The Rohingya’s statelessness is at the heart of two major outbreaks of fighting between the Buddhist and Muslim communities that has left 180 people dead and forced 110,000 Rohingya into makeshift camps.

Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, told reporters, that a change in the law is required, "This should include a review of the citizenship law to ensure that Rohingya have equal access to citizenship," she said.

The Rohingya have no legal status and are regarded by most Burmese as immigrants from neighbor Bangladesh.

Bangladesh doesn’t recognize them either, leaving them effectively stateless.

 

Voice of Russia, RT

In a joint statement, nine embassies in Yangon urged “all parties to work together to bring an immediate end to the violence”.

They appealed for “a full, transparent and independent investigation” to determine the roots of the Buddhist-Muslim clashes.

“We further encourage the government to enable safe, timely, and unhindered humanitarian access across Rakhine State to all persons in need,” according to the statement, which was also signed by the embassies of Australia, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

More than 100,000 people have been displaced and about 180 killed since clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims erupted in June, followed by another outbreak of violence in October.

A foreign diplomat in Yangon who did not want to be named said that although Myanmar was showing “a real willingness to cooperate” in aid efforts, security concerns in certain areas were a hurdle to deliveries.

The UN Refugee Agency has warned that the influx of internal refugees has pushed the Rakhine camps “beyond capacity in terms of space, shelter and basic supplies such as food and water”.

Doctors Without Borders said earlier this week its teams were struggling to reach most communities affected by the violence owing to “antagonism generated by deep ethnic divisions”.

Most of the displaced are stateless Rohingya, considered by the UN to be among the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Some ethnic Rakhine leaders have campaigned against international aid agencies in recent months, arguing they favour the Rohingya.

President Thein Sein said last month his government was open to aid from foreign donors, following a series of protests by Buddhists against efforts by a world Islamic body to help Muslims affected by the violence.

The country, which is emerging from decades of military rule, was the target of international criticism over its reluctance to allow outside aid to victims of a cyclone in 2008 that left more than 138,000 people dead or missing.

The UN human rights chief called on Myanmar yesterday to allow Muslim Rohingya to become citizens.

The Rohingya have no legal status, with the government and many Burmese regarding them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay added her voice to calls for the problem to be resolved and urged a change in the law, saying the Rohingya had been excluded from the reform process.

“This should include a review of the citizenship law to ensure that Rohingya have equal access to citizenship,” Pillay said at the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia.

She also warned that the violence could hinder Myanmar’s much-heralded reform drive.

“While we can positively commend the government for the progress made towards democratic transition and national reconciliation, the communal violence, if not resolved, can undermine the reform process,” she said.

Local authorities in Rakhine said they had begun a process of verifying the nationality of all the state’s Muslims, amid widespread calls for those deemed “illegal” to be sent to another country. The precise goal of the survey was unclear.

Separately, Pillay said she pressed Myanmar’s Deputy Foreign Minister U Thant Kyaw at the Bali meeting to secure the release of a local UN refugee agency employee detained in Myanmar for almost five months. He gave her no response.

“If the government detains UN people carrying out their professional functions, it doesn’t sit very well with their reform agenda,” she said.

Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said that the agency had asked Myanmar for details of the charges but received no response.

Other UN aid workers were detained earlier this year over their alleged roles in the sectarian unrest, but have since been released.

Source: AFP

LONDON (Alertnet) – Activists from one of the world’s most persecuted minorities have called for U.N. peacekeepers and international observers to be sent to western Myanmar where an explosion of violence has left scores of people dead and displaced more than 100,000.

Simmering tensions between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas in volatile Rakhine State first boiled over in June. The clashes were followed by further bloodshed in late October.

Rohingya organisations around the world declared Nov. 8 a global day of action to draw attention to the plight of Rohingyas in Myanmar, and called for demonstrations outside Myanmar embassies and foreign ministries.

In a joint statement signed by groups in 10 countries around the world, they called for a U.N. Commission of Inquiry into the violence and full access for delivery of aid. Rights groups have said the Rohingyas' plight has made them one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

An estimated 800,000 Rohingyas live in Myanmar but they are officially stateless. The Buddhist-majority government regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.

Bangladesh, which does not recognise them either, has refused to grant Rohingyas refugee status since 1992 and the United Nations calls them "virtually friendless".

Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the recent violence and neighbourhoods have been burned to the ground, according to advocacy group Refugees International.

