Community Rohingya Isslam Pro-Democracy Organization(CRIPDO)

Long-standing issue of the Rohingya

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:32:00 +0000

Now that information travels more freely in and out of the country, news coming out of Myanmar about the violent treatment of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group living in the Rakhine state on the border with Bangladesh, should disturb the conscience of those who love peace and freedom. Even more disturbing however is the silence of most of the world, including Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbors, in the face of clear human rights violations perpetrated by the state and its people against the ethnic group
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Asean Cuntry support Rohingya Refugees ethnic

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 08:51:00 +0000

Allmuzzammil Yusuf, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), has asked the ASEAN forum to support Rohingya ethnic people in Myanmar gain their official citizenship.

In his e-mail to ANTARA on Tuesday, Allmuzzammil said the most important thing of ASEAN member states was to stop the violent conflict in Myanmar and to overcome food crisis being faced by the Rohingya community.

Further in the name of humanity, he said ASEAN should facilitate Rohingya community to obtain their official citizenship wherever they are.
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What Happen Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:36:00 +0000

SITTWE, 25 June 2012 (IRIN) - An uneasy calm prevails in Sittwe, the capital of Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, following weeks of communal violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.

"We’re still shocked. We worry whether such unrest could happen again,” Myat Hla, 46, told IRIN, sitting on the concrete floor of Sutaung Pyae monastery outside the city, where close to 2,000 displaced Rakhine residents are living.

She and other Buddhist
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Thousands of Rohingya Muslims attacks in Rakhine state forced back to sea

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 06:37:00 +0000

Myanmar's Rohingya forced back to sea
Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence reached Bangladesh after days at sea, only to be turned away by border guards.

Thousands of Muslims have been escaping from Myanmar after dozens were killed in religious violence.
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Suu Kyi on Friday renewed complaints of irregularities in the run up to

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:16:00 +0000

YANGON — Myanmar was making final preparations Saturday for polls seen as a test of the military-dominated regime's reforms, in which opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is standing for the first time.

Many polling stations in the 45 constituencies spread across the country were already set up for the Sunday vote, which the Nobel laureate is contesting despite criticising it as not "genuinely free
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Suu Kyi on Friday renewed complaints of irregularities in the run up to

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:11:00 +0000

YANGON — Myanmar was making final preparations Saturday for polls seen as a test of the military-dominated regime's reforms, in which opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is standing for the first time.
Many polling stations in the 45 constituencies spread across the country were already set up for the Sunday vote, which the Nobel laureate is contesting despite criticising it as not "genuinely free and fair".
Suu Kyi, who

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Aung San Suu Kyi's involvement in national politics,

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:09:00 +0000

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's opposition leader, has denounced the military government's new laws passed earlier this week that bar her from running for office as "unjust" and "repressive".

Commenting for the first time since the set of five laws were passed on Monday, she said she is surprised but undaunted by the laws which will also bar her from voting in elections expected later this year.

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Global Peace Foundation called United Nations to speed up the process of helping Rohingya

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:01:00 +0000

KUALA LUMPUR: THE Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) has called on neighbouring countries to help stop the continued persecution of the Rohingya community in Rakhine state of western Myanmar.

Its executive director, Dr Zulaiha Ismail, urged them to reach out to the stateless Rohingya minority, who are seeking asylum after being displaced from their homes.

"We appeal especially to the people and government of Bangladesh to allow the fleeing Rohingya

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United States and Amnesty said, urging the government to allow local and international aid agencies in Rakain / Arakan Burma

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:46:00 +0000

YANGON (cripdo) - The United States on Tuesday praised Myanmar's response to recent deadly sectarian fighting, despite criticism by rights group Amnesty International that Muslim Rohingyas are still fleeing arbitrary arrest by border forces.
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Suu Kyi on Friday renewed complaints of irregularities in the run up to

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:47:00 +0000

Many polling stations in the 45 constituencies spread across the country were already set up for the Sunday vote, which the Nobel laureate is contesting despite criticising it as not "genuinely free and fair".

Suu Kyi, who called off her gruelling schedule of huge rallies across the country earlier this week after falling ill while campaigning in southern Myanmar, is set to make her way later Saturday to her rural constituency of Kawhmu, about two hours drive from Yangon.

The participation of "The Lady," as she is known here, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party has fuelled an explosion in the number of T-shirt vendors in the main commercial city of Yangon, with an every-increasing variety of styles, all of which would have been taboo just a year ago.

"We must win," states the latest design, a red shirt with Suu Kyi's face printed in black.

A carnival atmosphere pervaded in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township, one of six constituencies up for grabs in Yangon, on the last day of campaigning Friday.

Large flatbed trucks crammed with people, from young children to the elderly, travelled through the streets blaring music, including the popular campaign song about Suu Kyi "Our mom is back".

On the streets, there was an obvious glee at being able to display political allegiance freely.

Many supporters, wearing red NLD bandanas and T-shirts, had plastered their faces with stickers of the party logo -- a red background with a yellow fighting peacock and a white star.

Local NLD candidate Phyu Phyu Thin said she planned to take a complete rest from campaigning on Saturday.

"We have done a lot of preparation for April 1. We have polling station representatives and people to provide information, because we want to know what's going on. The result will match people's desires. The NLD must win," she told AFP.

Suu Kyi on Friday renewed complaints of irregularities in the run up to the by-elections, including vandalism of party posters and "intimidation".

But the 66-year-old, who was under house arrest during elections in 1990 and 2010, said she did not regret standing for parliament because the polls had boosted people's interest in politics in the country formerly known as Burma after decades of outright military rule ended last year.

The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 but the junta never allowed it to take office. The party also boycotted the 2010 polls that swept the army's political proxies to power and were marred by complaints of cheating and intimidation.

Experts believe the regime wants the pro-democracy leader to win a seat in a parliament to burnish its reform credentials and encourage an end to Western sanctions.

The NLD is contesting 44 seats and estimates vary as to how many seats it could win.

Thiha Saw of local weekly news journal Open News said he expected the party to win a little over 50 percent of the available seats. But bookies have predicted 32 seats for the NLD in betting -- technically illegal in Myanmar -- on the results of the election.

The number of seats at stake is not enough to threaten the military-backed ruling party's overwhelming majority in parliament but Suu Kyi described the vote as "a step towards step one in democracy."

Since taking office a year ago, President Thein Sein has carried out reforms including releasing hundreds of political prisoners, easing media restrictions and welcoming the opposition back into mainstream politics.

The government has for the first time invited teams of foreign observers and journalists to witness the polls.

Philippine ambassador Hellen De La Vega, who plans to take a small team to polling stations in Kawhmu and Yangon, said while she did not know what was happening in far-flung constituencies, the process she had seen appeared satisfactory.

"At least at this stage I am quite positive about it," she said.

"Suu Kyi hit the campaign trail in the capital Naypyidaw"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:41:00 +0000

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar—Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ended a campaign trip to Myanmar's capital Tuesday with a reassurance to the military that she seeks no confrontation with it.

Suu Kyi spoke Tuesday at two rallies on the outskirts of the capital, Naypyitaw, a stronghold of the ruling militar

y-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Her National League for Democracy is fielding candidates for all 48 seats at stake nationwide in April 1 by-elections, incl

uding four in the capital.

The seats in Naypyitaw were vacated last year by members of the ruling party who took senior government positio

ns: President Thein Sein, Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo, Lower House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann and Agriculture Minister Myint Hlaing

.

In a 30-minute speech in Pobba Thiri township, Suu Kyi reached out to members of the military, or tatmadaw, saying she welcomes them and that her party does not oppose the institution. Suu Kyi's father was Gen. Aung San, a martyred independence hero.

"I welcome the tatmadaw and I want to say that our party, the NLD, is not an organization that will confront the tatmadaw," she said, adding that she hopes soldiers will attend her party's meetings in the future.

Naypyitaw is stronghold of the government party. It was custom-built in a remote area a decade ago under the previous military junta. It officially replaced Yangon as the capital in 2005 after it was populated with relocated civil servants and soldiers from a large military base.

Suu Kyi said the international community is watching the upcoming polls and wants to know if the country will continue down a democratic path as claimed by President Thein Sein. He initiated reforms, including the release of political prisoners, after decades of military repression.

The United States and other countries have said they will wait to see if the by-elections are free and fair before they consider lifting political and economic sanctions imposed against the former military regime.

The army ruled Myanmar from 1962 until last March, when it turned over power to Thein Sein's government, composed largely of retired army officers.

The NLD overwhelmingly won a 1990 general election but the military did not allow it to take power. It boycotted a 2010 election, complaining of unfair and undemocratic conditions. The party was officially deregistered, but agreed to reregister and contest this year's polls after Thein Sein pushed through changes it sought in the election law.

