The Stateless Rohingya Blog

President of Myanmar, Thein Sein (L) in 10 Downing Street Photo: EPA By Michael Harris Telegraph UK : July 18, 2013 Unless the Foreign Secretary ups the pressure on Burma the apparatus of the military dictatorship will remain, writes Michael Harris If you want to know how much has changed in Burma since the much-vaulted transition, try and put on a punk gig in the capital, Rangoon. It’ll take two months and require the signatures of eight bureaucrats from varying levels of government. You may never get permission. But to punks in Burma, the idea they may even be able to play publicly at all is progress. This is transition Burma, a country full of contradictions where the military no longer hold captive Aung San Suu Kyi and have released some of the thousands of her fellow political prisoners – yet the full apparatus of the military state still exists. The worry is, while the UK and US drop sanctions and William Hague took the time to congratulate President Thein Sein i...

President Obama shakes hands with President Thein Sein of Myanmar  (Photo: SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images) David Jackson USATODAY May 20, 2013 President Obama praised changes in the country he repeatedly referred to as "Myanmar" on Monday, but he added that the military government there needs to go even further. While official U.S. policy refers to the Asian nation by its older name — Burma — Obama used the name preferred by the ruling military government in encouraging President Thein Sein to continue on the difficult path of political and economic change. "As President Sein is the first to admit, this is a long journey and there is still much work to be done," Obama said. Holding out the hope of increased trade and investment with the United States and other nations, Obama said: "We very much appreciate your efforts and leadership in leading Myanmar in a new direction." White House spokesman Jay Carney said the name Burma rema...

President Thein Sein attends a UN event in Bangkok (Reuters) DVB News: May 02, 2013 President Thein Sein resigned on Thursday as chairman of the leading Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and will be replaced by his political rival and party vice-chairman Shwe Mann, according to the Union Daily. Thein Sein is technically barred from taking part in “party activities” during his term of office under Burma’s 2008 constitution, but has continued to lead the USDP since becoming president in March 2011. Despite mounting criticism over his dual role, Thein Sein was re-elected as party chairman in October last year. Shwe Mann, who is also the speaker for the lower house of parliament, is set to replace the president in his former role, it was officially announced at the end of a three-day USDP youth congress on Wednesday. Thein Sein and Shwe Mann have locked horns in the past – notably in a heated dispute over the role of Burma’s constitutional tribunal last...

Dr. Maung Zarni DVB News: April 26, 2013 Dear International Crisis Group President Louise Arbour, I am writing to bring to your attention to the rather disturbing recent developments in Burma. Within 24 hours of your organisation’s “In Pursuit of Peace” dinner in New York, Burma’s Minister of Immigration and former Chief of Police Khin Yi, who was part of the delegation accepting the award on behalf of President Thein Sein, reportedly reiterated the Thein Sein Administration’s neo-fascist stance on the highly controversial 1982 Citizenship Act. In response to a question posed by a Rakhine nationalist during his public meeting with Burmese exiles in New York City this week, Khin Yi emphatically stated that Burma’s citizenship law is “solely based on blood” and no foreigners or “foreign blood” officially resided in Burma before the first Anglo-Burmese war in 1824. Khin Yi was emphatic when he said Thein Sein’s government will never alter ...

Image via  Thai Government ] By Melissa Stusinski The Inquisitr  April 24, 2013 Myanmar President Thein Sein received a peace  prize  on Monday, despite reports that he participated in, or at least endorsed, ethnic cleansing in the country. While Myanmar has been celebrated for his quick democratization, not everything is going well for its people. The Rohyngya have steadily attempted to escape from the country amid escalating violence aimed at them. A new Human Rights Watch report on Myanmar’s ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people was released this weekend. The HRW’s report was made on the sectarian violence that struck in Arakan state last year. While more than 200 people were killed in the region, more than 125,000 were made homeless through mass arson, looting, and cold-blooded murder. The fighting erupted between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the stateless Muslim Rohingya. The Human Rights Watch accu...

PRESS RELEASE  Date: 23.04.2013 ERC Press Release on Burmese President Thein Sein’s Peace Award by ICG The international Crisis Group (ICG) should have awarded the prize to a person who has unique personality and actively worked towards a real democratic reforms and peace before awarding such a prestigious prize. The European Rohingya Council (ERC) strongly opposes the awarding of this prize to Thein Sein because he does not deserve it as he has been tacitly approving the offensive against Kachin community and committing human rights violation against Rohingya minority of Arakan State, Myanmar. President Thein Sein’s government has organized a genocidal campaign against Rohingya ethnic minority with his accomplices in security forces; Border Security Guard (Nasaka), Police, Hlun Tin (paramilitary), army and Rakhine extremists. Since June, 2012 communal unrests has brutally killed thousands of Rohingya have been killed, more than 1500 were sentenced to long ter...

Mayupress: April 9, 2013 The article by Mohamed Ibrahim Frankfurt I do not agree with the views of international media and their various news articles, for the last few months, on the conflicts between Rakhine Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims. It is true that Rohingyas are majority in Maungdaw and Buthidaung while they are not more than 10% in Mrauk Oo , Minbya, Kyauk Phyu, Myae Bon and Pauk Taw. As such the claim by certain media groups that the Rohingyas that has been oppressed for many decades could attack the overwhelming majority Rakhines who have full support of state apparatus, is totally absurd and is very unfortunate for the suffering Rohingyas. One should ask himself and use commonsense before publishing such destructive news articles. Many Rohingya Organizations around the world are demanding UN intervention to provide UN security forces because they are helpless and do not possess any mean to defend themselves from this well-coordinated plan of genocide...

Associated Press of Pakistan March 29, 2013 ISLAMABAD , Mar 29 (APP): Expressing concern of Pakistanis over the recurrence of communal riots in Myanmar, President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon his Myanmar counterpart President U. Thein Sein to use all the resources to prevent violence and protect the lives of minority Muslim community. In his letter to President U. Thein Sein, the President said that he was deeply saddened at the eruption of yet another wave of violence in Meiktila Town of Mandalay Region and expressed the concern of the people over communal riots that have resulted into the loss of life and property as well as desecration of places of worship. Following is the text of President’s letter to President U. Thein Sein; “Excellency, I  am deeply saddened at the eruption of yet another wave of violence this time in Meiktila Town of Mandalay Region, Myanmar. The people of Pakistan are concerned at the recu...

Myanmar President Thein Sein (left) meets with Italian President Giorgeo Napolitano in Rome on March 7, the same day an Amnesty International report called on the UN to be aware of continuing rights abuses in Myanmar. (PHOTO: Myanmar President's Office) Mizzima News  March 8, 2013    Amnesty International has appealed to the UN Human Rights Council to continue closely monitoring the human rights situation in Myanmar in light of President Thein Sein's visit to Europe. In a statement released on March 7, the human rights NGO called for “the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar to be renewed” and for “the Myanmar Government to guarantee sustained international human rights monitoring to promote and protect human rights alongside national human rights mechanisms.” The release coincided with the Myanmar president's welcome in Italy where he met with his Italian counterpart Giorgeo Napolitano, who co...