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Myanmar's Suu Kyi gets more jail, hard labour for election fraud
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Nobel laureate and figurehead of Myanmar's opposition to decades of military rule Suu Kyi denies all allegations against her -
Myanmar?s Suu Kyi moved to solitary confinement in jail, military spokesman says
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
All legal proceedings against Suu Kyi would be moved to a courtroom in the jail, source familiar with her cases tells Reuters -
Myanmar's Suu Kyi hit with new convictions, four-year jail term
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
The Nobel laureate has been detained since February 1, 2021, when her govt was forced out in an early morning coup -
Myanmar junta hands Suu Kyi punishment for incitement against the military and breaching COVID-19 rules
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Suu Kyi accepted illegal payments of $600,000, plus gold, says Myanmar junta
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Myanmar junta says that the information had been verified and many people were being questioned -
Myanmar court files more charges against Suu Kyi, police crack down on protests
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Police fire tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in the main city of Yangon -
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military stages coup
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Soldiers took up positions at city hall in Yangon and mobile internet data and phone services in the NLD stronghold were disrupted. -
Bono calls on Suu Kyi to quit over deadly campaign against Rohingya Muslims
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
File photo of Bono and Aung San Suu Kyi NEW YORK: U2 frontman Bono, a leading campaigner for Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi when she was under house arrest, has called on her to resign over the deadly campaign against Rohingya Muslims. The singer -- who championed Suu Kyi in the 2000 U2 song "Walk On," with fans encouraged to wear masks of the then opposition leader when the band played it live -- said he felt "nauseated" by images of the bloodshed and refugee crisis. "I have genuinely felt ill because I can't quite believe what the evidence all points to. But there is ethnic cleansing," he told Rolling Stone magazine in its latest issue. "It really is happening, and she has to step down because she knows it´s happening," Bono said. Pressed on his remarks in the interview conducted by Rolling Stone's founder, Jann Wenner, Bono said: "She should, at the very least, be speaking out more. And if people don´t listen, then resign." The United Nations and the United States have also described Myanmar's campaign against the stateless, mostly Muslim Rohingya people as ethnic cleansing. Doctors Without Borders said that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of sweeps on villages launched in response to rebel attacks. Another 655,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. Suu Kyi, the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, enjoyed wide support from celebrities as she spent most of two decades under house arrest on orders of Myanmar´s military junta. Myanmar's transition to democracy and Suu Kyi's elevation last year to de facto leader initially delighted human rights groups, but they have since been outraged by her reticence in addressing the anti-Rohingya campaign. Some experts believe Suu Kyi has made a calculated decision not to take the political risks of speaking out as the Rohingya are widely despised in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, and in any case she does not control the military. Bono said of Suu Kyi´s possible reasoning: "Maybe it´s that she doesn´t want to lose the country back to the military. But she already has, if the pictures are what we go by, anyway." Earlier this month Dublin, Bono´s hometown, revoked a city award given to Suu Kyi to protest her handling of the violence. -
Oxford strips Suu Kyi of city?s freedom over Rohingya crisis
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Aung San Suu Kyi received an honorary degree at Oxford University in 2012 LONDON: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of the honorific freedom of Oxford, the British city where she studied and raised her children, over her "inaction" in the Rohingya crisis. "When Aung San Suu Kyi was given the Freedom of the City in 1997 it was because she reflected Oxford´s values of tolerance and internationalism," the city council said in a statement issued late Monday. "Today we have taken the unprecedented step of stripping her of the city´s highest honour because of her inaction in the face of the oppression of the minority Rohingya population," added the release, which was published after a unanimous vote. "Our reputation is tarnished by honouring those who turn a blind eye to violence." Oxford´s world-renowned university removed portraits of Suu Kyi, a former student, from its walls in September. City of Oxford strips Aung San Suu Kyi of human rights award Oxford City Council cites deep concerns over treatment of Rohingya Muslims under her watch Suu Kyi´s late husband Michael Aris was a lecturer in Asian history at the university, and the couple lived and raised their two sons in the city. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has come under fire for failing to speak up in defence of the minority Muslim community. The United Nations says more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August and now live in squalor in the world´s largest refugee camp after a military crackdown in Myanmar that the UN and Washington have said clearly constitutes "ethnic cleansing". -
