News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 12 June 2012-uzl

News & Articles on Burma Tuesday, 12 June 2012 ----------------------------------------- Suu Kyi to make first trip to Europe in 24 years UN Calls for Bangladesh to Protect Victims of Myanmar Clashes Rakhine strife tests reforms 'About 25 dead' in five days of Myanmar unrest Red-carpet treatment awaits Myanmars Aung San Suu Kyi on 5-country European tour For the people, of the people Myanmar's military reform gap Bangladesh sends back boatloads of Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar violence HRW Joins Calls for End to Arakan Unrest Violence Escalates in Burmas Rakhine State Is Burma regime inciting Rakhine conflict to discredit Suu Kyi? 7-Eleven stores to open in Myanmar Myanmar must show it is pro-foreign investment: ESM Goh ----------------------------------------- Suu Kyi to make first trip to Europe in 24 years Originally published: June 12, 2012 5:40 AM Updated: June 12, 2012 5:42 AM By The Associated Press YANGON, Myanmar - (AP) -- The last time Aung San Suu Kyi saw Europe it was the spring of 1988. The Berlin Wall was still up and the Cold War was still on. On Wednesday, Suu Kyi will take her first trip to Europe in a quarter-century for a tour that includes her long-awaited acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 for her tireless efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar. For 24 years, the opposition leader was either under house arrest or too fearful that if she left Myanmar, the former military regime would not let her return. She stayed put even as her British husband was dying of cancer in England in 1999. This will be Suu Kyi's second overseas trip after a recent a five-day tour in Thailand that was seen as a test of whether the country's new reformist government would allow her back in. The European tour will be filled with high-profile events bound to burnish Suu Kyi's image as an international political celebrity. Red-carpet treatment is planned across the continent for Suu Kyi's two-week circuit around Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, England and France. At her first stop in Geneva, Suu Kyi will address Thursday's annual conference of the U.N.'s International Labor Organization. Her next stop is Norway for what is expected to be an emotional acceptance speech of her Nobel prize, 21 years late. She will briefly stop in Dublin to personally thank U2 frontman Bono for his support over the years. The democracy icon and rock star will share the stage at a Monday concert in her honor organized by Amnesty International. In England, Suu Kyi will receive the rare honor of addressing both houses of Britain's parliament and will accept an honorary doctorate at Oxford, where she studied and later lived with her husband and two sons, Alexander and Kim. In April 1988, Suu Kyi left her family in Oxford to fly to Myanmar to nurse her dying mother. The daughter of Myanmar's independence hero Gen. Aung San, Suu Kyi got swept into the forefront of an uprising against the military regime. The junta viewed her popularity as such a threat that they locked her under house arrest for 15 of the next 22 years. In November 2010, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and in April she won her first seat in Parliament, paving the way for Western nations to ease economic sanctions that were imposed on the former military government. One of Suu Kyi's biggest challenges as she travels Europe will be to avoid upsetting the reform-minded government of President Thein Sein, which has won praise for sweeping reforms but still has close ties to the military. Her visit comes as Thein Sein struggles to contain a wave of deadly sectarian violence in western Myanmar that has pitted ethnic Rakhine Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims. The violence has left a dozen people dead and shed light on one of the country's enduring problems, which human rights groups have called a tinderbox of hatred with the potential to explode. Suu Kyi's trip to Thailand reportedly irked Thein Sein, due partly to the massive attention she received and also to the message she carried. At a speech to international investors and diplomats she warned against "reckless optimism" in Myanmar, saying the country still lacked the basic principles of a democracy. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/suu-kyi-to-make-first-trip-to-europe-in-24-years-1.3776581 --------------------------------------- UN Calls for Bangladesh to Protect Victims of Myanmar Clashes By Daniel Ten Kate and Arun Devnath - Jun 12, 2012 7:35 PM GMT+0700 The United Nations refugee agency called for Bangladesh to welcome Muslim Rohingyas fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar after reports that border guards had denied them entry. UNHCR is advocating with the Bangladeshi authorities to allow safe haven on its territory for those who need immediate safety and medical assistance, the agency said in an e-mailed statement today. Myanmar declared a state of emergency two days ago in western Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh, in a bid to end rioting and arson attacks. Myanmars President Thein Sein warned in a national address that uncontrolled violence may hamper the goverments ability to proceed with democratic reforms that prompted the U.S. and European Union to suspend sanctions this year. Moves toward greater political freedom after about five decades of military rule have attracted investors to Myanmar, one of Asias poorest nations. The outbreak of violence in Rakhine underscores the challenge of unifying a country of 64 million people with 135 officially recognized ethnic groups, a list that excludes the Rohingyas. The unrest began after an alleged rape prompted a mob of about 300 Rakhine Buddhists to murder 10 Muslims on June 3, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch. Myanmar imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in four towns in Rakhine and prohibited more than five people from gathering in public areas, according to the New Light of Myanmar. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an immediate halt to the clashes, while reiterating support for the countrys shift to democracy. Violence Spiraling The U.S. is deeply concerned and urges all parties to exercise restraint and immediately halt all attacks, Clinton said in a statement yesterday. The situation in Rakhine state underscores the critical need for mutual respect among all ethnic and religious groups and for serious efforts to achieve national reconciliation, she said. The governments moves to quell the violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas and bring aggressors to justice have been inadequate, Human Rights Watch said. Deadly violence in Arakan State is spiraling out of control under the governments watch, Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, using another name for Rakhine state. Opening the area to independent international observers would put all sides on notice that they were being closely watched. Bangladesh border guards and the nations coastguard yesterday prevented 500 Rohingya Muslims from entering the country in 11 boats, Major Shafiqur Rahman said. Most were women and children who traveled for as long as nine hours and lacked food and water, he said by phone yesterday. Spillover We didnt see any refugees in the morning, he said in a separate conversation today. Probably, they got the message that we are not allowing them in. Still, we are on alert. Bangladesh and Myanmar enjoy the best of relations and are maintaining close consultations to ensure that developments in the Rakhine state do not have any transboundary spillover, Bangladesh foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Monirul Islam Kabir said in a statement today. China supports Myanmars efforts to safeguard stability in Rakhine state, Xinhua reported today, citing Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin. U.K. Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne on June 10 called for restraint and urged British citizens to avoid all but essential travel to Rakhine state, according to a statement on the ministrys website. Rohingyas, Sunni Muslims who are descended from Arab traders, are prevented from obtaining citizenship and traveling freely throughout the country, according to Human Rights Watch. About 800,000 Rohingyas live in Myanmar and 200,000 are in Bangladesh, the group estimates. In the early 1990s, Bangladesh forcibly repatriated about 50,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar, also known as Burma, before the two countries allowed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to observe the process, according to Human Rights Watch. From 2006 to 2010, 920 have been resettled to third countries, mostly to Canada, Australia and the U.K., according to the UNHCR. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net; Arun Devnath in Dhaka at adevnath@bloomberg.net http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-12/un-calls-for-bangladesh-to-protect-victims-of-myanmar-clashes.html ----------------------------------------- BANGKOK POST: :EDITORIAL Rakhine strife tests reforms Published: 12/06/2012 at 02:05 AM Newspaper section: News Terrible events are under way in western Myanmar, which bear careful watch from its neighbours, especially Thailand. Religious and ethnic-based riots have raged in Rakhine state for more than a month. Last week, troops fired on mobs, killing at least seven people. Hundreds of homes have been burnt in the violence, which have pitted Myanmar Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims. It is the first severe test of the reform government, which came to power more than 18 months ago. The immediate cause of the Rakhine riots occurred last month. Three Muslim youths allegedly raped a Buddhist girl. Buddhists apparently attacked Muslim areas as a result. Last Friday, the Islamic holy day, Muslim mobs apparently attacked Buddhist areas, and that was when authorities called out the army to put down the riots. It is disappointing that the word "apparently" is still necessary. Decades of brutal military dictatorship have suffocated Myanmar in censorship. The media in Myanmar remains almost entirely under state control, and few media are willing to test the limits of factual reporting. There are, however, glimmers of optimism. The first is that state media have actually reported the violence in Rakhine state, and in detail that would have been unthinkable two years ago. It is hardly a model of journalism, but state-controlled newspapers reported fairly quickly the death toll in the riots. The second is even more encouraging to those who hope for fast, effective political reform in Myanmar. Aye Maung, an upper house member of parliament for Rakhine State, was quoted in Myanmar media as saying, "It is important to let the public know the truth." Words like that have not been heard from any person of rank for a long time. The slowly emerging media and the heavily military-controlled parliament can do little by themselves, however. A real test of sincerity has already begun for the government of President Thein Sein. In truth, the president and his supporters have given little sign they are able to face this crisis. Not a word has been issued to the public, most