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“They are using food as a weapon,” a senior aid official told CNN. “No official travel authorization has been granted to humanitarian partners to implement activities outside of Sittwe township since November 2023,” a senior aid official told CNN. The UN aid officials made clear in their meetings, which have not been previously reported, that the status quo is unacceptable, the sources said. A World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Maungdaw was looted and burned in June, depriving that community of urgently needed food aid. A senior UN aid official in Myanmar blamed the funding shortfall in part on international apathy.

Persons: CNN — Khin Mar Cho, Soldiers, Byine Phyu, Khin Mar Cho, ” Khin Mar Cho, “, —, ”, Myint Kyaw, Sen, Min Aung, Mohammed, ” Mohammed, Shayna Bauchner, we’ve, OCHA, Sai Aung, Rakhine —, Ejaz, Jamila, Bangladesh Azim Khan Ronnie, Buthidaung, drenching, ” Jamila, ULA, ” Sajjad Mohammad Sajid Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Arakan Army, AA, UN, Myanmar’s Ministry of Information, AFP, Getty, Partners Relief, Development, Human Rights, ” Aid, SAC, Administration Council, Food, UN Office, Humanitarian Affairs, UN Security Council, European Union, Aid, Human Rights Watch, Solent, Myanmar, Development Coordination, United League of, Programme, Junta Locations: Myanmar, Byine, Rakhine, Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar’s, Yangon, “, Sai, AFP, China, Buthidaung, Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh Tanbirul Miraj Ripon, Kutupalong, Tanbirul Miraj Ripon, Arakan, Maungdaw, ULA, Gaza, Ukraine

☆ Myanmar rebels says dozens of junta forces surrender, captured
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Reuters could not independently verify the information from the AA, which is one of three ethnic minority insurgent groups that launched a coordinated offensive against junta forces in late October. A curfew has been imposed in the Rakhine State capital Sittwe, where military tanks have been sighted, the administration there said. A junta spokesperson, Zaw Min Tun, on Tuesday accused the rebel groups of "destroying the whole country" and said reports of captured military posts were "propaganda". He did not comment on reports of junta forces surrendering. Most of the Myanmar soldiers were flown by Indian forces to another point on the border and handed back to Myanmar authorities, said an Indian security official who declined to be identified.

Persons: Nobel, Aung, Min Tun, Kanupriya Kapoor, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Arakan Army, Reuters, AA, Myanmar, Thomson Locations: Myanmar, Myanmar's Khawmawi, India, Zokhawthar, Champhai district, India's, Mizoram, Rakhine State, Sittwe, China, Suu Kyi, Shan, Rakhine, Chin State

☆ Myanmar rebels seek to control border with India after early wins
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Dozens of rebels battled the Myanmar military from dawn to dusk on Monday to overrun two camps abutting India's Mizoram state, as part of a widening offensive against the junta-led administration, Chin National Front (CNF) Vice Chairman Sui Khar said. Following the battle, 43 Myanmar soldiers surrendered to Indian police and are currently sheltering in Mizoram, local police official Lalmalsawma Hnamte said. "Whether they will be pushed back or not, we are waiting for further instructions from the central government," he told Reuters. Chin rebels will now look to consolidate their control along the India-Myanmar border, where the Myanmar military has two more camps, Sui Khar said. A Rathedaung resident told Reuters on Tuesday the area came under artillery fire overnight and that military soldiers had entered the town.

Persons: Sui Khar, Kyaw Naing, Lalmalsawma Hnamte, Chin, Nobel, Aung, Suu Kyi, Krishn Kaushik, Kanupriya Kapoor, Devjyot, Michael Perry, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Chin, Myanmar's, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Reuters, Human Rights Organization, Myanmar, Arakan Army, Artillery, Thomson Locations: Myanmar, India, Farkawn, Mizoram, Myanmar's Shan, Kayah, Rakhine, Chin, Rakhine's, Myanmar's Chin, India's Mizoram, China, Shan State, Sittwe, Rathedaung, Minbya, Suu, MIZORAM, DELHI

☆ Myanmar junta imposes curfew in western city amid surge in rebel-led fighting
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta has imposed a curfew in the western city of Sittwe, according to a government document and media reports, amid a surge in fighting on several fronts between the military and ethnic minority insurgent groups. Local media outlets Narinjara News and Western News also reported a curfew had been imposed. A Rathedaung resident told Reuters on Tuesday the area came under artillery fire overnight and that military soldiers had entered the town. "Artillery fell on a street in Rathedaung town last night. Fighting erupted on two new fronts this week, in the western states of Rakhine and Chin, which sent about 5,000 people fleeing to neighbouring India.