Tens of thousands of Rohingyas are now living in overcrowded camps with little water, sanitation or medical help. Rakhines have also been displaced but in far smaller numbers.

Melanie Teff, a senior advocate with Refugees International who visited Rakhine State in September, told AlertNet that conditions in the Rohingya camps “ranged from bad to utterly appalling”. A survey in August identified 2,000 acutely malnourished children at risk of dying.

Barriers have been erected on roads separating the two communities. Teff said restrictions on the movement of the Rohingyas meant many people had been cut off from their livelihoods.

Donors and aid agencies are worried that the displacement could lead to prolonged segregation which would entrench the Rohingyas’ marginalisation.

The statement, signed by Rohingya groups in Myanmar, Britain, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, also demands Myanmar repeal its 1982 citizenship law to end the Rohingyas’ stateless condition.

Sources : Alertnet

November 8, 2012 - Amsterdam, Netherlands: Burmese Rohingya Community in Netherlands demonstrated in front of Netherlands parliament in Den Haag.

The Rohingya activists and sympathizers of Rohingya in Netherlands demonstrated showing their Solidarity with other Rohingya organizations all over the world on the Day of Global Action against the state-sponsored genocides of Rohingyas and Kamans being carried in Arakan since June 2012. They demanded Myanmar government to immediately stop the genocidal killings and to send European special inquiry team and humanitarian aids to effected areas, to place displaced victims in their own land and to restore citizenship of Rohingya and recognize back as ethnic group of Burma.

The demonstration held from 12 pm to 4 pm.

RB News

In a statement issued on Sunday, OIC said it will not politicise humanitarian work, even though it continues its endeavours to have the Muslim Rohingya minority regain its legal and constitutional rights in the country.

"The organisation's efforts to restore the constitutional rights of the Rohingya would go through official diplomatic channels and not through the humanitarian office," the statement said, adding that it is in no one's interest to politicise humanitarian action.

The organisation of 56 member states, in its statement, expressed readiness to raise the issue of Rohingya's case at United Nations Security Council.

Referring to the deliberate violence against Rohingya Muslims and the efforts to do ethnic cleansing in the country, the statement suggested that the issue be seriously raised at international level.

Sources :BERNAMA

 Britain on Monday called on Myanmar to resolve the citizenship status of Rohingyas caught up in deadly sectarian violence.

"We would like the problems, the unresolved problems of the status of the Rohingya people to be addressed by the leaders in Burma across politics," British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters in Laos.

"That's an issue of major concern for us. I'll certainly raise that with the Burma leaders here when I have the opportunity to do so," he said ahead of a summit bringing together dozens of leaders from Asia and Europe, including Myanmar President Thein Sein, in the Laos capital Vientiane.

Dozens of people have been killed and more than 100,000 displaced since June by clashes between ethnic Rakhines and Rohingyas in the country, casting a shadow over a string of political reforms.

Myanmar's 800,000 stateless Rohingya are seen by the government and many in the country as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. They face severe discrimination that activists say has led to a deepening alienation.

The Rohingya, who make up the vast majority of those displaced in Rakhine state, are described by the UN as among the world's most persecuted minorities.

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has disappointed international rights activists with her muted response to the violence, said on Saturday that she would not use "moral leadership" to back the Rohingya.

"I know that people want me to take one side or the other so both sides are displeased because I will not take a stand with them," she told the BBC.

Asked whether Suu Kyi should take a clearer position, Hague said: "I'm not singling anybody out. I hope across Burmese politics... this will be addressed by the opposition as well as by the government."

- AFP/xq

U Zaw Htay, director of the President's office, announced on his Facebook page that Rohingya needs wiped out from Arakan, Burma

 An Iranian lawmaker says the government of Myanmar is directly involved in the ongoing massacre of Rohingya Muslims in the Southeast Asian country.

“Most activities in Myanmar are controlled by the government and it is unlikely that such incident [the massacre of Rohingya Muslims] with [so many] dimensions and immensity can be made limited to an ethnic-religious conflict,” Mohammad-Mehdi Zahedi said on Wednesday.

The lawmaker went on to say that considering dictatorial and military nature of Myanmar’s government, it is certain that the ongoing genocide of Muslims is going on through support of government forces.
Zahedi further argued that Myanmar’s government should be held accountable by international organizations to explain about massacre of Muslim people in that country.

