Rohingya baby born in refugee boat

By: AFP | February 01, 2013 . 0

BANGKOK - A Rohingya refugee gave birth to a baby boy on an overcrowded boat carrying around 110 people which arrived in Thailand from unrest-hit western Myanmar, an official said Thursday. The boat was sinking when it landed at Surin island off Thailand’s southwestern province of Phang Nga near the border with Myanmar on Wednesday, a local government official told AFP. “Among them there was a new-born baby, aged around a week up to 10 days old,” Manit Pienthong said. “They (the refugees) told us a baby was born in a boat. We sent the baby to hospital for a check-up - the baby is fine.”

Exclusive report: Rohingyas flee into an unwelcoming Bangladesh By Mashiur Rahaman / Creative: Mashiur Rahaman

Published: January 29, 2013

The Rohingyas have no state to call their own. PHOTO: MASHIUR RAHAMAN

 

BANGLADESH / TEKNAF:  Six months ago, 89-year-old Abdul Matin fled the sectarian riots in the state of Rakhine, in Myanmar, to a refugee camp in Bangladesh. His house was burnt down during the unrest, along with all his belongings. With nothing but cruel memories of a bleeding homeland, he and his family salvaged what they could and crossed over the River Naf.

“We had no choice but to sell the jewllery my wife was wearing at the time we escaped to pay to cross the river,” Matin told The Express Tribune.

Thailand detains 200 Rohingya boat people fleeing from Myanmar

Thailand says it has intercepted a boat carrying 200 Myanmarese Rohingyas near the southwestern island of Phuket and has detained the refugees.

The Rohingya refugees were spotted off Racha Noi Island in Phuket’s Muang district on Tuesday.

The Thai Naval Force said the refugees were provided with food and water.

On Monday, Thai National Security Council Secretary General Paradorn Pattanathabutr stated that Thailand would no longer allow Rohingya boat people fleeing ethnic violence in Myanmar to enter the country.

350 Rohingya found in Ranong, Phuket

Nearly 350 illegal Rohingya migrants were found crammed inside two vessels entering Thai waters in southern Ranong and Phuket provinces on Tuesday.

In Ranong, a boat carrying about 140 Rohingya migrants was spotted floating about 5.5 kilometres off Phayam island in Muang district about 8.30am by a naval patrol boat.

Naval officers provided the illegal migrants with food and water, a source said. Humanitarian assistance was also provided to help them on the way to their destination.

The Rohingya had to be sent back out to sea as authorities were already struggling with an influx of illegal Muslim Rohingya migrants, the source said.

Asean urged to address Rohingya

The Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) says the Myanmar government's policy of segregation in Rakhine state is the main factor in the mass migration of the Rohingya people - and admits it is also at fault for its own failure to act in the past.

Kraisak Choonhavan, vice president of AIPMC and chair of the Thailand Caucus, said many Rohingya people fleeing Myanmar in hope of better life are likely to instead face detention or discrimination in other countries.

Mr Kraisak blamed Asean for not doing enough to address the root cause of the problem, in a statement issued on Tuesday.

He said Asean should put pressure on the Myanmar government to do more to safely integrate the Rohingya population and ensure them their basic rights. 

Fresh wave of Rohingya refugees arrive south of Phuket

PHUKET: An estimated 200 Rohingya refugees landed on Koh Racha Noi this morning, as reports simultaneously flooded in of another convoy, carrying about 180 men, women and children, coming ashore at Koh Phra Thong on the Phang Nga coast.

“We have received reports of about 200 men, women and children travelling in two open boats landing on Koh Racha Noi,” an officer of the Royal Thai Navy confirmed to the Phuket Gazette.

An estimated 200 Rohingya refugees landed on the uninhabited island of Koh Racha Noi, 25 kilometers south of Phuket, this morning. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

 

“We have also received reports that another 180 Rohingya have landed on Koh Phra Thong, in Phang Nga,” the officer added.

Myanmar nationals charged for trafficking people

By Adib Povera

ALOR STAR: Eight Myanmar nationals were charged at the Sessions Court today with trafficking in 474 people from their homeland into the country end of last year.

Teh Oun, 52, Aung Win, 45, Ton Lil, 30, Tan Win Mow, 29, Tun Tun Ni, 25, Til Wen, 25, Ah Hin, 20, and Lia Min Tong, 20, were jointly charged with trafficking in their countrymen who had no valid travel documents.

No plea was recorded from the accused who were alleged to have committed the offence in Pantai Kok, Langkawi, near here about 10.20am on Dec 30.

Burmese academic resigns from Brunei university over censorship

A Burmese academic and human rights activist has resigned from his position at a Brunei university, complaining of censorship.

