At least 10 Palestinians wounded by Israeli settlers attack near Nablus, Jenin

 

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Palestinians inspect a shop destroyed by the Israeli army during a military operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarm, in the West Bank. [Getty]

At least ten Palestinians were injured on Wednesday during an Israeli settlers' attack on the village of Jaloud, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

Bashar Qaryouti, an activist, told the local outlet that dozens of settlers attacked Palestinian houses, injuring three Palestinian with rubber-coated steel bullets, while seven others suffered injuries after the settlers threw rocks at them.

He also noted that dozens, including children, suffered from suffocation due to inhaling toxic gas fired at them by the settlers.

Qaryouti affirmed that civil defence and the Qaryout medical crews were able to escort a number of families from their houses due to the assault, while residents in Jaloud and nearby villages were able to confront the settlers.

Israeli settlers also attacked on Wednesday a number of Palestinian-owned vehicles and sealed off a road connecting towns as Israeli armed forces raided villages south of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

Security sources also told Palestinian media outlets that a group of settlers, under protection from the Israeli military, stoned Palestinian-owned vehicles near the village of Ya'bad, south of Jenin, and closed the main road connecting Jenin, Tulkarm and Ya'bad, as they proceeded to smash the windshield of cars and cause damages to people's properties.

No casualties were reported.

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Israeli forces regularly conduct violent raids in the occupied West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 war.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Jenin by Israel in recent months, including children.

Since the start of the year, at least 155 Palestinians, 20 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.

India Opens Myanmar Port with Wary Eye on China

 BANGKOK — India helped inaugurate a long-awaited seaport in western Myanmar this month amid New Delhi’s efforts to cope with rival China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia and across the Indo-Pacific.

A maiden delivery of 1,000 metric tons of cement from the Indian metropolis of Kolkata docked May 9 in Sittwe, Myanmar, at a new port funded by New Delhi.

The Sittwe port is the first node in the $484 million Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, aimed at connecting greater India with its landlocked northeast through western Myanmar’s Rakhine and Chin states, bypassing Bangladesh.

In a statement, India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said the Sittwe port would herald “a new age of transportation” with Myanmar and “unlock tremendous economic potential” across the region by bridging South and Southeast Asia. Once completed with a 158-kilometer shipping route up the Kaladan River from Sittwe and another 210 kilometers of road leading back into India, the ministry said the corridor would slash transport times and costs between Kolkata and Mizoram state by more than half.

FILE - Construction of new port at the Kaladan River in Sittwe, Myanmar, May 19, 2012.

India and Myanmar shook hands on the project 15 years ago, but it actually stems from goals of plugging India’s economy into the bustling markets of Southeast Asia dating back to the 1960s, Avinash Paliwal, a senior lecturer at Britain’s School of Oriental and African Studies told VOA.

“This is the larger aspiration, which has always been couched in terms of the Look East or Act East policy of India. And today it is also being made ... an important element of India’s Indo-Pacific approach and to counter China, because this is a region where China has also been dominant,” he said.

Balancing China

Paliwal said concern over China’s growing sway in the region is an “article of faith” for India, even if it has never invested the money into pushing back with much force. Compared with China, he added, India has also done relatively little to cultivate the ethnic-minority rebel armies that control much of Myanmar’s borderlands, Rakhine and Chin included.

Even if China continues to dominate relations with Myanmar, Paliwal said India’s investment in the Sittwe port at least helps to keep it in the good graces of the military regime that seized power in 2021.

“The bottom line is India’s main idea is to make sure the channels with the junta remain open, because they need to know what the Chinese are doing. The intelligence pipeline needs to be open,” he said. “If throwing some money on the Kaladan helps them keep that pipeline open, that’s fine for them.”

If and when it is finished, the corridor could give India an important economic boost too, Sreeparna Banerjee, a junior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think tank based in Kolkata, told VOA.

FILE - People on a beach on the Bay of Bengal in the Rakhine region, Myanmar, Oct. 5, 2016.

By connecting India’s northeast to the sea, she said, the corridor could spur job and business growth in an underdeveloped part of the country, help India tap into Myanmar’s natural resources, and reinforce the country’s land and sea trade routes with the rest of Southeast Asia, but still with an eye on China.

“While emphasizing its own interests, [India] is seeking to balance China’s influence by deepening its ties with Myanmar and undertaking collaborative infrastructure projects,” Banerjee said.