Bob Geldof arrives to return his 'Freedom of the City of Dublin' with Oonagh Casey of Dublin's City Manager's office, after saying he could not continue to hold the honour with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Dublin, Ireland, November 13, 2107. Photo: Reuters DUBLIN: Irish musician and anti-poverty activist Bob Geldof will return his ?Freedom of the City of Dublin? award to his home town on Monday, saying he could not continue to hold the honor with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Well over 600,000 Muslims from Myanmar?s Rakhine state have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh after military clearance operations described by the United Nations as ethnic cleansing were launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants. The plight of the Rohingya has brought outrage from around the world and there have been calls for Suu Kyi to be stripped of the Nobel peace prize she won in 1991 because she has not condemned the Myanmar military?s actions. ?I am a very proud Dubliner but cannot in all conscience continue to be one of the honoured few to have received this great tribute whilst Aung San Suu Kyi remains amongst that number,? Geldof said in a statement. ?In short, I do not wish to be associated in any way with an individual currently engaged in the mass ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people of North West Burma.? Suu Kyi, previously renowned for her human rights activism, was under house arrest when she was given the Freedom of Dublin in 1999 and received her award at a public reception in Ireland in 2012, two years after her release. Last month she was stripped of a similar honor by the British university city of Oxford, where she was an undergraduate. Other foreign recipients of the Freedom of Dublin since it was first awarded in 1876 include John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev. Geldof, a former singer for the Boomtown Rats, was given the honor in 2005 in recognition of his charity work which included organizing the 1985 Live Aid concert, which reached an estimated 1.5 billion people and did much to raise the profile of those suffering from starvation and disease in Ethiopia. ?Her association with our city shames us all and we should have no truck with it, even by default. We honoured her, now she appalls and shames us,? Geldof said. ?The moment she is stripped of her Dublin Freedom perhaps the Council would see fit to restore to me that which I take such pride in. If not so be it. Please accept this small gesture and the sadness that accompanies it.?
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Myanmar?s Suu Kyi makes first visit to crisis-hit northern Rakhine
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: File YANGON: Myanmar?s leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived on her first visit to conflict-battered northern Rakhine State on Thursday, an official said, an unannounced trip to an area that has seen most of its Rohingya Muslim population forced out by an army campaign. Suu Kyi, a nobel laureate who leads Myanmar?s pro-democracy party, has been hammered by the international community for failing to use her moral power to speak up in defence of the Rohinyga. Around 600,000 of the stateless minority have fled to Bangladesh since late August carrying accounts of murder, rape and arson at the hands of the Myanmar?s army, after militant raids sparked a ferocious military crackdown. The UN says that crackdown is tantamount to ethnic cleansing, while pressure has mounted on Myanmar to provide security for the Rohingya and allow people to return home. "The state counsellor (Suu Kyi´s official title) is now in Sittwe and will go to Maungdaw and Buthiduang too. It will be a day trip," government spokesperson Zaw Htay told AFP, mentioning two of the epicentres of the violence but without elaborating on her schedule. It is her first trip in office to northern Rakhine, which has hosted the worst of the communal violence that has cut through the western state since 2012, severely damaging Myanmar?s global reputation. It was not clear if Suu Kyi would visit the hundreds of Rohinyga villages torched by the army ? allegedly aided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist locals ? or if she would be taken to see remaining clusters of the Muslim group, who are living in fear and hunger surrounded by hostile neighbours. Thousands of others are believed to still be camped on a beach near Maungdaw awaiting boats to Bangladesh in increasingly parlous conditions. The Rohingya are hated in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship and widely