Col. Aung Myint Oo of the National defense College. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy The Tatmadaw cannot be removed from the country’s politics, according to an official from the military’s National Defense College (NDC) at a panel discussion on civilian-military relations during the Forum on Myanmar’s Democratic Transition in Naypyitaw on Friday. “Considering the reality, it is impossible to remove the military from politics,” said Col Aung Myint Oo, head of internal and external relations at NDC. “For a government to be strong, it needs to solve security problems in its territory. For Myanmar to do so, it has to make use of the Tatmadaw as one of its institutions.” Civilian-military relations has been a hot topic following the arrest and prosecutionof three journalists by the military under the Unlawful Associations Act, and Yangon Region chief minister U Phyo Min’s statement in July that the military’s commander-in-chief was on the same level as a director-general according to state protocol in a democracy. Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution guarantees defense services participation in national political leadership roles. The military is assured 25 percent of parliamentary seats—enough to veto—and control of the home, defense, and border affairs ministries. At the forum, representatives from the civilian side of the government suggested putting the military under civilian control while military representatives encouraged cooperation. Shan State minister for planning and economy U Soe Nyunt Lwin told The Irrawaddy that many of the problems facing the country could be solved by putting the military under civilian control. He said the military was under civilian control in periods under British and Japanese rule, and following the 1947 Constitution. “If the military is willing to be under civilian control, many problems including land rights for farmers and internal peace could be solved,” said U Soe Nyunt Lwin. “In Indonesia, the military took the lead role in implementing transition. So is the case in Myanmar. But, in Indonesia, the military didn’t intervene in politics,” he told The Irrawaddy. Col Aung Myint Oo argued that defense forces are exploited for political motives. He questioned the theory that armed forces should be under civilian control, saying that it amounts to building mutual trust and cooperation. “Taking a look at the foreign policies of some countries, you can see that the armed forces are necessary,” said the colonel. He suggested the government should be able to solve the problems itself if it wants to remove the military from politics: “Unless it can do so, it will have to make use of the army,” said the colonel. Though the National League for Democracy (NLD) takes a restrained approach toward the Tatmadaw according to its policy on national reconciliation, the Tatmadaw stands on its own policy, and there is an imbalance in the national reconciliation process, said political analyst U Than Soe Naing. “According to the very essence of the 2008 Constitution, it is the Tatmadaw which will decide the fate of Myanmar’s politics. Myanmar will get peace only when they display magnanimity,” he told The Irrawaddy. Daw Khin Ma Ma Myo, a civil-military relations expert, said during the forum that Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) is not about the removal of the military from politics, but putting defense ministry policies under civilian guidance. “It is about the cooperation between military and political leaders with the civilian side taking the leading role. It is not about the civilian government commanding military strategies. The military strategies will be designed by military leaders with accountability and responsibility,” she said. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Irrawaddy

On August 13, hundreds of extremist Rakhines and monks protested across Arakan against aid agencies such as UNHCR and others accusing them of supporting terrorism, while thousands of Rakhine refugees and asylum seekers are known to be under UNHCR protection in Thailand, Malaysia or elsewhere. By the way, are those Rakhine refugees and asylum seekers terrorists too who were obliged to flee for their criminal activities or they are escapee from the fear of military persecutions? How did the armed authorities and so-called nationalist Rakhines design the game to defame Rohingya and make them more helpless? After a severe curfew has been imposed in the region since October 2016, movement is restricted, security is tightened and properties are destroyed or looted, Rohingyas are not free to do their agricultural or other rural survival activities. The neighboring Rakhine villages have boycotted Rohingyas. In many areas, their daily survival depends on the aids of those foreign NGOs. If these aids are cut off, there will be two options before these people – either to leave the country or to leave the word. On 20 May, some makeshifts of woodcutters and sawyers were found in the Mayu Mountain near Tinn May village who were, as usual, accused of terrorism and having terrorist trainings. Moreover, accompanied by those poor workers, some foods or others materials such as tarpaulins, polythenes, etc. were found which are allegedly distributed by NGOs. Firstly, the people were some daily workers. Secondly, if the United Nations support terrorism, are the only innocent the ANP leaders and military generals? The government and the ANP extremists thought that it would serve as the best pretext to get rid of those NGOs, the only foreigners available in the Restricted Zone, so that it can be more secure ‘silent killing field’. Few days later, we have come to see a protest instigated and funded by the military-backed USDP, their ally ANP and their puppet monks against those NGOs. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ © 2017 Rohingya Vision

