Aung San Suu Kyi has denied there is ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, despite widespread reports of abuses. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Nobel peace prize winner acknowledged problems in Rakhine state, where most Rohingya people live. But she said ethnic cleansing was “too strong” a term to … Read more
Aung San Suu Kyi has denied there is ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, despite widespread reports of abuses. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Nobel peace prize winner acknowledged problems in Rakhine state, where most Rohingya people live. But she said ethnic cleansing was “too strong” a term to … Read more
Aung San Suu Kyi has denied the ethnic cleansing of Myanmar’s Muslim minority, speaking to the BBC after the UN rights council agreed to investigate allegations against the army. “I don’t think there is ethnic cleansing going on. I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening,” Suu Kyi … Read more
Aung San Suu Kyi’s one-year-old government retained most of its seats in Myanmar by-elections Sunday but braced for symbolic losses in ethnic minority areas as results from the 19-seat poll trickled in. The voting to fill vacant parliamentary seats around Myanmar was seen as a test of the de facto leader’s popularity after a bumpy … Read more
Aung San Suu Kyi’s government will face its first test at the ballot box on Saturday in by-elections around Myanmar seen as a barometer for growing disillusionment with her party a year after it took office. The euphoria that surrounded the democracy icon’s landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to … Read more
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi defended her civilian government’s first year in power in a rare public address on Thursday, saying her party was dedicated to rebuilding a nation ravaged by decades of army rule. The democracy icon was swept into office after her party’s euphoric victory in the first free polls in a generation. … Read more
One year after Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party was sworn in as Myanmar’s first elected government in half a century, opinions are mixed on its performance. Many have a saint-like adoration for “The Lady”, who championed a decades-long democracy struggle against the country’s former military oppressors. But after 12 months … Read more
For decades Myanmar’s people dreamed of democracy, but a year into office Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government is struggling to revive a sluggish economy and shake off the vestiges of the still powerful military. Swept into power on a wave of optimism and hatred of the generals who ruled for 50 years, Suu Kyi’s … Read more
The UN rights council agreed Friday to “urgently” launch an investigation into violations against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, including torture, murder and rapes allegedly committed by troops. The Geneva-based body decided to “dispatch urgently an independent international fact-finding mission” to Myanmar, particularly focused in northern Rahkine state, in a resolution adopted by consensus. The mission must … Read more
A Myanmar woman is suing her own son for calling her a “prostitute” on Facebook, the latest case under a controversial law that critics say is increasingly stifling free speech. Police arrested 21-year-old Wana Oo on Tuesday after his mother Tin Tin Hla, from southern Myanmar, brought a case against him over comments he made … Read more
Thousands of people protested in eastern Myanmar on Sunday against plans to name a bridge after Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, the latest flashpoint between her administration and the country’s restless ethnic minorities. The issue highlights some of the deep distrust among Myanmar’s patchwork of minorities towards the Bamar ethnic majority from which Suu Kyi … Read more
Four men accused of plotting the murder of a prominent Myanmar lawyer and adviser to de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in a Yangon court on Friday. Ko Ni was shot in the back of the head in late January in broad daylight outside Yangon’s airport while waiting for a taxi with his … Read more
Myanmar may be seeking to “expel” all ethnic Rohingya from its territory, a UN rights expert said Monday, pushing for a high-level inquiry into abuses against the Muslim minority community. The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said a full purge could be the ultimate goal of the institutional persecution … Read more
A Myanmar monk infamous for his bilious anti-Muslim tirades has been banned from giving sermons for a year by the country’s top Buddhist body, an unprecedented slapdown to a man whose hate speech has galvanized religious tensions. Wirathu, a monk once dubbed the “face of Buddhist terror”, has led calls for restrictions on Myanmar’s Muslim … Read more
Civilians abandoned a battle-scared town along Myanmar’s border with China on Wednesday, saying they feared an imminent army crackdown in retaliation for a deadly raid by ethnic rebels. At least 36 people were killed after Monday’s audacious pre-dawn raid by ethnic Kokang rebels on police and military posts at Laukkai in the northeastern state of … Read more
Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has broken a month long silence on the daylight assassination of her advisor, calling his killing a “great loss” for the country’s democracy struggle. Ko Ni, a prominent Muslim lawyer and critic of Myanmar’s powerful military, was shot dead on 29 January outside Yangon airport in a … Read more
Khin Khin Tun’s back is a patchwork of burns, searing memories she says from when her former employer poured two flasks of boiling water over her flesh — one for each orange she was accused of stealing. The 14-year-old and her sister spent years working as domestic helpers in the city of Mawlamyine, southern Myanmar, … Read more
A leading lawyer and adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party has been shot dead at Yangon airport in Myanmar. Ko Ni was shot in the head on Sunday after arriving from an international trip. A taxi driver was also shot. A suspect has been detained but there are no … Read more