tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45797500726533342352024-03-13T21:38:38.858-07:00ARAKAN INDOBHASACurrent Myanmar News Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.comBlogger5877125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-63004399330545972142020-03-30T20:29:00.000-07:002020-03-30T20:29:11.974-07:00Myanmar Villagers Tell of 150 Homes Burned in Deadly Army Air Attacks<div id="header-image" style="background-color: white; color: #080808; font-family: Asap, sans-serif; font-size: 20.6px; margin-bottom: 2rem; margin-left: -15px; margin-top: 2rem; max-width: 600px; width: 100vw;">
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<amp-img class="i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-layout" height="350" i-amphtml-auto-lightbox-visited="" i-amphtml-layout="responsive" layout="responsive" lightbox="i-amphtml-auto-lightbox-0" src="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/homes-burned-03302020205730.html/myanmar-villagers-press-confernce-sittwe-mar30-2020.JPG" style="--loader-delay-offset: 370ms !important; color: #080808; display: block; font-size: 20.6px; font-style: normal; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative;" width="622"><img class="i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content" decoding="async" src="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/homes-burned-03302020205730.html/myanmar-villagers-press-confernce-sittwe-mar30-2020.JPG" style="border: none !important; bottom: 0px; display: block; height: 0px; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 1em;">Artillery fire and aerial bombardments by Myanmar forces killed three civilians and burned scores of houses in their communities in mid-March amid fighting between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army in war-ravaged Rakhine state, villagers recounted Monday at a press conference.</span></amp-img></div>
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<span style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Asap, sans-serif; font-size: 12.36px; font-style: italic;">Villagers from Kyauktaw township in western Myanmar's Rakhine state discuss the government military's attacks on their communities at press conference in Sittwe, March 30, 2020.</span></div>
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They made the comments after traveling from in Kyauktaw township to the state capital Sittwe to give testimony on a series of attacks on civilian dwellings amid a government-imposed internet shutdown in nine townships in Rakhine and neighboring Chin state, cutting off vital information about the fighting.</div>
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They villagers accused the Myanmar Army of conducting an aerial bombing on civilian communities that destroyed about 150 homes and a monastery in Pyaing Taing village, while government soldiers on the ground torched houses in neighboring Tin Ma village.</div>
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Pyaing Taing residents said they believe that Myanmar soldiers intentionally bombed and burned down some houses in their community.</div>
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“Three people were killed and ten were injured,” said villager Maung Ba Saw. “They were killed by the heavy artillery blast. We were hurt for no reason. They must be firing from a distance.”</div>
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“The aerial bombing burned many houses on March 12 while many villagers were there,” he added. “At least 19 houses were burned down.”</div>
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On March 21, Myanmar soldiers also entered Tin Ma village, which has more than 500 houses, and later burned down dozens of homes, they said.</div>
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“They had entered the village, searched some houses and taken some property they wanted. That was all,” said Tin Ma resident Zaw Aung.</div>
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“But on March 22, they had entered into the village around 11 a.m. and fired their guns indiscriminately in all directions,” he said. “They started burning down the houses around 11:10 a.m.”</div>
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Residents fled as soldiers fired their weapons and recorded a video of the village burning from a nearby river bank as evidence, Zaw Aung added.</div>
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Six days earlier, Myanmar troops had detained more than 50 Tin Ma residents whom they suspected of having ties to the AA, but later released 40 of them, he said.</div>
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The others are still being held, though residents recently found a body that they believe to be one of the detained villagers.</div>
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Intense fighting in rural areas of Kyauktaw township since February has killed many civilians in the area, the villagers said without giving a precise figure, and forced scores of others to flee to Kyauktaw town for safety.</div>
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RFA’s Myanmar Service could not reach military spokesmen Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun or Colonel Win Zaw Oo, chief of the Western Command, for comment on the press conference.</div>
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<b>Minbya village burned</b></div>
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In Rakine’s Minbya township, two civilians were burned alive on March 25 when a Myanmar Army column set fire to 11 homes in Hpa Pyo village near the Ramaung suspension bridge, despite no clashes in the areas, a resident said.</div>
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“That night around 10 p.m., soldiers from the military entered the village and burned the houses,” said Hpa Pyi resident Kyaing Thar.</div>
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“Two houses were burned down at first,” he said. “After that, they came to burn down more houses. A total of 11 houses were burned down.”</div>
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An elderly woman and a middle-aged man, who was decapitated, burned in the blaze, Kyaing Thar said.</div>
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“The villagers are too afraid to go back to the village because it still might be dangerous, he added. </div>
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“There were no battles in the area.”</div>
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Hpa Pyo villagers are now taking sanctuary in nearby villages, he said.</div>
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RFA could not reach Rakhine state lawmaker Hla Thein Aung from Minbya township to confirm the report.</div>
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<b>AA seizes rice bags</b></div>
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The AA on Sunday allegedly seized 120 bags of rice — a staple food in Myanmar — that the Chin state government purchased for displaced ethnic Chin villagers, a local leader said.</div>
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The soldiers returned most of the bags in the evening after the media reported the incident, said Kyaw Nyein, chairman of the Khumi Affairs Coordination Council.</div>
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“After we informed the media, they returned 100 bags, but kept 20 bags,” he said, adding that the AA agreed to pay 35,000 kyats (U.S. $25) for each bag that they took.</div>
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The 120 bags constituted the first shipment of rice supplies purchased by the state government to be shipped from the town of Samee to Paletwa town, he said.</div>
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AA spokesman Khine Thukha said Arakan soldiers had inspected the bags of rice, but did not take any of them.</div>
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“AA troops didn’t do anything more than inspect the vehicle carrying the rice bags,” he told RFA. “The media are distorting it as AA troops committing a robbery.”</div>
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Chin Community leaders said the price of rice meanwhile has skyrocketed to 70,000 kyats (U.S. 50) per bag because of the difficulty in transporting supplies to the remote location.</div>
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Thousands of villagers from Paletwa township have been displaced by fighting between Myanmar forces and the AA and are now living temporarily in Samee and Paletwa towns.</div>
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They have experienced rice shortages since February due to an uptick in fighting between Myanmar soldiers and the AA. Paletwa also is under a government-ordered internet service ban, making it difficult for locals to make a living and conduct business.<br /><i><b></b></i></div>
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<i><b>Reported by RFA’s Washington office and Min Thein Aung, Thant Zin Oo, and Waiyan Moe Myint for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.</b></i></div>
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<span style="color: #080808; font-family: PT Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: 20.6px;"><i>https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/homes-burned-03302020205730.html/ampRFA</i></span></span></div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-18587219040236394192020-03-26T02:19:00.002-07:002020-03-26T02:19:43.914-07:00China, the Arakan Army, and a Myanmar solution<h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, Reboto, Pyidaungsu-Regular, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px;">
<strong style="font-family: Lora-Bold, Reboto, Pyidaungsu-Regular, Arial, sans-serif;">Popular support in Rakhine State for the Arakan Army has been a game changer for the conflict there and is one reason why the ethnic armed group is increasingly impervious to pressure from China.</strong></h3>
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By YUN SUN | FRONTIER</div>
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The emergence of the Arakan Army has created the most acute problem for the stalled peace process and Myanmar’s efforts to end decades of conflict.</div>
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The severe fighting between the AA and Tatmadaw in Rakhine and Chin States since January 2019 has not only caused instability, insecurity and casualties. It has also sucked up all the attention and resources that stakeholders could otherwise have devoted to negotiations and political dialogue.</div>
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The conflict involving the AA is complicating this year’s general elections at the national level and hindering voting at the local level. The fighting is also obstructing progress in addressing the Rohingya crisis because repatriating refugees to conflict zones is neither desirable nor feasible.</div>
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The basic question</h4>
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The prevailing question about the AA is this: when will China intervene to stop the AA?</div>
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It’s a question with some legitimacy because the AA’s existence has been closely linked to groups with strong ties to China. The AA was created by the Kachin Independence Army at its headquarters at Laiza, on the Myanmar-China border, and its development has been fostered by the KIA and more recently the United Wa State Army. These are the two biggest and strongest ethnic armed organisations based along Myanmar’s border with China. The KIA and UWSA are subject to China’s influence and arguably, to China’s preferences (although to different degrees).</div>
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Politically, the AA is a member of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee, a grouping of seven EAOs in northern Myanmar headed by the UWSA. Militarily, the AA is a member of the Northern Alliance, which includes the KIA, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.</div>
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The argument that China could stop the AA’s attacks is centred on the basic inference that because the AA is the proxy of China’s proxies (especially the UWSA), China has the unequivocal ability to impose its preference either directly on the AA or indirectly through the UWSA. Even if the AA does not completely rely on the UWSA and KIA for funding, because it has established independent revenue sources such as weapons and drug trafficking, the UWSA is assumed to possess a determining influence over the AA through the supply of arms. The logic is therefore simple: if China wants to shut down the AA’s ability to fight, it could tell the UWSA to stop supplying it with weapons.</div>
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The secondary question</h4>
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An obvious question therefore arises: why has China not stopped the AA and the fighting in Rakhine State?</div>
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It’s a reasonable question. The attacks by the AA are not in China’s interest. Aside from China’s general distaste for conflict and instability, the AA’s military operations are creating real problems for China. The AA is fighting across Rakhine State and with its Northern Alliance partners has been involved in offensives in northern Shan State and in Mandalay Region, a strategic corridor through which China accesses the Indian Ocean from its southwestern Yunnan Province.</div>
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Other than damaging the investment environment for China’s infrastructure projects in the region, the fighting has disrupted traffic on the main highway linking Mandalay with the border trade town of Muse. The highway is the most important artery for bilateral trade and is the thoroughfare most vulnerable to attack. Last August, after the coordinated attacks by the AA, TNLA and MNDAA on the Defence Services Technological Academy in Pyin Oo Lwin and on police posts and other targets in neighbouring Shan State, the highway was closed for days.</div>