The Buddhist-majority government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas and has classified them as illegal migrants though the Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origins, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.

According to UN statistics, over 28,000 people, more than 97 percent Muslims, have been forced out of their homes as a result of escalating sectarian violence in Myanmar.

On Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that there is a shortage of food, water and medical help at the already overcrowded camps in western Myanmar.

Sources Here:

First one body appeared, floating in the waters of the Bay of Bengal, then another, and another, until those on board the little fishing boat that had gone to their rescue began to lose count.

Those bobbing lifeless among the waves had set out the night before, so desperate to escape the growing sectarian violence in Burma that they were prepared to risk boarding the dangerously overcrowded boat.

At least 130 had clambered aboard, but the boat foundered – whether it capsized because of the weight of bodies or because it struck rocks remains unclear.

The sinking last week was the worst reported incident resulting from the outbreak of violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western Burma. The death toll is continuing to rise amid reports of a deepening humanitarian crisis.

"The situation is dire. The UN is doing its best, but it is trying to find more funding to help them," said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an NGO working with the Rohingya.

With at least 32,000 people displaced by the latest violence – and at least 107,000 since trouble broke out in June – thousands have sought safety in refugee camps around the Burmese town of Sittwe. Those camps are at crisis point, according to Refugees International, which estimates that nearly a quarter of children were malnourished.

"Conditions in these camps are as bad, if not worse, than ones in eastern Congo or Sudan," said Melanie Teff, a researcher with the charity who visited Sittwe in September. "Child malnutrition rates are startlingly high. There's an urgent need for clean water and food. If further aid does not come through, there will be some unnecessary deaths."

In Baw Du Pha relief camp, where several thousand Rohingya refugees from Sittwe are surviving on rations and are severely short of medical care, Laila, 20, a mother of four, said: "I cannot give my baby rice when she needs it. We are suffering. When my daughter gets sick we have no money for medicine."

Compounding the need for essentials such as rice, water and oil, aid workers said refugees were facing a mounting psychological toll, with children bearing the brunt. "They lost their houses in the fires. Children cannot be left alone like before. So they're depressed," said Moe Thadar, a local Red Cross worker.

The death toll and fear of further violence have prompted many of the Rohingya to look for sanctuary in neighbouring Muslim countries. Many have concluded that the only realistic escape route is by sea. Thousands are reported to have been waiting for the end of the rainy season to put to sea. Those that have tried to get away have found that those countries are unwilling to accept them. Lewa said at least two boats had been turned back by Bangladesh last week and had returned to Sittwe.

"On Wednesday, we heard that about 7,000 people had arrived in Sittwe from Kyaukpyu [on the coast to the south] and Pauktaw [inland and to the east]. There were still about 900 of them sitting on the beach in Sittwe, while others had moved to camps or villages."

The UN has urged the Burmese government to tackle the causes of the conflict, prompting authorities to order people to turn in their weapons to police. It also urged Burma's neighbours to not to close their borders, but the appeal brought no immediate change of heart.

Some of those who have fled, such as the victims of last week's sinking, headed for Malaysia, where people-smugglers will take them for a fee. Others are looking closer to home – to Bangladesh and Thailand – but neither country wants them. Bangladesh is already home to around 300,000 Rohingya and is concerned about rising numbers. It has said that it will turn away boats, although people near Cox's Bazar, close to where last week's accident happened, said that some had made land and gone into hiding. Thailand does not want them and has been accused of forcing refugee boats back out to sea when they have tried to land. The latest assessment from the Burmese government – which regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants – said 89 people had been killed in clashes between 21 and 30 October, with another 136 injured and 32,231 made homeless. At least 5,000 houses had been burned down. Activists say the true figures are likely to be higher.

"The villages have been burned down and some people have fled. A few have remained in the area, but others have tried to flee to the camps in Sittwe," said Lewa. "In some villages quite a lot of people have been killed, but we are still trying to find out how they died. Some died in the fires and some were attacked by Rakhine [Buddhists]. We also heard that the army shot at some of the Rakhine people. We heard about 170 people killed in one village alone."

Teff said the outlook for peace was grim. "There is a total lack of hope for the Rohingya. They have been rejected by many countries," she said. "The only way out is for the international community to act on the current situation."

Sources : guardian(uk)

KUALA LUMPUR: Myanmar has rejected an offer by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to open talks aimed at quelling deadly communal violence there, the regional bloc's chief said on Tuesday.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said he proposed setting up tripartite talks between the association, the United Nations, and Myanmar's reformist government to prevent the violence having a broader regional impact.

