Society Mohammad Rayeeszadeh voiced the society's readiness to dispatch medics, nurses and relief and rescue forces to help Myanmar's Muslims who are under the daily attacks of the majority in the Southeast Asian country. "The Basij (volunteer) organization of the Medical Society is prepared to dispatch emergency teams of physicians, nurses and rescue workers to Myanmar," Rayeeszadeh told FNA on Saturday.

2,600 tonnes of aid delivered to Myanmar Muslims

Khalifa Foundation has distributed urgent aid totalling 5,200 tonnes Gulf News March 04, 2013 Burma: The Khalifa Bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation (KZHF) has distributed another 2,600 tonnes of food aid to Myanmar Muslims, completing its third and last phase of the urgent aid totalling 5,200 tonnes of relief items among 850,000 beneficiaries. As per directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the assistance was purchased from the local markets of Myanmar in cooperation and coordination with the Embassy of Kuwait to be shipped by sea to “Rakhine (Arakan)” for distribution among the affectees there.

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