May 06, 2025

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Announcement of New Website: Rohingya Today (RohingyaToday.Com) Dear Readers, From 1st January 2019 onward, the Rohingya News Portal 'Rohingya Blogger' will be renamed and upgraded as 'Rohingya Today'. Due to this transition to a new name, our website will be available at www.rohing...

Rohingya News @ Int'l Media

Maung Zarni, leader of the Free Rohingya Coalition, speaks at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Thursday. | CHISATO TANAKA By Chisato Tanaka, Published by The Japan Times on October 25, 2018 A leader of a global network of activists for Rohingya Mu...

Myanmar News

By Sena Güler | Published by Anadolu Agency on December 1, 2018 Maung Zarni says he will boycott Beijing-sponsored events until the country reverses its 'troubling path' ANKARA -- A human rights activist and intellectual said he withdrew from a Beijing-sponsored forum in London to pro...

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Oskar Butcher RB Article October 6, 2018 Every night in an unassuming shop space located in Mandalay’s 39thStreet, Lu Maw and Lu Zaw – the remaining members of the Burma’s most famous comedy trio, the Moustache Brothers – present their show: a curious combination of comedy, political sa...

Article @ Int'l Media

A demonstration over identity cards at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh in April, 2018. Image: NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. By Natalie Brinham | Published by Open Democracy on October 21, 2018 Wary of the past, Rohingya have frustrated the UN’s attempts to provide them with documenta...

Analysis @ RB

By M.S. Anwar | Opinion & Analysis The Burmese (Myanmar) quasi-civilian government unleashed a large-scale violence against the minority Rohingya in the western Myanmar state of Arakan in 2012. The violence, which some wrongly frame as ‘Communal’, was carried out by the Burmese armed forces...

Analysis @ Int'l Media

By Maung Zarni, Natalie Brinham | Published by Middle East Institute on November 20, 2018 “It is an ongoing genocide (in Myanmar),” said Mr. Marzuki Darusman, the head of the UN Human Rights Council-mandated Independent International Fact-Finding Mission at the official briefing at ...

Opinion @ RB

Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar wait to be let through by Bangladeshi border guards after crossing the border in Palang Khali, Bangladesh October 9, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj MS Anwar RB Opinion November 12, 2018 Some may differ. But I believe the government of Bangladesh is ...

Opinion @ Int'l Media

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on December 15, 2018 US will not intercede, and Myanmar's neighbors see it through economic lens, so international coalition for Rohingya needed LONDON -- The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday overwhelmingly passed a resolution ca...

History @ RB

Aman Ullah  RB History August 25, 2016 The ethnic Rohingya is one of the many nationalities of the union of Burma. And they are one of the two major communities of Arakan; the other is Rakhine and Buddhist. The Muslims (Rohingyas) and Buddhists (Rakhines) peacefully co-existed in the A...

Rohingya History by Scholars

Dr. Maung Zarni's Remark: The best research on Rohingya history: British Orientalism which created the pseudo-scientific biological notion of "Taiyinthar" or "real natives" of #Myanmar caused that country's post-colonial cancer of official & popular genocidal Racism.  This co...

Report @ RB

(Photo: Soe Zeya Tun, Reuters) RB News  October 5, 2013  Thandwe, Arakan – Rakhinese mob in Thandwe started attacking Kaman Muslims on September 28, 2013. As a result, 5 Kaman Muslims were mercilessly killed and 1 was died in heart attack while escaping the attack. 781 Kaman Mus...

Report by Media/Org

Rohingya families arrive at a UNHCR transit centre near the village of Anjuman Para, Cox’s Bazar, south-east Bangladesh after spending four days stranded at the Myanmar border with some 6,800 refugees. (Photo: UNHCR/Roger Arnold) By UN News May 11, 2018 Late last year, as violent repressi...

Press Release

(Photo: Reuters) Joint Statement: Rohingya Groups Call on U.S. Government to Ensure International Accountability for Myanmar Military-Planned Genocide December 17, 2018  We, the undersigned Rohingya organizations worldwide, call for accountability for genocide and crimes against...

Rohingya Orgs Activities

RB News December 6, 2017 Tokyo, Japan -- Legislators from all parties, along with Human Rights Now, Human Rights Watch, and Save the Children, came together to host the emergency parliament in-house event “The Rohingya Human Rights Crisis and Japanese Diplomacy” on December 4th. The eve...

Petition

By Wyston Lawrence RB Petition October 15, 2017 There is one petition has been going on Change.org to remove Ven. Wira Thu from Facebook. He has been known as Buddhist Bin Laden. Time magazine published his image on their cover with the title of The Face of Buddhist Terror. The petitio...

