Myanmar junta declares support for Niger military coup

August 22, 2023

NEWS DESK Myanmar’s military junta has publicly declared support for the military coup in Niger, and even compared the two countries’ coups, The Irrawaddy reports. August 6 issues of junta newspapers carried a propaganda article arguing that the Niger and Myanmar armed forces had staged coups not because of their thirst for power, but to […]Continue Reading

Saudi Arabia, Iran relations ‘on the right track’, Iranian minister says after Riyadh talks

August 18, 2023

Saudi Arabia and Iran are making progress on mending ties, Iran’s foreign minister said after meeting with his counterpart in Riyadh on Thursday, as two regional heavyweights seek to overcome past hostility and boost cooperation, Reuters reports. “Relations between Tehran and Saudi are on the right track and we are witnessing progress,” Hossein Continue Reading

Myanmar shadow government official apologises to Rohingya

August 18, 2023

NEWS DESK In an interview with VOA, the humanitarian minister in Myanmar’s anti-junta shadow government has apologized for failing “to bring justice to the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State,” where Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown in August 2017, VOA News reports. Dr. Win Myat Aye served as social welfare minister in the administration of […]Continue Reading

Myanmar arrests nearly 150 fleeing Rohingya

August 15, 2023

Myanmar authorities have arrested nearly 150 Rohingya suspected of trying to flee the country, an official told AFP yesterday. The mainly Muslim Rohingya are seen in Myanmar as interlopers from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship and require permission to travel. The military launched a crackdown on Rohingya in 2017, and thousands now risk their lives […]Continue Reading

Some 48,000 people in Myanmar flee homes amid deadly flooding, landslides

August 12, 2023

Floods and landslides caused by monsoon rain have killed five and forced around 48,000 people to flee their homes, Myanmar’s relief ministry said, AFP reports. On Saturday in Bago city, northeast of Yangon, children floated on rubber tyres squealing with joy, while adults paddled wooden canoes with supplies through the murky brown and yellow water […]Continue Reading

Three Rohingya among eight from Bangladesh arrested in Agartala on way to Kolkata

August 12, 2023

NEWS DESK The Railway Protection Force said it detained eight foreign nationals at the Agartala railway station while they were about to board a Kolkata-bound train on Saturday. They were arrested later by the Government Railway Police, The Indian Express reports. Of the eight people, five are Bangladeshi citizens and three are Rohingya who illegally […]Continue Reading

4 Rohingya held in India custody, kin say no riot links

August 12, 2023

Four Rohingya refugees, including two minors aged 14 and 16 years, have been apprehended for their alleged role in communal violence that broke out in Nuh, one of the 22 districts in the Indian state of Haryana, on July 31, Times of India reports. While two adults — 21 and 19 years old — were […]Continue Reading

‘We are no longer part of nationwide ceasefire agreement’: Myanmar’s KNU

August 11, 2023

NEWS DESK As the junta’s military has already destroyed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), it no longer needs to be abided by, the Karen National Union (KNU), one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed groups, said at a press conference on Aug. 10, The Irrawaddy reports. “We no longer have any cause to abide by the […]Continue Reading

At least 17 dead after Rohingya boat breaks up off Myanmar: rescuers

August 10, 2023

At least 17 people drowned when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state broke up at sea this week, rescuers said Thursday. Thousands of Rohingya risk their lives each year making perilous sea journeys from camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar to try to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, AFP reports. Byar La, a […]Continue Reading

War crimes by Myanmar’s military ‘more frequent and brazen’, UN probe finds

August 9, 2023

War crimes committed by Myanmar’s military, including the bombing of civilians, have become “increasingly frequent and brazen”, a team of United Nations investigators said in a report published on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The report by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), which covered the period between July 2022 and June 2023, Continue Reading