THE DEBATE - Burma and the Rohingyas: UN Body Accuses Authorities of Ethnic Cleansing

A textbook case of ethnic cleansing says the UN's top human rights official. Nearly 400,000 Rohingyas have fled Burma in the past fortnight for neighboring Bangladesh after skirmishes between local militants and authorities triggered a fierce backlash. The plight of the Rohingyas has stirred indignation across the Muslim world in places like Indonesia and Turkey's First Lady dispatched to Bangladesh to support relief efforts. So what should the wider international community do?

Aung San Suu Kyi's Fall from Grace? – BBC Newsnight

What is Aung San Suu Kyi's responsibility for the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar? Mark Urban reports.

Burma's 'Great Terror' Moves a Step Closer as Taliban Urges Rohingya to 'Take Up the Sword'

The oppressed minority has been told only violent jihad will make a difference
THE INDEPENDENT: Burma’s worst nightmare came a step closer to reality when a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban’s most hardline faction called on the oppressed Rohingya to “take up the sword and kill in the path of God”.

Other attempts to improve the desperate position of Burma’s Muslim minority were futile, he said last week. “Protest demonstrations, marches [and] condemnation resolutions” were useless. Only violent jihad would make the difference.

This is the great terror of which Burma’s populist Buddhist preachers have for years been warning their congregations, with dire predictions. The hostile climate they have whipped up has led the government to treat the largely stateless Muslim minority in Arakan state ever more inhumanely; and as a result, those predictions could prove self-fulfilling. » | Peter Popham | Sunday, June 14, 2015

Telegraph View: Suu Kyi Lets Us Down

Aung San Suu Kyi

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Aung San Suu Kyi's equivocal attitude towards the violence against Burma’s Muslim minority threatens to tarnish her reputation

The hardships endured by Aung San Suu Kyi during her long struggle against Burma’s dictators and her 15 years of house arrest almost defy comprehension. After all that suffering, it would be tragic if her reputation were to be tarnished just as she stands on the verge of becoming her country’s president in the 2015 election. Sadly, Miss Suu Kyi’s equivocal attitude towards the violence against Burma’s Muslim minority threatens to do exactly that. Read on and comment » | Telegraph View | Thursday, October 24, 2013

Right-wing Buddhist Leading the Campaign to Force Muslims Out of Burma Says He Wants His Group 'To Be Like the English Defence League'

MAIL ONLINE: Venerable Wirathu is leader of Burma's '969' campaign to boycott Muslims / He was jailed for nine years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim violence / Says he wants to be like EDL who 'protect the public without violence'

The English Defence League might be the last place you would expect a devout Buddhist monk to turn for inspiration.

But a right-wing spiritual leader in Burma has revealed how he wants to copy the EDL in his bid to rid his country of its Muslim minority.

The Venerable Ashin Wirathu, who was jailed for nine years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim violence, says the hardline nationalist party should be applauded for 'not carrying out violence, but protecting the public'.

His comments come a week after more than 1,000 EDL members marched on Downing Street in a protest over the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in nearby Woolwich, swilling beer, chanting anti-Muslim slogans and clashing with anti-fascist activists. Thirteen people were arrested.

Now, orange-robed Wirathu, who leads Burma's so-called '969' campaign to boycott Islamic businesses and bring an end to inter-marriage with Buddhists, says he wants his gang members to be more like the EDL.

According to The Times, Wirathu said: 'People give me various names: The Burmese bin Laden, the bald neo-Nazi. '[But] do you know the English Defence League? We would like to be like the EDL. Not carrying out violence, but protecting the public.' » | Matt Blake | Friday, May 31, 2013

Muslims Fleeing Sectarian Violence in Burma Drown as Crisis Deepens
THE OBSERVER: Many Rohingya people are attempting dangerous voyages to Bangladesh and Thailand, but most are sent back on arrival

First one body appeared, floating in the waters of the Bay of Bengal, then another, and another, until those on board the little fishing boat that had gone to their rescue began to lose count.

Those bobbing lifeless among the waves had set out the night before, so desperate to escape the growing sectarian violence in Burma that they were prepared to risk boarding the dangerously overcrowded boat.

At least 130 had clambered aboard, but the boat foundered – whether it capsized because of the weight of bodies or because it struck rocks remains unclear.

The sinking last week was the worst reported incident resulting from the outbreak of violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western Burma. The death toll is continuing to rise amid reports of a deepening humanitarian crisis.

"The situation is dire. The UN is doing its best, but it is trying to find more funding to help them," said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an NGO working with the Rohingya. » | Gethin Chamberlain | Sunday, November 04, 2012

Burmese Government Accused of Failing to Stop Anti-Muslim Violence
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Burmese government has been accused of failing to protect its religious minorities after human rights campaigners claimed that entire districts of a Muslim-inhabited coastal town were destroyed in communal violence.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch released satellite images which it said showed that more than 800 buildings and houseboats had been razed in the town of Kyaukpyu, in western Burma's Rakhine state.

