BurmaNet News, July 19, 2005

[Editor]

July 19, 2005 Issue # 2763


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima: Burma’s junta still perpetrates sexual violence on women
Mizzima: Burma’s Opposition urges reconciliation
AFP: Myanmar bars opposition from honouring slain independence leaders
AFP: With foreign films banned, Myanmar moviemaker brings back ghost stories

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Tensions on Burma-Bangladesh border

HEALTH / AIDS
Reuters: Myanmar spreads AIDS in Asia, study says

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Asia Pulse: Myanmar wants US$2.50 per mBtu for gas through pipeline

ASEAN
AFP: Myanmar poses a constant headache for 10-nation ASEAN
AFP: Malaysia hopes Myanmar will settle ASEAN chair issue next week

REGIONAL
UNHCR: Rohingyas from Myanmar living in risky conditions in Bangladesh


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 19, Mizzima
Burma’s junta still perpetrates sexual violence on women – Mungpi

The Burmese military junta persists with systematic rape and sexual
violence towards women in areas peopled by the country’s ethnic groups,
reveals a report by rights groups.

The 55-page report titled “Catwalk to the Barracks” by two Mon rights
groups unveils the impunity with which Burmese troop perpetrated violence
against 50 women in ethnic Mon areas in Southern Burma.

“The Burmese Army continues to use sexual violence as a tool to subjugate
ethnic armed rebel groups,” said Ko Naing Kasauh Mon of the Human Rights
Foundation of Monland.

The report compiles 37 incidents of sexual violence committed by the
Burmese Army against women between the ages 14 to 50. Nearly half the
incidents occurred after June 2002, following which ethnic Shan activists
groups wrote about the “License to Rape” drawing international attention
to the junta’s attitude towards ethnic women.

However, Naing, said the documented cases are only those that came to
light and that there are untold stories, which the victims are scared to
reveal due to fear of military reprisal.

“The cases are hard to identify as the victims are scared to speak of
their sufferings due to fear of stigma and army reprisals,” said Naing.

Though incidents of rape are reported to officers of higher ranks in the
military, there is hardly any action against the rapists. In some cases
the victims are forced to sign written statements pardoning the rapist,
reveals the report.

The report, however, points out that sexual violence does not occur only
in areas of conflict, but in peaceful areas as well, which are under total
control of the Burmese army. The Burmese army conscripts women for their
comfort and use them as sexual slaves.

While most of the rapes documented are committed by military officers, the
army also keeps women including, school girls at their bases and use them
physically. These women are asked to perform fashion shows or beauty
contests to please the army and are kicked, slashed or killed should they
offend the army officers.

The junta, however, has constantly denied the practice of sexual violence
and claims to have taken effective action against those committing rape as
per the existing Laws of Myanmar (Burma) Armed Forces.

“In many cases we have documented, there are no legal or any kind of
action against the perpetrators. It seems to me that the Burmese army is
encouraging its troops to commit such crimes against ethnic minorities,”
said Naing.

The military junta, which has ruled the country in various forms since
1962, has been condemned by human rights groups and western governments
for its appalling human rights record.

The Shan Women Action Network (SWAN) in 2002 released a report called:
“License to Rape”, documenting the sexual violence committed by Burmese
army among Shan ethnic people. Similarly, the Karen Women Organisation
also released a report titled “Shattering Silences” in 2004.

The report prepared by the Women and Child Rights Project and Human Rights
Foundation of Monland also suggests that unless the system of rape by the
military ends, sexual violence against ethnic women will continue to
escalate.

The Women and Child Rights Project was founded in 2000 by  exiled Mon
women which aims to monitor and protect the rights of women and children
and to draw international attention on Burma in order to pressure the
junta to respect these rights.

Human Rights Foundation of Monland was founded in 1995 by exiled Mon
students and leaders to work for the restoration of human rights,
democracy and peace in Burma.

____________________________________

July 19, Mizzima
Burma’s Opposition urges reconciliation – Thazin

Burma’s main opposition, the National League for Democracy today urged the
military junta to immediately begin the process of national reconciliation
in the country.

The party in its statement on the 58th anniversary of Burma’s Martyrs’ Day
commemoration urged the ruling military regime, ethnic and all political
parties to negotiate and immediately kick-start the national
reconciliation process in order to come out of the present political
impasse.

“In our statement, we have placed a six point charter of demand including
the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo, U Hkun Htun Oo, U Sai Nyunt
Lwin and all political prisoners. And also to allow the re-opening of
offices closed down,” said U Nyan Win, spokesman of the NLD.

