The Stateless Rohingya Blog

A 25-year-old Rohingya Muslim sits in front of her hut at a camp outside Sittwe. (Photo: Reuters) By Lawi Weng The Irrawaddy  July 16, 2014 RANGOON — The newly appointed chief minister of Burma’s conflict-torn Arakan State appears to be struggling to win the trust of Rohingya Muslims, who continue to live in squalid camps after being driven from their homes in rioting two years ago. Chief Minister Maung Maung Ohn, who is also a general in the armed forces, has met four times with Rohingya community leaders since he was appointed last month. But in that time, he has been unable to convince the Rohingyas to participate in the government’s controversial “citizenship verification” scheme, according to state government spokesman Win Myaing. “They are refusing to cooperate,” the spokesman told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. The Arakan State government implemented a pilot project in Myebon Township last month to determine who will qualify to become a naturalized citi

Interfaith marriages are rare in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country. This couple, a Muslim man and a Buddhist woman were among those forced to flee their home after communal violence broke out in Meiktila in 2013.  Photo: Nyan Lynn/IRIN By IRIN News July 15, 2014 YANGON,  -    In early July, a hundreds-strong mob of Buddhists converged on a shop in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city. According to rumours spread on social media, its Muslim owner had raped a Buddhist woman. The ensuing violence left two dead and a dozen injured. Since 2012 more than 240 people have died in communal violence fought along religious and ethnic lines, the victims overwhelmingly Muslim. Than Nyunt of the Interfaith Religious Group of Mandalay, told IRIN it was the intervention of both Muslim and Buddhist leaders that stopped violence in Mandalay from spreading - a significant achievement, experts and community leaders say, given the current polarized political atmosphere in the coun