The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will rule on November 19 in the case in which Gambia accuses Myanmar of genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority, the court said on Tuesday, according to Reuters, in a text republished by U.S. News. The judges will start reading out their judgment at 8:00 GMT on November 19. Gambia argues that the 2017 offensive by Myanmar government forces, which forced at least 730,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in Bangladesh, constituted genocide. Myanmar denies the accusations and says the offensive was a legitimate counterterrorism campaign. It will be the first genocide judgment by the court in more than a decade and only the third in the tribunal's history. Gambia brought the case in 2019, and the outcome is likely to shape future cases, including South Africa's 2023 case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, a charge Israel denies.
Theme: Myanmar
Articles and notes about Myanmar.
Myanmar is waging the world’s second-most intense drone war, after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, according to El País. A London School of Economics (LSE) report reaches the same conclusion, calling Myanmar’s war the world’s second-most intense conflict for drone attacks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The military junta, which seized power in 2021, is responsible for seven out of every 10 drone strikes in the country, in a war with an opposition divided into dozens of armed groups.
The son of Aung San Suu Kyi said she sounded fairly healthy after speaking to the detained leader on Thursday for the first time in more than five years, according to The Hindu. Suu Kyi, 81, is under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw, where she has been held since being ousted in the 2021 military coup, according to Myanmar authorities.
Min Aung Hlaing received a red carpet welcome, complete with an honour guard, in Kuala Lumpur last week, according to Al Jazeera. Anwar pledged to help reintegrate Myanmar into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the bloc that has barred Min Aung Hlaing from its high-level meetings for refusing to carry out its peace plan.
The Trump administration began direct talks with Myanmar’s military-installed government, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post, in a reversal of the isolation policy adopted after the 2021 coup. Michael Vance met Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on September 15 and 16. The US Department of State said it engages with all groups in Myanmar on issues affecting American interests — and that violence must cease and political prisoners must be released.
Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing will visit Malaysia in the next few days, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday, October 6, according to CNA. Talks are expected to focus on Malaysia’s plan, announced in July, to return about 5,000 Myanmar nationals. The first group of nearly 1,500 returnees arrived in Myanmar on Sunday, although Malaysia has not said how many Rohingya were among them.
The death toll from the military airstrike on a market in Kyauktaw, in western Rakhine state, Myanmar, rose to 50 on September 29, two local aid workers at the scene told AFP, in a text republished by the Kuwait Times. Rescuer Wai Hun Aung said the death toll had reached 50 and that 58 people were injured. Witnesses said military aircraft struck the riverside commercial hub of Kyauktaw, in western Myanmar, around midday on Monday (0530 GMT).
Malaysia began on Tuesday deporting about 1,500 Myanmar nationals under a repatriation program, the first phase of a plan that could reach 5,000 people, according to Reuters. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said current conditions do not support a safe and sustainable return and that it was not involved in identifying those returned, while Malaysiaʼs Interior Ministry said the measure covers 1,476 nationals identified by the government of Myanmar.
A Myanmar military airstrike near a market in rebel-controlled territory in western Rakhine state killed at least 49 people and injured 58 others on Monday, according to the Arakan Army and a rescue official, the Times of India reported. The Associated Press (AP) reported the same toll of 49 dead and 58 wounded, attributed to the rebel group and a rescue official. According to the Arakan Army, a fighter jet dropped two bombs near a local market around noon, killing vendors, shoppers and pedestrians.
At least 33 people were killed in a military air strike that hit a market in Kyauktaw, in Rakhine State, Myanmar, according to Al Jazeera. The strike hit an opposition-controlled area of the state, where dozens of people were killed.