It said the victims of the violence were mainly Rohingya Muslims, thousands of whom have fled the area since tensions with Burma's majority Buddhist population flared anew. Officials say that at least 67 people have been killed and 95 wounded in the past week.

Long-running tensions between the two groups first flared back in June, when accusations that a group of Muslim men were responsible for the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman led to 80 deaths and 75,000 people fleeing their homes.

While the Rakhine Buddhists claim to have been the victim of pogroms themselves, the Rohingya Muslims claim to have borne the brunt of the violence. » | Colin Freeman | Saturday, October 27, 2012

Burma Abolishes Media Censorship

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Burma said it had abolished media censorship on Monday in the latest in a series of rapid democratic reforms, delighting journalists who lived for decades under the shadow of the censors' marker pen.

Draconian pre-publication checks - applied in the past to everything from newspapers to song lyrics and even fairy tales - were a hallmark of life under the generals who ran the country for almost half a century until last year.

"This is a great day for all journalists in Myanmar, who have laboured under these odious restrictions for far too many years," said a senior editor at a Yangon weekly publication who preferred not to be named.

"It is also another encouraging example of the progress that the country is making under [President] Thein Sein's government," he added.

Media reforms have already brought a lighter touch from the once ubiquitous censors, with less controversial publications freed from scrutiny last year.

Political and religious journals were the last to be allowed to go to press without pre-approval from the censors starting from Monday. » | AFP | Monday, August 20, 2012

Oppositionsführerin Suu Kyi in Genf
Burmas Oppositionsführerin Aung San Suu Kyi ist zum Auftakt ihrer Europareise in Genf eingetroffen. Die Friedensnobelträgerin wird am Abend mit Aussenminister Didier Burkhalter zusammentreffen und über die Lage in Burma sprechen.

State of Emergency in Myanmar Following Riots
Curfew imposed in Rakhine following clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that left seven dead and many houses razed.

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi 'Wins Seat' in Historic Election

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Aung San Suu Kyi's party claims she has won a seat in Burma's parliament after Sunday's historic election, setting the stage for her to hold public office for the first time.

The victory, if confirmed, marks a major milestone in the Southeast Asian nation, where the military has ruled almost exclusively for a half-century and where the government is now seeking legitimacy and a lifting of Western sanctions.

The victory claim was displayed on a digital signboard above the opposition National League for Democracy's headquarters in Rangoon.

Earlier, the party said in unofficial figures that Ms Suu Kyi was ahead with 65 per cent of the vote in 82 of her constituency's 129 polling stations. Read on and comment » | Dean Nelson | Rangoon | Sunday, April 01, 2012

My comment:

If anyone deserves to win in this election, this lady does. She has suffered and struggled. My heartfelt congratulations to her. – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Clinton Wraps Up Myanmar Visit
Dec. 2 - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speak to media. Julie Noce reports.

Burma: Gemeinsam für Demokratie

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Die amerikanische Außeministerin Hillary Clinton war sichtlich bewegt, als sie Aung San Suu Kyi die Hand schütteln durfte – noch dazu an dem Ort, wo die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin in Hausarrest saß.

So hatte man das Seehaus der „Lady“, diesen fast ikonographischen Ort der Unterdrückung, noch nie gesehen. Im sonst verwaisten Garten saßen Dutzende Journalisten auf herbeigeschafften Möbeln und warteten auf das ungewöhnliche Paar. Als Aung San Suu Kyi und ihr hoher Gast aus Amerika, Außenministerin Clinton, auf die Terrasse traten, stürzten Kameraleute und Fotografen auf Stühle und Tische, um den historischen Moment einzufangen. Nichts erzählt mehr über die neue Lage in Burma als das Bild vom ungestörten Zusammentreffen dieser Frauen. » | Jochen Buchsteiner, Jakarta | Freitag 02. Dezember 2011

Aung San Suu Kyi Reunited with Her Son
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader, has been reunited with her son who[m] she last saw a decade ago.


In an emotional moment at the Yangon airport, 10 days after her release from detention, Ms Suu Kyi met Kim Aris, 33, who was finally granted a visa by the military regime after waiting for several weeks in neighbouring Thailand.

Just before walking into the airport terminal, the 65-year old Ms Suu Kyi, who was released earlier this month after more than seven years under house arrest, said: "I am very happy."

A smiling Ms Suu Kyi slipped her arm around her son's waist as the two posed briefly for photographers.

