U.S -Based Rohingya delegation participates in conference on Burma in Washington, D.C

The Director General of Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU), Prof. Dr. Wakar Uddin, and the Co-founder of Free Rohingya Campaign, Nay San Oo, attended the Conference on Burma titled “China-Myanmar Relations: The Dilemma of Mutual Dependence” in early November, at the Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The conference consisted four different Panel Sessions, and the Panel Session II focused on the minority issues titled “Myanmar/Minority Perspectives”. A significant component of this session covered the minority issues in the eastern frontier regions of Burma; however, Rohingya issue in the western frontier also captured the attention from the audience and the panel when ARU Director General Prof. Dr. Wakar Uddin raised human rights and citizenship issues faced by the Rohingya ethnic minority in Arakan State in Burma. 

 

Dr. Uddin specifically directed his questions to Tom Kramer of Transnational Institute who addressed the Rohingya issues at a great length based on his experiences in Burma. Addressing Dr. Uddin’s questions about the ploys by the ultra-racist Rakhine National Democratic Party (RNDP) to discredit the Rohingya parliamentarians and RNDP’s hostile moves against Rohingya ethnic minority, Mr. Kramer provided transparent and in-depth assessments of the post-election situation in Rohingya regions in Northern Arakan. 

 

Mr. Kramer’s assessment accurately reflected the rapidly deteriorating situation in Arakan. The reports of RNDP’s approach to some major ethnic parties to form an alliance was discussed in Panel Session II that substantiate the earlier reports of anti-Rohingya maneuvering of the radical RNDP in Arakan and Naypyitaw at a high level. 

Nay San Oo had an opportunity to meet separately with Mr.Frank Jannuzi, (Policy Director) East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States Senate on Foreign Relations Committee. Nay San Oo specifically expressed where Rohingyas have been brutally discriminated by Burmese Regime and briefed about how 1982 Citizenship Law renders the Rohingya stateless. 

A number of journalists from the press in Washington had spoken to Dr. Uddin and Nay San Oo to arrange for interviews similar to that of the Radio Free Asia with Dr. Uddin in October.  

Prof. Dr. Mary Callahan (University of Washington), Prof. Dr. David Steinberg, (Georgetown University), Prof. Dr. Wakar Uddin (Director General, Arakan Rohingya Union) and Nay San Oo (Co-founder, Free Rohingya Campaign) at Burma Conference in Washington, D.C.

Ko Ko Naing 

Campaign Director, West Coast, USA 

Free Rohingya Campaign (FRC) 

Email: knaing@freerohingyacampaign.com