Burmese academic resigns from Brunei university over censorship (Credit: ABC) 

Dr Maung Zarni says the University Brunei Darussalam has "punished" him for speaking out about the violence between mainly-Muslim Rohingyas and mainly-Buddhist ethnic Rakhine in Burma.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: Dr Maung Zarni, visiting fellow at London School of Economics

Source: ABC Radio

More Boatpeople North of Phuket: Burma Must Be Made to Respond

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian

Sunday, January 27, 2013

News Analysis

PHUKET: Another boat laden with Rohingya arrived north of Phuket about 1pm today, this time holding a cargo of 97 men and boys.

With hundreds of Rohingya being held north of Phuket and more on the way, Thai government officials and NGOs will be seeking an urgent solution to the exodus surge next week.

There are no easy answers. Already this month, at least 764 men, women and children have been apprehended in seven boats along the Andaman, beginning with the 73 held on Phuket on January 1.

96 Rohingya found crammed in boat

PHANGNGA : Marine police and local officials who inspected a boat off Ra island in Phangnga's Khura Buri district found 96 Rohingya migrants crammed into the vessel.

Authorities rushed to the scene on Friday afternoon after being informed of the boat's presence. They immediately brought the Rohingya back to the district.

It was the third Rohingya group arrested in Phangnga's territorial sea this month. A total of 387 Rohingya migrants have been rounded up and are being sheltered in the province.

The new batch of 96 Rohingya migrants comprises 62 men, six women, 14 boys and 14 girls.

Arakan segregation takes toll on local communities

By HANNA HINDSTROM

A Rohingya child peers into a tent at Ohn Daw Gyee displacement camp outside Sittwe, December 2012. (Hanna Hindstrom)

An angry policeman gestures and shouts in Arakanese. The road is blocked with wooden fences and cords of barbed wire. A local man wrapped in a puffy coat and woollen hat jabs a defiant finger back at the officer.

BRAFA Delegation met with Congresswomen Gwen Moore’s District Office Director in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

BURMESE ROHINGYA AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION (BRAFA)

4818 South 14th Street, Milwaukee Wisconsin 53221, USA

Tel: (414) 736 4273, (414) 306 1751, Fax: (414) 817 0656

E-mail: contact.brafa@yahoo.com, http://www.brafausa.blogspot.com

 

BRAFA Delegation met with Congresswomen Gwen Moore’s District Office Director in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

 

A delegation of BRAFA consisting of Shaukhat @ MSK Jilani (Chairman), Hussain Saifula (Vice-Chairman), and Max Zubair Ahamad (General Secretary) met with District Director Lois O’Keefe of the Congresswomen Gwen Moore’s District Office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the date of January 23, 2013 and discussed about the plights of Burmese Rohingyas and Arakan Muslim population in Burma.

 

During the discussion on the roundtable, BRAFA President highlighted and draw the attention of Congresswomen Gwen Moore as following:-

Rohingya Find Welcome in Thailand’s Conflict-hit Deep South

By JOE JACKSON / THE IRRAWADDY

Rohingya refugee Sakir Husan, center in yellow prayer cap, sits surrounded by well-wishers at a house in the capital of southern Thailand’s Pattani Province. (Photo: Joe Jackson / The Irrawaddy)

PATTANI, Thailand — The three conflict-ridden provinces of Thailand’s Deep South are not a popular destination for many visitors. A renewed and intensifying insurgency, which has killed more than 5,300 people since 2004, provides a daily diet of military check-points, assassinations and bombings.

 

Rohingya migrants detained in Thailand will be allowed to stay in shelters in the South for another six months

Migrants can stay for 6 months

Rohingya migrants detained in Thailand will be allowed to stay in shelters in the South for another six months.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul announced the reprieve after a meeting yesterday with the security agencies handling the 1,390 illegal migrants, including 200 women and children.

The decision will later be forwarded to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for final approval.

The government would have to set aside at least 12 million baht to pay for food for the migrants during the six-month period, Mr Surapong said.

Rohingya houses burnt in Buthidaung

 By RARC, Malaysia

On 23 January 2013 around 10:30pm, at least 2 Rohingya houses were burnt down into aches at Ward No. 1 of Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, Burma, according to a local resident on condition of anonymity.

Fire broke out from electrical engine house which has been operating by the Rakhine national. There is controversy on the breaking of fire in both residents of Rakhine and ethnic Rohingya, while the Rohingya believe that Rakhine conspired to burn down the Rohingya houses from nearby areas, while the Rakhine claim that the fire was broke out from electric sort, he further told.

No any person was injured at the house burning incident, while at least Kyat 80 million worth of wealth were brunt down.

