BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s foreign ministry, in a rare statement on an ongoing crisis in neighboring Myanmar’s Rakhine state, said late on Saturday that it was “closely following the situation” and would provide aid to the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh.

FILE PHOTO: People displaced by violence walk in the banks of Mayu river with their belongings while moving to another village, in Buthidaung in the north of Rakhine state, Myanmar September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Violence erupted in Rakhine last month when Rohingya militants attacked security posts, triggering a crackdown by the Myanmar army.

More than half a million ethnic Rohingya - a mostly Muslim minority who are denied citizenship by Myanmar - have fled to Bangladesh since then.

Those who fled accuse Myanmar’s army, backed by Buddhist mobs, of a brutal killing campaign. The United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing a sweeping government offensive in the north of Rakhine State in response to those attacks.

“Thailand is closely following the situation in the Rakhine State with concern,” the ministry said.

“The Royal Thai Government has always placed great importance to providing care and protection to Myanmar displaced persons,” it added, pointing to some 100,000 refugees from Myanmar who live in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.

But many of those living in the camps are long-term residents who fled conflict decades ago. None are Rohingya, according to non-governmental organizations who work there.

The Thai foreign ministry said its statement was in response to views raised by some human rights groups regarding Thailand’s position on the unrest in Rakhine.

Amnesty International last week said Thailand must not “push back” Rohingya fleeing violence and that it should provide refugees formal legal status and protection.

Thailand does not recognize the status of any refugees or recognize the Rohingya as legitimate migrant workers.

Thailand said it supported a statement on the issue by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a grouping of 10 nations.

In the statement, ASEAN foreign ministers condemned the attacks on Myanmar’s security forces and “all acts of violence which resulted in loss of civilian lives”.

Malaysia, an ASEAN member, disassociated itself from the statement, saying it misrepresented issues relating to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya.

So far, “none of the affected victims from the August unrest in Rakhine State have been found in Thailand,” the Thai foreign ministry said.</s>Battered by global outrage over an army crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, Myanmar has found comfort in an old friend –- China, an Asian superpower whose unflinching support is tied to the billions it has lavished on ports, gas and oil in violence-hit Rakhine state.

Close to half a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in the last month after a militant attack sparked a vicious military campaign.

China has fallen out of step with much of the world in condemning the army-led crackdown.

"We think the international community should support the efforts of Myanmar in safeguarding the stability of its national development," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said earlier this month.

That support was far from unexpected from an ally who ploughed cash into Myanmar even as its economy choked under a half century of military rule and US sanctions.

Most of those sanctions were rolled back in 2014 as a reward for democratic elections.

But those freedoms meant little to Beijing anyway.

Between 1988 and 2014, China invested more than $15 billion in the junta-run country, according to its official Xinhua news agency, mostly in mining and energy. It also propped up the pariah military regime with weapons.

"They have a few major economic projects under way with the Myanmar government," said Sophie Boisseau du Rocher, Southeast Asia expert at the French Institute for International Relations.

That includes a planned $9 billion deep-sea port and economic zone in Kyaukpyu, south of the epicentre of the recent violence, by Beijing's massive CITIC investment group slated for 2038.

China has already pumped money into the restive state.

In April this year, a $2.45 billion pipeline from Rakhine to China's Yunnan province opened, securing a key route for Beijing to import crude from the Middle East.

That same month, Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose 'One Belt, One Road' strategy aims to hook in China's neighbours with huge trade and infrastructure projects, rolled out the red carpet for his Myanmar counterpart Htin Kyaw in Beijing.

Rakhine, a vast area of farmland, coast and off-shore gas reserves, has been roiled by communal violence for decades, pitting ethnic Rakhine Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims -- labelled illegal 'Bengali' immigrants by many in Myanmar.

Clashes erupted last October when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) carried out deadly attacks on unsuspecting border police.

The terrorists attacked again on August 25, prompting an army crackdown that has forced some 480,000 Rohingya to flee into Bangladesh in the past month.

Swathes of land have been abandoned with scores of Rohingya villages burnt to the ground allegedly by the Burmese army and Rakhine mobs.

"The land freed by the radical expulsion of the Rohingya might have become of interest to the military and its role in leading economic development around the country," said Saskia Sassen, sociology professor at Columbia University.

"Land has become valuable due to the China projects," she added.

The government said this week it would manage all fire-damaged land in Rakhine for "redevelopment" purposes, without elaborating.

It is not clear what that might mean for the masses of Rohingya who have been pushed into Bangladesh over the past month -- with questions looming about how or when they could return.

Despite its natural resources, Rakhine is one of Myanmar's poorest states -- some 78 percent of the population live below the poverty line, nearly double the national average.

