[🇧🇩] Insurgencies in Myanmar. Implications for Bangladesh

[Saif]

Myanmar peace efforts ‘substantially inadequate’

Southeast Asian leaders yesterday condemned Myanmar’s efforts to implement a plan to end the country’s civil war as “substantially inadequate”, according to a draft summit statement seen by AFP.

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Myanmar peace efforts ‘substantially inadequate’
Say Asean leaders

Southeast Asian leaders yesterday condemned Myanmar's efforts to implement a plan to end the country's civil war as "substantially inadequate", according to a draft summit statement seen by AFP.

Myanmar's junta agreed on the five-point plan with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) weeks after seizing power in February 2021 but has still pushed ahead with a bloody crackdown on dissent.

Asean has led so far fruitless diplomatic efforts to end the conflict that has killed thousands, forced millions from their homes and driven many to seek a better future abroad.

After discussing the conflict at their annual summit, held this year in Vientiane, the leaders of the bloc demanded the junta take steps to implement the "five-point consensus", saying progress so far had been "substantially inadequate".

Asean leaders urged "all stakeholders and parties in Myanmar... to de-escalate violence and stop targeted attacks on civilians and public facilities", according to the statement.​

 

[Saif]

Foreign ministry protests Myanmar's killing of Bangladeshi fisherman

Tells neighbouring country to refrain from any further provocations

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Foreign ministry protests Myanmar's killing of Bangladeshi fisherman
Tells neighbouring country to refrain from any further provocations

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today lodged a protest with the Government of Myanmar over the killing of a Bangladeshi fisherman by the Myanmar Navy in the Bay of Bengal near St Martin's Island on Wednesday.

The victim, Md Usman, 60, lived in Shah Porir Dwip in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar.

In a diplomatic note sent to the Embassy of Myanmar in Dhaka, Bangladesh expressed deep concern over the tragic incident, further compounded by the abduction of 58 Bangladeshi fishermen and six fishing boats, including the boat of the victim while they were fishing near St Martin's Island, the foreign ministry said in a press release. The fishermen, along with the boats, were eventually released yesterday in two phases following contact between the Bangladesh Coast Guard and the Myanmar Navy.

The Government of Bangladesh urges Myanmar to take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of such unwarranted actions, the press release said.

The foreign ministry reminded Myanmar to fully respect the integrity of Bangladesh's territorial waters and refrain from any further provocations.​

 

[Saif]

Dhaka should move world forum to resolve issues with Myanmar

THE Myanmar navy on October 9 shot into Bangladesh fishing boats, leaving one fisher, an inhabitant of Shah Pari Island at Teknaf, dead and two of his fellows wounded, when they...

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Dhaka should move world forum to resolve issues with Myanmar
12 October, 2024, 00:00

THE Myanmar navy on October 9 shot into Bangladesh fishing boats, leaving one fisher, an inhabitant of Shah Pari Island at Teknaf, dead and two of his fellows wounded, when they were fishing inside the Bangladesh territory in the Bay of Bengal near St Martins Island. Myanmar’s navy then forced six boats, with 57 fishers and the deceased on board, into the Myanmar territory. The Myanmar navy, however, returned the fishers, the body of the deceased and the boats to the Bangladesh Coast Guard on October 10. The foreign affairs ministry is reported to have urged Myanmar to take steps to prevent the recurrence of such unwarranted action. Such a step of the ministry does not, however, appear adequate as there have been occasions when Myanmar has violated Bangladesh’s territory. The incident at hand appears to be trailing a series of such happenings. Besides, as New Age reported on October 11, the Arakan Army, an ethno-nationalist armed organisation based in Rakhine State of Myanmar, on October 7 abducted five Bangladesh fishers and they were handed over to the Border Guard Bangladesh the next day. A Bangladesh fisher is also reported to have died after being shot by the Arakan Army in late May when he was fishing in the river Naf.

