Aleppo. After a brief ceasefire Tuesday brokered by Russia and Turkey to allow civilians to flee Aleppo fell apart on Wednesday, some 50,000 people remain trapped in rebel-held zones in the eastern part of the city. Both the Syrian government and the rebels accuse the other of opening fire first, but civilians in rebel neighborhoods are reporting heavy shelling and renewed airstrikes. Locals are claiming that Iranian-backed Shiite militias -- who led the fighting in the city -- are refusing to allow civilian to leave, and The Guardian tells us that Yasser al-Youssef, a spokesman for one of the anti-government groups, “said Russia was attempting to convince the Assad government to accept the ceasefire. The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said discussions were ongoing with Russia and Iran to continue the planned evacuations.” Tens of thousands of civilians have been streaming into the government-held western half of Aleppo, or making a break for the countryside. Government forces control virtually the entire city after years of grinding war that has left the historic city a shattered ruin, with thousands dead. Syria We're learning more about reports of chemical weapons use in Palmyra. The Guardianreports that locals in the city recently retaken by the Islamic State say 93 people died from an apparent chemical weapons attack following airstrikes on five villages held by the group. The head of a regional council Ahmad al Hamawi described symptoms among the dead — convulsions, foaming at the mouth — consistent with sarin gas usage. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has attributed chlorine gas attacks to both the Islamic State and the Assad regime in the past. In 2013, Western intelligence services as well as Human Rights Watch concluded that the Assad regime carried out an attack on a rebel-held neighborhood in Damascus with a nerve agent. Reports about Assad regime forces carrying out war crimes against civilians trapped in east Aleppo have raised alarm bells as observes rush to monitor the situation. Now, according to the BBC, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Assad regime forces have killed at least 82 people, including women and children. Separately, the humanitarian White Helmets group said that 70 people remain trapped under the rubble of the bombed out city, unable to get out. The Islamic State The weapons-monitoring group Conflict Armament Research (CAR) tagged along with Iraqi forces entering Mosul in November and got an up close look inside the Islamic State's weapons industry. Emphasis on the industry. According to a new report from CAR, the terrorist group created a "complex, centrally controlled industrial production system" for churning out weapons. The "improvised" weapons made by the Islamic State include mortar rounds and rockets all machined to uniform standards complete with quality control processes to ensure the weapons. The end result, according to CAR, is an Islamic State weapons industry whose products would "easily conform to national military specifications." The Pentagon says an early December airstrike in Syria killed three members of the Islamic State, two of whom played a role in orchestrating the group's deadly November 2015 attacks in Paris. Reuters reports that plotters Salah Gourmat and Sammy Djedou alongside Walid Hamman, whom Belgium convicted of trying to carry out another attack the same year. A drone strike hit their call, killing all three. Libya The Islamic State's last territorial stronghold in Libya has fallen but conflict between the country's warring factions continue. War Is Boring reports on the recent attempt by the Islamist Benghazi Defense Brigade to seize oil terminals in the country's oil crescent from the country's internationally-recognized government based in Tripoli's Libyan National Army (LNA). The LNA responded with Mi-35 helicopter gunships and MiG-21 fighters scrambled to intercept convoys from the Benghazi Defense Brigade, forcing a retreat by the group and its allies after a half hour of airstrikes. The Department of Pew A new study by the Air Force says that strapping lasers to AC-130Js is likely within the realm of doable. Flight Global reports that a new study by the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board says that existing laser technology is promising and could work with the existing power sources on board with Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) AC-130Js. The finding could tee up a near term demonstration of the concept. AFSOC officials have been arguing for the past year that lasers would add a valuable capability to their gunships. ©2016 The Slate Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Foreign Policy

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released two important reports about religious freedom violations in Burma Read Hidden Plight: Christian Minorities in Burma in English and Burmese. Written for USCIRF by independent human rights researcher and activist Rachel Fleming, this report highlights the pervasive and longstanding persecution and discrimination Christians face that have persisted, often unreported, for generations. Read Suspended in Time: The Ongoing Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Burma in English and Burmese. This report details the persecution of Rohingya Muslims resulting from government-directed abuses and/or indifference to discrimination and violence that has killed hundreds, displaced thousands, and destroyed hundreds of religious properties since 2012.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, center, waves to his supporters at the airport in the capital, Khartoum, in 2015. (Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters) During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama called Darfur a “stain on our souls.” As president, he reiterated his charge that the regime in Khartoum was responsible for genocide. But in stark contrast to his rhetoric as a senator and a presidential candidate, President Obama’s administration has sought rapprochement with the very same regime that he had long excoriated. Indeed, all his moral indignation has mattered very little in the eight years during which U.S. policy toward the regime has been guided by the view of Obama’s former special envoy for Sudan, Princeton Lyman: “We [the Obama administration] do not want to see the ouster of the [Khartoum] regime, nor regime change. We want to see the regime carrying out reform via constitutional democratic measures.” These words — never disavowed — can make no sense in the context of the continuing genocide in Darfur, including this year’s massive scorched-earth campaign in Jebel Marra, the heart of Darfur. They make no sense in the context of the continuing war against the civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, caught up in yet another “center-periphery” conflict that has defined the governing policies of the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party (NIF/NCP) regime since it came to power by military coup 27 years ago. During that time, millions of Sudanese have been killed or displaced or have had their lives rendered horrors of mere survival. The people of Sudan — all of the people of Sudan who are not part of the regime’s gigantic kleptocracy — wish to see regime change. Their views have been clear for years, however fractious the political parties and alliances, however troubled the coalition of armed opposition forces. They live in an economy devastated by more than two decades of gross economic mismanagement that has left the people of this potentially rich country living lives of destitution and facing soaring inflation, a lack of critical imported goods (including food, cooking oil and essential medicines), water shortages and crippling external debt. That debt was $13 billion when the NIF/NCP came to power; it now exceeds $50 billion, an increase largely due to profligate military spending and the massive expansion of security services. An extraordinary popular uprising began in September 2013, extending to many of Sudan’s cities. The regime’s response? Amnesty International established on the basis of morgue visits that “shoot to kill” orders had clearly been issued, given the disproportionate number of corpses with fatal bullet wounds to the head and torso. Some 200 people were murdered in Khartoum/Omdurman; more than twice that were killed elsewhere, although the regime has ensured that we have no firm figures. This Monday, Dec. 19, will be a day of mass civil disobedience throughout Sudan; the hashtag #Dec19Disobedience exploded through social media in a way I have not seen in 18 years of full-time research on Sudan and its multiple wars and crises. Indeed, this hashtag uprising gives all signs of being the moment in which we will see the outlines of Sudan’s “Arab Spring.” Belatedly recognizing what a threat the events of Dec. 19 have become, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir — wanted by the International Criminal Court on multiple counts of genocide and massive crimes against humanity in Darfur — has issued a clear, unambiguous and taunting warning: “If you want to overthrow the regime, why don’t you criticise us in the streets? I will tell you why. We know that you will not come, as you know very well what happened in the past.” The “past” invoked here is Bashir’s decision in September 2013 to issue “shoot to kill” orders. The Obama administration has one last opportunity to move beyond Lyman’s disingenuous assessment of the regime and its ambitions. Too much has been sacrificed to this expedient view in the name of securing counterterrorism cooperation from Khartoum, which hosted Osama bin Laden during al-Qaeda’s formative years (1992 to 1996). The United States must issue — before Dec. 19 — a clear warning that disproportionate use of force will be a major obstacle to any improvement in relations between Washington and Khartoum. On the other hand, if the Obama administration remains silent, it will be complicit in the large-scale bloodshed that looks increasingly likely come Monday. Eric Reeves is a senior fellow at Harvard University’s François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. He has written extensively on Sudan for almost two decades. Copyright 2016 The Washington Post

Ethnic Kayaw attend a mass at the catholic church at Htaykho village in the Kayah state, Burma. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today issues a stark warning about discrimination against Christians in the country.Reuters Christianity is institutionally discriminated against in Burma and Buddhism has been elevated to the de facto state religion, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today said in a stark warning about lack of religious freedom in the country. A report published today, titled Hidden Plight: Christian Minorities in Burma, highlights "the pervasive and long-standing persecution and discrimination Christians face that have persisted, often unreported, for generations". It says: "Senior leaders in Burma's government need to publicly acknowledge and remedy the fact that the elevation of Buddhism as the de facto state religion and resulting policies and practices have violated the rights of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities." It goes on: "Institutionalized discrimination against Christians must also be addressed so that Christians and other religious minorities can secure promotions in government sectors." According to the report, "Christian communities across Burma continue to experience deep pain and suffering due to egregious violations of religious freedom." The report urges Burma to undertake "substantive reforms to ensure religious freedom for all in law, policy, and practice" and says that this "must be a cornerstone of ongoing peace and national reconciliation efforts in Burma". The report also calls for support for increased interfaith dialogue at a grassroots level, but adds that "interfaith dialogue should be rooted in international standards and a clear understanding of religious freedom as the individual right to choose one's faith, rather than common misconceptions about defending the values of a particular religion or the rights of the majority." The report makes a series of recommendations to both the Burmese and the US governments. To the former, it calls on the country to take "concrete steps to end violence and human rights violations against ethnic and religious minorities, including the investigation and prosecution of those perpetrating human rights violations or inciting discrimination and violence, especially members of the military, Ma Ba Tha, and other ultra-nationalistic forces, to end the culture of impunity"; and to undertake "substantive reforms to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture to ensure equal treatment for all religious faiths, and guarantee religious freedom for all in law, policy, and practice, and in accordance with international human rights standards". The US, it says, "can play a role by engaging senior leaders in Burma's government on religious freedom issues and emphasizing their importance to ongoing peace and national reconciliation efforts." The report also urges the US to continue to designate Burma "a country of particular concern" unless and until the government of Burma meets the benchmarks it outlines. A second report released by the USCIRF today, Suspended in Time: The Ongoing Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Burma details the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in the face of "government-directed abuses and/or government indifference to discrimination and violence that has killed hundreds, displaced thousands, and destroyed hundreds of religious properties since 2012". The Christian population of Burma has increased by nearly one third in three decades, according to World Watch Monitor. There are now more than three million Christians in Burma, making up 6.2 per cent of the population, compared to just 4.9 per cent in 1983. Christianity is the second largest religion in Burma, where nearly nine in ten people are Buddhist.

