By Mohammad Nurul Islam and Wa Lone

Reuters

November 21, 2016

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh/YANGON -- Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar crossed the border to Bangladesh over the weekend and on Monday, aid workers said, seeking shelter from escalating violence in the northwest that has killed at least 86 people and displaced some 30,000. 

An official from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations' migration agency, who did not want to be identified, said he had witnessed more than 500 people enter its camps in the hills near the border on Monday.

Aid workers from other United Nations agencies and Reuters reporters in the IOM camps also reported seeing Rohingyas who said they had recently fled the fighting in Myanmar. The UN workers did not give specific numbers, but expressed concern about a sudden influx of people.

The bloodshed is the most serious since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine in 2012, and is posing the biggest test yet for the eight-month-old administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Soldiers have poured into the area along Myanmar's frontier with Bangladesh, responding to coordinated attacks on three border posts on Oct. 9 that killed nine police officers.

Moulavi Aziz Khan, 60, from a village in northern Rakhine, said he left Myanmar last week, after the military surrounded his home and set fire to it. 

"At that time, I fled with my four daughters and three grandsons to a nearby hill ... later, we managed to cross the border," he said.

Myanmar's military and the government have rejected allegations by residents and rights groups that soldiers have raped Rohingya women, burnt houses and killed civilians during the military operation in Rakhine.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said at the weekend satellite images taken on Nov. 10, 17 and 18 showed 820 destroyed buildings in five villages in northern Rakhine, bringing the total number it says it has documented to 1,250.

CHECKING REPORTS

Myanmar's government has also rejected previous reports of Rohingya civilians trying to escape to Bangladesh.

Zaw Htay, presidential spokesman and member of the newly-formed information taskforce on Rakhine, said the government continued to investigate such reports, but had not so far been able to substantiate any of them.

"We checked with the military and police about people fleeing to Bangladesh since Oct. 9. Some people fled from their villages, but we put them back to their villages," he said. 

"If something like that happened, we are concerned and we will continue to investigate. We are not rejecting all allegations...our government always checks all the allegations, and some were found to be untrue."

Myanmar's army has declared an "operations zone" in mainly Muslim northern Rakhine, where it says it is battling Islamist-inspired Rohingya insurgents, and it is not possible for international reporters to enter the area to verify claims.

Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya, viewed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by many of the country's majority Buddhists, are denied citizenship and face severe restrictions on their travel.

Up to 30,000 people are now estimated to be displaced and thousands more affected by the recent fighting, the UN has said.

Humanitarian operations that had been providing food, cash, and nutrition to more than 150,000 people have been suspended for more than 40 days.

The UN refugee agency called on the Myanmar government for access to allow it to distribute aid.

"The idea is to help them where they are, so that they wouldn't be forced to cross over into Bangladesh," Vivian Tan, regional public information officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told Reuters Television.

"If they can't get the assistance where they are then, if they are forced to cross into another country like Bangladesh, we're really appealing to the Bangladeshi government to honor its long tradition of hospitality and open its borders to these refugees."

(Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir in DHAKA and Juarawee Kittisilpa in BANGKOK; Editing by Alex Richardson)

By Human Rights Watch
November 21, 2016

820 Newly Identified Destroyed Buildings; UN-Aided Investigation Urgently Needed

New York – New satellite imagery of Burma’s Rakhine State shows 820 newly identified structures destroyed in five different ethnic Rohingya villages between November 10-18, 2016, Human Rights Watch said today. The Burmese government should without further delay invite the United Nations to assist in an impartial investigation of the widespread destruction of villages.

The latest images bring the total number of destroyed buildings documented by Human Rights Watch in northern Rakhine State through satellite imagery to 1,250. US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, at a November 17 UN Security Council meeting on the deteriorating situation in Rakhine State, called for international observers to be allowed to investigate and for aid groups to have their access restored. After a short visit by diplomats to the area, Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on Burma, said on November 18, “The security forces must not be given carte blanche to step up their operations under the smokescreen of having allowed access to an international delegation. Urgent action is needed to bring resolution to the situation."