Rohingya Population Survey 2013 held with vanishing threat in Kyauktaw

By RARC

A team of 15 Burmese Immigration personnel, consisting of 3 personnel from Arakan State Immigration, 9 personnel from Kyauktaw Township Immigration and 3 RNDP (Rakhine Nationalities Development Party) members went in Yadanabone (Nairong-Murafara), Kadir Fara,  Fiding Fara and Modi Fara of Kyauktaw on 21 January 2013 in doing population survey for 2013, according to local report.

This official group started their entry from Nairong-Murafara at about 9:00am and ended 2 days long survey in Rohingya households in destroyed areas.

Indian Defense Minister arrives in Burma for border talks

Mizzima News

India’s Defense Minister A.K. Antony is visiting Burma on January 21-22 to meet his Burmese counterparts and discuss bilateral defense cooperation and “capacity-building” measures for Burma’s armed forces, according to Indian media.

A tribal Konyak Naga pictured in 2011 in the village of Lungwa, which runs through the India-Burma border in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. (Photo: AFP)

“Myanmar's [Burma’s] importance for India can be gauged from the fact that Antony's visit comes shortly after foreign minister Salman Khurshid and Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne, in his capacity as the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee, visited the country in November-December,” wrote The Times of India.
 Accompanied by army and naval officers, the Indian defense minister will also table a discussion on improving patrols along the two countries’ 1,000-mile land border, as well as patrols of their maritime boundaries, an official was quoted as saying.

Rohingya fears of fresh attack in Maungdaw

By RARC

  

A group of Rakhine extremists have been trying to obtain permission from military officials to stage protest against the Rohingya populations in Maungdaw Township of Arakan State, Burma, according to a local businessman who declined to mention his name.

In the recent day, several groups of Rakhine have migrated from Bangladesh and are getting allocation in Maungdaw Township who are actively involved in liberating Arakan from Burma through the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya people.

On 19 January 2013 at about 7:00pm, around 100 Rakhine people gathered nearby 4 miles of Maungdaw who were planning for immediate protest in the city but the military official dispersed them on the sense.

Islamic community seeks government leniency for Rohingya migrants

Monday, 21 January 2013 By  MCOT  

SONGKHLA, Jan 18 – Muslim groups in Thailand have called on the government to temporarily suspend the deportation of Rohingya migrants who illegally entered the kingdom in the South last week and are seeking international cooperation in resettling the ethnic people in a third country

At the central mosque in Songkhla province, representatives of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand, the Sheikhul Islam Office and Islamic committees in five southern provinces said they were willing to provide temporary shelter to the Rohingya migrants without criminal charges until suitable settlements were arranged for them.

Iran to set up camp for displaced Rohingyas in Myanmar

Posted by FRZN@iran on 1/20/13 • Categorized as Quoted

An Iranian MP says the Islamic Republic plans to set up a camp in Myanmar to help the efforts to provide relief to the country’s Rohingya Muslims.

On Saturday, Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chairman Mansour Haqiqatpour said agreements have been reached with senior Myanmar officials to set up a camp in Rakhine state that can accommodate thousands of Rohingya refugees and where food can be provided for them.
He stated that Tehran will soon put forward its own plan for the cessation of violence against Rohingya Muslims and the restoration of the social rights of the Muslim community.

Rohingya are illegals, but will be treated humanely'

The Nation on Sunday January 20, 2013 1:00 am

The Rohingya who recently arrived from Myanmar were smuggled into the country, so they must be prosecuted under Thai law for illegal entry, Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said yesterday. He added, however, that legal procedures could be flexibly applied, especially in regard to women and children.

Speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on her weekly TV show yesterday, Surapong, who is foreign minister, said the detention of Rohingya in Songkhla last week was a matter for the National Security Council (NSC). The migrants had entered Thailand illegally and would be dealt with according to Thai law.

UNHCR to visit suspected Rohingya refugees in Thailand

Updated 17 January 2013, 16:28 AEST

Corinne Podger

The UN's refugee agency says it has received permission from Thailand to visit hundreds of people living in a refugee camp in the country's south. Many are believed to be ethnic Rohingya Muslims from Burma.

The UNHCR says Rohingya refugees from Burma are among hundreds of migrants recently arrested by police in Thailand. (Credit: AFP) 

The UN's refugee agency says it has received permission from Thailand to visit hundreds of people living in a refugee camp in the country's south.

UN gains Rohingya access

Sukumpol wants global help to resettle migrants

Thailand will allow the UN's refugee agency to visit nearly 850 Rohingya migrants detained after raids on hidden camps in the South.

