The Hidden Genocide

Earlier this year a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered in western Myanmar. The authorities charged three Muslim men. A week later, 10 Muslims were murdered in a revenge attack. What happened next was hidden from the outside world. Bloodshed pitted Buddhists against minority Rohingya Muslims. Many Rohingya fled their homes, which were burned down in what they said was a deliberate attempt by the predominantly Buddhist government to drive them out of the country. "They were shooting and we were also fighting. The fields were filled with bodies and soaked with blood," says Mohammed Islam, who fled with his family to Bangladesh. There are 400,000 Rohingya languishing in Bangladesh. For more than three decades, waves of refugees have fled Myanmar. But the government of Bangladesh considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants, as does the government of Myanmar. They have no legal rights and nowhere to go. This is a story of a people fleeing the land where they were born, of a people deprived of citizenship in their homeland. It is the story of the Rohingya of western Myanmar, whose very existence as a people is denied. Professor William Schabas, the former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, says: "When you see measures preventing births, trying to deny the identity of the people, hoping to see that they really are eventually, that they no longer exist; denying their history, denying the legitimacy of their right to live where they live, these are all warning signs that mean it's not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide."

Authority again extends curfew in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Maungdaw township high level authority again extended curfew which was end today in Maungdaw, according to an officer from Maungdaw.

“Today-December 8- is the last day to withdraw the curfew from Maungdaw, but U Kyi San –the Township administration officer- announced the curfew will continuous without time limited.”
“The Township administration officer also announced that the situation in Maungdaw is not under control and trying to keep Law and order.”
The curfew will damage the lives of Rohingya community in Maungdaw, as the security force will show the curfew to extort or harass Rohingya. It will not happen any thing for Rakhine community, said an elder from Maungdaw.
“The curfew is only a cause to harass Rohingya community by authority in Maungdaw and to make disappointment and compile the Rohingyas to left their birth land. The authority will not allow Rohingya to work for their survival with restriction of movement which will damage the lives of Rohingyas. For these reason, Rohingya will leave their home land to Bangladesh which the authority dream it.”
“It will not happen as the Rohingya will not leave their home land as they are living in this land since long time.”
The President Thein Sein  tries to keep times for solving the Arakan riots , showing the government has no fund to solve the problem between Rohingya and Rakhine and asking money from international community, but didn’t allow the aids worker to work in the field. The government is just trying to get money from international community. The government didn’t supply aids to Rohingyas IDPs where foods and every things need for people are available for Rakhine community which was stated recently by BBC reporter, said a politician from Maungdaw.

Nearly 150- boat people again missing in the Bay of Bengal

Teknaf, Bangladesh: An engine boat was sunk again in the deep sea and was missing 150-boat people while it was going to Malaysia from Bangladesh by sea route, according to a local Bangla Newspaper. 
“The engine boat left for Malaysia by sea-route on the night of December 6, but, on the way, it was capsized by rough waves in the sea. So, nearly 150 people were missing and 48 people were rescued.”
On that day (Tuesday), when a ship from Northern Shipping Joint Stock Company of Vietnam named ‘Nacovic Victory' was going to Singapore from the Chittagong sea port, it met the floating engine boat and some boat-people were also floating in the sea.
As a result, the crew of the ship immediately (from Tuesday night to morning), tried and rescued 39 voyagers and then 9 others boat-people were also recovered by another container, so, in total 48 people were rescued from the sea,  according to the sources from Chittagong  shipping cycle.
The rescued boat-people did not speak in English, so, the crew was not able to ask them questions. But, the rescued boat-people with signals said that nearly 200 people were present in the boat, the local Bangala Newspaper more added.
However, the crew of the ship brought the rescued boat-people to Singapore, but the ship will arrive there the next Sunday, the paper said.
A businessman from Teknaf said that many boat-people have been missing in the deep sea because the crews were unable to rescue other voyagers.
According to different sources, in two months, more than 300 boat-people have been missed in the Bay of Bengal.