"So, the Kaladan project serves as a strategic counterbalance to China’s regional dominance. It not only strengthens India’s connectivity with Myanmar, but also showcases India’s commitment to supporting Myanmar’s development and fostering regional cooperation,” she added.

Hunter Marston, a doctoral candidate at Australian National University studying Myanmar, told VOA India hopes its port in Rakhine state can even compete some day with the larger and deeper port China is building in Kyaukphyu, a few dozen kilometers southeast of Sittwe, where China’s own economic corridor project through Myanmar hits the sea.

“That’s definitely the goal; India is trying to do this to vie with China,” he said. “But Chinese trade with Myanmar ... dwarfs that with India. I think India has a lot of potential for the economic relationship to grow in the future, but in some ways it’s been too little too late to catch up with China.”

United Nations figures show Myanmar’s trade with China topped $9 billion in 2022. Its trade with India that year was $1.5 billion. India’s foreign direct investments in Myanmar are a small fraction of China’s as well.

Foul weather friends

Even so, said Marston, Myanmar can still use India’s investment in the Kaladan project to hedge against China, being wary itself of relying too much on any one country, especially since the coup.

The junta’s brutal repression of a growing armed resistance has been whittling away at Myanmar’s foreign allies, yet India has held firm. Along with China and Russia, it abstained from a U.N. Security Council resolution in December calling for an immediate end to the violence. India is also one of the few countries still selling arms to Myanmar, though far less than China or Russia.

“The junta’s efforts ... aren’t doing much to win popular support in the country, but it’s looking to deepen its external partnerships, especially those that allow it to avoid relying too much on just China, especially in foreign investment,” Marston said.

FILE - A construction worker at the port project in Sittwe, Myanmar, May 19, 2012, located in northwest Myanmar, where the Kaladan River flows out into the Bay of Bengal.

Even with enough funding, though, finishing the Kaladan corridor will not be easy, the analysts said. Long-running insurgencies pockmark both sides of the border. Fighting has been especially intense on the Myanmar side since the coup.

Marston said the ongoing violence will be a “huge obstacle” to building the road meant to complete the corridor north of Sittwe.

“That road is not being built any time soon,” Paliwal agreed.

Banerjee said she is more optimistic, assuming the Myanmar junta’s efforts to strike a cease-fire with some of the country’s major rebel armies bear fruit and that India can cozy up to Myanmar’s opposition government in exile, which has close ties with some of the groups.

“If India is able to strike the right chords, I think there is a hope that it [the corridor] will be completed after a few years, but not right now,” she said.

Rohingya in Bangladesh "have zero trust in Myanmar military government" by Khalid Umar Malik

 

• Human Rights Watch has sharply criticized a plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, claiming that it poses "grave risks" to their lives and liberty.
• About a million Rohingya live in Bangladesh, most of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar, which is now the subject of a United Nations genocide investigation.
• Despite the UN's repeated warnings, the two countries plan to return approximately 1,100 people in a pilot project in the coming weeks.

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Human Rights Watch has sharply criticized a plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, claiming that it poses "grave risks" to their lives and liberty.

About a million Rohingya live in Bangladesh, most of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar, which is now the subject of a United Nations genocide investigation.

Despite the UN's repeated warnings, the two countries plan to return approximately 1,100 people in a pilot project in the coming weeks.

"Bangladesh authorities should not forget why Rohingya fled in the first place and acknowledge that none of those factors have changed," HRW said.

"Bangladesh is tired of being a host country, but returning refugees to the control of a ruthless Myanmar junta will only set the stage for the next devastating exodus," the group said.

Bangladesh's refugee commissioner, Mizanur Rahman, denied any claims of coercing the Rohingya to return or failing to consult with them.

It added that 600,000 Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state are confined to squalid camps and villages, leaving them vulnerable to extreme weather events such as Cyclone Mocha.

Earlier this month, 20 Rohingya visited two Rakhine resettlement camps where the military government intends to house them.

"We are not prepared to take even one step towards Myanmar." The arrangement they made for us is insufficient to ensure our safety. We have also received no justice for previous persecutions," said Hafiz Solaiman, 38.

"We have zero trust in the Myanmar government."

Prime Minister of Bangladesh Receives the OIC Secretary-General in Her Office in Dhaka

Date: 28/05/2023

Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, H.E. Sheikh Hasina, received the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Mr Hissein Brahim Taha, in Dhaka on Sunday 28 May 2023.

The meeting was part of the Secretary-General’s five-day-visit to Bangladesh from 27 to 31 may 2023.