Despite the reforms, some NLD candidates have complained of obstacles and harassment, such as being prevented from using some venues for meetings and having party signboards slashed. Suu Kyi was unable to get permission to use a football field in Naypyitaw and instead held her rallies in open fields on the capital's outskirts.

"Using such despicable means against our party tarnishes the image of the country, and it is very bad to use unfair and ignoble means of campaigning," Suu Kyi said.

Suu Kyi, who is running for a seat in a district south of Yangon, has generally drawn large and ecstatic crowds while campaigning around the country.

However, during her two-day visit to Naypyitaw, no NLD banners were hung across the roads and the usual long lines of flag-waving supporters were not seen.

The enthusiastic supporters who attended her rallies were mostly villagers living near the venues, which were at least 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the areas where most civil servants live.

Chronology for Rohingya (Arakanese) in Burma Publisher 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:13:00 +0000

May 1990 The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi won 392 of the 485 seats in national parliamentary elections. The Burmese Socialist Program Party (BSPP), registered under a new name, the National Unity Party (NUP) won only 10 seats. The remainder of the seats were allocated to 23 other parties. Parties representing ethnic groups achieved particular success: the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy won 23 seats, and the Rakhine Democracy League 11. Despite efforts by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to weaken known leaders and eliminate dissidents, 93 parties presented a total of 2,297 candidates to contest the 485 constituencies.

Jul 1990 The SLORC announced that the recent election was only intended to produce a constituent assembly, which is to draft a constitution providing a strong government, under the direction of a national convention to be established by the SLORC.

Aug 1990 Troops killed four protestors at an anti-government protest at Mandalay, commemorating the deaths of thousands of demonstrators at the hands of the armed forces in 1988.

Dec 1990 Opposition politicians agreed with the Democratic Alliance of Burma, a 21-member organization uniting ethnic rebel forces with student dissidents and monks, to form the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB). The aims of the NCGUB are to wage a war with the military rulers and to establish a true democratic government.

May 1, 1991 - May 31, 1990 Two Muslim groups -- the All-Burma Muslim Union (ABMU) and the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF) B said they were ready to join forces with the DAB "to fight the military shoulder to shoulder" in response to what they say is a campaign of repression by the Rangoon military government. A joint statement said thousands of Muslims have fled their villages to neighboring India, Bangladesh, and Thailand in recent months: "[The government] objective is to subjugate and absorb the indigenous races, to stamp out Islam and to establish militarism in the country" (Reuters, 05/06/91). The ABMU and the ARIF would be the first Muslim groups to join the alliance. Their joint statement also indicated that in November about 30,000 Muslims were uprooted from villages in the western coastal state of Arakan and some have crossed the border to the Chittagong area of Bangladesh. Mosques in Rangoon and other towns have been turned into storehouses. The two groups called for the immediate transfer of power to the NLD.

Jun 1, 1991 - Jun 30, 1990 Thousands of Burmese Muslims known as Rohingya are entering Bangladesh illegally each month to escape alleged persecution by the Rangoon authorities (Reuters, 06/14/91). "Our youths are being herded to labor camps, crops are seized and movements of the Muslims are being restricted", Zafar Alam, a leader of the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) told reporters in Chittagong. The worst persecution was reported in the Muslim-majority Arakan province, where "even mosques were demolished for making the new military barracks". One refugee activist said, "we are in close contact with other organizations such as the All Burma Muslim Union (ABMU) and Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF) for the establishment of people's rights and political freedom". Bangladeshi intelligence sources said 200,000 Muslims had been forced from their homes by Burmese soldiers in the past six months.

Jul 1991 At a secret camp deep in the jungle, run by the RSO, young Muslims are training to make war on the Buddhist military government of Burma. The goal of the rebels, calling themselves Mujahideen, is to restore the once-independent Muslim homeland of Arakan on Burma's west coast. It was an independent Muslim kingdom from 1430 to 1784 and now is the only Muslim majority province in Burma (The Associated Press, 07/01/91). Arakan's Muslims are called Rohingya, from Rohang, the ancient name of Arakan. Guerrilla leaders accuse Burmese Buddhists of massacring 200,000 Muslims in the last 50 years. Anti-Muslim activities have increased under the current military regime.

Burmese soldiers, massed at the border with Bangladesh, have traded gunfire with Muslim rebels and reports indicate that at least 15 people were killed (The Associated Press, 12/26/91). Meanwhile, Muslim rebels belonging to the RSO attacked a Burmese customs forward port and kidnaped eight guards. Relations between Bangladesh and Burma cooled recently after the influx of about 50,000 Muslim refugees into Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Foreign Office summoned the Burmese Ambassador for the second time in less than a week to protest troop buildups along the border. Bangladesh shares a 175-mile strip of border with Burma. The Burmese government claims that Muslim insurgents operate from Bangladeshi territory -- a charge Dhaka denies.