But he said Myanmar turned down the offer to discuss the bloodshed in Rakhine state that has seen around 180 people killed since June in the restive west of the country.

"Myanmar believes it is their internal matter, but your internal matter could be ours the next day if you are not careful," he told reporters after delivering a speech at a forum in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Fresh fighting in Rakhine state this month saw another 88 killed and added to the thousands of homes torched, with tens of thousands of minority Rohingya now living in overcrowded camps. Rights groups fear the actual number killed could be much higher.

Myanmar's quasi-civilian government, which has been lauded by Western nations for a series of democratic reforms after decades of outright military rule, has imposed emergency rule in the face of continued tension in the region.

Myanmar's 800,000-strong Rohingya community are viewed as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the government and many Burmese.

The Rohingya have long been considered by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Sources Here:

A United Nations senior official today expressed serious concern about reports of human rights violations committed by security forces in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, after clashes between its Buddhist and Muslim communities reportedly killed at least 78 people and displaced thousands last month.“We have been receiving a stream of reports from independent sources alleging discriminatory and arbitrary responses by security forces, and even their instigation of and involvement in clashes,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in a news release.

“Reports indicate that the initial swift response of the authorities to the communal violence may have turned into a crackdown targeting Muslims, in particular members of the Rohingya [Muslim] community,” she added.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the state, located in the country’s west, was triggered when an ethnic Rakhine woman was raped and murdered on 28 May. This was followed by the killing of 10 Muslims by an unidentified mob on 3 June.

Ms. Pillay called for a prompt, independent investigation, noting that the crisis reflects the long-standing and systemic discrimination against the Rohingya Muslim community, who are not recognized by the Government and remain stateless.

“The Government has a responsibility to prevent and punish violent acts, irrespective of which ethnic or religious group is responsible, without discrimination and in accordance with the rule of law,” Ms. Pillay said.

She also called on national leaders to speak out against discrimination, the exclusion of minorities and racist attitudes, and in support of equal rights for all in Myanmar. She also stressed that the UN was making an effort to assist and protect all communities in Rakhine state.

“Prejudice and violence against members of ethnic and religious minorities run the risk of dividing the country in its commendable national reconciliation efforts, undermine national solidarity, and upset prospects of peace-building,” Ms. Pillay said. Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today said it is delivering aid to the more than 30,000 people that were affected by the violence.

“As we speak, additional tents are being airlifted from the Republic of Korea to meet urgent shelter needs on the ground,” a UNHCR spokesperson, Andrej Mahecic, told reporters in Geneva.

Mr. Mahecic said that many people had their houses destroyed, and would only go back if they could get help building new homes, while displaced Muslims have told the refugee agency that they would like to go home but fear for their safety.

According to UNHCR, an estimated 80,000 people are displaced in and around the towns of Sittwe and Maungdaw, with most of them living in camps or with host families in surrounding villages.

The Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, is due to visit the country next week, and his mission there will include a visit to Rakhine state. Ms. Pillay welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s visit, but noted that “while he will be able to make an initial assessment during his one-day visit, this is no substitute for a fully-fledged independent investigation.”

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not United Nations staff, nor are they paid for their work.
sources Here:

New York: New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that the authorities in Burma need to do more to protect displaced Rohingyas, even as the Bangladesh Government has shown no interest in doing so.

In a statement, the Director of Human Rights Watch, South Asia, Meenakshi Ganguly, said: "The Rohingyas seem to have become the nowhere people. The authorities in Burma have failed to protect them, and Bangladesh refuses to provide asylum to those fleeing the attacks."

Ganguly added: "It appears that many are in stranded in boats hoping for refuge. India, with its long history of providing shelter, in fact to both Burmese and Bangladeshi refugees, should perhaps press both governments to do the right thing."

"Burma needs to act swiftly to ensure the rights of its Rohingya population instead of disputing their citizenship. Bangladesh should open its borders and provide relief," Ganguly said further.

Ganguly's statement on the condition of Rohingyas follows a similar missive of concern expressed by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which has called on Bangladesh to open its borders to Rohingyas fleeing sectarian violence in Myanmar. 