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled persecution in Burma, with many ultimately taking refuge in Hindu-majority India Reuters All of an estimated 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in India are illegal immigrants, even those registered with the UN refugee agency, and the government aims to deport them, a senior government official has told Reuters. Junior interior minister Kiren Rijiju told parliament last week the central government had directed state authorities to identify and deport illegal immigrants including Rohingya, who face persecution in Buddhist-majority Burma. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued identity cards to about 16,500 Rohingya in India that it says help them “prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation”. But Mr Rijiju, a high-profile minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, said in an interview that the UNHCR registration was irrelevant. “They are doing it, we can’t stop them from registering. But we are not signatory to the accord on refugees,” he said. “As far as we are concerned they are all illegal immigrants. They have no basis to live here. Anybody who is an illegal migrant will be deported.” The UNHCR’s India office said on Monday the principle of non-refoulement€“ or not sending back refugees to a place where they face danger€“ was considered part of customary international law and binding on all states whether they have signed the Refugee Convention or not. The office said it had not received any official word about a plan to deport Rohingya refugees, and had not got any reports deportations were taking place. The treatment of the roughly one million Rohingya in Burma has emerged as its most contentious human rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of harsh military rule. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Burma and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries, with communities marginalised and occasionally subjected to communal violence. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled from Burma, with many taking refuge in Bangladesh, and some then crossing a porous border into Hindu-majority India. Many have also headed to South East Asia, often on rickety boats run by people-smuggling gangs. Rohingya are generally vilified in India and over the past few months, there has been a string of anti-Rohingya protests. Mr Rijiju declined to comment on the deportation process, even as some human rights activists question the practicality of rounding up and expelling thousands of people scattered across the country. “There’s a procedure, there is a rule of law,” Mr Rijiju said. “We can’t throw them out just like that. We can’t dump them in the Bay of Bengal.” India said last Friday it was in talks with Bangladesh and Burma about the deportation plan. But deportation is likely to be difficult, given Burma’s position that all Rohingya need to be scrutinised before they can be allowed back in as citizens. Burma officials were not immediately available for comment. A senior government official in Bangladesh, which has complained of being burdened by the heavy flow of refugees, has said India was helping it solve the crisis. More than 75,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since 9 October after an insurgent group attacked Burma border police posts, prompting a security crackdown in which troops have been accused of the murder and rape of Rohingya civilians. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Reuters

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Extremist Buddhists in Myanmar have prevented several Rohingya Muslims from embarking on the once in a lifetime journey of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. 13 Rohingya Muslims from Maungdaw City and 8 from Buthidaung City took a southern route in the city of Maungdaw on a bus en route to Akyab, the capital of Muslim-majority Rakhine state, but were surprised by a group of extremist Buddhists surrounding their car and blocking the road, preventing them from leaving the city. This is despite the fact that Muslims had embarked on the pilgrimage to Mecca after receiving a government permit from the Ministry of Religious Affairs. During the incident, state security forces intervened and ordered the Muslims to return to their homes saying they were not satisfied with the government’s permission to allow them to leave for the Hajj. Meanwhile, Myanmar has sent hundreds of troops to beef up security in the northwestern Rakhine state fueling fears of yet more violence against Muslims in the restive region. Rakhine was plunged into renewed violence last October when security forces started a brutal operation against Rohingya Muslim during which government troops have engaged in rape, killings, torture and pillage across the region. The country’s de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1991, has been criticized by more than a dozen fellow laureates for the armed response. They wrote an open letter to the UN Security Council warning of a tragedy “amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” in Rakhine state. Rakhine State in west Myanmar has seen the most serious violence perpetrated against Muslims in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar since the military began to end its decades of strict rule. Reports indicate that thousands of Rohingya Muslims killed and hundreds of thousands displaced there in attacks by government forces and extremists Buddhists since in 2012 in a deliberate state-backed policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 ABNA