	Although Burmese Muslims have fled into Bangladesh before, they say this time the military junta is determined to drive them out once and for all (Sunday Telegraph, 01/26/92). Although Bangladesh has said it will not forcibly return any refugees, it does want Burma to accept any that do go back. Burma insists that it will only accept genuine Burmese citizens. A few newspapers in Dhaka have begun calling for a military attack to defend fellow Muslims and to pay Burma back for a border raid on December 21 that left one Bangladeshi solider dead and several others wounded.
Feb 1992	Burma says the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Voice of America (VOA) dish out fancy versions of the "Rohingya Fable". It states that "lately the Rohingya fable from the Rakhine (Arakan) state has been invoked in the programmes of such broadcasting stations as the BBC and VOA. Actually, it is not a new story at all, but a very old and well-known story which is being dished out by these malicious foreign broadcasting stations in new and fancy packaging" (Voice of Myanmar, Rangoon Home Service 0713 gmt 02/07/92, BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 02/08/92). Bangladesh has appealed to the UN and the international community for emergency relief to support the Rohingya refugees. Responding to the call, the UNHCR has already released $100,000 from the emergency fund. A team from the UNHCR is now in Bangladesh making an assessment and meeting senior Dhaka officials.
Mar 1992	Bangladeshi military sources state that Burma is reinforcing its border to stop more than 170,000 Muslims driven into Bangladesh by the army from returning home (Washington Times, 03/10/92). Malaysia has urged its fellow members in the ASEAN to reverse its non-confrontational stance towards Burma. ASEAN has been resisting strong pressure from Western countries to impose economic sanctions on Burma to protest Rangoon's dismal human rights record. Kuala Lumpur has called the attention of other Muslim countries and the UN to the refugee plight, likening them to the Palestinians. In a letter to the UN Secretary General, Iranian Foreign Minister Velayati calls on the UN to halt the "genocide" of Burmese Muslims by the military government. He urges the UN to set the stage for the recognition of the political and social rights of Burmese Muslims as well as the return of those Muslims living as refugees in Bangladesh (Arab Press Service Organization, 03/14/92). Amnesty International urged Burma's rulers to halt a campaign of terror and violence against Muslims that has caused tens of thousands to flee the country. The report stated that "Muslim men have been rounded up in large numbers and pressed into forced labor for the military, often as porters". They are ill fed and abused. Many are reported to have been beaten to death when they became too weak to carry their loads. Muslim women [have been] raped...". According to Amnesty International, more than 200,000 Muslims have fled Burma to Bangladesh since 1991 when the anti-Muslim campaign began (The Associated Press, 03/19/92).
Apr 1, 1992 - Apr 30, 2004	200 people were killed when government troops opened fire at a mosque in Arakan on April 5. Bangladeshi officials quoted refugee Azizul Huq as saying, "Our only offense was that we used the closed-down mosque as the venue for our prayers", marking the end of Ramadan, a month-long period of fasting (Inter Press Service, 04/09/92). Further signs that the purge against the Muslims is continuing is the appearance of 20,000 Muslims from Burma's eastern provinces seeking refuge in rebel-held territories near the Thai border. "The plight of Muslims in eastern Burma is as serious as that confronting the Rohingyas in Arakan state in the West", Colonel Tin Maung That, head of the All-Burma Muslim Union told reporters at the border. Jan Eliasson, the visiting UN envoy, was given assurances by Rangoon that it was prepared to accept the return of the refugees back to their homeland in Arakan. Burma had earlier refused to take back the refugees insisting the Rohingyas, natives of Arakan, were aliens, not Burmese citizens. But Rohingya leaders are doubtful the scheme would work. "In 1974 and in 1978, our people went back under a similar situation with U.N. help, but our fate did not change, so I am pessimistic about the chances of success this time", said Younus, President of the RSO. He asserted that the Rohingya would only return if the Rangoon government guaranteed their citizenship and protection of their religious and political rights (IPS, 04/09/92). During a visit to China, the Iranian Foreign Minister raised the issue of Burmese refugees with his counterpart and noted the world of Islam's sensitivity towards Myanmar Muslim refugees. Bangladesh and Burma opened talks on the future of more than 212,000 Muslim refugees who have fled Burma since March, 1991. The Foreign Minister of Burma, Ohn Gyaw, lead a 14-member delegation to the talks. Burma says most of the refugees are actually illegal immigrants and that it will not take them back unless they can prove Burmese citizenship (The Associated Press, 04/24/92). An agreement was reached on repatriation that would begin next month. The hardline General Saw Maung was ousted last week as the head of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) by the more pragmatic General Than Shwe. The new leader has promised another constitution in six months. Even with a new constitution, there are doubts that the junta, thought to be still under the control of General Ne Win, Burma's veteran leader, will bow to democracy.
May 1992	Four Muslim groups have joined the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) (The Nation, 05/19/92). The groups are: the Central Rohingya Jammatul Ulama, the Ittehadul Mujahiddial, the Rohingya Islamic Liberation Organization, and the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front. Tin Maung That of the ABMU criticized the agreement between Rangoon and Dhaka on the repatriation of the refugees. He said the repatriation should be monitored by the UNHCR, "otherwise history will repeat itself".
Jul 1992	On June 19, Burmese soldiers beat elected MP Mohammed Ilyas to death after he refused to try to persuade fellow Muslims taking refuge in Bangladesh to return home. The troops ordered Ilyas, a member of the Human Rights and Democracy Party, and four others to cross into Bangladesh and try to persuade Burmese refugees to return (Washington Times, 07/06/92). Some Burmese refugees are smuggling guns into their camps to prevent officials from repatriating them, and Bangladesh is taking steps to isolate the "troublemakers" (The Associated Press, 07/20/92). A Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry official stated that "Anti-repatriation miscreants are intimidating those who are willing to go". Bangladeshi officials state that the return of 270,000 Muslim refugees to Burma has stalled again after Burmese authorities refused to allow the UNHCR to monitor the process (07/24/92).
Oct 1992	A second group of refugees -- 63 members of 12 families -- was sent to Burma. In April, Dhaka and Rangoon signed an agreement to start the repatriation on May 15, but the deal remained ineffective, largely because most of the refugees insisted they would not go back without UNHCR supervision. Burma rejected this condition.
Nov 1993	About 30,000 refugees are reported to have fled Bangladeshi camps to avoid repatriation to Burma. "We are worried by the sudden spate in slipping out, especially after Rangoon signed an agreement on Friday allowing the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to supervise repatriation of the Rohingya Muslims on their side", one Bangladeshi official said (Reuters, 11/08/93). Some 46,000 refugees have returned home since the repatriation began in September, 1992.
Jan 1994	The police report that Muslim refugees battled villagers with spears and knives near their camp in southeast Bangladesh, leaving at least 20 people injured. The fighting erupted after villagers chased a refugee, suspected of being involved in robberies.
Feb 1994	For the first time, the junta permitted a foreign visitor, US representative Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) to meet with Aung San Suu Kai. Richardson, a UN official, and a New York Times reporter meet twice with Ms. Suu Kyi. The Representative delivered a letter to her from President Clinton expressing the President's continued support for the democratic movement in Myanmar. Richardson also met with Lt. General Khin Nyunt, Burma's military intelligence chief.
Mar 1994	More than 100 Burmese Muslims crossed into Bangladesh, jeopardizing efforts to repatriate more than 200,000 refugees. New arrivals are likely to make it difficult to convince the remaining refugees to return to Myanmar (Reuters, 03/08/94).
May 1994	Press reports from Bangladesh indicate that the army and Muslim insurgents have stepped up activities in the north-west province of Arakan, which borders Bangladesh. Five soldiers and two guerrillas were killed earlier this month in separate engagements (United Press International, 05/25/94).
Feb 1995	The repatriation of some 250,000 Burmese refugees has been gaining momentum and is expected to end shortly, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh said. (Agence France Presse, 02/02/95). Since last year, about 150,000 refugees have returned.
Feb 21, 1995	Another 543 Myanmar Muslims returned home from Bangladesh. Since, September of 1992, 162,440 Muslims have returned to Burma (Xinhua News Agency, 02/21/95).
Mar 1995	Muslims at Three-Pagoda pass and nearby villages at the Thai-Burmese border have been banned from staging gatherings of more than five people for religious purposes. This is the first time that such a small number of Muslims have been banned from meeting for religious purposes (Reuter Textline: Bangkok Post, 03/31/95).
Apr 1995	Another 1470 Rohingya Muslims have left Bangladesh to return home (Xinhua News Agency, 04/01/95).
Apr 18, 1995	Members of the All Burma Muslim Union (ABMU) and the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF) have pledged to report the maltreatment of Muslims in Burma to the Overseas Islamic Countries and to the International Islamic Organization. ABMU chairman Abdul Razak states that the SLORC has been violating the basic human rights of Muslim communities through actions such as occupying mosques. Further, a number of mosques in towns along the Kyaidon-Myawaddy route have reportedly been demolished in order to construct roads. The ABMU says that Muslims in Burma are not allowed to assume important government posts, to enter the army, and to own land in certain towns (Reuter Textline: Bangkok Post, 04/18/95).
Apr 26, 1995	Almost 800 Myanmar Muslims who fled Rakhine (Arakan) state into Bangladesh in 1991 have returned to Burma under a 1992 agreement between the Burmese and Bangladeshi governments (Xinhua News Agency, 04/26/95).
May 1995	Muslims in Burma claim that they are being unlawfully taxed for animals that are slaughtered on the holy feast day of Eid Al Adha. The feast day marks the end of a three month fasting period by Islamic communities. As it is a religious rite, Muslims worldwide are exempted from paying taxes when they sacrifice animals on the feast day. In 1994, the SLORC decided to levy a tax on each animal killed. It is estimated that some 25,000 cows and buffaloes and around 200,000 goats and sheep are sacrificed across Burma (Reuter Textline: Bangkok Post, 05/10/95). The US State Department's 1994 Report on Human Rights Practices in Burma indicates that in early May, the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) detonated a number of bombs in towns and villages near the western border of Arakan State. There were several deaths and injuries. The report also notes that it is very difficult for Muslim groups to obtain permission to build mosques. There are reported to be more than 5000 mosques in Burma, although the most recent one was built in 1975. The military government has also been accused of removing cemeteries from urban areas, despite the religious concerns of various minorities. The State Department says that in March of 1994, four trustees of a Muslim cemetery were arrested in Mandalay when they protested the destruction of a historic graveyard and religious buildings (03/95).
Jun 1995	Bangladesh fears that up to 10,000 Rohingya Muslims may have slipped out of refugee camps and spread out across the country. Of the more than 250,000 Rohingya refugees that fled to Bangladesh in 1991, only about 58,000 remain in nine UN-run refugee camps. Recent efforts to repatriate the remaining refugees have stalled due to Burmese government claims that Bangladeshis are also being infiltrated into Burma with the refugees (UPI, 06/26/95; Asiaweek, 07/21/95).
Jul 1995	The Rohingya National Alliance (RNA) says that the recent release of jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will pave the way for national reconciliation. The RNA was recently formed from the merger of two rival Muslim groups, the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), and the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF) (Reuters, 07/13/95).
Oct 1995	Around 200 Rohingya Muslims returned home from Bangladesh, bringing the total to 193,000 out of an estimated 250,000 (Xinhua News Agency, 10/14/95).
Nov 1995	Two Muslim groups, the All Burma Muslim Union and the Arakan Liberation Party, have been expelled from the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB), the umbrella group of parties that oppose the country's military dictatorship. The two Muslim parties were among a group of five organizations that were ousted for reportedly signing ceasefire agreements with the SLORC (Japan Economic Newswire, 11/15/95).
Dec 1995	205 Muslims have returned home from Bangladesh. So far, more than 195,000 of the estimated 250,000 Muslims that fled Burma in 1991 have returned home (Xinhua News Agency, 12/13/95).
Apr 1996	Over 300 Rohingyas have tried to flee Burma in the past week. Some 30 Muslims caught at the Bangladesh border will be sent back. Seventeen others who were also trying to flee died during their attempts (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Reuters, 04/21/96).
May 1996	Myanmar and Bangladesh hold their 20th high-level coordination meeting on the repatriation of Burmese Muslim refugees. Since 1992, some 197,000 refugees have been repatriated from Bangladesh to Burma (Xinhua News Agency, 05/20/96).
Jun 1996	An influx of Burmese Rohingyas into Bangladesh has been underway since March. The UNHCR says some 5500 Muslims have entered Bangladesh; other estimates put the figure as high as 10,000. The Rohingyas assert that they are subject to forced labor and torture in Burma. Some 700 have been deported (Reuters, 06/02/96).
Aug 1996	Twenty-eight non-governmental organizations in Malaysia including the Malaysian MuslimYouth Movement and the Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia protest the chairman of the SLORC’s visit to Malaysia due to the country’s human rights abuses (Agence France Presse, 08/14/96).
