GENEVA: Nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled violence in Myanmar, an “untenable situation” for neighbor Bangladesh, the country’s UN envoy said on Monday, calling on Myanmar to let them return.
About 600,000 people have crossed the border since Aug. 25, when insurgent attacks on security posts were met by a ferocious counter-offensive by the Myanmar army in Rakhine state which the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing.
“This is the biggest exodus from a single country since the Rwandan genocide in 1994,” Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told a UN pledging conference.
“Despite claims to the contrary, violence in Rakhine state has not stopped. Thousands still enter on a daily basis,” he said.
Bangladesh’s interior minister was in Yangon on Monday for talks to find a “durable solution,” Ahsan said.
But Myanmar continued to issue “propaganda projecting Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh,” Ahsan said, adding: “This blatant denial of the ethnic identity of Rohingyas remains a stumbling block.”
Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be stateless, although they trace their families’ presence in the country for generations.
Jordan’s Queen Rania visited Rohingya refugee camps on Monday and called for a stronger response from the international community to the plight of the Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh to escape “systematic persecution” in Myanmar.
“One has to ask, why is the plight of this Muslim minority group being ignored? Why has the systematic prosecution been allowed to play out for so long?” she asked after touring the camps.
The United Nations has appealed for $434 million to provide life-saving aid to 1.2 million people for six months.
“We need more money to keep pace with intensifying needs. This is not an isolated crisis, it is the latest round in a decades-long cycle of persecution, violence and displacement,” UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the talks.
“Children, women and men fleeing Myanmar are streaming into Bangladesh traumatized and destitute,” he added.
“We assess we have pledges of around $340 million,” Lowcock said before the mid-day break in the meeting.
New pledges included 30 million euros announced by the European Union, $15 million by Kuwait, 10 million Australian dollars by Australia and 12 million pounds from Britain.
He reiterated the UN call on Myanmar to allow “full humanitarian access across Rakhine” where aid agencies have been denied entry.
Myanmar must “guarantee the right to safe, voluntary and dignified return so that the Rohingya can live in peace with their human rights upheld in Rakhine,” Lowcock said.
Bangladesh says Rohingya outflow “untenable,” seeks solution
Bangladesh says Rohingya outflow “untenable,” seeks solution
Two Palestinian teens killed by Israeli gunfire in West Bank, Palestinian officials say
The Israeli military did not confirm the deaths but said two suspects hurled explosives toward a local community, endangering civilians, and troops responded with live fire.
“Hits were identified,” the military said in a statement.
The Palestinian health ministry said a 16- and a 17-year-old were killed west of Aqabat Jaber refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Jericho.
Palestinian media said medicals teams were prevented from reaching one of the wounded and the other succumbed to his wounds on Sunday in a hospital in Jerusalem. One teen was shot in the head and the other in his chest, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The occupied West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza, has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza last year, and a major crackdown by Israeli security forces which have made thousands of arrests.
Pakistan, China sign agreements to facilitate industrial cooperation
- Economic affairs minister urges Chinese entrepreneurs to set up industrial units in Pakistan
- Development takes place as Pakistan eyes foreign investment in key economic sectors
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state-owned bank and the China-Pakistan International Silk Road Industry Investment Management Company Limited this week signed an agreement to facilitate investment in key projects to promote industrial cooperation and establish special economic zones, state-run media reported on Sunday.
Islamabad views Beijing as one of its most reliable foreign partners in recent years, which has invested over $65 billion in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The development takes place as Pakistan eyes foreign investment in key economic sectors whilst it grapples with a macroeconomic crisis. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has repeatedly said his government wants to break the “begging bowl” and is targeting mutually beneficial economic partnerships with allies.
The agreement between the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and China-Pakistan International Silk Road Industry Investment Management Company Limited was signed on Saturday at the Pakistan embassy in Beijing in the presence of Aslam Chaudhry, Pakistan’s minister of economic affairs.
“He [Chaudhry] informed that special economic zones are being established across Pakistan where the Chinese enterprises could relocate their industry and export products to different countries taking advantage of preferential agreements signed by Pakistan with various countries,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
The minister said Pakistan, with a population of over 225 million people, is itself a “big market” and that Chinese companies could benefit from it.
Chaudhry urged Pakistan urged Chinese entrepreneurs to set up their industrial units in Pakistan.
“He opined that the MoU would help the Chinese companies for investment in different projects and promote industrial cooperation between the two countries,” Radio Pakistan said.