Ethnic Rakhine, who remain deeply suspicious of the motives of Myanmar's Bamar majority, have seen scant benefits from increased investment in the area.

There is also discomfort among the public with Chinese influence across Myanmar.

"These massive Chinese projects in Rakhine state have deeply upset local populations who have not seen any positive fallout," said Alexandra De Mersan, Rakhine expert and researcher at the French School of Oriental Studies (Inalco).

An August report by a government-backed commission on Rakhine's troubles, led by former UN chief Kofi Annan, echoed alarm about who is really benefitting from investments in the area.

"Profit tends to be shared between Naypyidaw and foreign companies, and as a consequence, local communities often perceive the government as exploitative," the report read.

But Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said that development is a top priority for the region, even as rights groups have warned against investing in Rakhine.

"We have been continuing with our socio-economic development programmes in Rakhine," she said last week in her first national address since the latest crisis erupted.</s>On 28 September 2017,National Security Advisor to the Union Government of Myanmar by H.E. U Thaung Tun, addressed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)on the situation in Myanmar, the following is his statement in full.

I thank you for the opportunity to address the Security Council with regard to the turmoil that has recently be fallen Myanmar's Rakhine State and the ensuing humanitarian situation.

I have listened carefully to the statements made by the distinguished Secretary General and the representatives of the member states of the Council.

The common thread that runs through the commentaries is the allusion that "something is rotten in the state of Rakhine." Assertions in the media that a campaign of terror has been unleashed in Northern Rakhine and that unspeakable crimes have been committed against innocent people have only served to heighten the concern of the international community. While such assertions might appear reasonable at first glance to a lay observer, expert observers with knowledge of the history of Myanmar and exposure to the propaganda tactics of terrorists will see such comments for what they really are - malicious and unsubstantiated chatter.

Nevertheless, we understand the concern of the international community and take serious note of it.

I would like to take this opportunity to apprise you of the situation obtaining on the ground and of our efforts to end the violence, assist all innocent civilians affected by the turmoil and plans to find a lasting solution to the daunting challenges we face.

First, we recognize that there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

But we need to recognize that the recent violence was triggered by the attacks carried out by so-called ARSA terrorist group.

We are committed to a sustainable solution that will lead to peace, stability, development and the return of displaced communities to their homes.

The current situation precipitated by the attacks of the ARSA terrorists on 30 police outposts in the early hours of 25 August resulting in the death of 12 security officers, one immigration officer, one soldier and a number of innocent civilians. Security forces were obliged to defend themselves.

We feel deeply for the suffering and plight of all affected communities - Rakhine, Muslim, Daingnet, Mro, Thet, Maramagyi and Hindu. They are all victims of violence and terrorism.

Terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. It has no place in our civilized world. I am sure you will agree with me when I say that we cannot condone terrorism in any form and manifestation.

The government of Myanmar has strongly condemned the acts of terror committed by ARSA innorthern Rakhine. The highest Islamic organization in Myanmar, the "All Myanmar Islamic Religious Organization" as well as the "Interfaith Dialogue Group of Myanmar" have expressed their solidarity with the government and issued statements condemning the acts of terror committed by ARSA. They stressed that no religion can condone violence that result inthe loss of life and property. They expressed their support for the government's efforts to address the situation in Rakhine and its endeavours to promote national reconciliation and peace in the entire country.

The government will work to ensure that the fight against terrorism will not distract us from our commitment to bring peace, harmony and development to Rakhine State. It is striving to restore normalcy, there have been no armed clashes and clearance operations since September 5.

Second, I wish to stress that there is no ethnic cleansing and genocide in Myanmar.

Ethnic cleansing and genocide are serious charges and that they should not be used lightly. It would be a sad commentary of our times ifwe allowed emotions to cloud our view and assert that what is happening in Rakhine is ethnic cleansing without first undertaking a legal review and making a judicial determination. I can assure you that the leaders of Myanmar, who have been struggling solong forfreedom and humanrights, will never espouse policy ofgenocide orethnic cleansing and the government will doeverything toprevent it.

As clearly stated by the State Counsellor in her address to the diplomatic corps inNay PyiTaw on 19 September, we condemn all human rights violation and violence. We are committed to the restoration of peace, stability and rule of law throughout the state. Security forces have been instructed to adhere strictly to the Code of Conduct incarrying outsecurity operations, toexercise all due restraint, and to take full measures to avoid collateral damage and the harming ofinnocent civilians.

Myanmar is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. It is home to 135officially recognized ethnic groups, each with its own distinctive culture and adherence to a varietyof religions, including Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. Religious groups have been living in harmony throughout our history.

The situation that we face today is due to terrorism and is not based on religion.