In a statement issued,UNHCR senior protection officer and officer-in-charge of UNHCR in Dhaka Pia Paguio said: “UNHCR continues to consider that until public order and security are restored for all communities in [Myanmar’s] Rakhine State, states should not forcibly return to Myanmar persons originating from Rakhine State.”

Paguio,told IRIN on 29 October: “We thus continue to appeal to the government of Bangladesh to open its borders to those in need of a safe haven.”

Under Burmese law, the Rohingya - a persecuted minority of 800,000 - are de jure stateless in Myanmar and face constant persecution, while in Muslim-majority Bangladesh they are viewed as illegal migrants.

Bangladesh has repeatedly said it will not accept any Rohingya refugees fleeing ethnic violence in neighbouring Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled persecution in Myanmar over the past three decades, the vast majority to Bangladesh in the 1990s.

According to Burmese government estimates released on 29 October, more than 28,000 residents have been displaced in Rakhine State following a week of deadly sectarian violence between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic (mainly Buddhist) Rakhine which began on 21 October.  

At least 76 people were killed, and more than 4,600 houses and several religious buildings destroyed, in the unrest, the UN reported on 29 October. There was violence in the Rakhine State townships of Kyaukpyu, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Pauktaw, Ramree and Rathedaung.

Tensions had increased after monks, and women’s and youth groups organized anti-Rohingya and anti-Organization of Islamic Cooperation demonstrations in Sittwe, Mandalay and Yangon, the report said.

The latest displacement comes on top of the 75,000, mostly Rohingya Muslims, currently displaced after communal violence erupted in June following the alleged rape and murder of a Rakhine woman by a group of Muslim men in May.

At least 78 people were killed and close to 5,000 homes and buildings were destroyed in that incident.

Most of the displaced are currently in nine overcrowded camps in Sittwe, separated from the rest of the community due to security concerns.

There are more than 200,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh today, including more than 30,000 documented refugees living in two government-run camps (Kutupalong and Nayapara) within 2km of the Burmese border, according to UNHCR. 

UNHCR has not been permitted to register newly arriving Rohingya since mid-1992. Most Rohingya are living in villages and towns in the Cox’s Bazar area and receive little to no assistance as the agency is only allowed to assist those who are documented.

UNHCR does not have access to the 193km Myanmar-Bangladesh border to verify the situation of persons arriving from Rakhine State. Moreover, Bangladesh's closed border policy remains in effect.

Despite repeated advocacy efforts by UNHCR, civil society and the diplomatic community, Dhaka, fearing a major influx, closed its borders to persons fleeing communal violence Myanmar in June.

Those who did manage to make it across the border were rounded up and sent back to Myanmar. However, there are no reliable figures on the number of arrivals and the number refouled.

Bangladesh is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol.

“UNHCR reiterates its readiness to provide protection and assistance to the governments and the people of Bangladesh and Myanmar in addressing this evolving humanitarian situation,” said Paguino.   

sources Here:

Foreign Secretary William Hague calls for peace in Burma's Rakhine state, after the destruction of settlements occupied by Muslim Rohingyas following fierce fighting with Buddhists.

In a statement, Mr Hague said: "Our ambassador is in constant contact with the Burmese government.

"He spoke to the president’s office earlier today to express our grave concerns about recent developments and our readiness to assist at both a humanitarian and diplomatic level in the search for a sustainable solution to this long running issue."

It follows claims of intense fighting in the past week and satellite images from Human Rights Watch that show the widespread destruction of a predominantly Rohingya Muslim part of Kyaukpyu, one of several areas in Rakhine state.

This is where battles between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists threaten to derail the country's fragile democratic transition.

Members of the Muslim Rohingya community say that more than 100 Rohingya were killed on Tuesday and 440 houses burnt by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in a village called Yaing Thay, in the northern part of the state.

Local Rohingya have accused the police of participating in the violence and shooting members of their community. Speaking to Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News, Tun Khin from the Burmese Rohingya Oraganisation in the UK said the kiling amounts to "ethnic cleansing".

The allegations continue - community leaders claim 350 homes, two mosques and a madrassa were burnt in the village of Thayet Oat on 22 October and they say 200 Rohingya houses were burnt in a place called Aung Dine later that same day.

Although the claims have not been independently verified, if true the events would be the worst outbreak of violence since June when fighting left some 75,000 Rohingya and 5,000 Buddhists homeless.

Mr Hague said:

"The UK calls again on all parties to cease the violence and for the Burmese authorities to take all necessary measures to guarantee security in the region. We also call for supplies of humanitarian support to be able to reach all those who need it without delay.

