The Stateless Rohingya Blog

KPN News July 9, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burma border security force (Nasaka) and army have been taking forced labor from Rohingya community to cultivate paddy for Natala (model) villagers in Maungdaw township recently, according to a village elder preferring not to be named. Natala villagers are new Buddhist settlers in northern Arakan who were brought from Burma proper and also from Bangladesh. They have been settled in Rohingya lands – confiscated lands from Rohingya community- and also provided lands. “Nasaka and army ordered to the Rohingya villagers of Maungdaw south for tilling the arable lands which were given Natala villagers on July 6 and the villagers do not comply with the order.” However, the next day, on July 7, a group of army and Nasaka personnel went to the Khonza Bill and Sommona villages of Maungdaw south and forced Rohingya villagers for tilling paddy fields with their own cows, said a farmer from the village. “We worked whole...

A Muslim refugee woman rests at Thechaung refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012.  (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win) AFP News July 11, 2013 UNITED NATIONS — Islamic nations called on UN leader Ban Ki-moon to do more to halt the "tyranny" they say Muslims are enduring in Myanmar. Religious riots in Buddhist-majority Myanmar have cast a shadow over heralded political reforms since military rule ended two years ago. Envoys to the UN from Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries say the global body should pressure the Myanmar government over the troubles. "Myanmar is having a honeymoon with the world. The only problem is that that honeymoon is being built on the bodies of the Muslim victims in that country," said Saudi Arabia's UN ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallemi. Mouallemi and other ambassadors from OIC members met Ban on Wednesday to demand more action by the United Nations, particularly over Rohingya Mu...

UN News Centre :  10 July 2013 –  Secretary-General  Ban Ki-moon today told a group of Myanmar's international partners that continued support will be vital for the country, which has taken some important steps in the past year, but faces a number of challenges, including national reconciliation and communal violence. “The Government and people of Myanmar need continued support to move towards a truly irreversible reform process and to deliver the dividends of peace and inclusive development,” Mr. Ban said in his opening  remarks  to the meeting in New York of the Group of Friends of Myanmar. He noted important steps taken in the past year, including the advancement of the reform process by the Parliament. At the same time, peace and reconciliation with armed ethnic groups remains a pressing priority. “Sustainable peace will require an inclusive process of political dialogue that results in viable arrangements for power and resource sharing,” he said. ...

KPN News: An army commanding officer in Maungdaw has started using his office like it’s a court of law. Colonel Naing Soe Htun is supposed to be keeping the peace after the sectarian violence broke out in June and October, but he’s more concerned with lining his pocket, according to an elder who didn’t want to be named for security concerns. Htun is summoning villagers from the Rohingya community to his office in the Maungdaw High school to extort money, confirmed a locally based rights worker that also didn’t want their name used “He is a high ranking officer from the armed forces appointed to enforce the law and bring order between the Rohingya and Rakhine in areas with large Muslim populations. But he is using his power against the Rohingya community to extort money.” Every day the colonel is getting 100,000 kyats from about 10 people that are forced to see him. It’s extremely difficult for the community to keep coming up with the money. Most haven’t been able to work afte...

Rohingyas are seen at a camp for displaced people in Myanmar's western Rakhine State (file photo). Press TV July 10, 2013 Several human rights groups and activists have strongly criticized the Myanmar government for its silence over growing violence against the Rohingya Muslims across the Southeast Asian country. Several international rights groups and activists warned in a joint statement on Monday that impunity for the Buddhist assailants will further embolden them to commit more crimes against the Muslim minority, and will turn Myanmar into a breeding ground for extremism.  The statement comes more than three months after authorities failed to charge any suspect in connection with an attack on an Islamic school that claimed dozens of lives in central Myanmar.  The school on the outskirts of Meiktila town was razed during the bloodshed in March that triggered an outbreak of violence against the Muslim across the southeast Asian country. Hundreds of thugs u...

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa attends the opening session of the 46th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, June 30, 2013. (File) Ron Corben Voice of America: July 10, 2013 BANGKOK — Indonesia is pressing Burma’s government to grant legal status to the country’s Muslim Rohingya. As more Rohingya seek asylum in Indonesia and elsewhere abroad, Ron Corben reports from Bangkok that Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says Burma needs to take action to end inter-communal violence. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, says Burma has to press on with democratic reforms and recognize the legal rights of hundreds of thousands of stateless Muslim Rohingya. Burma - also known as Myanmar - has been wracked by sectarian bloodshed over the past year that has led to more than 200 deaths and displaced tens of thousands. Fighting began in communities with large numbers of ethnic Rohingya, who are denied citi...

Malaysian digest: July 10, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR:  While Muslims around the world eagerly anticipate the coming of Ramadhan with their beloved families, Annuar Begum Mohd Hassan, 40, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar has accepted her fate of having to go through the fasting month without her seven children and husband by her side. This Ramadhan would be her first one on foreign soil, and things are made tougher for her when she looks back on the fate of her fellow Rohingyans back in Myanmar. However Annuar Begum can be considered lucky as she is now a refugee placed under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNhCR) and is being looked after by the Rohingya Society in Malaysia (RSM) in Ampang. "I feel sad when I think about what has happened to us, since last October, it's as though only our physical self are alive, the rest feels dead. "After arriving on Langkawi island, I was separated from my husband and until today I have no idea wh...