It should benoted that Muslims are not aminority innorthern Rakhine. They constitute 95% of the total population. What is little known is that the vast majority of Muslims did not abandon their hearth and home. While there has been an exodus, more than 5 0% of the Muslim villages in northern Rakhine remain intact.

Representatives of the diplomatic corps inYangon, accompanied by the media, will visit northernRakhine on Monday. They will have the opportunityto witnessfirst-hand thesituation on the ground.

The SecretaryGeneral has also been invited to visit Myanmar.We hope to welcome him in the near future to enhance cooperationbetween Myanmar andthe United Nations.

Third, the government of Myanmar is fully aware of its primary responsibility to address the humanitarian situation.

We have been providing assistance to all displaced peoplewithout discrimination. We are collaboratingwith the Red Cross Movementand donor countries to provide assistance expeditiously in accordance with humanitarian principles. The ASEANCoordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) has agreed to work with us to deliver humanitarian assistance to the displaced inhabitants.

Fourth,we are concerned by reports that thousands of people have crossed into Bangladesh. We would like to fathom reasons for the exodus. We will talk to those who have fled as well as to those who have opted to remain in their villages.

Some hundreds of Muslim villagers left their homes and headed towards the border notwithstanding the efforts of the regional authorities to persuade them to return to their villages. The villagers voiced their concerns regardingthe availability of humanitarian assistance in a sustained manner as well as fears that they are becoming a minority in their own area.

It is learnt that the villagers have been threatened over the telephone and that they have been persuaded by their fellow men who are already in Bangladesh to join them. Moreover, the villagers remain fearful ofretaliation by the ARSA following the revelation that a large number of Hindu villagers have been massacred and buried in mass graves.

The authorities have reassured the villagers that they would be provided assistance and security. However, some chose to cross over to Bangladesh.

There has been a growing clamour for repatriation of refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Myanmar is prepared to start the verification process at any time. Our two neighbours have had the experience of such a process in 1993.

We are working to enhance relations with Bangladesh. I have met with the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh in New York and the Minister of the Office of the State Counsellor will visit Dhaka this weekend to further discuss matters of mutual concern. We have also invited the Minister of Home Affairs of Bangladesh. We will welcome him any time that he is able to come to Myanmar and hope to take forward our cooperation on border security matters.

Our stated willingness to discuss the issue of repatriation gives the lie to the assertion that there is a policy of ethnic cleansing on our part.

The new government in Myamnar inherited achallenging situation in RakhineState and has had to deal with the consequences of actions by other actors.

The current crisis is due to the acts of terror perpetrated by ARSA. To address the situation, the government launched a numberof initiatives including the Rakhine Advisory Commission chaired byDr.Kofi Annan. The recommendation of the Kofi Annan Commission represents a viable roadmap toforge forward. An implementation committee for the recommendations has already been formed and work has begun.

At this criticaljuncture in the life of our young democracy, it is imperative that the international community join hands with us to ensure that democracy takes firm root and that we will succeed in carrying out our responsibility to establish peace, stability, and development inRakhine and in the whole of Myanmar.”</s>Myanmar has reopened schools for ethnic Rakhine children in townships hit hard by recent communal violence declaring "stability" has returned, state-backed media said on Sunday, but thousands of Rohingya Muslims remain on the move from the same areas.

Rakhine state has been torn apart after unrest erupted in late August when raids by Rohingya militants sparked a massive army crackdown which the UN says is tantamount to "ethnic cleansing".

Half of Rakhine's roughly one million Rohingya Muslim population has fled to Bangladesh since then, creating the world's largest refugee crisis, alleging their villages were incinerated by the army and Rakhine mobs.

Violence has also displaced nearly 30,000 ethnic Rakhine, who are Buddhists, and Hindus inside the state.

Education officials said schools had reopened in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships "as stability returns" in the epicenter of the violence, according to a report by the Global New Light of Myanmar on Sunday.

"Schools in ethnic villages were safe and secure", it said in an apparent reference to areas populated by the Buddhist Rakhine who are recognised as one of Myanmar's official ethnic minorities.

"But we need to think about schools in Bengali villages" amid ongoing security fears, Rakhine education authorities were quoted as saying.

The Rohingya are not recognised as an ethnic group and are instead labeled by the state as "Bengalis", stripping them of legal status in Myanmar.

More than 2,000 Rohingya -- many from Buthidaung -- have massed on the coast over the last week hoping to make the dangerous transit to Bangladesh as basic supplies dry up and they receive threats from their Rakhine neighbours.

The government has said officials have tried to talk them out of leaving, but they remain determined to make the perilous journey.

At least 60 people were feared dead, mainly children, after a boat capsized agonisingly close to the Bangladeshi shore Thursday carrying Rohingya from the Buthidaung area.