Sep 1996	Burmese border security forces, officially known as Nasaka, have reportedly planted mines along the border with Bangladesh to check cross-border violations. Officials of the Bangladesh Rifles protested the planting of the mines and the deaths that have resulted while meeting with their Burmese counterparts (Agence France Presse, 09/02/96).
Jan 1997	Bangladesh and Burma agree to complete the repatriation of the remaining 26,000 Rohingya refugees by March 31. The agreement was reached after a senior-level meeting in Bangladesh in early January (BBC, 01/10/97).
Jan 15, 1997	Representatives of fifteen ethnic groups from across Burma, including the Rohingya Muslims, attended a meeting in Karen-held territory. The groups signed the Mae Tha Raw Hta agreement which calls for the establishment of a democratic, federal union in Burma. Among those present at the meeting were representatives of the Wa, Karenni, Kachin, and Mon groups with whom the ruling junta has signed ceasefire agreements over the last few years. The delegates also expressed support for Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and for the need for a tripartite dialogue between the Burmese regime, the NLD, and ethnic groups. The State Law and Order Restoration Council’s (SLORC) efforts to draft a new constitution were described as a "sham" (Inter Press Service, 02/12/97)
Feb 1997	Seventeen ethnic rebel factions including Rohingya Muslim groups meet in Karen-controlled territory under the banner of the newly-revived National Democratic Front (NDF). The NDF fought against the military in the 1970s and 1980s until the KIA signed a cease-fire agreement with the government in 1992 . A spokesman says that several rebel groups are set to renege on their cease-fire deals and resume fighting. Reports indicate that the government has launched a military offensive in Karen areas to stop the groups from reuniting (Inter Press Service, 02/12/97; Reuters, 02/06/97).
Feb 1997	The Rohingya repatriation was slowed last year after reports indicated that the refugees that returned to Burma were subject to violence and other abuses. Bangladesh also allegedly forced back some Rohingyas which it believes are economic migrants rather than refugees. In April last year, 15 Rohingyas drowned near Teknaf when their boat capsized after Bangladeshi security forces ordered them back to Burma (US Department of State Human Rights Country Reports, 02/97).
Mar 1997	Religious conflict has been growing in Myanmar since the middle of the month and officials tightened security on March 21 after an attack on a mosque in the capital, Rangoon. Mandalay, the second largest city, is still under a nighttime curfew imposed last weekend when Buddhist monks went on a rampage, attacking eight mosques and starting street protests. The unrest in Mandalay allegedly began after reports of an attempted rape of a girl by Muslim men. At least three people have been killed and around 100 monks arrested. The All-Burma Muslim Union, a group associated with Burmese exile groups based on the Burmese-Thai border, accuses the government of being behind the latest Buddhist- Muslim strife. It says the military regime has systematically caused trouble for Muslims. Burma's BuddhistYouth Wing asserts that officials made up the rape story to cover up protests over the custodial deaths of 16 monks. The military has denied the Youths’ claim, stating that the unrest was a politically motivated attempt to stall Burma's entry in ASEAN (Agence France Presse, 03/25/97; BBC, 03/21/97; New York Times, 03/2497).
Apr 1997	Since mid-March, attacks by Buddhist monks have spread from the northern city of Mandalay to the capital Rangoon, the central towns of Pegu and Prome and most recently Toungoo, a small railway town some 200 kms from Rangoon. A curfew remains in force in Mandalay and the army is patrolling the streets in many cities. In Mandalay alone, 18 mosques were destroyed and Muslim-owned businesses and property vandalized. Copies of the Koran were burnt. The last time anti-Muslim riots took place was during the peak of the pro-democracy movement in 1988. It appears that the junta is willing to turn a blind eye to the disturbances as hundreds of monks, many wielding batons and sticks, have been allowed to freely roam the streets, attack and ransack mosques, and clamber atop minarets (Inter Press Service, 04/09/97).
Apr 18, 1997	A Thai Member of Parliament expresses concern over the recent large influx of Burmese Muslims into Thailand. He believes the Foreign Ministry should try to solve the problem of Muslim migrants from Burma by requesting assistance from Thailand's Muslim neighbors (The Nation, 04/18/97).
Apr 30, 1997	Human Rights Watch contends that in several cases the UNHCR has failed to provide information on the SLORC’s abuses against returning Muslim refugees. The HRW says that while the UN body had evidence that some Rohingya from Burma were arrested by Burmese authorities or "disappeared" when they returned from Bangladesh in 1992 and 1996, it did not provide exiles in Bangladesh with that information (Inter Press Service, 04/30/97).
May 1997	The Malaysian MuslimYouth Movement protests against what it says is the SLORC’s actions to suppress the Burmese Muslim community and it urges the Malaysian government to defer its entry into ASEAN (Asia Pulse, 05/2897).
May 27, 1997	Reports indicate that since March at least 30 mosques and Muslim properties have been attacked in Burma (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 05/27/97).
Jun 1997	More than 3,000 Burmese Muslims have crossed the border into Bangladesh, alleging that Burmese authorities are engaging in a fresh wave of atrocities against minority groups. The new arrivals are from the border towns of Maungdaw and Buthiadong (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 06/28/97).
Jul 1997	Bangladesh forcibly returns some 212 Rohingyas housed in its Kutupalong refugee camp to Burma. The group is the latest of some 7500 people who have been singled out to be sent back. According to the UNHCR, only two of the families agreed to return home . Bangladeshi anti-riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to stop the refugees’ protests against being forcibly repatriated. One Muslim refugee told a UNHCR official that he preferred to die rather than return to Burma (Inter Press Service, 07/2297).
Jul 24, 1997	Bangladeshi officials have postponed a scheduled repatriation of some 200 Rohingyas amid growing unrest in two frontier camps over claims that refugees were being returned against their will. The current repatriation resumed amid reports of fresh attempts by Burmese Muslims to enter Bangladesh. Bangladesh has stepped up surveillance along the frontier to prevent a fresh influx. The US Committee for Refugees says that some 15,000 Muslims have reportedly entered the country in the past year despite efforts to keep them out, and Bangladesh has barred UNHCR officials and non-governmental organizations from assisting them (Agence France Presse, 07/24/97).
Jul 26, 1997	Malaysia says that Burma’s government should take action to stop the alleged harassment of the country’s Muslim minority in an effort to reassure its Islamic partners in ASEAN (e.g. Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia) (Japan Economic Newswire, 07/26/97).
Jul 31, 1997	Bangladesh will ask Burma to extend a deadline for repatriating 7000 Burmese Muslim refugees due to unrest and a wave of hunger strikes by refugees who oppose their repatriation. The government had earlier said that 7000 of the 20,000 refugees cleared for repatriation in the Kutupalong and Noapara camps would be sent home by the August 15 deadline set by Burma. Dhaka also rejected a UNHCR request to settle the refugees in Bangladesh (Agence France Presse, 07/30-31/97).
Aug 1997	A group representing Burmese Muslims who fled alleged persecution in Burma contends that more refugees will flow into Bangladesh unless their security could be guaranteed. The Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) claims that up to 14,000 new Burmese Muslims had already crossed the border into Bangladesh since June because of persecution from the security forces and for "economic" reasons. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) puts the number of Rohingyas at 7000, while the Bangladesh government officially puts their numbers at "several thousand." The UNHCR describes the new Rohingya arrivals as both "economic and political" migrants (Agence France Presse, 08/03/97).
Aug 8, 1997	Some Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshi camps state that they will not return home until there is a democratic system in Burma. Some reports indicate that the refugees are receiving military training in the camps. A new organization, the Mama Democratic Rohingya Refugee Committee, has been established in Bangladesh to pursue the refugees’ demands (Guardian, 08/08/97).
Aug 16, 1997	The repatriation of some 7000 of the 21,000 Burmese Muslim refugees still in Bangladesh is uncertain after the expiry of yesterday’s deadline set by Rangoon. The repatriation, which started July 20, was stalled by violent protests by the refugees after a few hundred were forcibly deported (Agence France Presse, 08/16/97).
Aug 26, 1997	Canada and the US have imposed economic sanctions against Burma due to its human rights record (British Broadcasting Corporation, 08/26/97).
Oct 1997	Amnesty International calls for fresh international support for Bangladesh to help look after the Burmese Rohingya refugees (Agence France Presse, 10/09/97).
Jan 1998	Officials of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are rushing to Dhaka for talks with the government and armed refugees from neighboring Myanmar who have seized Noapara camp in southeastern Bangladesh. The armed refugees are thought to be members of the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), an insurgent group in Myanmar, which is reportedly backed by several Bangladeshi Muslim fundamentalist groups. The official Bangladesh news agency recently reported that 10 "Pakistani-financed" insurgent groups from Arakan were operating in the area (Agence France Presse, 01/23/98).
Jan 26, 1998	Three people are killed in a clash between the RSO and Burmese security forces near the border with Bangladesh (AAP Newsfeed, 01/26/98).
Mar 1998	Some 64 Rohingyas are jailed after clashing with police and setting fire to part of the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh. The police raided the camp and arrested the militants who had seized control of the camp several days ago (Agence France Presse, 03/07/98).
Apr 1998	Myanmar and Bangladesh agree to set up a joint commission to bolster political and economic ties between the two neighboring countries (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 04/17/98).
Jun 1998	Germany provides $350,000 in aid for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh (Agence France Presse, 06/15/98).
Jun 19, 1998	Amnesty International claims that the SLORC is responsible for extrajudicial killings, forcible relocations, and torture against ethnic minorities (M2 Presswire, 06/19/98).
Jul 1998	The Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) will continue to render humanitarian aid and services at the international level despite the country’s economic downturn. The ABIM aid has been giving aid to Cambodia and Vietnam but the organization has been having difficulty in trying to help the Rohingyas in Myanmar (Malaysia General News, 07/03/98).
Dec 1998	Burmese opposition groups state that twenty-three ethnic and political organizations attend a seminar on National Solidarity at Thoo Mwe Klo in Karen territory from December 12 to 14. The organizations signed an agreement that calls for the abolishment of the military government, the establishment of a democratic, federal union, the convening of the parliament based on the NLD electoral victory in 1990, and a ban on foreign investment until the regime changes. A Coordinating and Organizing Committee is formed to implement the organizations’ decisions. Among those who sign the agreement are the All Burma Muslim Union, the Muslim Liberation Organization, the Arakan League for Democracy, the Arakan Liberation Party, the Chin National Front, the Chin NLD, the Karen National Union, the Shan Democratic Union, the ABSDF, and representatives of the Wa, Palaung, and Lau ethnic groups (British Broadcasting Corporation, 12/21/98).
Dec 22, 1998	The repatriation of Rohingya refugees staying in Bangladesh has been stalled again less than one month after it was resumed in late November. Burma recently conveyed to Bangladesh that it could not take back the refugees during Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims across the world. Bangladesh insisted that it would continue the repatriation process in accordance with the agreement reached earlier between the two sides (Xinhua News Agency, 12/22/98).
Mar 1999	Jane’s Intelligence Review states that India’s intelligence organization, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), aided Burmese rebel groups in acquiring arms from Khmer Rouge members in Thailand for nearly two years. The groups include the Chin National Army, the Karen National Union, and the Arakan Army (03/01/99).
Apr 1999	The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) proposes that the Bangladesh government launch some income-generating projects for the over 22,000 Rohingyas rather than keeping them in refugee camps. It says that these camps will receive less aid as it is being diverted to help refugees in Kosovo, Yugoslavia (The Independent, 04/22/99).
Jun 1999	Five minority groups still fighting the Burmese junta meet in Karen territory near the Thai-Burma to form an alliance. After two days of meetings, the groups agree to cooperate on military, intelligence, and political issues to unify the groups. Hosted by the Karen National Union, the meeting is also attended by the Shan State Army, the Arakan Liberation Party, the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Chin National Front. A commander of the Shan State Army says that the rebels are outnumbered 10 to 1 by the Burmese forces (Agence France Presse, 06/16/99).
Jul 1999	Burma’s Foreign Minister U Win Aung ends a three-day official visit to Bangladesh during which both countries agreed to build a bridge over a river to facilitate border trade. The two neighbors also decided to establish a joint commission to speed up the settlement of disputes, including the repatriation of all Myanmar Muslim refugees who had fled to Bangladesh alleging persecution at home (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 07/19/99).
Jul 30, 1999	The repatriation of the Rohingya refugees appears uncertain again after Burma’s Foreign Minister refuses to give Bangladesh concrete assurances that they will return home. Bangladesh expects all the refugees to be repatriated by the end of the year. Since November of last year, Burma has only been accepting 50 refugees a week (Inter Press Service, 07/30/99).UNCR .

