The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Brutal and Biased Police Response to Sectarian Violence in Arakan State The Burmese government needs to put an immediate end to the abusive sweeps by the security forces against Rohingya communities. Anyone being held should be promptly charged or released, and their relatives given access. Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director (New York) – Burmese security forces have responded to sectarian violence in northern Arakan State with mass arrests and unlawful force against the Rohingya Muslim population, Human Rights Watch said today. Local police, the military, and a border security force known as Nasaka have committed numerous abuses in predominantly Muslim townships while combating the violence between the Rohingya and ethnic Arakan, who are predominantly Buddhist, that broke out in early June 2012.

JEDDAH (July 5, 2012) : The head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) urged Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday to help end violence against the Muslim Rohingya community in her country. "As a Nobel Peace Laureate, we are confident that the first step of your journey towards ensuring peace in the world would start from your own doorstep," OIC head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told Suu Kyi in a letter.

Maugdaw, Arakan State:   Maungdaw district administration officer Aung Myint Soe again imposed a new curfew in Maungdaw after mass arresting in Maung Ni villag, said an elder from Maungdaw. “The authority announced to the public that news curfew will effect on July 5 from 11:00am to 4:00pm in the daytime.”

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Nasaka personnel from Shwezarr out-post number 14, under Nasaka section number 6, cut the fence June 4, at about 7:00pm, according to village admin member. “The Nasaka personnel cut off three 8×8 feet holes 50 feet from the out-post camp. The Nasaka made it yesterday night after mass arresting in Maung Ni village where most of Rohingyas flee from village to riverside and climb and jump to the Naf River to escape from arrest.”

Mike MacLachlan, London Reforms depend on govt  action  to curb sectarian attacks: British politicians There is “an urgent need for international action,” including by the United Nations, to curb religious   violence   in western   Myanmar , six senior British politicians said in a   letter   published today. “The priority must be to put pressure on the government to stop the violence and to provide unhindered  access  for aid agencies,” they wrote in a letter to  The Daily Telegraph  newspaper.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the 57-member group of Muslim nations, has sought help of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Laureate and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Burma, towards seeking an end to violence against the Rohingya Muslims in that country’s Arakan region.

Mizzima News A Burmese joint police and security force raided a Rohingya village in Maungdaw Daw in Rakhine State on Wednesday in search of  Rohingya Muslims , according to a statement issued by the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK). During the raid, three Rohingya were killed and eight were wounded while trying to escape, BROUK said. Police arrested about 100 Rohingya, it said, and it is not known where those arrested were being held.  

Burma President Thein Sein delivers a speech in Naypyidaw in April 2011. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Burma’s President Thein Sein says that ending ethnic conflict is the key to rebuilding the nation, and the benchmark that will denote the transition from the old administration to the new one. Speaking in Naypyidaw on Tuesday at the first meeting of the Union-level Peace Committee, Thein Sein addressed some top government officials including Vice-president Sai Mauk Kham, Lower House speaker Shwe Mann, Upper House speaker Khin Aung Myint, and the commander-in-chief of the defense service, Vice-Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.