Rohingya migrants whoare being held at Thung Lung police station in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district. They areamong843 Rohingya detained in three operations in Songkhla in the past twoweeks. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD

At least 843 Rohingya have been arrested in the past week in police sweeps of remote areas in rubber plantations near the border with Malaysia, leading the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to try to confirm whether any of them plan to seek asylum.

UN, 20 nations join Thailand to help Rohingya Refugees

The Nation January 17, 2013 1:00 am

Envoys hold conference to organise support; UNHCR granted permission to visit refugees

Envoys of more than 20 countries yesterday joined a teleconference that was held to address the grievances of and get help for more than 850 Rohingya people. These illegal migrants were arrested in Thailand's South earlier this month.

Thailand arrests more than 150 Rohingya

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thailand arrested and pledged to deport more than 150 Myanmar Rohingya migrants discovered in a hidden camp near the country’s southern border with Malaysia, police said Monday.

The 71 men and 85 women and children were found on a rubber plantation in Songkhla Province, local police colonel Krisakorn Pleetanyawong said, four days after some 400 Rohingya were discovered in another raid in the province.

“They will be treated under the law as illegal immigrants and will be deported,” he told AFP, adding that a Thai man had also been arrested on suspicion of violating immigration law.

UNHCR expresses concern over Rohingya exodus

Monday, January 14, 2013

 

Last year, thousands of people risked boat journeys on the Bay of Bengal, including people fleeing violence in Myanmar, like these people. The photo is taken from UNHCR website.Star Online Report

The UN refugee agency has expressed concern as Rohingyas are fleeing both Myanmar and Bangladesh in large numbers risking their lives on smugglers' boats in the Bay of Bengal following the recent violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Mounting frustration over lack of imminent solutions to the plight of Rohingyas is another reason for the exodus towards Southeast Asian countries, said a report of the UNHCR published on its website on January 11.

Over 600 illegal Rohingya migrants held in Thai raids

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - At least 600 Rohingya Muslims believed to be illegal migrants from Myanmar have been detained in Thailand after two raids by the authorities near the border with Malaysia, police said on Friday.

More than 300 Rohingya were discovered on Tuesday in a building in the town of Sadao, while a second raid on Thursday at a rubber plantation near the border town of Pedang Besar uncovered 393 more, including 14 children and 8 women.

In this photo taken Jan. 1, 2013, a boat carrying 73 Rohingya refugees is intercepted by Thai authorities off the sea in Phuket, southern Thailand. (AP Photo)YANGON: About 13,000 boat people, including many stateless Rohingya Muslims, fled Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh in 2012 with hundreds dying during the perilous sea voyage, the UN said Friday.

A wave of deadly sectarian violence in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine has triggered an exodus of refugees, mostly heading for Malaysia.

"We know of at least 485 people who've drowned or are lost at sea," said Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, adding the real death toll was probably far higher.

"These numbers are very worrying," Tan said.

Malaysia faces Rohingya influx

This group of men in Kuala Lumpur say they were forced to flee Myanmar because of persecution. Some of them have arrived as recently as this week, risking their lives to come by sea.

But they managed to avoid getting detained unlike those on the boat that arrived on Malaysia’s shores this week.

One Rohingya drowned trying to swim ashore and the others detained by Malaysian authorities.

Anecdotal evidence suggests a marked increase in the number of Rohingyas fleeing to Malaysia since the anti-Muslim violence broke out in Myanmar, last June.

Floating Rohingyas in Thai Sea

Recently, 70 Rohingyas including vulnerable women, children and elderly people are floating in Thai sea who left their ancestral homeland of Arakan State, Burma to escape burning genocide. Voices of America covered the story as follow:


http://burmese.voanews.com/content/thia-authority-will-send-rohingya-back-to-original-land/1576434.html

၂၀၁၃၊ ဇန္နဝါရီလ ၁ ရက္ေန႔က ထိုင္းအစိုးရက ဖမ္းဆီးထားေသာ ႐ိုဟင္ဂ်ာ ေလွစီးေျပး ဒုကၡသည္မ်ား။ 

A Presentation at the Milwaukee Turkish Muslim Center on 12/29/2012

BURMESE ROHINGYA AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION (BRAFA)

4818 South 14th Street, Milwaukee Wisconsin 53221, USA

Tel: (414) 736 4273, (414) 306 1751, Fax: (414) 817 0656

E-mail: contactinfo.brafa@yahoo.com, http://www.brafausa.blogspot.com/

A Presentation at the Milwaukee Turkish Muslim Center on 12/29/2012

Dear respected brothers, Assalamualaikum Wr. Wbr.

I would like to thank all brothers who are attended at this gathering today for inviting me to give a paper presentation on the current situation of Arakan Muslim population in Burma.