Access to violence-hit northern Rakhine is tightly controlled by Myanmar's army, preventing independent reporting by global media and assessment by aid agencies.

On Monday UN representatives are set to join relief agencies and diplomats on a government-steered trip to Rakhine -- their first to the conflict-battered area.

Ethnic Rakhine, as well as many among the broader public in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, accuse the UN and NGOs of bias towards the Rohingya, a reviled group seen as a threat to the national religion.

Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing is underway in Rakhine and instead blames Rohingya militants for the violence.</s>Minister of the Office of State Counselor of Myanmar Kyaw Tint Swe arrives in the capital tonight to discuss the Rohingya issue with Bangladesh authorities.

State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is sending the minister as her representative to Dhaka for discussing the Rohingya issue with Bangladesh government amid growing international pressure on Myanmar following exodus of over five lakhs of its nationals in Bangladesh.

During his visit, the Myanmar minister will hold meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali tomorrow.

The Myanmar minister will not visit Cox’s Bazar to see the plight of Rohingya people, who were forcibly displaced by Myanmar government, although Dhaka earlier made a request to Naypyidaw in this regard.

Over half a million Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh since Aug 25 when the military crackdown began in the northern Rakhine State over alleged terrorist attacks on security outposts.

International pressure has been mounted on Myanmar for violence against Rohingya people in Rakhine state where another 250,000 faced the risk of displacement.</s>UNITED NATIONS/YANGON (Reuters) – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Thursday called on countries to suspend providing weapons to Myanmar over violence against Rohingya Muslims until the military puts sufficient accountability measures in place.

It was the first time the United States called for punishment of military leaders behind the repression, but stopped short of threatening to reimpose U.S. sanctions which were suspended under the Obama administration.

“We cannot be afraid to call the actions of the Burmese authorities what they appear to be – a brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority,” Haley told the U.N. Security Council, the first time Washington has echoed the U.N.’s accusation that the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in Rakhine State was ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar rejects the accusations and has denounced rights abuses.

“The Burmese military must respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Those who have been accused of committing abuses should be removed from command responsibilities immediately and prosecuted for wrongdoing,” Haley said.

“And any country that is currently providing weapons to the Burmese military should suspend these activities until sufficient accountability measures are in place,” Haley said.

Myanmar national security adviser Thaung Tun said at the United Nations on Thursday there was no ethnic cleansing or genocide happening in Myanmar. He told the Security Council that Myanmar had invited U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit. A U.N. official said Guterres would consider visiting Myanmar under the right conditions.

China and Russia both expressed support for the Myanmar government. Myanmar said earlier this month it was negotiating with China and Russia, which have veto powers in the Security Council, to protect it from any possible action by the council.

The Trump administration has mostly hewed to former President Barack Obama’s approach of forging warmer relations with Myanmar, partly aimed at countering China’s influence in the resource-rich Southeast Asian country.

Meanwhile, international aid groups in Myanmar have urged the government to allow free access to Rakhine, where an army offensive has sent more than 500,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh, but hundreds of thousands remain cut off from food, shelter and medical care.

Refugees are still leaving Myanmar, more than a month after Rohingya Muslim insurgents attacked security posts near the border, triggering fierce Myanmar military retaliation.

Aid groups said on Thursday the total number of refugees in Bangladesh was now 502,000.

The Myanmar government has stopped international aid groups and U.N. agencies from carrying out most of their work in the north of Rakhine state, citing insecurity since the Aug. 25 insurgent attacks.

Aid groups said in a joint statement they were: “increasingly concerned about severe restrictions on humanitarian access and impediments to the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance throughout Rakhine State.”

“We urge the government and authorities of Myanmar to ensure that all people in need in Rakhine State have full, free and unimpeded access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.”

The government has put the Myanmar Red Cross in charge of aid to the state, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross. But the groups said they feared insufficient aid was getting through.

Relations between the government and aid agencies had been difficult for months, with some officials accusing the groups of helping the insurgents.

Aid groups dismissed the accusations, which they said had inflamed anger toward them among Buddhists in the communally divided state, and called for an end to “misinformation and unfounded accusations”.

Rights groups have accused the army of trying to push Rohingya Muslims out of Myanmar, and of committing crimes against humanity. They have called for sanctions, in particular an arms embargo.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that the violence against Rohingya Muslims in the northern part of Rakhine could spread to central Rakhine, where 250,000 more people were at risk of displacement.

Guterres told the U.N. Security Council during its first public meeting on Myanmar in eight years, that the violence had spiraled into the “world’s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare.”

A group of Republican and Democratic senators urged the Trump administration on Thursday to use the “full weight” of its influence to help resolve the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

A letter seen by Reuters and signed by four Republican and 17 Democratic members of the 100-seat Senate also calls on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green to provide more humanitarian aid.