The incidents at hand suggest that Bangladesh authorities need to shore up issues on two fronts — taking steps so that Myanmar does not violate the Bangladesh territory and taking measures to keep the sea safe for fishers. Gunshots from inside Myanmar into Bangladesh hit the Teknaf land port office on September 18, forcing a suspension of activities at the land port. Myanmar in September 2021 fired three mortar shells inside the Bangladesh territory in the Tambru border in Bandarban, leaving a young man dead and six others wounded. Myanmar fired two mortar shells 120 metres inside Bangladesh earlier that month. It also fired mortar shells inside Bangladesh twice in August 2021. All that Myanmar does appears to be an effort to create a fearful situation in its own territory and to jeopardise any effort for the repatriation of the Rohingyas, way more than a million of them now sheltered in camps in Bangladesh, who have fled violence in Myanmar since the late 1970s. The largest Rohingya influx took place in 2017 when about a million Rohingyas entered Bangladesh. In the latest incident in September, at least 18,000 Rohingyas took refuge in Bangladesh. Protests of Bangladesh authorities at such violation of the Bangladesh territory earlier have failed to work. Bilateral and multilateral efforts have also failed to resolve issues of the Rohingya repatriation or the violation of Bangladesh territory.

The military-run Myanmar appears to be violating the international law by firing and shelling inside Bangladesh both on land and at sea. A peaceful means should be pursued in the resolution of the issue. Yet, Bangladesh authorities should take it up with the United Nations and should step up diplomatic efforts, regionally and internationally, to reach a resolution.​

 

[Saif]

Prof Yunus for creating ‘safe zone guaranteed by UN’ in Rakhine

Chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday called for creating a ‘safe zone guaranteed by the UN’ for the displaced people in Rakhine and finding ways to support them...

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Prof Yunus for creating ‘safe zone guaranteed by UN’ in Rakhine
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka 14 October, 2024, 17:09

Thomas Andrews, the special rapporteur of the United Nations on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, calls on chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the latter’s Tejgaon office in the capital on Monday. | PID photo

Chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday called for creating a ‘safe zone guaranteed by the UN’ for the displaced people in Rakhine and finding ways to support them.

Yunus made the call when Thomas Andrews, the special rapporteur of the UN on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, called on him at his Tejgaon office.

The special rapporteur appreciated the chief adviser for his three-point proposals on the Rohingya crisis, which were floated on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last month.

He said that the violence in Rakhine had created an ‘enormous crisis’ in the state, and humanitarian aid was urgently needed for the displaced and starving people, including that of Rohingyas.

The UN representative said that at least 3.1 million people had been displaced in Myanmar, including hundreds of thousands in Rakhine state, where insurgent groups had been fighting against the Myanmar military for years.

‘In recent weeks some 30,000 Rohingyas have fled their homes in Rakhine and entered Bangladesh, which is already hosting more than a million Rohingya people in camps in the country’s south-eastern Cox’s Bazar border district,’ he noted.

Professor Yunus said that creating a ‘safe zone guaranteed by the UN’ for the displaced people in Rakhine would be the best thing to get aid to them.

He added that it could be a ‘good beginning’ to resolve the crisis in Rakhine and that it could prevent thousands of new refugees from entering Bangladesh.

The chief adviser also suggested talks with the international community, including ASEAN, over the violence and displaced people in Rakhine.

He sought support from the special rapporteur to expedite the resettlement of thousands of Rohingya refugees to a third country.

The International Criminal Court investigations into the atrocities committed against the Rohingya in 2017 and the recent student-led revolution in Bangladesh were also discussed during the meeting.​

 

[Saif]

Myanmar Conflict: Teknaf rocked by sound of blasts

Sounds of explosions of mortar shells and bombs from across the Myanmar border amid fighting between Junta troops and armed insurgents of the Arakan Army rocked Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar from Monday night till early yesterday.

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Myanmar Conflict: Teknaf rocked by sound of blasts

Sounds of explosions of mortar shells and bombs from across the Myanmar border amid fighting between Junta troops and armed insurgents of the Arakan Army rocked Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar from Monday night till early yesterday.

The explosions were heard from Maungdaw township in Myanmar's Rakhine state on the other side of the border, located southeast of Jaliapara of Teknaf Municipality across the Naf River.

Fierce fighting between Junta forces and Arakan army has been going on for months in Rakhine state, predominantly populated by the Muslim ethnic groups of Myanmar, including Rohingyas.

"Our houses trembled with the frequent explosion of bombs on the Myanmar side. Myanmar Junta's jets are likely striking the areas occupied by Arakan army at present," said Anowar Faisal, a resident of Noyapara village along Teknaf border.

BGB and Bangladesh Coast Guard personnel have beefed up patrolling on the river and land border in Teknaf, said UNO Adnan Chowdhury.​

 

[Saif]

Armed group claims capture of another town

Fighters from a Myanmar ethnic armed group have seized another town along a strategic highway to China, the group and a resident said, in the latest setback for the embattled junta.