The Burma’s Martyrs’ Day commemoration ceremony, held at the headquarters
of the NLD in West Shwegondine street, was attended by about 400 people
including veteran politicians, ethnic groups, student leaders, foreign
diplomats and UN representatives.

Security in Burma’s capital, Rangoon, was reportedly tightened and the
ceremony held in the country’s main opposition party office was closely
watched.

Gen. Aung San, Burma’s independence hero along with seven ministers and
two officers were gun-downed on July 19, 1947 just six months before Burma
gained freedom from the British. Since then the day has been observed as
Burma’s Martyrs’ Day.

Burma’s military junta also held a commemoration ceremony at Rangoon
Martyrs’ Mausoleum. Led by Minister of Culture Major-General Kyi Aung the
generals laid flowers on the tombs of fallen heroes.

However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remained in solitary confinement and was not
been able to pay her respect to her fallen father and other heroes.

The ceremony ended silently without the airing of Gen. Aung San's speech,
exhortations from the authorities to salute the martyrs and the raising
the national flag at half-mast, which was the usual practice on Martyrs’
day before 1988 has been discontinued.

Though the authorities have banned holding ceremonies in other branch
offices, reportedly, the Basein Town NLD fed Buddhist monks as a token of
respect for the fallen heroes.

“People in Basein planned to offer ‘Swan’ this morning to the monks in the
monastery. But it seems that the authorities intervened and asked them not
to offer ‘swan’ and promise to pay the amount of money spent for preparing
the ‘swan’. But the monks refused, so the offering and taking of ‘swan’ by
the monk took place,” said U Nyan Win.

____________________________________

July 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar bars opposition from honouring slain independence leaders

Myanmar's military rulers Tuesday denied the pro-democracy opposition from
holding ceremonies marking 58 years since the assassination of the
country's independence leaders.

Detained National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi was
again absent from the ceremony in Yangon honouring her father General Aung
San and six others on a day known locally as Martyr's Day.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since May 2003 -- her third
period of detention since 1989. When not detained, she was regularly seen
at the ceremony to mark the 1947 killing of Aung San, a nationalist hero,
and members of his cabinet.

The junta told the NLD, which won a landslide victory in the 1990
elections but was never allowed to assume power, it could mark Martyr's
Day only at its Yangon headquarters, party members told AFP. No reason was
given for the restriction, they said.

"When I heard we were not allowed to celebrate our Martyr's Day ceremony,
I felt very sorry we can not show our remembrance and gratitude," said Win
Mya Myamya, a member of the NLD women's executive committee in Mandalay.

Members would instead mark the occasion by donating offerings to local
Buddhist monks.

In 2004, the junta barred NLD members from attending the ceremony near
Yangon's famous Shwedagon pagoda because the members wore their party
uniforms.

Relatives of the slain leaders laid flowers at the pavilion Tuesday, while
junta officials saluted and foreign diplomats observed the proceedings.
Civilians were allowed to pay their respects after the official ceremony.

A heavy security presence and numerous checkpoints were scattered across
Yangon, while national flags at the pavilion were lowered to half staff.

General Aung San and his six colleagues were shot to death in a plot
attributed to U Saw, a pre-World War II political leader.

Myanmar, then known as Burma, achieved independence from Britain in
January 1948, and has been ruled by the military since 1962.

____________________________________

July 19, Agence France Presse
With foreign films banned, Myanmar moviemaker brings back ghost stories

When Myanmar's junta banned foreign movies five months ago, film director
Maung Myo Min saw an unexpected chance to urge the military's censors to
restore the nation's lost genre of ghost films.

"This is a good opportunity for us," Maung Myo Min, 42, told AFP. "Because
of the ban on foreign films, we must try to improve the quality of Myanmar
movies to attract more moviegoers, who now only get to see low-quality
Myanmar movies. If we cannot do so, interest on Myanmar movies will
decrease," he said.

The ban forced rental shops and vendors to pull all foreign films from
their shelves, leaving people here suddenly starved for entertainment.

With this captive audience waiting, Maung Myo Min successfully lobbied the
censors to lift a 30-year-old ban on ghost movies, which were enormously
popular here more than a generation ago.

The military banned the horror films as part of an "education" campaign to
rid people of superstitions in this Buddhist country where belief in the
supernatural runs strong.