The British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field, described the situation as “an unacceptable tragedy” after visiting Myanmar and meeting leaders including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has faced scathing criticism and calls for her Nobel prize to be withdrawn.

Police in Bangladesh said they recovered the bodies of 14 refugees, including nine children, who drowned when their boat capsized off the coast in bad weather. A Reuters photographer said he saw several babies among the victims.

The U.N. International Organization for Migration later put the toll at 15.

Police officer Afrajul Hoque Tutu said three boats had capsized in heavy seas.

Myanmar was getting ready to “verify” refugees who want to return, the government minister charged with putting into effect recommendations to solve problems in Rakhine said.

Myanmar would conduct a “national verification process” at two points on its border with Bangladesh under terms agreed during a repatriation effort in 1993, state media quoted Win Myat Aye, the minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement, as saying.

Myanmar authorities do not recognize Rohingya as an indigenous ethnic group, instead regarding them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

“The government hates us,” said refugee Zafar Alam, 55, sheltering from rain near a refugee settlement in Bangladesh, referring to the Myanmar government.

“I don’t think I’d be safe there. There’s no justice.”</s>The September 28th Security Council 8060th Session on the crisis in Myanmar – following the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) terrorist attacks on the 25th of August – highlighted once again two opposing trends in current international relations.

After several speeches by the US, UK and French UN ambassadors blaming the Burmese government for massacres carried out by ARSA terrorists, the Chinese and Russian ambassadors praised Naypyidaw for its handling of the security crisis in the country.

“China condemns the recent violent attacks in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and supports Myanmar’s effort to keep its domestic situation stable. We sincerely hope order will prevail again as soon as possible. So no more harm will come to innocent civilians and social stability, unity among ethnic groups and economic development in Myanmar will be sustained. The question of Rakhine state is rooted in a nexus of complex historical, ethnic and religious factors.”

The nexus of complex factors outlined by the Chinese deputy ambassador have been reduced by the Western corporate press to meaningless and mendacious soundbites accusing the Burmese state of committing ‘genocide’ against its Muslim minority, when in fact the opposite is closer to reality, namely that terrorist groups living among the Muslim majority of northern Rakhine State have been ethnically cleansing the Buddhist, Hindu and other religious and ethnic minorities. Muslims who refuse to collaborate have also been murdered.

Wu praised the efforts of the Burmese government in dealing with the humanitarian crisis caused by the Western-backed ARSA terrorists:

“China has taken note of a series of measures taken by the government of Myanmar to ease the situation in Rakhine State and keep it stable. This is conclusive to the search for a long-term solution to this issue.”

In a clear reference to what Myanmar’s State Councilor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has called an ‘iceberg of misinformation‘, Wu politely criticised the aggressive media war waged by the international community (the US and its vassal-states) against Myanmar:

“It behoves the international community to view the difficulties and challenges confronting the government of Myanmar through objective optics, exercise patience and provide support and help.”

Since the communal violence of 2012, a low intensity war has been waged by Islamist terrorists against the government of Myanmar. The terrorists have received funding and training from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and have links to British,French and US intelligence agencies and NGOS. The strategic objective of the US-backed destabilisation is to carve out a Muslim enclave in north Rakhine State, breaking up the Union of Myanmar.

The Myth of the Rohingya

Since 2012 the term ‘rohingya’ has become known to an international audience. The historical records of Burma prove that no such ethnicity ever existed. Rohingya is a Bengali term for someone who lives in Rakhine State. Through various well-funded lobbying groups such as the Arakan Rohingya Union, the Rohingya Council of Europe, Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, and many more, there has been increasing media focus on the so-called ‘plight of the rohingyas’, that is to say the Bengali community in northern Rakhine State.

Although Islam has been present in Arakan for at least 500 years and possibly far longer, at least 500,000 of the residents in northern Rakhine State are Bengali refugees or their descendants from the 1971 Bangladesh independence war.

Others are descendants of Chittagonian laborers brought in by the British colonial regime in the mid 19th century, while many more are newly arrived illegal immigrants who regularly cross the badly-secured border with Bangladesh. In his paper ‘Geopolitics of the Powers and the Bengali Problems in Burma’, historian Khin Maung Saw writes:

‘In 1975 the Bangladeshi ambassador in Burma, K.N. Kaiser, admitted to the then British ambassador to Burma, Mr. T.J. O’Brien that there were still around five hundred thousand illegal Bangladeshi immigrants inside Burma. That report can be seen in British Archives in London.’