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Is the AA stoppable?</h4>
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After the August attacks, China reportedly articulated its concerns and exerted pressure on the AA, but to no avail. In fact, there is growing evidence that China’s ability to control the AA is limited. One reason is that the UWSA is not entirely subject to pressure from China and can sell the AA weapons made within its territory, which it controls with great autonomy. Another reason is that the UWSA does not have a monopoly on the supply of weapons to the AA. As long as the AA has the financial capacity, it can buy weapons on the black market, including from other countries.</div>
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Despite early weaknesses, the AA’s growing capability, battlefield successes and gradual acquisition of territory has made it ineliminable. It is economically strong, with significant financial resources acquired from trafficking and other illegal activities, as well as donations from its supporters inside and outside Myanmar. The economic and political appeal of the AA has enabled it to recruit increasing numbers of troops. It is no longer a small, weak ethnic armed group struggling for survival.</div>
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One of the most important factors in the rise of the AA has been its steadily increasing popularity among the Rakhine people, who are the fundamental source of its legitimacy, strength and sustainability. The Rakhine people are disappointed by what they regard as the denial of their political rights and are disillusioned by the democratic process.</div>
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Although the Arakan National Party won 22 of the 35 elected seats in the 47-member Rakhine Hluttaw in the general election in November 2015, the Bamar-dominated National League for Democracy exercised its right under the constitution to appoint one of its own as chief minister, despite winning only nine state hluttaw seats.</div>
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There is also bitterness among the Rakhine over the sentencing in March last year of former ANP leader Dr Aye Maung to 20 years’ imprisonment for high treason over a speech in which he reportedly accused the NLD of treating the Rakhine people like “slaves”. The long prison term eliminated any hope of a negotiated solution to ethnic reconciliation in Rakhine.</div>
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This political disaffection has increased support for the AA, which at the same time was emerging as a more powerful force. The people’s support for the AA has fundamentally changed the game. The AA no longer lives off the patronage of larger groups. Instead, it is gaining legitimacy as the representative of the Rakhine people, who comprise the majority of the state’s population – a much higher percentage than the number of Kachin in Kachin State. The support of the people who comprise most of the state’s population is the most important reason for the sustainability and tenacity of the AA.</div>
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The popular support has significantly influenced China’s attitude towards the AA. As the creator and promoter of “people’s war”, the Communist Party of China is deeply sensitive to the power and importance of popular support. The AA’s growing constituency and support in Rakhine dictates that China will not antagonise it at the risk of alienating the majority population of a state in which it has important economic interests, even if that means China has to bear the costs of the AA’s attacks in the short term.</div>
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The fundamental question</h4>
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Despite their desire and rationale to deny the AA legitimacy and recognition, the Myanmar government and the Tatmadaw will have to grapple with the reality that the group’s political legitimacy and military tenacity have grown beyond their control.</div>
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If a decisive military victory is not attainable, the only other option is a political solution involving dialogue and negotiations. Whether that happens after a prolonged war of attrition is Myanmar’s choice. But holding China responsible for the situation in Rakhine is unlikely to bring about a solution, because the AA’s ability to wage war does not depend on China.</div>
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A resolution to the conflict will eventually need a Myanmar solution.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Lora, Reboto, Pyidaungsu-Regular, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/china-the-arakan-army-and-a-myanmar-solution?fbclid=IwAR1ma5Ovd3as0ADsHnPs-wdwmx1Nrt-ZVJRNOImj1UgrmajTp5Wa6O9QEj4</span></span></div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-72388565538985473172020-03-11T06:20:00.000-07:002020-03-11T06:20:49.720-07:00Myanmar’s Arakan Army seizes 30 soldiers in Chin fighting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Arakan Army captured 30 soldiers after fighting government troops in Paletwa township in Chin State, the armed ethnic group said Wednesday.<br />
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Khaing Thu Kha, a spokesperson of the Arakan Army, said among the captives is a battalion commander.<br />
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“We arrested two captains and eight soldiers today. We arrested 20 soldiers yesterday,” he told The Myanmar Times. “We detain them under the prisoner of war law.”<br />
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Khaing Thu Kha said the Tatmadaw (military) used rocket launchers, artillery, jet fighters, and helicopters during the fighting on Wednesday.<br />
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“We seized a lot of weapons, and 20 soldiers died in the fight,” he said. “Some AA members also died.”<br />
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The Myanmar Times was unable to reach Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, secretary of Tatmadaw True News Information Team, to confirm the report of the Arakan Army spokesperson.<br />
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A 50-year-old man died in the clashes, and three other civilians injured in an artillery fire that hit Vi Hu Village on Monday, according to U Kyaw Nyein, chair of the Paletwa-based civic group Khumi Affairs Coordination Council (KACC).<br />
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"The Tatmadaw and AA exchanged fires. AA fighters stayed inside the village, and when the Tatmadaw fired at the village with heavy shells, locals suffered,” he told The Myanmar Times. “AA is everywhere in Paletwa, and people fled their homes for safety.”<br />
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U Kyaw Nyein identified the fatality as U Chit Tun, an ethnic Rakhine. The injured were U Hla Maung Chay, U Kyaw Mya, and U Ye Tun Aung.<br />
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The fresh round of fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Paletwa started on February 5, cutting off transport routes to the township, which caused acute food shortage for over 100,000 residents<br />
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Earlier in the week, the Arakan Army has allowed the transport of 6000 sacks of rice to the township, but it has yet to arrive there.<br />
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The rice will be coming from the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe and would be transferred to Kyauktaw township by trucks. From Kyauktaw, the rice will be ferried to Paletwa via Kaladan River.<br />
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The Arakan Army, comprised of predominantly ethnic Rakhine people, is fighting for autonomy from the central government. - Translated<br />
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https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmars-arakan-army-seizes-30-soldiers-chin-fighting.html</div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-63053800896548216262020-03-11T03:19:00.003-07:002020-03-11T03:19:51.307-07:00India in the Myanmar muddle<div class="media-img mt-30 mb-20 detail-image" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue LT Std"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 30px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">
<figure class="image" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">March 8, 2020</span><span style="font-size: 17px;"> | By: </span><a class="post-author" href="https://south-asian-monitor.com/en/author/subir-shaumik" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e4a015; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.35s ease-out 0s; user-select: text !important;">Subir Bhaumik</a></figure><figure class="image" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="" src="https://www.south-asian-monitor.com/storage/images/shared/2020/Mar/08/SUNDAY%20SPECIAL-ENG-08-03-2020%20copy.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /><figcaption style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; margin: 7px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Arakan Army trainees</span></figcaption></figure></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Desperate to complete the ambitious US$ 484 million Kaladan Multimodal Project and get it operational, India may be getting too closely involved in what is essentially Myanmar's problem, namely, tackling an invigorated insurgency in the country's coastal province of Rakhine (previously Arakan). </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Policy analysts familiar with Myanmar advise New Delhi to be cautious.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The Arakan Army (AA), formed in 2009 in the northern state of Kachin, is now attacking the Burmese military called “Tatmadaw” continuously, even in urban areas, in an effort to weaken Tatmadow’s hold on the strategic Rakhine province, where both China and India have initiated major connectivity projects.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The Chinese have finished the Kyaukphyu deep sea port and are going ahead with a Special Economic Zone around it with rail-road connections and oil-gas pipelines linking it with their Yunnan province. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The Indians have renovated the Sittwe port and are seeking to use it to connect to Mizoram in India through the Kaladan river.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The Myanmar military suspects that the AA is trying to create a liberated zone with a strong base in Rakhine in keeping with its bid to free Rakhine of Myanmar’s control.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">But analysts say that the Myanmar army is unable to curb the Arakan Army, which has 7000-8000 well-armed fighters trained by the Kachins. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">"The Arakan Army is pursuing a different kind of warfare. It is not trying to hold territory. It hits the Tatmadaw hard and then vanishes. The Tatmadaw has no answer to this highly mobile warfare," says Myanmar specialist, Bertil Lintner.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">That the Arakan Army is not to be taken lightly weighs heavy with Indian military planners. They want to back the Tatmadaw to regain control over the rebels in Rakhine so that the Kaladan project is completed and made operational. But they don't want to get too deeply involved so as to avoid Arakan Army retaliation.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">"We should stay away from the Rakhine muddle. Surely we should not get involved militarily, much as the Myanmar army the Tatmadaw might want us to ," says military analyst John Mukherjee.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Mukherjee, a retired Lieutenant General and a former Chief of Staff of India's Eastern Command, heads the Calcutta-based security affairs think tank CENERS-K, which counts former army chief General Shankar Raychoudhuri among its patrons.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">"The project is important for India, specially for Mizoram State, but it is not something for which we should get involved in fighting the Arakan Army rebels," Mukherjee told South Asian Monitor. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">After years of delay, in 2018, India finally kicked off the construction of the 109-km road project that connects the Paletwa River terminal with Zorinpui on the Mizoram-Myanmar border. But still work on this phase of the project has been tortuously slow. One reason for this is the Arakan Army's constant disruptions. They kidnap workers involved in road and bridge construction.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The ₹1,600-crore road project that passes through dense forests and hilly areas was awarded to the Delhi-based C&C Constructions in June 2017. But the contractor had to wait till January 2018 for the requisite clearances from the Myanmar government to start work.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The company lobbied for strong military action and the Indian army conducted Operation Sunrise last year to demolish the Arakan Army's bases in southern Mizoram. The Indian army formally accepted, in a press statement, that the operation was necessary to tackle the Arakan Army which had 'emerged as a threat to the Kaladan project."</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">On completion, the project will help connect Mizoram with the Sittwe Port in Rakhine State of Myanmar. The project was undertaken as a sea-land access to the Northeast when Bangladesh under then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was not playing ball. But now, with the Hasina government agreeing to multi modal transit to North East India through Bangladesh (road, rail, sea), the Kakadan project is not so important anymore, except for landlocked Mizoram.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">"It is not something which calls for military intervention," says Myanmar watcher Binoda Mishra of the Centre for Studies in International Relations & Development (CSIRD). "We should learn to balance, to hunt with the hound and swim with the crocodile," he says.