Through her lawyer Nyan Win, Ms Suu Kyi thanked the Burmese authorities for issuing the visa to her son, who resides in Britain and last saw his mother in December 2000. He has repeatedly been denied visas ever since by the ruling junta. >>> | Tuesday, November 23, 210

Suu Kyi Wants To Meet Myanmar Junta Leader
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Myanmar's chief democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi says she wants to meet the leader of the country's military junta to "let him speak first" about the country's political deadlock.

In a telephone interview Friday with The Globe and Mail, Ms. Suu Kyi said she wants to hold talks with Senior General Than Shwe but wouldn't go into them with a list of demands.

"What I want to do is just start talking. I'd like to let him speak first. Dialogue is not just about what you want to say," she said, speaking from Rangoon, the capital of Myanmar.

The interview was the first Ms. Suu Kyi has given to a Canadian newspaper since she was released from house arrest on Saturday.

She said she was "exhausted" at the end of her first week of freedom, which was filled with meetings with her supporters in Myanmar and abroad, phone calls to family members she hasn't seen in years and a visit to a Rangoon home for HIV/AIDS sufferers.

Ms. Suu Kyi, who has been under detention for 14 of the past 20 years, said she has been surprised and impressed with the level of political involvement among the younger generation in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

Earlier this week, the 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate called for a "peaceful revolution" in her country. >>> Mark MacKinnon | Friday, November 19, 2010

Watch video: Suu Kyi says Myanmar still under junta's iron grip: Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says her release from house arrest is not a sign that the military junta is softening its grip on the country. She spoke Thursday to The Associated Press. >>> AP | Thursday, November 18, 2010

THE GLOBE AND MAIL – EDITORIAL: Outwitting the junta with Aung San Suu Kyi >>> | Monday, November 15, 2010

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: The Lady from Burma >>> Karen Connelly | Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Forderung nach Demokratie für Burma
Tausende verfolgen die erste Rede der freigekommenen Dissidentin Suu Kyi
NZZ ONLINE: In Rangun ist der aus dem Hausarrest entlassenen Aung San Suu Kyi von ihren Anhängern ein euphorischer Empfang bereitet worden. In ihrer ersten Rede seit sieben Jahren lud sie die demokratischen Kräfte zur Zusammenarbeit ein.

Die Schattenplätze waren bereits am frühen Sonntagmorgen vergeben. Die Menschenmasse vor dem Parteigebäude der National League for Democracy (NLD) stieg stetig an, bis gegen 11 Uhr Tausende am Boden sassen, viele mit selber gebastelten Schildern. Eines zeigt Suu Kyi mit Heiligenschein. Gleichzeitig verteilten Jugendliche Zettel mit der Aufschrift «Our mother» und «We love Suu». Als ihr weisses Auto vorfuhr, liessen sich die Emotionen kaum mehr zurückhalten. Das Fahrzeug kam nur im Schritttempo vorwärts. Die Menschen klatschten, weinten, schrien. Zunächst verschwand die «Lady» hinter dem roten Gittertor, um Parteifreunde und ausländische Diplomaten zu begrüssen. Ihre Anhänger hatten mehr als sieben Jahre darauf gewartet, ihr Idol wieder zu hören, da spielte eine weitere Stunde Ausharren in der feuchtheissen Hitze keine Rolle. Die uniformierte Polizei verfolgte das Geschehen aus Distanz. Näher heran gingen die zivilen Schnüffler, die das Publikum filmten. >>> m. e. Rangun | Montag, 15. November 2010

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Released
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, has been released after seven years in detention.


Ms San Suu Kyi appeared outside her house, waving and smiling. Someone threw her a flower which she put in her hair.

Addressing the jubilant crowd, she told her supporters: "["]There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal."

She was expected to meet her party leaders inside her home on Saturday. She also invited her supporters to come to her party's headquarters on Sunday to hear her speak.

At least 1,000 people had gathered near her lakeside villa to witness her release.

Many cheered loudly and chanted "Release Aung San Suu Kyi" and "Long live Aung San Suu Kyi", as officials pulled down barbed wire and removed the concrete barricades.

Witnesses said that police were no longer stationed outside the building. >>> | Saturday, November 13, 2010

BIRMANIE : Enfin libre, Aung San Suu Kyi appelle au rassemblement de ses partisans
L'opposante Aung San Suu Kyi a été libérée après plus de sept ans en résidence surveillée. Photo : Le Pont
LE POINT: Aung San Suu Kyi, symbole de la lutte pour la démocratie en Birmanie, a été libérée samedi après plus de sept ans en résidence surveillée, demandant à des milliers de partisans en liesse de travailler "à l'unisson" pour l'avenir du pays. La lauréate du prix Nobel de la paix, considérée par certains comme l'unique solution face à la junte au pouvoir, est apparue souriante aux grilles de sa maison, quelques minutes après avoir pris connaissance de l'ordre de libération la concernant.

