Myanmar team to verify 400 Rohingya for repatriation from Bangladesh

Most of the refugees live in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar district, a coastal region in Bangladesh’s southeast. (Supplied)
Most of the refugees live in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar district, a coastal region in Bangladesh’s southeast. (Supplied)
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Updated 16 March 2023

Myanmar team to verify 400 Rohingya for repatriation from Bangladesh

Most of the refugees live in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar district, a coastal region in Bangladesh’s southeast. (Supplied)
  • Bangladesh hosting, providing humanitarian support to 1.2 million Rohingya
  • 1,100 refugees selected for pilot repatriation project mediated by China

DHAKA: A team from Myanmar is verifying Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshi camps this week, with authorities expecting that 400 of them will be cleared to return to their homeland in a pilot repatriation project.

Bangladesh is hosting and providing humanitarian support to 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims, most of whom fled violence and persecution in neighboring Myanmar during a military crackdown in 2017.

Most of the refugees live in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar district, a coastal region in the country’s southeast, which with the influx of Rohingya has become the world’s largest refugee settlement.

Their return to Myanmar has been on the UN agenda for years, but a UN-backed repatriation process has not taken off until now.

The arrival of the delegation of Myanmar immigration officials and the start of the pilot project were mediated by China. The 400-plus people who are being verified are part of more than 1,100 listed as a potential first batch of returnees. The documents of the rest have already been cleared by Myanmar authorities remotely.

“The team of Myanmar officials started verification of more than 400 Rohingyas at Cox’s Bazar refugee camps on Wednesday,” Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mizanur Rahman told Arab News after the first day of verifying potential returnees.

“The members of the Myanmar team started talking with each of the individuals from Wednesday. The Myanmar team will work here for the next five to six days.”

The next stage of the repatriation process will depend on the findings of the team visiting Bangladesh.

“We are still unsure when the actual repatriation will begin,” Rahman said.

Bangladesh has been pressing for the repatriation of Rohingya for years as it has been hosting the refugees despite not being a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

Supporting the Rohingya costs the Bangladeshi government an estimated $1.2 billion a year.

The sum is huge given the challenges the developing country battered by the coronavirus pandemic is already facing and as international aid for the Rohingya has been dropping since 2020.

Last month, the UN World Food Program decided to cut food rations for the Rohingya as its pleas for donations had not been met.

Hosting 1.2 million Rohingya has lately also become a security concern as cases of murder and reports of criminal organizations using refugees as drug traffickers have also been on the rise since last year.


US speeds up Abrams tank delivery to Ukraine war zone

US speeds up Abrams tank delivery to Ukraine war zone
Updated 12 sec ago

US speeds up Abrams tank delivery to Ukraine war zone

US speeds up Abrams tank delivery to Ukraine war zone
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is speeding up its delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, opting to send a refurbished older model that can be ready faster, with the aim of getting the 70-ton battle powerhouses to the war zone in eight to 10 months, US officials told The Associated Press.
The original plan was to send Ukraine 31 of the newer M1A2 Abrams, which could have taken a year or two to build and ship. But officials said the decision was made to send the older M1A1 version, which can be taken from Army stocks and will be easier for Ukrainian forces to learn to use and maintain.
The officials spoke on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been publicly announced. Pentagon officials are expected to make the announcement soon.
The Biden administration announced in January that it would send the tanks to Ukraine — after insisting for months that they were too complicated and too hard to maintain and repair. The decision was part of a broader political maneuver that opened the door for Germany to announce it would send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow Poland and other allies to do the same.
It’s unclear how soon the US would begin training Ukrainian forces on how to use, maintain and repair the tanks. That training pipeline could affect the amount of time it takes for the tanks to be used in battle. The Pentagon will also have to ensure that Ukrainian forces have an adequate supply chain for all the parts needed to keep the tanks running.

Experimental Bangladeshi school boats engage children in play-based learning

Experimental Bangladeshi school boats engage children in play-based learning
Updated 53 min ago

Experimental Bangladeshi school boats engage children in play-based learning

Experimental Bangladeshi school boats engage children in play-based learning
  • Floating classrooms operated by country’s largest development organization
  • Fleet of 3 boats offer unique learning experience as they drop anchor in riverine towns

Dhaka: When Abir Chandra Das boarded a floating boat instead of going to the classroom on a Monday morning, it was a completely new experience, one in which the 11-year-old grasped ethics, geometry, and astronomy simultaneously as he played.