on December 19: “If you want to overthrow the regime, why don’t you criticise us in the streets? I will tell you why. We know that you will not come, as you know very well what happened in the past.” (Kassala, December 12, 2016) President and former Field Marshal Omar al-Bashir; the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants charging al-Bashir with multiple counts of genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He will attempt to crush any effort to remove him from power; such a loss of power would put him at greatly heightened risk of arrest. This is a clear and unambiguous reference to the violence by police and security forces directed against protesters in September 2013; "shoot to kill" orders claimed hundreds of lives (see http://wp.me/p45rOG-18i ) #عصينا19ديسمبر #Dec19Disobedience “Sudanese govt. cannot be ousted by keyboard activists”: Al Bashir | Radio Dabanga, December 12, 2016 | KASSALA In a first reaction to Sudan's second civil disobedience action planned for 19 December, President Omar Al Bashir said that the government is immune to civil disobedience actions and "Whatsapp activists." In a rally in Kassala town on Monday, the president stated in a speech -in the Sudanese colloquial- that a government cannot be ousted by social media.“I will not hand over the country to activists who want to get at us with their keyboards and Whatsapp. “If you want to overthrow the regime, why don’t you criticise us in the streets? I will tell you why. We know that you will not come, as you know very well what happened in the past.” The president referred here to the reactions of the authorities to widespread protests in the country in September and October 2013 against subsidy cuts and austerity measures that led to soaring prices of most basic commodities. Security and police forces as well as paramilitaries were deployed to quell the street protests. An unknown number of people—estimated to be more than 200—were killed. Al Bashir further told his audience in Kassala that “Those who are after us should approach us directly. The Salvation (government) is not Omar Al Bashir, you are!” “If you want to overthrow the regime, why don’t you criticise us in the streets? I will tell you why. We know that you will not come, as you know very well what happened in the past.” No fear Pointing to his travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in end November, Al Bashir denied rumours that he fled from the three-day civil strike in Khartoum on 27 - 29 November. “When you called for the civil disobedience action, it happened that I was abroad on an official mission.” He said that he represents “the pride and dignity of the Sudanese,” and stressed that he will never resign. "The [Sudanese] land, drenched with blood of our martyrs, will never be sold for Dollars. We will never hand it to keyboard and Whatsapp activists.” Al Bashir told the crowd in defiance of the indictments by the International Criminal Court that “I'm ready to travel to the New York today if the United States granted me a visa [..]. I would enter [..] the land of the enemy.” He further emphasised that he does not know any fear. Activists In the Al Jazeera TV programme The Stream of last week, Sudanese commentator Ahmed Kodouda explained that the current regime “has been extremely brutal” against popular uprisings. “The Sudanese people have recognised that they have to change their tactics and operate in a way that allows them to send a clear message to the government. [The current protest] has been very successful in that it showed that people are able to mobilise and to send a clear message, not only to the government but also to the opposition which has failed so far to create a viable alternative to this government.” One of the “keyboard activists” told Radio Dabanga over the weekend that “We are using the social media in a highly organised manner. In this way, we are able to undermine the various attempts by the authorities to jam the upcoming disobedience action through the electronic jihad [holy war] brigades.” The activists predict that the current regime will be overthrown by next April. -- Eric Reeves, Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

LeMuslimPost : Vous venez d’une famille birmane bouddhiste. Parlez-nous de votre enfance, de votre formation en Birmanie… Dr Maung Zarni : J’ai passé toute ma jeunesse, de 1963 à 1988, dans la dernière capitale du royaume birman, Mandalay. Cette ville d’un demi-million d’habitants était marquée par la diversité, tant ethnique que religieuse, du fait de sa position géographique : Mandalay était le point de convergence des routes commerciales de Thaïlande, de Chine et d’Inde. Même si la ville était enclavée, c’était une mosaïque de de langues, de spécialités culinaires, de traditions religieuses ou vestimentaires… Malgré cette diversité de fait, l’idée d’une identité ethnique transmise par le sang était profondément ancrée dans la pensée dominante birmane. Et orientait les relations sociales. Notre famille ne faisait pas exception. Ma mère était professeur d’histoire et de littérature birmane au lycée : quand j’avais 8 ans, elle me donnait à lire des fictions intitulées « Sang ou L’Epée birmane ». De véritables romans nationaux. « Être Birman, c’est être bouddhiste » LeMuslimPost : Comment s’est instauré et développé ce système de hiérarchisation ethnique et religieuse en Birmanie ? Dr Maung Zarni : Avec un recul de 50 ans maintenant, je peux dire que la conscience du petit garçon birman que j’étais à l’époque était imprégnée par une sorte de racisme doux. Bien sûr, nous avions des amis et des voisins musulmans, chrétiens ou d’origines chinoise ou indienne et nous nous entendions tous très bien. Mais à un niveau plus profond, nous ne les considérions tout simplement pas comme Birmans car ils n’étaient pas bouddhistes. Etre Birman, c’est être bouddhiste, voilà le cliché en vigueur. Et comme toute société fondée sur une supposée pureté « ethno-nationale », ceci n’est qu’un leurre : tout Birman s’estimant d’ascendance pure a de toutes façons des origines métissées. Mais cette suprématie auto-déclarée par les Birmans bouddhistes avait déjà pris une autre dimension avec l’arrivée des colons britanniques en 1886, qui a renforcé la séparation entre « nous » et « eux » – Britanniques, Européens, Chinois, Indiens,… D’autant plus fortement que le système colonialiste nous avait relégués, les Birmans bouddhistes, au bas de l’échelle sociale. Depuis, nous nous sommes drapés et braqués dans une sorte de forteresse identitaire et les premières agressions de non-bouddhistes ont alors commencé. Ce qui n’était pas pour déplaire à la puissance coloniale, qui tira profit de cette stratégie classique du « diviser pour mieux régner ». Une stratégie reprise par les militaire birmans à l’indépendance du pays en 1962 : une société divisée est faible et beaucoup plus facile à contrôler. Ils ont commencé par expurger les postes clés de l’Armée occupés par des officiers « de sang mêlé » – chrétiens ou indiens. Une opération menée – ironie de l’histoire – par des militaires à moitié chinois… « L’ethnonationalisme est au cœur de l’Etat birman » LeMuslimPost : La situation ne semble pas s’arranger avec l’arrivée au pouvoir d’Aung San Suu Kyi, prix Nobel de la Paix… Dr Maung Zarni : Loin de là. Aung San Suu Kyi a elle aussi adopté cette position raciste et ethnocentrée : elle est la seule responsable de l’élimination, au sein de son propre parti aujourd’hui au pouvoir, des Birmans d’origine musulmane. Le NLD ne dispose ainsi d’aucun député musulman dans un pays où y vit une forte minorité. L’ethnonationalisme a été inscrit de force dans le système social par les dirigeants birmans, Avant Aung San Suu Kyi, le gouvernement dirigé par le général Thein Sein a fait adopter quatre lois ségrégationnistes dont une qui interdit le mariage des Bouddhistes en dehors de leur communauté religieuse. Aujourd’hui, c’est bien l’ethnonationalisme – et non les valeurs démocratiques ou humanistes – qui est devenu l’idéologie maîtresse de la politique et de la société birmanes. LeMuslimPost : A titre personnel, comment s’est déroulée votre prise de conscience ? Y a-t-il eu des circonstances révélatrices ou bien votre combat s’est-il peu à peu imposé à vous ? Dr Maung Zarni : C’est en fait mon épouse britannique qui a déclenché cette prise de conscience. Elle était bénévole dans un camp de réfugiés de guerre le long de la frontière entre la Birmanie et la Thaïlande, il y a de cela 15 ans. Elle vivait dans une ville appelée Mae Sot et est tombée sur des Bouddhistes activistes de l’Etat Rakhine (majoritairement peuplé de musulmans Rohingya, ndlr) qui lisaient et discutaient de « Mein Kampf », le livre d’Hitler. Rentrée au Royaume-Uni, elle a travaillé en tant que chercheur et s’est spécialisée dans la persécution des Rohingya. A partir de 2009, elle a commencé à me faire part de ses découvertes : des crimes indicibles que l’armée de mon pays commettait à l’encontre de la communauté rohingya. Jusqu’à ce moment-là, j’étais comme tout Birman moyen, le cerveau lavé par la propagande nationale. Je ne savais même pas qu’ils étaient aussi citoyens birmans et formaient l’une de nos minorités religieuses. J’ai alors personnellement entrepris des recherches et j’ai dû me rendre à l’évidence : ce que nous faisions subir aux Rohingya était la définition même du génocide. Je me demandais sans cesse comment je réagirais si mes filles étaient jetées dans les flammes par une armée puissante, si ma femme était violée par une bande organisée ou encore si ma vieille mère était tuée à bout portant, parce que dans ce pays, il existe une armée et des