notably to the residents at ground zero of these distressing religious, ethnic clashes. Taking power from the entrenched and still powerful military establishment is no easy task. Thein Sein deserves most of the support he has won, at home and abroad. But it is wise to bear in mind the cautious words of opposition MP Aung San Suu Kyi. She has counselled observers to keep their "healthy scepticism" towards the Myanmar government. The real danger is that Myanmar will try to veer off the democratic path. It is no secret that Myanmar leaders have long admired the example of the discredited Suharto regime in Indonesia, which combined economic openness with ruthless, anti-democratic governance. One hopes that the fall of Suharto and the transformation of Indonesia into a democracy will prove equally attractive to Myanmar. At the moment, the peace and security of the country is threatened by deadly religious strife. How the Myanmar regime deals with this threat will be an important indication of what the new leaders intend for their country. http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/297634/rakhine-strife-tests-reforms ----------------------------------------- 'About 25 dead' in five days of Myanmar unrest AFP Updated June 13, 2012, 12:49 am SITTWE, Myanmar (AFP) - Around 25 people have been killed and scores more wounded in five days of sectarian violence in western Myanmar, a senior government official told AFP on Tuesday. "About 25 people have been killed during the unrest," the official said, requesting anonymity, without providing details of how they died or whether they were Buddhists or Muslims. A further 41 have been wounded, he said. Previously the official toll had stood at seven people dead since Friday. A cycle of apparent revenge attacks has gripped western Myanmar following the recent rape and murder of a local woman, allegedly by three Muslims. In response an angry Buddhist mob beat 10 Muslims to death on June 3 -- fatalities not included in the figure given by the government official. Hundreds of homes have since been torched, forcing both Buddhists and Muslims to seek safety, and rights organisations fear the death toll is higher than the official number. Separately, police in neighbouring Bangladesh said a Muslim died in a hospital there on Tuesday after he was allegedly shot by Myanmar security forces before escaping across the border.http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/13931177/about-25-dead-in-five-days-of-myanmar-unrest/ -------------------------------------- Red-carpet treatment awaits Myanmars Aung San Suu Kyi on 5-country European tour By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, June 12, 4:43 PM YANGON, Myanmar The last time Aung San Suu Kyi saw Europe it was the spring of 1988. The Berlin Wall was still up and the Cold War was still on. On Wednesday, Suu Kyi will take her first trip to Europe in a quarter-century for a tour that includes her long-awaited acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 for her tireless efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar. For 24 years, the opposition leader was either under house arrest or too fearful that if she left Myanmar, the former military regime would not let her return. She stayed put even as her British husband was dying of cancer in England in 1999. This will be Suu Kyis second overseas trip after a recent a five-day tour in Thailand that was seen as a test of whether the countrys new reformist government would allow her back in. The European tour will be filled with high-profile events bound to burnish Suu Kyis image as an international political celebrity. Red-carpet treatment is planned across the continent for Suu Kyis two-week circuit around Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, England and France. At her first stop in Geneva, Suu Kyi will address Thursdays annual conference of the U.N.s International Labor Organization. Her next stop is Norway for what is expected to be an emotional acceptance speech of her Nobel prize, 21 years late. She will briefly stop in Dublin to personally thank U2 frontman Bono for his support over the years. The democracy icon and rock star will share the stage at a Monday concert in her honor organized by Amnesty International. In England, Suu Kyi will receive the rare honor of addressing both houses of Britains parliament and will accept an honorary doctorate at Oxford, where she studied and later lived with her husband and two sons, Alexander and Kim. In April 1988, Suu Kyi left her family in Oxford to fly to Myanmar to nurse her dying mother. The daughter of Myanmars independence hero Gen. Aung San, Suu Kyi got swept into the forefront of an uprising against the military regime. The junta viewed her popularity as such a threat that they locked her under house arrest for 15 of the next 22 years. In November 2010, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and in April she won her first seat in Parliament, paving the way for Western nations to ease economic sanctions that were imposed on the former military government. One of Suu Kyis biggest challenges as she travels Europe will be to avoid upsetting the reform-minded government of President Thein Sein, which has won praise for sweeping reforms but still has close ties to the military. Her visit comes as Thein Sein struggles to contain a wave of deadly sectarian violence in western Myanmar that has pitted ethnic Rakhine Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims. The violence has left a dozen people dead and shed light on one of the countrys enduring problems, which human rights groups have called a tinderbox of hatred with the potential to explode. Suu Kyis trip to Thailand reportedly irked Thein Sein, due partly to the massive attention she received and also to the message she carried. At a speech to international investors and diplomats she warned against reckless optimism in Myanmar, saying the country still lacked the basic principles of a democracy. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/red-carpet-treatment-awaits-myanmars-aung-san-suu-kyi-on-5-country-european-tour/2012/06/12/gJQABN8sWV_story.html ------------------------------------- BANGKOK POST: :REAKINGBARRIERS For the people, of the people Published: 12/06/2012 at 03:02 AM Newspaper section: Life The current buzzword is Asean, and while the cultural and linguistic differences of the 10 Southeast Asian nations present a series of hurdles to the planned 2015 economic union, everyone wants to move fast and ride the headwind. Take for instance the Thai web portal kapook.com. The popular website has recently launched a Myanmar-language page, and by timing it to coincide with the historic visit of Aung Saan Suu Kyi, it's gaining headway on the new Asean road. At http://burma.kapook.com, the elegant scribbling of the Myanmar alphabet tops the picture of Suu Kyi on her trip in Thailand _ it reads: "The whole world is watching: Suu Kyi visits Thailand." The design is simple, text-based, with a few more photos of the icon punctuating the page. The story proceeds to give information about the number of Myanmar labourers in Thailand, including quotes from migrant workers who revel in Suu Kyi's visit. "Our aim is to make web pages in the languages of the Asean countries," says webmaster Poramate Minsiri. "It just happened that our Myanmar page was ready first, and coincided with the time Suu Kyi was in Bangkok. We have partners in Myanmar, as well as in other Asean countries, and we will gradually launch more pages in other regional languages." Poramate adds that the main audience of the page are the people of Myanmar who live and work in Thailand. "We want the page to be a centre of news and information for Myanmar people here. We also include practical information about government contacts because we know a lot of migrant workers will be our readers." At the moment, the advertisement on top of the page is still a Thai one. But soon _ who knows? _ the flow of language and information among Asean members will generate new dynamism that will leave those who don't want to move with it far behind. http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/computer/297674/for-the-people-of-the-people ------------------------------------- ASIA TIMES ONLINE: Jun 13, 2012 Myanmar's military reform gap By David Scott Mathieson CHIANG MAI - Myanmar President Thein Sein and his close advisers have reaped widespread kudos for their brokering of preliminary ceasefire talks with more than a dozen ethnic armed groups over the past several months. In early April, the government reached an agreement with the Karen National Union (KNU) to end a secessionist conflict that has alternatively simmered and boiled since 1949, following on from similar agreements with 11 other insurgent groups. The enthusiasm for ceasefires has been tempered by ongoing fighting in Myanmar's northern Kachin State between the Myanmar government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) after the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire in June 2011. As in all insurgencies, the political, economic and social motivations for ongoing conflict are complex, but the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) identifies a core grievance that has fueled recruitment to the KIA: "Ruthless and poorly focused GUB [Burmese government] suppression operations such as the burning of an entire village ... the forced transfer of the entire population of Kachin villagers from insurgent infested areas ... enough instances of rape, knifing and chicken-stealing to foster bitter resentment among the Kachin." Recent reporting on the ground by Human Rights Watch and others uncovered many such abuses against the civilian population and the displacement of more than 75,000 people. The violations documented in Kachin state are the product of similar tactics employed against ethnic Karen, Karenni, Shan and Mon communities in eastern Myanmar for years. The CIA's declassified intelligence report was actually produced in April 1970, several years into the earlier Kachin insurrection. Its eerie verisimilitude to abuses such as sexual violence, attacks on villages, forced displacement, forced labor, torture, and rampant plundering of private property experienced in recent months demonstrates a core factor in Myanmar's long-running civil conflicts: the enduring culture of abuse and impunity within the Myanmar military against ethnic civilian populations. The pace of change in Myanmar over the past year has been dramatic, with the government promising sweeping economic and political reforms and long oppressed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi winning a seat in parliament on April 1. Censorship has been loosened, hundreds of political prisoners have been allowed to return to their families, preliminary ceasefire talks with armed groups have begun, and even official rhetoric on human rights has changed, from hitherto blanket denials of rights violations to grudging official acknowledgement. The ceasefire talks have broached a litany of difficult issues to resolve: return of refugees and internally displaced persons, clearing of landmine infested conflict zones, humanitarian access, land rights, and long-standing political and cultural issues. In his state of the union address to parliament on March 