Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Several thousand people have fled to Zambia in the past month to escape violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN said Tuesday. The UN refugee agency said 3,360 people from DR Congo’s conflict-wracked southeast had entered Zambia since August 30, the largest influx of its …
Read More »Oxford college removes Suu Kyi portrait
London, United Kingdom | AFP | The Oxford University college where Aung San Suu Kyi studied said Saturday it had taken down a portrait of the Myanmar leader, a decision that follows widespread criticism of her over the Rohingya crisis. The portrait, which was on display in the main entrance of …
Read More »China’s Communist Party expels top member ahead of congress
Beijing, China | AFP | China’s Communist Party Friday expelled from its ranks a former contender for a top leadership post for “serious discipline violations” before a major congress due to consolidate President Xi Jinping’s power. Politburo member Sun Zhengcai was also dismissed from public office after the Political Bureau of …
Read More »Aid chiefs to access Myanmar’s Rakhine on Thursday: UN
United Nations, United States | AFP | Representatives of UN agencies will be permitted to visit Rakhine state in Myanmar on Thursday for the first time since the start of a massive exodus of minority Rohingya Muslims. “There will be a trip organized by the government, probably tomorrow, to Rakhine,” United …
Read More »US slashes number of refugees it is ready to resettle
Washington, United States | AFP | The United States will reduce the number of refugees it is prepared to welcome for resettlement to only 45,000 over the next year — just over half the figure for 2016, officials said Wednesday. The decision will disappoint refugee advocates and United Nations agencies, which …
Read More »Rohingya militants deny Myanmar army claims of Hindu massacre
Maungdaw, Myanmar | AFP | Rohingya militants on Wednesday denied the Myanmar army’s allegations that they had massacred scores of Hindu villagers, whose bodies soldiers displayed to the press after exhuming them from mass graves in northern Rakhine state. Major clashes between the army and the Muslim insurgents erupted last month, …
Read More »Trump’s travel ban to expire on Sunday
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump’s contentious travel ban expires Sunday with little clarity over whether America’s door will reopen for travelers from six majority-Muslim countries. Based on the policy, US embassies or representatives in Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen should resume granting visas to their …
Read More »UN needs $200 million for ‘catastrophic’ Rohingya influx
Dhaka, Bangladesh | AFP | The United Nations will need $200 million over the next six months to face the “catastrophic” influx of more than 420,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, a top UN official said Friday. The Rohingya Muslims, escaping ethnic unrest in Myanmar, have overwhelmed Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar in under …
Read More »Key points from Myanmar leader’s address on Rohingya crisis
Naypyidaw, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi broke her silence on the Rohingya crisis Tuesday, in a speech aimed at appeasing an international community horrified by army-led violence which the UN describes as “ethnic cleansing”. Here are key points from the 30-minute address, which was nationally …
Read More »Suu Kyi appeals to global community over Rohingya crisis
Naypyidaw, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi reached out to the global community Tuesday in a broad appeal for support over a refugee crisis the UN has decried as “ethnic cleansing”, urging outsiders to help her nation unite across religious and ethnic lines and offering a pathway …
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