Birmans qui leur nient toute existence. Une prise de conscience particulièrement choquante et douloureuse pour le fier patriote que j’étais… J’avais consacré la moitié de ma vie à la défense des droits de l’Homme dans un pays que je chérissais. J’étais élevé dans une famille et par des parents patriotes et très nationalistes. Toute cette vision s’est effondrée comme un château de cartes. J’ai réalisé qu’en tant que société, opposition démocratique ou armée, nous étions devenus aussi barbares, fascistes et monstrueux que les Nazis. « Ce que nous faisons subir aux Rohingya est un génocide » LeMuslimPost : Comment peut-on expliquer que le principe ontologique de non-violence du bouddhisme se soit adapté – voire, ait contribué – à cette vague généralisée de violence et de haine. Comment y réagissez-vous ? Dr Maung Zarni : Pour quelqu’un d’aussi profondément bouddhiste que moi dans la foi et dans la philosophie de vie, je ne peux être qu’immensément outré – les qualificatifs me manquent – que mes concitoyens qui se prétendent « moines » ou « bouddhistes » aient épousé les vues et les modes opératoires des fascistes. Les bouddhistes ne sont pas censés être dévorés par la colère ou par la haine. Mais c’est le cas. Il y aussi beaucoup d’ignorance sur ce qu’est l’Islam comme foi, et beaucoup de peur et de haine envers les musulmans comme communauté. Des exterminateurs comme Wirathu (moine bouddhiste leader du mouvement islamophobe en Birmanie, ndlr), originaire comme moi de Mandalay, devrait être traduit devant la Cour pénale internationale et incarcéré pour avoir appelé ouvertement à affamer les musulmans de Mandalay comme première étape de son entreprise d’éradication des musulmans de Birmanie. LeMuslimPost : Le gouvernement birman a largement ignoré les résolutions de l’ONU de 2014 et de 2016 sur la question de la citoyenneté. Quelles sont les organisations internationales dédiées à la cause des Rohingya et quelles mesures sont-elles appelées à prendre ? Dr Maung Zarni : La Burma Task Force USA – une coalition d’associations musulmanes nord-américaines – en est une. Il existe également un réseau mondial d’activistes Rohingya qui font un travail considérable d’information sur les crimes contre l’humanité perpétrés dans un pays verrouillé aux journalistes et aux chercheurs. Je pense au Conseil Européen-Rohingya, à l’Organisation nationale des Rohingya d’Arakan (autre nom de l’Etat Rakhine, ndlr), à l’Organisation des Birmans Rohingya au Royaume-Uni, au Rohingya Blogger, à Vision Rohingya, pour ne citer que ceux-là. Par ailleurs, il y a les centres de recherches internationaux et les ONG actives dans la défense des droits de l’Homme, comme Human Rights Watch, FortifyRights ou l’International State Crime Initiative à l’Université Queen Mary de Londres, qui ont propulsé la persécution des Rohingya au premier plan des préoccupations internationales. De même, les rapporteurs spéciaux de l’ONU sur la situation des droits de l’Homme en Birmanie au cours des dix dernières années ont été particulièrement décisifs dans la mobilisation des Nations Unies. Mais il reste encore beaucoup à faire. Tout d’abord, il faut faire admettre que la loi sur la citoyenneté de 1982 a été spécialement conçue à des fins génocidaires contre les Rohingya : il faut faire pression sur le gouvernement birman pour qu’il l’amende. Une loi semblable à celle de Nuremberg, par laquelle Hitler avait « dé-germanisé » les Juifs, les dépouillant de leurs droits les plus basiques. Il s’agit également de faire reconnaître par la communauté internationale (Etats et nations) que la persécution endurée par les Rohingya de la part de l’Etat birman – membre de l’ONU – est un génocide. Une coalition d’Etats membres de l’ONu devrait être montée – intégrant de grands pays musulmans (Malaisie, Arabie Saoudite, Turquie,…) et non-musulmans pour faire pression sur les autorités birmanes et notamment, sur Aung San Suu Kyi et sur le général Min Aung Hlaing, pour qu’ils mettent immédiatement fin à la répression. Il n’y a pas besoin de mobiliser le monde entier, seulement des pays influents capables d’exercer une pression multiforme – diplomatique, politique, culturelle et économique. « Les Rohingya en Birmanie, ce sont les Juifs de l’Allemagne nazie » LeMuslimPost : Justement, préconisez-vous le retour des sanctions économiques contre la Birmanie ? Dr Maung Zarni : Oui, absolument. Durant dix ans, alors que Aung San Suu Kyi était en prison, j’ai contribué à une campagne internationale de boycott de la Birmanie. Puis j’ai changé d’avis : l’isolement et le boycott faisait davantage de tort à la population qu’aux généraux au pouvoir. Mais j’en suis arrivé à un point où je soutiendrais toute initiative – y compris une intervention militaire par un pays voisin, même si cela paraît aujourd’hui inconcevable – pour arrêter ce génocide. Cela fait près de 40 ans que ça dure. LeMuslimPost : Dans quelle mesure l’influence croissante de la Chine dans la région – dont on sait par ailleurs qu’elle n’est pas tendre avec sa propre communauté musulmane ouïgoure – affecte-t-elle le traitement des Rohingya en Birmanie ? Dr Maung Zarni : La Chine, comme l’Inde d’ailleurs, ne s’est en fait impliquée que récemment dans la persécution de la minorité Rohingya. Ces deux pays ont investi dans des territoires auparavant habités par les Rohingya pour y développer un port en eaux profondes et d’autres projets dans ce qui est devenu une « zone économique spéciale ». La volonté des militaires birmans de développer des partenariats et des échanges commerciaux avec les deux géants asiatiques s’est traduite par l’expulsion de 100 000 Rohingya de leurs logements et de leurs terres. Personnellement, je considère la Chine comme une puissance impérialiste, sans être compensée par une quelconque valeur humaniste : 5 000 ans de civilisation n’ont produit aucun éventail de valeurs à admirer ou de modèle à suivre. Le développement de la Chine se fait aux dépens du bien-être non seulement des musulmans mais de l’humanité entière. Regardez ce que la Chine – et dans une moindre mesure, l’Inde – font en Afrique, en Amérique centrale ou latine : spolier leurs ressources naturelles et détruire leur environnement. Je sais que ce n’est pas bon d’être trop direct ou trop honnête. L’émergence d’une puissance asiatique est aussi dommageable que celle des Européens qui, durant 500 ans, avaient commis des génocides en série à travers le monde. Et la Chine ne prétend même pas le faire au nom de valeurs humanistes. Les capitalistes d’Etat chinois ne sont mus que par leur avidité débridée sous couvert d’un discours vantant « l’harmonie et la politique de bon voisinage ». Si l’ancien homme Blanc était un tueur en série, la Chine est le nouveau cancer de la planète pour nous qui venons de pays anciennement colonisés. LeMuslimPost : Les Rohingya sont-ils impliqués dans la politique birmane, aux niveaux local ou central et, le cas échéant, de quelle manière ? Dr Maung Zarni : Les Rohingya n’ont aujourd’hui quasiment aucune implication politique en Birmanie, à quelque niveau que ce soit. Il y a un petit nombre d’activistes et une élite Rohingya qui tentent de rappeler leurs frères et leurs sœurs birmans à de meilleurs sentiments, à Rangoon, à Sittwe (capitale de l’Etat Rakhine, ndlr) ou parmi la diaspora. Des efforts déployés en vain car ils sont ostracisés comme l’ont été avant eux les Juifs allemands. Ils sont devenus les Juifs de Birmanie. Même à Aung San Suu Kyi ne viendrait l’idée de porter attention à ces représentants de la communauté musulmane – même pas à ceux qui l’ont soutenue et admirée depuis longtemps. LeMuslimPost : Où va la Birmanie aujourd’hui, alors que ses relations se sont normalisées avec un Occident où des voix islamophobes et conservatrices se font entendre de plus en plus ? Dr Maung Zarni : Je pense que Washington, Londres et Bruxelles (en tant que capitale de l’Union européenne) trouvent de plus en plus difficile de maintenir leur antienne sur « le modèle de transition démocratique » offert par la Birmanie et leur belle et vielle amie sortie d’Oxford qui se veut la « Mandela birmane ». Ils se rendent compte maintenant que leur favorite est une raciste islamophobe qui a dit textuellement à la télévision « coopérer totalement » avec l’armée birmane. La BBC a diffusé des analyses sans concession sur le rôle abject de « blanchisseuse de génocide » qu’Aung San Suu Kyi a endossé. Si les acteurs occidentaux veulent une normalisation complète des relations avec la Birmanie et donc, avec son armée, ils doivent soit mettre fin aux atrocités commises, soit tenter de couvrir par tous les moyens les voix qui s’élèvent contre ce génocide. Et en effet, on assiste à une montée des voix et des visages islamophobes ou fascistes, de Londres à Paris, en passant par Washington. Si ces personnes finissent par s’emparer du pouvoir comme Marine Le Pen en France, nous aurions un Conseil de Sécurité à l’ONU dont les cinq sièges permanents seraient occupés par des néo-totalitaires, des néo-fascistes ou des fascistes tout court… L’avenir est très sombre pour les Rohingya et les musulmans de manière générale… Aung San Suu Kyi ? Une « blanchisseuse de génocide » LeMuslimPost : La France devrait-elle jouer un rôle plus important en tant qu’ancienne puissance coloniale en Indochine, notamment sur le plan économique pour favoriser la prospérité de tous les citoyens birmans ? Dr Maung Zarni : Tout d’abord, la France devrait cesser de promouvoir ce diplomate luxembourgeois soit-disant expert de l’Etat Rakhine, Jacques Leider. Il a proféré des âneries sur le fait que les Rohingya ne seraient pas un groupe ethnique et démolit toute argumentation sur l’existence d’un