Persons: Kanupriya Kapoor, Michael Perry Organizations: Reuters, Local, Narinjara, Western News, Arakan Army, Artillery, Thomson Locations: Sittwe, Rakhine, Rathedaung, Myanmar, Shan State, China, Chin, India, Chin State

☆ Myanmar Rebels Says Dozens of Junta Forces Surrender, Captured
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

Persons: Nobel, Aung, Min Tun, Kanupriya Kapoor, Robert Birsel Organizations: Reuters, Arakan Army, AA, Myanmar Locations: Myanmar, Rakhine State, Sittwe, China, Suu Kyi, Shan, Rakhine, Chin State, Mizoram

☆ UN chief spotlights worsening rights in Myanmar as journalist jailed for 20 years for cyclone coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Sai Zaw Thaike was in western Rakhine state to report on the aftermath of the devastating Cyclone Mocha, which killed over 140 people and caused widespread destruction. He was arrested by junta soldiers in the state capital Sittwe on May 23, Myanmar Now reported. Sai Zaw Thaike, a photojournalist for the independent news website Myanmar Now, works at his desk in Yangon, Myanmar in August 2020. “Myanmar authorities’ grotesque 20-year sentencing of Myanmar Now journalist Sai Zaw Thaike on blatantly bogus charges is an outrage and should be immediately reversed,” Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative said in a statement. “Myanmar’s junta must stop imprisoning members of the press for merely doing their jobs as reporters.”CNN has not been able to immediately reach the Myanmar junta.

Persons: CNN — Myanmar’s, General António Guterres, “, Guterres, Sai Zaw Thaike, Sai Zaw, Swe Win, ”, Cyclone, ” Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s, Suu Kyi, Farhan Haq, Suu, Min Aung, Kamala Harris Organizations: CNN, United Nations ’, UN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, People’s Defense Forces, AP, Protect Journalists, Southeast, ” CNN, Myanmar, Reuters Locations: Myanmar, Rakhine, Indonesia’s, Jakarta, Sittwe, Sai, Yangon, AP Myanmar, Southeast Asia, ”, Philippines, United States

CNN —Rescue teams have found at least 17 bodies on Myanmar’s shores after a Rohingya boat capsized while on its way to Malaysia on Monday, officials told CNN. Among the dead were 10 women and seven men – all of whom were Rohingya Muslims, said Bya Latt, a spokesperson for the Shwe Yaung Matta Foundation rescue group. A Sittwe police official told CNN that the boat was transporting 58 people, including three boat drivers. “They were met with a storm in the sea and the boat sank under huge waves,” the official said, asking not to be identified. The perilous voyage from Cox’s Bazaar to Malaysia can take weeks, and conditions at sea are challenging, experts have noted.

Persons: –, Bya Latt, Shwe Yaung Matta, Latt Organizations: CNN — Rescue, CNN, Shwe Yaung, Shwe Yaung Matta Foundation Locations: Malaysia, Rakhine, Sittwe, Rathedaung, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar

CNN —Myanmar’s ruling junta has suspended humanitarian access to western Rakhine state, where more than a million vulnerable people are in urgent need of aid a month after a powerful cyclone devastated the region, the United Nations said. The UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) said the decision to stop aid access in the already-impoverished state has paralyzed the humanitarian response to Cyclone Mocha and crippled life-saving aid distributions to storm-hit communities. Cyclone Mocha slammed into western Myanmar on May 14 as one of the strongest storms ever to hit the country. Residents on a damaged street after Cyclone Mocha in Kyauktaw, Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 14. Travel in Rakhine state has long been heavily restricted and aid groups are required to apply for travel authorizations a month in advance, an aid official recently told CNN.