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MYANMAR CONFLICT
Armed group claims capture of another town

Fighters from a Myanmar ethnic armed group have seized another town along a strategic highway to China, the group and a resident said, in the latest setback for the embattled junta.

Northern Shan state has been rocked with fighting since the summer when an alliance of ethnic armed groups renewed an offensive against the military along the highway to China's Yunnan province.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) captured the last remaining military base in the town of Hsipaw on Sunday after weeks of fighting, a spokesperson for the group told AFP Monday. "We took all army bases and there is no more Myanmar army in the town," Lway Yay Oo said.

Hsipaw is normally home to around 20,000 people and sits on a highway from Myanmar's second city Mandalay to the China border, along which hundreds of millions of dollars of trade travels annually.

A Hsipaw resident who did not want to be named told AFP Tuesday that TNLA fighters had taken control of the town on Sunday.​

 

[Saif]

Dhaka expresses deep concern over fresh influx of 40,000 Rohingyas

Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the recent influx of more than 40,000 Rohnigyas into Bangladesh fleeing conflict in the...

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Dhaka expresses deep concern over fresh influx of 40,000 Rohingyas
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka 16 October, 2024, 16:09

The Ambassador of Myanmar to Bangladesh, U Kyaw Soe Moe, paid a maiden call on the Foreign Adviser of Bangladesh, Md Touhid Hossain at latter’s office on Wednesday. | Press release

Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the recent influx of more than 40,000 Rohnigyas into Bangladesh fleeing conflict in the Myanmar’s bordering states.

He raised the concern while Myanmar Ambassador to Bangladesh U Kyaw Soe Moe paid a maiden call on him at the foreign ministry here, an official press release said.

During the talks, the foreign adviser emphasized the urgency of a safe and sustainable repatriation process for the displaced Rohingya population, highlighting the importance of peace and stability in Myanmar.

‘Regional stability is crucial for both the nations,’ he said, calling for increased efforts to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The foreign adviser also expressed the hope that the Myanmar government and key stakeholders would engage in constructive dialogue to resolve the situation.

He also raised concern over the security threats at the border, including a rise in human trafficking linked to the influx of displaced people.

Ambassador Moe acknowledged the challenges posed by the ongoing conflict in Myanmar, explaining that repatriation efforts have been delayed due to a ceasefire breakdown by the Arakan Army in November 2023.

The envoy conveyed his government’s gratitude to Bangladesh for providing shelter, food, and medical support to Myanmar troops, as well as facilitating their repatriation after they had recently crossed into Bangladesh amidst the ongoing conflict in Rakhine.

The foreign adviser also underscored the need for both nations to prioritize resolving outstanding bilateral issues, stressing Bangladesh’s commitment to enhancing regional cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, where Myanmar serves as a key gateway.

He urged Myanmar’s support for Bangladesh’s bid to gain ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner status.

Besides, both sides discussed bolstering bilateral trade, increasing people-to-people contact, and resuming direct flights between Dhaka and Yangon.

They also stressed the importance on finalizing the coastal shipping agreement currently under negotiation between the two countries.​

 

[Saif]

Five shot during clash at Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar

Five people, including a local resident, were shot during a clash between two groups at a Rohingya camp in Ukhiya of Cox's Bazar yesterday

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Five shot during clash at Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar

A Rohingya camp. File photo

Five people, including a local resident, were shot during a clash between two groups at a Rohingya camp in Ukhiya of Cox's Bazar yesterday.

Gunfire erupted throughout the day in camps 14 and 15, resulting in at least 10 people sustaining injuries, said Amir Jafar, commander of APBn-8 (additional DIG).

The injured are Mohammad Belal, 39, Omar Faruk, 30, Mohammad Yunus, 25, Abdullah, 18, and Hamida, 50.

The APBn official said the clash, driven by disputes, led to five people being shot.

The injured are currently receiving treatment at the MSF Hospital in Kutupalong, Ukhiya.

The identity of those responsible remains unknown.

Multiple sources said ARSA has been attempting to reorganise since August 5, frequently clashing with RSO for control over the camps.

The clash, which began yesterday morning, saw both sides using heavy weapons, causing panic among Rohingyas and locals alike, said witnesses.

M Gafur Uddin, chairman of Palangkhali Union Parishad, said many are avoiding leaving their homes. They have informed the authorities about the ongoing violence, he added.​