Pakistan has been making efforts to attract foreign investment since last year when it set up the Special Investment Facilitation Center (SIFC). The hybrid civil and government body was formed last year to attract investment in key economic sectors including tourism, agriculture, minerals and others.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed welcomes Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim in Abu Dhabi
DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on Sunday welcomed Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Ruler of Qatar, who arrived in Abu Dhabi for a visit to the Emirates.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, and Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council were among the top UAE dignitaries at the Presidential Airport who accompanied the UAE ruler for Sheikh Tamim’s arrival, state news agency WAM reported.
Sheikh Tamim meanwhile was accompanied by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Personal Representative of the Emir; Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and a number of ministers and top officials.
Netanyahu aide: Biden’s Gaza plan ‘not a good deal’ but Israel accepts it
JERUSALEM: An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by US President Joe Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work.
In an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu, said Biden’s proposal was “a deal we agreed to — it’s not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them.”
“There are a lot of details to be worked out,” he said, adding that Israeli conditions, including “the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organization” have not changed.
Biden, whose initial lockstep support for Israel’s offensive has given way to open censure of the operation’s high civilian death toll, on Friday aired what he described as a three-phase plan submitted by the Netanyahu government to end the war.
The first phase entails a truce and the return of some hostages held by Hamas, after which the sides would negotiate on an open-ended cessation of hostilities for a second phase in which remaining live captives would go free, Biden said.
That sequencing appears to imply that Hamas would continue to play a role in incremental arrangements mediated by Egypt and Qatar — a potential clash with Israel’s determination to resume the campaign to eliminate the Iranian-backed Islamist group.
Biden has hailed several ceasefire proposals over the past several months, each with similar frameworks to the one he outlined on Friday, all of which collapsed. In February he said Israel had agreed to halt fighting by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began on March 10. No such truce materialized.
The primary sticking point has been Israel’s insistence that it would discuss only temporary pauses to fighting until Hamas is destroyed. Hamas, which shows no sign of stepping aside, says it will free hostages only under a path to a permanent end to the war.
In his speech, Biden said his latest proposal “creates a better ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power.” He did not elaborate on how this would be achieved, and acknowledged that “there are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two.”
Falk reiterated Netanyahu’s position that “there will not be a permanent ceasefire until all our objectives are met.”
Netanyahu is under pressure to keep his coalition government intact. Two far-right partners have threatened to bolt in protest at any deal they deem to spare Hamas. A centrist partner, ex-general Benny Gantz, wants the deal considered.
Hamas has provisionally welcomed the Biden initiative.
“Biden’s speech included positive ideas, but we want this to materialize within the framework of a comprehensive agreement that meets our demands,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
Hamas wants a guaranteed end to the Gaza offensive, withdrawal of all invading forces, free movement for Palestinians and reconstruction aid.
Israeli officials have rejected that as an effective return to the situation in place before Oct. 7, when Hamas, committed to Israel’s destruction, ruled Gaza.
In the ensuing Israeli assault that has laid waste to much of the impoverished and besieged coastal enclave, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza medical officials say.
Kehlani releases pro-Palestinian music video
DUBAI: Grammy-winning US singer-songwriter Kehlani has released a new music video in support of Gaza and said that proceeds from related merchandise will go to Palestinian, Congolese and Sudanese families.
The singer, who has been at the forefront of protests in support of Gaza since October, on Friday released the song “Next 2 U” with an accompanying video. In the clip, she can be seen waving Palestinian flags while wearing suits adored with the Palestinian keffiyeh.
“As an artist, I was nervous, terrified, worried after losing so much of what I’d valued for an album … paired with the crippling wonder of what music is appropriate to drop during the most historical tragedies of our generation,” the singer wrote on Instagram.
“I remembered my favorite revolutionary poets, singers, filmmakers. I remembered how much impact we have. I thought about my favorite James Baldwin quotes about the role of an artist in society. I listened to this song enough to recognize a love song is a protector’s song, is revolution,” she said, referring to her latest single.
The music video opens with an anti-war quote from US Palestinian poet Hala Alyan: “Keep your moon / We have our own / Keep your army / We have our name / Keep your flag / We have fruits and in / All the right colors.”
The singer collaborated with Palestinian designer Simsim and the Nol Collective on merchandise related to the song.
“100% of the proceeds are going to be distributed amongst Palestinian, Congolese and Sudanese family through @operationolivebranch (sic),” she wrote on Instagram.
The T-shirts are screen-printed in Ramallah and cut and sewn in Bethlehem, according to the Nol Collective.
Kehlani has emerged as a strong pro-Palestinian force on social media and spoke at a rally held in Downtown Los Angeles in October, saying: “I think it’s black and white, and you have a choice to see it or not … I want all my followers and peers to sit on the right side of history. I want them to make a decision that is larger than them. I want them to make an unselfish one. I want them to make an obvious one. And I just hope they choose to do the right thing.”