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">India has already completed the rest of the Kaladan project in Myanmar. This includes the construction of the Sittwe Port on the Lakadan river mouth in Rakhine; construction of a river terminal 158 upstream at Paletwa; and dredging of the Kaladan river.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">On the Indian side, work is on to extend the Aizawl-Saiha National Highway by 90 km to the international border at Zorinpui. Also, a ₹6,000-crore project is underway for four laning the 300-km highway from the Myanmar border to Aizawl to ensure faster movement of goods.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Completion of the Paletwa-Zorinpui road, therefore, holds the key to operationalize the Kaladan multi-modal project. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">However, after Operation Sunrise, the Arakan Army has attacked Indian interests more regularly than before. In November2019, five Indian workers and four local workers involved with the Kaladan road project were kidnapped, along with a Maynmarse MP from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) MP in Chin State of Myanmar. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, a former rebel leader with extensive contacts among the rebel groups on the India-Myanmar border, played a key role in getting all workers except one, and the Myanmarese MP released. One of the workers had died in captivity. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">A similar incident of abduction of local workers involved with the Kaladan project took place in March 2019. The Arakan Army set ablaze a civilian vessel carrying 300 steel frames for the Paletwa bridge and the crew were abducted. That perhaps influenced India to undertake Operation Sunrise in close coordination with the Tatmadaw. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">But instead of being cowed down, the operation seems to have provoked the Arakan Army more.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">AA spokesman U Khaing Thukkha recently told the Myanmar media: “China recognizes us but India doesn't." Analysts say that because India has refused to pay up, the Arakan Army is upset. They feel China may have already done that to ensure there is no disruption of its Kyaukphyu deep sea port and the SEZ project. Initially that project was pitched at US$ 6 billion but has now been scaled down to below US$ 2 billion because Myanmar fears an unsustainable debt burden.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">"In Myanmar, China maintains fine relations with both the federal government and the Tatmadaw on the one hand and also with rebel groups, specially those in the Northern Alliance. It is an open secret and widely reported in the media that it has armed the Wa and Kokang groups. It is possible that Chinese agencies have already paid the Arakan Army</span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">," </span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">a leading military analyst with a top Delhi based think tank told </span><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Southasian Monitor</em><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">There is no evidence of Chinese assistance to the Arakan Army though. Butthe fact that the Chinese project at Kyaukphyu has not been disturbed and the Indian Kaladan project has been, has raised suspicions about Chinese payments. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">“We should follow the Chinese model of playing all sides rather than get dragged into the Rakhine conflict by the Myanmar military," John Mukherjee said. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The Tatmadaw had recently requested the Indian army to provide it passage through some strategic corridors in southern Mizoram. That has raised questions in New Delhi. The lessons learned from the involvement in Sri Lanka's Tamil conflict weigh heavy on India, specially its army. The Indian Peace Keeping Force not only suffered major losses in Jaffna but it also provoked the Tamil Tigers, once backed by India, to attack and kill former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga recently told South Asian Monitor that he had asked Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar to appoint a new contractor for the Kaladan project because C&C has gone bankrupt .</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">"The C&C has no idea how to do business in this area. Rakhine is not Indian territory and the Indian army can't do much. I have asked Delhi to appoint a new contractor who can then be properly advised," Zoramthanga said, hinting that the new contractor can be put in touch with the Arakan Army and could pay up to buy peace.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The Arakan Army has maintained that it is not against trans-national projects in Rakhine, provided India "recognizes" AA and does not cooperate with the Tatmadaw. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Zoramthanga, a former rebel leader who now helps Modi bring other northeastern rebel groups to the table, is clearly against any Indian military adventure in Rakhine. He would much rather use his influence with the AA to get the Kaladan project going, as it is very important for his State, Mizoram. But such a course risks upsetting the Yangon government, specially its all-powerful military.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">Stretched in counter-insurgency duties in Kashmir and the North East and having to stand guard over the long borders with China and Pakistan, the Indian army can ill afford to get dragged into the Rakhine muddle by the wily Myanmar Generals as it got dragged into Jaffna by a shrewd Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">The million dollar question before India now is whether it can develop its Myanmar policy entirely on good relations with the ruling regime and the military or it will have to revert back to the 1987-96 policy of "selective relationships" with rebel groups like the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) or the National Unity Party of Arakans (NUPA) to protect its interests on the border which the Myanmar military has failed to control. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;">With someone like Zoramthanga (who admits to having played some role in the Burmese peace process in the pre-SuuKyi era) around, India could actually consider a role in bringing the AA and the Tatmadaw to the negotiating table.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text !important;"><a href="https://south-asian-monitor.com/en/top-news/india-in-the-myanmar-muddle?fbclid=IwAR2VVYYuytnrldiSR_LdTuHSGM93iLrWvYiQ6Nw_59WEYRbdb6nbVObDH2k">https://south-asian-monitor.com/en/top-news/india-in-the-myanmar-muddle?fbclid=IwAR2VVYYuytnrldiSR_LdTuHSGM93iLrWvYiQ6Nw_59WEYRbdb6nbVObDH2k</a></span></div>
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Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-73222656583874126292020-01-28T23:55:00.001-08:002020-01-28T23:55:25.283-08:00Ancient Rakhine City of Mrauk-U Proposed for UNESCO World Heritage SiteThe Irrawaddy<br />
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YANGON—Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture submitted the final draft of its nomination for Mrauk-U to become a World Heritage Site to UNESCO on Monday, four months after the ministry submitted the first draft of its nomination in September 2019.<br />
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If the application succeeds, Mrauk-U will be the third place in Myanmar to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after the ancient cities of Bagan and Pyu.<br />
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Mrauk-U is located in northern Rakhine State, around 60 km from the state capital of Sittwe.<br />
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The ancient city was the seat of Arakanese kings from the 1400s until the late 1700s. At the height of their power, they controlled an area covering large parts of eastern Bengal, modern-day Rakhine State and the western part of central Myanmar.<br />
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Much of the city’s remains are well-preserved and some 380 historic temples are scattered between the lush hills of northern Rakhine.<br />
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Mrauk-U Heritage Trust chairwoman Daw Khin Than told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that UNESCO will first visit the Mrauk-U heritage sites secretly as tourists in mid-2020 and then will launch their official inspections in September 2020. UNESCO will decide if Mrauk-U will be listed as a World Heritage Site in 2021.<br />
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The town saw occasional fighting in 2019 between Myanmar military troops and the Arakan Army (AA), a local ethnic armed group seeking autonomy.<br />
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”We are not sure if there will be fighting during the follow up visit when UNESCO inspects the heritage sites. We are worried about that,” said Daw Khin Than.<br />
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She also said that due to clashes between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), some ancient pagodas in Mrauk-U have reportedly been damaged.<br />
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Bagan, an archaeological zone and major tourist attraction in central Myanmar, was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in July 2019 after many years and multiple attempts.<br />
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The ancient Pyu cities of Halin, Beikthano and Sri Ksretra were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2014. The cities are the remains of the Pyu kingdoms that spanned eleven centuries, from 200 BC to 900 AD.<br />
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Myanmar has also submitted drafts for 12 other sites to be considered for UNSECO World Heritage status.<br />
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https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/ancient-rakhine-city-mrauk-u-proposed-unesco-world-heritage-site.html<br />
<br />Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-83645963166124568532020-01-27T21:19:00.000-08:002020-01-27T21:19:31.993-08:00Ancient Koe- thaung Temple parts damaged due to artillery shelling vibration<h2 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #121212; font-family: "Myanmar Sans Pro", Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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Narinjara News, 28 January 2020</div>
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Some parts of ancient Koe- thaung Temple in Mrauk U township are reportedly damaged due to the vibration of artillery shillings by Myanmar Army personnel around the locality, alleged local residents.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Many parts of roots & wells in north and north-western direction of the pagoda were cracked, said Daw Khin Than, chairman of Mrauk U heritage preservation association.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“The damage may augment if heavy shelling of artilleries nearby the pagoda is not stopped by the authority,” she added.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Koe-thaung Temple was built by Arakan’s great king Min Dikkha during 1553 -1556 where 90,000 Buddha images are placed. The large-size pagoda faced devastation in the past. However the archaeology department has started renovating it. Some parts of the pagoda are already renovated, but it is not completely done.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“Some parts were also damaged by the shelling of artilleries. The Koe- thaung Temple is surrounded by hills where the security forces are targeting the Arakan Army members. So the concerned authority should take proper initiatives to prevent such activities there,” added Daw Khin Than.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Mrauk U locality continues witnessing the conflict situation since 2019 where the security personnel had established many artillery bases to target the AA members.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“We may not distinguish the types of artillery and missiles but can say definitely that the sound generated by those arms is too high. Often we experience tremors whenever the artillery is fired,” said an elder from Mrauk U locality.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />U Thein Tun, an official from the archaeology and national museum department based in Mrauk U revealed that he had already received the information about partial damages caused to the Koe- thaung Temple because of shelling of artilleries.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Rakhine State Parliament had sent a letter to the Arakan government on 8 May 2019 asking both the Myanmar Army personnel and Arakan Army members to avoid incidents of fighting nearby the ancient pagoda. But the fighting still continues till date.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />People are raising voices to recognize the ancient area of Mrauk U as a world heritage site under the UNESCO. Similarly, the Union religious affairs ministry had also submitted a letter to the UNESCO on 24 Sept 2019 pursuing for its world heritage status.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />But the ongoing violence may seemingly destroy the dream of villagers. However, some representatives from the UNESCO are expected to visit the Mrauk U locality by August next for field studies.</div>
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Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-16887321469389672122019-12-10T06:07:00.001-08:002019-12-10T06:07:52.632-08:00Arakan Army to ‘Tax’ Large Projects in Myanmar’s Rakhine, Chin States<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint: 10 December 2019<br />
