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New Doubts About Pace of Reforms

Obama Should Press Visiting Burmese President to Keep Past Rights Pledges

(Washington, DC, May 17, 2013) – The United States should use the upcoming visit by Burma’s president to ask tough questions about the slowing pace of human rights reforms and insist on implementation of past commitments, Human Rights Watch said today. President Barack Obama is hosting a visit to Washington, DC, by Burma’s president Thein Sein on May 20-21, 2013.

Human Rights Watch:



© Copyright, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA

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Cyclone Mahasen updates

Report
MERCY Malaysia

MERCY Malaysia Head of Relief Operation, Hew Cheong Yew is currently in the Rakhine region, assessing the needs of the distressed community, as well as providing basic medical aid

According Hew, he is now working together with the local government as well as other NGOs in the area to serve those who have been relocated due to Cyclone Mahasen to schools and monasteries which are currently being used as evacuation centers

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Thousands of Evacuees Return to IDP Camps, After Cyclone Misses Arakan

Report
Irrawaddy

SITTWE, Arakan State—Many evacuated Rohingya and Buddhist Arakanese began returning to their camps on Friday, after Cyclone Mahasen had missed Burma a day earlier. Although many Rohingyas were glad to have avoided the storm, some complained that life at the camp sites would continue to be extremely difficult.

By Friday afternoon, most evacuated Rohingyas in northern Arakan State had returned to their old camp sites, said James Munn, a public information officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).

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[Video] Residents return home after cyclone

Displaced residents start to pack up to return home after they were evacuated due to Cyclone Mahasen.

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Myanmar + 3 others
Expected Low Death Toll in Mahasen Vindicates Disaster Preparedness

Some deaths have been reported in Bangladesh, where over a million people were evacuated. The caution was justified: in 1970, Cyclone Bhola killed some 400,000 people, in 2007, Cyclone Sidr killed nearly 4,000.

International Organization for Migration:

Copyright © IOM. All rights reserved.

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Myanmar + 1 other
Weakened cyclone hits coastline after chaotic evacuations

Rain and strong winds lashed Burma’s northwest coast as the weakened Cyclone Mashasen crossed into Bangladesh on Thursday, killing four people.

Following the Burmese government’s muddled efforts to relocate thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) along the Arakan coastline, it remains unclear if people will begin moving back on Friday or whether they would remain at their current locations.

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Relocation of IDPs in Rakhine State in response to Cyclone Mahasen, as of 16 May 2013

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/.

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War reparations begin in Shan State

Report
Mizzima News

Thursday, 16 May 2013 17:04 Hintharni

Preparations are being made to begin compensating civilians in Shan State affected by the civil war between the Myanmar government and the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA).

A Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House of Parliament) member from the Shan State-based Kyarr Phyu Party (White Tiger Party) said that from May 15 information was being collected to calculate the total losses in Nant Kham Township.

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Cyclone Mahasen Misses Burma, Bringing Relief to Displaced Rohingyas

Report
Irrawaddy

By PAUL VRIEZE and HTET NAING ZAW

SITTWE, Arakan State—Tropical Cyclone Mahasen missed western Burma’s Arakan State on Thursday afternoon, bringing relief to tens of thousands of internally displaced Rohingyas living in camps near the coast.

An official at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology said the cyclone had made landfall at the Chittagong coast in central Bangladesh at 3:30 pm.

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Myanmar + 1 other
Rohingya won’t leave ahead of storm

Authorities are struggling to evacuate tens of thousands of people from low-lying camps before Cyclone Mahasen reaches the coast.

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Volunteers help thousands move to safety as cyclone threatens vulnerable communities

Report
IFRC

By Becky Webb in Myanmar

As tropical cyclone Mahasen continues to make its way over the Bay of Bengal, hundreds of Myanmar Red Cross Society volunteers are working tirelessly to help evacuate people from vulnerable coastal areas in Rakhine State.