1, President Thein Sein outlined the government's three-step approach to attaining "eternal peace" in Myanmar. The first step is to conduct preliminary dialogue at the state level, the second aims at the national level to address issues such as development, constitutional amendments, and working towards "a single armed force," while step three will be a political process to achieve "mutual understanding, equality and development." But one institution that has not changed is the defense services, or Tatmadaw, the crucial absent variable in the reform process. Reaping the benefits of a constitution that they largely drafted, military officers hold 25% of the unelected seats in all national and regional parliaments, have one of the vice-presidential slots, three key ministries, defense, home affairs and border affairs reserved for generals, total control over the military budget estimated at 20% of gross domestic product, and immunity for all service personnel from civilian prosecution. Ongoing violations against ethnic communities have barely been mentioned in the optimistic accounts of reform. The Myanmar military in ethnic areas is poorly resourced, under-supplied, and predisposed to punish civilians for their perceived support for rebellion. Local ethnic populations widely view them as an army of occupation, dangerously pursuing counter-insurgency on the cheap. This punitive approach hasn't stamped out resistance, it has fueled it. At the same time, many ethnic armed groups have also been implicated in serious human rights abuses against their own communities and the Myanmar army. These have included use of child soldiers, widespread use of anti-personnel landmines and the execution of prisoners. Ask any civilian in the conflict areas of eastern Myanmar what they want for the future, as I have done on a regular basis for more than a decade, and it is peace and justice, and an end to violent opportunism by all men with guns: government soldiers, ethnic insurgents, pro-government militias, and drug bandits. Any peace negotiations should include putting into place mechanisms that would ensure the protection of human rights. To this end, negotiations between the Myanmar government and the Karen National Union have included drafting codes of conduct for both sides' forces: towards each other and how they treat civilians. Belated admissions In mid-May, high ranking Myanmar military officers joined the peace talks, when Lieutenant General Soe Win, the deputy commander in chief of the defense services, and three generals commanding the regional military command zones in Eastern Myanmar met with leaders of the rebel Shan State Army (SSA) in Kengtung in Shan State, the first time such senior commanders have met with their long-time opponents in such negotiations. The military 'buying-in' to the peace process will potentially provide a unique opportunity to raise impunity for human rights abuses. In his inaugural speech to parliament in March 2011, Thein Sein admitted that people living in conflict areas had been enduring a "hell of untold miseries." One of his close advisers, Ko Ko Hlaing, like the president a former military officer, admitted to Western reporters in November that the military had perpetrated abuses: "As you know there are no clean hands in conducting all sorts of war. There may be some sort of crimes committed by government troops similar to other armed forces of the rest of the world." Many senior government officials are former Tatmadaw commanders: they know better than most how the army conducts operations. The main peace negotiator for the government, Railways Minister U Aung Min, has gained widespread plaudits for his skillful negotiating efforts, avuncular manner and honesty. He is also a former commander of the 66 Light Infantry Division, a reputedly ruthless unit that operates in eastern Myanmar, particularly Karen State. Transforming the army's abusive counter-insurgency strategy is key to durable peace and long-term development, yet few international observers are even broaching the subject. Officials have assured foreign diplomats that human rights training is part of the curriculum of the prestigious Defense Services Academy that trains Myanmar military officers, and that the Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which Myanmar is a party, are in Burmese language translation. But training means little so long as commanders do not demonstrate a willingness to abide by the laws of war, enforce discipline in their troops, and appropriately punish perpetrators of war crimes. As international engagement with the Myanmar government scales up to support the nascent reforms, so too should progressive rapport with the military. It will ultimately be up to the Tatmadaw to show its commitment to reform through its actions on the battlefield and willingness to tackle violations of the laws of war. The Tatmadaw is not completely obtuse to international legal norms. Since 2007 it has cooperated with the International Labor Organization on demobilizing child soldiers, as part of an agreement on forced labor. The use of child soldiers is prohibited in Myanmar military regulations and international conventions to which the country is a party. The ILO's activities pushed the authorities to punish 166 military personnel - 27 officers and 139 enlisted men - for breaches of the forced labor and under-age recruitment laws over the past five years. The military and police also cooperate with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other UN bodies in training to stamp out child soldier recruitment. These efforts may pale when the breadth of abuses and the culture of impunity within