Three boats — pink, blue, and violet — anchored on the bank of the Dakatia River near his home in Chandpur district, 110 kilometers from Dhaka, and each of them had something else to offer, from mathematics through science to values.

Launched in September by BRAC, the largest development organization based in Bangladesh, the schools made a stop in Chandpur last month on their way from the northeastern district of Sunamganj to the coastal areas of Bhola in the country’s south.

“I enjoyed different elements in all three boats, especially the games and books in the values boat attracted me a lot,” Das told Arab News.

“Apart from that, I learned the triangle, square, and so on in geometry from the mathematics boat, and got some knowledge on the cosmos and microscopes from the science boat.”

Wherever they arrive, the boats usually anchor for seven to 10 days and are open from morning until afternoon, offering children the experience of play-based learning.

They stop near primary and secondary schools with which BRAC’s teams had been in touch in advance, taking onboard young volunteer teachers from local communities to make contact with children easier.

“All of the activities, materials, and contents in these three boats have been designed in a way so that children will have fun, will enjoy learning, will be curious about learning and through that hopefully be inspired to continue their education,” BRAC education director, Safi Rahman Khan, told Arab News.

“Many of these children, they may never have had the opportunity to experience such an experiential learning space. So, in that sense, we are seeing a lot of spontaneity, a lot of curiosity, many, many visitors. A lot of children are coming, a lot of guardians are coming, and teachers.”

The boats have special ramps so that children and people with disabilities can easily access them.

“We want to ensure that these boats are a more inclusive and open space for learning for all students, for all visitors, guardians, teachers, professionals, officials, and for children and visitors who may have difficulty getting onto a boat,” Khan said.

Ipshita De Chowdhury, 10, who played on the boats when they anchored in Chandpur, told Arab News that she was “very proud” of what she had learned onboard the values boat.

“It taught me the importance of values for people,” she said. “I enjoyed the elements of the other two boats also, but the values boat attracted me more.”

The things children learn in the colorful boats are also taught at normal schools too, but the way they are introduced is different.

“The difference is we have brought them into a format which is all hands-on activities. It’s not based on just reading from a book,” Khan added. “We are seeing a lot of spontaneity, a lot of curiosity.”

All the experiments, puzzles, and games they find on board, children can solve on their own or in groups. Only if they have difficulties will a teacher come to guide them.

As children flock to the boats wherever they moor and their reactions are never short of enthusiasm, BRAC is open to sharing its methods of teaching with schools and education departments.

“We hope they will be inspired, and the teachers will be inspired, and the parents will be inspired, so that they can make learning fun to encourage the children to explore, encourage the children to try and solve various types of problems, various types of activities, on their own rather than depending on maybe a rote system of learning or a system of learning which is more passive,” Khan said.

“This is a journey that we have started and it’s a very small initiative. We hope that others will get inspired.”


Kenya says 238 protesters arrested, 31 police hurt

Kenya says 238 protesters arrested, 31 police hurt
Updated 21 March 2023

Kenya says 238 protesters arrested, 31 police hurt

Kenya says 238 protesters arrested, 31 police hurt
  • Protesters had joined demonstrations in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya
  • Police fired tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators, some of whom were hurling rocks and burning tires

NAIROBI: Kenyan police said Tuesday they had arrested 238 people during the previous day’s violent protests over the surging cost of living that also saw 31 police officers injured.
Protesters had joined demonstrations in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya on Monday in response to a call by veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga for a day of action against the government of President William Ruto.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators, some of whom were hurling rocks and burning tires, as well as Odinga’s motorcade.
It was the worst violence since Ruto took office six months ago after narrowly beating Odinga in an election his defeated rival claims was “stolen.”
The inspector general of police, Japhet Koome, said in a statement that 213 people were arrested in Nairobi and 24 officers injured.
In the province of Nyanza, an opposition stronghold in western Kenya, there were 25 arrests while seven officers were hurt, he said.
Police had also announced on Monday that a university student was killed in the western town of Maseno after officers fired live bullets during “skirmishes” with protesters who were “pelting stones.”