Since the ban on foreign films, people in Myanmar who can't afford
satellite television were left mainly with recordings of local comics and
saccharin romances, as well as a few Korean and Chinese series on state
television.

"If possible, the authorities should reconsider. All movies were banned,
but cartoons and nature documentaries cannot corrupt us," Kyaw Myo Lwin, a
24-year-old artist told AFP.

The ban took effect in February, blocking the sale and distribution of
foreign features on video tapes, DVDs and VCDs, in what the junta said was
an effort to prevent Myanmar youth from being corrupted by uncensored
movies -- especially pornographic films that were readily available in
rental shops and street stalls.

Sales have since plummeted at video shops since the ban, leaving shops
with a sharply limited selection of only local films that ironically rent
at twice the price of foreign videos that were usually cheap pirated
copies from neighboring China.

"Copyright law is a long way from reaching here," said another film
director who asked not to be named.

Foreign videos are still available -- at a slightly higher price -- on the
black market.

"I took a chance and displayed some foreign cartoons for sale in my stall.
No one bothered me or seized the movies, so I decided to start selling
them again," said one woman hawking videos in downtown Yangon.

But business at rental shops has tanked since the ban. The owner of one
shop said rentals had dropped by 75 percent.

"All rental shops hope to rent foreign movies again. I hope it happens
soon," he said.

"After the ban, Myanmar comedies were popular for a while. But now people
are asking for Myanmar ghost movies," he said.

"Ghost movies are the top request, and people are very much interested
even though the movies haven't reached the market yet," the shop owner
added.

That's where Maung Myo Min comes in.

He and his cast of leading Myanmar stars have been filming "The Night of
the Ghost Buster" at houses believed to be haunted, basing the plot on
real ghost stories that already spook Yangon.

"I hope our audience will be satisfied, because they haven't seen Myanmar
ghosts movies before. I also hope we can grab their attention with a new
creation," he said.

Maung Myo Min plans to export his film overseas with English subtitles.

And even though the junta's ban helped him get his production approved by
the censors, he too hopes the military will loosen its rules.

"Of course, we have to prevent uncensored movies with the cooperation with
authorities. I could never accept dirty adult films arriving here, because
I have three daughters," he said.

"But I also hope that government will allow foreign movies again. If they
do so, everyone will be happy," Maung Myo Min added enthusiastically.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 19, Narinjara News
Tensions on Burma-Bangladesh border

Burma strengthened its troops in the border areas as a response to
Bangladesh’s army Operation against the Arakanese insurgent groups in the
border area of the two countries.

Along the borderline, Infantry Battalion 20, LIB (Light Infantry
Battalion) 289, LIB 353, LIB 535 and LIB 345 are stationed with the
battalion level commanders overseeing the troops, documents a border
report.

The people who live in the border area are scared to go to their work
places due to the heavy presence of Burmese troops and the fierce
operation of the Bangladeshi army, says a monk.   The Bangladeshi army is
conducting its operation in the southern part of Chittagong Hill Tracks,
to the north of Buthidaung and Maung Daw townships in the northern part of
Burma’s Arakan state.

These areas have served as safe havens for many decades for insurgents
group from Arakan. Since these groups have been hostile only to the
Burmese military regimes, Bangladesh had not, until now, given these
insurgent groups any trouble.   There have been at least four battles
between the insurgent groups and the Bangladeshi army, the latter having
seized a large quantity of sophisticated weaponry.

Around dawn on 16 July, a dispute between an Arakanese insurgent group and
the Bangladeshi army lasted for more than an hour. The clash occurred near
Hayraman San Tun Aung Chakma Village in Nakhaungshari Township of
Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi army seized 5 AK 47s, some ammunition, 12 uniforms and
other military related material. The army also destroyed establishments
that insurgents used to use as their bases.   There has not been any news
of casualties from either side.   There are about half a dozen insurgent
groups operating in the area, and the army has not identified the group
with which they had clashes.

As the result of this “Tiger Operation” by the Bangladeshi army, the
Arakanese insurgent groups can enter Burma in order to regroup themselves.
The Burmese army is strengthening its troops in order to block its border
crossing for this reason.

_____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

July 18, Reuters
Myanmar spreads AIDS in Asia, study says – Evelyn Leopold

Heroin users and prostitutes in Myanmar have spread HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, through large parts of Asia, according to a Council on
Foreign Relations study released on Monday.