Myanmar has developed a verification process which will determine who can qualify for citizenship according to the country’s laws, but many Muslim leaders in the Rakhine Bengali community are refusing to cooperate with the authorities. There are some analysts who seek to play down the role of Jihadist terrorism in Rakhine State. They admit that the US is attempting to balkanise the country but seek to divert attention from the horrendous crimes committed by the ARSA and other groups by claiming the Myanmar government is also a puppet of the US and that it is in fact persecuting the ‘rohingya’. They also argue that the Rohingya are indeed a separate ethnicity, ignoring all the academic and diplomatic literature which proves the falsity of such claims.

Such analysts oversimplify to the point of absurdity and obfuscate the real forces at play in what is beginning to look like an Asian Yugoslavia scenario. Many of the agencies financed by the US National Endowment for Democracy such as the Karen Women’s Organisation, have come out in opposition to Aung San Suu Kyi. To therefore suggest that US agencies are supporting Aung San Suu Kyi is patently false. Aung San Suu Kyi has criticised the US government for using the term rohingya; yet US-funded media and NGOS in the country continue to defy the State Councillor’s requests.

Bangladesh’s population explosion has also led to global human trafficking networks who often operate through UN agencies, smuggling migrants to Europe as ‘refugees fleeing genocide’. Videos have appeared on the internet of Bengali activists training other Bengalis how to pretend they are rohingya in order to get refugee status in Europe; it has become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Many of the people in the Bangladeshi camps are women and children who are waiting for their husbands to supply them with money once they reach Europe. The money for refugees in Germany is coming from the German tax payer as the German government funds some of the logistics companies involved in the mass migration such as ORS Systems Europe.

A health worker from north Rakhine State explained the refugee racket to this author on the phone:

“I just called called my friend from Buthidaung and asked him why people were fleeing to Bangladesh. He said the people from Bangladesh told the Muslims who are staying in Myanmar to come to Bangladesh because they will get opportunities and benefits from the UN. So the Muslims are fleeing to Bangladesh every day! They are selling their properties and fleeing to Bangladesh! Most of them are poor because they have many wives and a lot of children and are not able to feed their families! So they want to increase the Muslim population and take over the land. They planned it and are intentionally doing it!”

The Burmese government is attempting to resolve the crisis according to the 1982 Citizenship Law and the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding with Bangladesh.

As part of the US ‘Pivot to Asia’ strategy, the Pentagon seeks to establish military bases all along the South East coast of Asia. Many parts of South Asia Asia’s coastlines are heavily populated with Muslims. US militarization of those regions would serve to contain China’s growing economic and military power.

China has become Myanmar’s chief economic partner. Myanmar is a key strategic interest for China’s One Belt One Road initiative. Chinese gas pipe-lines and the construction of the Deep Sea port of PyaukPyu in Rakhine State have had huge benefits for the local population, who now have 24 hour electricity supply for the first time. Chinese access to the Bay of Bengal is essential for the development of the country’s Western and inland provinces. The Rohingya crisis is part of US psychological war to break up the Union of Myanmar and hamper China’s growing economic and military power in Eurasia.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia began his speech by reminding the delegates that the cause of the violence was the ARSA terrorist attacks. He also pointed out that there were Muslims, Buddhist and Hindus fleeing the violence and not just Muslims as Western media outlets claim.

“In recent days we’ve received an illustration of the fact that ARSA were responsible for the massacre of civilians. What was also found were cashes of improvised explosive devices. There is information that the extremists forced members of the Hindu community in border villages to leave their homes and to migrate to neighbouring Bangladesh with the Muslims. Furthermore, there is information that terrorists burned entire villages and that evidence confiscated from the fighters.

Photographs were confiscated from the terrorists which were in all likelihood meant to be used as reports to the leadership of ARSA or its foreign sponsors. This information is confirmed by the earlier statement of Naypyidaw when they said that the initiators of the outbreak in Rakhine State had the objective of maximally increasing the scale of the humanitarian disaster and transfering the responsibility for it to the government.”

Russia called for negotiation between Myanmar and Bangladesh on the basis of the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries. Moscow also called on the Western powers to end their aggressive attitude toward the Burmese government.

“We call upon the parties involved and the outside players to show restraint and to be objective in the assessment of the events. We need to be very careful when we uses use terms as genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

Nebenzia finished his speech by exposing the lies of the Western delegates who claimed Naypyidaw was refusing to cooperate with the UN:

“We welcome the fact that Naypyidaw is not refusing an interaction with the UN. The National Security Advisor, who was at New York at a high-level meeting last week invited the Secretary General and his USG Mr Feltman to visit the country in order to help in the process of national reconciliation.”

Russia warned of the danger of Islamist terrorism spreading throughout South East Asia. According to Syrian journalist Afraa Dagher, the ‘Rohingya Free Army’ is being formed in Syria for redeployment to Myanmar.

