The Stateless Rohingya Blog

KPN News July 9, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burma border security force (Nasaka) and army have been taking forced labor from Rohingya community to cultivate paddy for Natala (model) villagers in Maungdaw township recently, according to a village elder preferring not to be named. Natala villagers are new Buddhist settlers in northern Arakan who were brought from Burma proper and also from Bangladesh. They have been settled in Rohingya lands – confiscated lands from Rohingya community- and also provided lands. “Nasaka and army ordered to the Rohingya villagers of Maungdaw south for tilling the arable lands which were given Natala villagers on July 6 and the villagers do not comply with the order.” However, the next day, on July 7, a group of army and Nasaka personnel went to the Khonza Bill and Sommona villages of Maungdaw south and forced Rohingya villagers for tilling paddy fields with their own cows, said a farmer from the village. “We worked whole

A Muslim refugee woman rests at Thechaung refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012.  (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win) AFP News July 11, 2013 UNITED NATIONS — Islamic nations called on UN leader Ban Ki-moon to do more to halt the "tyranny" they say Muslims are enduring in Myanmar. Religious riots in Buddhist-majority Myanmar have cast a shadow over heralded political reforms since military rule ended two years ago. Envoys to the UN from Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries say the global body should pressure the Myanmar government over the troubles. "Myanmar is having a honeymoon with the world. The only problem is that that honeymoon is being built on the bodies of the Muslim victims in that country," said Saudi Arabia's UN ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallemi. Mouallemi and other ambassadors from OIC members met Ban on Wednesday to demand more action by the United Nations, particularly over Rohingya Mu

UN News Centre :  10 July 2013 –  Secretary-General  Ban Ki-moon today told a group of Myanmar's international partners that continued support will be vital for the country, which has taken some important steps in the past year, but faces a number of challenges, including national reconciliation and communal violence. “The Government and people of Myanmar need continued support to move towards a truly irreversible reform process and to deliver the dividends of peace and inclusive development,” Mr. Ban said in his opening  remarks  to the meeting in New York of the Group of Friends of Myanmar. He noted important steps taken in the past year, including the advancement of the reform process by the Parliament. At the same time, peace and reconciliation with armed ethnic groups remains a pressing priority. “Sustainable peace will require an inclusive process of political dialogue that results in viable arrangements for power and resource sharing,” he said. Mr. Ban said that

KPN News: An army commanding officer in Maungdaw has started using his office like it’s a court of law. Colonel Naing Soe Htun is supposed to be keeping the peace after the sectarian violence broke out in June and October, but he’s more concerned with lining his pocket, according to an elder who didn’t want to be named for security concerns. Htun is summoning villagers from the Rohingya community to his office in the Maungdaw High school to extort money, confirmed a locally based rights worker that also didn’t want their name used “He is a high ranking officer from the armed forces appointed to enforce the law and bring order between the Rohingya and Rakhine in areas with large Muslim populations. But he is using his power against the Rohingya community to extort money.” Every day the colonel is getting 100,000 kyats from about 10 people that are forced to see him. It’s extremely difficult for the community to keep coming up with the money. Most haven’t been able to work afte