Portant dans ses cheveux une fleur lancée depuis la foule, elle a prononcé quelques mots devant des partisans en délire, la plupart de ses paroles étant couvertes par les hurlements et les applaudissements. "Nous devons travailler ensemble, à l'unisson" à l'avenir du pays, a-t-elle déclaré. "Si vous voulez entendre, venez s'il vous plaît demain à midi au bureau" de la Ligue nationale pour la démocratie (LND), son parti dissous avec lequel elle a mené tout son combat depuis son apparition sur la scène politique birmane, en 1988. "Elle est libre maintenant", avait indiqué un responsable birman quelques minutes auparavant, tandis que la police enlevait les barrières menant à la vieille demeure familiale dans laquelle elle a été si longtemps confinée. >>> Source AFP | Samedi 13 Novembre 2010

Aung San Suu Kyi auf freiem Fuss: Burmesische Friedensnobelpreisträgerin zeigt sich ihren Anhängern
NZZ ONLINE: Die birmanische Oppositionsführerin Aung San Suu Kyi kommt auf freien Fuss. Ihr wurde am Samstag die Aufhebung ihres Hausarrest verlesen.

In Burma ist die Oppositionspolitikerin Aung San Suu Kyi aus ihrem Hausarrest entlassen worden. «Sie ist nun frei», sagte ein Regierungsvertreter, der namentlich nicht genannt werden wollte.

Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin zeigte sich danach ihren Anhängern. Die 65-Jährige erschien in Rangun am Tor ihres Hauses, in dem die sie jahrelang abgeschnitten von der Aussenwelt leben[.] >>> afp | Samstag, 13. November 2010

Burma Generals 'Sign Aung San Suu Kyi Release Order'
BBC: Reports are coming out of Burma saying the military authorities have signed an order authorising the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel laureate has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years, and her house arrest term expires on Saturday.

There has been increased police activity outside her house in Rangoon, but as yet no official confirmation.

However, Ms Suu Kyi is not expected to accept a conditional release if it excludes her from political activity.

She was originally due to be released last year, but a case involving an American who swam across Inya Lake to her home, claiming he was on a mission to save her, prompted the latest 18-month detention.

'Significant impact'

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Bangkok says a number of sources inside Burma have told the BBC that documents authorising Ms Suu Kyi's release have been signed.

There has been increased police activity outside her home in University Avenue in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city.

Her supporters, who have been publicly counting down the days to the end of her current term of house arrest, have been gathering at the headquarters of her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), in anticipation of her release. >>> | Friday, November 12, 2010

LE TEMPS: Aung San Suu Kyi est libre >>> | Vendredi 12 Novembre 2010

LE TEMPS: Aung San Suu Kyi, icône de l’espoir démocratique : Sa frêle silhouette symbolise depuis plus de vingt ans la résistance à la junte. Mais si son aura a résisté au temps en Birmanie comme à l’étranger, l’opposante Aung San Suu Kyi n’en est pas moins devenue une figure marginalisée, une icône à l’avenir politique incertain >>> AFP | Vendredi 12 Novembre 2010

Suu Kyi Too Hot for Asia's Most Brutal Regime to Handle
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Burma's political heroine has spent 15 of the past 20 years under arrest. Now, as the country goes to the polls, her fate hangs in the balance

She is by some stretch the most abused political heroine alive today. She has been confined to her crumbling family home in Rangoon for more than 15 of the past 20 years. Her two sons, Alex and Kim, have for many years been barred from visiting her – Kim, now 33, is in Bangkok trying to get a visa so he can see his mother for the first time in 10 years. The last wish of her gravely ill husband, Michael Aris – to die in her arms – was brutally snubbed.

But in one week's time all that could be in the past and Aung San Suu Kyi could walk through the rusty iron gates of 54 University Avenue, Rangoon, a free woman again.

Or will she? >>> Peter Popham | Sunday, November 07, 2010

Barack Obama Calls for Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi to Be Freed
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama called on the Burma regime to free Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a message sending best wishes for her 65th birthday.

The US president hailed the Burmese opposition leader's "determination, courage, and personal sacrifice in working for human rights and democratic change" as she marks her birthday Saturday under house arrest in Yangon.

The military regime has kept Ms Suu Kyi in detention for almost 15 years and she has been barred from running in upcoming elections that critics have denounced as a sham aimed at entrenching the generals' power.

"I wish to convey my best wishes to Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace laureate, on the occasion of her 65th birthday on June 19," Obama said in his message.

"I once again call on the Burmese government to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally and to allow them to build a more stable, prosperous Burma that respects the rights of all its citizens." >>> | Friday, June 18, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: Aung San Suu Kyi: the unseen photo album >>>