The fools who have been ranting and raving about the ‘genocide of the rohingya’ have unwittingly prepared the terrain for the genocide of an entire nation which refuses to submit to the New World Order

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON MYANMAR GO TO: 21st Century Wire MYANMAR Files

SUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV</s>U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for "swift action" to halt the deteriorating situation in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State, where a half million mostly Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh in the past month.

"The situation has spiraled into the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency; a humanitarian and human rights nightmare," Guterres told an open meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

The council has privately discussed the situation three times in the past month, but Thursday’s session was the first time since 2009 that it has publicly discussed Myanmar.

Guterres called for an end to the military’s operations; unhindered aid access; and the safe and voluntary return of refugees to their areas of origin.

"There seems to be a deeply disturbing pattern to the violence and ensuing large movements of an ethnic group from their homes," Guterres said.

Guterres and his human rights commissioner have both expressed concerns that what is happening in Rakhine State is ethnic cleansing.

The secretary-general said the core problem is the prolonged statelessness of the Rohingya and its associated discrimination. "The Muslims of Rakhine State should be granted nationality," Guterres said.

The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in the Buddhist-majority nation. They are considered to be economic migrants from Bangladesh and have been denied citizenship, even though most can show that their families have been in the country for generations.

Violence erupted in Rakhine on Aug. 25, after attacks by Rohingya militants on state security forces led to military reprisals.

U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley said the military response has been "disproportionate and indiscriminate" and has dwarfed the original rebel attacks in the scope of its violence. She called for a suspension of arms sales to the military until sufficient accountability measures are in place.

The military has been accused of the widespread burning of Rohingya villages, rape, killings, looting and the laying of landmines to prevent people returning to their homes.

"We cannot be afraid to call the actions of the Burmese authorities what they appear to be: a brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority," Haley said, referring to Myanmar by its other name.

"And it should shame senior Burmese leaders who have sacrificed so much for an open, democratic Burma," she said in an apparent reference to the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for remaining silent on the situation until last week.

Haley said the United States has provided $95 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar and Bangladesh, but acknowledged it would not be enough for the growing emergency.

"As we speak, the situation on the ground is beginning to move toward stability," China’s Deputy U.N. envoy Wu Haitao declared.

Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia discouraged "excessive pressure" on Myanmar’s authorities, which he said could only aggravate the situation. "We need to be very careful when we wield such notions as genocide and ethnic cleansing," he added.

Most council members expressed their concern that the crisis could spill over into the region, causing broader instability and the potential radicalization of the disenfranchised. There was also broad consensus among members that the violence must stop, humanitarian agencies must be allowed in, and root causes of the conflict should be addressed.

"I wish to stress there is no ethnic cleansing and no genocide in Myanmar," he told council members. "Ethnic cleansing and genocide are serious charges and they should not be used lightly."

He said the country is fighting terrorists, adding that no armed clashes or clearance operations have taken place since Sept. 5.

"Despite claims otherwise, violence has not ceased in northern Rakhine State, neither has the exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh," that country's U.N. ambassador Masud Bin Momen said. "Only last night an additional 20,000 entered into Bangladesh," he noted.

The envoy said the situation is untenable and reiterated his prime minister's call for U.N. supervised safe zones inside Myanmar for the Rohingya.

Myanmar's National Security Adviser also noted that his government views the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission as a "viable road map" forward.

The Commission was chaired by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and had six local and three international experts. Members traveled extensively in Rakhine State during the past year and submitted their final report to the national authorities on Aug. 23.

The commission's recommendations include urging the government to provide full and unhindered humanitarian access; addressing the issue of citizenship, including reviewing the 1982 citizenship law; and guaranteeing freedom of movement for all people in Rakhine, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or citizenship status.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said that Kofi Annan has agreed to brief the council next month in an informal session.

Thursday’s Security Council session follows two high-level meetings on the sidelines of last week’s gathering of leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) met at the ministerial level to discuss the growing humanitarian crisis, and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson brought together his counterparts from several countries, including the United States. They called for an end to the military campaign.

The heads of U.N. agencies in Myanmar were due to visit Rahkine State on Thursday on a government-arranged trip, but it was postponed due to inclement weather conditions. The Myanmar National Security Adviser said the visit would go ahead on Monday. He also said the government has invited U.N. chief Guterres to visit the area.

Aid agencies have been unable to work in Rakhine since violence erupted last month, but they are working in Bangladesh, where the refugees are fleeing.

A boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsized there Thursday in the Bay of Bengal, killing at least nine children and five women.

The U.N. refugee agency said 27 women and children survived the accident, but it was not clear how many people were on the boat before it tipped over. The agency said there are unconfirmed reports that a second boat is missing.