Myanmar has sent hundreds of soldiers to beef up security in northwestern Rakhine state after a recent spate of killings, military sources said on Friday, fuelling fears of yet more violence and instability in the troubled region. Muslim-majority northern Rakhine was plunged into violence last October when Rohingya Muslim insurgents killed nine police, setting off a brutal counteroffensive beset by allegations of rape, killings and torture by government troops. Two military sources based in Rakhine told Reuters the army had sent troops to the state's north to "help tighten security" after seven Buddhists were found hacked to death in mountains near the town of Maungdaw last week. The army dispatched about 500 soldiers to several towns near the border with Bangladesh on Thursday, including the towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw, according to one of the military sources with direct knowledge of the matter. "We have to increase security operations because the security situation has worsened - some Muslims and Buddhists have been killed by the insurgents," Rakhine State police chief Colonel Sein Lwin told Reuters. The military spokesman and a spokesman for Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, were not immediately available for comment. Such a buildup raises fears of a fresh wave of violence after last year's operation in which security forces allegedly shot villagers at random, raped Rohingya women and burned homes. UN EXPRESSES "MAJOR CONCERN" "This development, which reportedly took place yesterday, is a cause for major concern," said Yanghee Lee, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar. "The government must ensure that security forces exercise restraint in all circumstances and respect human rights in addressing the security situation in Rakhine State," she said in a statement issued in Geneva. United Nations investigators who interviewed some of the nearly 75,000 people who fled to neighbouring Bangladesh last year said troops probably committed crimes against humanity. The government rejects the allegations and has refused to cooperate with a U.N. fact-finding mission to look into abuses in Myanmar. Despite the massive counter-offensive last year, the government has accused the militants of continuing to run training camps in the mountains and killing alleged informants in the Muslim community. The government blamed "extremists" for the killing of the seven Buddhists who, residents of the area believe, stumbled upon a camp for Rohingya militants. That prompted security forces to hunt for the killers in an "intensive clearance operation", a military source told Reuters last week. This week, the army has tightened security and the police force is on high alert, Rakhine police official Sein Lwin added. Security forces have also strengthened border guard posts in the region, said Kyaw Swar Tun, the director of the general administration department based in the state capital, Sittwe. Regional rights body ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights voiced concern about the increased number of troops in Rakhine. "Aung San Suu Kyi should call on all parties, including the Myanmar army, to take steps to de-escalate conflict in northern Rakhine State, rather than exacerbate it," a member of its board, Eva Kusuma Sundari, said in a statement. About 1.1 million Rohingya live in Rakhine, but are denied citizenship and face curbs on movement and access to basic services. About 120,000 live in camps set up after deadly violence in 2012, relying on aid agencies for basic supplies. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Reuters

Myanmar has moved hundreds of troops into northern Rakhine state as it ramps up counterinsurgency efforts there, officers told AFP Saturday, after the UN voiced alarm over reports of a military build up in the region. Rakhine has been gripped by violence since October last year when militants attacked police posts, sparking a bloody military crackdown that the UN believes may amount to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority Rohingya. More than 70,000 Rohingya villagers fled across the border to Bangladesh, carrying with them stories of systematic rape, murder and arson at the hands of soldiers. The major part of the military campaign ended several months ago, but fear continues to stalk the region amid sporadic bouts of violence. Officers said Saturday that the government had deployed a fresh batch of troops after a recent spate of murders. They said soldiers have been sent to a mountainous area where a band of militants is actively training. “Many battalions with hundreds of soldiers from central Myanmar were deployed to the Mayu moutain range,” a military officer told AFP, requesting anonymity. A senior border guard said the deployment was ordered to protect other ethnic groups in the remote area. The government has accused insurgents of murdering and abducting dozens of villagers and perceived collaborators with the state. “Muslim militants are training in the forest… They have killed those who are cooperating with authorities,” the border guard told AFP. State media also reported that the government had imposed new curfews, to be set “in necessary areas” as the army beefs up its “clearance operations”. A Rohingya villager told AFP his community feared a repeat of last year’s crackdown. “Some Muslim villages in Rathidaung dare not to go outside,” said Hasumyar, who only gave his first name and lives in a township that has been placed under curfew. The insurgents, known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, were little known until they claimed the October raids on police posts that left nine dead. The group says it is fighting to advance the rights of the Rohingya and has denied killing civilians in statements issued through an unverified Twitter account. Reports of an army battalion being flown into Rakhine to boost security were met with criticism on Friday by UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee, who warned the development was “a cause for major concern”. The UN has accused the military of committing grave abuses against the Rohingya during its counterinsurgency campaign. But Myanmar has dismissed the allegations and vowed to block a UN probe into the violence. Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long faced criticism for its treatment of the more than one million Rohingya, who are denied citizenship and struggle to access basic services. The minority group are widely reviled as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, despite having lived in the area for generations. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 FMT News

