The Stateless Rohingya Blog

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. UN Photo/M. Garten (file photo) By  UN News March 31, 2014 Secretary-General  Ban Ki-moon has urged the Government of Myanmar to ensure the safety and security of all staff members and their property in the wake of recent attacks against the United Nations and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rakhine state. In a telephone conversation on Sunday with President Thein Sein, Mr. Ban stressed that impunity cannot be tolerated in the context of Myanmar’s reform process and called for the protection of all civilians and the full respect for the rule of law. He also welcomed the initial measures undertaken by the authorities so far, according to a read-out of the call provided by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson. The conversation comes following the attacks by unidentified groups of demonstrators last week on the premises of the UN and NGOs working in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, which has witne

By KPN April 01, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan State: A group of Hluntin personnel and Ward number 4, admin officer U NYo Htun had burgled a Rohingya home yesterday night at Bomu para under Ward number 4, Maungdaw, said Hasu from Maungdaw. The house is owned by Ms. Haseinna Begun and it was locked for the fear of attack in the night and living with her relative home,  Hasu said. But, the U Nyo Htun and his colleague Hluntin who are station near the Maungdaw Hospital jointly broke the lock of the Haseinna home and toke all the valuable things from the home, said Haseinna. But, the Ward admin officer U Nyo Htun said they entered the house for seeing locked and suspected there will be some criminals living inside the house. The Ward admin officer also said they didn’t know about the valuable things and didn’t know who toke that. The authority are harassing Rohingya in the census to include their ethnicity as Rohingya and other side the security force and Rakhine robbing

                               Myanmar neo-nazi groups By Aung Aung The Stateless March 31, 2014 Sittwe : Politics is an enigmatic as predicting the color of a chick from an egg or the nebulous form a cloud will take. Breezes spread the scent of the flowers, people spread news about people. I wrote two Myanmar proverbs; one about politics and another about honesty. Everyone thinks he is better than others but in reality our claims depend on our actions. 90% of Myanmar people suffered from regime-infection nearly 30 years and decided to take treatment called democracy in 1988.  Unfortunately, former infection camouflaged as Buddhism and took place in the body of citizens as it disguised its newly built Dhammaryun everywhere. I never criticized Buddhists and Buddhism because I studied concepts of Buddhism and teaching of Siddhartha Gautama. Neither Buddhism nor Buddhists are my enemy. Honestly, I feel every citizen of Myanmar is my brother and sister. Usi

By Richard Potter Diplomacy Post March 31, 2014  After much ambiguity and tension it was officially announced by Myanmar’s presidential spokesman, Ye Htut, that Rohingya would not be permitted to identify as Rohingya during the census. This news comes shortly after several NGO offices were attacked in the Rakhine State’s capitol Sittwe, and almost all NGO workers were forced to evacuate. As a result the Rohingya in Sittwe face harsh uncertainty of how they will obtain any of their basic needs, including food rations. Abdul, a resident in the Sittwe IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps, said, “WFP (World Food Program) distributes food for one month here and tomorrow was supposed to be when they distribute, but the Rakhine broke down all the NGO offices in Sittwe. One of our leaders was in contact with WFP staff and they told him they cannot distribute food after attack. Right now all the IDP’s are wondering where they will get food from. Who will help?” The offices were at

By AFP March 31, 2014 Yangon: Tens of thousands of census-takers fanned out across Myanmar on Sunday to gather data for a rare snapshot of the former junta-ruled nation that is already stoking sectarian tensions. Groups of school teachers and local officials began the 12-day population survey — the first since 1983 — travelling from house to house in an ambitious drive aimed at counting everyone across the poverty-stricken nation. But the census was called into question even before it started in Rakhine state, the site of deadly religious conflict. Myanmar has announced that Muslims will be unable to register their ethnicity as “Rohingya” in a move aimed at mollifying angry Rakhine Buddhists who fear any official recognition for the stateless minority could herald a move towards political rights. Buddhist nationalists were seen travelling through state capital Sittwe on Sunday, proclaiming by loud hailer that their planned boycott of the survey had been called