dismissed as illegal "Bengali" immigrants. Observers say Suu Kyi has chosen not to criticise the army in fear of a backlash from a powerful institution that controls all security matters. The plight of the Rohingya also garners little sympathy inside Myanmar, making any defence of the minority a politically unpopular cause amid surging Buddhist nationalist sentiment. Suu Kyi heads a committee charged with rebuilding Rakhine and repatriating Rohingya from Bangladesh who meet strict criteria for re-entry to Myanmar. On Wednesday, the government spokesperson accused Bangladesh of delaying the start of repatriation. Dhaka has yet to send an official list of the Rohingya who have fled since August 25, he told AFP. The Rohingya have packed into makeshift camps on a poor, already overcrowded slip of border land inside Bangladesh. Aid groups say the risk of major outbreaks of disease is high while they struggle to deliver food and basic supplies to the unprecedented number of refugees. -
City of Oxford strips Aung San Suu Kyi of human rights award
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
LONDON: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of a human rights award by the City of Oxford, where she was an undergraduate, as British institutions increasingly distance themselves from the beleaguered former rights icon. Oxford City Council voted unanimously this week to recommend Suu Kyi?s Freedom of the City award be withdrawn, citing deep concerns over the treatment of Rohingya Muslims under her watch. The city?s reputation is ?tarnished by honoring those who turn a blind eye to violence,? local councilor and Labour party member Mary Clarkson said in a speech proposing the motion. Over 500,000 members of Myanmar?s Rohingya minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh since late August, when Rohingya attacks led to a violent crackdown by the army. Myanmar?s de facto leader Suu Kyi, previously renowned for her human rights activism, has been widely criticized for her silence on the subject. ?While the UN calls the situation a ?textbook example of ethnic cleansing?, Aung San Suu Kyi denies any ethnic cleansing and dismisses numerous claims of sexual violence against Rohingya women as ?fake rape,'? Clarkson said. In a speech in late September, her first public statement on the subject since the exodus of refugees began, Suu Kyi said her government condemned all human rights violations and promised to punish perpetrators. But she did not address accusations of ethnic cleansing and did not criticize the army?s actions. Her speech was described as ?little more than a mix of untruths and victim-blaming? by Amnesty International director for the region, James Gomez. Oxford University removes portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi The humanitarian crisis in Myanmar has seen more than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims flee to neighbouring Bangladesh A similar Freedom of the City award is being considered for withdrawal by Sheffield city council in the north of England, after residents submitted a petition last month. The award will likely be reviewed by councillors this month, the council?s democratic services team, which handles petitions, told Reuters. Oxford University college St Hugh?s, Suu Kyi?s alma mater, removed her portrait last week from public display while Unison, Britain?s second-largest trade union, announced last month it would suspend her honorary membership. -
The portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi was painted by Chen Yanning. Photo: Chen Yanning/St Hugh's college, Oxford University The Oxford University, where Aung San Suu Kyi studied as an undergraduate, has removed her portrait from public display amid criticism of her handling of the Rohingya crisis. The humanitarian crisis in Myanmar has seen more than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the country, has been criticised for failing to address UN allegations of ethnic cleansing. The governing body of Oxford?s St Hugh?s college decided to remove the painting of the Nobel laureate from its main entrance, days before the start of the new term. St Hugh's College said her portrait had been replaced with a Japanese painting. The portrait, painted by the artist Chen Yanning in 1997, belonged to Suu Kyi?s husband, the Oxford academic Michael Aris. After his death in 1999, the portrait was bequeathed to St Hugh?s, and hung near the college?s main entrance. The stateless and persecuted Rohingya Myanmar's government, led by Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has rejected allegations of atrocities against the Rohingya, accusing the international media, NGOs and the UN of fabrications. In 2012, Suu Kyi was celebrated with an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, where she studied politics, philosophy and economics between 1964 and 1967. Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel peace prize in 1991, has been Myanmar's de facto civilian leader since winning elections in 2015. She has been facing growing international pressure to act, after evidence emerged that Myanmar?s military forces were driving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya out of the country.
