You are a hope-bringer in forgotten conflicts
24 March 2017
Burma
- The United Nations human rights council is to investigate alleged human rights abuses by Myanmar’s army against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Some 70,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar into Bangladesh in the last six months, and the UN has gathered accounts of gang rapes and mass killings. A Burmese official said the move was “not acceptable” Burma was carrying out its own investigation. China and India did not back the decision
- Hardline Buddhists protested earlier this week over giving citizenship to Rohingya Muslims, a step that was recommended by the Rakhine Advisory Commission, led by Kofi Annan
- Kyi Lin, the alleged gunman, and other suspects Aung Win Zaw, Zayar Phyo and the recently arrested Aung Win Tun connected to the assassination of U Ko Ni will face questioning by tribunal judges while observed by reporters
- Bangladesh looks to push ahead with plans to send Rohingya refugees to uninhabited island, Thengar Char. The relocation plan is rumoured to be mainly influenced by the motive of stopping local integration of the refugees, which is already underway, through marriage, education and employment. And constitute a forced relocation
- Nearly a decade in the making, a project to pump oil 480 miles across Myanmar to southwest China is set for imminent start-up, with a supertanker nearing the port of Kyauk Phyu, marking the opening of a new oil trading route. Dogged by sensitive relations between Naypyitaw and Beijing, the $1.5 billion oil pipeline has been sitting empty for two years, but the two sides are now close to a deal
- Burma’s government praised China on Wednesday for suspending a Chinese bank account used by ethnic rebels fighting Burmese troops, in a move to prevent potential damage to diplomatic ties. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) has raised more than $500,000, deposited directly in an AgBank account
- Thailand is set to ask 70,000 burnmese refugees to return home, insisiting this will be on a voluntary basis only
- Moving up to 145th place out of 188 surveyed countries, Myanmar has become the last member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to rise out of the lowest HDI category, based on slight rises in life expectancy, educational attainment and per capita income
Nigeria
- Police demolish the homes of more than 4,700 people in Lagos’ Otodo-Gbame, Nigeria’s largest informal fishing settlement, using tear gas to make way for demolitions
- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the nation’s security forces to put an end to violence between Fulani herders and settled farmers, following local reports of between 30 and 50 people killed earlier this week in the Benue region
- The UN has expressed concern over the forced return of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon in spite of recent tripartite agreement aimed at ensuring voluntary returns of nationals. The forced return of asylum-seekers and refugees is a “serious violation” of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1969 OAU Convention, which he said, Cameroon had ratified
South Sudan
- South Sudanese rebels said on Monday that they had kidnapped four oil workers working for DAR Petroleum Operating Company from Upper Nile State , in a bid to force their Chinese and Malaysian consortium to leave the country
- An additional Regional Protection Force (RPF) will be deployed in the next few weeks to South Sudan, said the outgoing head of U.N. peacekeeping operations Hervé Ladsous on Tuesday – the deployment will consist of an additional 4000 peacekeepers
- The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has accused South Sudan government of showing little concern about the estimated 100,000 people suffering from famine. Guterres, while addressing the Security Council, said President Salva Kiir’s leadership has failed to acknowledge the crisis in the war-torn nation and thus showed no willingness to end the ongoing crisis
Timor Leste
- The European Union Election Observation Mission (EOM) headed by Chief Observer Mme Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Member of the European Parliament in its preliminary statement, concluded that the election was well-run and peaceful, commending the electoral authorities for delivering a well-administered and inclusive process
- A Timorese lawyer who helped draft Timor Leste’s constitution says the way this week’s presidential election ran demonstrates the country is growing as a nation. It was the first election conducted by the Timorese without any direct assistance from the international community
Uganda
- Spokesman for Uganda’s police force, Andrew Feliz Kaweesi, was fatally shot outside his home on Frida, in the latest of a string of assassinations which threaten stability in the capital
- Several schools are failing to fully implement the School Feeding and Child Nutrition programmes set out in the Education Act 2008, which looks to guarantee breakfast and lunch to learners to encourage school attendance
- 493 out of 506 central forest reserves in the country are under heavy encroachment, especially in the central region, south west and northern areas – since 1990, the country has lost 400,000 hectares of forest cover, a trend she says, needs a combined effort of all Ugandans, if the problem of deforestation is to be averted
- President Museveni has dismissed calls to discuss his successor or even the age limit in the constitution, saying it’s a small matter whose time will come. Museveni has said Ugandans should focus on eliminating poverty rather than debating who leads
- The Government of Uganda and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi today jointly appealed to the international community for urgent and massive support for the thousands of South Sudan refugees who continue to arrive to Uganda every day, fleeing brutal conflict, compounded by the limited availability of food. Uganda currently hosts more than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees. Among them are some 572,000 new arrivals who have poured into Uganda in desperate need of safety and help since 8 July 2016