Sittwe, Arakan State: Recent violence that has erupted between Arakanese and the Rohingya has been heating up resulting in thousands of people being made homeless and dozens dead, according to locals and officials.
Maungdaw, Arakan State: A Rohingya woman was killed by Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) in her home after she tried to stop them from arresting her son, accused of using a mobile phone with a Bangladesh SIM card, according to a relative.
Minbya, Arakan State: Burmese authorities have imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Minbya and Mrauk-U townships following a flare up of sectarian violence in Arakan State. According to local, who didn’t want their name used, hundreds of homes have been torched and many people were killed.
Maungdaw, Arakan State: Two siblings were arrested by Nasaka (Burma’s border security force), on October 22, over allegations that they were involved in a human trafficking ring, according to a relative.
A training course for the Chin National Army (CNA), held on the Indo-Burma border for the first time since they started fighting about twenty-five-years ago, has recently been completed.
Kachin State, Burma: Village headman U Naing Linn and Lagyawm Gun from Nam Sin In, have been missing after being abducted by government troops from LID No. 88 on Oct.19.
Removal of a wealthy Wa brigade commander in August had led to the suspension of the ambitious 4-lane highway project in Wa territory, according to sources from the Sino-Burmese border.
Karen community organizations, people and religious leaders in Burma have called for the Karen National Union (KNU) to resolve its internal conflict, unite and to continue its ongoing ‘peace-talks’ with the Burma’s government.
Flooding caused by the Thauk Ye Khat hydropower project in Toungoo Township, Bago has stopped local villagers trading. The dam project finished on 13 October and has since block the waterways in the Toungoo Township area.
The Peace Making Work Committee led by U Aung Min, a chief Minister of U Thein Sein’s presidential office and principal peace negotiator, expressed a pressing need for a meeting with the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), according to UNFC General Secretary Nai Hong Sar.
Mon scholars are contesting an assertion by the Burmese state-run newspaper “The Mirror” on October 12 that when the Pyu tribes were founding their city-states they lived in Danyawaddy and Thuwunnabumi (Tha-thon), claiming that it undermines the three main national causes.
Hundreds of Buddhist university students in Sittwe in Rakhine State rallied on Wednesday against Rohingya Muslims as communal tension was at a heightened pitch in western Burma, according to news service reports.
Reports from Rakhine State said violence continued in the strife-torn state this week. The death toll officially stood at up to two persons, but local unofficial reports said the figure could be much higher.
Rangoon, Burma: The Burmese Muslims Association (BMA) in Rangoon announced that the Muslims of Burma decided not to celebrate the Eid al-Adha this year, to protest the violence they claim has been perpetuated against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State.
Aid groups should start preparing for the voluntary repatriation of more than 100,000 Burmese refugees living along the Thai-Myanmar border, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday.
The program coordinator of the US Bureau of International Information, Dawn McCall, is meeting this week with senior Burmese officials in Naypyitaw and will participate in a book donation ceremony to the Parliamentary Library together with US Ambassador Derek Mitchell.
Over one-hundred people from Burma took part in a demonstration against the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) outside its head office in New York on Oct. 20. The demonstrators were protesting against the OIC’s plan to open offices in Burma.
Burma News International is an unique network of eleven independent media organizations: Mizzima News, Shan Herald Agency for News, Phop Htaw News Agency, Khonumthung News Group, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press Network, Independent Mon News Agency, Network Media Group, Kantarawaddy Times, Karen Information Center and Kachin News Group.
