The Stateless Rohingya Blog

  Stateless Rohingya rejected by Myanmar, Bangladesh   Rohingya fishermen pull a boat near a refugee camp in Teknaf, in this 2011 photo. Ethnic strife between a tiny Muslim minority and the Buddhist majority threatens to undo the reforms by the new civilian government.

An old wound in the body politic of Myanmar was reopened last week. In western Myanmar, in the state of Rakhine next to Bangladesh, a group of Muslims riding a bus were killed by a mob of Buddhists. According to news reports the killers displayed a degree of cruelty that is the usual hallmark of Myanmar's security forces. The incident was allegedly in response to the rape and murder of a Buddhist girl by three Muslim men, a few days before. The ten Muslims killed that day were beaten to death before the bus was set on fire. It did not matter to the killers that the men accused of the rape had already been arrested and were in jail.

Nasaka and Hluntin surround Sawmawna para in Maungdaw The Nasakapersonnel from three miles and Hluntin surrounded the Rohingya village “ Sawmawna para” near Myothu Gyi under Maungdaw over the allegation of hiding arms inside the village today morning. This village was set on fire by police, Hluntin and Rakhine . Some houses were burned in to ashes and remaini ng houses are facing the allegation where no men are living in the village. Only female are protecting their home from looting.

CHIEF DEPUTY WHIP JOSEPH CROWLEY  U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  June 15, 2012 courtney.gidner@mail.house.gov Congressman Crowley on Violence in Burma’s Arakan State  (Queens, N.Y.) – Today, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), a leader in the House on Burma, released the following statement in response to increased violence in Burma’s Arakan State and the Government of Bangladesh’s refusal of refugees from the violence.

Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne 'deeply concerned' by ongoing violence Following reports of further civil unrest in Rakhine State in western Burma today, Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne said: "I am deeply concerned by the ongoing violence in Rakhine State. We call on all parties to act with restraint, and urge the authorities and community leaders to open discussions to end the violence and to protect all members of the local population.

Driving change: Aung San Suu Kyi in Thailand last month. Photograph: Sukree Sukplang/Reuters Aung San Suu Kyi comes to Dublin on Monday. She is Burma’s ‘only hope’, a political icon, and the whole world wants a piece of her. Can this one woman – strong and stubborn but physically fragile and with no experience of government – deliver on such high hopes, asks  KATHY SHERIDAN  

By  Andrew R.C. Marshall TAKEBI, Myanmar | Fri Jun 15, 2012 TAKEBI, Myanmar (Reuters) This village in northwest Myanmar has the besieged air of a refugee camp. It is clogged with people living in wooden shacks laid out on a grid of trash-strewn lanes. Its children are pot-bellied with malnutrition.

R ohingya refugees from Myanmar sit on a boat as they try to get into Bangladesh in Teknaf June 13, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of displaced Muslim Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists were in need of food, water and shelter in northwestern Myanmar on Thursday after fleeing the country's worst sectarian clashes in years.