Help our local partners realise their vision of hope for their communities
10 March 2017
Burma
- 53 MPs have signed Early Day Motion (a Parliamentary petition) calling on the British government to support a UN Commission of Inquiry into the situation in Rakhine State, Burma
- 30 people died in clashes between ethnic groups and Burmese forces along the border with China on Monday, dealing a blow to leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s goal of reaching peace with minorities.
- Prisoners continue to conduct hard labour in shackles in a Mon State labour camp, despite calls for reform by lawmakers and investigations into prison abuses by a UN envoy and the International Labour Organisation
- The Dalai Lama has joined Pope Francis in calling for Myanmar Buddhists to end violence against Rohingya Muslims in what the United Nations says amounts to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity
- The largest refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border experienced many suicide attempts last year, mainly by the youth population
- Burmese military and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), exchanged fire on March 7 in Shan State
- Over 20,000 migrants looking to gain asylum in China
Nagorno-Karabakh
- The Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan said they have launched an investigation into a number of foreign companies operating in Nagorno-Karabakh over illegal economic activity.
Nigeria
- Elder statesman and Ayo Adebanjo, have predicted that Nigeria will disintegrate soon and warned that the Yoruba people would want to have the Oduduwa Republic once the nation splits
- The Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Government of Cameroon and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) have signed an agreement for the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon
- Amnesty International has called on the National Assembly and other stakeholders to ensure the speedy passage of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill
- In order to clear fleeing Boko Haram terrorists hibernating within remote and border areas, Nigerian and Cameroonian troops have carried out another joint operation to weed out Boko Haram terrorists along Nigeria and Cameroon border
South Sudan
- A senior South Sudanese military official says three soldiers suspected of mass rape have been arrested
- NY Times – A young nation cracking apart
- South Sudan rebuked over move to raise fees for aid workers. Aid groups said the move by the labour ministry to increase the cost of permits from $100 to up to $10,000 (£8,230) was ‘terrible timing’ in a country where 100,000 people are starving and a further 1 million are on the brink of starvation
Timor Leste
- Timor-Leste’s 2017 Elections are particularly important as Southeast Asia’s youngest country