The meeting reviewed aspects of cooperation between Bangladesh and the OIC, and ways to operationalize joint Islamic action and promote the spirit of solidarity.

The Secretary-General thanked Bangladesh for its efforts in support of OIC’s projects and programmes paid tribute to the Government and people of Bangladesh for their relentless efforts to provide shelters, protection, hospitality, and necessary assistance to Rohingya refugees who have been living in Bangladesh for the past five years.

The Secretary-General, as the Chancellor of the Dhaka based Islamic University of Technology (IUT), thanked also the Honourable Prime Minister for her efforts towards the University, which will be having its 35th Convocation on 30 May. 

For her part, the Honourable Prime Minister thanked the Secretary-General for visiting Bangladesh while expressing her country’s constant readiness to support OIC’s efforts.

Both sides discussed issues of interest to the Islamic world and the OIC’s role in resolving conflicts, promoting mediation efforts and the need to do more to overcome the various challenges facing the Islamic world, particularly in political and economic domains.

Kosovo prime minister says he will not surrender country to Serbian ‘fascist militia’ after clashes in north

 CNN — Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti told CNN on Tuesday that he would not surrender the country to what he described as a Serbian “fascist militia,” following violent protests in its north over the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors in a disputed election.

Dozens of NATO peacekeepers were injured on Monday after clashes erupted with Serbian demonstrators trying to block the newly elected mayors from taking office in the northern municipality of Zvecan.

NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) said Tuesday that it will deploy additional forces to the region following the clashes, which saw some of its peacekeepers wounded by batons, firearms and Molotov cocktails. Demonstrators again gathered on Wednesday, assembling outside municipal buildings in Zvecan, according to Serbian state media.

“We are not facing peaceful protesters, we are facing a mob of extremists,” Kurti told CNN. “This is a fascist militia who attacked our policemen and NATO soldiers – and journalists who were on the ground reporting.”

Ethnic Serbs protested the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors.Valdrin Xhemaj/Reuters

However, Kurti’s government was criticized by the United States and others for “escalating” the conflict.

“The Government of Kosovo’s decision to force access to municipal buildings sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Tuesday.

“Prime Minister Kurti and his government should ensure that elected mayors carry out their transitional duties from alternate locations outside municipal buildings, and withdraw police forces from the vicinity,” Blinken said.

Following Blinken’s statement, the US announced a raft of measures against Kosovo for the “unnecessary” crisis, including canceling its participation in US-led joint NATO exercises.

French President Emmanuel Macron also said Wednesday that authorities in Kosovo are responsible for the rising tensions in the northern region.

“We made it clear to the Kosovo authorities that it was a mistake to proceed with these elections in this context of virtual non-participation,” Macron said at a joint press conference in Slovakia on Wednesday, referring to the Serbian boycott of the vote.

When asked by CNN’s Isa Soares if he would heed calls to withdraw Kosovar police from the northern municipalities, Kurti said: “As long as there is a violent mob outside of the building, I cannot have only (a) few policemen. I need to have police who will keep the order, peace and security.”

“All international bodies did recognize the elections that we had. Once you recognize the process of elections, and its results, then mayors have to go to the municipalities. Who else should be in these municipality buildings if not the mayors?” he added.

Disputed elections

Monday’s violence erupted after tensions bubbled for months in northern Kosovo over controversial local elections.

On November 5, four mayors belonging to the Serbian List party collectively resigned, Kurti told CNN.

They resigned partly in protest against the issue of car license plates. Kosovo has for years wanted Serbs living in the north to switch their Serbian license plates to those issued by Pristina, Kosovo’s capital.

In July, Kosovo’s government announced a two-month window in which plates had to be changed, but pushed the date back after protests. When the new date came around in November, four ethnic Serb mayors resigned, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, according to Reuters.

After this, Kurti said that the elections had to be postponed again – this time to April.

However, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called on Serbs in the region to boycott the elections, saying that they should no longer tolerate a foreign “occupation.” Serbian List supported the boycott, leaving ethnically Albanian candidates to run unchallenged.

After polls closed, election officials said only around 1,567 people had voted across the four Serb majority municipalities – a turnout of just 3.5% according to local media. In Zvecan, the site of Monday’s violence, the Albanian mayor won the election by barely more than 100 votes, prompting cries that his authority is illegitimate.

“The turnout was quite low because of the pressure, blackmail and threats from Belgrade to all Serbian citizens – and in particular those who were planning to run,” Kurti told CNN.

