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Undated: The
2017 Rohingya persecution in Myanmar began on 25 August of that year when
the Myanmar military forces and local
Buddhist extremists started attacking the
Rohingya people and committing atrocities against them in the country's
north-west Rakhine state. The atrocities included attacks on Rohingya people and
locations, looting and burning down Rohingya villages, mass killing of Rohingya
civilians, gang rapes, and other sexual violence.
Using statistical extrapolations (based on six pooled surveys conducted with a
total of 2,434 Rohingya refugee households in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh,) Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) estimated in December 2017 that during the persecution,
the military and the local Buddhists killed at least 10,000 Rohingya people.[2][3]
At least 392 Rohingya villages in Rakhine state were reported as burned down and
destroyed,[1]
as well as the looting of many Rohingya houses,[4]
and widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the
Rohingya Muslim women and girls.[5][6][7]
The military drive also displaced a large number of Rohingya people and made
them refugees. According to the United Nations reports, as of September 2018,
over 700,000 Rohingya people had fled or had been driven out of Rakhine state
who then took shelter in the neighboring
Bangladesh
as refugees. In December 2017, two Reuters journalists who had been covering the
Inn Din massacre event were arrested and imprisoned. Foreign Secretary Myint
Thu told reporters Myanmar is prepared to accept 2,000 Rohingya refugees from
camps in Bangladesh in November 2018.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Rohingya_persecution_in_Myanmar
August 25: At least 71 people, including 12
members of the security forces, have been killed in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine
state after
Rohingya militants attacked border police, ushering in the bloodiest day of
fighting since conflict broke out last year.
The fighting exploded around Rathedaung township, where there has been a buildup
of
Myanmar troops over recent weeks after reports of murders by shadowy groups
and an exodus of refugees across the border to Bangladesh.
About 20 police postsacross the north of the state came under
attack in the early hours of Friday by hundreds of insurgents, some carrying
guns and using homemade explosives, Myanmar’s military said.
“People are hiding, especially old people and women,” Hla Tun, a Rohingya man
from a village close to the fighting, told the Guardian.
September 7:Trump urged to speak up
over potential Myanmar genocide ... Top
senators and activists say quiet response to massacres, refugees shows U.S.
drift from human rights focus in nation Obama cultivated.
The Trump administration is under growing pressure from Congress
and human rights activists to condemn Myanmar’s government for what some call a
potential genocide by its security forces.
Amid reports of massacres and the flight ofmorethan 150,000
minority MuslimRohingya civilians from the country, neither the White
House nor the State Department have issued recent statements on the growing
crisis in a long-isolated country with which formerPresident Barack
Obama worked hard to restore relations.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/07/myanmar-rohingya-refugees-trump-response-242442
September 8:The current United States
administration has not yet extrapolated its position vis a vis Rohingya
crisis and turmoil of Rakhine state of Myanmar. However ,
the human rights groups and libero-utopian bloc have been gunning for Myanmar’s
blood ever since the crisis broke out since 2012 . They have held the Myanmarese
government responsible for the bloodshed and exodus of Rohingya’s . A collective
and considerate view of both sides has not been taken yet . No doubt , the
Rohingyan crisis is heartening , but it is equally important to note , which
sections are rendering their support to these Rohingya’s . These are the
terrorist networks of Pakistan , which is alarming and denigrating . A
good number of that population 40,000 have taken refuge in India .
It has become a challenge for us to get the crisis resolved at the earliest .
https://www.quora.com/What-is-Donald-Trumps-view-about-the-Rohingya-issue
September 19: Myanmar: What sparked latest
violence in Rakhine?
Myanmar's military says it is fighting insurgents but those who have fled say
troops and Rakhine Buddhists are conducting a brutal campaign to drive them out.
The Rohingya - a stateless mostly Muslim minority group - have faced years of
persecution in Myanmar. Deep-seated tensions between them and the majority
Buddhist population in Rakhine have led to deadly communal violence in the past.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41082689
September 19: when someone asked the Prime
Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina if she'd asked her U.S. counterpart for
assistance in dealing with the massive influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar,
she simply said she didn't bother.
September 20: The United States will
contribute nearly $32 million in humanitarian aid to help Rohingya Muslim
refugees, the State Department said Wednesday, in the Trump administration’s
first major response to the mass exodus from Myanmar.
The new money for food, medical care, water, sanitation and shelter comes as the
U.S. joins a growing chorus of international condemnation over the minority
group’s plight. In less than a month, some 421,000 Rohingya have fled to
Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, as the United Nations and
others raise allegations of ethnic cleansing.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-give-32-million-myanmars-rohingya-refugees
September 20: The United States is
increasing its aid to the United Nations and other international groups that are
working with Myanmar's Rohingya minority, who are being killed and persecuted in
the country by government forces.
At least 400,000 Rohingya have fled their homes in Myanmar to neighboring
Bangladesh in what the UN has called a "textbook case of ethnic cleansing."
The additional $32 million in aid from the U.S. comes amid criticism that the
Trump administration has not done enough to condemn the Myanmar government for
brutally attacking the Rohingya.
September 21: The recent meeting between
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and United States President Donald Trump
has played a part in garnering the support of world leaders for the Rohingya
cause.
Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at Universiti
Malaysia Sabah Dr Lai Ye Meng said one of the agenda discussed between the two
leaders was on international securities including efforts to combat terrorism.
September 29: The prejudice and hostility
that Rohingya Muslims face in Myanmar stretch beyond the country’s notoriously
brutal security forces to a general population receptive to an often-virulent
form of Buddhist nationalism that has seen a resurgence since the end of
military rule.