Dow Aung Suu Kyi says reforms could be reversed.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:53:00 +0000

Myanmar
opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi said on
Wednesday it was too
early to declare
democratic reforms
brought in after five
decades of military rule
were irreversible and
played down talk of
accepting a cabinet seat.
Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Suu Kyi and her
National League for
Democracy (NLD) will
contest 48 by-elections in
April that could give
political credibility to the
isolated southeast Asian
state and help speed the
end of Western sanctions.
Last March the former
military junta made way
for a nominally civilian
government that
embarked on a major
reform drive, freeing
hundreds of political
prisoners, loosening
media controls and
engaging with Suu Kyi,
the 66-year-old leader of
Myanmar's pro-
democracy movement.
"Some are a little bit too
optimistic about the
situation. We are
cautiously optimistic. We
are at the beginning of a
road," said Suu Kyi,
speaking to an audience
of students at Ottawa's
Carleton University via a
video link.
"Ultimate power still rests
with the army so until we
have the army solidly
behind the process of
democratisation we
cannot say that we have
got to a point where
there will be no danger of
a U-turn. Many people
are beginning to say that
the democratisation
process here is
irreversible. It's not so,"
she added.
Suu Kyi cited 1990
elections that her party
won by a landslide. The
junta ignored the result
and Suu Kyi - already
under house arrest -
remained locked up for
15 of the next 22 years.
Western investors are
interested in the former
Burma, an
underdeveloped country
of 60 million people with
rich energy, metals and
timber resources.
Suu Kyi backs sanctions
imposed by the United
States and the European
Union on the grounds
they pressured
Myanmar's rulers to
make concessions. Talk of
removing the punitive
measures should wait
until after the elections,
she indicated.
"We must wait until after
the elections to find out
whether or not there
have been real changes.
And depending on these
changes, there should be
suitable changes in
policy," she said.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of
assassinated
independence hero
General Aung San, looks
set to easily to win a seat
in the national assembly
in April. Many in the
nation speculate she
might accept a
government post, possibly
even a cabinet job.
"Since the offer has not
been made I think it
would be premature and
rather presumptuous to
make an answer to that,"
she said when asked
about joining the cabinet.
"I can tell you one thing -
that under the present
constitution, if you
become a member of the
government you have to
vacate your seat in the
national assembly. And I
am not working so hard
to get into parliament
simply to vacate my
seat," she said.
Even if the NLD wins all
the by-elections, it will be
dwarfed by other parties
in the 1,158-seat
legislature.
"We do have many allies
among the ethnic
nationality parties and we
are confident that we will
gain more allies as we go
along," said Suu Kyi.
(Reporting by David
Ljunggren; Editing by Eric
Beech)

95000 Refugee In Malaysia UNHCR document holders to start Registration of Jan 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:29:00 +0000

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has announced that the Government of Malaysia and UNHCR have reached an agreement on the Government registration of asylum-seekers and refugees holding UNHCR documents.

This exercise is planned to commence in January 2012 and will be carried out progressively throughout the country in major cities where refugees are located.

The exercise will be a joint effort involving officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Immigration Department, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNHCR.

“UNHCR will communicate closely with refugee communities on the timing and location of the registration exercise,” said Alan Vernon, UNHCR Representative. “This exercise will continue until all UNHCR refugees and asylum-seekers are registered.”

This agreement is the result of a series of meetings between UNHCR and the Government in which the issue of registration of UNHCR document holders, the possibility of legal work for refugees and other issues of mutual concern have been discussed.

Vernon clarified that this registration exercise involves the registration of asylum-seekers and refugees, and is separate from the Government’s ongoing 6P Migration Management Programme which focuses on migrants.

“UNHCR regards this as a significant opportunity to improve the situation of refugees. The inclusion of their biodata within a Government database will lead to greater protection for refugees, particularly against arrest and detention as their identities can be easily verified by law enforcement officials,” said Vernon.
“This will also help prevent prosecution of persons holding UNHCR documents for immigration offences or deportation. It will also help address the problem of fraudulent UNHCR identification cards.”

“This joint effort to register UNHCR document holders is an important step to improve conditions for refugees in Malaysia, and is a win-win situation for all concerned.”

As part of this registration exercise, and consistent with similar exercises UNHCR has conducted with other Governments around the world, both parties have agreed to ensure the confidentiality of the biographical information that will be gathered from the UNHCR document holders.