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YANGON—The Arakan Army (AA) is planning to levy “taxes” on infrastructure projects and other businesses in areas of Rakhine and Chin states under its control, including the India-backed Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transportation Project, worth an estimated US$480 million (722.25 billion kyats), according to AA chief Major General Tun Myat Naing.<br />
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He told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the ethnic armed organization (EAO) would start collecting money from the operators of large-scale projects, but did not say whether small and medium-sized businesses would also be taxed.<br />
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He said the taxes would be imposed from next year, as the group is currently compiling lists of the projects and businesses operating in those parts of Rakhine State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township where AA troops are present, and is in the process of deciding how much they will be required to pay.<br />
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Maungdaw Border Traders Association chairman U Aung Myint Thein told The Irrawaddy he was unaware of the AA’s plan.<br />
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Daw Toe Nandar Tin, vice chairwoman of the Myanmar Fishery Federation, said businesspeople from other parts of Myanmar do not invest in Rakhine’s fishery sector, due to the conflict there.<br />
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Maj-Gen Tun Myat Naing said projects and companies that fail to pay would not be allowed to do business in the area, and threatened to destroy them.<br />
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He said the operators of the Kaladan project, which was initiated jointly by India and Myanmar, had failed to acknowledge the group’s authority in the region, and that the AA planned to collect taxes as a way of asserting itself.<br />
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The AA chief said, “We are planning to send letters to the Indian Embassy and Indian companies. They can carry out their work, but they must inform us of their plans. And they must avoid engaging in any activities that resemble military operations. If they are only undertaking projects, they need to make sure they look like projects.”<br />
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If they intend to implement any projects in Rakhine State, the AA chief insisted, “They must negotiate with us with respect.”<br />
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He said the AA would support those projects whose owners informed the group in advance of their travel plans within the region. “If they don’t inform us, we will make them,” he said, “for security reasons.”<br />
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The AA earlier warned transportation companies, both road- and waterway-based, to inform the group of their movements to avoid “unnecessary consequences” in zones where it is fighting the Myanmar military.<br />
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In early November, an Indian man died in AA custody after being abducted along with nine others, including several Indians, who were working on the Kaladan project. The group was abducted from two boats traveling from Paletwa to Kyauktaw, Rakhine State, on Nov. 3.<br />
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AA spokesman Khaing Thukha told The Irrawaddy at the time that the armed group had not specifically targeted the Indian civilians for detention, adding that the men were detained in the course of regular AA checks on boats and speedboats for security reasons.<br />
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On March 30, the AA arrested 13 employees of the Hsu Htoo San Construction company, accusing them of affiliation with the Myanmar military. The Myanmar company works with the Kaladan project, which aims to link western Myanmar and eastern India via multiple routes. The AA later released five of the 13, including two women, but accused the rest of working undercover for the Myanmar military and detained them for five months, until they were released on Aug. 18.<br />
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On March 16, the AA fired missiles at the Yadana Win vessel in Paletwa. The vessel was carrying steel trusses for use in the Kaladan project. The attack resulted in losses to the project of 1.072 billion kyats.<br />
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Maj-Gen Tun Myat Naing promised the group would not engage in clashes near the China-Myanmar Crude Oil and Gas Pipelines, or the planned Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and Belt and Road Initiative projects, because Beijing acknowledged the existence of the AA.<br />
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“Sometimes China puts pressure on us in order to maintain stability at its border. That’s reasonable. We are fighting the Myanmar military at home. But at the same time we have to maintain good ties with our neighbor, which is much more powerful than we are.”<br />
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Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko<br />
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https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/arakan-army-tax-large-projects-myanmars-rakhine-chin-states.html<!--/data/user/0/com.samsung.android.app.notes/files/share/clipdata_191210_203446_239.sdoc-->Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-65748051545566599162019-12-06T16:33:00.000-08:002019-12-06T16:33:16.561-08:00Myanmar Arakan Army Leader’s Wife, Family Detained in Thailand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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2019-12-06<br /><br />
Hnin Zar Phyu, the wife of Arakan Army (AA) Commander-in-Chief Maj-General Tun Myat Naing, and their infant son at the immigration department in the northern Thai city of Chiangmai on December 6, 2019.<br />
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RFA<br />
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Authorities in Thailand detained the wife and children of Arakan Army (AA) Commander-in-Chief Maj-General Tun Myat Naing this week at the Thai-Myanmar border and appear set to deport them, RFA learned on Friday.<br />
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The detentions in the northern Thai city of Chiangmai were condemned by rights groups because the scenic city has been known for giving sanctuary to Myanmar expatriates and exile democracy leaders during decades of military repression and war in Myanmar.<br />
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Friends and relatives of Tun Myat Naing told RFA’s Myamar Service that his wife, Hnin Zar Phyu, 11-year-old old daughter Saw Pyae Shin, and infant son Myat Lin Zin were detained on Wednesday morning at Myanmar authorities’ request as they showed up to renew their Thai visas.<br />
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Myanmar authorities alleged that 10 relatives of Tun Myat Naing, including his wife Hnin Zar Phyu, the daughter of the speaker of Rakhine State Parliament, are involved in destructive activities against Myanmar, the sources said.<br />
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Hostilities between the Myanmar military and the AA, an ethnic Rakhine force seeking greater autonomy in the state, escalated a year ago in northern Rakhine state, resulting in dozens of civilian deaths and displacing more than 90,000 local residents.<br />
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“The Myanmar government has given a list of at least 10 individuals including the wife of Tun Myat Naing to Thai authorities, so when they came to immigration to extend their visa, their names must have showed up in the wanted list,” said a member of the Thailand-based Rakhine Human Rights Group who has been helping the detainees.<br />
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Myanmar authorities in November informed Hnin Zar Phyu that her passport is invalid and she is not recognized as citizen of Myanmar, the source said, citing Thai authorities.<br />
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Hnin Zar Phyu and her children have been living in Thailand for over a decade and she attended a gathering of AA supporters in Chiangmai with her husband, the source said.<br />
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Zaw Htay, the spokesperson of President Office, and Chan Aye, the director general of Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not answer phone calls from RFA’s Myanmar Service. RFA was also unable to get comments from AA spokesman Khine Thukha, deputy commander-in-chief Nyo Tun Aung or Tun Myat Naing.<br />
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“It is too early to say anything. Since I don’t know the situation black and white, I don’t want to say something incorrectly. I will wait and see,” San Hla Kyaw, Arakan National Party MP and chairman of Rakhine State Parliament, who is the father of detainee Hnin Zar Phyu, told RFA.<br />
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Maung Saungkha, founder of Athan free speech activist group, said detaining the family members is unacceptable.<br />
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“From ahuman rights perspective, they cannot detained them. They are just family members and not proven to be involved in the insurgency,” he said.<br />
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“If the military or government wants to prosecute AA as terrorist group, they have to act against the AA leaders exclusively. Arresting the family members of insurgent group leader is illegal and I see it as violation of human rights,” added Maung Saungkha.<br />
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“It is very inhumane to detain a woman and two children to keep them as hostage,” said human rights activist Thinzar Shoon Lae Ye.<br />
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The sister and brother-in-law of Tun Myat Naing were arrested in October by Thai authorities and transferred to Myanmar, where they now face terrorism-related charges.<br />
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Reported by Aung Moe Myint, Thant Zin Oo and Nay Myo Htun for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Paul Eckert.<br />
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https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/thailand-arakan-12062019165500.html<!--/data/user/0/com.samsung.android.app.notes/files/share/clipdata_191207_070047_327.sdoc-->Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-1152107674569136052019-12-06T03:39:00.000-08:002019-12-06T03:39:15.037-08:00Wife, Children of Leader of Myanmar’s Arakan Army Detained in Thailand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The wife of Arakan Army (AA) leader Major General Tun Myat Naing and their two children were detained by Thai immigration officials in Chiang Mai on Wednesday and will be deported to Myanmar soon, according to sources close to the family.<br />
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Officials at the Thai Immigration Bureau’s Chiang Mai office arrested Ma Hnin Zar Phyu when she went there to extend her visa on Dec. 4, the sources said, adding that she and the two children were due to be sent to the border town of Mae Sai, in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, on Friday afternoon. From there the three are expected to be transferred across the border to Tachileik Township in Myanmar’s Shan State, where Special Branch Police are awaiting their arrival.<br />
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According to a source in Chiang Mai who cannot be named, the Myanmar government gave the Thai government a list of 10 people, including the family of Maj-Gen Tun Myat Naing, whom it sought to have arrested due to their affiliation with the AA.<br />
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Ma Hnin Zar Phyu’s visa expired on Dec. 3. When she went to extend it the following day, she was detained by Thai authorities, due the presence of her name on the list. The couple’s elder daughter, who is 11, was studying at an international school in Chiang Mai. The younger child is only 11 months old. Both children are currently being detained with the mother, the source said.<br />
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The Irrawaddy has not yet been able to independently confirm the arrests with Brig-Gen Tun Myat Naing’s family.<br />
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On Oct. 19, police arrested U Kyaw Naing, the AA chief’s brother-in-law, at Yangon International Airport on his return from Chiang Mai. U Kyaw Naing’s wife Ma Yamin Myat (aka Moe Hnin Phyu), who is Maj-Gen Tun Myat Naing’s sister, was also arrested as she came to meet her husband at the airport.<br />
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The police opened a case against the pair at Yangon’s Mayangone Township Court under Section 52 (a) (b) and (c) of the Counterterrorism Law.<br />
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The AA is currently embroiled in a serious conflict with the Myanmar military in northern Rakhine State. The fighting has displaced some 80,000-90,000 civilians and left hundreds dead, injured or detained.<br />
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Tensions have been high in the area since Jan. 4, when the AA launched coordinated attacks on four Myanmar Police outposts in Rakhine State’s Buthidaung Township. The attacks constituted the ethnic armed organization (EAO)’s biggest assault since March 2015, when it first began to establish a foothold in the area, moving beyond its headquarters in Laiza, Kachin State.<br />
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Bilateral ceasefire talks between the AA and the government have been on hold since mid-September, when an alliance of three EAOs including the AA attacked a military technological academy in Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region, and police checkpoints in Naung Cho, Shan State.<br />
