The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Teknaf, Bangladesh:  Bangladesh Coastguards rescued 289 Burmese fishermen with 36 fishing boats from nearby Saint-Martin Island on October 10 while they were floating in the Bay of Bengal, said a local fisherman from Teknaf. “ They were stuck under heavy rain and stormy winds in the Bay of Bengal and also the engines of boats were damaged at the moment.”

Maungdaw, Arakan State : There was heavy rain and strong winds in northern Arakan, Burma yesterday night, said a local villager. “Many villagers of Maungdaw south have been suffering from rain storm as their houses were burned down by Rakhine mobs  during communal violence earlier.” “They are not able to build their houses again in their locality because of financial crisis and also they are not supported and allowed to rebuild their houses by the present quasi civilian government.”

Naikonchari, Bangladesh: Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had been arrested over 60-Rohingya along the Bangladesh-Burma border since first week of October till yet, said an aide of BGB. “BGB arrested them from the different points of border areas where Rohingyas live with localities without knowledge of Bangladesh concerned authorities.”

Sittwe: A humanitarian mission from Kelab Putera 1 Malaysia (KP1M) flew into Sittwe via Yangon on Sunday in order to distribute relief to victims of recent sectarian violence in Arakan state. According to sources, the mission consists of 14 members including five Malaysian monks, one doctor, two journalists and two photographers.

This file picture taken on June 15, 2012 shows a Myanmar Muslim Rohingya standing between tents at a temporary relief camp for people displaced by days of sectarian violence on the outskirts of Sittwe, capital of Myanmar's western state of Rakhine. - AFP THE international community should realise that the suffering of the Rohingya community in Myanmar can cause the rise of extremist groups there, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman. He said the global community needed to provide adequate assistance to the Muslim Rohingyas and the Buddhist community in Myanmar and help to prevent the spread of sectarian violence.

Rohingyas living in Europe gather and held a meeting (convention) on October 6-7, 2012 in Esbjerg, Denmark where the Rohingyas formed “European Rohingya Council (ERC), according to Mohamed Ibrahim, media, information and organization secretary of ERC. Rohingyas from different European countries gather and meeting to formed ERC “The participated of meeting – Rohingyas- are living most of the European countries.”

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 2012 (IPS)  - Following sectarian violence in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine in June, human rights researchers are now warning that the government appears to be attempting to permanently house parts of the stateless Muslim-minority Rohingya in “temporary” refugee camps, segregating them from the rest of the population. “There has been no acknowledgement that people have to go home eventually – the solution appears to be that the Rohingya can simply live where they have come to be,” John Sifton, with Human Rights Watch (which released a related  report  in August), said in Washington on Tuesday. “Segregation has become the status quo.”