génocide. Leider est un raciste nuisible qui dissimule ses vues racistes sous un langage universitaire policé. Il a été promu par l’ambassade de France à Rangoon comme « la voix académique sensée » dans le concert des récriminations anti-génocide. D’un autre côté, la France semble vouloir encourager une gouvernance responsable et transparente en Birmanie, certainement en partie parce qu’y opère Total, sa multinationale milliardaire, depuis près de 20 ans… LeMuslimPost : Vous prévoyez d’éditer en 2017 un ouvrage sur la question. Comment amenez-vous les étudiants en droits de l’Homme à s’intéresser à la cause Rohingya ? Dr Maung Zarni : Je devais publier mon essai depuis quatre ans déjà mais j’ai donné la priorité à la recherche et à l’activisme. Heureusement, mes éditeurs du Yale University Press ont été compréhensifs. Je veux achever le manuscrit d’ici deux ou trois mois – que j’avais une fois de plus interrompu depuis la dernière vague de répression enclenchée le 9 octobre. J’ai vécu la moitié de ma vie dans le centre culturel et historique de la Birmanie et l’autre moitié – plus de 25 ans – comme activiste à l’échelle internationale. Ma famille a des racines ancrées dans le féodalisme traditionnel des palais ainsi que dans l’armée. Dans ce livre, j’associe ma connaissance intime de la politique dominante birmane et de son caractère destructif avec mes connaissances d’historien et de sociologue sur la politique, la société et l’économie birmanes. Un chapitre sera évidemment consacré au racisme et aux actes génocidaires que nous, « Bouddhistes » hypocrites et racistes, avons perpétrés à l’encontre de cette communauté musulmane. Je veux démonter les mensonges et les illusions centenaires sur lesquels s’est bâti notre racisme. Retrouvez le combat et les initiatives du Dr Maung Zarni sur son blog : Zarni’s Blog. Propos recueillis par Ahmed Medien et traduits par Sihem Bouzidi. _______________________________________________________________________________________ English Translation Le Muslims Post: I would like to revisit your childhood, education in Burma. Could you describe instances of when/how Buddhist "ethnonationalism" is embedded in Burma? Today ethnonationalism – not Buddhism nor democratic or human rights values - has become the organizing ideology of politics, military, society and the Buddhist Order. Between 1960's and 1988, I grew up in the last capital of Burmese kingdom called Mandalay. Our city of half million inhabitants was ethnically and religiously diverse because of its geographic location: trading routes among Thailand, China and India all converge in Mandalay: food, languages, traditions, costumes, religious practices, etc were highly diverse, in spite of the fact that the city itself was landlocked. Notwithstanding this diversity, the idea of ethnic identity as based on BLOOD has been so deeply ingrained in our mainstream Burmese thought. So, the taught notion of 'pure blood' or 'half-blooded' governed our social relations. Our family was no exception. My mother was a high school teacher of history and Burmese literature. When I was about 8, my mother gave me a few historical fictions entitled “Blood” “Burmese Sword”, etc. My earliest memory of ethno-nationalist self-awareness based on “blood” came from a couple of nationally acclaimed fictions based on history. Looking back almost 50 years later, I would call the kind of ethno-nationalism based on blood on which my own consciousness as a Burmese boy developed as a mild strain of racism. Yes, we all had friends and neighbours from Muslim or Christian backgrounds or Chinese or Indian backgrounds, and we all got on well. But at a deeper mental level, we didn’t really accept them as Burmese simply because they are not Buddhist. The cliché is that to be Burmese is to be Buddhist. But again local Chinese who ARE Buddhist we don’t view them as Burmese – because their own ethnic identity and physical features – much fairer skin than most “pure” Burmese – are too distinct. This purity of ethno-national identity, I didn’t realize was a pure fiction. For every mainstream or majority Burmese who perceives him or herself as “pure” Bama or Burmese has mixed ancestry. But the Bama or Burmese are the hegemonic identity by virtue of the fact that those who claim to be “pure Burmese” control power, culture and society (if not economy and wealth). So, however mixed our family background may be ethnically we have a tendency to identify ourselves with the powerful group or assume that dominant identity. Historically, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity has been norm in the country - then separate city states and kingdoms - for at least 1,000 years of recorded history. But in those feudal times, the local Buddhist kings reigned supreme and had monopoly over power and wealth creation. But when the British colonial rule for the whole country in 1886, diverse ethnic relations took on a new dimension: the Burmese identity became far more insular, defensive and entrenched at the same time vis-à-vis other identities considered alien – such British and white European as well as Indian and Chinese. Because the colonial society that emerged after the British conquest of Burma in Nov 1885 was ethnically layered: the British and other white Europeans at the top and the Indian and Chinese commercial/trading and technical classes in the middle, with the vast majority of Burmese Buddhists at the bottom. That triggered in the majority Burmese society the emergence of a very pronounced ethno-nationalist identity, consciousness. Occasionally, this consciousness translated into bloody attacks on primarily dark-skinned people with the Indian sub-continental origin, irrespective of their Hindu or Muslim or Christian background. The British, both the colonial administration and commercial firms, also played on these newly emerging ethnic and racial differences and prejudices in order to managed the anger and frustration which they knew were brewing among the majority colonized Burmese masses. A classic divide and rule. And after independence, particularly the Burmese military continues to use this old ‘divide and rule’: for a divided society is weak and easier to control than well-integrated society. After its coup in 1962 – a year before I was born – the Burmese military institutionalized anti-Indian and anti-Christian racism that was quite widespread in society at large – albeit in a mild strain – and began to purge quietly from key positions initially, any ‘half-blooded’, Christian or Indian officers. This is the single most and first-ever solid instance of ethno-nationalism in Burma: the army cleansing itself of anyone considered “impure”-blooded Burmese. The great irony here is the men who led this ethno-nationalised employment policy were themselves half-Chinese – the likes of dictator general ne win (deceased), his deputies such as the late general San Yu, etc. To date, Aung San Suu Kyi has herself adopted that ethnonationalist, racist stance in terms of her party: she is solely responsible for purging her now ruling Party of any Burmese with Islamic background. The NLD party has not even a single Muslim MP in the country where Muslims are at least 5% of the total population. Finally, the previous government led by ex-General Thein Sein enacted 4 national laws including the law banning or making it impossible for Buddhists to marry anyone else – from other faith backgrounds. So, today ethnonationalism – not Buddhism nor democratic or human rights values - has become the organizing ideology of politics and society. Le Muslims Post: When was your epiphany moment? It was my British wife who triggered this epiphany. She lived as a young volunteer in a Karen war refugee camp along Thai-Burmese borders about 15 years ago, and lived in a town called Mae Sot where she chanced upon the fact that some Rakhine Buddhist activists who were opposed to the military dictatorship were reading and discussing Mein Kempf (Hitler’s infamous “My Story”. After she returned to UK, she worked as a professional researcher on the persecution of Rohingyas, around 2009, she began to discover and share with me what she was discovering – unspeakable crimes my country’s military was committing against the Rohingya people. Up until that point, I was as brain-washed as any average Joe in Burma: I didn’t even know that they were our own citizens and officially considered our own ethnic minority – like any other ethnic minority of Burma. So I started to do my own research, and began to realize what we were doing to the Rohingya fit the term ‘genocide’. At the personal level, I began ask myself what if my daughters were tossed into the fire by a powerful army, or my wife raped and gang-raped, or my old mother shot dead by the soldiers – simply because they exist in a place that the Burmese army and the Rakhine did not want them exist. That was an extremely shocking and personally painful realization: I was such a proud and patriotic Burmese. I had devoted half of my life to pro-human rights activism for my country which I loved dearly. I was raised a very strong nationalist and patriot by my parents. All this patriotism, rose-view of my country, my Buddhist culture and my own Buddhist people came down crashing into pieces. I realized as a society, as a democratic opposition and as a national army we have become as barbaric, fascist and monstrous as the Nazis. Le Muslims Post: What is your reaction towards elements of Burmese society and their role for inciting more hate (e.g. Wirathu). How does the primer Buddhist of non-violence align with this? Complete and utter disbelief. This may be a paradox: as