EU foreign ministers meet in Myanmar amidst Rohingya crisis
November 20, 2017
Germany's foreign minister has said he believes Myanmar will make a deal to repatriate 600,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Rakhine state. Many in Myanmar see Rohingya as illegal immigrants responsible for terrorism.
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The European Union urged Myanmar's government on Monday to allow full humanitarian access and end violence in Myanmar's restive Rakhine state where over 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh.
European and Asian foreign ministers are gathered in Myanmar's capital Nayidaw to take part in the biennial Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
Following talks with Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini told reporters that Europe urged "stopping the violence, the flow of refugees and guaranteeing full humanitarian access to Rakhine state."
Mogherini said her talks with Suu Kyi were "extremely encouraging."
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel shared her optimism following his own meeting with Suu Kyi, saying he is confident that Myanmar and Bangladesh will be able to reach a repatriation agreement.
"They want to do everything so that refugees can return," said Gabriel. "Of course, it's a question of how secure the region is then and what life prospects can be opened there."
Children refugee numbers mount as result of Rohingya crisis
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Suu Kyi: 'Illegal immigration' to blame for conflict
In her opening remarks at the two-day ASEM meeting, Suu Kyi said that the world is facing conflict and instability in part due to terrorism that is spread by illegal immigration.
Suu Kyi cited "illegal immigration's spread of terrorism and violent extremism, social disharmony and even the threat of nuclear war" as reasons why the world is in a new period of instability.
She did directly mention the exodus of minority Rohingya Muslims from her country in her speech, but the remarks highlighted the beliefs of many in Myanmar who view the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and blame them for terrorist attacks.
The plight of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee the atrocities committed by militants and the army in Myanmar is hard to stomach. The most vulnerable are children, as John Owens' photo series shows.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Shot and stabbed
Since August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. "The day the military came, they burnt down the village and shot my mother as she was trying to escape. My father couldn’t walk, so they stabbed him. I saw this with my own eyes," says 10-year-old Mohammed Belal who managed to run away from his village.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Haunted by the trauma
Mohammed’s sister Nur also watched the slaughter. She and her brother now live in a shelter for unaccompanied children in Bangladesh. She can play there and gets regular meals, a stark contrast to her journey from Myanmar where she and her brother nearly starved. But she is still haunted by the trauma of the recent weeks. "I miss my parents, my home, my country," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Deep-rooted conflict
The conflict, which has been going on for 70 years and is rooted in the post-World War II social organization of the country, has claimed more than 2,000 victims since 2016, including the mother of 12-year-old Rahman, above. "They set fire to my home, and my mother was ill, so she could not leave," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Save the children
Dilu-Aara, 5, came to the camp with her sister Rojina after she witnessed her parents being murdered by the military. "I was crying all the time and the bullets were flying over our heads. I escaped somehow." The international aid agency Save the Children is helping minors who come to Kutupalong without parents. Children make up to 60 percent of all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Hunted like animals
Jaded Alam is among the hundreds of kids who came to Kutupalong without parents. Fortunately, his aunt cares for him — and very well, he admits. Jaded grew up in a village called Mandi Para where he used to love playing football, but everything changed when the military attacked. "They told us to leave our home. When I was running with my parents, they shot them. They died on the spot," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Child abductions
Not all families have been separated during their plight, however. Rahman Ali has been scouring the refugee camp for weeks now after his 10-year-old son Zifad disappeared. Rumors of child abductions have swirled around the camp for years, and Rahman fears his son has fallen prey to human traffickers. "I can't eat, I can’t sleep. I’m so upset! It’s like I’ve gone mad."
Image: DW/J. Owens
"My mind is not normal"
When the shooting started, Sokina Khatun did all she could to protect her children — but she couldn't save Yasmine,15, and Jamalita, 20, who were in a neighboring village at the time. "Their throats were cut in front of their grandparents," she says. "I was numb, I couldn’t feel the pain. Right now my mind is not normal," she says. She managed to rescue nine of her offspring.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Attacked, raped and robbed
Yasmine thinks she might be 15 but looks considerably younger. In her village, she used to play with marbles and run in the nearby fields, but different memories haunt her now: The attack by Myanmar forces, the beating and murder of her beloved father and brothers, and the rape by a group of Burmese soldiers who also robbed her. "I felt lots of pain in my body," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
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China's three-phase solution
During the 53-member ASEM meeting, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed a three-phase solution to the Rohingya crisis, starting with a ceasefire in Rakhine state.
"The first phase is to achieve a ceasefire on the ground and restore stability and order so the people can enjoy peace and stop fleeing," he said.
Myanmar and Bangladesh should negotiate a repatriation agreement in the second phase. It remains unclear, however, whether a safe return to Rakhine state was possible after their villages were destroyed.
The third stage would then "face the root of the problem and explore ways to solve it," Wang said, adding that Beijing believes the root of the conflict is poverty.
This year's ASEM meeting will also focus on countering terrorism and violent extremism, non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction as well as strengthening cyber security.
The flight of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh
Rohingya Muslims fleeing from fighting in Myanmar face attempts by Bangladesh authorities to send them home despite a UN appeal that they be allowed to stay. The Rohingya are classed as illegal immigrants in Myanmar.
Seeking refuge
A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine State triggered a crackdown by Myanmar forces that has sent a stream of Rohingya villagers fleeing to Bangladesh. About 400 people have been killed in the clashes in Buddist-majority Myanmar.
Mass evacuation
A Rohingya man passes a child though a barbed wire border fence on the border with Bangladesh. Myanmar accused the Rohingya insurgents of torching seven villages, one outpost, and two parts of Maungdaw town.
Image: Getty Images/R.Asad
Buddhist refugees on their way south
The crackdown by Myanmar forces also sparked a mass evacuation of thousands of Buddhist residents of the area. Tension has long been high between the Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists, leading to bloody rioting in 2012. Rakhine Buddhists, feeling unsafe after the upsurge in fighting, are moving south to the state's capital, Sittwe, where Buddhists are a majority and have greater security.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
No entry
Bangladeshi border guards block people from crossing. Thousands of Rohingyas have sought to flee the fighting to Bangladesh, with nearly 30,000 crossing over. Bangladesh, which is already host to more than 400,000 Rohingya said it will not accept any more refugees, despite an appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Dhaka to allow Rohingya to seek safety.
Image: Reuters/M. Ponir Hossain
Humanitarian crisis
An aid worker with an international agency in Bangladesh reports: "What we're seeing is that many Rohingya people are sick. This is because they got stuck in the border before they could enter. It's mostly women and children." The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M.Alam
Not welcome in Bangladesh
A group of Rohingya refugees takes shelter at the Kutuupalang makeshift refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's unwillingness to host more refugees became apparent in the government's plan to relocate Rohingyas to a remote island that is mostly flooded during the monsoon season.
Image: Reuters/M. P. Hossain
Stranded in no man's land
Rohingya children make their way through water as they try to come to the Bangladesh side from no man's land. Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees are believed to be stuck at the border to Bangladesh.