YANGON: Myanmar police on Thursday arrested a prominent Rakhine Buddhist MP for allegedly provoking ethnic violence, state media and his party said, after a deadly riot highlighted simmering tensions in the troubled state.
The arrest came after seven people were killed and a dozen injured when police opened fire on a crowd of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists trying to seize a government office late Tuesday.
The violence erupted as anger boiled over after the cancelation of a local ceremony in Mrauk U, a town just a few dozen kilometers from the epicenter of a military crackdown against the country’s Rohingya Muslim community.
State-backed media reported that charges have been filed against lower house MP Aye Maung following a speech on Monday in which the nationalist politican attacked the government for thinking the Rakhine are “slaves” and said it was the “right time” for the community to launch an armed struggle.
“Dr. Aye Maung was arrested and taken from his house about 1:00 p.m. (0630 GMT) this afternoon,” Arakan National Party general secretary Tun Aung Kyaw, told AFP.
Arakan is another name for Rakhine.
Police have blamed the protesters for starting Tuesday’s violence by throwing stones, barging into an administrative office and hoisting the Rakhine State flag.
Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed her condolences and has pledged to “probe the incident.”
Aye Maung, the first MP to be arrested since Myanmar’s military-backed constitution was adopted in 2008, was charged under the Unlawful Associations act, which carries a maximum sentence of three years.
The violence prompted an ethnic Rakhine rebel group in the state to promise “serious” retaliation for the deaths of the protesters.
Unlike the Rohingya Muslims, the Rakhine are recognized by the government as an ethnic group but are often marginalized under a system that favors the dominant Bamar (Burmese).
Rakhine mobs stand accused of aiding the military in using murder, rape and arson against the Rohingya — 655,000 of whom have fled to Bangladesh since August — in violence the UN and US have condemned as ethnic cleansing.
Tuesday’s riot came on the same day that a heavily-criticized repatriation agreement was signed between Myanmar and Bangladesh to start sending the refugees back.
Observers are now concerned the conflict could now enter a new phase.
“There’s a risk this could become a lightning rod for Rakhine grievances and the situation could escalate,” political analyst Richard Horsey told AFP.
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Myanmar arrests MP after Rakhine riot
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Myanmar arrests MP after Rakhine riot
UK’s Starmer urges ‘sleeping giant’ Europe to curb dependence on US
MUNICH, Germany: British leader Keir Starmer will tell the Munich Security Conference that Europe is “a sleeping giant” and must rely less on the United States for its defense, his office said Friday.
In a speech on Saturday at the summit, the UK prime minister will argue that the continent must shift from overdependence on the United States toward a more European NATO.
“I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full and remakes the ties that have served us so well,” Starmer is expected to say.
The gathering comes as European leaders remain concerned that a United States led by President Donald Trump can no longer be relied upon to be the guarantor of their security.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has frequently criticized European countries for not sharing enough of the burden on common defense, and raised questions about the future of NATO.
European members of the transatlantic military alliance are rushing to build up their defenses in the face of an increasingly belligerent Moscow, whose war in Ukraine is set to enter its fifth year this month.
“As I see it — Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia’s, 10 times over,” Starmer will tell allies, according to excerpts released ahead of his address.
“We have huge defense capabilities. Yet, too often, all of this has added up to less than the sum of its parts,” he was to say, citing fragmented planning and procurement problems.
Late last year, talks on Britain joining the bloc’s new 150-billion-euro (£130 billion) rearmament fund broke down, reportedly because London baulked at the price for entry.
Downing Street said Starmer would use his speech to call for closer UK-EU defense cooperation.
“There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history — and it is today’s reality too,” Starmer was to say.
The UK government announced on Friday that Britain will spend more than £400 million this financial year on hypersonic and long-range weapons, including through joint projects with France, Germany and Italy.
Starmer, whose center-left Labour party is being squeezed on opposite ends of the political spectrum by the anti-immigrant Reform UK group and the more leftwing Greens, was to say leaders “must level with the public” about the defense costs they face.
He was due to hit out at “peddlers of easy answers on the extreme left and the extreme right,” according to the excerpts.
“The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen,” Starmer was expected to say.
In a speech on Saturday at the summit, the UK prime minister will argue that the continent must shift from overdependence on the United States toward a more European NATO.
“I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full and remakes the ties that have served us so well,” Starmer is expected to say.
The gathering comes as European leaders remain concerned that a United States led by President Donald Trump can no longer be relied upon to be the guarantor of their security.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has frequently criticized European countries for not sharing enough of the burden on common defense, and raised questions about the future of NATO.
European members of the transatlantic military alliance are rushing to build up their defenses in the face of an increasingly belligerent Moscow, whose war in Ukraine is set to enter its fifth year this month.
“As I see it — Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia’s, 10 times over,” Starmer will tell allies, according to excerpts released ahead of his address.
“We have huge defense capabilities. Yet, too often, all of this has added up to less than the sum of its parts,” he was to say, citing fragmented planning and procurement problems.
Late last year, talks on Britain joining the bloc’s new 150-billion-euro (£130 billion) rearmament fund broke down, reportedly because London baulked at the price for entry.
Downing Street said Starmer would use his speech to call for closer UK-EU defense cooperation.
“There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history — and it is today’s reality too,” Starmer was to say.
The UK government announced on Friday that Britain will spend more than £400 million this financial year on hypersonic and long-range weapons, including through joint projects with France, Germany and Italy.
Starmer, whose center-left Labour party is being squeezed on opposite ends of the political spectrum by the anti-immigrant Reform UK group and the more leftwing Greens, was to say leaders “must level with the public” about the defense costs they face.
He was due to hit out at “peddlers of easy answers on the extreme left and the extreme right,” according to the excerpts.
“The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen,” Starmer was expected to say.
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