someone who was deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy in his thoughts and outlook on life, I became extremely outraged – beyond words – that these Saffron Robe-men who call themselves ‘monks’ and ‘Buddhists” are espousing a categorically Fascist ideas and worldview. Buddhists are not supposed to be consumed by anger. But I was. What these Nazi-‘monks’ wear on their sleeves is deep ignorance about Islam as a faith and fear and hatred towards Muslims as human community. There is absolutely nothing which is Buddhist about these hate-mongers. Their Saffron robes and shaven heads are taken to be coterminous with Buddhism. Truth is they are murderous demagogues as bad as Nazi demagogues who call for openly cleansing Burma of Muslims, by any means necessary. Wirathu is from my city called Mandalay. He ought to be tried at ICC and locked up for openly calling for starving the Muslims of Mandalay as an initial step towards cleansing Burma of Muslims. Le Muslims Post: The Burmese government have largely ignored UN statements in 2014 (citizenship) and 2016. What are the intl' organizations that are dedicated to the Rohyingya cause and what precise action needs to be done? Burma Task Force USA – a coalition of N. American Muslim organizations – is one. Then there are a worldwide web of Rohingya activists who have been doing tremendous job of getting the information about the crimes against humanity out of their old homeland which is closed off to journalists and researchers – like European Rohingya Council, Arakan Rohingya National Organization, Burmese Rohingya Organization United Kingdom, Rohingya Blogger, Rohingya Vision, just to name a few. Then there are international research organizations and/or activist networks such as Human Rights Watch, FortifyRights, International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary U. of London, and so on that have made very important contributions to putting Rohingya persecution on the international map of consciousness. The UN Special Rapporteurs on the human rights situation in Myanmar over the last 10 years have been extremely crucial in mobilizing UN opinion. Of course, investigative journalists as well as photographers from around the world participate in this loose effort to end Myanmar’s genocide. There is also a quiet but very important network of Burmese, Rohingya and Rakhine activists and researchers who collect raw information about genocidal persecution. What needs to be done is 1) to establish the fact that the citizenship act of 1982 has been a tool specially designed for this genocidal purpose against the Rohingya and build a pressure campaign for Myanmar government to review and revise it. It’s like Hitler’s Nuremberg Law that de-Germanize the Jews and stripped them of any rights or protection.; 2) to get the world community, both peoples and states, to acknowledge the persecution of the Rohingya by the Burmese state, a UN member, as the crime of genocide; 3) to get a small coalition of UN states – for instance, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Turkey, in collaboration with non-Islamic governments which may be more principled and compassions – such as Sweden, lead an independent summit to pressurise the Burmese leadership – both Aung San Suu Kyi and general Min Aung Hlaing – to end the persecution immediately. You don’t need the whole world to stop a genocide; you need however a key powerful state or a coalition of small but still influential states to get together and build the maximum pressure – diplomatic, political, cultural, economic – on the Burmese leadership, with serious threats of punishment for the international crime of genocide. Le Muslims Post: o you support reverting economic sanctions against Burma for the sake of imposing new humanitarian grounds? Yes, I absolutely do. Over 10 years I worked on building an international boycott campaign against Burma – when Suu Kyi was under house arrest. Later I argued that isolation and boycott were hurting the country’s people more than the generals. But I think at this point, I would support anything – including military intervention – although such intervention is inconceivable – by a powerful neighbour to stop the genocide. It’s been going on for almost 40 years. That was why, I coined the term “the slow burning genocide” as opposed to a swift one like in Rwanda. Le Muslims Post: How did/does the rise of China in the region (which has a bad record with its Muslim minority) affect the treatment of Rohingyas in the country? China is implicated as a matter of fact in the latest phases of persecution, and so is India. Both are already commercially invested in some of the areas where Rohingyas are being driven out of their whole neighborhoods -for deep sea port development, Special Economic Zone project. Etc. The Burmese military brought in both India and China as its business partners. Over 100,000 Rohingyas lost their homes, lands and livelihood as the Burmese military made ways for the Chinese and Indian project. To me, China is an imperialist power, with absolutely no redeeming humanistic value. Over 5,000 years of civilization have produced not a set of universally admirable values or policy for the rest of the world to admire or model itself after. China’s rise is against the well-being of the entire humanity, not just against Muslims. Look at what China – and to a lesser extent – India are doing in Africa or Latin and Central America: continental resource rape and destruction of the natural Environment. I know it is NOT good to be too blunt or too honest. I think European colonialisms of 500 years have resulted in the sordid state of affairs we have today. And the rise of an Asian power is actually as bad as the White Man’s serial genocides around the world. China does NOT even pretend it has any worthy humanistic value: Beijing’s state capitalists are honey-tongued about ‘harmony and good neighbourly policies’, but their deeds are driven by un-fettered greed. China is a new cancer to the word if the olden-day White Man was a serious mass murderer – for the rest of us who come from colonized world. Le Muslims Post: Can you describe the Rohingyas' involvement in local and central politics? Today Rohingyas have practically no involvement in local or national politics. There is a small number of Rohingya activists and Rohingya elites who try to appeal to the better senses of their Burmese brothers and sisters, in Rangoon, Sittwe, or in diaspora. But all their efforts are to no avail. Because they are being ostracized the way the German Jews were ostracized. They have become the Jews of Myanmar. Not even Aung San Suu Kyi would touch Rohingya activists and politicians with a long pole, including those who loved her and supported her for so long. Le Muslims Post: Where is Myanmar heading in the age of normalized relations with the U.S. and the West and the ascendance of new anti-Islam, conservative voices in the West? I think Washington, London and Brussels (EU) are finding it difficult to continue with their collective and concerted spin that Myanmar is a ‘model democratic transition’, with their old darling, the Oxford-educated and beautiful Oriental woman as a Mandela-like figure. They are realizing their darling is an anti-Muslim racist who is “cooperating fully” – by her own admission on Channel News Asia on 8 Dec – with the Burmese army. Even BBC, the mainstream British media, has broadcast scathing news analyses about the despicable role she is playing as the genocide whitewasher. Kofi Annan is also playing this whitewash role in the midst of the credible allegations of Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratizing Myanmar committing a full-scale genocide. If the Western players want to fully normalize including normalization of relations with the Burmese army then the West need to either held end Burma’s atrocities against Rohingya or they need to drown out the outcries against the Rohingya genocide. Yes, there are growing anti-Muslim Fascist voices within the Western establisments – from London to Paris to Washington. If these Fascist voices become official power holders such as Le Pen in Paris, then we are looking at the extremely anti-human Security Council, where all 5 permanent members are either neo-totalitarians or neo-Fascist or Fascists. So, the future looks very, very grim for the Rohingya – and Muslims in general. Le Muslims Post: Should France play a bigger role in Indochina as the old ruler and provide more economic grant towards the prosperity of all Burmese "citizens?" First thing, France needs to stop is promoting this Luxumberg diplomat-cum-‘expert’ on Rakhine named Jaque Leider. He has been promoting rubbish about Rohingya NOT being an ethnic group, or dismissing any credible and expert conclusions about the genocide they are subject to. Leider is an extremely toxic racist man who couches his racist views using a neutral scholarly language. The French Embassy in Rangoon has promoted him to be ‘the sane scholarly voice’ in against the chorus of genocide cries. France on the other hand seems to want to promote some kind of an accountable and transparent governance in Burma, given the fact that it has multi-billion dollars Total national gas operations over the last nearly 20 years. Le Muslims Post: Can you provide us more information about the 2017 book / other venues for human rights students in Europe to take interest in the Rohyngya cause. I am about 4 years behind my book deadline because I have prioritized doing activism and research on the unfolding genocide. My editors at Yale University Press have been extremely understanding. I want to finish the manuscript in the next couple of months – that’s again moving the deadline as I dropped the writing entirely since Oct 9 violence in Rohingya area. My book intends to de-center the nation-state and de-center the Bama-centered racist, class-less, nationalist rubbish presented by Bama and state-centered westerners. I lived half of my life in the cultural and historical center of Burma and another half of my life – 25+ years – as an activist internationally. My family has deep roots in the old feudal palace traditions, as well as in the Burmese military. I am weaving my own intimate understanding of the cancerous and destructive Burmese mainstream politics together with my historical and sociological scholarship on Burma’s history, politics, society and economy. Most certainly, one chapter will be devoted to the genocidal racism and the genocidal deeds that we as "Buddhist" hypocrites and racists have committed against this particular Muslim community. As a matter of fact, my own late great uncle was deputy head of the military administration named Mayu District in the early 1960s. I want to expose the century-old collective lies,fictions and delusions on which our racism has come to rest.