The use of so-called genetic fingerprinting now allows scientists to
identify changes in the evolution of the virus and thereby dispute
accusations, such as the one Libya made against Bulgarian nurses, that one
group or another was spreading the virus.

"With the exception of one serious outbreak in China, virtually all the
strains of HIV now circulating in Asia -- from Manipur, India, all the way
to Vietnam, from mid-China all the way down to Indonesia, come from a
single country," Laurie Garrett, author of the 67-page report, told a news
conference.

"Several research teams have proven that these various HIV strains can be
tracked along four major routes, all originating in Burma," she said,
referring to Myanmar's former name.

The highest infection rates are among prostitutes and heroin users in
Myanmar, ranked as the world's top opium producer until 2003 when
Afghanistan moved to first place.

"Burma is a failed state, rife with civil war and rival gangs of drug, gem
and sex-slave smugglers," said the report, entitled "HIV and National
Security: Where Are The Links?"

Garrett said the new technology, known as molecular epidemiology, could
prevent accusations of who spread the epidemic. For example, a year ago,
India charged that "promiscuous Pakistanis" spread HIV in Kashmir.

More serious is Libya's jailing in 1999 of five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor, accused of deliberately infecting 426 children with
HIV. Bulgaria countered that Libya failed to screen its blood transfusion
supplies.

"Were the Libyan government willing to comply, a study of the HIV strains
found in the 426 infected children might offer proof of their origin,"
Garrett's report said.

Using genetic technics, researchers have also proved that the rapidly
growing HIV epidemic in the former Soviet Union -- Russia, Ukraine and the
Baltic states -- appears to stem from one strain spread by drug users
nearly a decade ago.

"Nearly all of the HIV viruses circulating in that region...closely match
one another genetically, were introduced into the area in 1996-97 and are
being spread through injection by drug users," Garrett wrote.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

July 19, Asia Pulse
Myanmar wants US$2.50 per mBtu for gas through pipeline

Myanmar is seeking a price of US$2.50 per million British thermal unit for
the natural gas it plans to sell to India, through a pipeline to Kolkata.

Myanmar's Energy Minister Lun Thi, at a bilateral meeting with Petroleum
Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar earlier this month, quoted US$2.50 per mBtu
price as the price of gas found in offshore Myanmar, a top government
official said.

The delivered price of the gas at Indian borders after adding a
transportation cost of US$1.25 per mBtu, would be US$3.75 per mBtu.

The delivered price is a marginally lower than the cost of liquefied
natural gas (LNG) being imported from Qatar. LNG from Qatar, after
regasification and taxes, costs US$3.86 per mBtu.

The US$1 billion 290-km line is being envisaged to transport gas found in
offshore Myanmar, where Indian firms are partnering Korean companies in
exploration, to eastern India via Bangladesh.

If India were to avoid Bangladesh, which has put certain conditions for
allowing the pipeline to pass through its territory, and use the
mountain-terrain of North-East to reach West Bengal then the
transportation cost would rise, he said.

"We are also exploring importing gas through ships in its liquefied state
(LNG) or compressed form (CNG)," he said.

Dhaka, which had in January agreed to the passage of the pipeline through
its territory, has now demanded from India a trade and power corridor to
Nepal and Bhutan and measures to reduce Bangladesh's US$2 billion trade
deficit. New Delhi has opposed making bilateral issues part of a
trilateral agreement.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar poses a constant headache for 10-nation ASEAN – Pascale Trouillaud

Ever since Myanmar joined the 10-nation ASEAN in 1997, the military-ruled
nation has been a thorn in the side of the regional bloc, but never more
so than in the past year.

The military regime's human rights abuses, specifically the detention of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has sparked dissent within the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and become an international
embarrassment for the group.

Myanmar joined ASEAN eight years ago and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi has spent four of those years under house arrest, where she remains
confined today.

For the European Union and the United States, key dialogue partners for
ASEAN, Aung San Suu Kyi embodies the pro-democracy struggle.

Both have toughened their sanctions against Yangon since her latest arrest
in May 2003, and both have threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings if Myanmar
is allowed to chair the group.

"No other member in the 38-year history of ASEAN has garnered such
negative attention for the entire group ... or been the cause of multiple
cancelled meetings between the group and key dialogue partners," Zaid
Ibrahim, president of the ASEAN caucus on Burma (Myanmar), wrote recently.

So when ASEAN foreign ministers meet in the Laotian capital Vientiane next
week for an annual meeting, Myanmar's turn to take the rotating
chairmanship in 2006 looms over the talks.