“These alarming new satellite images confirm that the destruction in Rohingya villages is far greater and in more places than the government has admitted,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The apparent arson attacks against five Rohingya villages is a matter of grave concern for which the Burmese government needs to investigate and prosecute those responsible. UN participation is crucial for such an investigation to be credible.”

Human Rights Watch identified a total of 820 destroyed buildings in five villages of Maungdaw district from an analysis of satellite imagery recorded on November 10, 17, and 18. This damage is in addition to the 430 destroyed buildings Human Rights Watch identified from satellite imagery on November 13. Of the 820 destroyed buildings, 255 were in the village of Yae Khat Chaung Gwa Son; 265 in Dar Gyi Zar; 65 in Pwint Hpyu Chaung; 15 in Myaw Taung; and 220 in Wa Peik (in addition to the 100 which were destroyed earlier in the village).

Human Rights Watch also reviewed thermal anomaly data collected by environmental satellite sensors that detected the presence of multiple active fires burning in the village of Pwint Hpyu Chaung on November 12, in Dar Gyi Zar on November 13, and in Yae Khat Chaung Gwa Son on November 13, 14, and 15. Dense tree cover may have concealed a limited number of additional buildings that were destroyed, making it possible that the actual number is higher.

At a press conference on November 15 in response to Human Rights Watch’s November 13 statement, the Burmese government admitted widespread burning but claimed that the total number of buildings destroyed was significantly lower. The government cited helicopter flyovers of the area to arrive at its figures and blamed unspecified “terrorists” for the burnings.

The new imagery shows village destruction that far exceeds the figures released by the Burmese government, Human Rights Watch said. On November 15, the Burmese military reported that militants burned down 60 homes in Dar Gyi Sar, while the State Counsellor Office’s newly created “Information Committee” reported on November 16 that only 30 buildings were destroyed in the same town. The new imagery shows that 265 buildings have been destroyed in Dar Gyi Zar alone. The State Counsellor’s information committee press release on November 16 mistakenly attributed a claim that all buildings were destroyed in Dar Gyi Zar to Human Rights Watch.

Both the military and the State Counsellor’s information committee reported that 105 buildings were destroyed in Wa Peik village. Satellite imagery collected by Human Rights Watch between November 10-17 shows that an additional 220 buildings were destroyed. This newly documented destruction, coupled with the 100 buildings Human Rights Watch imagery determined were destroyed from images collected between October 9 and November 3, brings the total to 320 buildings destroyed in Wa Peik village.

“On November 15, a government spokesperson suggested that Human Rights Watch was part of a ‘conspiracy’ to harm Burma’s image,” Adams said. “Instead of responding with military-era style accusations and denials, the government should simply look at the facts and take action to protect all people in Burma, whatever their religion or ethnicity.”

The crisis follows violence on October 9, in which gunmen attacked three police outposts in Maungdaw township near the Bangladesh border, leaving nine police officers dead. The government said that the attackers made off with dozens of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The Burmese government asserts the attack was carried out by a Rohingya group, but actual responsibility remains unclear. A second attack on a border guard post that resulted in the death of a police officer reportedly occurred on November 3.

Immediately after the October 9 attack, government forces declared Maungdaw district an “operation zone” and began sweeps of the area to find the attackers and lost weapons. They severely restricted the freedom of movement of local populations and imposed extended curfews, which remain in place. With the area sealed off to observers, local sources reported that government forces committed serious human rights abuses, including torture, rape, extrajudicial executions, and widespread destruction of buildings, including mosques.

On October 28, Reuters published interviews with Rohingya women who allege that Burmese soldiers raped them. The government also allegedly pressured the Myanmar Times to fire one of its editors who reported allegations of rape by Burmese army soldiers.

The Burmese government conducted a government-supervised tour of some impacted sites in Maungdaw on November 2 and 3 with a nine-member delegation of foreign ambassadors, including the UN Resident Coordinator. The delegation conducted no formal investigation or assessment, but confirmed that they saw burned structures in several towns and spoke with several villagers. Allegations of reprisals against those who spoke to delegation members surfaced shortly after the trip concluded.