“Now we have four mayors whose legitimacy is low. But, nonetheless, there is no one who is more legitimate than them. We have to have the rule of law. We are a democratic republic,” he added.

Meliza Haradinaj, Kosovo’s former foreign affairs minister, told CNN that “the elections were evaluated as fair and democratic afterward by all Quint countries,” referring to the informal decision making group comprising the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy.

“Now that the newly democratically elected mayors (ethnic Albanians) want to commence work in their municipal offices, the world has witnessed violent Serb gangs forcibly preventing democracy from happening,” Haradinaj said.

Kosovo is a ‘NATO success story’

But many ethnic Serbs in the region feel underrepresented. The majority of Kosovo’s Serbs live in the northern regions and have increasingly demanded greater autonomy from the ethnic Albanian majority.

Kurti’s government has been accused of preventing the implementation of self-governing municipalities for Serbs, provided for under the terms of the 2013 Brussels Agreement brokered by the European Union and aimed at normalizing relations between the Balkan neighbors.

Under the agreement, Serbia could create “autonomous municipalities” in northern Kosovo, but these would have to operate under the Kosovar legal system, with Kosovar police remaining the only law enforcement authority.

More than a decade on, these municipalities have not been created, leaving disputes over the degree of autonomy for Kosovo’s Serbs to fester.

“We have a Serbian community in Kosovo which is 4% of the population. 93% are Albanian. And the rest, 3%, are other minorities: Roma, Bosniaks, Turks, Egyptians, Gorani. We want to live in a multicultural society,” Kurti told CNN.

“But we cannot have a privileged minority because Belgrade is lamenting for the loss of Kosovo in 1999 when NATO intervened to stop the genocide of the regime of (Slobodan) Milosevic,” he added.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following the 1998-99 war in which Kosovar Albanians attempted to split from what was then Yugoslavia, made up of today’s Serbia and Montenegro. NATO intervened to protect Kosovo’s Albanian majority from a campaign of ethnic cleansing orchestrated by Milosevic, including by conducting an aerial bombing campaign across Yugoslavia.

“Kosovo is a success story of NATO intervention – that is what bothers both Belgrade and the Kremlin,” Kurti told CNN.

Growing Russian influence

Kurti drew stark contrasts between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia, claiming: “We are a democratic, pro-European republic. Our northern neighbor, Serbia, is a pro-Russian autocracy. So there is not much democracy there, even though they have elections – since they have one party, one state, one leader.”

He also claimed that many of the “ultra-nationalist right-wingers” who protested in Kosovo on Monday “are being paid and ordered from Belgrade and who admire despotic President Putin.”

“The situation is clear: Serbia does not want peace, because it suits to keep tensions in Kosovo north so the West diverts its attention away from Ukraine,” Haradinaj told CNN. “This is Putin’s playbook – mounting Balkans as the next leg of the Ukraine war.”

Some fear that Vucic, who remains embroiled in political turmoil at home, is also attempting to use Serbian nationalism as a rallying cry for his supporters.

In comments on Tuesday, Vucic claimed that the violence in Kosovo may pose a threat to ethnic Serbs in the region, saying Serbia has “concern for the survival and security of Serbs in Kosovo.”

“Kosovo is helping him,” Bosko Jaksic, a foreign policy commentator in Belgrade, told CNN.

“He’s building his patriotic stature on Kosovo. He’s a big defender of the Serbian cause. He’s the savior of the Serbian people… All that rhetoric that we’ve heard a number of times before is being used again. And there are a lot of people who are buying it.”

Demonstrators gathered again in Zvecan on Wednesday, with employees of the local government, who used to work for the former ethnically Serbian mayor, assembling outside municipal buildings, according to Serbian state media RTS.

Protesters also carried a 250-meter-long (820-foot) Serbian flag through the streets of Zvecan, and draped more flags over barriers and anti-riot fences put up by KFOR troops.

CNN’s Allegra Goodwin, Laura Ford, Jessie Gretener, Sugam Pokharel, Tara John, Sharon Braithwaite, Lauren Kent and Irene Nasser contributed reporting.

Developing Transitional Solutions for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh

by Iffat Anjum

 For around 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in Bangladesh, sustainable solutions such as safe and voluntary return to their homeland, large-scale resettlement in third countries, or local integration in Bangladesh will remain elusive for the foreseeable future. It is essential that national policymakers, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and donors promptly work to strengthen the resilience of displaced Rohingya and host communities through investments in education and livelihoods – and in doing so, lay the foundation for long-term solutions to displacement.