Watch CNN Coverage of Duterte speeches and analysis here. (CNN)Controversial Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted killing suspected criminals during his time as mayor of Davao City. "In Davao, I used to do it personally. Just to show the guys that, if I can do it, why can't you?" Duterte said. "And (I'd) go around Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble also. I was really looking for an encounter so I could kill." He made the remarks at the Wallace Business Forum in Manila on Monday. Since taking power in June, Duterte has waged a brutal "war on drugs." The crackdown has been linked to more than 5,900 deaths in less than six months. The President's office has been contacted for comment. 'I have this migraine every day' Speaking at the same forum, Duterte told business leaders he had been using the painkiller fentanyl to relieve severe pain after a "bad slip." "I have this migraine every day. I had a bad slip ... I hit my head on the cement. I have a lot of issues with my spine," he said on Monday. Duterte said he had been using more than the recommended dose of fentanyl until his doctor stopped him. "I was only given a fourth of (the whole patch), but no more, because of course my doctor learned that I was using the whole patch because I felt better," he said. "When he knew it, he made me stop and he said, 'The first thing you would lose is your cognitive ability.'" In addition to the ongoing pain, Duterte said he suffered from Buerger's disease, due to his history of smoking. According to the Mayo Clinic's website, Buerger's disease, thromboangiitis obliterans, is a "rare disease of the arteries and veins in the arms and legs" that can lead to clots in blood vessels. Duterte accused in senate hearing Allegations that Duterte had been personally involved in killings in Davao were previously made at a senate inquiry set up to look into extrajudicial killings during the President's drug crackdown. Self-professed hitman Edgar Matobato told the committee he saw Duterte unload two magazines of an Uzi submachine gun into a National Bureau of Investigation official. "He must have finished 200 bullets," Matobato said in September. The hitman claimed more than 1,000 people had been killed by death squads during Duterte's time as mayor. The senate inquiry was scrapped and investigations stopped in October, after the committee's head and Duterte critic, Sen. Leila De Lima, was replaced. Philippines leader 'deliberately' avoided Obama Duterte is no stranger to controversy -- he's frequently made headlines in the past year for his public statements. Before an international summit in September, he called US President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch," while denouncing US condemnation of his war on drugs. In response, the White House canceled bilateral talksbetween the two leaders. During the same speech this week in which he admitted to killing people, Duterte said he had deliberately avoided Obama at the Laos summitto dodge an "awkward situation." "I would not know if he would accept my gesture of a handshake," said Duterte. © 2016 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

See original request letter below, submitted on 24th November 2016 by Nural Islam (ARNO), on behalf of the listed coalition. 24 November 2016 Mr Franco Ippolito, President Dr Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General Ms Simona Fraudatario, Coordination The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso Via della Dogana Vechia 5 Rome Italy Dear Mr Ippolito, Dr Tognoni and Ms Fraudatario, We, the undersigned group of researchers, academics, and activists, in coalition with global Rohingya refugees, hereby request that the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) take up the urgent case of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority. We make this request in response to the well documented unfolding and escalating genocide in Rakhine state, Myanmar. We ask that the Tribunal examine the current crisis in the context of historical evidence of recurring patterns of persecution by the Myanmar state against the Rohingya, that have precipitated at least three waves of mass exodus since the 1970s. We make this request on the basis of compelling evidence of ongoing: widespread institutional discrimination; state sponsored hate crime; mass killings; mass sexual violence; wholesale destruction of communities and neighbourhoods; massive forced displacement; apartheid structures of segregation; targeted population control; state denial of Rohingya identity; forced labour; denial of access to livelihood, healthcare, freedom of movement, and food. Evidence of these genocidal violations, with blanket impunity, is to be found in the extensive and systematic research conducted by a range of academic and human rights organisations (Green, MacManus and de la Cour Venning, ISCI, 2015; Zarni and Cowley, 2014; Fortify Rights, 2015; Human Rights Watch, 2012, 2013; ASEAN, 2015). In October/November 2016, evidence of a new reign of terror and wholesale destruction of communities exercised by the Myanmar state against the Rohingya population has emerged. This month, we have received evidence of widespread killings, curfews, rape and arson in Northern Rakhine State (NRS), the worst affected area. All on-the-ground reports paint a picture of a terrified Rohingya community trapped in their homes, unable to access food, health services or livelihoods. NRS is an information ‘black hole,’ with travel to the region tightly restricted by the Myanmar authorities. In spite of rare UN Security Council Meetings to discuss the violence against the Rohingya people, the international community has thus far failed to take any meaningful action to intervene and end the genocide. International institutions of global justice such as the ICC, the UN Security Council and ASEAN have failed to act in the face of robust evidence of genocide. The election of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 2015 was met with much global optimism. However, Aung San Suu Kyi has simply entrenched the persecution of the Rohingya; indeed, this year she demanded foreign governments refrain from using the term ‘Rohingya.’ Disturbingly, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has chosen to ignore the criminal nature of state policies toward the Rohingya. The Myanmar government in public statements continues to deny the existence of the Rohingya identity. Meanwhile, the establishment in August 2016 by the Myanmar government of a high-level commission, headed by former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has been welcomed by many as a move in the right direction. Civil society actors are, however, deeply skeptical about the Commission’s potential to effect real change for the Rohingya. Crucially, the Commission has been instructed to operate within the framework of the 1982 Citizenship Law, which effectively excludes the Rohingya from the rights of citizenship. Many are concerned that the Commission does not adequately represent the Rohingya community – indeed, it does not have a single Rohingya on it. Of great concern also is the fact that one of the three Rakhine members, Saw Khin Tint, has openly rejected the existence, identity and history of the Rohingya people, both in her public speeches and in writing. Myanmar’s own Human Rights Commisssion has also refused even to acknowledge the existence of the victim group and the domestic criminal justice process is itself an instrument of persecution. The Tribunal would provide an arena in which to: establish the facts, inform the public, preserve collective memory, and protect against the rewriting of history. It will challenge the silence of states and international institutions, and pressure them to fulfill their international human rights obligations. In addition, we see the Tribunal as a vehicle through which to inform and strengthen civil society, and foster international solidarity to end this persecution. We request that the Tribunal move beyond narrow legal paradigms, the application of which is determined by the political calculations of key UN member states. Instead, we urge the Tribunal to draw on increasingly recognized criminological frameworks for apprehending state crime and genocide, being sensitive to the spirit of Raphael Lemkin’s intention behind the UN Genocide Convention (1948). We would welcome the participation of