The U.N. has appealed for $77 million to meet emergency needs of the refugees. It has received nearly half that amount, but will be calling for additional funds as the scale of the emergency has far surpassed initial projections.

On Oct. 9, the U.N. Refugee agency, the humanitarian affairs office and the International Organization for Migration will convene a donor's conference, the secretary-general said.

Myanmar has also reached out to the regional bloc ASEAN for humanitarian assistance.

Separately, a coalition of nearly 90 human rights groups called Thursday for the U.N. Security Council to consider measures including an arms embargo against Myanmar's military and targeted financial sanctions against individuals responsible for crimes and serious abuses.

"As more evidence emerges, it is clear that the atrocities committed by Myanmar state security forces amount to crimes against humanity," the coalition said. "The United Nations and its member states need to take urgent action," their statement read.

"If governments, U.N. officials and diplomats simply hold meetings and make speeches as atrocities continue in Myanmar, they bear the risk of failing to use every diplomatic tool at their disposal to stop the ethnic cleansing campaign and further crimes against humanity," the rights groups warned.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Bangladesh opens talks with neighbouring Myanmar on Monday with the aim of securing the return home of more than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, most of whom have arrived since late August.

DHAKA: Bangladesh opens talks with neighbouring Myanmar on Monday with the aim of securing the return home of more than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, most of whom have arrived since late August.

The United Nations has called the exodus of 507,000 Rohingya since Aug. 25 the world's fastest-developing refugee emergency, and says Buddhist-majority Myanmar is engaging in ethnic cleansing against its Rohingya Muslim minority.

Myanmar rejects that. Its forces launched an offensive in the north of Rakhine state in response to coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Aug 25.

Myanmar blames the insurgents for attacks on civilians and for setting most of the fires that have reduced more than half of more than 400 Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine to ashes. The insurgents deny that.

Myanmar says more than 500 people have been killed in the latest violence, most of them insurgents.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for an end to the violence and for safe zones to be set up in Myanmar to enable refugees to return.

She has also called for a U.N. fact-finding mission to go to Myanmar and for Myanmar to implement recommendations on solving problems in Rakhine drawn up by a team led by former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan.

Bangladesh will focus on those five proposals in talks in Dhaka on Monday with Myanmar government official Kyaw Tint Swe, in particular the sustainable return of the refugees, a Bangladeshi foreign ministry official said.

"We don't think this crisis is going to be resolved in just one meeting," said the Bangladeshi official who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to media on the record.

The crisis over Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya is the biggest problem national leader Aung San Suu Kyi has had to face since forming a government last year after winning a landmark election in late 2015.

Suu Kyi, in an address to the nation last month, said Myanmar was ready to start a verification process under a 1993 agreement with Bangladesh and "refugees from this country will be accepted without any problem".

There were already about 300,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh before the most recent exodus.

The Nobel peace laureate has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out strongly enough on behalf of the long-persecuted minority and of defending the army’s actions.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries, with communities marginalized and occasionally subjected to communal violence.

Suu Kyi has no power over security policy under a military-drafted constitution and the public in Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has surged over recent years, largely supports the offensive against the insurgents.

The United States, in its strongest criticism of Myanmar over the crisis, called last week on countries to suspend providing weapons to Myanmar's military. But it stopped short of threatening to reimpose U.S. sanctions, which were suspended under the Obama administration.

A protest against Western pressure and foreign media coverage of the crisis is planned in the biggest city of Yangon on Monday.

Myanmar has refused to grant access to the U.N. fact-finding mission but Suu Kyi appointed Annan last year to lead an advisory commission and propose solutions.

The commission presented its recommendations on Aug. 24, a day before the insurgent attacks sparked the latest crisis, among them a review of a law that links citizenship and ethnicity and leaves most Rohingya stateless.

The panel also recommended that the government hold perpetrators of serious human rights violations accountable, ensure the right to freedom of movement for all residents of Rakhine and investment in infrastructure such as roads electricity, water and internet access to lift the state out of poverty.

Suu Kyi, in her address to the nation last month, said she was committed to the recommendations.</s>SINGAPORE: The Singapore Government will donate approximately S$300,000 worth of humanitarian relief supplies to Bangladesh and Myanmar, said the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) on Friday (Sep 29).

The supplies will go towards the communities affected by the crisis in the Rakhine state, where almost half a million people have fled the violence in Myanmar.

"Singapore is concerned about the humanitarian situation," MINDEF said in the news release.

The Ministry also said that Singapore was ready to support efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to "utilise existing mechanisms to provide humanitarian assistance in accordance with the principles of the ASEAN Charter". 



Offers of assistance have been conveyed to both governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh, it added.
Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is "closely following the situation" in Rakhine State and offers aid for the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh.