COX’S BAZAAR, Bangladesh: Thousands of Rohingya refugees staged protests for "justice" Saturday on the first anniversary of a Myanmar military crackdown that forced them to flee to camps in Bangladesh.
About 700,000 of the Muslim minority poured across the border after attacks by the Myanmar military and Buddhist groups that the United Nations has likened to ethnic cleansing.
Thousands held peaceful marches and attended rallies chanting "We want justice from the UN." At the Kutupalong camp, a giant banner proclaimed: "Never Again: Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day. 25 August, 2018."
Some wore bandanas emblazoned with the slogan "Save Rohingya" while others waved flags.
Other marches and gatherings were planned across what has become the world's biggest refugee camp, activists told AFP.
Rohingya militants staged attacks on Myanmar police posts on August 25 last year sparking the crackdown in which an unknown number of Rohingya were killed. Many have arrived in the Bangladesh camps with stories of rape, torture and villages burned to the ground.
Myanmar authorities have insisted their forces only targeted radicals. They have made an agreement with Bangladesh to take back refugees but no progress has been made on returns and the Rohingya insist they will not go back unless their safety is guaranteed.
Mohammad Hossain, a 40-year-old protester at Kutupalong, said "We are here remember to August 25. We want justice.
"We want them to recognise us as Rohingya. We are very sad because we are not in our native land. Everyone wants justice. We are complaining about this to the world."
Another protester, Noor Kamal, added: "We faced genocide. Last year, August 25, we faced genocide in Myanmar. We want justice for that."
Rohingyas stage protest for ‘justice’ on crackdown anniversary
Rohingyas stage protest for ‘justice’ on crackdown anniversary
- About 700,000 of the Muslim minority poured across the border after attacks by the Myanmar military and Buddhist groups
- Rohingya militants staged attacks on Myanmar police posts on August 25 last year sparking the crackdown
France honors fallen soldiers in Afghanistan after Trump’s false claim about NATO troops
- In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, Trump on Thursday claimed that non-US NATO troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan
PARIS: A senior French government official said Monday the memory of the French soldiers who died in Afghanistan should not be tarnished following US President Donald Trump’s false assertion that troops from non-US NATO countries avoided the front line during that war.
Alice Rufo, the minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, laid a wreath at a monument in downtown Paris dedicated to those who died for France in overseas operations. Speaking to reporters, Rufo said the ceremony had not been planned until the weekend, adding that it was crucial to show that “we do not accept that their memory be insulted.”
In October 2001, nearly a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, the US led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy Al-Qaeda, which had used the country as its base, and the group’s Taliban hosts.
Alongside the US were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose mutual-defense mandate had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington. In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, Trump on Thursday claimed that non-US NATO troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan.
Ninety French soldiers died in the conflict.
“At such a moment, it is symbolically important to be there for their families, for their memory, and to remind everyone of the sacrifice they made on the front line,” Rufo said.
After his comments caused an outcry, Trump appeared to backpedal and heaped praise on the British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. He had no words for other troops, though.
“I have seen the statements, in particular from veterans’ associations, their outrage, their anger, and their sadness,” Rufo said, adding that trans-Atlantic solidarity should prevail over polemics.
“You know, there is a brotherhood of arms between Americans, Britons, and French soldiers when we go into combat.”