any other state persecuted ethnic groups inside Myanmar at any stage of the proceedings. Holding the People’s Tribunal at this time would enable civil society to leverage the renewed media and political attention now focused on the situation of the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Priority focus areas for potential impact include: 1) intervention in, and potential mitigation of, an unfolding process of genocide; 2) shifting the debates and public understanding around the persecution of the Rohingya from one of ‘humanitarian crisis,’ development and ‘inter-communal’ violence to one of ‘genocide,’ and serious human rights violations with a key focus on the criminality of the Myanmar state. Initiators Rohingya Youth Development Forum (RYDF), Arakan-Burma Rohingya Youth Initiative Canada (RYIC) European Rohingya Council (ERC) Burma Human Rights Network Rohingya Community Netherlands (BRCNL) Burmese Rohingya Community, Denmark (BRCD) Rohingya Organisation Norway Swedish Rohingya Association (SRA) Canadian Burmese Rohingya Organisation (CBRO) Rohingya Intellectuals Community, Australia (RICA) Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA) Burmese Rohingya Associate, Queensland (BRAQA) Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee, Malaysia Burmese Rohingya Association in Japan (BRAJ) Rohingya Advocacy Network in Japan (RANJ) Social Welfare Society for Development (SWSD), Chittagong, Bangladesh British Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) Rohingya Blogger Supporting Initiators International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Malaysia Centre for Human Rights and Advocacy (CENTHRA), Malaysia The International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) Genocide Watch, Washington DC, USA Burma Task Force, USA Protect the Rohingya, South African Lawyers Youk Chhang, Genocide survivor and Director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia Dr Maung Zarni, Advisor to the European Centre for the Study of Extremism, Cambridge, UK Ko Aung, 8888 student leader and former Burmese political prisoner, UK References ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Disenfranchisement and Desperation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State: Drivers of a Regional Crisis (October 2015) Green P., MacManus T., de la Cour Venning, A., Countdown to Annihilation: Genocide in Myanmar (International State Crime Initiative, 2015) Human Rights Watch, All You Can Do is Pray: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State (April 2013) Human Rights Watch, ‘The Government Could Have Stopped This’: Sectarian Violence and Ensuing Abuses in Burma’s Arakan State’ (August 2012) Lowenstein, A. K., Persecution of the Rohingya Muslims: Is Genocide Occurring in Rakhine State? A Legal Analysis (Fortify Rights, 2015) Zarni, M. and Cowley, A., ‘The Slow-Burning Genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya,’ Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, Vol. 23, no. 3, June 2014.

Deadly attacks in October and November against security forces in Burma’s northern Arakan state are qualitatively different from anything that has occurred there in recent decades International Crisis Group interviews with several members of the armed group that carried out attacks against government forces in October and November, as well as other sources, have revealed important new details about the situation in western Burma. The group refers to itself as Harakah al-Yaqin, or Faith Movement in Arabic. It was established following the 2012 deadly riots between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012, which killed some 200 people and displaced over 120,000, almost all of them Muslim. Most have long been denied citizenship and face draconian restrictions on freedom of movement — limiting their access to government services and jobs. This new armed group is overseen by a committee of Rohingya émigrés based in Mecca. The public face of its operations in northern Arakan, also called Rakhine, is Ata Ullah (known by several aliases), who is the main speaker in several videos released by the group. He was born in Karachi to a Rohingya father and grew up in Mecca. He is part of a group of 20 Rohingya who have international experience in modern guerrilla warfare and are leading operations on the ground in northern Arakan. Also with them is a senior Islamic scholar, Ziabur Rahman, a Saudi-educated Rohingya mufti with the authority to issue fatwas. Burma Is Pursuing ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Rohingya Muslims, U.N. Official Says Burmese authorities are carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country’s western Arakan state, a senior U.N. official said. To enhance its religious legitimacy further, al-Yaqin has obtained fatwas from senior clerics in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and elsewhere, giving backing to its cause under Islamic law. This has helped the group gain significant support among Rohingya in northern Arakan. It has spent at least two years training hundreds of local recruits in guerilla warfare and explosives. Several hundred Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have also traveled to Arakan in recent weeks to join up. The current heavy-handed security response is very unlikely to dislodge al-Yaqin; rather, it is creating further despair and animosity among the population, which may further entrench violence. The emergence of this well-organized and apparently well-funded group is a game-changer in the government’s efforts to address the complex challenges of Arakan state. Though there have been some small insurgent groups in recent decades, mostly based out of Bangladesh, in Burma — which is officially called Myanmar — the Rohingya have never been a radicalized population, and the majority have eschewed violence, seeing it as counterproductive to improving their lot. But impoverished and oppressed, they struggle to survive and have little hope for their future; over the past year, the sense of desperation has been increasing. The fact that more people in northern Arakan are now embracing violence reflects deep policy failures over many years, rather than any sort of inevitability. Importantly, although there are some indications of training and solidarity links with international jihadist organizations, the aims and actions of al-Yaqin involve insurgency against security forces, rather than being terrorist or transnational jihadist. It has not attacked civilians or religious targets. Its stated aim is to secure the rights of the Rohingya as citizens within Burma — although its violent approach has set back that cause immensely. Its tactics are sophisticated. On Oct. 9, it launched predawn attacks on three border police bases, including an audacious assault on the headquarters, a key security installation. The headquarters was overrun in a complex attack involving several hundred assailants that included planting improvised explosive devices and setting an ambush on the approach road, delaying the arrival of army reinforcements, while the attackers looted the armory. A further clash on Nov. 12 killed a senior army officer. These actions represent the actions of a determined, well-trained insurgency that will likely launch further attacks. The military responded with a major operation to recover the looted weapons and capture those involved. Feeling its dignity affronted and taking casualties, the military employed disproportionate force and failed to adequately distinguish attackers from civilians. At least 1,500 homes have been burned down — almost certainly by the military, according to satellite analysis released by Human Rights Watch on Dec. 13. Some 30,000 have been internally displaced and 27,000 have so far sought refuge in Bangladesh. The area where the military is focusing its crackdown has been almost entirely sealed off, which has made it difficult to verify multiple allegations of serious human-rights abuses; but as more people arrive in Bangladesh, a clearer picture is starting to emerge. STR—AFP/Getty Images Residents displaced by conflict flee from Maungdaw, in Burma’s Rakhine state, on Oct. 13, 2016 Aung San Suu Kyi has said little publicly on the situation, has not traveled to the area or criticized the crackdown. The state media she controls have issued blanket denials of abuses, risking reinforcing the impunity of troops on the ground. Tensions with the Muslim world — including Malaysia and Bangladesh — are rising. There are real risks that if the government mishandles the situation, for instance with the further use of excessive force, it will push more of the Muslim population in that area to support al-Yaqin, entrenching the armed group and a cycle of violence. It may also create conditions for radicalization that could be exploited by transnational jihadists to pursue their own agendas in Burma. A terrorist incident would inflame religious tensions across the country, with potentially disastrous consequences. These dangerous outcomes can be avoided, but only if the security response is subordinated and integrated into a well-crafted political strategy that offers hope to the Rohingya, is sensitive to the deeply-felt grievances of Buddhist Arakanese, and prioritizes closer cooperation and intelligence sharing with countries in the region. The political space for such initiatives has now shrunk. Strong, public leadership is required from Aung San Suu Kyi to prevent the situation deteriorating. Johnston and Neelakantan are the directors of International Crisis Group’s Asia Program © 2016 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Amid