"The UK is at the forefront of the international community's efforts to address the current crisis and to reach a sustainable settlement which respects the legitimate rights of all those who live in Rakhine.

"I have raised this issue with the Burmese foreign minister and continue to do so; we most recently discussed it when we met last month.

"I hope that we will soon see an end to this terrible violence and that peace will return to Rakhine state."

Sources Here:

Dozens have died and whole neighbourhoods have been razed in clashes that began last week between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state, putting further strain on relief efforts in the region.

The United Nations, which has warned that the bloodshed could imperil Myanmar's reforms, said an estimated 26,500 -- including 4,000 who fled in boats to the state capital Sittwe -- had been forced from their homes by the fresh violence.

This adds to some 75,000 people already crammed into overcrowded camps after unrest in June.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the latest wave of arson. A Rakhine official who declined to be identified said violence flared again Sunday in the Pauktaw area, one of around eight affected townships.

Most of those made homeless have remained near their villages, according to the UN, raising concerns about getting aid to remote areas.

Those who fled to Sittwe told AFP of their despair and horror.

"They torched our houses. My child was killed, my husband as well. That will not change even if I stay. Please kill all of us. It's all I want," said Cho Cho, a Muslim cradling a baby in her arms as she sat among throngs of displaced people on the shore near a camp on the outskirts of the city.

The distraught 28-year-old said she was afraid of more attacks.

"I do not want to stay in Rakhine State. I really hate it."

The displaced described fleeing in panic as attackers came, scattering families and forcing people to escape with nothing.

"My father didn't arrive. My sons didn't arrive," 40-year-old Mar Nu told AFP, saying she was still dizzy from the terror of the flight by boat.

Animosity between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims, which has simmered for decades, erupted in the state in June after the apparent rape and murder of an ethnic Rakhine woman sparked a series of vicious revenge attacks.

The latest fighting has killed more than 80 people, according to a government official, bringing the total death toll since June to above 170.

Myanmar's 800,000 stateless Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the Myanmar government and many Burmese -- who call them "Bengalis".

They face discrimination that activists say has led to a deepening alienation from Buddhists.

The UN said 21,700 of those made homeless in the new fighting were from Islamic communities.

"It is mainly the Muslims who have been displaced," the UN's chief in Yangon, Ashok Nigam, told AFP.

Nigam, who had just returned from a visit to affected areas, said the UN was concerned both about the potential for a further spread of violence and the difficulty of reaching the displaced in remote areas.

In Minbya township a senior police official told AFP that more than 4,000 victims, mainly Muslims, had seen their homes torched. Many were staying in tents near their incinerated properties.

The official said a heightened security presence had prevented further clashes. "They are staying between Muslims and Rakhine people," he said.

The communal unrest is seen as presenting a serious challenge to Myanmar's new quasi-civilian government, which has ushered in a series of reforms since replacing a feared junta last year.

Zaw Htay, an official from the office of President Thein Sein, said that under a state of emergency imposed after the June unrest, security had been tightened across Rakhine state.

But the new violence had "occurred in unexpected areas", he said.

Human Rights Watch Saturday released satellite images showing "extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area" of Kyaukpyu -- the site of a major pipeline taking gas to China.

The images show a stark contrast between the coastal area as seen in March this year, packed with hundreds of dwellings and fringed with boats. In the aftermath of the latest violence, virtually all structures appear to have been wiped from the landscape.

Other Muslims in Rakhine state have also been swept up in the latest violence.

Near the camps in Sittwe, many of the displaced people whom AFP spoke to said they were Kaman, a Muslim minority recognised as one of Myanmar's more than 130 ethnic groups.

"My father is Muslim and my mother is Buddhist... They attacked us by defining us as 'Rohingya'. We are not Rohingya. We did not migrate from other countries," said Aye Kyaw, a Kaman who fled the unrest in Kyaukpyu.

The 30-year-old, who said his community had lived in Rakhine for centuries, said the Rakhine had "tortured us cruelly" and appealed for protection.

The unrest has prompted a growing international outcry with the UN in recent days warning it could jeopardise widely-praised reforms, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Sunday urging an immediate end to the hostilities.

"The UK calls again on all parties to cease the violence and for the Burmese authorities to take all necessary measures to guarantee security in the region. We also call for supplies of humanitarian support to be able to reach all those who need it without delay," Hague said in a statement.

