Monday
Construction of barbed-wire fence suddenly stopped in Maungdaw
Written by Webmaster
Saturday, 21 March 2009 00:00
Maungdaw, Arakan State: Construction work on the barbed-wire fencing was suddenly stopped yesterday at Maungdaw in Arakan State, as the authorities received information that about 16,000 army personnel from Bangladesh were ready to penetrate into Arakan North from Chittagong Hill Tracts, a close aide of the Nasaka from Maungdaw said. The Burmese army personnel immediately left the work site, after hearing the rumor regarding the Bangladesh Army planning to enter North Arakan. After leaving some soldiers in the Nasaka camp, all the rest went to the nearby mountains to observe the situation, after taking shelter in the forest.
Meanwhile, on the Burmese side, recently, at least eleven Burmese army battalions have been deployed along the Burma-Bangladesh border to raise barbed-wire fences. They are LIB, No. 536, 535, 564, 353, 538, 263, 234, 344, 289, 20 and 55.
Burma has planned to deploy at least 30,000 army personnel on the Burma-Bangladesh border, for the security of the barbed-wire fence, according to a Nasaka source.
The Burmese authority has deployed soldiers along the border from Maungdaw Township to Paletwa in Chin State.
The border situation between the two countries has been increasingly tense, with several army battalions being sent to reinforce troops along the Burma-Bangladesh border by the Burmese military junta.
According to sources, Bangladesh border forces are still closely watching the construction of the barbed-wire fence on the Burma-Bangladesh border, by the Burmese junta without giving any information to the friendly neighboring country, Bangladesh.
According to a Bangladeshi source, a naval ship equipped with sophisticated equipment, has been sighted in the Bay of Bengal near Burmese waters.
Regarding the barbed-wire fence, last month, a group of army personnel, consisting of over 100 army officers, had conducted a survey in Rathedaung and Maungdaw Township, from Mayu Tek (Angumaw) of Rathedaung Township, to Pletwa of Chin State, a businessman from Maungdaw said.
According to villagers near the Bangladesh border, extra deployment of soldiers of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) has not been seen on the Bangladesh side.
The people of north Arakan do not know the reason, why the Burmese junta suddenly started erecting the barbed-wire fence and reinforcement of army on the Burma-Bangladesh border, according to sources
Specil News
THAILAND: UNHCR seeks access to Rohingya boat people
THAILAND: UNHCR seeks access to Rohingya boat people
Photo: David Swanson/IRIN
A young Rohingya girl at the Kutaplong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, one of two government-run camps for the 28,000 documented Rohingya refugees in the country
BANGKOK, 29 January 2009 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is hopeful it will gain access to dozens of Rohingya boat people who fled persecution in Myanmar this week and are being held by Thai authorities.
A stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, the Rohingya have long sought refuge from ethnic and religious persecution by Myanmar’s government.
“We have not yet had a formal response to our request for access but we have positive indications that a formal response is on the way,” Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the agency told IRIN on 29 January from Ranong city, the capital of Ranong Province.
“We had a good meeting with Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya today [29 January] and there is obviously a wish to collaborate with UNHCR,” she said.
The 78 Rohingya - 66 men and 12 teenage boys - were intercepted two days earlier by the Thai navy following an arduous journey across the Andaman Sea and claims of abuse by the Burmese navy en route.
More on the Rohingya
BANGLADESH: mohammad Ismail: “Nobody wants us”
THAILAND: Government, Army to investigate claims of Rohingya abuse
BANGLADESH: Rohingya refugee camps improved
BANGLADESH-MYANMAR: Bleak prospects for the Rohingya
On 28 January, a provincial court ordered each of the 66 men to pay a 1,000 Thai baht (about US$29) fine for illegal entry into the kingdom. Unable to pay, the men had no choice but to serve a five-day prison term.
The 12 teenagers, who were exempt from persecution, are being held at an immigration detention centre, but are largely expected to be deported with the men on 31 January.
In a 29 January report in the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s leading English-language newspaper, Police Lt-Col Nattharit Pinpak, Ranong’s immigration police chief inspector, said illegal refugees normally faced immediate deportation.
But since the Rohingya issue had gained international attention, he would wait for a policy directive from a higher authority, the report said.
Abuse allegationsAllegations were made earlier this month that the Thai military had abused more than 600 Rohingya before the new year, towing them out to sea to die, a charge the government has vehemently denied.
And while many were later rescued off the coasts of India and Indonesia, hundreds more are still believed missing.
On 20 January, UNHCR asked for access to 126 Rohingya being detained by Thai authorities after that incident, but sources suggest they have been since towed out to sea as well.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insists the Rohingya entering Thailand are “illegal immigrants” and must be sent back to their country of origin.
Thai officials maintain “basic humanitarian needs” are given to the migrants before they are returned home.
According to the Thai Foreign Ministry, the plight of the Rohingya reflects that of economic migrants in the region and that some 20,000 illegal Rohingya are living in Thailand today.
There are 28,000 recognised Rohingya refugees in two UNHCR camps in southern Bangladesh and some 200,000 unregistered Rohingya living outside the camps.
