The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Carrying belongings Muslims refugees get off a vehicle as they arrive at a rescue camp in Meikhtila about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March.22, 2013. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win) BBC News:  May 21, 2013 Six Muslim men have been jailed for their role in religious clashes in the Burmese town of Meiktila in March. One of the men was jailed for 34 years for killing a monk; the others received sentences ranging from two to 14 years for crimes including unlawful assembly and religious disrespect. At least 43 people - mostly Muslim - died in the violence that erupted after an argument at a Muslim-owned shop. So far no Buddhists have been convicted in connection with the deadly clashes. The monk was knocked down from his motorbike by a group of Muslim men, beaten and killed, according to reports. Apart from the monk, Meiktila's violence was almost entirely directed against the Muslim minority. It sp...

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...

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Tropical diseases -Diarrhea, fever, cough and vomiting have recently spread among the people in Maungdaw south, said a local village doctor on condition of anonymity. “Mostly children and elders of Khonza Bill (village), Udaung village and others have been suffering from various diseases after affecting storm “Mahasen”. According to villagers, the effected children and elders are going to the government hospital of Aley Than Kyaw, where no health workers are paying attention to these people. In the health center, most of the staffs are Rakhines community who are not facilitating Rohingya community as doctors and patients in Maungdaw and treating as Bengali, said villages from Alay Than Kyaw. According to sources, the monsoon changed after cyclone Mahasan, the Rohingya community near the river bank are feeling very hot during these time which carryout tropical diseases - Diarrhea, fever, cough and vomiting - among the Rohingya community. ...

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina  DhakaTribune: May 20,2013 The bilateral talks were held at the Chiang Mai International Convention and Exhibition Centre on the sidelines of 2nd Asia Pacific Water Summit Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday sought Thai support to convince the Myanmar leadership for giving citizenship to the Rohingyas to stop their displacement as refugees. In a bilateral meeting with her Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra, Sheikh Hasina also sought Bangkok’s support to become ASEAN dialogue partner, integrated part of East West Corridor and Mekong Ganga Cooperation. The bilateral talks were held at the Chiang Mai International Convention and Exhibition Centre on the sidelines of 2nd Asia Pacific Water Summit here. Briefing reporters after the talks, PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said both leaders discussed issues related to mutual interests including activities of the Joint Trade Committee, problems of beginning the construct...

New York, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR May 20, 2013 Report Details Terror and Killing of 24 Students and Teachers from a Muslim Boarding School PHR today released a report detailing the organized attacks against Muslims that took place in central Burma in late March and resulted in the killing of at least 20 children and four teachers. The report provides evidence that state authorities, who idly stood by watching the events unfold, are complicit in these crimes. The rights group also issued policy recommendations for addressing anti-Muslim violence on the day Burmese President Thein Sein is scheduled to attend an historic meeting with President Obama in Washington, DC. “President Obama must use this occasion to persuade Burma’s leader that the only path from tyranny to democracy is through the promotion and respect of human rights,” said Richard Sollom, the report’s lead author and PHR’s director of emergencies. “One concrete step toward this goal is for President Thein ...

A member of Border Guards of Bangladesh comforts a Rohingya from Burma who was arrested while trying to get into Bangladesh, in Teknaf, June 18, 2012. Photo Reuters Teknaf, Bangladesh: Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) pushed back twenty four Rohingyas after arresting along the border on May 19, Kamal, a local from Teknaf said. “They were arrested from different points of border by BGB after being conducted operation where they were entering the Bangladesh without knowledge of Bangladesh authority.” According to BGB officials, a BGB team of Shapuri Dip under the Teknaf Battalion No. 42 conducted a drive in border areas and arrested them. BGB officials also said BGB pushed back them again to Burma through the point of Shapuri Dip later. The Rohingya ethnic group of Burma frequently crosses the Burma-Bangladesh border by row boat and on foot because of persecution and harassments by the concerned authorities of Burma and Rakhines, according to sources. The Rohingya...

Muslim Rohingya women prepare their meal at a temporary relief camp on the outskirts of Sittwe, on May 17, 2013 (AFP/File, Soe Than Win) By Shwe Yinn Mar Oo AFP  May 20, 2013 SITTWE, Myanmar — Myanmar's victims of sectarian strife were spared the full force of Cyclone Mahasen, but many are now returning to flimsy tents in flood-prone camps with the monsoon just weeks away. Myanmar's Rakhine state is pockmarked with makeshift settlements for up to 140,000 people -- mainly Rohingya Muslims -- displaced by sectarian unrest last year that claimed about 200 lives and saw whole villages razed. Many were evacuated last week ahead of Cyclone Mahasen, which later veered into neighbouring Bangladesh. But most have now returned, according to Kirsten Mildren of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "They are actually no better off than where they were last week before the storm," she said, adding the cyclone was simply a...