Francis Wade is a journalist and the author of “Myanmar’s Enemy Within: Buddhist Violence and The Making of a Muslim ‘Other.’ “ For years, Burma’s state-run media viciously denounced Aung San Suu Kyi. Yet this week, the country’s de facto leader endorsed the very organizations that led the charge, declaring that anyone eager to understand the government should “read the newspapers and listen to the news. .. released by the government.” Her statement echoed the commands of the military junta that ruled before her, but it was not altogether out of character. Burma’s civilian government has increasingly cracked down on independent journalists and activists, dispelling hopes that the democratic transition would break the military’s oppressive style of rule. Since the National League for Democracy (NLD), the erstwhile figurehead of Burma’s pro-democracy movement, took power in April 2016, a puzzling paradox has emerged. At least 80 people have been arrested under the archaic Telecommunications Law that restricts free speech online – a leap from the seven cases filed under the military-backed government. The recent arrest of prominent journalist Swe Win on accusations of defaming a firebrand anti-Muslim monk adds to a growing fear that as the transition advances, media freedom is conversely being tightened. Aung San Suu Kyi’s government faces a daunting task in wresting ownership of the government from a military that retains considerable power. Yet, among those arrested are critics of the NLD itself. This raises serious questions about the country’s democratic transition. Under military rule, the party campaigned relentlessly to limit the military’s role in political life. But now, factions of the party appear to be aligned with the army’s zero-tolerance position on public dissent. Nowhere is this more visible than in the party’s crackdown on the free press. In late June, three local journalists were arrested and charged under the Unlawful Associations Act — a law that was often used by the military to arbitrarily imprison dissidents and members of ethnic opposition groups — for reporting on a drug-burning ceremony by a rebel army. The NLD could have taken the military to task on this issue, highlighting the fact that similar ceremonies have been attended over the years by generals, U.N. officials and foreign diplomats and that dozens of interlocutors of various stripes have met with armed groups during recent cease-fire talks. But it didn’t. Under pressure to explain the arrests, Aung San Suu Kyi deflected, arguing that it was a matter for the courts and not the government. Aung San Suu Kyi knows, however, that the court system remains beholden to the military and is unlikely to defend the free press. Then, when the U.N. special rapporteur on Burma, Yanghee Lee, tried to visit the town where the journalists are being held, she was denied access. The government justified the decision on the grounds that it disagreed with Lee’s end-of-mission statement, which was critical of the country’s human rights record. It also threatened to deny visas to a U.N. fact-finding mission charged with looking into military abuses against ethnic minorities — yet another indication of its intolerance of negative press. The NLD’s actions are particularly disappointing because its ranks are populated by hundreds of luminaries of the pro-democracy movement who spent years behind bars for doing exactly what this new crop of political prisoners is doing: calling out the shortcomings of authority in Burma and illuminating critical issues — military abuse, corruption and so forth — that affect the country’s most vulnerable. The NLD’s inability (or unwillingness) to engage with criticism of its handling of the transition is fundamentally at odds with the promise of pluralistic change that gained the party such overwhelming support just over a year ago. Analysts have spoken of the trade-offs the government needs to make to persuade the military to open itself to reform. There is some truth in that. And, indeed, there are some in the NLD who oppose the party’s stance on free speech and are seeking ways to revise the law. Yet the refusal to condemn the jailing of its own critics reflects a deeper problem. Authoritarianism, if left to develop long enough, can produce a culture that envelops even those who outwardly resist it. This paradox has left the country’s political landscape as uncertain as ever. In Burma today, the uncertainty over what lines can and cannot be crossed is breeding a culture of fear that is entirely antithetical to the democratic compact. “Without a revolution of the spirit,” Aung San Suu Kyi once said, “the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration.” Today, it seems, the momentum toward that goal is being compromised by the very same party that once championed that revolution. ____________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Washington Post