Sources Here:

On 28th October, 2012 (i.e. today), in all the ten villages covered by Nasaka Camp (12), under Nasaka Sector (5), Nasaka carried out an activity which is totally unusual and not understandable. The activity is:

- A group of Nasaka went to the village and proceeded to the school where it is located. They also called two to three Rohingyas from the village. Then twelve Nasakas and the forcibly called Rohingyas stood in front of the ‘School Signboard’ and made their guns readily upwards and another Nasaka took photos from several dimensions. Except from the forcibly called Rohingyas, no villagers were allowed either to see or to approach to the very location.

Now, all the villagers are really worried for the activity and hoping something wrong will be coming soon against the Rohingya villagers.

The report is compiled as to an eyewitness of a said village.


RB News Desk

             On 28th October, 2012 (i.e. today), at 3:35pm, a group of Nasakas and military set fire on a Rohingya village, Ki Ni Pyin, in Pauk Taw township. The village has been totally villager-less after Bengali Rakhine terrorists threatened the villagers that all the villagers will be killed if they continuously residing in the village. Upon this threat, all the villagers left homes and gathered in a place near the river under critical condition. As per the strategy setup by the central government to make the Arakan ‘Rohingya Free Zone’, now the armed forces (Nasaka and Military) started to set firing Rohingya villages. Currently, Southern Rakhine State (SRS) is almost free of Rohingyas and almost all the Rohingyas from that area automatically become as refugees, (i.e. some are floating on the water, some are dying for many causes, and so on.). President U Thein Sein clearly told the Head of UNHCR to keep all the Rohingyas in Refugee Camp and deport to a third country. As mentioned above, it is clear that the armed forces (Nasaka and Military) are instructed by the Central Government to harass Rohingyas in many ways which cause Rohingyas leave the country, motherland. It is also clear that Rohingya villages in SRS will be set fired one by one soon either by Bengali Rakhine terrorists or government armed forces. Out of Nineteen Rohingya villages in Pauk Taw Township, only three villages remain now. The villagers from these remaining villages are in an inconsiderably serious condition.

On 27th October, 2012, Pauk Taw Township Deputy Administrator (U Kyaw Aye) and another Rakhine who told himself RNDP Secretary (U Thar Htun Aung) went a Rohingya village, Ngat Chaung, Pauk Taw Township. The Deputy Administrator said to the villagers, “You must have to leave the village and you are not entitled to stay here”. U Thar Htun Aung added, “We, Buddhist Rakhines, are nationality and majority of this area. As per Buddha’s words, we are very kind to everybody so that you, this villagers, are still not murdered”. He continued, “If you were we, you would surely kill all of us”.

RB News Desk.

Satellite images show huge swath of coastal town destroyed in a wave of violence which has left dozens dead.

A satellite image of Kyaukpyu on 9 March. Click to see image showing scale of destruction. Photograph: Human Rights Watch
Burma's president has admitted an unprecedented wave of ethnic violence has targeted his country's Rohingya Muslim population, destroying whole villages and large parts of towns.



Thein Sein's acknowledgement follows the release of satellite images showing the severe scale of the destruction in one coastal town, where most – if not all – of the Muslim population appears to have been displaced and their homes destroyed.

The pictures, acquired by Human Rights Watch show destruction to the coastal town of Kyaukpyu in the country's west. They reveal an area of destruction 35 acres in size in which some 811 buildings and boats have been destroyed.

The images confirm reports of an orgy of destruction in the town which occurred in a 24-hour period in the middle of last week after violence in the province broke out again on 21 October.

The attacks in Arakan province in the country's west – also known as Rakhine – appears to have been part of a wave of communal violence pitting Arakan Buddhists against Muslims that has hit five separate towns and displaced thousands of people.

"There have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burned down in Arakan state," Thein Sein's spokesman said.

A government spokesman put the death toll up until Friday at 112. But within hours state media revised it to 67 killed from 21-25 October, with 95 wounded and nearly 3,000 houses destroyed.

The president's comments followed a warning from the office of the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, that ethnic violence was endangering political progress in Burma.

"The vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped. If this is not done … the reform and opening-up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised," the statement said.

The Burmese government is struggling to contain ethnic and religious tensions suppressed during nearly half a century of military rule that ended last year.

Inter-ethnic violence broke out earlier this year, triggered by the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men.