Many of Myanmar’s Buddhists have objected to the way the media and international
community have portrayed the crisis in Rakhine state, which has caused a half
million Rohingya to flee the country in the past month. Rather than recognize
what the U.N. calls ethnic cleansing, they see a threat to national sovereignty
and the future of Myanmar as a Buddhist-majority nation.
October 24:
U.S. officials are preparing a recommendation for Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson to declare that "ethnic cleansing" is occurring against
Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims. That assessment would raise pressure on the
Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers to consider new sanctions
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-review-to-confirm-rohingya-ethnic-cleansing/
October 25: Washington announced it will end
military aid to some Myanmar units involved in the forced displacement of the
Rohingya minority, but experts say the move will have limited impact - and could
even backfire on U.S. efforts to end the crackdown, which has driven more than
600,000 people from their homes.
October 30: Like Trump, These Southeast
Asian Countries Are Using 'Fake News' To Devastating Effect ... In the midst of
political turmoil, heads of state in Southeast Asia have borrowed the language
of the most prominent and outspoken national leader, U.S. President Donald
Trump. Fake news has become a convenient cover up for attacks on human rights,
democracy and criticism of the government.
November 3: U.S. lawmakers have proposed
sanctions against Myanmar’s military over the treatment of the Rohingya ethnic
group, as U.S. President Donald Trump leaves for a 12-day tour of east Asia in
which he will meet with members of Myanmar's government at a regional summit.
The bipartisan legislation was introduced Thursday in the Senate, and Friday in
the House of Representatives, both calling for renewal of trade and import
restrictions on Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. The restrictions are
meant as punishment for the military’s treatment of the Muslim Rohingya people
in northern Myanmar's Rakhine state.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-lawmakers-propose-sanctions-on-myanmar-over-rohingya-crisis/4099271.html
November 8: President Trump Must Prioritize
Rohingya Crisis In Southeast Asia Visit ... President Should Reaffirm Calls by
Cabinet Members for Strong Action
Eric Schwartz, President of Refugees International, said, “President Trump’s
Cabinet Members, including U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley,
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Vice President Mike Pence have each made
clear the United States should not stand by while massive abuses are taking
place in Myanmar – the President should of course be saying exactly the same
thing, and follow up his words with action.”
https://www.refugeesinternational.org/advocacy-letters-1/2017/11/asia
November 22: On November 15, U.S. Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson visited Myanmar, the first core representative of the
administration of President Donald Trump to do so. He used the visit to mostly
address the still-unfolding political and humanitarian crisis concerning
Rohingya Muslims based in Northern Rakhine. While in the country, he met with
the two leaders who matter the most: the commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw
(Myanmar’s military), Senior General Hlaing Ming, and head of the civilian
government, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
November 22:Female Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Are Suffering the Consequences of Trump’s Decision to Defund a Key UN Agency ... An estimated 87,000 refugees are pregnant or
nursing women with specific needs above and beyond the basic care often provided
in the camps.
Providing [urgent female health] needs falls largely on
the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Since the most recent surge of refugee
arrivals started in August, UNFPA has successfully provided services to 10,000
gender based violence survivors and handed out 6,000 “dignity
kits” to adolescent and adult women. They are also training local women to
help as midwives and social support networks. However, for every woman reached,
there are far more who still remain without the basic services they need.
December 5: On Friday, President Trump
decided that the United States would boycott this week’s United Nations
conference on migration in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. That meeting is intended to
advance a global compact for migration, a set of principles to ensure more
humane treatment for the world’s swelling population of migrants and refugees.
But the Trump administration saw something more nefarious afoot: a U.N. power
grab to usurp control over U.S. borders.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/trumps-withdrawal-migration-summit-shows-his-nationalist-colors
December 26: 2017: Myanmar's Rohingya
crackdown, Trump's 'travel ban' ... Myanmar’s all-powerful army launches an
offensive in the state of Rakhine in August. It comes in response to an attack
by insurgents from the Rohingya Muslim minority.
January 17: 'Alarmingly premature' return of
Rohingya refugees to Myanmar worries aid groups ... Rohingya refugees in
Bangladesh are
set to start returning to Myanmar next week, but the UN and human rights
groups have worries about the repatriation plan.
Some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority fled Myanmar's
northern Rakhine State after anti-government violence broke out last summer, and
the military and affiliated militias responded with shootings, beatings
and arsons in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
January 25: A veteran US diplomat has
resigned from an international panel set up by
Myanmar to
advise on the
Rohingya crisis, saying it was conducting a "whitewash".
Bill Richardson, a former member of Bill Clinton administration, accused
Myanmar's de facto leader
Aung San Suu Kyi of lacking "moral leadership".
July 31:
Trump officials split over punishing Myanmar for atrocitiesNearly a year
after Myanmar’s military launched a bloody crackdown on minority Rohingya
Muslims, Trump administration policy toward the nation is paralyzed by an
internal battle over how to punish those responsible for what some observers
call a genocide.
August 17: Trump administration sanctions
Myanmar military over treatment of Rohingya Muslims
The sanctions, against four commanders and two military units, prohibit US
citizens and companies from engaging with them due to their ‘horrific behaviour’
September 26: Bipartisan lawmakers urge
Trump admin to label Rohingya crisis ‘genocide’
“Instead, the State Department is using language that lets perpetrators off the
hook.”
Based on interviews with more than 1,000 of those refugees, State Department
investigators found that “a vast majority” of them “experienced or directly
witnessed extreme violence,” including rampant killings and systemic rapes. The
Burmese military was behind the attacks “in most cases,” the report found, and
they “targeted civilians indiscriminately and often with extreme brutality.”
The report
was released with little fanfare — there was no press release announcing the
findings — and there is no mention of genocide, nor any reference to Aung San
Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate and Burma’s civilian leader who has come under
fire for turning a blind eye to the atrocities.