Another outbreak of violence reportedly began on November 11. The government reported the deaths of 69 alleged militants and 17 security force personnel. Local groups reported significant civilian casualties, but the lack of access makes all casualty reports difficult to verify. The Burmese military said that helicopter gunships called in to provide air support to its troops were attacked by hundreds of militants.

According to humanitarian aid groups, tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the recent violence, with hundreds attempting to flee to Bangladesh.

The government has responded with blanket denials to allegations that the security forces have committed abuses. Officials maintain that terrorists are responsible for the destruction of the buildings and urge that international journalists investigate the claims. However, the government has continued to block journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and human rights investigators from traveling to the impacted areas.

Burma is obligated under international law to conduct thorough, prompt, and impartial investigations of alleged human rights violations, prosecute those responsible, and provide adequate redress for victims of violations. Standards for such investigations can be found, for example, in the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, and the UN Guidance on Commissions of Inquiry and Fact-Finding Missions. Burma’s failure to conduct such investigations in the past underscores the need for UN assistance, Human Rights Watch said.

In early November, the government granted the World Food Programme (WFP) one-time access to four villages for a one-time food delivery. However, humanitarian aid groups continue to be denied full access, placing tens of thousands of already vulnerable people at greater risk.

Thousands of people impacted by the violence in the villages of Maungdaw have been without aid for six weeks. Despite assurances from the Burmese government that aid access to all impacted areas would be restored, many of the most significantly affected areas remain sealed to humanitarian assessment teams and human rights groups.

“After six weeks of violence with virtually no aid reaching tens of thousands of highly vulnerable people, the government needs to act decisively to assist them,” Adams said. “A government with nothing to hide should have no problem granting access to journalists and human rights investigators.”

By Dhaka Tribune Editorial

November 21, 2016

What is more problematic is how Myanmar continues to deny this phenomenon, despite evidence to the contrary

Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingyas has been dismal.

The subjugation and brutal repression of the Rohingya community continues despite Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s much-heralded government being in power.

Rohingyas have been shot, raped, and looted, and their houses have been torched to the ground.

This is the horrific reality of this minority community that inhabits Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

According to the UN, Rohingyas remain among the most persecuted peoples in the world. The world should not allow this situation to continue any longer than it already has.

The Rohingyas boast no freedom to speak of and their lives remain constantly under threat.

Is it any surprise then that so many of them attempt to flee to Bangladesh, seeking to escape the hell that Myanmar has become for them?

What is more problematic is how Myanmar continues to deny this state of affairs, despite evidence to the contrary.

This can be seen as nothing more than a systematic attempt by the Myanmar government to drive the Rohingyas towards our borders.

It is shameful that a nation state continues to behave in this way despite international outrage against such inhumane tactics.

Bangladesh, which boasts a significant Rohingya refugee community, and as a neighbour to Myanmar, has a role to play.

The Bangladeshi government would do well to impose strict trade sanctions on Myanmar unless and until the Rohingyas are allowed to return to their homeland and are granted equal rights as citizens of their country.

Bangladesh can do this by proposing such sanctions at the UN General Assembly, which would work greatly towards bringing the plight of the Rohingyas to the attention of the world.

The continued persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya community not only speaks poorly of Myanmar, but of the rest of the world. No longer can the world stand idly by and watch.

By The Daily Star

November 21, 2016

Despite heightened efforts of border, coast guards, many from Myanmar infiltrate into Bangladesh thru' Teknaf border

Cox's Bazar -- Ali Hossain along with five members of his family was waiting for a bus in Hoyaikong Bazar area on Cox's Bazar-Teknaf highway around noon yesterday.

He is accompanied by his mother Jahera Begum, sister Halima Khatun and Halima's two minor children. They were going to a village in Chakoria upazila where they have relatives.

But there is a story of pain and suffering behind this seemingly ordinary scene. Ali Hossain is a Rohingya Muslim, often called one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world. 

Talking to this correspondent, the 30-year-old man said that before dawn, some 15 Myanmar nationals including his family crossed the river in small boats and entered Bangladesh through Lombabeel border point under Hoyaikong union of Teknaf in Cox's Bazar district.

They are from Kuikkhali area in Maungdaw in Myanmar's Rakhine State. 

Ali said he along with his family members fled home to evade torture by Myanmar army.

Moulavi Syed Karim of Myanmar's Raimmya Ghona area and Habibullah of Keyari Para are two other Rohingyas who came here for the same reason -- escape persecution. 

Along with their relatives, they entered Bangladesh through Jhimongkhali point of Hoyaikong union on Friday.

“Mynamrese army burned down our houses and killed our relatives,” alleged Habibullah. 

Nazma Begu, 30-year-old wife of Kamal Hossain from Jambunia area, said, “We have left home to save our life.”

Nur Begum, Shahnur and Shomila Begum, who are from Roigyadong, said they entered through Leda border point, claiming that males from their houses were “taken away”.

According locals sources, many Rohingyas infiltrating since Friday are staying at an unregistered Rohingya camp in Leda village of Hnila union under Teknaf.

Rohingyas are trying to escape the military crackdown after a recent escalation in violence in Rakhine State, say residents, adding that some of them have been gunned down while attempting to cross the river that marks the frontier with Bangladesh.

Reuters reports that soldiers have poured into the north of Rakhine along Myanmar's frontier with Bangladesh, responding to attacks by alleged Muslim militants on border posts on October 9.

They have locked down the district, where the vast majority of residents are Rohingya, shutting out aid workers and independent observers.

Up to 30,000 people have been displaced by violence in Rakhine, half of which occurred during the last week when dozens of people died in clashes with the military, the UN said Friday. 

The resurgence of violence has deepened a crisis that has already threatened to derail the new administration led by Myanmar's democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

Rakhine has sizzled with religious tension ever since waves of violence between the majority Buddhist population and the Muslim Rohingya left more than 100 dead in 2012, AFP wrote on Saturday.

Bangladesh officials say patrolling has been increased to stop the infiltration of Rohingyas, but these persecuted minorities have been infiltrating after crossing the river at night.

“Deeper the night, more crowded the Naf river gets,” Sirajul Islam Chowdhury Lalu, member of ward-2 of Hoyaikong.

The rate of Rohingya infiltration has increased in the last few days. They are coming in groups, he said. 

Lalu claimed he has information that “several hundred Rohingyas” entered Bangladesh from Saturday night to early in the morning yesterday. “They are taking shelter in different areas and some have sneaked into other districts.” 

Another UP member preferring anonymity said many Rohingyas infiltrated through Meena Bazar, Kharangkhali and Lombabeel points from Saturday night to early yesterday.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Coast Guard pushed back 86 Rohingyas from Hnila and Sabrang points on November 15, and some 85 others from different border points in Ukhia and Teknaf on Thursday and Friday.

And on Friday night, 125 Rohingyas were sent back from number 5 Sluice Gate area in Sabrang early Saturday.

Talking to reporters, Lt Nafiur Rahman, commander of Coast Guard Teknaf station, said to monitor the movement of the Rohingyas the patrol by coast guards along the river has been increased.

About the 125, he said all of the passengers were Rohingya who tried to enter Bangladesh amid an uptick of violent clashes in neighbouring Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Col Abu Zar Al Zahid, commander of BGB No 2 Battalion at Teknaf, yesterday said the Rohingyas have been trying to cross the river in small boats and enter Bangladesh. 

He said BGB has increased manpower at border outposts to prevent the infiltration.

The BGB official said they are holding meetings with locals, including fishermen, to limit movement and fishing in the borders. Locals are being motivated to help BGB stop Rohingyas intrusion, he added.

By The Nation Editorial

November 20, 2016

The targeting of rohingya by Myanmar security forces in the name of cracking down on extremists is unacceptable

The October 9 killing of nine Myanmar police officers in Rakhine State has jolted that country and its security apparatus is doing all it can to hunt down the culprits behind the attack, seemingly by just about any means possible.

But the massive security sweep in Rakhine is tainted by allegations of rape, execution, torture and arson attacks on the homes of Rohingya Muslims in the conflict-affected region bordering Bangladesh.

According to the United Nations, so far, about 30,000 Rohingya have been displaced by this operation.

The October attack posed a serious challenge to the government of Aung San Suu Kyi which came to power just six months ago and undermined the country’s military that is constitutionally in charge of national security.

The famous pro-democracy icon is facing serious criticism for failing to deal with the abuse of the Rohingya – who the Myanmar government consider as stateless people – and other Muslims in the country amid a vicious campaign of Islamophobia by radical Buddhist monks and Myanmar nationalists to devastate their livelihood.

What’s disturbing about this blind security operation is the kind of reports coming out from the area. This is not the first time Myanmar’s security forces have been accused of using rape as part of their strategy to crush ethnic groups they consider enemies of the state. 

Just days ago, Reuters interviewed eight Rohingya women who told the news agency they had been raped by soldiers dispatched to their U Shey Kya village on October 19 to conduct a clearance operation.

The Myanmar government wants to paint itself as a victim of international terrorists since the October attack but it seems to forget the decades of persecution the Rohingya have been subject to, including some 125,000 people forced to flee their homes several years ago. Some of those people ended up fleeing to foreign shores, including Thailand. 

“I have urged that there has to be complete access to this area and an impartial investigation needs to be conducted to verify, to explore the scope and nature and the cause of this recent attack,” the UN’s human rights envoy on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, told reporters in New York.

To make matters worse, the government is planning to arm and train non-Muslim residents in the state as part of their security measures to curb any possible insurgency activities. 

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a leading international rights watchdog, warned that the plan is likely to “aggravate an already dire human rights situation”.

“Establishing an armed, untrained, unaccountable force drawn from only one community in the midst of serious ethnic tensions and violence is a recipe for disaster,” Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Asia director, said in a statement on Friday.

A senior police official was quoted as saying there will be no problem with these local civilian “police”, as they will be operating under the watch of the national police. But that’s hardly reassuring, given the decades of abuse and atrocities in that part of the world. Numerous investigations over previous years have pointed to security forces and officials tacitly supporting what some organisations described as ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

In other parts of the country, such as Shan State, government security forces have been accused of using rape as a weapon to demoralise ethnic minorities who they accuse of supporting the rebels. 

Most of these armed rebel groups have entered into peace negotiations with the government. But from the look of it, the Myanmar military is determined not to let the Rohingya evolve into any meaningful outfit in spite of having accused foreign jihadist groups of “invading” the country and supporting the October 9 attack. 

To make their point, Myanmar government troops last week fired from a helicopter, killing 30 people who they said were armed with guns, knives and spears. But human rights groups say many Rohingya civilians were among the casualties. 

Needless to say, the preconditions for a genocide are already in place. The world can continue to turn a blind eye to this atrocity at its own peril. There will come a day when future generations will ask what did we do to end these atrocities.

The man in Du Dan was shot dead by Myanmar military on November 19, 2016

By Antoni Slodkowski 

Reuters

November 19, 2016

YANGON -- Myanmar's government on Friday rejected accusations by minority Rohingya Muslims that the military has killed residents fleeing the conflict in the northwest of the country, in which at least 86 people have been killed so far and up to 30,000 displaced.

Hundreds of Rohingya are trying to escape the military crackdown after a recent escalation in violence in Rakhine State, residents have told Reuters, adding that some of them have been gunned down while attempting to cross the river that marks the frontier with Bangladesh.

The information taskforce on Rakhine, formed this week by the office of de facto Myanmar leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has rejected the allegations against the military, known as the "Tatmadaw" in the Burmese language.

"Regarding those incidents, after asking the Tatmadaw and border guard troops in those regions, it is known that the information is absolutely not true," said the State Counsellor Office Information Committee in a Facebook post.

The office added that the military and the border guard troops had not conducted operations near the border and were only engaged in an "area clearance operation" in the "inner part" of the state.

Soldiers have poured into the north of Rakhine along Myanmar's frontier with Bangladesh, responding to attacks by alleged Muslim militants on border posts on Oct. 9.

They have locked down the district, where the vast majority of residents are Rohingya, shutting out aid workers and independent observers.

A senior Bangladeshi official said its border guard force on Friday turned back 82 Rohingya Muslims, including women and children, attempting to leave Myanmar. This came after two boats with 86 people were pushed back on Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Anwarul Azim, commanding officer of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in the Cox's Bazar sector said those turned away had been provided with food and medicines.

The United Nations stressed the border should be kept open.

"It is essential that the border is kept open for people fleeing violence at the moment," said the U.N. refugee agency spokesman, Adrian Edwards, at a briefing in Geneva on Friday.

CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION

Sixty-nine suspected insurgents and 17 members of the security forces have been killed, according to official reports, since the violence began last month.

Residents and rights advocates have accused security forces of summary executions, rape and setting fire to homes. The government and army have rejected the accusations.

The U.N. envoy on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, criticized Suu Kyi's handling of the crisis and renewed her appeal to investigate the allegations of abuses.

"State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has recently stated that the government is responding to the situation based on the principle of the rule of law. Yet I am unaware of any efforts on the part of the government to look into the allegations of human rights violations," Lee said in a statement on Friday.

"It would appear, on the contrary, that the government has mostly responded with a blanket denial," said Lee, adding the security forces "must not be given carte blanche to step up their operations".

Up to 30,000 people are now estimated to be displaced and thousands more affected by the Oct. 9 attacks and the following security operation, said Pierre Peron, the spokesman of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Myanmar.

"This includes as many as 15,000 people who, according to unverified information, may have been displaced after clashes between armed actors and the military on 12-13 November," said Peron.

He added that humanitarian operations that had been providing food, cash, and nutrition to more than 150,000 vulnerable people have been suspended for 40 days.

More than 3,000 children have not received their regular treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM). 

"Without appropriate treatment and care, many children with SAM are at risk of dying," said Peron.

By Antoni Slodkowski

Reuters

November 19, 2016

YANGON -- Myanmar's state media on Saturday denied Bangladesh border guards' accounts of Rohingya Muslims fleeing conflict at home by trying to cross into the northern neighbor.

A commanding officer of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said on Friday his staff provided food and medicines to 82 people, including women and children, attempting to leave Myanmar but turned them back from the frontier. Two boats with 86 people were pushed back on Tuesday.

State-run English language newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar said on Saturday a newly created information taskforce had found the reports to be untrue.

"An inquiry into news reports by Reuters that nearly 200 people fleeing Myanmar had been arrested and repulsed yesterday by Bangladesh border guards has been found to be false," said the newspaper, quoting BGB officials.

Soldiers have flooded the north of Rakhine state, along Myanmar's frontier with Bangladesh, responding to attacks by alleged Muslim militants on border posts on Oct. 9. 

Sixty-nine suspected insurgents and 17 members of the security forces have been killed since the violence began, according to official reports.

Earlier this month, Myanmar denied accusations by Rohingya that its military had killed people fleeing the conflict which has displaced up to 30,000 people.

Rohingya residents have told Reuters hundreds have tried to flee to Bangladesh after fighting intensified a week ago. The U.N. refugee agency has said the border should be kept open for people fleeing violence.

The conflict is the biggest test for Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi since becoming Myanmar's de facto leader seven months ago, laying bare her lack of oversight over the military, which has been accused of human rights violations against ethnic minorities in the past.

The Global New Light of Myanmar said the government planned to create an investigation commission to look into the "violent attacks in Maungtaw", the region in Rakhine at the center of the unrest.

The report did not specify whether the probe would include an investigation of allegations of human rights abuses that the United Nations, the United States and Britain have called for.

Rohingya Blogger and Activist, Nay San Lwin said on Al Jazeera that as many as 400 Rohingya civilians have been killed. At least 2000 houses were burnt down and 150 women were raped by Myanmar military and Border Guard Police.

By Joe Freeman

Associated Press

November 18, 2016

MANDALAY, Myanmar — Shunned by Myanmar’s new government and its Buddhist hierarchy, a nationalist monk blamed for whipping up at times bloody anti-Muslim fervor said he feels vindicated by U.S. voters who elected Donald Trump to be president.

Wirathu, a high-profile leader of the Myanmar Buddhist organization known as Ma Ba Tha, drew parallels between his views on Islam and those of the Republican president-elect. Trump’s campaign was rife with anti-Muslim rhetoric and proposals that included banning Muslims from entering the country and heightening surveillance of mosques. The form his actual policies will take remains unclear.

“We were blamed by the world, but we are just protecting our people and country,” Wirathu said. “... The world singled us out as narrow-minded. But as people from the country that is the grandfather of democracy and human rights elected Donald Trump, who is similar to me in prioritizing nationalism, there will be less finger-pointing from the international community.”

He even floated the idea of cooperating with nationalist groups in the U.S.

“In America, there can be organizations like us who are protecting against the dangers of Islamization. Those organizations can come to organizations in Myanmar to get suggestions or discuss,” he said in an interview at his monastery in Mandalay on Nov. 12.

“Myanmar doesn’t really need to get suggestions from other countries. But they can get ideas from Myanmar.”

Wirathu has been accused of inciting violence with hate-filled, anti-Islamic rhetoric in this Southeast Asian, Buddhist-majority country of about 55 million. Buddhist-led riots left more than 200 people dead in 2012 and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes, most of them Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state.

Anti-Rohingya sentiment remains high in Myanmar. Members of the ethnic group are widely considered to have immigrated illegally from nearby Bangladesh, though many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations.

At the same time, Wirathu’s influence has weakened in the past year. He threw his support behind the military-backed government ahead of elections in November 2015, only to see the former ruling party fall to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in a landslide.

In July, a senior NLD official in Yangon said that Ma Ba Tha, also known as the Committee to Protect Race and Religion, was not needed. Calls for the official to be disciplined went unanswered. In the same month, the country’s official Buddhist clergy publicly distanced itself from the group.

“Ma Ba Tha fades with barely a whimper,” read a headline in the English-language Myanmar Times in August.

Wirathu said he has no plans of fading into obscurity.

“This government doesn’t want our Ma Ba Tha,” he said, seated behind a desk in a saffron robe as several aides took photos and video of his pronouncements. But the NLD’s attempt to thwart the group will be “hard for them,” he added, as Ma Ba Tha is not breaking any laws.

“Currently, we are waiting and looking at the situation as this government has only been here a short time and they don’t know how to manage,” he said. “So we are not doing anything like campaigning or protesting to impact the government. But we will hold meetings, issue statements, help in our role.”

For example, he said, his members have been distributing food in northern Rakhine state.

Scores of Rohingya and some Myanmar troops have been killed in northern Rakhine since suspected militants attacked border posts last month, killing nine police officers. Rohingya activists say innocent villagers are being killed, but the government says it is only fighting “violent attackers.” International media and aid groups have been kept away.

The Guardian 

November 18, 2016

Myanmar police officers patrol Maungdaw, Rakhine State, Myanmar, in the wake of October’s attacks. Photograph: Thein Zaw/AP

By Wa Lone and Yimou Lee 

Reuters

November 18, 2016 

SITTWE, MYANMAR -- Ever since deadly attacks by alleged Muslim militants in Myanmar's troubled northwestern Rakhine State, Myint Lwin says he has been unable to sleep at night. As rumors spread of fresh violence, even the sound of dogs barking frightened him.

"No one in the village has had enough sleep since last month," said Myint Lwin, an ethnic Rakhine Buddhist from a Muslim-majority village in the north of the state. "We were scared when we heard people shouting and dogs barking in the middle of the night."

The 18-year-old motorbike taxi driver is one of 116 civilians to sign up for a new auxiliary police force in Rakhine State, part of the response by authorities to the latest spasm of violence that began with attacks on border police posts that killed nine officers on Oct. 9.

Human rights monitors say arming and training non-Muslims will lead to further bloodshed in the divided state, but Myint Lwin sees it as necessary for self-defense.

"These Muslims are trying to abuse our Buddhist women and people, so I want to protect our country from them," he told Reuters, wearing his new police uniform with a badge bearing a white star on the shoulder.

Sixty-nine suspected insurgents and 17 members of the security forces have been killed, according to official reports since a military crackdown began last month along Myanmar's frontier with Bangladesh.

It is the most serious unrest in the state since hundreds were killed in communal clashes between Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012.

Residents and rights advocates have also accused security forces of killing and raping civilians and setting fire to homes in the area, where the vast majority of residents are Rohingya Muslims. The government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the army reject the accusations.

There have been no reports of insurgent attacks on Buddhist civilians.

LOYALTY OATH

Chanting an oath of loyalty to the state, the new recruits began an accelerated training program in the state capital Sittwe this week. Mostly Rakhine Buddhists in their early 20s, in 16 weeks they will be deployed guarding border posts in the tense north.

The training is two months shorter than the program undertaken by regular police and the recruits did not have to meet the usual entrance criteria such as educational attainment standards and minimum height.

Only citizens were eligible, excluding the 1.1 million Rohingyas living in Rakhine State who are denied citizenship in Myanmar, where many regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The recruits, who are from across Rakhine, will be given training courses including martial arts, use of weapons and riot control.

"The ethnic Rakhine asked the government to protect them in the Muslim-majority region," said Rakhine State police chief Colonel Sein Lwin. "If we have enough police force, we can give more security to them."

He said the recruits would help protect residents from what the government has described as a Rohingya Muslim militant group, estimated to be 400-strong, that has been blamed for the Oct. 9 attacks.

"These Muslims never follow the laws," Sein Lwin said. "They are trying to seize land and extend their territory in northern Rakhine and kill Rakhine ethnics."

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported that apart from the special training for new police recruits, "healthy Rakhine women" and wives of members of the security forces had received military training in January.

The auxiliary force will come under the control of the border police. After an 18-month stint on the border, the recruits will be deployed to police stations close to their hometowns.

They will be paid 150,000 Kyat ($115) monthly, a salary many recruits said was less than they earned as civilians.

"I don't care about salary," said Than Lwin Oo, a 24-year-old waiter from the northern Buthidaung township who failed a college entrance exam - a requirement to join the regular police.

"I dislike the Muslim who try to intimidate our country. That is one of the reasons why I want to become a policeman."

"RECIPE FOR ABUSES"

While officials have said the auxiliary police recruits are not a new "people's militia", like those that fight ethnic insurgencies elsewhere in Myanmar, some observers fear the move will sharpen tensions between the two communities.

"This is a recipe for rights abuses against the Rohingya,"said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division. "The Burmese government is foolhardy to think they will be able to control the local recruits operating on a basis of bias against the Rohingya people."

Not all the recruits voiced hostility towards Muslims.

Kyaw San Win, 29, said he had always wanted to join the police, but had not achieved the level of education usually required. He said his village of 100 houses in northern Rakhine was close to a Muslim settlement of 500 homes.

"I have some Muslim friends, they are not bad people, and we have no problems," he said.

But many Muslims say the auxiliary program was likely to worsen the distrust and fear between the two communities.

"We don't dare to go out on the street. If they found us, they would accuse us of being insurgents," said a Rohingya teacher from northern Rakhine, who asked not to be named because he was afraid of repercussions.

In Buddhist Rakhine communities the fear is just as palpable. Some living in the Muslim-majority north said the auxiliary police recruitment comes too little and too late.

"The police training is useless," said Kyaw Win from a village where some 1,200 Rohingya houses outnumber the 40 ethnic Rakhine households. He said some 50 Rakhine villagers have fled since fighting escalated in mid-November.

He urged the government to reinforce with militias with weapons rather than police.

"We don't know what would happen in the future," he said. "We can get killed any time because we are surrounded by Muslims." ($1 = 1,299.0000 kyat)