Sri Lanka rescues more Myanmar boatpeople

Sailors help rescued survivors at Oluvil fisheries harbour in eastern Sri Lanka Photo 03 February 2013

Source Channel News Asia:

03 February 2013

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's navy on Saturday rescued 38 Myanmar nationals who were drifting off the island's east coast, the second batch of boatpeople to be saved in as many weeks, officials said.

Sri Lankan naval craft responding to a distress call plucked the 38 people from a rickety boat drifting about 250 miles (400 kilometres) off the east coast, a navy official said.

Four of the rescued passengers required treatment for dehydration and they were being brought to the southern port of Galle, he said.

"Four people required medical attention and are out of danger," the navy official, who asked not to be named, said. "They will reach shore by tomorrow (Sunday)."

It is the second time in less than two weeks the navy has gone to help a crippled foreign boat.

On February 3, the navy rescued 138 Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals from a sinking boat. One of the passengers in that boat had died before help reached.

Officials said it was unclear if those identified as Myanmar nationals were Rohingya -- members of a stateless minority described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted groups -- who had fled Myanmar.

An explosion of tensions between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since June 2012 has triggered a seaborne exodus of Rohingya.

Thailand's navy blocked more than 200 Rohingya boatpeople from entering the kingdom late last month as part of a new policy under which they will be given food and water but barred from landing if their boat is seaworthy.

- AFP/xq

Comments

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.

American Buddhists Promote 969 Movement With Website

Irrawaddy News: July 9, 2013 A group of American Buddhists has launched an English-language website promoting the 969 movement, in response to negative media surrounding the ultra-nationalist Buddhist campaign in Burma. The website aims to dispel “myths” about the movement, with a letter from nationalist monk Wirathu to a Time magazine reporter whose article about 969 was banned in Burma. “We’re not officially endorsed by Ven Wirathu at this time but will send a delegation to his monastery soon,” a spokesperson for the site said via email, adding that the group would create a nonprofit to coordinate “969 activities worldwide in response to religious oppression.”

Rohingya Activist Nominated for Human Rights Award

PHR congratulates Zaw Min Htut, a Burmese Rohingya activist, on his nomination for the 2011 US State Department Human Rights Defenders Award . Zaw Min Htut has been working for Rohingyas’ rights through the Burmese Rohingya Association of Japan since he fled Burma in 1998. Prior to that he was a student activist in Burma, and was detained for his participation in protests in 1996. In Japan, Zaw Min Htut has organized protests at the Burmese embassy and has written books on the history of Rohingya.

The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Search This Blog