Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | The UN has called for calm after several Rohingya Muslims were shot and wounded in a Rakhine state camp, in a raid linked to the failed escape of more than 100 of the stateless minority from the grim settlements. Some 120,000 Rohingya have languished in …
Read More »‘We don’t need their prize’: Myanmar defiant as Amnesty pulls Suu Kyi award
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar authorities and citizens leapt to the defence of Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday after Amnesty International stripped her of its top award over indifference to atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims, doubling down on support for the civilian leader in the face of global ire. …
Read More »Rohingya will be safe in areas ‘designated’ for them: Myanmar army chief
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Rohingya refugees who return to Myanmar will be safe as long as they stay in the model villages built for them, the country’s army chief has said, renewing fears they will be kept in settlements indefinitely. Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh …
Read More »UN Security Council to press for Rohingya solution: envoy
Dhaka, Bangladesh | AFP | The UN Security Council will press Myanmar to ensure that Rohingya who fled the country can return home in safety and freedom, an envoy said Monday after UN diplomats ended a tour of Bangladesh’s refugee camps. “This is a humanitarian crisis and a human rights …
Read More »Thousands flee fresh clashes in northern Myanmar: UN
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Thousands of people have fled renewed fighting between Myanmar’s army and ethnic insurgents in the country’s remote north, a United Nations official said, as a long-simmering conflict intensifies. More than 4,000 people have been displaced in the country’s northernmost state of Kachin near the border …
Read More »Rohingya returnees won’t be kept in camps ‘forever’: Myanmar official
Maungdaw, Myanmar | AFP | A Myanmar official in Rakhine state said Saturday that Rohingya refugees who return will not be held in newly-built camps “forever,” as concerns mount over a vexed repatriation process. Ye Htut, the administrator of Maungdaw district, was speaking to reporters on a government-chaperoned trip to …
Read More »Rohingya flee no man’s land after Myanmar threat
Tombru, Bangladesh | AFP | Hundreds of Rohingya living in no man’s land have left their makeshift camp and crossed into Bangladesh after soldiers from Myanmar used loud hailers to threaten them, community leaders said Wednesday. Around 6,000 Rohingya have been living on a thin stretch of land between the two …
Read More »Myanmar seizes drugs and equipment worth $7 mn in lab raid
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar troops seized $7 million worth of narcotics, precursors and equipment in a raid on drug labs in the restive north, the army said Monday, as it continues a war against ethnic rebels accused of profiting from the drug trade. Soldiers and local officials found …
Read More »Myanmar farmers going against the grain with apps
Aye Ywar , Myanmar | AFP | A free app on farmer San San Hla’s smartphone is her new weapon in the war against the dreaded stem borer moth that blighted her rice paddy in southern Myanmar for the last two years. As she watches her workers haul in this …
Read More »Myanmar still not safe for Rohingya to return: UN refugee chief
United Nations, United States | AFP | Myanmar has failed to put in place conditions for the safe return of 688,000 Rohingya refugees who fled an army crackdown six months ago, the UN refugee chief said Monday. The refugees are sheltering in makeshift camps in Bangladesh despite an agreement reached between …
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