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YANGON: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected a suggestion she is soft on the military, which the United Nations has accused of ethnic cleansing, saying her relationship with the generals was normal and her objective was national reconciliation. Suu Kyi condemned on Tuesday rights abuses in Rakhine State, where conflict that began last month has forced 421,000 Rohingya Muslims to seek refuge in Bangladesh, and said violators would be punished. However, in her first address to the Buddhist-majority nation on the crisis, she did not address UN accusations of ethnic cleansing by the security forces, drawing cool international responses. ?We?ve never changed our stand,? Suu Kyi said in an interview with Radio Free Asia, when asked if she had softened her stance on the military, which she challenged for years in her campaign for democracy. ?Our goal has been national reconciliation from the very beginning. We have never criticized the military itself, but only their actions. We may disagree on these types of actions.? She cited her unsuccessful bid in parliament to change a military-drafted constitution, which bars her from the presidency and gives the military responsibility over security and a veto over charter reform. ?We?ll continue to bring changes within the parliament. I?ve stood firm with the military before, and still do now,? she told Radio Free Asia. She again did not refer to the accusations that the military is engaged in ethnic cleansing. Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar?s independence leader who founded the army, has for years been feted in the West as a champion of democracy during years of military rule and house arrest. But the Nobel Peace laureate has faced growing criticism for saying little about abuses faced by the Rohingya. Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes have mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the mostly stateless Muslim population. The UN rights agency said it was ?a textbook example of ethnic cleansing?. Myanmar rejects the charge, saying its forces are tackling insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army who it has accused of setting the fires and attacking civilians. Western diplomats and aid officials had been hoping she would issue an unequivocal condemnation of violence and hate speech in her first address on the Rakhine State conflict. They welcomed the message, as far as it went, but some had been hoping for a stronger stand. ?DESTROYING? REPUTATION Suu Kyi condemned all rights violations and said she was committed to the restoration of peace and the rule of law. On the return of refugees, she said Myanmar was ready to start a verification process under a 1993 arrangement with Bangladesh and ?refugees from this country will be accepted without any problem?. She also said diplomats could visit the conflict zone. In a phone call to Suu Kyi, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson welcomed Myanmar?s commitment to allow the return of refugees, but urged it to facilitate aid to those affected by the violence and to address ?deeply troubling? rights abuse allegations, the State Department said. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy is in Myanmar this week. He will travel to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, to meet government officials and representatives of different communities, but is not seeking to travel to the conflict zone. China, which has close economic and diplomatic ties with Myanmar, has called for understanding of the government?s efforts to protect stability. Britain said it had suspended its military training program in Myanmar and French President Emmanuel Macron condemned ?unacceptable ethnic cleaning?. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the General Assembly Myanmar must end military operations, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and recognize the right of refugees to return and the grievances of the Rohingya. Twenty-two members of the US Congress wrote to Tillerson calling for a ?strong, meaningful? response. The head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, said Suu Kyi risked destroying her reputation. ?She had yet another opportunity today to stand up for the Rohingya minority ... but instead refused to acknowledge the military?s role in the ongoing atrocities,? he said. Western governments that backed Suu Kyi?s campaign against military rule still see her as the best hope for Myanmar?s political and economic transition. However, she has to avoid angering the army and alienating supporters by being seen to take the side of a Muslim minority that enjoys little sympathy in a country that has seen a surge of Buddhist nationalism.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi condemns all rights violations in Rakhine State
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi arrives to deliver a speech to the nation over Rakhine and Rohingya situation, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar September 19, 2017/REUTERS NAYPYITAW: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi condemned all human rights violations on Tuesday and said anyone responsible for abuses in troubled Rakhine State would face the law, and she felt deeply for the suffering of everyone caught up in conflict there. In her first address to the nation since attacks by insurgents on Aug. 25 sparked a military response that has forced more than 410,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, Suu Kyi said Myanmar did not fear international scrutiny and was committed to a sustainable solution to the conflict. The United Nations has branded the military operation in the western state ethnic cleansing. Suu Kyi did not address that accusation but said her government condemned rights violations and anyone responsible for abuses would face the law. "We condemn all human rights violations and unlawful violence. We are committed to the restoration of peace and stability and rule of law throughout the state," Suu Kyi said in her address in the capital, Naypyitaw. Long feted in the West for her role as champion of Myanmar?s democratic opposition in the Buddhist-majority country during years of military rule and house arrest, Suu Kyi has faced growing criticism for saying little about the abuses faced by the Rohingya. UN urged to punish Myanmar army over Rohingya 'atrocities' Call from Human Rights Watch came as the UN General Assembly prepared to convene in New York "Human rights violations and all other acts that impair stability and harmony and undermine the rule of law will be addressed in accordance with strict laws and justice," she said. "We feel deeply for the suffering of all the people caught up in the conflict." The United States urged the Myanmar government on Monday to end military operations