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Ref: The Irrawaddy News<!--/data/user/0/com.samsung.android.app.notes/files/share/clipdata_191206_180728_499.sdoc-->Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-40557949941075182692019-12-02T16:50:00.000-08:002019-12-02T16:50:23.925-08:005 Civilians Injured in Mrauk-U as Myanmar Military Shells Village<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A 10-year-old boy wounded by an artillery shell in Yar Shay Pyin Village, Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State<br /><br />SITTWE, Rakhine State—Five civilians, including three children, were injured in Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U Township on Sunday after the Myanmar military allegedly shelled Yar Shay Pyin Village.<br /><div id="ad-content" style="user-select: text !important;">
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Military troops deployed nearby in Lin Mway Hill came down to the village and fired arms and artillery, according to local residents. A girl aged 13, two women aged 22 and 25, and two boys, ages 3 and 10, were reportedly injured.<br /><br />“Soldiers came shooting about one mile from the village. At first, they were shooting their guns. Then, they fired four artillery shells. The last one struck the house of my brother, and children hiding there were hit by shrapnel,” local resident Ko Aung Thein told The Irrawaddy.<br /><br />He said that most of the local residents fled when the soldiers came into the village shooting their guns.<br /></div>
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“Villagers told me that soldiers opened fire for no reason when there was no fighting there. There was a mine attack near the village [against the Myanmar military] some two days ago. I think that’s why they were shooting,” said lawmaker U Tun Tha Sein, who represents Mrauk-U in the Rakhine State Parliament.<br /><br />Colonel Win Zaw Oo, spokesperson for the Myanmar military’s Western Command, said soldiers returned fire at Yar Shay Pyin after Arakan Army (AA) fighters opened fire on them from inside the village.<br /><br />“There have been frequent mine attacks near Yar Shay Pyin village and the AA has carried out frequent surprise attacks there. Our troops went to the village on Sunday to carry out clearance operations because we heard that AA fighters were staying in the village. Then they shot at us from inside the village and there was an exchange of fire. We don’t know if villagers were injured. The two sides exchanged fire for about half an hour,” Col. Win Zaw Oo told The Irrawaddy.<br /><br />The five injured civilians are receiving treatment at a Mrauk-U public hospital.<br /><br />In late September, the Rakhine State Parliament approved a proposal by lawmaker U Tun Tha Sein which urged the government to investigate civilian deaths amid clashes in Rakhine. The state parliament finished its session in late September and has not resumed since. The state government also has yet to give any response to the proposal.<br /><br />According to the Rakhine Ethnic Congress, a relief group documenting internally displaced people in Rakhine, as many as 90,000 people have been displaced in northern Rakhine since clashes broke out in November of last year in Chin State’s Paletwa Township and later spread across northern Rakhine to impact Mrauk-U, the seat of Arakanese kings from the 15th century to the late 19th century.<br /><br />U Tun Tha Sein said in September that 82 civilians have been killed and 126 have been injured since January. More recent figures are not available.<br /><br /><i>Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko</i><br /><b>Ref: Irrawaddy News</b></div>
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Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-75726173616721844342019-12-02T16:49:00.003-08:002019-12-02T16:49:42.118-08:00Three Dead, Seven Injured by Artillery Shells in Two Incidents in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m.<br /><div id="ad-content" style="user-select: text !important;">
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<br />A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital.<br /><br />He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.”<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKp3ONTdqiFSE3EXH7Vsg8MGzMx4B6Q0HXh0A0c5pEsqLW6JaoLIYt3aW9sdfP_mPSDvilwIAG0ZC5uKQdEvb54EqXI8iNTNeDIIZLn1ZLhIC_m0jD7t53mBSZ24KAQ2ubpljhRiVkSGk/s1600/wounded2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; clear: left; color: #25a186; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; user-select: text !important;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="552" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKp3ONTdqiFSE3EXH7Vsg8MGzMx4B6Q0HXh0A0c5pEsqLW6JaoLIYt3aW9sdfP_mPSDvilwIAG0ZC5uKQdEvb54EqXI8iNTNeDIIZLn1ZLhIC_m0jD7t53mBSZ24KAQ2ubpljhRiVkSGk/s320/wounded2.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="223" /></a><br />Details of what occurred were not yet known.<br /><br />A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung.<br /><br />Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have sent them to Mrauk-U Hospital,” U Sein Hla Aung told The Irrawaddy.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">The Myanmar army and Arakan Army (AA) have been clashing near the village since Sunday, said residents, adding that they did not know which side fired the shell.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">Mrauk-U Township parliamentarian U Tun Tha Sein confirmed the incident to The Irrawaddy.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">The village has an ethnic Mro population belonging to a regional sub-tribe with over 70 households and around 300 villagers.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">On Sunday, five civilians, including three children, were injured after the Myanmar military allegedly shelled Yar Shay Pyin Village in Mrauk-U Township.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">The fighting between the military and the Arakan Army has been intensifying for more than a year and civilian casualties and arrests are increasing.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">In late September, the Rakhine State parliament approved a proposal by U Tun Tha Sein which urged the government to investigate civilian deaths amid clashes in Rakhine State. The state government is yet to give any response to the proposal, said U Tun Tha Sein.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: center; user-select: text !important;">
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">He said in September that 82 civilians had been killed and 126 had been injured since January. More recent figures are not available.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">Ref: Irrawaddy News</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;"></span><div id="ad-target" style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px; user-select: text !important;">
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Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-15325792098414084172019-11-05T19:22:00.001-08:002019-11-05T19:22:44.630-08:00Govt's timely intervention saved 5 Indians from Arakan Army<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: proxima-regular1, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Tuesday said its "timely intervention" ensured the release of five Indians and five Myanmar nationals, including an MP, who had been taken hostage by an ethnic rebel group in the country's restive Rakhine province.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: proxima-regular1, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; user-select: text !important;">The ministry of home affairs said in a statement that the five Indian nationals, along with a Member of Myanmar Parliament, two local transporters and two speedboat operators, were abducted by the Arakan Army on Sunday while on their way from Paletwa in Chin State to Kyauktaw in Rakhine.</span><br /><div class="top2brdiv" style="color: #333333; font-family: proxima-regular1, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; user-select: text !important;">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: proxima-regular1, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; user-select: text !important;"><span style="user-select: text !important;">"Timely intervention by the government of India has ensured release of five abducted Indian nationals, a Member of Myanmar Parliament and four other Myanmar nationals from Arakan Army in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, in the early hours on Monday," the statement said.</span><br style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><div class="last6brdiv" style="user-select: text !important;">
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<br style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="user-select: text !important;">One Indian national died in the Arakan Army's custody due to a heart attack, it added.</span><br style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><div class="last4brdiv" style="display: inline; user-select: text !important; width: 100%;">
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<span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;"></span><br style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="user-select: text !important;">According to information available, he was a chronic diabetes patient. The released Indian nationals, along with the body of the deceased, have reached Sittwe and will leaving for Yangon on Tuesday for their onward journey to India, it said.</span><br style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><div class="last2brdiv" style="user-select: text !important;">
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<br style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="user-select: text !important;">The Arakan Army is a Rakhine based insurgent group founded as the armed wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA).</span><br style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;" /><span style="user-select: text !important;"><br /></span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;"></span><span style="user-select: text !important;">Ref: <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/govts-timely-intervention-saved-5-indians-from-arakan-army-in-myanmar-home-ministry/articleshow/71919351.cms?fbclid=IwAR2g0wx9KzTFFOpuyhl3chGzRn8j2rmCOc6HAW6vu-MowcB7MAAuGRERa0o" style="background: transparent; color: #25a186; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; user-select: text !important;">Times Of India</a></span></span></div>
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Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-85816134796746686872019-02-22T01:41:00.003-08:002019-02-22T01:41:33.428-08:00Without Public Support, Military Risks Losing Five Townships to AABy MOE MYINT 20 February 2019
YANGON – Maj. Thet Oo Maung, a military representative in the Rakhine state parliament, has accused the Arakan Army (AA) of planning to take over five townships in northern Rakhine State by 2020, drawing on his analysis of the AA’s recent series of offensives against the Myanmar military in the region.
The military major submitted a proposal to the Rakhine parliament on Wednesday in which he urged the Arakanese public to support the military’s operations in the region, saying the military always protects the lives of the public, and protects race and religion in Rakhine State and always protects the Arakanese from the danger of Muslim attacks.
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“They plan to stage a coup in Paletwa, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U by 2020 as part of their mission called the 2020 Arakan Dream,” Maj. Thet Oo Maung said during the parliament session.
He also accused the AA and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) of coordinating on operations in the Mayu region, referring to Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. AA leaders have rebutted similar accusations from the military several times.
AA spokesperson U Khine Thukha called the military MP’s proposal in the Rakhine parliament “ridiculous”. He suggested that the military hold a referendum within Rakhine State to find out whether the Arakanese public stands on the AA’s side or with the military, instead of trying to use parliamentary channels to sway the Arakanese public.
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“If they are ready to leave Rakhine, just go ahead with a referendum. Then we will see a clear outcome,” said U Khine Thukha.
He pointed out that the military MP’s proposal was unprecedented. He said that asking for public support through parliamentary channels means acknowledging the military great losses in the ongoing battles in northern Rakhine and is solid evidence of the lack of support the public holds for it.
Maj. Thet Oo Maung’s proposal comes soon after a number of military soldiers were killed by the AA in three locations near the popular tourist destination of Mrauk-U on Tuesday. He also reiterated the accusations of his military superiors about the AA’s collaborations with ARSA in recent attacks on the military.
The military-appointed MP’s motion was voted down in the Arakan National Party (ANP)-dominant parliament. This is the second attempt to dissuade public support for the AA after the President Office’s Spokesperson U Zaw Htay warned the Arakanese public against supporting the AA.
U Phoe San, an MP from the ANP, said in parliament that peace-related proposals shouldn’t be brought up at regional level, saying they are mostly handled at Union level and thus the proposal would be ignored.
Since Tuesday morning, a number of clashes have erupted in three locations near the Sittwe-Yangon highway in Mrauk-U Township. Both the AA and the Office of the Commander-in-Chief confirmed Tuesday’s battles via their respective announcement channels.
The military has claimed to have the bodies of nine AA rebel group members as well as a rocket propel grenade (RPG) as a result of clashes near Mrauk-U Township’s Paung Tok Village. It did not mention its own causalities.
AA spokesperson U Khine Thukha acknowledged that at least three AA fighters were killed by military troops in the Mrauk-U clashes in which, he claimed, the AA column was ambushed by military troops near Yan Aung Pyin Village and that they lost one RPG. He said the Office of the Commander-in-Chief’s casualty figures were exaggerated.