There are currently some 95,000 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, fleeing persecution and conflict from many countries including Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

“While Malaysia is not yet a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR very much appreciates the cooperation we enjoy with the Malaysian Government and looks forward to continuing discussions on how to strengthen refugee protection in Malaysia including creating opportunities for legal work for refugees as well as enhanced access to education and health services ,” said Vernon.

“UNHCR is also grateful for the close cooperation with the Malaysiangovernment, in particular the Ministry of Home Affairs, in both preventing arrest of refugees and asylum-seekers and securing their release if arrested.”

The UN agency said the exercise would be a joint effort involving officials
of the home and foreign ministries, immigration department, National Security

Council and UNHCR.

"UNHCR will communicate closely with refugee communities on the timing and

location of the registration exercise. It will continue until all UNHCR refugees
and asylum-seekers are registered," UNHCR representative Alan Vernon said in a
statement today.

It said the agreement was the result of a series of meetings between UNHCR
and the government, in which the issue of registration of UNHCR document

holders, possibility of legal work for refugees and other issues of mutual
concern were discussed.

Vernon explained that the exercise was separate from the government's
ongoing 6P migration management programme focusing on migrants. He said UNHCR viewed the matter as a significant opportunity to improve the situation of refugees.

He noted that the inclusion of their biodata within a government database
would lead to greater protection for refugees, particularly against arrest and
detention, as their identities could be easily verified by law enforcement
officials.

"This will also help prevent prosecution of persons holding UNHCR documents
for immigration offences and deportation. It'll also help address the problem
of fraudulent UNHCR identification cards," said Vernon.

According to the statement, efforts would be made to ensure the
confidentiality of biographical information that would be gathered from the
UNHCR document holders.

It said that currently, about 95,000 refugees and asylum-seekers were
registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, including those from Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

United stat expression of the Rohingya refugees in the world

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:05:00 +0000

Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric Schwartz Thursday said USA will continue its possible support to the Bangladesh government to assist Rohingya refugees until a permanent solution to the longstanding problem is found, reports UNB.
"The solution to this refugee challenge lies in Burma. Voluntary return of Rohingya in large numbers will only be possible when the basic rights of these people are safeguarded, and -sadly - that is not today the case," Schwartz told a press conference at the American Centre.
He said until such changes take place in Burma the US will continue to do what they can to assist the government and the people of Bangladesh.
Replying to a question Schwartz said political reform and democratization in respect of human rights in Burma are important objective not only for USA but also for the international community.
He said recently US senior official visited Burma to have discussion with senior officials about democratization in respect to human rights.
Schwartz said he did not go to Myanmar on this visit but hoped that he and other officials of the department will visit the area from where
Rohingyas come and promote efforts for social and economic development in the Southwestern part of Burma.
He said humanitarian problems don't have humanitarian solution but those have political solution and the political solution is not in 'our side yet'
The US assistant secretary said until political solution all should try to continue to provide assistance to the victims of repression and prosecution as the Roghigya did nothing wrong.
Schwartz said he had been in Bangladesh for the last three days to explore issues surrounding Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the region.
On Tuesday he traveled to Cox's Bazar and visited the Kutupalong camp and surrounding areas hosting Rohingya refugees and met with camp officials and officials adjoining areas, members of the local community and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations.
He said he also had opportunity to speak with a number of refugees and to learn of the significant challenges they confront.
Schwartz appreciated the Bangladesh government and its people for hosting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution in southwestern Burma where the regime systemically denies the human rights and human freedom of the Rohingyas.
He said the US has supported the refugee program in Bangladesh since 1991.
In 2010 US provided over 23 million US dollar to regional appeals of the UNHCR and ICRC as well as 1.28 million US dollar to NGOs assisting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
He said the US is eager to continue and augment its support to the humanitarian efforts of the government and look forward to consulting closely with Bangladesh officials in the future.

Myanmar New government has agreed to take back registered Rohingya refugees

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:50:00 +0000

CRIPDO News: The newly formed government of Myanmar has agreed to take back registered Rohingya refugees currently staying at two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar but made no decision on the large number of unregistered Rohingyas living in Bangladesh.

The number of refugees in Nayapara and Kutupalong camps is now 28,000 and the Myanmar government agreed that a large portion of the listed refugees are Myanmar nationals, said Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes yesterday at a press briefing at the foreign ministry.

Apart from the refugees, a huge number of undocumented Myanmar nationals are living in Bangladesh without refugee status, he said referring to the unregistered Rohingyas.

“Although they do not have refugee status, we are not forcing them out of the country on humanitarian ground,” Quayes said, adding that the Myanmar authorities have agreed to discuss the undocumented nationals.

The refugees at the camps had declined to return, he said hoping that they may have the confidence to go back now as Myanmar has a new government.

Bangladesh, Myanmar and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) took a fresh initiative to return the refugees to their homeland, said Quayes, who attended Foreign Office Consultations held in Myanmar on August 25.

Both governments are in discussion to launch synchronised patrol of the common border by border guards of the two countries to stop fresh influx of Myanmar citizens into Bangladesh, Quayes said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to visit Myanmar soon to discuss this issue among others but the date of the trip has not been fixed yet, he added.

According to different sources, there are more than 300,000 unregistered Rohingyas living among the local population, in slums and villages mostly throughout Cox's Bazar district but also in smaller numbers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The foreign secretary told the press conference that the huge number of undocumented Rohingyas was damaging the environment, creating social problems and disrupting our job market abroad.

Their presence is damaging the forests in Cox's Bazar and the CHT, and the social environment of the locality as many are involved in different types of anti-social and criminal activities, like prostitution and smuggling.

Rohingyas began fleeing Burma in the late 1970s, although the biggest influx was in 1992 when an estimated 250,000 fled to Bangladesh. Most of them were repatriated following an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar with the UNHCR supervision.

First time Aung San Suu Kyi meets for president Burmese since she was released from house arrest.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 06:30:00 +0000

The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has repeatedly called for political dialogue with the government since her release from seven years of house arrest.

Burma’s government invited Aung San Suu Kyi to a meeting on Friday with the president, state-run television reported, in her highest contact with the new, nominally civilian government since her release from house arrest in November.
Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein held “frank and friendly discussions” to “find ways and means of co-operation,” the state-run broadcast reported while airing video of them greeting each other.

The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has repeatedly called for political dialogue with the government since her release from seven years of house arrest.

If Suu Kyi’s opposition party reaches an accommodation with the government, it could serve as a reason for Western nations to lift political and economic embargoes on the country that have hindered development and pushed it into dependence on neighbouring China.

Nyan Win, the spokesman for Suu Kyi’s Nation League for Democracy party told the AP that Suu Kyi’s meeting “could be the first step toward national reconciliation,” but declined to elaborate until details were available.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said his government welcomed the reported meeting.

“These are positive steps, and we continue to call for the Burmese government to follow its rhetoric with concrete action towards national reconciliation and progress on core issues of concern to the international community, including the release of political prisoners,” Toner said.

It remains unclear if the government is committed to a dialogue with the country’s most prominent opposition leader, and whether it would be willing to discuss the kinds of reforms that would restore its legitimacy with the international community. The country’s leaders previously have failed to follow through on pledges to initiate substantial reform.

Suu Kyi made her first trip to the administrative capital Naypyitaw on Friday and later went into the meeting with Thein Sein, the official said.

Thin Sein took power in March after an election that critics dismissed as a sham to create a nominally civilian government while entrenching the country’s military rulers. The new government is led by retired military figures, and the constitution ensures the military retains dominance.

However, the new government has become more open about meeting with dissidents, and has introduced some economic reforms.

The period of registration of illegal immigrants, extended week programs 6P

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 05:29:00 +0000

KUALA LUMPUR: "CRIPDO" The registration of the Total Solution program illegal immigrants (6P program) to be ended on Sunday extended a week to 21 August

Secretary General of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Tan Sri Mahmood Adam said the decision was made following the recommendations of the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday to the Implementation Committee for Programme 6P
period be extended.

"This is the ongoing celebration of employers and workers and illegal immigrants at the registration counters 6P The program opened on 1 August, at the immigration office or through a management company appointed by the government," he said in a statement here today.

Mahmood said the government also decided that each Essence that sign up through the company's managers need to consult and use the services of the same company when applying for the bleaching process to be followed in mid-September.

Until the end of the operation yesterday, a total of 1,807,000 foreign workers legally extract and has been recorded, of which, 885.156 is for the Registration of Legal Foreign Workers. -Bernama

Who fled Myanmar's Northern Arakan state Deid 30 Pepol 15/06/2010

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:45:00 +0000

At least 42 people have been killed by landslides and flash floods in southeastern Bangladesh and dozens more are missing, police and local officials said Tuesday.
The flood warning centre said most of the southeast had experienced heavy rainfall during the past 24 hours, with 24.2 centimetres (9.5 inches) falling in many areas.