Campaign

A human rights activist and genocide scholar from Burma Dr. Maung Zarni visits Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi Extermination Camp and calls on European governments - Britain, France, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Hungary and Germany not to collaborate with the Evil - like they did with Hitler 75 ye...

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Editorial by Int'l Media

By Dhaka Tribune Editorial November 5, 2017 How can we answer to our conscience knowing full-well what the Myanmar military is doing to the innocent Rohingya minority -- not even sparing children or pregnant women? Despite the on-going humanitarian crisis involving Rohingya refugees ...

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British ambassador lauds return of MSF to Arakan

A young boy carries a ration of meat distributed as aid in Owntaw refugee camp near Sittwe, Arakan State. (Photo: Reuters)

By Nang Mya Nadi
August 2, 2014

The return to Arakan State of international aid agencies such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is essential for health services in the region at a time when there is a “massive need” for development in both the Buddhist and Muslim communities, British Ambassador to Burma Andrew Patrick told DVB on Thursday.

“The responsibility for health and education in Rakhine [Arakan] State is the government’s responsibility, and the way to facilitate aid is through INGOs. The plan to allow MSF back should improve health services,” he added.

The British ambassador was speaking after returning from a two-day visit earlier this week to state capital Sittwe alongside his US counterpart, Ambassador Derek Mitchell.

A delegation led by the US and UK ambassadors to Burma met on Sunday and Monday with local MPs and community leaders in Sittwe, and were accompanied by Immigration Minister Khin Yi and President’s Office Minister Soe Thein.

Patrick noted that he had paid a visit to the Muslim neighbourhood of Aung Mingalar in Sittwe, which is barricaded into segregation from the rest of the volatile city where tensions between Muslims and Buddhists have resulted in bloodshed on several occasions over the past two years.

The British ambassador described the mood in the Muslim enclave as “depressing”, noting that the residents have “no opportunity to move, to leave or to work” outside the restricted area.

He said the impact of the isolation had been “quite severe”.

Thar Pwint, a community leader who sat at a meeting in the Sittwe Hotel on Sunday, said the ambassadors urged Arakanese leaders to focus on human rights, equality and harmony between the different communities, regardless of racial identity.

“They were here to talk about human rights,” said Thar Pwint. “We, too, support human rights, but they came here saying things like ‘Everyone is a human being, and all human beings are equal’. We told them that this will only be realistic when the whole world is under one government.”

He said the US ambassador urged the Arakanese community to recognise the Rohingya as an ethnicity in Burma, as they face expulsion from the country if they agree to list themselves as ‘Bengali’ in a newly implemented citizenship verification programme.

Thar Pwint said that the community leaders in turn explained the country’s citizenship law to him, and told him that people of any race can become citizens of Burma if they meet the criteria.

While not addressing Ambassador Mitchell’s comments about the status of the Rohingya, the US embassy in Rangoon said, “The delegation consulted with local communities to discuss their concerns and vision for the urgent and long-term priorities of Rakhine State. One clear message from these communities is that more outreach, communication, and transparency from both the government and the international community concerning any plans or activities in Rakhine State is needed to prevent misunderstandings and build confidence for the future.”

On the question of Rohingya citizenship, British Ambassador Patrick said the UK “supports every group’s right to self-identify”.

He acknowledged that it was a divisive issue in the region, and one which the Arakanese Buddhist population sees as a “direct challenge”.

On Monday, the delegation met with leaders of the Rakhine National Party (RNP) at the party’s headquarters in Sittwe. Central committee member Khin Maung Gree said they discussed the resumption of operations by MSF in the region.

“We stressed that MSF must change their ways and ensure transparency, while at the same time respecting our culture and the traits of the Arakanese,” said Khin Maung Gree, adding that the US ambassador promised to monitor MSF operations.

The MSF – after more than 20 years of providing humanitarian aid, healthcare and medical services in Arakan State – was forced to suspend operations in the region after being targeted with hostility by Arakanese Buddhist locals who accused the organisation of bias towards the Muslim minority, and attacked its office last year.

Last week, the Ministry of Health and the Arakan State government released a joint-statement inviting MSF to resume operations.

While the move was welcome by international observers, Sittwe-based nationalist group Arakan Social Network released a statement on Sunday insisting that the people of Arakan do not wish for MSF to return.

On 25 July, MSF said in a statement that they “welcomed” the call from the Arakan State government to resume its operations but remained “cautious”.

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