Each year, scores of Rohingya escape from Myanmar’s Rakhine state by boat, often turning up in Thailand, Malaysia or as far away as Indonesia.
Thailand estimates their numbers in the thousands.
Because the plight of Rohingya is a regional problem, UNHCR is seeking to discuss with the Thai government how all concerned countries can address the root causes that impel the Rohingya to risk their lives on such perilous journeys.
ds/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Early Warning, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
THAILAND: UNHCR seeks access to Rohingya boat people
Photo: David Swanson/IRIN
A young Rohingya girl at the Kutaplong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, one of two government-run camps for the 28,000 documented Rohingya refugees in the country
BANGKOK, 29 January 2009 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is hopeful it will gain access to dozens of Rohingya boat people who fled persecution in Myanmar this week and are being held by Thai authorities.
A stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, the Rohingya have long sought refuge from ethnic and religious persecution by Myanmar’s government.
“We have not yet had a formal response to our request for access but we have positive indications that a formal response is on the way,” Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the agency told IRIN on 29 January from Ranong city, the capital of Ranong Province.
“We had a good meeting with Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya today [29 January] and there is obviously a wish to collaborate with UNHCR,” she said.
The 78 Rohingya - 66 men and 12 teenage boys - were intercepted two days earlier by the Thai navy following an arduous journey across the Andaman Sea and claims of abuse by the Burmese navy en route.
More on the Rohingya
BANGLADESH: mohammad Ismail: “Nobody wants us”
THAILAND: Government, Army to investigate claims of Rohingya abuse
BANGLADESH: Rohingya refugee camps improved
BANGLADESH-MYANMAR: Bleak prospects for the Rohingya
On 28 January, a provincial court ordered each of the 66 men to pay a 1,000 Thai baht (about US$29) fine for illegal entry into the kingdom. Unable to pay, the men had no choice but to serve a five-day prison term.
The 12 teenagers, who were exempt from persecution, are being held at an immigration detention centre, but are largely expected to be deported with the men on 31 January.
In a 29 January report in the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s leading English-language newspaper, Police Lt-Col Nattharit Pinpak, Ranong’s immigration police chief inspector, said illegal refugees normally faced immediate deportation.
But since the Rohingya issue had gained international attention, he would wait for a policy directive from a higher authority, the report said.
Abuse allegationsAllegations were made earlier this month that the Thai military had abused more than 600 Rohingya before the new year, towing them out to sea to die, a charge the government has vehemently denied.
And while many were later rescued off the coasts of India and Indonesia, hundreds more are still believed missing.
On 20 January, UNHCR asked for access to 126 Rohingya being detained by Thai authorities after that incident, but sources suggest they have been since towed out to sea as well.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insists the Rohingya entering Thailand are “illegal immigrants” and must be sent back to their country of origin.
Thai officials maintain “basic humanitarian needs” are given to the migrants before they are returned home.
According to the Thai Foreign Ministry, the plight of the Rohingya reflects that of economic migrants in the region and that some 20,000 illegal Rohingya are living in Thailand today.
There are 28,000 recognised Rohingya refugees in two UNHCR camps in southern Bangladesh and some 200,000 unregistered Rohingya living outside the camps.
Each year, scores of Rohingya escape from Myanmar’s Rakhine state by boat, often turning up in Thailand, Malaysia or as far away as Indonesia.
Thailand estimates their numbers in the thousands.
Because the plight of Rohingya is a regional problem, UNHCR is seeking to discuss with the Thai government how all concerned countries can address the root causes that impel the Rohingya to risk their lives on such perilous journeys.
ds/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Early Warning, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
News Of The Day
UNHCR chief visits Myanmar抯 Rakhine state
Web posted at: 3/12/2009 9:21:23
Source ::: DPA YANGON: United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres (pictured) arrived in Yangon yesterday after a two-day visit to Rakhine state, the traditional homeland of Rohingya refugees, officials confirmed.
揌e visited Sittwe yesterday afternoon and also visited Yathittaung town today,?said a state official who requested anonymity.
Guterres?agency has offices in both Sittwe and Yathittaung, which are responsible for monitoring the welfare of about 800,000 stateless Rohinyas living in the western state, mostly along the border area with Bangladesh.
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group who have lived in Myanmar抯 Rakhine state for generations but have been denied citizenship and the right to own property or seek employment.
The plight of the Rohingya was brought to world attention in January after Thailand was accused of forcing hundreds of Rohingya refugees back to sea in vessels without engines or sufficient food.
A regional effort is under way to tackle the problem of Rohingya refugees seeking work in South-East Asia.
At a summit meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) last month, Myanmar agreed to allow Rohingyas to settle in the country on the grounds they could prove they were Bengalis and provide evidence of former residence in Myanmar.
There are an estimated 200,000 Rohingya living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Although the Rohingya are not included on the government抯 list of 135 recognized ethnic minority groups, Bengalis are.
Guterres was scheduled to end his visit today after visiting Myaik Myaik, capital of Tanintharyi division in the southern part of Myanmar, where one of his projects has been implemented, according to official sources.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+%26+South+Asia&month=March2009&file=World_News2009031292123.xml
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