Village administrators summoned at Nasaka camp

Maungdaw, Arakan State: All Village Administration officers, under Nasaka (Burma’s border security force) area No.7 of Maungdaw south were summoned to its local Nasaka commanding office by the Commander on December 6, 2012, said one of the local village Administration officer from Aley Than Kyaw village.
“We were called because to pay night sentry in the villages for security.”
In the meeting, the Nasaka commander discussed many different issues with village leaders regarding the present situation of Arakan State, said an aide of Nasaka.
Later, the commander told to stop primary education of Arabic literature where religious teachers have been teaching small boys and girls inside the mosques or Moktobs (small school) without knowledge of concerned authorities, he added.
“Every village has to pay sentry at night, if anyone does not comply with the order, he will be punished according to the law,” the commander said.
The Gonzondia village administration officer - Biala - asked to the Nasaka commander, the end of his speech, “No youths in the village now, they left from Arakan because of fear of arrest and arbitrary harassments by the concerned authorities. Mostly, old people are living in the villages. How they will pay night sentry in the cold season?,”
The Nasaka commander reply, “I don’t know, I need sentry in the village at night.It is my order.”
A local elder said on condition of anonymity, “We are very afraid to pay sentry at night. We will be arrested by the security forces over the false and fabricated allegations. It is be very difficult for the Rohingya community at this moment.”
It is another tactic to arrest the villagers or to arrest after giving allegation when the villagers are present in the sentry camps, said a trader from the locality.
Another local elder said, “To stop the basic primary Arabic education in villages is another deprivation of Rohingys’ rights. We have been teaching young children since long.” 
Many people say, the present government is varying into democracy, but, in fact, it is not changing. It is worse than previous one. President’s mind set is not changed, so far, though he has altered civilian clothes, said a politician.

Myanmar can keep Rohingya from starving. But will it?

Photo - CNN

Editor’s note: Sarnata Reynolds is the Statelessness Program Manager at Refugees International. Her most recent report is entitled ‘Rohingya in Burma: Spotlight on Current Crisis Offers Opportunity for Progress.’ The views expressed are her own.

Last week, CNN’s Dan Rivers reported that he “wasn't prepared to see children starving to death” when he went to camps for internally-displaced Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Though no one can (or should) ever get used to such horrors, the prevalence of starvation in this region should not come as a surprise.

In early July, a United Nations “joint rapid nutrition assessment” found that 2,000 children in these camps were at a high risk of mortality. A further 9,000 children needed supplementary feeding of some kind, and 2,500 were at risk of acute malnourishment if their nutrition needs were not met. Three months later, 2,900 children were estimated to be at a high risk of death, and 14,000 children aged 6 months to 59 months needed supplementary feeding.

In his heartbreaking piece, Rivers said that perhaps he was “naïve or idealistic” to think that this tragedy could have been easily avoided. But there is nothing naïve about assuming that the Rohingya communities along the Bay of Bengal should have enough food to eat. This region is not experiencing a famine: there are fish aplenty in the seas off Myanmar’s western shore, and there are rice paddies and coconut plantations. The problem is that the Myanmar government is not allowing the Rohingya to access any of those resources. Since the outbreak of violence in Rakhine State in June, the government has not permitted the Rohingya to move freely at all. Confined to their camps, tens of thousands of Rohingya – among them thousands of children – are going hungry.

More from CNN: Landmark trip includes Myanmar visit

In most other food crises, humanitarian aid workers would be able to move in quickly with lifesaving interventions. But not in Myanmar. Extreme restrictions have been placed on humanitarian agencies – either directly by the government, or indirectly by members of the Rakhine community, who threaten anyone seen to be working with the Rohingya. As a result, thousands of Rohingya children are going hungry. The central government’s refusal to intervene on behalf of the Rohingya community is a disgrace and, whether intentionally or not, it is resulting in the starvation of children.

I traveled to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, in September as part of a team from Refugees International. During that time, I visited almost every nearby Rohingya IDP camp. In these squalid settlements, there were babies and toddlers so weakened by hunger that they sat limply on their parents’ arms. In one camp, a crowd of people formed around us, and a man in the back raised his baby in the air so that I would see how emaciated and malnourished he was. I can’t imagine the pain and desperation that father must have felt as he raised his child above the crowd, showing us the devastation this crisis has wrought.