the military are still pervasive, but they demonstrate that engagement on serious human rights concerns can work. They need to be expanded to encompass a range of other violations, and push the army to punish perpetrators. The Myanmar government's recent changes have been enough to sideline calls from a dozen countries for an international commission of inquiry into serious violations of the laws of war. But this doesn't mean such violations have been reduced, that future abuses aren't likely, or that accountability for crimes should be postponed. Only when the pervasive culture of abuse within the army is seriously addressed will Myanmar's hopeful changes become genuine reforms. David Scott Mathieson is Senior Asia Researcher at Human Rights Watch. (Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.) ---------------------------------------- Bangladesh sends back boatloads of Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar violence Article by: Associated Press Updated: June 12, 2012 - 7:18 AM DHAKA, Bangladesh - Bangladesh refused three big boats carrying about 1,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar as they approached land Tuesday, after 500 refugees were turned back in recent days, officials said. "They have been chased away," police official Jahangir Alam said by phone on Saint Martins Island, a Bay of Bengal isle the boats approached. "We are keeping our eyes open so that nobody can enter Bangladesh illegally." Afterward, administrators arranged announcements by loudspeakers for islanders to be vigilant to prevent Rohingya Muslims from entering Bangladesh, said Nurul Amin, a local government official in the island. Bangladesh said earlier it sent back 11 boats over the past three days packed with about 500 Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar. Local authorities in Bangladesh's border districts have been asked to remain alert and increase vigilance. A Foreign Ministry statement said the neighboring countries are maintaining close contacts to ensure that developments in Myanmar's Rakhine state do not have any "transboundary spillover". Violence between Buddhists and minority Muslims have left at least 12 people dead and burned down hundreds of homes since Friday. The United Nations' refugee agency estimates 800,000 Rohingya live in Rakhine. Myanmar considers them illegal immigrants, effectively rendering them stateless. Rights groups say they face extortion, land confiscation, forced evictions, and other human rights abuses, and thousands attempt to flee Myanmar annually. Bangladesh says Rohingya have been living in Myanmar for centuries and Myanmar should recognize them as citizens. In the 1990s, about 250,000 Rohyngya Muslims fled to Bangladesh in the face of alleged persecution by the military junta. Later, Myanmar took back most of them, leaving some 28,000 in two camps run by the government and the United Nations. Bangladesh has been unsuccessfully negotiating with Myanmar for years to send them back and, in the meantime, tens of thousands of others have entered Bangladesh illegally in recent years. http://www.startribune.com/world/158549415.html# --------------------------------------- HRW Joins Calls for End to Arakan Unrest By YAN NAING HEIN/ THE IRRAWADDY| June 12, 2012 | Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Burmese government on Monday to take all necessary steps to protect both Buddhist and Muslim communities under threat from the recent sectarian violence in Arakan State. The New York-based group also pressed Naypyidaw to allow international journalists, aid workers and diplomats to observe the conflict area first-hand, joining calls from various international governments and interest groups. Deadly violence in Arakan State is spiraling out of control under the governments watch, said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at HRW. Opening the area to independent international observers would put all sides on notice that they were being closely watched. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged for a halt to the bloodshed during a speech on Monday and called for the Burmese government to hold reconciliation talks with representatives of the groups involved. Deadly violence in Arakan State in northwestern Burma has left at least a dozen dead and hundreds of houses burnt since Friday, reports the Associated Press. Although the governments official death toll currently stands at seven, many community groups indicate that the total number of victims is likely to be higher. The clashes have continued regardless of the imposition of a 6 pm to 6 am curfew and the announcement of a state of emergency. Clinton said that the current situation in Burma highlighted the urgent need for national reconciliation and that Washington urged President Thein Seins administration to investigate the matter in an expeditious and transparent manner. Meanwhile, the European Union praised the way Burmese security forces have handled the violence as well as Thein Sein national address which warned against never-ending hatred, desire for revenge and anarchic actions. We believe that the security forces are handling this difficult inter-communal violence in an appropriate way, Maja Kocijanic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, was quoted by Reuters news agency. We welcome the priority which the Myanmar Government is giving to dealing with all ethnic conflicts. Burmese youth activist group Generation Wave has urged warring parties to work together with the government to bring peace to troubled Arakan State under the rule of law. We have worked together to fight against the military dictatorship and so now we urge all ethnic leaders to unite and fight against this violence, read the statement released on Monday. The government must cooperate with ethnic and religious organizations for justice, rule of law and peace. People must also be careful about propaganda which incites violence. Meanwhile, 44 out of 150 United Nations (UN) aid workers and their families were withdrawn from strife-ridden Maungdaw Township by the Bangladeshi border on Monday. Local state television said cargo and passenger boats to the state capital Sittwe are also suspended. Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Burmas far west have been steadily growing since the alleged gang-rape and murder of an Arakanese woman by three Muslim men in late May, and the retaliatory killing of 10 Muslims on a bus last week. Arakan State is home to around 3.8 million people of which roughly two-thirds are understood to be Buddhist Arakanese. But there are also around 800,000 Muslim Rohingya people who are considered illegal Bangladeshi refugees by the government. The UN calls the Rohingya one of one of the worlds most persecuted minority groups who face restrictions on movement, marriage and reproduction. http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/6535 ----------------------------------------- VOA: June 11, 2012 Violence Escalates in Burmas Rakhine State Danielle Bernstein BANGKOK - Northwest Burmas Rakhine state remains tense after President Thein Sein dispatched troops to try to end religious and ethnic violence. The riots began after 10 ethnic-Rohingya Muslims were mobbed and murdered by ethnic Rakhines, in retaliation for the gang-rape of a Rakhine girl. Local witnesses in villages in Burmas western Rakhine state said fires continued to burn Monday, even after President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency and sent in troops to bring the riots under control. The clashes that began on June 8 are the most severe in a string of violent attacks between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, the states largest minority group, and ethnic Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship in both Burma and Bangladesh. In the morning after leaving the army from the Maungdaw today morning, the police and the riot police they and the Rakhine people are trying to burn to loot and to kill the Rohingya people," said Tin Soe is the editor of Kaladan Press Network, a Rohingya news agency, which has been reporting on the riots. "Ethnic problem or religious problem, we dont know which one we can say. Both minority groups in the region claim to be under attack, but the Rohingya have a history of being a target of racism. Although many Rohingya communities have lived in Burma for decades, the government refuses to grant them citizenship - a position that has broad support among other Burmese nationals. Even democracy leader and former political prisoner Ko Ko Gyi recently said he believed "so-called Rohingya" not to be one of the recognized Burmese ethnic groups. Nicholas Farelly, Burma analyst of Australia National University, says the Rohingyas statelessness between Burma and Bangladesh is partially to blame for the conflict's escalation. The Rohingya, they fit somewhat awkwardly in that borderland between the two different political systems, they have nowhere to call home and, as a result from time to time, there are these episodes of conflict," said Farelly. "We have seen one of those very recently and it has in this case taken the form of Buddhist and Muslim mobs of varying sizes coming to blows. On Sunday, Thein Seins national address referenced what he called Burmas checkered history of peaceful co-existence of among the countrys diverse ethnic groups. He condemned racial and religiously-based violence, which he said could jeopardize the countrys democratic reforms. In Bangkok Monday, Maung Kyaw Nu of the Burmese Rohingya Association of Thailand asked the United Nations to intervene. "Today, I am coming here to express, to hand over the letter to Mr. Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations," said Maung Kyaw Nu. "I would like his intervention, U.N. intervention to save my people who are killed. Genocide is there. I'm coming here to ask his help, intervention as well as the global civil society's help." The U.S. embassy issued a statement urging all parties to stop violent attacks and the government to hold a transparent investigation. http://www.voanews.com/content/violence_escilates_in_burma_rakhine_state/1205821.html ------------------------------------------- Is Burma regime inciting Rakhine conflict to discredit Suu Kyi? Conflict between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims could force opposition leader to make an unpopular intervention BY Edward Loxton LAST UPDATED AT 07:49 ON Tue 12 Jun 2012 CHIANG MAI As sectarian violence continues unabated in Burma's westernmost state of Arakan, suspicion is growing that the clashes between Buddhists and minority Muslims are part of a government plot to discredit the hugely popular opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and weaken the threat she poses to its military-backed power base. "The violence is clearly well orchestrated and not as spontaneous as we are being led to believe," said Burma expert and author Bertil Lintner, whose latest book, Great Game East, is about to be published. The book deals with "the power play in the eastern border regions of the Indian subcontinent". Dozens have so far died and hundreds of homes have been burnt down in a week-long wave of deadly clashes between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhine communities along the western, Andaman Sea coast, of Burma. Religious and racial tensions have always run high in this backward state - known in Burmese as Rakhine - where the Rohingya minority are denied many basic rights, even Burmese citizenship. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, most of them men, have fled, either overland to neighbouring Bangladesh - where they are classed as illegal immigrants - or even in open boats to Thailand and Malaysia. Burma observers are asking why the long-dormant tensions have broken surface at this point in time, when a newly-elected government in the capital, Naypyidaw, is winning international approval for the small advances it is making in the areas of political liberalisation and human rights. "The answer is plain to see," Lintner told The Week. "The government is very worried about the support commanded by Suu Kyi. It wants to force her into a position where she has to make a pro-Rohingya public statement that could damage her popularity among Burma's Buddhists, where anti-Muslim sentiment runs high. On the other hand, if she remains silent she will disappoint those who support her firm stand on human rights." A long-time observer of the Burma scene, who requested anonymity, agreed. "Suu Kyi is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't," he said. "She is in a very difficult situation, which could seriously damage her reputation and erode much of her popularity." Maung Zarni, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, agreed that the government could benefit from the crisis because it diverted attention from its continuing military efforts to subdue other restive ethnic groups. Fighting is particularly fierce in Kachin State, where Lintner recently toured the Sino-Burmese border area and confirmed that up to 300,000 Kachin refugees had sought shelter in China from bitter fighting between the Burma Army and the Kachin Independence Army. Lintner pointed out that the Arakan crisis comes at a critical time for Suu Kyi, just as she is preparing to leave on a European visit, starting on 15 June. "She will be expected to make public statements on the violence in Rakhine State," he said. "This is such a difficult challenge that she might even call off her trip to Europe." Suu Kyi was further embarrassed this week by anti-Rohingya statements by two human rights activists who were previously among her staunchest supporters. "The Rohingya are not a Burmese ethnic group," said Ko Ko Gyi, a leader of the now-disbanded 88 Students Generation activist group, who was recently given an amnesty after serving five years' imprisonment for defying the former military regime. "The root cause of the violence comes from across the border and foreign countries," he said. "This is astonishing stuff coming from a supposed human rights activist," said one Western observer. "Such statements go a long way to support the belief that the government is trying to manipulate opposition circles wherever it can in order to sabotage Aung San Suu Kyi." Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/asia-pacific/burma/47364/burma-regime-inciting-rakhine-conflict-discredit-suu-kyi#ixzz1xZUNT3cD ---------------------------------------------------- 7-Eleven stores to open in Myanmar Asia News Network/The Nation, Bangkok | Tue, 06/12/2012 8:18 PM A- A A+ Myanmar will introduce 7-Eleven convenience stores to the country this year, the country's Eleven Media Group reported recently. Japan is working with Zaygabar Company to open the international chain of convenience stores in Myanmar, the group quoted informed sources in the company as saying. "They already met in Thailand to discuss the matter. Zaygabar Company representing for Myanmar will open 7-Eleven stores in all parts of Myanmar. The company is trying its best to establish the stores within this year," the sources said. Eleven Media reported that the entire chain of convenience stores belong to Seven & I Holdings Co. Ltd, a Japanese company while the headquarters are in Texas, in the United States. It was founded in 1927. As part of retail trade, foodstuffs and consumer goods are mainly sold. There are more than 40,000 stores across the world with some 45,000 staff, it said. (nvn) http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/06/12/7-eleven-stores-open-myanmar.html ----------------------------------------- Myanmar must show it is pro-foreign investment: ESM Goh By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 12 June 2012 2038 hrs SINGAPORE: Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on Tuesday said the government of Myanmar needs to show that the country is pro-foreign investment, with clear investment laws and policies. Mr Goh, who is leading a delegation to Myanmar to strengthen cooperation, made these points to the media after he met Myanmar's President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw. ESM Goh told reporters that there were many opportunities in Myanmar. "Our (Singapore's) business people must come over here, assess for themselves the political risks ... the economic risks of investing over here ... (and) the state of (Myanmar) labour," he said. Mr Goh said he was positive that Myanmar is on the right track politically and economically During their 45-minute discussion, Mr Thein Sein expressed concern about poverty in his country, saying that to eradicate poverty, Myanmar needed to create employment and attract investment. He also said Myanmar is keen to draw investments to labour-intensive industries, such as garments and electronics. Mr Goh said Singapore can help Myanmar in human resource development and capacity building. - CNA/wm http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/1207176/1/.html