In a sign of what may come, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
decided to send a deputy to the talks -- the first time the secretary will
not attend.

A last-minute compromise saved the Europe-Asia ASEM summit in Hanoi in
October 2004, after months of quarrelling over whether Myanmar would take
part.

ASEAN had insisted if all its 10 members could not attend, neither could
the newly enlarged European Union's 25 states.

In July 2004 Myanmar also stirred controversy at ASEAN's ministerial
meetings in Jakarta, where a final communique called for a gradual
transition to democracy in the military-ruled country.

"For the last year, Myanmar has poisoned every discussion," one diplomat
in Yangon said.

The dispute over the chairmanship has also exposed a rift between ASEAN's
new members -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- where "basically
there is no democracy," and its founding members -- Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- where democracy is more secure,
the diplomat said.

In 1997 then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad engineered
Myanmar's entry to ASEAN. But in 2003, the now-retired Mahathir said the
junta could be expelled from the group.

What happened between those two dates? Nothing.

The junta's self-proclaimed "road map to democracy", announced in 2003,
has won no converts. The opposition is boycotting the talks.

The military released more than 200 political prisoners two weeks ago, but
still holds some 1,100, including Aung San Suu Kyi and noted journalist
Win Tin.

No amount of pressure has moved the regime. Among ASEAN members, "everyone
is disappointed, they had hope for more," the diplomat said.

Economically Myanmar represents merely 1.3 percent of the group's
collective gross domestic product.

Regional integration and tariff reduction makes little sense in a country
with archaic management and no statistics, and where half of the country's
international trade is on the black market, economists say.

Still, Myanmar's membership has brought one of the world's most isolated
countries regular contacts with it neighbors.

But has Myanmar done any good for ASEAN? "Probably not," the diplomat said.

____________________________________

July 19, Agence France Presse
Malaysia hopes Myanmar will settle ASEAN chair issue next week

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Tuesday he hopes that
military-ruled Myanmar will reveal next week whether or not it will take
up the ASEAN chairmanship next year.

Syed Hamid said Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers
will raise the vexed topic during their talks in the Lao capital
Vientiane, but Myanmar was already well aware of their views.

"So I think, or at least I hope, that there will be something one way or
another (in Laos)," he told reporters.

"We don't want to tell them that they must get out, or that they must miss
their turn, but they know what they need to do and the action must be done
by them," he said.

Parliamentarians from some ASEAN member nations are concerned that Myanmar
will damage the group's image and international links if it becomes
chairman at the end of 2006 under an alphabetical rotation system.

With Myanmar at the helm, taking over from Malaysia which assumes the role
at the end of this year, the United States and European Union would
probably boycott key meetings with the grouping.

In what has been seen as an attempt to pressure ASEAN on the issue, US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she will not attend the ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF) in Laos. Her deputy Robert Zoellick will go instead.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda also said he is confident of a
decision on the issue in Laos next week.

"This is an internal organisational matter and therefore we will decide
ourselves," he told reporters in Jakarta.

"We have already discussed this, so that in the meeting in Laos next week
we are certain that we can settle this matter."

Wirayuda said that if Myanmar goes ahead and takes the chair, Indonesia
would make a "diplomatic response." He did not elaborate.

Leaders from the 10-nation grouping have said that Myanmar cannot be
blocked from assuming the chair, but it is under intense pressure to do so
voluntarily to avoid embarrassing its neighbours.

Syed Hamid said there was a hope that Myanmar would act out of "a sense of
responsibility to ASEAN as a fellow ASEAN country."

"They are aware of our views. When you are a member of an organisation or
a club you have to adhere to some of the values," he said.

"We have given the views not only of ASEAN, but we have also talked about
the feelings and views of other regions and other countries... So I think
they understand very well."

Holding the ASEAN chair means Myanmar would set the group's agenda and
direction as well as host a series of meetings, including a summit and the
ARF high-level security forum involving the United States and the European
Union.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Philippines would take
over as chair if Myanmar gives up its turn.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 19, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees News
Rohingyas from Myanmar living in risky conditions in Bangladesh – Jennifer
Pagonis

Perched precariously on the edge of the muddy tidal river flat, with the
hills of Myanmar in clear sight across the broad expanse of the Naf river,
a group of more than 6,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar are living in extremely
risky conditions in Teknaf, Cox's Bazar district in the south-eastern tip
of Bangladesh.