Rohingya refugees have been forced to flee from Myanmar to neighboring countries for decades. The last mass exodus in August 2017 sent over 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh to join the roughly 300,000 already seeking refuge there. While the government of Bangladesh and host communities were initially sympathetic to the plight of Rohingya refugees, this goodwill has since waned as the refugee population has grown, outnumbering the host population. Many in the host community feel that the lives of local Bangladeshis have been adversely affected by increased living expenses, reduced wages and employment opportunities, environmental degradation, and increased pressure on public resources and services.

Similarly, many in the Rohingya refugee community also harbor frustrations and dissatisfaction, especially about their living situation in temporary shelters in congested camps. Bangladesh is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol, and only officially recognizes Rohingya who arrived before 1992 as refugees. Rohingya who arrived after 1992 are instead termed as Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals. While all Rohingya have access to shelter and humanitarian assistance in Bangladesh, they still cannot access formal education or sustainable housing, and have no right to work. Other challenges also exist in relation to inadequate healthcare facilities, protection, and security.

Limited Existing Access to Services

While there is no formal right to work, there have been some sporadic efforts to provide livelihood opportunities for Rohingya refugees in the camps as well as host communities. These have generally been delivered through short-term projects working on self-reliance, for example, producing agricultural products or jute bags. However, without formal employment rights, refugees still rely almost entirely on humanitarian aid and informal small-scale economic activities inside and outside camps. There is limited opportunity for them to build and work toward long-term self-reliance.

Rohingya children, who constitute almost half of the refugee population, live without access to public schools or other formal education opportunities in Bangladesh. Notably, in November 2021, UNICEF in partnership with the government of Bangladesh launched the Myanmar curriculum pilot. This positive step has seen 10,000 Rohingya children receive standardized education that follows the Myanmar national curriculum – a move that will help them if and when they can return to their homeland. However, it is unclear if the Myanmar government will accredit this education for children taught under this curriculum.

Against the challenging backdrop in the camps, many Rohingya have opted to take the desperate step of seeking irregular and often dangerous means of leaving Bangladesh in search of stability and opportunity. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 39 boats carrying over 3,500 Rohingya refugees – most embarking from Bangladesh and Myanmar – attempted sea crossings in 2022, resulting in nearly 400 deaths at sea. This is a sharp increase compared to the approximately 700 Rohingya who attempted crossings in 2021.

In addition to the difficult conditions for Rohingya in Bangladesh, because of the adverse conditions persisting inside Myanmar, the safe, dignified, and voluntary return of Rohingya to Myanmar is yet unlikely for the majority of Rohingya refugees in the short or medium term. The government of Bangladesh has made several attempts to facilitate repatriation of refugees arriving since 2017, but none has succeeded – not least because Rohingya refugees have concluded that conditions of safety and security are not present. The military coup in Myanmar in February 2021 has only worsened the situation.

Although a Myanmar delegation came to Bangladesh in March and restarted the verification process for returning Rohingya to Myanmar, there is no significant change in the political circumstances in Myanmar. Likewise, there is no reason to hope that any repatriation at this point will be safe and voluntary. A 20-member team of Rohingya who visited Rakhine State this month reported that they would not return without citizenship and security guarantees.

Limited Resettlement Opportunities

In 2022, the U.S. government announced a resettlement program for Rohingya in the camps. Though not specified in the announcement, the expectation is that several thousand Rohingya could resettle to the United States from Bangladesh this year. While the program is a significant and welcome initiative, it remains insufficient in its current form. In the spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing, resettlement countries should advance commitments to resettle larger numbers of Rohingya from Bangladesh.

However, it is equally important to acknowledge that the resettlement of all 1 million Rohingya – or even most of them – from Bangladesh is unrealistic. Instead, expanded resettlement should be but one element of a more comprehensive plan among humanitarian actors and the government of Bangladesh around education, livelihoods, and skills development to provide a transitional solution for Rohingya. Approaches that combine humanitarian and development programming have not been adequately put into action by authorities, who remain wary of creating conditions they feel will encourage more Rohingya to come to Bangladesh.

How to Move Forward

A combined humanitarian-development approach is needed to design and deliver programs that meet immediate needs, reduce risks and vulnerabilities, and build resilience for both refugees and host communities. For example, a five-year plan could serve to meaningfully increase connections between humanitarian and development activities and secure reliable and adequate resourcing. Such a plan could improve human capital development, including formal education, skills development, and livelihood opportunities, and help Rohingya prepare better for their life in Myanmar when the conditions are suitable for returns.

