The Stateless Rohingya Blog

A WFP warehouse in Sittwe was attacked by Buddhist mobs on Thursday. (Photo: Facebook/Myanmar Police Force) By AFP March 29, 2014 Sittwe : Myanmar said Saturday that Muslims would not be allowed to register as "Rohingya" in its first census in three decades despite UN assurances, on the eve of a survey that has fanned sectarian tensions. The move came as Buddhists in an unrest-hit western state vowed to boycott the census over fears it could lead to official recognition for the Rohingya, viewed by the United Nations as among the world's most persecuted minorities. "If a household wants to identify themselves as 'Rohingya', we will not register it," government spokesman Ye Htut told reporters in Yangon. He said people could call themselves "Bengali", a term used by the authorities who view most Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. Foreign aid workers fled the restive western state of Rakhine...

By HRW  March 28, 2014 Stop Further Attacks on Aid Workers in Arakan State (New York) –  Burma ’s national government should postpone the planned nationwide census to prevent growing communal violence and attacks on the aid community, Human Rights Watch said today. At greatest risk are vulnerable Muslim communities and aid workers from international organizations. On March 26, 2014, mobs in Arakan State began attacking international aid organizations, damaging or destroying 14 properties, including offices, residences, and food storage facilities. The organizations quickly evacuated 32 international and 39 Burmese staff from the Arakan provincial capital, Sittwe, on March 28. “The mob attacks in Arakan State illustrate the risks of proceeding with the census in such a volatile atmosphere,” said  Brad Adams , Asia director. “The government should suspend the census until it can ensure adequate security and a fair process for everyone involved.” ...

MYARF Report 28 th  March 2014 rvisiontv.com Northern Maungdaw, Arakan - Local Rohingyas in northern Maungdaw confirm that many Bengali Rakhines (Maghs) with lethal weapons have crossed the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and sneaked into Maungdaw. They are now staying in Rakhine villages and No. 10 Regional Security Camps in northern Maungdaw. “Around 11:30PM yesterday (i.e. on 27 th  March 2014), the No.10 Security Force camp [(at the village of Zeebyin Chaung (Ziyaung Khali)] of Taung-Byo sub-township) ordered approximately one hundred Rohingya villagers of Kuwar Bil village to stop being sentinels to their village. Some of them were keeping their eyes on any Rakhine extremists intruding into their village to attack their people and others were giving security within their village. The Security Force asked the villagers to stop giving security to their village and go to their respective homes immediately. When they hesitated to stop doing sentry duty and leave for thei...

Ref.DE100214          Date: 28.03.2014 ERC : Press Release  It is observed all the NGOs, INGOs and UNDP stationed in Sittwe, Arakan State in Myanmar have been driven out by Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes on false allegation.  Most of the offices of humanitarian organizations in Sittwe have been rampaged and destroyed from the night of 26 March to 27 March. Dusk to dawn curfew has been imposed by Rakhine State Government. Tensions have been very high in Arakan State where approximately one million Rohingyas are living in fear of extermination. But, according to our reliable source in on the ground, Rakhine extremists are rampaging throughout the night though curfew has been imposed. They have been throwing stone and trying to break in if the saw light inside houses belong to Rohingya.  Incident began when an official from Malteser INGO office removed a Buddhist flag hoisted by the extremist Rakhine Buddhists in protest of census proce...

By KPN News March 27, 2014 Sittwe, Arakan State: Arkan State government again imposed Emergency Act 144 and dusk-to-dawn curfew today at about 4:00 pm after Rakhine mobs attacked all INGOs – aids working groups ‘offices and its residences, according to residents and official. Rakhine mobs were attacking all the INGOs office in Sittwe where the security force didn’t able to control the angry Rakhine mobs and the authority feared it will become more in later. So, the authority imposed the Emergency Act 144 and 6:00pm to 6:00am curfew, according to government officials and local residents. The security force – police – provided security for all NGOs staffs and had evacuated all the staffs from the offices and residents to a police station hall after INGOs offices and their private residences came under attack and will fly to Rangoon the tomorrow, said a source close to the NGO, who declined to be identified. Rakhine mobs violence behavior to INGOs office after a femal...

A Rohingya protests against the UK's training of the Myanmar military outside the Myanmar embassy in London. Demotix/See Li. All rights reserved. By Amal de Chickera OpenDemocracy March 27, 2014  If the production of refugees was an industry, Myanmar would be among the world’s market leaders. And of all its products the Rohingya would be one of the most lucrative. A niche but growing market of global proportions, the culmination of decades of tireless endeavour to hone a specialist craft. If the production of refugees was an industry, Myanmar would be among the world’s market leaders. In the creation of the product, the Burmese regime has pulled out all the stops and ended up with something unique. For the Rohingya are more than refugees. They are also stateless, they are considered illegal immigrants (though they are not), they are seen as outsiders, they are feared and hated by other Burmese. The discrimination, persecution and abuse they endure invoke hu...

By Charlie Campbell Time March 27, 2014 Proposed discriminatory laws are the latest escalation in persecution of Muslims and a political ploy to secure Buddhist votes ahead of polls in 2015 Last March, sectarian riots roiled Central Burma and at least 48 people, mainly Muslims, were slaughtered by machete-wielding thugs. Buddhist monks spurred on frenzied mobs in an orgy of bloodshed that will be forever indelible in the minds of the Southeast Asian nation’s Muslim minority. The violence spread to a further 11 townships. One year on, thousands remain homeless and animosity is entrenched. “It is not stable and conditions are still very dangerous,” says Aung Thein, a 51-year-old Muslim lawyer in Meiktila, a central Burmese town of 100,000 people, where at least five mosques and more than 800 homes were razed to the ground. “Extremists use hate speech every day and Muslims are not safe.” Adding to this already fraught picture, new legislation threatens to isolate the ...