Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The UAE has been helping the Rohingya for years. Cathal McNaughton / Reuters
Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The UAE has been helping the Rohingya for years. Cathal McNaughton / Reuters
Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The UAE has been helping the Rohingya for years. Cathal McNaughton / Reuters
Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The UAE has been helping the Rohingya for years. Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

Emergency meeting seeks stronger response to Rohingya crisis


Damien McElroy
  • English
  • Arabic

An emergency foreign ministers meeting on Monday at the United Nations General Assembly came under intense pressure to produce a far tougher international response to the military-led purges of Myanmar’s Rohingya population.

Boris Johnson, the British foreign secretary, convened the closed-door summit of leading nations and regional parties at the UN after rising criticism that the Security Council was not addressing the crisis. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has separately scheduled a contact group summit on the Rohingya on Tuesday.

The British-organised meeting was attended by a representative from Myanmar and by foreign ministers from "a range of countries with a strong interest in seeing an end to the violence there", a spokesman said.

Mr Johnson last week called on Aung San Suu Kyi to use her “moral capital” to end the gross abuses in Rakhine state. “I think it's now vital for her to use that moral capital and that authority to make the point about the suffering of the people of Rakhine,” he said.

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Read more:

The Rohingya: a tragedy decades in the making

Bangladesh begins drive to force Rohingya into one giant camp

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Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, issued a stark warning to the Nobel laureate and de facto Myanmar leader, saying she faced a last chance to stop the atrocities.

"If she does not reverse the situation now, then I think the tragedy will be absolutely horrible, and unfortunately then I don't see how this can be reversed in the future."

Mr Guterres has been critical of the Security Council despite last week’s unified statement condemning the violence that has forced more than 400,000 to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

“I visited this area and I could witness the Rohingya were the most discriminated ethnic group in the world,” he said, recalling his role as the UN’s refugee chief before promotion to the top job at the start of the year.

“The Security Council has issued a statement but not yet done what I would like.

“This [military] action has to stop. We must open the right of those people who have fled to return and to establish rules for these people who are stateless.”

Aung San Suu Kyi cancelled her trip to New York when it was clear she would face pressure to use her position to stop the security action. Instead, she plans to make a speech at home in Myanmar to address the criticism.

Famous backers of the former political prisoner, including the actress Angelina Jolie, have demanded she lives up to her reputation as a champion for human rights.

"It's absolutely clear that the violence by the army needs to stop and that the return of the refugees has to be permitted and that the Rohingya should be given civil rights," Jolie told a German newspaper. "We all wish that Aung San Suu Kyi will in this situation be the voice of human rights.”

More than 400,000 signed a change.org petition for her to be stripped of the Nobel Prize and Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, is under pressure to revoke her honorary Canadian citizenship.

Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh prime minister, will use her trip to New York to demand more help and greater outside intervention to contain the crisis. “We want peace; we want good relations with our neighbouring countries,” she said. “But we can’t tolerate and accept any injustice.”

The prospect of imposing sanctions on Myanmar for the crackdown still appears remote. Western nations, including European Union states and the US, reversed sanctions on the Myanmar regime in 2012 after it freed Aundg San Suu Kyi and allow free elections. Those elections swept her party into power, but under a constitution that allows the military free rein to conduct its own policies.

Human Rights Watch on Monday called for a partial arms embargo and targeted sanctions against the Myanmar military and government. It said the sanctions should be imposed as a response both to the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, as well as the Myanmar military's involvement in mass arson, killing and looting, destroying hundreds of villages.

While last week’s Security Council statement on Myanmar was the first in nine years, it was substantially watered down. China intervened to scrub language proposed by Egypt offering the Rohingya refugees the right to return to Myanmar.

Diplomats meeting in New York face a two-fold crisis. Activists have demanded a ramped-up response to the refugee outflow, in particular to Sheikh Hasina’s call for more assistance.

“The international community must carefully consider the longer-term implications for Rohingya women, men and children forced to flee if the Myanmar army’s violence and repression is not swiftly brought to an end,” said Kate Allen of Amnesty International. “Expecting the country to host indefinitely such a rapidly growing refugee population risks undermining its will and capacity to do so, particularly if others in the international community are not prepared to play their part.”

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Traits of Chinese zodiac animals

Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent   

WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Three trading apps to try

Sharad Nair recommends three investment apps for UAE residents:

  • For beginners or people who want to start investing with limited capital, Mr Nair suggests eToro. “The low fees and low minimum balance requirements make the platform more accessible,” he says. “The user interface is straightforward to understand and operate, while its social element may help ease beginners into the idea of investing money by looking to a virtual community.”
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  • Finally, StashAway could work for those who want a hands-off approach to their investing. “It removes one of the biggest challenges for novice traders: picking the securities in their portfolio,” Mr Nair says. “A goal-based approach or view towards investing can help motivate residents who may usually shy away from investment platforms.”
TCL INFO

Teams:
Punjabi Legends 
Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan

Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals

WISH
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While you're here
The Byblos iftar in numbers

29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month

50 staff members required to prepare an iftar

200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly

160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total

500 litres of soup is served during the holy month

200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes

350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes

5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat
 

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.