international accusations that the Myanmar military is leading a crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said she wants to make the situation better. Asked if the problem is intractable, she said no. “We have managed to keep the situation under control and to calm it down,” she stated. “But I would appreciate it so much if the international community would help us to maintain peace and stability and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities instead of always drumming up calls for, well, for bigger fires of resentment, if you like.” Amid international accusations that the Myanmar military is leading a crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said she wants to make the situation better. Asked if the problem is intractable, she said no. “We have managed to keep the situation under control and to calm it down,” she stated. “But I would appreciate it so much if the international community would help us to maintain peace and stability and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities instead of always drumming up calls for, well, for bigger fires of resentment, if you like.” Speaking in an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia's Lin Xueling on Friday (Dec 2) during her official visit to Singapore, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate called for understanding from the international community and explained that the issue is a highly sensitive and delicate one. "It’s not just Muslims who are nervous and worried. The Rakhine are worried too, they are worried about the fact that they are shrinking as a Rakhine population percentage-wise, and of course, we cannot ignore the fact that the relationship between the two communities has not been good and we want to try to make it better. "But it doesn’t help if everybody is just concentrating on the negative side of the situation in spite of the fact that there were attacks against police outposts which began on Oct 9." The attacks were blamed on "terrorists" although the government had previously pointed at the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, and since then, troops have poured into an area along the border with Bangladesh, which is largely home to the Rohingya minority. Thousands have fled their homes as security forces hunt down more suspects who may be in hiding. Myanmar's army has denied reports from activists that civilians have been killed, gang raped or had their homes torched. When it was put to her that it is not solely the international community that is the root of the problem, Ms Suu Kyi said: "I know that. I’m not saying there are no difficulties, but it helps if people recognise the difficulty and are more focused on resolving these difficulties rather than exaggerating them so that everything seems worse than it really is." One result that Myanmar's de-facto leader is satisfied with is "the fact that the ministers are not corrupt", Ms Suu Kyi said when asked about what she is most pleased with in the nine months since her administration took over. She noted, however, that "some of the junior officers are still not quite what we would wish them to be". Ms Suu Kyi expressed hope that things can be improved, as she drew inspiration from Singapore's example: "When I went to meet your corruption investigation bureau, they gave me a piece of paper, on which one of the things they said was that corruption is a fact of life, not a way of life. I like that very much, because this is how it is in our country. People accept it not as a way of life, although they recognise that is the fact of life, which means that the practice of corruption has not become embedded in our culture and that is very encouraging." On Myanmar's journey from half a century of military rule to a democratically-elected civilian-led government, Ms Suu Kyi, despite being one of the world's most prominent democracy icons, made it clear it is not driven by her alone. "I have to keep reminding people that I was under house arrest for 15 years and they’ve (the military) only managed to retain public support during that period, and we managed to keep our party going in spite of the great difficulty. So, you must not underestimate the ability of many, many ordinary members of our political party, and our members are really the public, and we are very close to the public." She is optimistic that Myanmar, and whoever succeeds her, will be able to stay on the path of democracy. "How successful I am, as a leader, will be decided by how dispensable I can make myself, and I hope that I’ll be able to make myself totally dispensable, that they will not need me to go on, neither my party, nor my country." _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Channel News Asia

About 200 Muslims gathered in the compound of the Sultan Idris Shah II Mosque in Kuala Kangsar to protest the oppression of the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar, December 2, 2016. ― Bernama pic IPOH, Dec 3 ― The Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisations plans to file a case on the Rohingya issue in Myanmar with the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Mapim chairman Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said the council was compiling information on the atrocities against the minority Muslim community in northern Rakhine to support the case. He also said that one of the NGOs that Mapim had consulted on the case was the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) based in London. “Mapim is compiling evidence with the help of the Rohingya community in Malaysia and Arakan, Myanmar,” he said to reporters after a Rohingya solidarity programme at the Sultan Azlan Shah Mosque here yesterday. Mohd Azmi said Mapim also called on the Malaysian government to apply pressure on international organisations to take stern action against Myanmar. In Parit, Perak deputy mufti Zamri Hashim said Muslims in Malaysia should take a lesson from the atrocities against the Rohingya to resolve to strengthen solidarity of the ummah. He spoke to reporters after performing the ground-breaking for the second phase of a madrasah in Kampung Seri Kaya, Bota Kiri, today. The RM2.3-million project is scheduled for completion at the end of next year. Zamri said the state-level Rohingya Solidarity Fund launched last night would seek contributions from over 600 mosques and 30 suraus on Friday. ― Bernama - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/islamic-consultative-group-to-file-case-on-rohingyas-with-icc#sthash.JVfmiVBS.JzR572GH.dpuf

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak giving his closing speech at the 2016 Umno general assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre, December 3, 2016. ― Bernama pic KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 ― Malaysia is not attempting to intervene in the sovereign affairs of Myanmar but is taking a strong stand against its treatment of the Rohingya people because of universal human values, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today. “This is not intervention. This is universal human values,” he said in his closing speech at the 2016 Umno general assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre here. Najib also confirmed his participation in a mass solidarity gathering with the Myanmar Muslim minority at Stadium Titiwangsa here tomorrow morning. He told the Myanmar government to “change its attitude” towards the Rohingya, adding that neither his administration nor his party would change their stance on the matter. An official with the Myanmar’s President’s Office reportedly chided Malaysia after news reports emerged that Najib was to join in a solidarity gathering tomorrow to protest against Myanmar’s military operations in the Rakhine state, where the Rohingya are from. “According to Asean principles, a member country does not interfere in other member countries’ internal affairs. We have always followed and respected this principle. We hope that the Malaysian government will continue to follow it,” U Zaw Htay told The Myanmar Times yesterday. He reportedly added that the Malaysian gathering was a calculated political decision to win local support and had little to do with Myanmar. But Najib said that Putrajaya is taking a stand on the matter because if left alone, the Rohingya issue would affect the social safety and security of other countries, including Malaysia, where the Myanmar ethnic group have fled to as refugees. An estimated 56,000 Rohingya are in Malaysia as refugees, according to the Foreign Ministry. “This does not mean we do not respect their sovereignty but this has gone beyond the issue of sovereignty,” he told a news conference later. He said that history will judge Malaysians if the country remained silent while the Rohingya were driven out of their home state by the Myanmar military and its majority ethnicities. Over a score of Rohingya people have been reportedly killed and hundreds more taken into custody from Muslim-majority towns since the Myanmar military started operations to nab suspects linked to attacks on its border guard posts on October 9. The Myanmar government has repeatedly denied allegations of abuse but The Myanmar Times reported that journalists and external observers have been barred from accessing the military operation zones to independently verify information. The Myanmar report cited UN estimates that 30,000 people in the northern Rakhine state have been displaced by the violence. - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/najib-says-malaysia-not-meddling-with-myanmar-as-rohingya-is-universal-issu#sthash.6hNhbjff.4rylPaqs.dpuf