by Agence France Presse
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – The head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said on Saturday that ministers from OIC states will meet on April 14 in Saudi Arabia to discuss deadly violence against Muslims in Myanmar.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement that a contact committee of OIC foreign ministers would gather in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

State media in Myanmar reported on Saturday that the death toll from communal violence in the centre of the country over the past 10 days has risen to 43 with more than 1,300 homes and other buildings destroyed.

An OIC statement said Ihsanoglu addressed a contact group meeting on violence against Myanmar Muslims known as Rohingya on Saturday and said the organisation was “ready to take all necessary measures and actions to deal with it”.

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NEW YORK – An international human rights watchdog body Thursday accused the Myanmar’s government of systematically restricting humanitarian aid and imposing discriminatory policies on Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch asked the government to permit unfettered access to humanitarian agencies to provide assistance to Muslim populations, end segregated areas, and put forward a plan for those displaced to return to their homes.
“Burmese (Myanmar) government restrictions on aid to Rohingya Muslims are creating a humanitarian crisis that will become a disaster when the rainy season arrives,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement. “Instead of addressing the problem, Burma’s (Myanmar’s) leaders seem intent on keeping the Rohingya segregated in camps rather than planning for them to return to their homes.”

Ahead of the monsoon season set to start in Myanmar in May, a senior United Nations humanitarian official today called for urgent help for more than 125,000 people displaced by inter-communal fighting in Rakhine state, a region he had just visited.

Speaking to journalists in New York, the Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), John Ging, said tens of thousands of displaced people who are living on what are effectively paddy fields will be completely submerged once the rains hit in less than two months.

“A solution needs to be found to relocate those people and also to see the return and the freedom of movement for all the internally displaced persons (IDPs) so they can begin to recover their lives and their livelihoods,” Mr. Ging stated.

By Patrick Winn

YANGON and MANDALAY, Myanmar — To untrained eyes, the symbol that has suddenly appeared on shop windows across Myanmar appears benign: a patchwork of pastel hues overlaid with the numerals 969.

But to Muslims living in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, the emblem can carry a chilling message: stay out of my store and don’t send any sneaky Buddhists in here to shop on your behalf.

In the aftermath of central Myanmar’s recent anti-Muslim riots — a killing and arson spree that left blackened corpses in the streets — authorities have vowed to track down and punish instigators.

The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide today voiced deep concern at reports of increased violence between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Myanmar, and called on leaders to promote respect for diversity and peaceful coexistence.

Last week President Thein Sein reportedly declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law in four central townships after several days of unrest between Buddhists and Muslims, including in Meiktila where at least 30 people were killed.

“The recent episode of violence in Meiktila in central Myanmar raises concerns that sectarian violence is spreading to other parts of the country,” stated Special Adviser Adama Dieng. “In the context of last year’s violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, there is a considerable risk of further violence if measures are not put in place to prevent this escalation.”

by Andrew Selth
Andrew Selth is a Research Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute.

Given the spate of articles in the news media which connect the anti-Muslim riots in Burma last week with the sectarian violence in Rakhine (Arakan) State last year, it may be helpful to sketch out the multi-faceted nature of Burma’s Muslim communities and some of the underlying issues.

Burma is often left off lists of Southeast Asian countries with sizeable Muslim populations. Yet, at least 4% of Burmese are Muslims, or by most counts well over 2 million people. A large number of Muslims in Burma are not recognised as citizens, however, and thus do not figure in the official statistics. Some unlikely claims range as high as 20%, or more than 11 million people. A few websites include up to 1.5 million Muslims currently living overseas.

Mark Snowiss
When 16 Burmese newspapers are granted operating licenses on April 1, they will become the first independent dailies allowed to publish in nearly 50 years.

While journalists have described the move as a major step toward media freedom in Burma, they have also voiced outrage at the country’s draft media law, released earlier this month, which critics say could roll back government promises to loosen its grip on a long tightly controlled industry.

That bill bans reporting on several topics, including the Burmese military’s battles with ethnic rebels and any coverage critical of the 2008 military-drafted constitution. It also permits six-month jail terms for failing to register news publications with the government.