In the worst affected area of Teknaf -- which is on the border with Myanmar and home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees -- at least 25 people were killed and six missing, local official A.N.M Nazim Uddin told AFP.

"All the roads are under water. We can't reach areas where thousands of people are trapped by the floods," he said by phone.

Around 15,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps -- both legal and illegal -- around Teknaf have been affected by the floods, Firoz Salauddin, the government's spokesman on Rohingya issues told AFP.

Bangladesh recognises 28,000 Rohingya as registered refugees, who live and receive aid at an official UN camp in Kutupalong. This figure is a fraction of the 200,000 to 300,000 unofficial refugees, according to government estimates.

"Hundreds of bamboo shacks have been washed away by the rains," Mojibur Rahman, a Rohingya refugee who lives in an official refugee camp, told AFP.

The refugee camps are often set up on newly cleared forest land and are vulnerable to landslides in heavy rain.

Conditions are dire in the unofficial camps where people have been without food for two days since the heavy rain began, said Manzural Islam, an unregistered Rohingya refugee.

"Flash floods are the worst thing that could have happened to us," said Islam, who fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine state last year.

"People are living under the sky and we haven't had food for two days as we can't cook in the rain with no shelter," he told AFP by telephone.

Further down the coast, at least 13 people -- including six soldiers -- have died in the southern resort area of Cox's Bazaar, police said.

"We have recovered two dead bodies of soldiers from the mud," police officer Mohammud Shahajahan told AFP.

An army barracks at the foot of a hill was destroyed by a landslide, with all the soldiers on duty and at least 20 army vehicles buried in the mud.

"Four more soldiers are still under the mud, we are trying to recover the bodies," he said

The rescue effort was progressing slowly as the landslides had blocked key roads across the Cox's Bazaar and Bandarban districts, local police chief Nibhas Chandra Majhi told AFP.

"We could not start rescue efforts yet as landslides triggered by the rains have clogged up the main highways," he said, adding that rescue workers expected the death toll to rise as rain continued.

A further four people -- all members of the same family -- were killed by a landslide in the remote Ghumdhum area, in the Bandarban hill district, local police chief Kamrul Ahsan told AFP.

Weather officials have forecast further rains due to a major depression in the Bay of Bengal.

Landslides triggered by heavy rains are common in Bangladesh's southeastern hill districts where thousands of poor people live on deforested hill slopes.

Top US refugee official sets visit to Myanmar border Measot

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:22:00 +0000

The U.S. State Department's top official for refugee affairs says that if military-ruled Myanmar's upcoming election is not fair, asylum seekers from the country can not be expected to return there.

Eric Schwartz, who heads the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, arrived Thursday in Thailand to look into issue regarding asylum-seekers from Myanmar and Laos.

He said he held discussions Thursday with Thai officials who were sympathetic to U.S. concerns over the safety of asylum seekers now in refugee camps in Thailand. Schwartz will visit one of the camps Friday before going to Laos, where he will hold talks about ethnic Hmong returnees sent back from Thailand.

A top US official said Thursday he was "particularly concerned" about the plight of 140,000 refugees from Myanmar in camps along the Thai border ahead of the junta's upcoming polls.
Eric P. Schwartz, US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, raised his worries in Bangkok after meeting Thai officials and activists ahead of a trip to the border camps on Friday.

The refugees have mostly fled a six-decade conflict between mainly-Buddhist Myanmar's junta and Christian Karen rebels, one of the few ethnic insurgent groups yet to sign a peace deal with the ruling generals.

"I'm particularly concerned about the continued situation of vulnerable Burmese in Thailand, about 140,000 of whom are in camps in the border area," Schwartz said at a press briefing, using Myanmar's former name.
Schwartz said that "continued repression and restrictions" in Myanmar's electoral process as it had unfolded so far suggested the polls later this year would "offer little change of conditions within Burma".

"If that does happen, elections will not alter the need of Burmese who fear persecution to have access to a protection outside of Burma."

He said it would be critical for Thai authorities "to continue to permit such refuge".
The United States, which has taken in more than 60,000 Myanmar refugees since 2005, has criticised the regime for effectively forcing the dissolution of the main opposition party of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy won the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power by the junta.

Schwartz said the Thai officials he had met "seemed to recognise that it will be conditions on the ground and not the conducting of elections in and of themselves... that will be the key factor in determining whether it's safe for people to return".

In December Thailand defied the United States, European Union and United Nations by forcibly repatriating about 4,500 Hmong people from camps in the country's north back to Laos, despite concerns of persecution on their return.

Schwartz was due to visit Laos after Thailand and discuss the conditions of the returned Hmong.
He said he would also discuss the rights of these returnees to leave, especially a group of 158 recognised refugees who were sent back despite firm offers of resettlement in third countries, including the United States.
*************************************************************
Obama asked to name envoy to secretive Myanmar
Regime reportedly trying to build a nuke

President Obama has yet to appoint a special envoy for Myanmar, whose military-ruled regime reportedly is trying to build a nuclear weapon and plans to hold what U.S. lawmakers see as a flawed election this year.

U.S. officials have expressed disappointment with these developments, and members of Congress and activists say the appointment of a U.S. policy coordinator is key to holding the junta accountable for its bad behavior.

Currently, Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is part of the foreign policy portfolio of Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

"Kurt Campbell has been very attentive to Burma, but he has a lot on his plate. We need someone who makes Burma their first priority," said Jennifer Quigley, advocacy director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma. "For us, 2010 is an incredibly critical year in Burma and it makes it that much more important to have a special policy coordinator."

In a June 8 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Jim Webb recommended Eric John, U.S. ambassador to Thailand, for the special envoy position.

"Ambassador John has spent many years in East Asia, and has long experience in dealing with the North Korean regime on issues that might be similar to those we will be facing in Burma," wrote Mr. Webb, Virginia Democrat who recently canceled a trip to Myanmar over reports that the junta was trying to build a nuclear weapon.

The Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008, requires the president to appoint a "special representative and policy coordinator" for Myanmar.

Mr. Bush nominated Michael Green, a former senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, to the position in November 2008, but the Senate didn't get around to confirming him.

A bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators wrote to Mr. Obama on March 26, urging him to nominate someone to the position. They said there was "both an urgent policy need and an unambiguous legal requirement for this position to be filled."

In response to the letter, National Security Adviser James L. Jones wrote that the administration was in the process of nominating someone to fill the position. That letter was sent in April.

Myanmar elections Mybe on October 10

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:53:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — US Senator Jim Webb said Wednesday he expected Myanmar to hold elections on October 10 and urged support for the vote despite the military regime's exclusion of the democratic opposition.

Webb is a leading US advocate for engagement with the junta, although he called off a trip to Myanmar this month due to allegations the country was developing nuclear weapons with support from North Korea.

Myanmar plans to hold its first elections in two decades later this year, although the regime has not set an exact date.

"What I'm hearing is that they will take place... on 10-10-10," Webb, a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party who represents Virginia, told the Asia Society.

The Obama administration last year initiated dialogue with North Korea but has voiced concern about the elections, ahead of which Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was forcibly dissolved.

Webb acknowledged that the election was designed to preserve the military regime, but said it was a step forward that the country would allow at least some opposition figures to stand for seats.

"In East Asia, in Southeast Asia, you have to build the future a step at a time," Webb said.

"When's the last time China had an election? When's the last time Vietnam had an election?" he said. "It doesn't mean we don't talk to them, and it doesn't mean we don't try to advance the notions of a fairer society."

Webb's position has upset many Myanmar democracy activists, who believe the election is a way to delegitimize Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy won the last vote in 1990 but she was never allowed to take office and has spent most of the ensuing years under house arrest.

Myanmar government troops from the Nuclear Smuggling stolen Real true evidence North Korea .

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:14:00 +0000

An investigation by an anti-government Myanmar broadcaster has found evidence that it says shows the country's military regime has begun a programme to develop nuclear weapons.

Journalists from the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) have been gathering information about secret military projects in Myanmar for years.

But they say recent revelations from a former army officer show that the military government is pushing ahead with ambitions to become a nuclear power.

The allegations are contained in a special documentary produced by the DVB being aired by Al Jazeera.

On Thursday evening, shortly before the film was due to be broadcast, US Senator Jim Webb announced he was postponing his scheduled trip to Myanmar in response to allegations in the documentary.

"Until there is further clarification on these matters, I believe it would be unwise and potentially counterproductive for me to visit Burma," Webb, who is the Democratic chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, told reporters in Bangkok.

Burma is the former name of Myanmar.

Webb had been due to fly to Myanmar late on Thursday for talks with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and senior officials in the country's reclusive military junta.

