China says more than 20,000 from Burma seek refuge across border
More than 20,000 people from northern Shan State have flooded into border camps in neighboring China, seeking refuge from bitter fighting between ethnic groups and security forces, China said on Thursday. Thousands of people have crossed China’s border in recent...
Questions Raised Over Land Ownership and Development in Ngapali Mangroves
Arakan State parliamentarian U Naing Kyway Aye told The Irrawaddy that the Rangoon-based owner of a local Thandwe hotel purchased land with the intent to develop it without permission from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. The National League for Democracy regional...
Ministry to open workplace nursery schools Nationwide
Burma’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement is taking steps to open workplace nursery schools across the country for the convenience of working parents. Minister Dr. Win Myat Aye announced the initiative to the press on Tuesday. “If we don’t have a...
Kokang Rebels Reportedly Attack Laukkai Hotel
Five police and five civilians were killed in an attack by members of the ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Laukkai—the administrative capital of the ethnic Kokang region of Shan State—according to a report issued from Burma’s State...
Bangladesh Calls for Efforts to Curb Influx of Refugees
Bangladesh’s foreign minister called on the international community on Monday to address Burma’s treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority, tens of thousands of whom have fled in recent months to Bangladesh. Speaking at a meeting with Yanghee Lee, the UN Special...
Shwedagon Pagoda as an addition to a UNESCO
RANGOON — Shwedagon Pagoda will be discussed as an addition to a UNESCO tentative list that will inform future World Heritage nominations, according to a UNESCO Rangoon announcement on Friday. Meetings between UNESCO and the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture...
In Rangoon, the Popular Movement for Peace
RANGOON — Civil society organizations, activists, students and tourists joined a demonstration on Saturday to demand an end to the fighting between the Burma Army and ethnic armed groups in the north and northeastern areas of the country. In Rangoon, the Popular...
MAUNGDAW, A solution to ethnic violence remains elusive
MAUNGDAW, Arakan State. One of the consequences of the Oct. 9 border outpost attacks in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township has been renewed distrust between self-identifying Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists, despite attempts to rebuild relations after deadly...
Quick Meals, Lasting Effects
“I feel like I consume poison every day. I drink cheap liquor. I eat food that contains dye. It is colorful, quick, easy and cheap,” said Kyi Lin, 59, who was diagnosed with liver disease. Kyi Lin is skinny and jaundiced. He often feels tired and dizzy. A friend of...
Open Access to Arakan
Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma has called for “complete access” to areas undergoing conflict in northern Arakan State. Referring to the growing reports of human rights violations in the area by members of the security forces on Muslim...