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U Khine Thukha explained that skirmishes had taken place near Kyauk Kyat, Zaydi Taung and Yan Aung Pyin villages. He said that the AA clashed with about 200 military troops under the 22nd Division in the morning and more fighting broke out near Ma Kyar Se Village in the afternoon and was ongoing as of Wednesday morning.
The AA spokesperson claimed that the AA shot down a military truck carrying about 20 soldiers near Kyauk Kya Village in Mrauk-U Township. The vehicle was completely blown out by the RPG attack, he said. At Ma Kyar Se and in Kyauk Kyat villages, the AA claims to have killed at least 10 military soldiers.
U Khine Thukha said that at least 30 government soldiers were killed during the clashes and that Mrauk-U locals had video evidence of blood stains on the Sittwe-Yangon highway where the remains of some government troops are still at the scene. He was referring to graphic footage which went viral on Facebook on Wednesday accompanied by a caption stating the remains included the ribs of some military soldiers. Locals at the scene verified to The Irrawaddy the authenticity of the video.
U Khine Thukha said AA fighters confiscated a large number of 60 mm mortar shells, some RPGs and machine guns belonging to the military column. According to him, fighting was ongoing at Ma Kyar Se village in Mrauk-U and Rathedaung Township’s Myin Hpu Village as well as in upper Paletwa Township, Chin State as of Wednesday.
One government school teacher in Rathedaung Township’s Myin Hpu Village announced on his Facebook page that military soldiers came into his school while the students were sitting their final exams on Wednesday.
He wrote, “Everyone in the school had to lay down on the floor.”
Under his post, a number of his colleagues wrote comments saying their mobile phones were seized by the military column and that they were out of signal as of this afternoon. Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief said that as of Wednesday evening he hadn’t received updated information from the battlefield in Rakhine State. On Wednesday the military deployed at least four helicopters for attacks on the AA in Mrauk-U and Rathedaung townships.
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https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/without-public-support-military-risks-losing-five-townships-aa.htmlArakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-24179866278347811222019-02-22T01:39:00.000-08:002019-02-22T01:39:03.671-08:00Bodies of Three Murdered Ethnic Daingnet Found in Maungdaw
By MIN AUNG KHINE 18 February 2019
SITTWE—Three missing members of the Daingnet ethnic community of Thinbaw Hla Village in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township were found dead on Saturday according to the village administrator.
The three men were reported to have gone out crabbing on Friday, and their buried bodies were recovered the following day, said village administrator U Maung Sein Tun.
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“They went to catch crabs and didn’t come back, so we searched for them the following day and found an earth pile in the bush near the village of Kun Thee Pin. We dug the earth pile and found their bodies,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Maungdaw Township administrator U Myint Khaing, who together with the township judge and a forensic doctor recovered the bodies, confirmed that the three victims had had their throats slit.
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The three victims, aged 29, 30 and 40 respectively were cremated in Thinbaw Hla on Saturday evening.
These frequent killings of ethnic people in Maungdaw highlight the lack of rule of law and security here, said U Khin Maung Than, chairman of the Arakan National Party’s Maungdaw Township chapter.
“[Government] leaders don’t seem to be very interested in the problems facing ethnic people in Maungdaw. There is no rule of law and the culprits have never been arrested. I feel like [government leaders] don’t care at all about the safety of locals,” U Khin Maung Than told The Irrawaddy.
In October last year, a 14-year-old boy was killed while traveling from Kha Maung Seik Village to his home village of Aung Zan in northern Maungdaw Township.
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/bodies-three-murdered-ethnic-daingnet-found-maungdaw.html
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</script>Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-52187183870071400352018-10-19T18:25:00.000-07:002019-01-26T06:30:43.252-08:00Nearly a Dozen Buddha Images Damaged Inside Ancient Rakhine Temple<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">SITTWE, Rakhine State — Authorities and conservationists in Rakhine State suspect local vandals for the damage of nearly a dozen Buddha images inside a 14th century temple Wednesday night in the ancient Arakanese royal capital of Mrauk-U.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Eleven of 28 Buddha images inside Sin Cha Seik Ward’s Lay Myat Hnar Temple were damaged, said Daw Khin Than, who chairs a government-supported conservation group in Mrauk-U.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">From the 15th to 19th centuries Mrauk-U was the seat of a succession of Arakanese kings who at their height controlled much of modern-day western Myanmar, including Rakhine State, and eastern Bangladesh. Much of the ancient city remains well preserved and some 380 historic temples are scattered among the lush hills of northern Rakhine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">“There is a need to tighten security in Mrauk-U. I think people are drinking and abusing drugs inside pagodas. Some Buddha images had their heads broken off, some images had their arms damaged, and so on. Buddha images in an urban area have been destroyed because of lax security,” Daw Khin Than told The Irrawaddy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">U Than Htike, director of Mrauk-U Township’s Department of Archaeology, National Museums and Libraries, said he has filed a complaint police.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">“We made a field inspection this morning, and residents in the neighborhood said they heard people fighting that night. They did not dare to go there to see what was happening until the next morning. Then they saw that the Buddha images were destroyed,” he told The Irrawaddy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">U Than Htike said his department lacks the personnel to assign security guards to the Lay Myat Hnar Temple. He said it has installed doors at the temple’s four entrances but added that some of them were now in poor condition.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Daw Khin Than said this was the first time that Buddha images in one of the township’s urban wards have been damaged.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture has been working to nominate Mrauk-U for UNESCO world heritage status.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Mrauk-U sits on the Kaladan River, about 60 km inland from the state capital, Sittwe, and is among Rakhine’s main tourist attractions along with Ngapali Beach. But communal violence between the state’s Arakanese Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim communities in mid-2012 has driven tourist numbers down.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Authorities forbid foreigners from visiting the old city in the wake of the violence. And although the ban was lifted within months, foreign visitors have remained few.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/nearly-dozen-buddha-images-damaged-inside-ancient-rakhine-temple.html?fbclid=IwAR3iMKre23kLljuWzoTMTyhMlSQji8mjWxoTeIhl_KgrxTWQ82Dl0KzVAx4</span></span></div>
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</script>Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-19708609346754758302018-01-10T19:08:00.001-08:002018-01-10T19:08:13.362-08:00Reuters chief expresses dismay at decision to prosecute two Reuters reporters<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
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Mr Stephen J. Adler, President and Editor-in-Chief of Reuters has expressed his disappointment that two of his company’s Myanmar reporters are being prosecuted under the antiquated Official Secrets Act.</div>
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His press statement, released on January 10 following the appearance of the two journalists in court, is as follows:</div>
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“We are extremely disappointed that the authorities seek to prosecute Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo under Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act. We view this as a wholly unwarranted, blatant attack on press freedom. Our colleagues should be allowed to return to their jobs reporting on events in Myanmar. We believe time is of the essence and we continue to call for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s prompt release,” he said.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.mizzima.com/news-domestic/reuters-chief-expresses-dismay-decision-prosecute-two-reuters-reporters</span></div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-5484510057125380782018-01-10T19:07:00.000-08:002018-01-10T19:07:03.819-08:00Myanmar police charge Reuters reporters under Official Secrets Act<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
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Two Reuters journalists were formally charged by police in a Myanmar court Wednesday for breaching a colonial-era secrecy law that carries up to 14 years in jail, despite calls for their immediate release.</div>
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Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested a month ago under the Official Secrets Act after they allegedly were given classified documents by two policemen over dinner.</div>
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The pair had been reporting on the military campaign in the northern Rakhine state that has forced some 655,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee over the border to Bangladesh since August, violence the UN has condemned as ethnic cleansing.</div>
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The issue is incendiary inside Myanmar, where authorities deny any wrongdoing during an army crackdown on terrorists from the Muslim minority.</div>
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A police officer "filed the case to charge under the state secret (Official Secrets) act, section 3.1(c)," a district judge told the court.</div>
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The section punishes anyone who "obtains, collects, records or publishes... any official document or information" which could be "useful to an enemy."</div>
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The pair will return to the court on January 23 for legal arguments, when the bench will decide whether to accept the case under Myanmar's arcane legal system.</div>
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Emotive scenes gripped the Yangon courthouse with the journalists' family members in tears and the reporters issuing desperate pleas before being led back to detention.</div>
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"Please tell the people to protect our journalists," Kyaw Soe Oo shouted to the court.</div>
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His colleague Wa Lone said his wife was pregnant adding: "I'm trying to be strong."</div>
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The case has shocked Myanmar's embattled press corps.</div>
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Journalists covering Wednesday's proceedings wore black in protest against their arrest, carrying banners proclaiming "Journalism is not a crime".</div>
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"We applied for bail but the prosecutors rejected it," the journalists' lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told AFP.</div>
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"So we are going to give arguments in detail in the next trial."</div>
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- 'Legitimate work' -</h3>
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Reuters insists its reporters have done nothing wrong, while their families have suggested the pair were set up.</div>
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The US and EU have led global calls for the journalists to be freed, while Amnesty International late Tuesday repeated its appeal for their immediate release.</div>
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"They have done absolutely nothing but carrying out their legitimate work as journalists," said James Gomez, Amnesty International's Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.</div>
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This week, former US president Bill Clinton also weighed in on the issue.</div>
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"A free press is critical to a free society—the detention of journalists anywhere is unacceptable," he tweeted on Monday.</div>
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"The Reuters journalists being held in Myanmar should be released immediately."</div>
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The case has cast a spotlight on Myanmar's troubled transition to democracy after nearly five decades of military rule.</div>
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It touches on both slumping press freedom and the Rohingya crisis, two issues that have raised questions about the country's ability to shake off the legacy of junta rule.</div>
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Much of the Buddhist-majority population supports the army in what it calls a justified campaign against Rohingya terrorists after attacks against border guard police killed about a dozen last year.</div>
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The military has severely restricted access to Rakhine to reporters, aid groups and observers.</div>
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A slew of legal cases against journalists have compounded disappointment among those hoping the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi would usher in a new era of freedom.</div>
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Her administration shares power with an army that still controls all security policy and other key levers of government.</div>
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Suu Kyi's time in office has also been dominated by the Rohingya crisis, with criticism pouring in from around the globe over her refusal to denounce the army's crackdown and allow in international investigators.</div>
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© AFP</div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-49104372501860170422018-01-10T19:05:00.001-08:002018-01-10T19:05:38.316-08:00Prosecution goes ahead with ‘Official Secrets’ charges against journalists<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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Having been remanded for a second 14-day period at a hearing last month, the case of two <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reuters</em>journalists began in earnest on Wednesday at Yangon’s Northern District Court, with the prosecution confirming that charges under Burma’s Official Secrets Act would be brought against them.</div>