Releasing the satellite images, Human Rights Watch said it had identified 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges which were destroyed in an area occupied predominantly by Rohingya.

A committee of MPs led by the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi called on Friday for security reinforcements and swift legal action against those behind the killings and destruction.

According to Reuters, dozens of boats full of Rohingyas with no food or water fled Kyaukpyu, an industrial zone important to China, and other recent hotspots and were seeking access on Friday to overcrowded refugee camps around the state capital, Sittwe.

Some 3,000 Rohingya were reported to have been blocked from reaching Sittwe by government forces and landed on a nearby island.

"These latest incidents between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists demonstrate how urgent it is that the authorities intervene to protect everyone, and break the cycle of discrimination and violence," Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific deputy director, Isabelle Arradon, said.

The latest violence erupted as a Burmese website in Norway – the Democratic Voice of Burma – reported it had acquired a document by a group calling itself the All-Arakanese Monks' Solidarity Conference. calling for all Rohingya to be expelled from the country.

"Burma's government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan state, who are under vicious attack," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse."

Human Rights Watch fears the death toll is far higher, based on allegations from witnesses fleeing scenes of carnage and the government's well-documented history of underestimating figures that might lead to criticism of the state.

The Rohingya are officially stateless. Buddhist-majority Burma's government regards the estimated 800,000 of them in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, and not as one of the country's 135 official ethnic groups, and denies them citizenship.

But many of those expelled from Kyaukpyu are not Rohingya but Muslims from the officially recognised Kaman minority, said Chris Lewa, director of the Rohingya advocacy group, Arakan Project.

"It's not just anti-Rohingya violence anymore, it's anti-Muslim," she said.

It was unclear what set off the latest arson and killing on Sunday.

Sources Here:

During the last 24 hours, BROUK has received the following information from the ground;

Reported by : BROUK

RB News Desk

26/10/2012,Though the coastal dwellers, particularly fishermen, could have fled from the carnage by their own arrangement directing to Sittwe by waterway, the Muslims dwellers at the core of downtown could not escape from possible mob attack because, first of all, in all round are Buddhist Rakhine and there had not any way-out. In this regards Muslims pleaded for the help of saving from the carnage, which would have fallen within moments, from Township administrative office, police, military and Red Cross but all departments overlooked to extend help to Muslims who were being trapped among Rakhine enemies.

Later, the trapped Muslims were picked up by the military cars and they were taken to far-away and then kept inhumanely in three places, such as “Nga-Chaung, Tha-Byin-Done, Kyauk-Tha-Lone” which are very remote areas of the town and no human are living there, and they are very open to all sorts of enemies to be attacked, to be oppressed, to be snatched at any time while the locations are totally unfamiliar with people such as police, military and offensive Rakhine people who have been manipulating and multi-purpose combined forces for the recent inhumane atrocities on Muslims.

Right now, police, military and Rakhine combined terrorists (monks, fanatic Rakhine, intellectuals, and town’s elders) group targets the Muslims who have a fair profile in the town level to kill urgently.

Randomly being thrown at the above-said locations are very dangerous places and these are totally flabby to live human being and the victims are in dire of food, water, shelters, medicine and other necessary things as there are older persons, pregnant women and babies, according to displaced people.

Updates will be continued
MT

RB News Desk.

Thursday, 25th October 2012 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia- Thousands of Rohingya Muslims, Kaman Muslims, Burmese Muslims and Malay Muslims demonstrated in Kuala Lumpur today. The demonstration was held in the wake of the state-sponsored apartheid and mass killings of Rohingyas and Kamans in cooperation with Rakhine terrorists in Arakan state, Burma. They strongly condemn the genocides and demanded Myanmar government to immediately stop it. Besides, they request United Nation to send its peace-keeping force to Arakan and international community to save Rohingyas and Kamans from being exterminated.

The demonstration was led by Mohammed Azmi Abdul Hamid (Secretary General of MAPIM), Abdul Ghani Shamsudin (Chairman of SHURA) and Giyathudeen Abdu Salam (Secretary General of UWRO). The demonstration was organized by Malaysian Nationals, Muslims from Myanmar and some Rohingya activists such as Mohammed Sadek. They submitted a memorandum to the Government of Myanmar via Myanmar Embassy in KL. The demonstration started at 2pm and successfully ended at 3:30pm. 

The memorandum is attached below.

By M.S. Anwar

RB New Desk,