in Rakhine state, grant humanitarian access, and commit to aiding the safe return of civilians to their homes. ´No clearance operations´ Myanmar´s powerful military remains in full charge of security and Suu Kyi did not comment on the military operations except to say that since Sept. 5, there had been "no armed clashes and there have been no clearance operations". "Nevertheless, we are concerned to hear that numbers of Muslims are fleeing across the border to Bangladesh," she said. "We want to find out why this exodus is happening. We would like to talk to those who have fled as well as those who have stayed. ?I think it is very little known a great majority of Muslims in the Rakhine state have not joined the exodus." She said her government had been making every effort to restore peace and stability and to promote harmony between the Muslim and largely Buddhist Rakhine communities. Suu Kyi, 72, is banned from the presidency by the military-drafted constitution because her children have British citizenship. She holds offices of the state counsellor and minister for foreign affairs, and is the de facto leader of the administration. In her address, Suu Kyi did not use the term ?Rohingya? to refer to the Muslim minority in Rakhine State. Members of the 1.1 million group, who identify themselves by the term Rohingya, are seen by many Myanmar Buddhists as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The term is a divisive issue. Most Rohingya do not have Myanmar citizenship. -
Myanmar's Suu Kyi to skip UN assembly to deal with Rohingya crisis
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Aung San Suu Kyi YANGON: Myanmar?s national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, facing outrage over violence that has forced about 400,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh, will not attend the upcoming UN General Assembly because of the crisis, her office said on Wednesday. The exodus of refugees, sparked by the security forces? fierce response to a series of Rohingya militant attacks, is the most pressing problem Suu Kyi has faced since becoming leader last year. Critics have called for her to be stripped of her Nobel peace prize for failing to do more to halt the strife which the UN rights agency said was a ?textbook example of ethnic cleansing?. Aid agencies will have to step up operations ?massively? in response to the refugee flow into Bangladesh, a senior UN official said, adding that the $77 million the United Nations had appealed for last week would not be enough. But a Bangladeshi border force officer said the number of people crossing into his area had fallen sharply, apparently because everyone had left districts most affected by the violence. Suu Kyi, in her first address to the UN General Assembly as leader in September last year, defended her government?s efforts to resolve the crisis over treatment of the Muslim minority. This year, her office said she would not be attending because of the security threats posed by the insurgents and her efforts to restore stability. ?She is trying to control the security situation, to have internal peace and stability, and to prevent the spread of communal conflict,? Zaw Htay, the spokesman for Suu Kyi?s office, told Reuters. International pressure has been growing on Buddhist-majority Myanmar to end the violence in the western state of Rakhine that began on Aug 25 when Rohingya militants attacked about 30 police posts and an army camp. The raids triggered a sweeping military counter-offensive against the insurgents, described by the government as terrorists. Refugees say the security operation is aimed at pushing Rohingya out of Myanmar. They, and rights groups, paint a picture of widespread attacks on Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine State by the security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, who have torched many Muslim villages. Authorities have denied that the security forces, or Buddhist civilians, have been setting the fires, and have blamed the insurgents. Nearly 30,000 Buddhist villagers have also been displaced, they say. The Trump administration has called for protection of civilians, and Bangladesh says all the refugees will have to go home and has called for safe zones in Myanmar. Myanmar faces mounting pressure over Rohingya refugee exodus US called for protection of civilians and Bangladesh urged safe zones to enable refugees to go home But China, which competes with the United States for influence in Asia, said on Tuesday it backed Myanmar?s efforts to safeguard ?development and stability?. The UN Security Council is to meet on Wednesday behind closed doors for the second time since the crisis erupted. British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said he hoped there would be a public statement agreed by the council. However, rights groups denounced the council for not holding a public meeting. Diplomats have said China and Russia would likely object to such a move. Public support Myanmar?s military, which ruled for almost 50 years until it began a transition to democracy in 2011, retains significant political powers and is in full control of security. Nevertheless, critics say Suu Kyi could speak out against the violence and demand respect for the rule of law. But anti-Rohingya sentiment is common in Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has surged since the end of military rule. Suu Kyi, who the military blocked from becoming president and who says Myanmar is at the beginning of the road to democracy, could risk being denounced as unpatriotic if she were seen to be criticising a military operation that enjoys widespread support. A mob in central Myanmar threw stones at Muslim shops on Sunday but there have been no serious outbreaks of communal violence elsewhere. The government has warned of bomb attacks in cities and those concerns are likely to be compounded by an al Qaeda call to arms in support of the Rohingya. ?The savage treatment meted out to our Muslim brothers ... shall not pass without punishment,? al Qaeda said in a statement, according to the SITE monitoring group. Bangladesh was already home to about 400,000 Rohingya who fled earlier conflict and many of the new refugees are hungry and sick, without shelter or clean water. ?We will all have to ramp up our response massively, from food to shelter,? George William Okoth-Obbo, assistant high commissioner for operations at the UN refugee agency, told Reuters during a visit to the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh. He declined to say how many people he thought might come but Bangladeshi officer Lieutenant Colonel Ariful Islam said numbers were falling off sharply in his area. ?The people who arrived in the early days after the atrocities, now they?ve come out,? Islam told Reuters. -
Ayatollah Khamenei calls Myanmar?s Suu Kyi a ?cruel woman?