"We are really suffering here," said one of the group's Mahjees, or
leaders. "When it rains, the rain comes down from the hills behind, and
during the high tides, the water comes from that side," he added,
gesturing towards the salty Naf river that flows into the Bay of Bengal
some kilometres away. He said the water often reached knee height,
saturating their shelters.

Constructed from wood from the forest and bits of plastic and thatching,
the tattered makeshift homes of this ethnic Muslim group are right on the
high tide mark, jammed up against the road. There is no water or
sanitation at the site, creating a health hazard particularly for the
large number of young children in the group.

Another 20,500 Rohingyas from Myanmar are registered in two government-run
camps – Kutu Palong and Nayapara – south of Cox's Bazar town.

In a joint initiative last Friday, UNHCR, the European Commission and
diplomats from five donor countries visited the Teknaf group to see their
plight for themselves, after urging the Bangladesh government for months
to move the group to safer ground.

"They are living in very dangerous and risky conditions, in an area prone
to flooding and cyclones during the monsoon," European Commission
Ambassador Esko Kentrschynskyj said after the joint mission to Teknaf.


The group of Rohingyas from Myanmar now at Teknaf, Bangladesh, are living
in appallingly squalid and dangerous conditions on the tidal river flats
prone to flooding. © UNHCR/I.Bayzit

Since late last year, the international community has been asking the
government to move the Teknaf group as a matter of urgency, but so far has
not received a response. The European Commission has said it will provide
emergency humanitarian assistance in water and sanitation once the group
is moved to safer ground. However, the government and the local
authorities consider the group illegal immigrants and say they should
return to Myanmar.

"The Teknaf group of Rohingyas are people of concern to UNHCR, as they
fled Myanmar for the same reasons of persecution as the refugees in the
camps who came here in a big influx in 1991-1992," explained UNHCR's
representative in Bangladesh, Christopher Lee. "The only difference is
that these Rohingyas were living outside the camps, or arrived after a
1994 cut-off date for prima facie refugee status, so they were not
registered."

"We came to Bangladesh because we had some problems in 1992," said one
Mahjee. "In 1994 I repatriated. Our lands were confiscated before and when
we repatriated we got some land back. Then it was taken again. Even worse,
they brought people, Burmese from Yangon, and settled them on our land.
The Myanmar government says, 'You have no nationality, you have no
citizenship.' We were forced to leave," he added.

During the refugee exodus in the early 1990s, some 250,000 Rohingyas in
Myanmar fled by foot or boat into nearby Bangladesh and were sheltered in
20 camps. An undetermined number settled in the surrounding area. More
than 235,000 Rohingyas have since repatriated, leaving the 20,500
currently living in poor conditions in the two government-run camps in
Cox's Bazar district.

The Teknaf group formed after the Bangladesh government moved some 3,600
Rohingyas in 2003 from villages in the surrounding areas where they had
been living for up to 10 years, to a spot along the Naf river. Six months
later, they were moved two kilometres to the current site. The group has
been growing as more Rohingyas facing problems with local communities have
moved to the area.

The Mahjees said they suffered severe ill-treatment at the hands of the
villagers and local authorities before being moved to the current site.

A small number of new arrivals from Myanmar, and some "double backers" – a
term used for refugees who repatriated to Myanmar, then fled again – are
also part of the group. There are no accurate figures for the composition
of the Tefnak group and numbers range from 6,000-10,000 as the size of the
group fluctuates.

The Tefnak group struggles to survive in their precarious surroundings.
The men try to find work fishing, cutting wood in the forest, or pulling a
rickshaw, the main mode of transport in this lush, overpopulated, rural
area of Bangladesh.

"We are facing a lot of trouble, especially medical," said another Mahjee.
"If we eat one time, we have to starve another and the children are not
getting any education. We are Muslims. We came to another Muslim country,
but we don't find peace."

The group is also suffering from medical complaints, particularly
diarrhoea, but they lack health care and money to buy medicine.

"We are suffering very much," said one woman, dressed in blue instead of
the customary black burqa and veil of the Rohingyas. "We don't have
rations, food, medicine. We get sick with diarrhoea, we use bark from the
tree as medicine. We are dying because of [the lack of] food and water. A
lot of people died here. We collect leaves from the forest and cook them
for our children. We collect water from the forest and rainwater but it is
not enough," the mother of five added.

Members of the joint mission to Teknaf said they would continue to pursue
the humanitarian relocation of this group with the government.