After results began streaming in this week, Kenyan opposition leader and presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who has repeatedly warned of the likelihood for election hacking, hasurged his supporters not to accept the election results, claiming that the polls were hacked to support the current president, Uhuru Kenyatta. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which tabulates the voting in Kenya's presidential election, has not yet declared official results, but initial IEBC reports have shown President Uhuru Kenyatta to have the lead with an alleged 54 percent of the vote with 94 percent of the votes accounted for. Odinga has called these numbers “fictitious”. However, his allegations have not been confirmed by local election officials and the IEBC is set to investigate the claims made by Odinga. Such accusations have brought on renewed fears of post-election violence similar to that of 2007, when protests in the street over an alleged “stolen election” turned deadly between the two largest ethnic groups in Kenya — the Kikuyu and Luo peoples. The following ethnic violence resulted in as many as 1,400 deaths in 2007 and 2008. The previous crisis finally came to an end on 28 February 2008, when both sides of the conflict signed a deal brokered by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. During the 2007 crisis, Uhuru Kenyatta was accused of ordering an armed gang called the Mungiki to target Luo communities, and his case was referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). His charges was later withdrawndue to insufficient evidence. While Odinga has urged for peace and calm, he has also emphasized “I don’t control the people”. Violence has since spread out across the country. In Kisumu, a stronghold for Odinga and his supporters, authorities have reportedly used tear gas on protestors demonstrating in the streets and in Nairobi, police killed two "looters" on Wednesday, claiming that they are taking advantage of the protesting to steal. According to a regional police commander, security forces also killed at least one protester on Wednesday during clashes in Kisii County, around 300 kilometers west of Nairobi. In the southeastern Tana River region, police said five men with knives attacked a vote tallying station and killed one person inside. The police later killed two of the suspects and have continued to search for the other suspects involved. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 RtoP Weekly

A United Nations human rights expert has expressed alarm over reports that an army battalion has flown into Rakhine State in western Myanmar to help local authorities boost security in the region. “This development, which reportedly took place yesterday, is a cause for major concern,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee. “The Government must ensure that security forces exercise restraint in all circumstances and respect human rights in addressing the security situation in Rakhine State.” Ms. Lee added: “I am particularly reminded of the allegations of serious human rights violations which followed security force operations in the aftermath of attacks against three border guard police facilities in Maungdaw and Rathedaung in October and further clashes in November.” “I have noted from the Summary Report of the Investigation Commission for Maungdaw in Rakhine State, publically released last Sunday, that many allegations of human rights violations are being investigated or have been recommended for further investigation,” the expert highlighted. “The Presidential Commission admitted it was not able to verify many of these alleged violations or crimes including torture, rape and arson, and asked that these be properly addressed by the relevant authorities,” Ms. Lee said. “There have been increasing reports of incidents affecting the local population, including the killings of six Mro villagers on 3 August,” she said. “I share the concern of the Myanmar Government and its people regarding the safety and security of those living in Rakhine State in the light of these incidents.” The Special Rapporteur acknowledged the State’s responsibility to provide security and protect people from attacks by extremists, but said this responsibility had to cover all residents, and the authorities could not afford more security to some than others. The expert reminded that the use force must always be in line with the principles of necessity and proportionality to ensure full respect for human live. “Any measures security forces take or any operations they undertake to secure the areas concerned must be carried out in line with international human rights norms and standards,” Ms. Lee stressed. The expert’s call has been endorsed by the UN the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard. The Special Rapporteur on situation of human rights in Myanmar, Professor Yanghee Lee, and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Agnes Callamard, are are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. They are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commisioner

This photo taken on July 13, 2017 shows a Muslim family at Maung Hnama village, Buthidaung township in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state A UN rights expert voiced alarm Friday at a growing security operation in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine State, where the government has been accused of widespread abuses against Rohingya Muslims. Reacting to reports that an army battalion was flown into Rakhine Thursday to help local authorities boost security in the region, UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee warned the development was "a cause for major concern." "The government must ensure that security forces exercise restraint in all circumstances and respect human rights in addressing the security situation in Rakhine State," she said in a statement. "I am particularly reminded of the allegations of serious human rights violations which followed security force operations in the aftermath of attacks against three border guard police facilities in Maungdaw and Rathedaung in October and further clashes in November," she added. Lee's comments came after a government-appointed commission on Sunday dismissed UN allegations of widespread abuses during the crackdowns, clearing Myanmar security forces of systematic rape, murder and arson against Rohingya Muslims. The commission examined the deadly violence which began in Rakhine last year after attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts near the Bangladesh border. The government is refusing to allow a UN fact-finding team to conduct its own probe into whether the security response amounted to "ethnic cleansing" of the stateless Rohingya minority. Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long faced criticism for its treatment of the more than one million Rohingya who live in Rakhine, who are seen as interlopers from Bangladesh, denied citizenship and access to basic rights. Lee said she had taken note of the report from the government commission, pointing out that it had "admitted it was not able to verify many of these alleged violations or crimes including torture, rape and arson" and she asked that "these be properly addressed by the relevant authorities." "There have been increasing reports of incidents affecting the local population, including the killings of six Mro villagers on August 3," she pointed out. Lee said she shared the government's security concerns, and understood the state's responsibility to provide security and protect people from attacks by extremists. But she stressed that the authorities needed to offer equal protection to all residents. "Any measures security forces take or any operations they undertake to secure the areas concerned must be carried out in line with international human rights norms and standards," she said. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Associated Newspapers

In a surprise move, Myanmar Army leaders decided to dispatch an army battalion to troubled Rakhine State this week. The troops arrived in state capital Sittwe on Thursday. National Security Adviser U Thaung Tun told reporters after a forum on democratic transition in Naypyitaw on Friday that the Tatmadaw was stepping up to its responsibility investigate militant camps in Mayu mountain range and protect civilians in Maungdaw Township. The dispatch followed a two-hour meeting between Arakan National Party (ANP) members and military commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on Wednesday. Just back from a week-long trip to Japan, the commander-in-chief hastily approved the closed-door ANP meeting. The politicians did most of the talking, according to sources close to the matter, and requested a boost in northern Rakhine security after six ethnic Mro were killed in Maungdaw Township last week. Since the attack, civilians—mainly ethnic Rakhine and Rakhine sub-ethnic Mro—have fled their homes. Rakhine politicians were clearly alarmed by the developing situation and asked to hold an emergency security meeting. Also present at the meeting was deputy commander-in-chief of defense services and army commander-in-chief Vice-Snr-Gen Soe Win as well as chief of general staff (army, navy and air) Gen Mya Tun Oo. The ANP delegation was headed by chairman Dr. Aye Maung. ANP leaders initially approached the office of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for a meeting. It is unclear why the meeting did not take place. Around the same time, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also held a meeting to discuss security issues with the home and border affairs ministries. The ANP then turned to the military and the seven-member delegation marched to the offices of Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Following the meeting, ANP lawmaker U Pe Than, who represents Myebon Township in the Lower House, told The Irrawaddy: “We’ve officially asked for further deployment of Tatmadaw forces for the security of Rakhine State.” “We pointed out that existing security forces are too small to protect ethnic villages,” he continued. “The army chief said the Tatmadaw has large forces and that he would increase the troops if necessary.” Less than 48 hours after the meeting with ANP politicians, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing gave the green light to dispatch fully-equipped troops belonging to 33rd Light Infantry Division by air to Sittwe, despite bad weather. The military was clearly ready for such a speedy deployment. “The army chief said he would fully protect ethnic groups in Rakhine State and that he would take care of the routes that [immigrants] use to come in illegally, and make sure the Mayu mountains are not used by militants,” said ANP delegation member U Oo Hla Saw, who is a Lower House member of Parliament for Mrauk U Township. The UN recently warned aid workers in western Myanmar of rising hostility and imminent protests from troubled Rakhine State’s majority Buddhists, some of whom claim humanitarian agencies are giving support to Rohingya Muslim militants. Reuters obtained the text of a “precautionary security notification” distributed to the 300 or so UN staff and to international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in Rakhine on Wednesday. It notes the “increased likelihood of civil unrest” and the possibility of demonstrations at aid agency offices in the state already racked by violence. The Irrawaddy first reported a shift in security operations to focus on the Mayu Mountains in northwestern Rakhine in June. Three suspected militants were killed by security personnel in two days of raids that month. Several weeks ago, an intelligence source in Asia told The Irrawaddy some 300 Muslim Rohingya were undergoing foreign-funded training using automatic rifles in the Mayu mountains. The Irrawaddy was unable to verify these claims. At Wednesday’s meeting, the ANP also asked Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to segregate Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township. “Ethnic [Rakhine] villages are surrounded by Bengali villages, so, we called for designating No-Bengali zones in the area,” U Khin Maung Latt of the ANP, who was at the meeting, told The Irrawaddy. The stateless Rohingya Muslim population of 1.1 million in Rakhine is referred to as “Bengali” by many in the state and the government, to infer that they are interlopers from Bangladesh. The two communities remain largely separated since inter-communal violence in 2012 and 2013 displaced around 140,000 people, the vast majority of them Muslim Rohingya. Myanmar Army-led security operations in northern Rakhine—mired in allegations of extensive human rights abuses—in response to attacks on border guard posts that killed nine police in October 2016 continued until mid February this year. It is unclear what the military has planned for security operations, possibly in the Mayu mountains, and how long they will last. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Irrawaddy

On the eve of a two-day “dead city” general strike that the opposition organized in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 8 and 9 August, the Congolese Post and Telecommunications Regulation Authority (ARPTC) asked telephone service operators, including the French company Orange, to slow down access to social networks. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this latest violation of freedom of information by the DRC’s authoritarian government and calls on telephone operators to resist such demands in the future. Concealing protests Slowing down access to social networks in the DRCis one of the government’s favourite methods for silencing the opposition and preventing information circulating about unwanted protests. In a letter to the CEO of Orange-DRC on 7 August, the ARPTC’s president blatantly asked Orange to “reduce message transmission capacity to the strict minimum” because of “improper use” of social networks. By this he meant opposition use of social networks for the purposes of communication. And Orange complied with the request, as many sources have confirmed to RSF. An Orange employee in the DRC told RSF: “When the government tells us ‘we’re hitting hard,’ we do it. We have no choice.” “The authorities don’t want images of abuses circulating online,” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “They think: if no one see it, it didn’t happen. The problem with acting like this is that they are violating the freedom to inform. We are extremely concerned about the many cases of censorship.” Yves Nissim, the person responsible for human rights-related issues at Orange, said: “We try to resist by only responding to requests when they are official and in writing.” Orange is having to deal with a growing number of censorship requests in African countries, according to its transparency report. In many countries these requests have for a long time been made verbally and have sometimes been accompanied by threats. #OrangeIsTheNewBlackOut : RSF asks Orange to refuse requests from authoritarian regimes. This situation is absolutely unacceptable at a time when most members of the public use the Internet to get their information,” said Elodie Vialle, the head of RSF’s Journalism and Technology Desk. “For this reason, we ask operators such as Orange to respect their obligations and to assume their responsibility not transgress against democracy. By resisting. Really resisting.” Telephone operators comply with orders from governments because it is in their economic interest but they are nonetheless not exempt from all responsibility. In a conflict between the need to satisfy the clients who pay them and the desire not to lose their operating licence by upsetting the government, companies such as Orange end up accommodating authoritarian regimes and thereby become the instruments of online repression. “Digital Detox” to keep the opposition in check The Congolese government asks operators to reduce access speeds to prevent the circulation of unfavourable information and above all to prevent people from uploading photos and video to social networks. In his letter, the ARPTC’s president said he wanted to limit the circulation of images on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google+ and even the dating site Badoo. When asked by RSF, New Technology minister Emery Okundji said the government was concerned about “images that distort the truth and incite violation” and “disturb public order.” This former opposition politician turned ally of the regime’s authoritarian methods also denied that this constituted real censorship inasmuch as access is just slowed down “temporarily.” Imaginary disturbance of public order “There is no disturbance of public order, just state-organized deception,” said Jonas Tshiombela, the coordinator of New Congolese Civil Society, a human rights group. “After all, the Congolese are paying for this service.” The Internet cuts and slow-downs are also having a not-insignificant impact on the country’s economy, inasmuch as they force entire sectors to suspend operations. But real censorship What the government wants is for no one to see demonstrations of popular discontent and support for the opposition’s demand for elections. Eighteen journalists were briefly detained while covering demonstrations in Kinshasa, Goma and Bukavu on 31 July to demand the publication of an election calendar. Two journalists, Amadi Ngilima and Cosmos Bafwandongo, were arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) in Uvira, in Sud-Kivu province, on 8 August “for wanting to film the dead-city protest.” Under the current constitution, Joseph Kabila, the DRC’s president since 2001, should have stood down at the end of his second term on 19 December 2016. Under an agreement reached with the opposition, elections are supposed to be held by the end of 2017 but the authorities have yet to publish an electoral calendar and keep on finding new reasons to postpone them.