The sad fact is that once a child reaches a certain level of malnutrition, he may die even if he is fed. Right now, roughly 2,900 babies and toddlers in the Rohingya camps may be beyond help. But there is no reason that even one more child should be added to that awful tally. If experienced medical staff were given immediate access, nearly all of the 14,000 Rohingya children in need of supplementary feeding could be brought back from the brink. Skilled practitioners could be called in at a moment’s notice, but that would require a change in the government’s position. Unless the Burmese authorities commit to broad access and assistance to the Rohingya in these camps, more children will wither away. And right now, there is not the political will in Naypyidaw for such a commitment.

At the same time that President Thein Sein and the rest of the Myanmar government are being applauded for their movement toward democracy, marginalized and stateless Rohingya children are starving. No doubt this crisis muddies the narrative of positive change in Myanmar, but that is no reason to dismiss it. If anything, this human tragedy clarifies that all is not well in Myanmar, and it demands that the international community call Myanmar’s authorities to account for continuing atrocities.

Nasaka fire on Rohingya in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma border security force (Nasaka) open fired to the villagers of Bagona villagers but, no one was wounded today night at about 9:00pm, according to an elder from Bagona village.

“A group of Nasaka numbering about 40, entered Bagona east village with the name of family list checking and arrested 5 villagers with false allegation – involving in the riot- where the villagers screamed for help. Hearing the scream, the west side of villagers rushed to the spot. The Nasaka released the villagers when they saw villagers.”
After half an hour, the Nasaka again entered to Bagona west, but the villagers screamed for help, similarly, the east side villagers rushed to the west side where Nasaka open fired to the villagers when they saw the come to the village, said Anwer from Maungdaw who had connection with his relative in Bagona village.
“At last, the Nasaka entered to the village market and set on fire the fish market line, but the villagers managed to control the fire.”
The villagers are not sleeping in the homes and stay in the village to protect from security force from set on fire, a village admin official said.
“The Nasaka are from Padinn( Fatan Za) to extort money from villagers which is going as routine one village to another under their control.”
“The Nasaka always going to Rohingya villages – in Maungdaw municipal or rural areas- in the name of family list checking - a method to extort money from Rohingya villagers – after June riot. The Rohingyas from Maungdaw are always aware for fear of arrest when the Nasaka , police , army enter to their villages. The Rohingyas run away from the villages when the security force entered the village. In this situation, the security force used the opportunity to loot, rape and extorting money with allegation of runaway to Bangladesh for absenting family member.” 
When try to contact the Nasska out post of Padinn, no one received the call to answer about the event.

Security force harass Rohingya to extort money in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Security force from Pahlapa camp of MaungNi village under Burma border security force (Nasaka) headquarters harassed Rohingya villagers to extort money with false allegation, according to a student from the village who didn’t want to be mention.

“A security officer-Aung Myint Soe- who referred the director of Nasaka and used the power to extort money from villagers with false allegation. He summoned the villagers who have money and able to pay if he used his power to harass them.”
Aung Myint Soe summoned three Rohingya villagers- Hashim, son of Shaker Husson, Osman Goni, son of Abdul Latif and Illiyas , son of Gafor- with false allegation of holding Bangladesh mobile phone and arrested them asked huge money for released. When they refused to pay money, Aung Myint Soe kept them in the camp where they were tortured until to fulfil the demand, said a victim of Aung Myint Soe.
“Aung Myint Soe collected 700,000 kyat from Hashim, 500,000 kyat from Osman Gani and 400,000 kyat from Illiyas.”
Try to contact Aung Myint Soe, personnel mobile phone -0949584802- but no received the called. But, he has also Bangladeshi mobile phone, not able to get the contact with it.
“Most of security force are using Bangladesh mobile phone and also hired the Bangladeshi phone to Rohingya through their agent with monthly base,” said a businessman who used Nasaka hired phone for his safety.
Besides, the Pahlapa camp used through their agent- ex village admin officer, Mohamed Rashid- to collect money from prawn pond – 3000 per pond per month and weekly the pond owner had to supply the security force- one pack of coffee Mix, sugar 2 kg and two bundles of fire woods, said a pond owner.