Reports suggest the effects of the cyclone will be felt in Myanmar and Bangladesh. “We know from our experience in Cyclone Giri in 2010 that families living in these coastal areas and small islands will bear the brunt of this storm,” said U Maung Maung Khin, Head of Disaster Management from Myanmar Red Cross Society.

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Myanmar + 1 other
Officials reach out to refugees following fighting in Shan state

By NANG MYA NADI

State officials and political parties in northern Shan state are trying to convince residents to return to their villages after thousands of locals fled from their homes after fighting erupted between the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) and the military earlier this month.

Last week, approximately 2,000 locals from 19 villages fled as hundreds of Burmese soldiers launched an assault on a SSA-S position near the Sino-Burmese border. Many of the villagers reportedly crossed the border into China.

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Thousands of Rohingya stranded by the sea as cyclone looms

By NANG MYA NADI

Thousands of displaced Rohingya are still stranded in low-lying areas next to the sea, less than a day before a tropical storm is expected to batter northwestern Burma, local sources have warned.

Among these are hundreds of families, who are too terrified to leave their camps with state security forces, because they have previously been implicated in carrying out mass atrocities against the Muslim minority.

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Myanmar + 1 other
WFP Ready To Assist As Cyclone Mahasen Hits Bangladesh And Myanmar

Amid roaring winds and dark clouds on the horizon as Cyclone Mahasen rolls in, WFP staff in Bangladesh and Myanmar stand ready to respond where necessary.

As Cyclone Mahasen makes initial landfall in the Bay of Bengal, millions of people in the region are bracing themselves for the impact of the storm which is expected to deliver its full blow on Thursday afternoon.

For several days now, in anticipation of Mahasen’s arrival, WFP has mobilized staff, logistics infrastructure and food supplies in areas likely to be affected in both Bangladesh and Myanmar.

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Myanmar + 1 other
Relocations must continue ahead of Cyclone Mahasen, urges UN

As the people and Government of Myanmar brace themselves for Cyclone Mahasen, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, Mr. Ashok Nigam, has called for the prompt relocation of everyone who will be affected.

Read the full report.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/.

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Nearly 70,000 local people moved to places of safety in Rakhine State

The New Light of Myanmar, Tuesday, 16 May, 2013

(extract)

Na y Py i Ta w, 15 May—While evacuation of local people and national race and Bengalis at relief camps are in progress, a total of 69789—4320 on 12 May, 1299 on 13 May, 24932 on 14 May and 39238 on 15 May—have been moved to places of safety so far in order to avoid the possible danger of cyclonic storm “Mahasen”.

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Water donated to villages in Padaung Tsp

The New Light of Myanmar, Tuesday, 16 May, 2013

(extract)

Padaung, 15 May— Myanmar Red Cross Society Community-based Health Development Project, Padaung Township Fire Services Department and wellwishers provided water to water-scarce Yedwinhla village in Talokebin villagetract and Kya-in village in Kyokyar village-tract in Padaung Township in Pyay District in Bago Region on 11 May.

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Cash and kind donated to Meiktila conflict victims

The New Light of Myanmar, Tuesday, 16 May, 2013

(extract)

Meiktila, 15 May— Daw Yi, Daw San San Win, Daw Po and Daw Htay Htay Yi of Mandalay donated relief aids worth K 2.5 million, and U Kyaw Soe of Mandalay, foods worth K 0.2 million and Shan State (South) Muslims Group, relief aids worth K 5 million for victims in Meiktila conflicts at Township’s transit centre on 12 May.

A total of K 199,575,000 in cash and relief aids worth K 644,309,740 have been received as donations for victims of the conflict.

Myanma Alinn

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Myanmar + 1 other
Myanmar authorities work to evacuate camps as cyclone nears

By Jared Ferrie

SITTWE, Myanmar, May 15 (Reuters) - Authorities in Myanmar struggled on Wednesday to evacuate tens of thousands of people, most of them Rohingya Muslims, before a cyclone reaches camps in low-lying regions that have been their home since ethnic and religious unrest last year.

Read the full article on Reuters - AlertNet

Reuters - AlertNet:



For more humanitarian news and analysis, please visit www.trust.org/alertnet