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The two reporters, Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, <a href="http://www.dvb.no/news/two-local-reuters-reporters-detained-yangon/78825" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #1f527b; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: ease; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">were detained in Yangon</strong></a> by Burmese authorities on 12 December, allegedly in possession of sensitive government documents. The pair face up to 14 years’ imprisonment under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.</div>
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Ahead of the hearing Wednesday, Burmese journalists gathered outside the courthouse — several wearing black T-shirts that read “Journalism is not a crime” — in protest of the two men’s detention. Others held banners calling for their immediate release.</div>
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Than Zaw Aung, a lawyer for the two arrested journalists, said a bail petition had been submitted and that the defence would be given an opportunity to argue the case for bail at their next hearing on 23 January. Than Zaw Aung said in order for the application to be approved, the judge would need to make an exception to the provision under which Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been charged, which is otherwise not a bailable offence.</div>
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“According to the section, the two journalists cannot get bail. That’s why it’s depending on the judge,” he said.</div>
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An added element of uncertainty as the trial moves forward is the status and location of two police officers whom the government says are also being charged under the Official Secrets Act, but who are listed as witnesses for the prosecution as well.</div>
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“We don’t know yet where they are even though they were included on the witnesses’ list,” said Than Zaw Aung. According to the defence team, 25 witnesses are set to testify in the trial, most of whom are police officers.</div>
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Unlike a hearing two weeks ago, the two defendants left the courthouse on Wednesday in handcuffs, prompting tears from family members.</div>
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“He wanted to hold his baby but he couldn’t because of the handcuffs,” said Chit Su, the wife of Kyaw Soe Oo.</div>
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The family of Wa Lone has sent a letter to State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi regarding the detention of the two journalists and are hoping for a response from the country’s de facto civilian leader.</div>
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“They arrested us and took action against us because we were trying to reveal the truth,” <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reuters</em>quoted Wa Lone as saying as he and Kyaw Soe Oo were led out of court on Wednesday.</div>
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The Danish Embassy in Yangon meanwhile has joined <a href="http://www.dvb.no/news/pulitzer-winners-add-media-industry-clout-calls-release-detained-reuters-reporters/79024" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #1f527b; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: ease; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a growing chorus of calls</strong></a> for the two journalists’ release.</div>
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“It is indeed very disappointing that an old draconian law from the colonial era is being used by a democratically elected government to suppress press freedom,” read a statement from the mission dated Wednesday.</div>
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“An essential part of any democracy is a free and independent press which can help ensure that the public is kept informed of all important developments in the country, including those undertaken by the military, and hold the Government accountable to the people whom it was elected to serve.”</div>
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Other foreign governments including the United States and the European Union have also criticised the decision to arrest and prosecute the two men, warning similarly of the threat that legal action posed to press freedom.</div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">http://www.dvb.no/news/prosecution-goes-ahead-official-secrets-charges-reuters-journalists/79152</span></span></div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-52097953896662837582018-01-10T19:02:00.001-08:002018-01-10T19:02:31.536-08:00Security Officials, Villagers Executed 10 ARSA-Linked Rohingya: ArmyBy THE IRRAWADDY 10 January 2018<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6HeXlPeJgMM/WlbTnfWElpI/AAAAAAAATDQ/sytluCJToHccZr2IY3c2anSofoWXwODAgCLcBGAs/s1600/LD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="894" height="282" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6HeXlPeJgMM/WlbTnfWElpI/AAAAAAAATDQ/sytluCJToHccZr2IY3c2anSofoWXwODAgCLcBGAs/s640/LD.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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YANGON—A Myanmar Army investigation panel has determined that villagers and security forces killed 10 Rohingya allegedly affiliated with Muslim militants who launched a series of attacks on security outposts in northern Maungdaw last year.<br />
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The Army investigation followed the discovery of 10 bodies near a graveyard in Inn Din village in southern Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State in December.<br />
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According to a press release issued by the panel on Wednesday afternoon, a five-member team led by Lieutenant-General Aye Win visited Inn Din village between Dec. 20 and Jan. 2 and interviewed 21 Army witnesses, three Border Police officers, 13 members of No. 8 Security Unit, six Inn Din villagers and six civil servants.<br />
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The 10 Rohingya were involved in attacks organized by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)—a Muslim militant group denounced by the government as a “terrorist organization” after a series of attacks last year—and arrested on Sept. 1 during a clearance operation in Inn Din village.<br />
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“While they should have been handed over to the police station, the security forces at the time were too busy implementing security measures in the surrounding areas to do so. So it was decided that the Rohingya would be executed at the village graveyard,” the statement reads.<br />
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The executions occurred on Sept. 2. They were carried out by three villagers using knives and four security force personnel armed with guns, according to the press release. Two of the villagers involved were taking revenge for the killing of their father at the hands of Rohingya militants, according to the statement.<br />
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“As the villagers and security troops confessed to the killings, they will be prosecuted according to the law,” it reads.<br />
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The team determined that security officials involved in the incident did not report it to their superiors. Those officials found to be responsible will be punished and their actions made public, according to the statement.<br />
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Since the ARSA attacks in August last year, northern Rakhine State has been ravaged by clearance operations by Myanmar security forces, causing an exodus of more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to nearby Bangladesh. Some of the refugees have reported witnessing or being subjected to arbitrary killings, rapes and the torching of property by the security forces and local vigilantes.<br />
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https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/security-officials-villagers-executed-10-arsa-linked-rohingya-army.htmlArakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-81240562132552820752018-01-10T18:59:00.001-08:002018-01-10T18:59:44.318-08:00Govt Hides Rohingya Landmine Incidents on Intl Stage, but Devices Continue to Be Used at HomeBy MOE MYINT 10 January 2018<br />
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YANGON—Despite the Myanmar government’s assurances to the international community that the country’s military is forbidden to use landmines, a number of Rohingya people have been killed by mines produced by the Army in northern Rakhine State in recent months, according to a new report.<br />
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On Wednesday, Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, Myanmar Research Coordinator for Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, launched the group’s 19th report at the Royal Rose restaurant in Yangon. The anti-personnel landmine watchdog compiled casualty figures from medical assistance groups and non-governmental organizations, as well as information obtained by its own local researcher during visits to refugee camps on the Bangladesh border.<br />
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A military crackdown against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in Maungdaw district in August 2017 caused around 660,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Some of them walked into minefields while attempting to cross the border, according to the report.<br />
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Moser-Puangsuwan played video footage during his presentation showing what he said were Rohingya refugees using a shovel and bamboo sticks to unearth an M-14 landmine. This anti-personnel weapon is produced by the Army at the Kapasa factory, a state-owned enterprise based in Ngyaung Chay Dauk in western Bago Division. He was unable to provide a precise estimate of Rohingya casualties.<br />
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“You can see that one person is taking away the mine with a shovel, and eventually a person picks it up by the outside [edges of the device]. These mines were found on the Myanmar side of the border,” he said.<br />
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He disclosed that Myanmar had abstained from voting in the UN General Assembly’s December 2016 resolution in support of its existing global landmine ban, despite senior Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) officials having told the watchdog that it and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were “seriously reviewing landmine policy”.<br />
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The watchdog coordinator added that the commander-in-chief of the Defense Services last month sent a letter to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, an international anti-mine lobbying group, stating that “any use of landmines is forbidden.” The same month, the government delivered the same message to the president of a meeting of state parties to the mine ban treaty.<br />
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Since December 2017, 162 countries — over 80 percent of all governments — have ratified the Mine Ban Treaty. Myanmar has refrained from doing so, however. According to the report, the group has also discovered aerial bombs in Kachin State and Abandoned Explosive Ordinance (AXO) in some ethnic regions.<br />
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The group estimates total landmine casualties in Myanmar from 1999 to 2016 at 4,000, including 488 fatalities, 3,385 injuries and 118 unknown outcomes. He said that 1,080 people had been affected by landmine incidents in the six years since peace talks began. The group says that the actual number of casualties is likely higher than the figures in its report indicate.<br />
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“Do we believe [that these figures represent a full accounting]? No. We get most of the information from medical assistance groups. Guess what. They don’t give medical assistance to dead people,” Moser-Puangsuwan said.<br />
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According to the report, 71 townships from 10 states and regions of Myanmar are affected by antipersonnel mines. Shan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Mon and Rakhine states are the worst affected. It said both the government and ethnic armed groups plant landmines in the areas under their control, adding that the issue of mine clearance had not been seriously addressed at peace negotiations.<br />
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“We believe this is a humanitarian issue, not just a military one. And the landmines still in the ground today—even if you get a peace agreement tomorrow—will continue to produce war victims for many years,” Moser-Puangsuwan said.<br />
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The timeline for mine clearance is still vague, as the signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement are as yet still unwilling to give up what they see as a key defensive weapon.<br />
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In terms of mine incidents in Maungdaw region, mine expert Moser-Puangsuwan explained that all of the devices confiscated by the Army are technically defined as remote-controlled bombs, which can be detonated by radio, among other means.<br />
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A total of nine landmine monitoring organizations have applied to conduct mine-risk education activities in Myanmar, but only three of these have been granted permission to begin surveying in high-danger mine areas in 2018. They are prohibited from putting up fences or signs in areas deemed to contain mines.<br />
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https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/govt-hides-rohingya-landmine-incidents-intl-stage-devices-continue-used-home.htmlArakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-51874542311613889812018-01-10T04:49:00.004-08:002018-01-10T04:49:53.084-08:00Myanmar police charge Reuters reporters under Official Secrets Act<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two Reuters journalists were formally charged by police in a Myanmar court Wednesday for breaching a colonial-era secrecy law that carries up to 14 years in jail, despite calls for their immediate release.</div>
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Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested a month ago under the Official Secrets Act after they allegedly were given classified documents by two policemen over dinner.</div>
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The pair had been reporting on the military campaign in the northern Rakhine state that has forced some 655,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee over the border to Bangladesh since August, violence the UN has condemned as ethnic cleansing.</div>