Persons: CNN — Myanmar’s, Cyclone, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, Balakrishnan, “, Sai Aung, UN OCHA, ” Balakrishnan, Nargis, “ We’ve, we’re, Khine, Thurein, Sittwe, ” Organizations: CNN, United Nations, UN, Cyclone, Residents, Getty, Administration Council, Sans Frontieres, Twitter, SAC, Arakan Civil Society Network Locations: Rakhine, Myanmar, Kyauktaw, Myanmar's Rakhine, Sai, AFP, UN, Travel, Naypyidaw, Chin, Arakan, Rohingya

His family – all 11 of them – had huddled together in their house in Sittwe, on the coast of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, as ferocious winds intensified overhead. As the water rose, the family ran to escape the storm surge but they got separated in the chaos. Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty ImagesCrisis upon crisisWhile western Rakhine state took a direct hit from the cyclone, the UN estimates 150,000 people in the country’s northwest were also heavily affected. One resident from Magway, where around 11,000 households were affected by the storm, said her husband died in flooding caused by Cyclone Mocha. Smashed-up boats are piled up next to a broken bridge in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 15 after Cyclone Mocha.

☆ Myanmar junta says 145 died in cyclone, NGOs fear higher toll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A view of the damage caused by Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe, Myanmar in this handout image released May 17, 2023. Partners Relief and Development/Handout via REUTERSMay 19 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military-controlled media said on Friday 145 people were killed when Cyclone Mocha hit the country this week, in stark contrast to reports from rights groups and residents who fear hundreds may have died. The junta said in a statement that as of May 18 a total of 145 people had been found dead, including 91 in camps for internally displaced people. Rakhine has a large population of Rohingya Muslims - around 600,000, a persecuted minority that successive governments in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar have refused to recognise. Reporting by Reuters Staff; writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Cyclone Mocha: Myanmar junta travel restrictions are holding up vital aid to cyclone-hit communities
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Myanmar’s military junta is holding up humanitarian access to some cyclone-hit communities in western Rakhine state after Cyclone Mocha devastated the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the poorest parts of the country. Storm damage has hampered efforts to access rural and hard-to-reach areas while pre-existing travel restrictions imposed by the junta have delayed the delivery of vital aid to communities in urgent need. “It seems that many agencies haven’t even been able to conduct needs assessments, let alone deliver aid, because SAC (junta) officials have not granted travel authorization. This is extremely worrying.”A girl draws water from a pump at Basara refugee camp in Sittwe on May 16 in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha. A Rohingya woman stands in her damaged house at Basara refugee camp in Sittwe on May 16 following Cyclone Mocha.

☆ Aid groups seek green light from Myanmar junta to access cyclone-hit state
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A view of the damage caused by Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe, Myanmar in this handout image released May 17, 2023. The U.N. Development Programme, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and U.N. refugee agency UNHCR also said their requests were pending approval. "It is important for humanitarian actors to ascertain damage, needs and provide immediate lifesaving assistance, not least as the monsoon season nears," UNHCR spokesperson Reuben Lim Wende said. State media on Wednesday said junta leader Min Aung Hlaing had visited affected areas in Bagan, another region, and separately met with a UNHCR representative to discuss relief efforts. About 5.4 million people were expected to have been in the storm's path, the majority of whom were considered vulnerable.

It is in these poorly constructed camps that aid agencies fear Cyclone Mocha has hit the hardest. A man walks past destroyed buildings in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 15, 2023, after Cyclone Mocha made landfall. Residents ride motorcycles past broken utility poles in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 15, 2023, after Cyclone Mocha made landfall. At one point Cyclone Mocha had been predicted to hit the camp but it was spared a direct hit with the storm making landfall further down the coast. According to the UN, roughly 15,000 homes were destroyed in Rakhine state during that storm.

☆ Cyclone Mocha tears into Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Cyclone Mocha barrels into Myanmar The powerful storm unleashes its fury, disrupting communications in the regionAround midday on Sunday, Cyclone Mocha pummelled western Myanmar and southern Bangladesh. Map shows the path of Cyclone Mocha. It originated in the Bay of Bengal three days before it hit the coast of Myanmar on May 14. Satellite images show Sittwe before and after landfall of Cyclone Mocha, in Myanmar. Myanmar’s coast bore the brunt of the storm surge from Mocha, according to data from the EU’s Joint Research Centre.

☆ Many Rohingya Muslims killed after cyclone hit western Myanmar - residents, NGO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/4] A satellite image shows a bridge after the landfall of Cyclone Mocha, in Sittwe, Myanmar May 15, 2023. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERSMay 16 (Reuters) - Many Rohingya Muslims were killed in Western Myanmar when Cyclone Mocha struck at the weekend, residents, a relief group in the area and a local media report said on Tuesday. Two residents and local non-governmental organisation operating in Rakhine State, Partners, told Reuters the cyclone had caused major destruction with scores of casualties. Media outlet Myanmar Now said there were 22 deaths in Rohingya communities, citing residents. Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Powerful storm snaps communications network in Myanmar's Rakhine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Strong winds and heavy rainfall is seen at ThekayPyin Rohingya camp, as Cyclone Mocha approaches, in Sittwe, Rakhine, Myanmar, May 14, 2023 in this screengrab taken from a handout video. Some 400,000 people were evacuated in Myanmar and Bangladesh ahead of Cyclone Mocha making landfall, as authorities and aid agencies scrambled to avoid heavy casualties. "All communication is still down and people are in trouble because all the roofs are gone," said Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the Arakan Army, which control swathes of Rakhine state. Benjamin Small, a consultant with the United Nations Development Programme, said it was hard to understand the scale of destruction because of ruptured communications in Rakhine. "The storm itself is a trigger for more problems as heavy rains continue and landslides and flooding tend to follow."

☆ Cyclone Mocha: Early reports of 'extensive damage' as storm hits the Myanmar coast
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Video from the conflict-racked Rakhine state showed powerful gusts of wind blowing trees to the ground. “But early reports suggest the damage is extensive and needs among already vulnerable communities, particularly displaced people, will be high. A resident drives his motorbike past fallen utility poles in Kyauktaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on May 15, 2023, after Cyclone Mocha crashed ashore. However, torrential rain battered Rakhine state in western Myanmar, bringing threats of flooding and landslides. According to the United Nations, roughly 15,000 homes were destroyed in Rakhine state during the storm.

CNN —Western Myanmar is being battered by strong winds and heavy rain after Cyclone Mocha made landfall on the Bay of Bengal coastline Sunday. Local residents check the damages after Cyclone Mocha's crashed ashore in Kyauktaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on May 14, 2023. Two children stand under a roadside shelter to protect from rain before Cyclone Mocha hits in Sittwe, Rakhine State, on Sunday, May 14, 2023. APTropical Cyclone Mocha has intensified to the equivalent of a category 5 Atlantic hurricane. Most live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters perched on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to strong winds, rain, and landslides.

☆ Cyclone Mocha heads to Bangladesh, Myanmar coasts as thousands flee
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Ruma Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DHAKA, May 13 (Reuters) - A powerful storm packing winds of up to 175 kph (109 mph) barrelled towards the coasts of eastern Bangladesh and Myanmar on Saturday, threatening around a million Rohingya refugees and others living in low-lying areas. Thousands of people in both countries have already fled to safer areas ahead of the storm. Cyclone Mocha is likely to intensify further and make landfall on Sunday between Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said in a bulletin. Cox's Bazar, a southeastern border district, is where more than a million Rohingya refugees live, most of them having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. At least 10,000 have left their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state for safer areas, local media reported.

REUTERS/Ruma PaulCOX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Mohammed Ismail says four of his relatives were killed by gunmen at the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh between April and October last year. The group has fought against Myanmar's security forces and some Rohingya say it has been recruiting fighters, often through coercion, in the Bangladesh camps. Ismail, who lives with his parents, wife and brother, says he fears for his life and understands why some Rohingya are fleeing Bangladesh. A FRAUGHT CHOICEReuters spoke with several refugees who returned to the Bangladesh camps after abandoning journeys to Malaysia, via Myanmar, out of trepidation. "People are risking their lives on sea journeys as there is no future here and criminal activities are rising," Aziz said.

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