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi a ?cruel woman? over a lack of inaction against violence against the ethnic Rohingya Muslims in the country, Iranian media reported. ?This is a political issue because the party that has been carrying out the atrocities is Myanmar?s government, at the top of which is a cruel woman who has won the Nobel Peace Prize. And with these incidents, the death of the Nobel Peace Prize has been spelled,? IFP News reported Khamenei as saying. Myanmar faces mounting pressure over Rohingya refugee exodus Top UN HR official denounced Myanmar for conducting a ?cruel military operation? against Rohingya Muslims He also called for Muslim countries to take concrete measures to help end the persecution and said that a Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting should be convened to discuss the matter. ?Of course, practical measures don?t mean military deployments. Rather, they (Islamic governments) have to increase their political, economic, and trade pressure on Myanmar?s government and cry out against these crimes in international organizations,? he said. More than 300,000 Muslims have been forced to flee Myanmar to Bangladesh after the former?s government said its security forces are fighting ?terrorists? behind the latest wave of attacks. Various world leaders including the UN have criticised Suu Kyi for failing to speak out against atrocities against the Rohingya. -
Myanmar's Suu Kyi denounces terrorists, silent on Rohingya exodus
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi gives a speech at the Swedish parliament in Stockholm, Sweden. REUTERS DHAKA/SHAMLAPUR: Myanmar?s Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday blamed ?terrorists? for ?a huge iceberg of misinformation? on the violence in Rakhine state but made no mention of the nearly 125,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled over the border to Bangladesh since Aug. 25. The leader of the Buddhist-majority country has come under pressure from countries with Muslim populations over the crisis, and on Tuesday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the risk of ethnic cleansing and regional destabilization. In a rare letter expressing concern that the violence that has raged for nearly two weeks in the northeastern state could spiral into a ?humanitarian catastrophe?, Guterres urged the UN Security Council to press for restraint and calm. Suu Kyi spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has pressed world leaders to do more to help a population of roughly 1.1 million he says are facing genocide. In a statement issued by her office on Facebook, Suu Kyi said the government had ?already started defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible? and warned against misinformation that could mar relations with other countries. She referred to Tweets of images of killings posted by Turkey?s deputy prime minister that he later deleted because they were not even from Myanmar. ?She said that kind of fake information which was inflicted on the deputy prime minister was simply the tip of a huge iceberg of misinformation calculated to create a lot of problems between different countries and with the aim of promoting the interests of the terrorists,? the social media statement said. The latest violence in Rakhine state began 12 days ago when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh. LANDMINES ON BORDER Suu Kyi has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution, and some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 as a champion of democracy to be revoked. Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against ?terrorists? responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October. Myanmar officials blame Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths. But rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings. Reuters reporters saw hundreds more exhausted Rohingya arriving on boats near the Bangladeshi border village of Shamlapur on Tuesday, suggesting the exodus was far from over. The new arrivals - many sick or wounded - have strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar. Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said one camp in Bangladesh, Kutupalong, had reached ?full capacity? and resources at others were being stretched. The International Organization for Migration said humanitarian assistance needed to increase urgently and that it and partner agencies had an immediate funding gap of $18 million over the next three months to boost lifesaving services for the new arrivals. The latest estimate of the numbers that have crossed into Bangladesh, based on calculations by UN workers, is 123,600. That takes to about 210,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since last October, when Rohingya insurgents staged smaller attacks on security posts, triggering a major Myanmar army counter-offensive. Myanmar has been laying landmines across a section of its border with Bangladesh for the past three days, two government sources in Dhaka said, adding that the purpose may have been to prevent the return of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence. Bangladesh will formally lodge a protest on Wednesday against the laying of land mines so close to the border, said the sources who had direct knowledge of the situation but asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. A Myanmar military source said landmines were laid along the border in the 1990s to prevent trespassing and the military had since tried to remove them, but none had been planted recently. -