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The issue is incendiary inside Myanmar, where authorities deny any wrongdoing during an army crackdown on terrorists from the Muslim minority.</div>
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A police officer "filed the case to charge under the state secret (Official Secrets) act, section 3.1(c)," a district judge told the court.</div>
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The section punishes anyone who "obtains, collects, records or publishes... any official document or information" which could be "useful to an enemy."</div>
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The pair will return to the court on January 23 for legal arguments, when the bench will decide whether to accept the case under Myanmar's arcane legal system.</div>
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Emotive scenes gripped the Yangon courthouse with the journalists' family members in tears and the reporters issuing desperate pleas before being led back to detention.</div>
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"Please tell the people to protect our journalists," Kyaw Soe Oo shouted to the court.</div>
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His colleague Wa Lone said his wife was pregnant adding: "I'm trying to be strong."</div>
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The case has shocked Myanmar's embattled press corps.</div>
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Journalists covering Wednesday's proceedings wore black in protest against their arrest, carrying banners proclaiming "Journalism is not a crime".</div>
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"We applied for bail but the prosecutors rejected it," the journalists' lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told AFP.</div>
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"So we are going to give arguments in detail in the next trial."</div>
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- 'Legitimate work' -</h3>
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Reuters insists its reporters have done nothing wrong, while their families have suggested the pair were set up.</div>
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The US and EU have led global calls for the journalists to be freed, while Amnesty International late Tuesday repeated its appeal for their immediate release.</div>
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"They have done absolutely nothing but carrying out their legitimate work as journalists," said James Gomez, Amnesty International's Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.</div>
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This week, former US president Bill Clinton also weighed in on the issue.</div>
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"A free press is critical to a free society—the detention of journalists anywhere is unacceptable," he tweeted on Monday.</div>
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"The Reuters journalists being held in Myanmar should be released immediately."</div>
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The case has cast a spotlight on Myanmar's troubled transition to democracy after nearly five decades of military rule.</div>
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It touches on both slumping press freedom and the Rohingya crisis, two issues that have raised questions about the country's ability to shake off the legacy of junta rule.</div>
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Much of the Buddhist-majority population supports the army in what it calls a justified campaign against Rohingya terrorists after attacks against border guard police killed about a dozen last year.</div>
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The military has severely restricted access to Rakhine to reporters, aid groups and observers.</div>
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A slew of legal cases against journalists have compounded disappointment among those hoping the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi would usher in a new era of freedom.</div>
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Her administration shares power with an army that still controls all security policy and other key levers of government.</div>
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Suu Kyi's time in office has also been dominated by the Rohingya crisis, with criticism pouring in from around the globe over her refusal to denounce the army's crackdown and allow in international investigators.</div>
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© AFP</div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-18139704590321780342018-01-09T02:06:00.003-08:002018-01-09T02:06:51.816-08:00Bangladesh court upholds ban on refugee marriage<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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A Bangladesh court on Monday upheld a government ruling banning marriage between its citizens and refugees from Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya minority, who have fled ethnic violence in the neighbouring country.<br />
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The High Court in Dhaka dismissed a legal challenge from a father whose son married a Rohingya teenager in a Muslim ceremony in September despite laws forbidding such unions.<br />
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Marriages with Rohingya were banned in 2014 to try to prevent hundreds of thousands of refugees living in Bangladesh from seeking a back door to citizenship.<br />
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Babul Hossain, whose 26-year-old son ran away with his new wife after they married, questioned the legality of the ruling that threatens a seven-year jail term for any Bangladeshi who weds a Rohingya refugee.<br />
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But the court rejected his plea and ordered he pay 100,000 taka ($1,200) in legal costs.<br />
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"The court rejected the petition and has upheld the administrative order, which bans marriage between Bangladeshi citizens and Rohingya people," deputy attorney general Motaher Hossain Saju told AFP.<br />
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Hossain's request that the court protect his son from arrest was also rejected, Saju added.<br />
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About 655,000 Rohingya have escaped to Bangladesh since August after the Myanmar army began a military campaign in Rakhine state.
They joined the more than 200,000 refugees already living in Bangladesh who had fled previous violence in Rakhine.
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Aid groups have reported cases of Bangladeshis offering young women marriage as a way of escaping the overcrowded refugee camps along Bangladesh's southeastern border.<br />
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Hossain could not be contacted after the ruling.
But in a previous statement, he defended his son's marriage to the 18-year-old Rohingya woman and denied it was driven by a quest for citizenship.<br />
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"If Bangladeshis can marry Christians and people of other religions, what’s wrong in my son’s marriage to a Rohingya?" Hossain told AFP.
"He married a Muslim who took shelter in Bangladesh."
© AFPArakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-69520221225821015892018-01-09T02:02:00.002-08:002018-01-09T02:02:28.831-08:00US condemns ARSA terrorist attack<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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The United States issued a statement yesterday condemning the January 5 ARSA terrorist attack on Myanmar security forces in northern Rakhine State. The statement expressed condolences to the injured and their families.
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The statement also notes, “This act of violence only serves to further undermine peace and security in northern Rakhine State and the region.<br />
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We continue to urge all parties to ensure their rhetoric and their actions contribute to establishing the conditions for the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of all those who have been displaced by violence to their places of origin.”<br />
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http://www.mizzima.com/news-domestic/us-condemns-arsa-terrorist-attackArakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-44757164237715612742018-01-09T01:54:00.002-08:002018-01-09T01:59:53.215-08:00Fierce fighting reported between DKBA-Buddhist and KNLA, BGF<br />
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Maj. Naing Maung Zaw from Border Guard Force (BGF) confirmed to Mizzima that combined troops of Karen National Union (KNU) and BGF were fighting fiercely against the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), in Hlaingbwe Township, Karen State.
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“We have been fighting with them fiercely for over a month. Our combined troops have overrun their outposts. We have had intermittent fighting and sporadic firing until today. The place we are fighting is called Tharbawthae which is in dense forest full of valleys and ravines,” he said.<br />
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Maj. Naing Maung Zaw added that a combined force of government troops, the 7th Brigade Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and BGF were fighting with them near the Hatgyi dam site in Maethaewaw.<br />
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“We have being fighting with them for a long time after they launched an attack on our outpost. They frequently broke their promises. We have to retaliate after they launched repeated attacks on our positions,” he added.
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Maj. Naing Maung Zaw further said that government troops and DKBA had been fighting frequently since 2015 in Maethaewaw area and along the Asian highway but the KNLA joined this fighting along with government troops just over two months back.<br />
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He added that apart from fighting in this area, the DKBA was also planting landmines in the area.
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http://www.mizzima.com/news-domestic/fierce-fighting-reported-between-dkba-buddhist-and-knla-bgfArakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4579750072653334235.post-45734839177860217112018-01-08T04:05:00.001-08:002018-01-08T04:05:41.407-08:00ARSA says it has no option but to fight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By REUTERS 8 January 2018<br />
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Rohingya Muslim insurgents said on Sunday they have no option but to fight what they called Burma state-sponsored terrorism to defend the Rohingya community, and they demanded that the Rohingya be consulted on all decisions affecting their future.<br />
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The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched raids on Burmese security forces on 25 August, which sparked sweeping counter-insurgency operations in the Muslim-majority north of Rakhine State that led to widespread violence and arson and an exodus of some 650,000 Rohingya villagers to Bangladesh.<br />
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The United Nations condemned the Burmese military campaign as ethnic cleansing. Buddhist-majority Burma rejected that.<br />
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But since the August raids, the small insurgent group has launched few if any attacks until Friday, when its fighters ambushed a Burmese military truck, wounding several members of the security forces.<br />
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“ARSA has … no other option but to combat ‘Burmese state-sponsored terrorism’ against the Rohingya population for the purpose of defending, salvaging and protecting the Rohingya community,” the group said in a statement signed by leader Ata Ullah and posted on Twitter.<br />
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“Rohingya people must be consulted in all decision-making that affects their humanitarian needs and political future.”<br />
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ARSA claimed responsibility for the Friday ambush but gave no details of the clash.<br />
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A Burmese government spokesman said the insurgents were trying to delay the repatriation of refugees from Bangladesh under a plan the two governments have been working on.<br />
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“ARSA aims to frighten those who are considering returning, to show the region doesn’t have peace,” Zaw Htay said.<br />
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Burma and Bangladesh have been discussing a plan to repatriate the refugees but more insecurity in Burma is likely to raise even more doubts about how quickly that might happen.<br />
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The refugees complain that they have not been consulted on the plan.<br />
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Details of the repatriation plan have yet to be finalised and many questions remain, not only about security but also about the terms refugees will return under, and whether they will be able to go back to their homes or be resettled in camps.<br />
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Rohingya have for years been denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to services such as healthcare. Burma regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.<br />
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Zaw Htay rejected the ARSA call for the Rohingya to be consulted, saying the government was already negotiating with leaders of both the Buddhist and Muslim communities.<br />
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“We will not accept terrorism and fight against them until the end,” the spokesman said, adding that no one should offer any support to the group.<br />
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ARSA dismisses any links to Islamist militant groups and says it is fighting to end the oppression of the Rohingya people.<br />
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A military spokesman declined to make any immediate comment about the security situation in the north of Rakhine State.<br />
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The area is largely off-limits to reporters.<br />
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Serious communal violence between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in 2012 and sporadic unrest followed.<br />
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The violence that began in August and the refugee crisis it caused has drawn international condemnation and raised doubts about Burma’s transition to democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule.<br />
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ARSA did not say where leader Ata Ullah was but Burma suspects the insurgents flee into Bangladesh, then slip back into Burma to launch attacks.<br />
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By REUTERS</div>
Arakkha Moghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00352463818654935299noreply@blogger.com0