Ethiopia rejects US war crime allegations as ‘inflammatory’

Ethiopia rejects US war crime allegations as ‘inflammatory’
Updated 21 March 2023

Ethiopia rejects US war crime allegations as ‘inflammatory’

Ethiopia rejects US war crime allegations as ‘inflammatory’

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s government on Tuesday accused the United States of unfairly apportioning blame for crimes committed during the two-year Tigrayan conflict.
The US allegations were “partisan,” the foreign ministry said, adding: “The US statement is inflammatory.”
Washington on Monday accused all parties to the conflict of committing war crimes.
But it singled out Ethiopian, Eritrean and regional Amhara forces for crimes against humanity, without mentioning the Tigrayan rebels.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who last week made his first visit to Ethiopia since a breakthrough November 2022 peace deal between the federal government and Tigrayan rebels, on Monday made a forceful call for accountability on his return to Washington.
He said the State Department carried out a “careful review of the law and the facts” and concluded that war crimes were committed by federal troops from both Ethiopia and its ally Eritrea as well as by the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and forces from the neighboring Amhara region.
“Many of these actions were not random or a mere byproduct of war. They were calculated and deliberate,” Blinken said as he presented an annual rights report.
Blinken added that the State Department also found crimes against humanity by Ethiopian, Eritrean and Amhara forces, including killings and sexual violence, although he did not mention the TPLF.
Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said the US statement “unfairly apportions blame among different parties in the conflict.”
“The statement appears to exonerate one party from certain allegations of human rights violations such as rape and other forms of sexual violence despite the clear and overwhelming evidence about its culpability,” it said.
“This partisan and divisive approach from the US is ill-advised,” it added, calling it “unwarranted.”
TPLF officials did not respond to AFP requests to comment about the US report.
Blinken had called for accountability during his trip to Addis Ababa, where he held an unusually long meeting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and spoke separately with senior TPLF leader Getachew Reda.
But he did not directly mention war crimes or crimes against humanity and sounded upbeat about the prospects for peace during his visit.


The war badly soured US relations with Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation and long one of Washington’s major partners on the continent.
Abiy had earlier voiced anger when Blinken during the war spoke more generally about crimes against humanity, and the Ethiopian leader has rejected UN-led efforts for a probe.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministry said Washington’s statement “undercuts the support of the US for an inclusive peace process.”
The United States has estimated that some 500,000 people died in the two-year conflict, making it one of the deadliest wars of the 21st century and dwarfing the toll from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The war began in November 2020 when the TPLF, once the major powerbroker in Ethiopia, attacked military installations in the Tigray, triggering a major counteroffensive.
As allegations of atrocities mounted, the US imposed sanctions on Eritrea, an authoritarian state whose relations with Washington were already poor, and booted Ethiopia from a major trade pact, although it held back on further actions against the warring parties.


Pakistan’s parliament summoned in midst of crisis over former PM Imran Khan

Pakistan’s parliament summoned in midst of crisis over former PM Imran Khan
Updated 21 March 2023

Pakistan’s parliament summoned in midst of crisis over former PM Imran Khan

Pakistan’s parliament summoned in midst of crisis over former PM Imran Khan
  • Former cricket star Khan was prime minister from 2018 until 2022
  • His supporters have clashed with police several times over recent days

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s parliament is to meet in a special joint session on Wednesday to “take important decisions” to enforce the state’s authority, media reported, in the midst of prolonged anti-government defiance by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Former cricket star Khan was prime minister from 2018 until 2022, when he was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote. Since then, he has been demanding a new election and holding protests across the country to press his case.
His supporters have clashed with police several times over recent days as authorities try to force him to appear in court in connection with various cases brought against him.
The office of the speaker of parliament, in calling Wednesday’s joint session, did not give a reason but the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said the ruling coalition had called for parliament to “take important decisions” to ensure the writ of the state was enforced.
The APP, reporting on a meeting attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet, cited the participants as saying Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was not a political party but “rather a gang of militants,” and its “enmity against the state” could not be tolerated.
Sharif has rejected Khan’s demand for a new election saying it would be held as scheduled later this year.
Parliament will meet in the capital, Islamabad, as Khan’s supporters gather for his latest rally in the eastern city of Lahore.
The clashes between Khan’s supporters and the security forces have brought a new round of political instability to the nuclear-armed country of 220 million people, which is in the midst of a crippling economic crisis.
Khan says the government and the powerful military are trying to stop him from contesting the next election, scheduled for November. If convicted in a case, Khan could face disqualification from the polls.
Both the government and military deny this.
Police have arrested hundreds of Khan’s supporters in raids in recent days in response to the clashes.
Khan appeared on Tuesday before the Lahore High Court to apply for protective bail in fresh cases against him, PTI leader Mussarat Jamshed Cheema told Reuters.
The former prime minister is also appearing before a bench hearing a case he has filed against the police for raiding his home, which he says was in violation of court orders granting him protective bail last week.

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