Over 0.3mn people sign petition asking to strip Suu Kyi of Nobel Prize
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Over 3,035,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org demanding that the Nobel Peace Prize be taken back from Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failure to stop violence against the ethnic Rohignya Muslims in the country. Three million signatures are needed to forward the demand to the Norway-based Nobel Peace Prize Committee. AFP adds: Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai and mainly Muslim countries in Asia led a growing chorus of criticism on Monday aimed at Myanmar and its civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi over the plight of the Rohingya Muslim minority. Nearly 90,000 Rohingya escape Myanmar violence as humanitarian crisis looms-Reuters Nearly 90,000 Rohingya have flooded into Bangladesh in the past 10 days following an uptick in fighting between militants and Myanmar´s military in strife-torn western Rakhine state. The impoverished region bordering Bangladesh has been a crucible of communal tensions between Muslims and Buddhists for years, with the Rohingya forced to live under apartheid-like restrictions on movement and citizenship. The recent violence, which began last October when a small Rohingya militant group ambushed border posts, is the worst Rakhine has witnessed in years, with the UN saying Myanmar´s army may have committed ethnic cleansing in its response. Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner of Myanmar´s junta, has come under increasing fire over her perceived unwillingness to speak out against the treatment of the Rohingya or chastise the military. She has made no public comment since the latest fighting broke out on August 25. "Every time I see the news, my heart breaks at the suffering of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar," Pakistani activist Yousafzai, who famously survived being shot in the head by the Taliban, said in a statement on Twitter. "Over the last several years I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same," she added. Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman also questioned Suu Kyi´s silence. "Very frankly, I am dissatisfied with Aung San Suu Kyi," Anifah told AFP. "(Previously) she stood up for the principles of human rights. Now it seems she is doing nothing." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week accused Myanmar of "genocide" against the Rohingya. On Monday he said: "Unfortunately large massacres have taken place in Myanmar. Humanity has remained silent..." He added that Turkish aid organisations were giving help and that he would take the issue to the UN General Assembly later this month. - Muslim neighbours riled - The growing crisis threatens Myanmar´s diplomatic relations, particularly with Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia and Indonesia where there is profound public anger over the treatment of the Rohingya. The Maldives announced on Monday that it was severing all trade ties with the country "until the government of Myanmar takes measures to prevent the atrocities being committed against Rohingya Muslims", the foreign ministry said in a statement. Indonesia´s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Suu Kyi as well as Myanmar´s army chief General Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on Monday in a bid to pressure the government to do more to alleviate the crisis. "Once again, violence, this humanitarian crisis has to stop immediately," Indonesian President Joko Widodo told reporters on Sunday as he announced Retno´s mission. Hours before Widodo spoke, a petrol bomb was thrown at Myanmar´s embassy in Jakarta while police there have previously thwarted two attempts by Islamist militants to bomb the compound. Dozens demonstrated in front of the embassy on Monday, where armed police were deployed and the mission cordoned off behind barbed wire. Pakistan´s foreign ministry said it was "deeply concerned over reports of growing number of deaths and forced displacement of Rohingya Muslims" and urged Myanmar to investigate reports of atrocities against the community. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif added in a recent tweet: "Global silence on continuing violence against #Rohingya Muslims. Int´l action crucial to prevent further ethnic cleansing - UN must rally." Analysts have long warned that Myanmar´s treatment of the Rohingya would lead to homegrown militancy as well as support from international jihadists. Since the latest fighting broke out, Al-Qaeda´s offshoot in Yemen has called for retaliatory attacks against Myanmar while the Afghan Taliban urged Muslims to "use their abilities to help Myanmar´s oppressed Muslims". Thousands gathered in Russia´s Chechnya region Monday for an officially staged rally over the plight of the Rohingya. Defenders of Suu Kyi say she has limited ability to control Myanmar´s notoriously abusive military, which under the junta-era constitution is effectively independent of civilian oversight. The Rohingya are also widely dismissed in Myanmar as Bangladeshi interlopers despite many tracing their lineage back generations, making supporting them hugely unpopular. But detractors say Suu Kyi is one of the few people with the mass appeal and moral authority to swim against the tide on the issue.