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Myanmar’s Navy Seizes 2 Boats Carrying Over 200 Migrants Myanmar’s Navy Seizes 2 Boats Carrying Over 200 Migrants
(about 9 hours later)
YANGON, Myanmar — The Myanmar Navy “seized” two boats carrying more than 200 migrants, the country announced on Friday. It said the boats had been found close to shore in the Bay of Bengal, about four nautical miles from Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State. YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar, under international pressure to help resolve the humanitarian migrant crisis in Southeast Asia, announced on Friday that it had seized a boat carrying more than 200 migrants and detained all the passengers.
A statement by the government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, said that on Thursday it had arrested 208 passengers — all under the age of 40, including 10 teenagers — who were on a boat owned by a Thai citizen from Ranong, Thailand. The other boat belonged to a Burmese man from Myeik in southern Myanmar and had no passengers, the statement said. A government statement said the 208 passengers, including 10 teenagers, were Bangladeshis under the age of 40 and were on a boat owned by a Thai citizen. A second boat, which was also seized, belonged to a Burmese man and had no passengers, the statement said.
The statement said that the passengers were Bangladeshis from “Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and north of Dhaka,” and that 17 crew members and three Bangladeshi interpreters had also been arrested. The Myanmar Navy seized the boats on Thursday after finding them in the Bay of Bengal about four miles from Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State, on the country’s western coast, the government said. Rakhine is the primary home of the Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority ethnic group who have fled ethnic violence and persecution there by the tens of thousands during the last several years, often paying smugglers to take them to other countries, mainly Malaysia and Bangladesh, in rickety wooden boats.
“All of them are from Bangladesh,” said U Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the president’s office. “Now all the boat people and crew members are under investigation, and we are treating them well from a humanitarian point of view.” The statement said 17 crew members and three Bangladeshi interpreters had also been detained.
“We will send them back after all is clear,” he added. “We need cooperation among regional countries, particularly Bangladesh.” He said the episode was the second time that the navy had seized traffickers’ boats in Myanmar’s waters. “All of them are from Bangladesh,” said U Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the president’s office. “Now all the boat people and crew members are under investigation, and we are treating them well from a humanitarian point of view.
Some members of the Rohingya ethnic group in Maungdaw disputed the government’s account, saying that the detained passengers included Rohingya from Myanmar. “We will send them back after all is clear,” he added. “We need cooperation among regional countries, particularly Bangladesh.” He said it was the second time that the navy had seized smugglers’ boats in Myanmar’s waters.
Photographs posted online by the Myanmar Ministry of Information showed scores of men crowded inside a wooden boat. They appeared frightened as security forces examined them.
Some Rohingya in Maungdaw disputed the government’s account, saying that the detained passengers included members of their minority group.
Speaking by phone from Maungdaw, on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, U Hafizul, a Rohingya who works with an international nongovernmental organization there, said: “Not only Bangladeshis, but Rohingya villagers from Maungdaw and surrounding areas were on the boat, too. They are now detained at a village school near Maungdaw.”Speaking by phone from Maungdaw, on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, U Hafizul, a Rohingya who works with an international nongovernmental organization there, said: “Not only Bangladeshis, but Rohingya villagers from Maungdaw and surrounding areas were on the boat, too. They are now detained at a village school near Maungdaw.”
The Myanmar government denies that the Muslim Rohingya are a distinct ethnic group, contending that they are Bengalis and denying them citizenship. On Wednesday, Malaysia and Indonesia, reversing their previous positions, announced that they would temporarily shelter thousands of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh adrift in the Andaman Sea and Strait of Malacca. But the countries the migrants fled did not participate in the talks that led to the agreement, and the lack of regional cooperation on the crisis has frustrated international aid agencies and governments.
Many Rohingya were placed in camps across Rakhine State after brutal sectarian violence in Myanmar in 2012 that left more than 300 people dead, most of them Muslims. Altogether, there are estimated to be more than a million Rohingya in Myanmar. The Myanmar government, dominated by Buddhists, denies that the Muslim Rohingya are a distinct ethnic group, calling them Bengalis, which implies that they are from Bangladesh. It considers them illegal immigrants and refuses to give them citizenship, even though some of the one million Rohingya in Myanmar have roots that go back decades.
Many Rohingya were placed in camps across Rakhine State after sectarian violence in Myanmar in 2012 that left more than 300 people dead.
“This year, more Rohingya are fleeing because they feel hopeless” after three years of living in temporary camps, Mr. Hafizul said.“This year, more Rohingya are fleeing because they feel hopeless” after three years of living in temporary camps, Mr. Hafizul said.
Photographs posted online by the Myanmar Ministry of Information showed scores of people crowded inside the wooden boat that was seized, many of them shirtless. They appeared frightened as security forces examined them. On Thursday, Antony J. Blinken, the United States deputy secretary of state, visited Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, to discuss the crisis with President Thein Sein and the country’s military commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
Thousands of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar are believed to be stranded at sea in Southeast Asian waters, after being abandoned by human smugglers. On Thursday, Antony J. Blinken, the United States deputy secretary of state, visited Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, to discuss the issue with President Thein Sein and the country’s military commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. The office of General Min Aung Hlaing said he told Mr. Blinken that the military “doesn’t want to see the crisis of the boat people, and Myanmar doesn’t force citizens to flee.”
During the meetings, Mr. Blinken shared Washington’s concerns about the migrant crisis in the region and urged Myanmar to work with regional partners to address it, according to a statement by the United States Embassy. Indonesia and Malaysia agreed this week to allow migrants stranded at sea to come ashore and to shelter them while they await resettlement, and the United States has sent military aircraft to help find and rescue them. Mr. Blinken shared Washington’s concerns about the crisis and urged Myanmar to work with regional partners to address it, according to a statement by the United States Embassy. The Rohingya have become prey to smugglers as they flee the “desperate conditions they face in Rakhine State,” Reuters quoted Mr. Blinken as saying.
Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s office said that the general told Mr. Blinken that the Tatmadaw, as the Burmese armed forces are known, “doesn’t want to see the crisis of the boat people, and Myanmar doesn’t force citizens to flee.” But Maung Maung Ohn, chief minister of Rakhine State, told Reuters after meeting United Nations officials on Friday: “I am disappointed by, and completely disagree and reject such unfounded allegations by the United States. This is human trafficking, not political or religious discrimination at all.”
“Therefore,” the statement from the commander’s office said, “we have to think where the boat people came from.”