Defector speaks out

The producers of the DVB documentary say evidence of Myanmar's nuclear programme has come from top-secret material smuggled out of the country over several years, including hundreds of files and other evidence provided by Sai Thein Win, a former major in Myanmar's army.

Sai Thein Win says he was deputy commander of a highly classified military factory that was the headquarters of the army's nuclear battalion.

But he says he decided to defect and bring top-secret evidence of the project with him.

"They really want a bomb, that is their main objective," he says in the film.

"They want to have the rockets and nuclear warheads."

His smuggled files were shown to Robert Kelley, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who told the producers they showed clear indications of a programme to build atomic weapons.

"It appears it is a nuclear weapons program because there is no conceivable use for this for nuclear power or anything like that," he says.

Suspicions

However other experts like John Isaacs, executive director of the Washington-based Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, are not ready to make a definitive conclusion yet.

"I would say there are a lot of suspicions," Adams told the DVB. "But it's hard to say there's actual proof of what Myanmar's trying to do."

Sai Thein Win says he decided to defect after seeing a previous report by the DVB about the Myanmar regime's extensive network of secret underground bunkers and tunnels.

The broadcaster gathered thousands of photos and more defector testimony, claiming some of the tunnels are used as command posts, while others – some are large as two football fields – are used for storing secret weapons and equipment to protect them from aerial bombardment.

The tunnels have allegedly been built with the help of expertise from North Korea – a link that has drawn growing international attention.

'Bunker mentality'

Aung Zaw, an exiled Myanmar journalist and editor of the Thailand-based magazine Irrawaddy, told Al Jazeera there was substantial evidence Myanmar had been buying conventional weapons and missiles from North Korea, but the secret nature of the ruling regime makes it very difficult to get at the truth.

"They live in a bunker mentality," he said of the ruling generals.

"They live in fear of an invasion by the West - that's why they relocated the capital to central Burma."

A recent UN report on the sanctions against North Korea banning nuclear and ballistic missile activities, found what it called "suspicious activity in Myanmar" and experts say that might build up the case for an IAEA inspection.

"In many ways North Korea is a parallel to Burma," the Centre for Arms Control's John Isaacs says in the DVB film. "It's a poor country with a weak economy and starvation at home, and yet they manage to gather resources to build a nuclear weapon."

The DVB investigation agrees, but also points out it was not that long ago when few people imagined that countries like North Korea, Iran and Pakistan would also become nuclear powers.

Myanmar Bisnes Man has no hope left for the Mingalar Zay Market Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:29:00 +0000

One of Burma’s largest wholesale markets, located in downtown Rangoon, has been destroyed by fire.

An eye-witness at the Mingalar market in Rangoon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt township told DVB this afternoon that the fire began on the fourth floor of the multi-storey market building at around 8.20am today. At 4pm Burmese time (10.30am GMT) it was still on fire.

“There are about four to five people on the roof above the fifth floor waving cloths. I don’t know whether they were trapped there or just staying there,” he said.

“Firemen are only dousing water from the outside because they couldn’t really go in…so this is not likely to stop until everything is burned down,” he added. “Apparently the fire is not spreading to other floors as there are firemen [on those floors.]”

Nearby residents have reportedly evacuated their buildings following fears that the fire would spread. The fourth floor is home to a number of cosmetics and drug stores, out of a total of around 4,000 shops and stalls in the market. Burmese from across the country flock there to trade and buy goods.

No casualties have yet been reported. A security official told AFP that one fireman man was injured while putting out the fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown, although there are rumours of an electricity fault on the market.

A similar incident occurred in December 2008 when a fire gutted a market in Moulmein, Mon state. And in February that year, another fire destroyed a shopping mall, information technology park and private businesses in Yadanabon in Mandalay division.

Answer the question about community Rohingya refugees living in Malaysia?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:08:00 +0000

Malaysia was accused last week of ‘playing volleyball’ with the lives of six trafficked Burmese children, one as young as 10, now being held in a Malaysian detention camp. The country’s track record on asylum seekers and trafficking victims has drawn widespread criticism, particularly last year following the arrest of several immigration officials on human trafficking charges.

Elaine Pearson, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), tells DVB that the situation for migrants in Malaysia remains bleak, with the government failing to take adequate steps to improve living conditions and stem the flow of human trafficking.

What effects will the recent crackdown in Malaysia have on the rights of Burmese migrants in the country?

In Malaysia, unfortunately the situation for migrants is quite dire, although there have been some improvements in terms of refugee protection. The [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] now has access to some of the detention camps that it didn’t have before. What we’re seeing is that round-ups of undocumented migrants are continuing, and people are being sent to these detention camps. Conditions in these detention camps are very bad; in fact so bad that some people have been dying of malnutrition and disease. And precisely because they are not deporting a lot of the Burmese to the Thai-Malaysia border anymore the conditions are actually over crowded.

How do you view the Malaysian response to the reclassification of Malaysia to a Tier 3 nation by the US state department?

I think it’s a reflection that in Malaysia, Burmese migrants are extremely vulnerable, not only to traffickers and forced labour in the country but also to the complicity of government officials that are actually involved in that trafficking. So Malaysia was put in Tier 3 because there was this US senate foreign relations committee report on the trafficking of migrants at the border. And what that report found was that actually immigration officials are complicit in handing migrants directly over to traffickers at the border. When they get to the border they are basically given a choice either to pay money or else be sold onto a fishing boat or on to a brothel if they’re a woman. So you know really we have done a lot of interviews ourselves in Malaysia where migrants have talked about this problem and talked about how they have had to pay really quite large sums of money in order to return to Malaysia.

So the Malsyian government has taken some steps to address trafficking; they now have a new trafficking law which is quite comprehensive and there have been some moves to prosecute officials. So there have been investigations into corrupt immigration officials in some of these cases; however really we feel that this has to go a lot further. We want to see convictions of the government officials that are involved in those abuses and we also want to ensure at the same time that there are legal opportunities for Burmese to remain in Malaysia otherwise they are all forced into this very vulnerable situation where they are liable to be trafficked or otherwise exploited because there aren’t enough opportunities legally to remain in Malaysia.

Do you think that Malaysia should cease its guest worker program [where employers legally ‘sponsor’ migrants to work] or try and assimilate refugees instead of getting more guest workers?

Well, I think the guest worker program needs to be reformed in certain ways so that it provides basic labour protections to workers. There are a lot of problems in that it doesn’t cover certain sectors of work for people from certain countries but we feel at the same time there needs to be better refugee protection. Those who come to Malaysia in an undocumented fashion but do have legitimate claims to refugee status; they should be able to work in Malaysia and Malaysia should consider not only resettling them to third countries but enabling them to stay in Malaysia in a stable way for a longer period of time.

What in your view can nations like Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh do with regards to the Rohingya?

Well HRW issued a report about the Rohingya back in the 1990s and last year we issued another report on the Rohingya and I was very sad to say that basically the conditions in Malaysia have not really changed. Really the Malaysian government has to recognise that there are serious concerns for the Rohingya’s safety inside Burma so these people do have a legitimate claim to refugee status and we would like to see Malaysia sign on to the refugee convention. We would also like to see other nations that are affected to actually increase their standards of protection for people fleeing situations of persecution.

Do you think a third nation should start taking Rohingya in as refugees?

Absolutely, we think there should be opportunities for Rohingya to register their claims as refugees, which at the moment they experience difficulties in doing so in Malaysia, but we also feel that the Malaysian government should be providing refugees in Malaysia with better protection. While there have been some improvements, there is really such a long way to go for Malaysia to fulfil international standards. So now you have the refugee agency actually able to go and register people in detention centres. But Malaysia really needs to take it to the next step of providing protection to people who are in the country.

Myanmar Tan Shaw Make Army New Party The Name "Union Solidarity and Development Party" For Election 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 May 2010 10:24:00 +0000

YANGON - MYANMAR'S prime minister, who recently retired from his military post, has applied to form a new political party ahead of rare elections expected later this year, state media reported on Friday.

Thein Sein and 26 others registered to form the 'Union Solidarity and Development Party' on Thursday at the election commission in the capital city of Naypyidaw, the Myanmar Ahlin and New Light of Myanmar newspapers said.

Although he was not named as the party's candidate for premier, official sources said the newly formed USDP was led by Thein Sein.

'Prime minister Thein Sein will lead the Union Solidarity and Development Party,' an official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Some other ministers are also involved in the party, including agriculture minister Htay Oo and industry minister Aung Thaung, the official said.

The prime minister and some 22 other ministers retired from their military posts on Monday, in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian form ahead of the elections due this year.

The New Light of Myanmar reported 25 organisations have applied to form political parties over the past month. So far 12 of those have been cleared to campaign, while the rest are being scrutinised, the paper said. Critics charge that the elections will lack credibility because of laws that effectively bar opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part. -- AFP

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