Over 1,200 Rohingya Homes Destroyed in Rakhine State
- Satellite images released by Human Rights Watch show that more than 1,200 homes belonging to the Muslim Rohingya minority in Rakhine State have been destroyed (BBC)
Published by CFR's Wachenheim Center for Peace and Security
Latest News
Civil War in Myanmar
Hundreds of Rohingya Flee Myanmar to Bangladesh
- Hundreds of people from the Muslim Rohingya minority in western Myanmar have fled across the border to Bangladesh, following a military crackdown (BBC)
Officials Claim More than Thirty Killed Over Two Days of Fighting
- Myanmar’s military said it killed more than thirty insurgents over two days of fighting in the predominately Rohingya Muslim Rakhine state (AFP)
UNICEF Calls for Full Humanitarian Access to Rakhine State
- The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the unrest in Myanmar’s Rakhine state is taking a “terrible toll” on children as the agency called for full humanitarian access to Rohingya Muslims (VOA)
Myanmar Allows Food Delivery to Rakhine State
- Myanmar granted permission to the World Food Program to deliver food aid to Rakhine state for the first time in four weeks, amid an ongoing military lockdown (Reuters)
UN Envoys Call for Probe of Myanmar Violence
- UN human rights envoys called for an investigation into allegations that Myanmar security forces killed unarmed civilians and burned villages in Muslim-majority Rakhine state following an attack on border police (Al Jazeera)
Myanmar Blocks Aid to Rakhine State
- A lockdown has halted the distribution of food aid in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The heightened security measures follow an attack on three border posts earlier this month that left nine police officers dead (New York Times)
Aid Lockdown in Western Myanmar
- More than a week after attacks on police officers in western Myanmar, a lockdown by security forces has prevented aid workers from operating in the area. A UN World Food Program official said that a lockdown has halted the agency’s relief work in villages there, which typically reaches 70,000 people per month from May to November (New York Times)
Thousands Flee Crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
- Thousands of people are fleeing the northern state of Rakhine in Myanmar as the military torched villages searching for the perpetrators of attacks that killed nine officers amid concerns of a resurgence in communal violence (AFP)
- State media has reported that forty-three people, including thirteen security agents, have been killed (Myanmar Times)
Teachers and Government Workers Flee Violence in Rakhine State
Attack on Police Post Kills Twenty-Four
- At least twenty-four people are believed to have died in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after assailants attacked a police post. Rohingya Muslim villagers were said to have been shot to death in an ensuing operation by security forces (New York Times)
Thousands Protest Continuing Low-Intensity Conflict in Myanmar
- Thousands of protesters marched through Myitkyina, capital of Myanmar’s Kachin state, demanding an end to the government’smilitary offensives. Protesters called for the army to withdraw its troops from the Kachin region, give unhindered access to humanitarian aid, and stop human rights abuses (Washington Post)
Activists and Leaders Condemn Recent Violence
- At separate press conferences, ethnic activists and community leaders from northern and southeastern Myanmar denounced recent fighting, displacement, and alleged rights abuses (VOA)
U.S. Pledges to Lift Sanctions Against Myanmar
- U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States was prepared to lift sanctions on Myanmar and reinstate trade preferences for the country. Obama cited social and political transformation in the country during a visit in Washington with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Voice of America)
- She said she was grateful for the sanctions that pressured the previous regime to restore human rights, but that it was time to end them and that the government was eager to attract foreign visitors and investors (New York Times)
Myanmar Peace Conference With Tribal Representatives Begins
Kofi Annan to Lead Commission on Rohingya
- At the request of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan will lead a nine person advisory commission focused on the Rohingya in Rakhine State, in order to “resolve protracted issues in the region” (Associated Press)
Myanmar Will Deny UN Investigator Visas
- The Myanmar Foreign Ministry said it will deny visas to UN investigators planning to travel to western Rakhine State for a fact-finding mission on alleged human rights violations by military forces against the Rohingya Muslim minority (Radio Free Asia)
More Rohingya Refugees Leaving Bangladesh
- Young Rohingya refugees are fleeing Bangladesh by boat in unusually high numbers, aid workers said; while normally more men than women and children make such voyages, UN refugee data showed that of the estimated 1,084 Rohingya people who came ashore in Indonesia’s Aceh province this month, 360 were children (Reuters)