The Stateless Rohingya Blog

ROHINGYA BLOGGER Statement Supporting Establishment of UN-COI into War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in Burma   The Forum of Burmese in Europe ( F B E ) has resolved in its 17 th  Conference held in Paris on July 29-30, 2011 that the Forum unanimously supports the establishment of the UN-mandated Commission of Inquiry (UN-COI) into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. The Forum will cooperate closely with the international actors and organizations in implementing the establishment of the UN-COI in the country. Since 1992 the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has been calling on the military dictatorship in Burma to respect international law and Geneva Conventions. Since 1997 the UNGA has made 18 calls for inquiries into gross human rights violations. In its 20 resolutions on Burma, the UNGA  has described at least 15 different human rights abuses which could be classified as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Burmese military ...

MIZZIMA NEWS Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - White-shirted youth bodyguards accompanied Aung San Suu Kyi on a one-day political trip out of Rangoon that helped the pro-democracy leader test her political room to maneuver. Little fanfare surrounded the day trip of the secretary general of the National League for Democracy to Pegu (Bago) to open two libraries and offer a donation to thousands of victims of flooding in the region. Aung San Suu Kyi, accompanied by National League for Democracy members, on a visit to Pegu, Sunday, August 14, 2011. Photo: Mizzima On the face of it, the purpose of the visit to Pegu was to open two libraries set up by her party and named in her honour, part of her party’s drive to help empower young people in a country where the educational system has suffered for decades. The Aung San Jarmon libraries are physically small but stuffed with thousands of books on everything from poetry to politics to novels. Book lovers can read in the library or use tickets to borrow t...

Associated Press guardian.co.uk , Sunday 14 August 2011  Article history Nobel laureate tests the limits of her freedom on first political trip into countryside since release from house arrest Aung San Suu Kyi opens a library in Bago, north of Rangoon. Photograph: Str/EPA Thousands of well-wishers lined roadsides in  Burma  to welcome the opposition leader  Aung San Suu Kyi  as she tested the limits of her freedom on Sunday by taking her first political trip into the countryside since being released from house arrest. The military-dominated government had warned that her journey could trigger riots, but it took place peacefully in two towns north of Rangoon. The last time she travelled out of the city to meet supporters, assailants ambushed her entourage. She escaped harm but was detained and placed under house arrest for seven years, from which she was released last November. On Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi opened public libraries in Bago, about 50 miles (8...

Written by Kaladan News Saturday, 13 August 2011  Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Burma’s border security force (Nasaka), summoned eight local elders of Paung Zaar Village of Maungdaw Township on August 11, to their camp over the allegation that they had renovated the Hafez Khana (memorial school) in their village without permission. According to local villagers, the Hafez Khana was not renovated recently, but it was renovated in 2005, after receiving permission from the concerned authorities. However, Commander Major San Win Khine of Nasaka Area No. 6 of Maungdaw Township ordered five Maulanas (religious leaders) and three local elders to appear at the Nasaka camp on August 11 at around 10 pm, over the accusation that they had renovated the Hafez Khana. All the victims went to the Nasaka office at that day, but they were asked to appear again on August 12. They went back to the Nasaka camp on August 12, and this time, they were also asked to appear again on August 14. “A vi...

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a government representative, Minister Aung Kyi, on Friday agreed in a four-point statement to avoid conflicting views and to work on a reciprocal basis. It was the second meeting this year between the minister and Suu Kyi at a government guesthouse in Rangoon. The meeting lasted 50 minutes. After the meeting, Aung Kyi read a joint statement to reporters. Responding to a reporter’s question on whether there had been real progress in the meetings, Suu Kyi said, “If there is cooperation, there must be progress in ethnic affairs and all other things including the media.” Responding to an open letter sent by Suu Kyi to the newly formed government and ethnic armed groups calling for a nationwide cease-fire, Aung Kyi said, “This is one of the agendas under our cooperation.” He said, “Cooperation is badly needed in our country, and it is a major issue. If we can resolve this issue, other issues will be resolved more e...

Maungdaw, Arakan State : Officers of Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) gave disturbances to villagers while they were going to mosque or returning after home after praying (Tarabi Namaz) at local mosques between 8:30 pm to 10 pm, said a local elder who declined to be named. “Yesterday, the Nasaka personnel of Nari Bill North Nasaka Camp under the Nasaka Headquarters of Kyi Gan Pyin of Maungdaw Township brought 13 Rohingya villagers to their camp, then detained and tortured the villagers in the camp over the allegation that they were sitting at a local shop after praying at a local mosque, at about 9:30 pm.” “After praying, on the way to their homes, the Rohingya entered the shop to buy cigarettes, betel quid, and other things. It was not too late at night, just after praying at the mosque. The villagers were arrested after the officers asked why they were sitting in front of the shop. The Nasaka has only an obligation to ask the villagers about their purposes when they are out of...

YANGON — Myanmar 's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is to hold a second round of talks with the country's nominally-civilian government, her spokesman said on Thursday, amid tentative signs of a thaw in relations. Friday's meeting with labour minister Aung Kyi will come two days before Suu Kyi is due to make her first overtly political trip outside Yangon since she was freed from house arrest in November. "We do not know more details yet," Nyan Win, a spokesman for the Nobel Peace Prize winner and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, told AFP. Suu Kyi's talks with the same minister last month raised hopes for an ongoing dialogue between the two sides. Aung Kyi, who was the liaison between Suu Kyi and the military junta before she was locked up, described that meeting as the "first step towards many things to be worked on in the future". The talks came just days after the United States called for "concrete" progress towards democr...