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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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(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...

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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...

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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...

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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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Suu Kyi Talks Chief Minister Post, Economic and Minority Affairs With ANP

Aung San Suu Kyi and National League for Democracy (NLD) representatives meet with an Arakan National Party (ANP) delegation in Naypyidaw on Thursday evening. (Photo: NLD Chairperson / Facebook)

By Moe Myint
March 25, 2016

RANGOON – National League for Democracy (NLD) chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi urged Arakan National Party (ANP) lawmakers to collaborate with her NLD-led cabinet in Arakan State on Thursday, while also reportedly taking the opportunity to hold a discussion on the economic sector and relations with the region’s Rohingya minority.

Lower House ANP MP Pe Than told The Irrawaddy that NLD spokesman Win Htein invited 22 ANP lawmakers to Naypyidaw for an initial meeting with Suu Kyi at the capital’s municipal guest house on Thursday evening.

The ANP has selected three representatives, including Pe Than, to engage in a further dialogue with Suu Kyi. One of the most divisive issues between the two parties has been the appointment of the Arakan State Chief Minister. The ANP wants a party member in the role, while the NLD—as the national winner of the election—can select one of their own people for each state minister post, according to the country’s 2008 Constitution.

Yet Suu Kyi has said that the NLD pick for the Arakan State Chief Minister remains NLD central executive committee member, Nyi Pu. Pe Than said the appointment will be discussed further in the talks.

In January, the ANP stated that unless they were granted the chief minister position in their state, they would work in opposition to the NLD. Suu Kyi reportedly told the Arakanese legislators that in an NLD-led government they would be offered some positions, as would some outside “technocrats.”

The ANP has demanded that the NLD meet with the Arakanese party’s authorities to discuss the issue further, including Dr. Aye Maung, Aye Tha Aung and Tun Aung Kyaw. The goal is to hold a political dialogue, but according to ANP MP Ba Shein, such an undertaking is likely to fail; Aye Tha Aung, known to be close with Suu Kyi, was unexpectedly dismissed from the delegation and replaced by Tha Tun Hla, another party insider.

“Suu Kyi is considering building trust between ANP and NLD,” said ANP Lower House MP Khin Saw Wai. “[The meeting] went well enough,” she added, pointing out that both sides engaged in a “very transparent debate and shared feelings from their own hearts.”

Khin Saw Wai told The Irrawaddy that Suu Kyi had expressed concern that protests in Arakan State’s capital of Sittwe on Wednesday—against an NLD-appointed chief minister—could interfere with the process of state building and democratization. More protests are planned in Maungdaw Township on Sunday.

Tensions run high for many reasons in Arakan State, which has witnessed much conflict in recent years, particularly between the Buddhist Arakanese majority and the Muslim Rohingya minority, who are often dismissed as ‘Bengali’ by both locals and the government. The Rohingya are denied citizenship by both the Burmese government and the Arakanese state authorities, which has attracted the attention and concern of the international community.

The ANP and NLD reportedly talked about the region’s history of ethno-religious conflict during the meeting. While additional details are not known at this time, Suu Kyi told the ANP’s MPs that they would search for a solution together and, in full collaboration, march toward a better situation for the country, according to another ANP representative, Ba Shein.

They also discussed the controversial Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, a Chinese investment project located in Kyaukphyu Township, which has been criticized for its potential to displace locals and cause damage to the surrounding environment.

Khin Saw Wai said that Suu Kyi has promised to meet with ANP authorities again within a matter of weeks. The NLD will reportedly put forward some candidates for the talks, but a location has not yet been decided.

The Irrawaddy contacted NLD spokesmen Win Htein and Zaw Myint Maung by phone on Friday morning, but they could not be reached for comment.

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