To promote livelihood opportunities for refugees and host communities, for example, the government of Bangladesh could issue special identification documents and work permits allowing refugees to work in specific areas, such as special economic zones or shipyards. Special arrangements could likewise be made with private sector entities to employ refugees in selected areas and sectors. Promoting livelihood opportunities for refugees will help authorities to cut down illegal economic activities and related crimes affecting the camps and surrounding areas. Development partners can provide support to the government and private sector to build the capacity of Rohingya and host community workers by providing technical skills-based training opportunities.

A collective emphasis on and move toward medium-term or transitional solutions would serve both refugee and host communities by reducing social tension between the two communities and building resilience. To turn the refugee community from a burden to an asset for Bangladesh, and to better prepare Rohingya for eventual return or resettlement, a medium-term plan also needs to ensure access to certified accelerated and formal education opportunities for refugee children, leading to recognized qualifications that will help them secure future employment. A plan could also expand educational opportunities for host communities.

To deal with the protracted Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh, it is essential to move toward transitional solutions for the refugees. The government of Bangladesh must be realistic; hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are likely to remain in Bangladesh for years or longer. Allowing refugees opportunities to develop skills and support themselves will empower them and disincentivize irregular and dangerous boat movements, human trafficking, and drug smuggling. And it need not come at the expense of the vulnerable host communities. Humanitarian and development programming and financing under a multi-year plan can and must also serve the aspirations and interests of local Bangladeshis.

AUTHORS

GUEST AUTHOR

Iffat Anjum

Iffat Anjum is a regional specialist with the Asia Displacement Solutions Platform (ADSP), based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Ex-UN head Ban calls for more diplomatic pressure on Myanmar’s military leaders

 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that he was communicating with authorities in military-run Myanmar as well as members of the armed resistance following a surprise visit to the country last month, and called for more diplomatic pressure on the ruling generals to end the violence.

Ban did not specify the nature of those communications and declined to disclose the details of his conversations with military leaders during their April meetings. He was speaking at a Seoul news conference along with other members of The Elders, a group of senior statesmen engaging in peacemaking and human rights initiatives around the world.

“I am in close contact with all those people to do as much as we can do to help them democratize Myanmar,” Ban said.

He said he was still communicating with Myanmar authorities, the president of Indonesia — who holds the rotating chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations — and Myanmar’s National Unity Government, which is leading an underground civilian administration following the military takeover in 2021 that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. 

In his meetings with Myanmar’s military ruler, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and other top officials, Ban urged them to take the initiative in resolving the country’s violent political crisis and release political detainees. He also called for the military leaders to implement a peace plan proposed by ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, and a separate United Nations resolution to stop the violence between the military and pro-democracy resistance forces.

Ban’s visit came at the invitation of Myanmar’s military government. He has remained tight-lipped about what the military leaders said to him during the meetings. The military government has consistently rejected outside calls for negotiations as an infringement on Myanmar’s sovereignty, and labeled the pro-democracy opposition as terrorists.

At the news conference, Ban said he told the military leaders in April that he “could never accept” their attempts to “avoid the argument,” but didn’t elaborate on their conversations.

Some experts expressed skepticism about Ban’s initiative, citing the lack of progress in previous peacemaking attempts.

Nay Phone Latt, spokesperson of the National Unity Government, told The Associated Press following Ban’s visit that international leaders should know their hands will be stained with blood when they shake hands with the leader of the “terrorist army,” referring to Ban’s meeting with Min Aung Hlaing.

Ban noted that the military leaders following his meetings released around 2,000 political prisoners, although they didn’t include Suu Kyi, who has been imprisoned since 2021.

When asked whether he would pursue further visits to Myanmar on behalf of The Elders, including possible meetings or contacts with the opposition NUG, Ban replied: “Whatever is necessary.”

As the U.N. secretary-general, Ban went to Myanmar to press the country’s then-ruling generals to let foreign aid and experts reach survivors of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed an estimated 134,000 people. He urged the military to embrace democracy as well. He also attended a peace conference in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s capital, in 2016 that sought to end decades of armed conflict with ethnic minority groups.

The news conference came hours after a failed North Korean attempt to launch a military satellite into orbit triggered evacuation warnings and security jitters in South Korea and Japan.

Ban and other members of The Elders — the group’s chair and former Irish President Mary Robinson, former Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia and former Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos — criticized the launch, which Santos described as an “unnecessary provocation.”