YANGON: Rohingya militants, whose raids in western Myanmar provoked an army crackdown that spurred a humanitarian crisis, denied any links to global terror groups on Thursday, days after Al-Qaeda urged Muslims to rally to their cause.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) said it was trying to defend the minority group from a long campaign of persecution in Myanmar, where the Rohingya are denied citizenship.
But its actions have plunged a region, already a crucible of religious and ethnic tension, deeper into crisis.
Around 380,000 Rohingya have sought sanctuary in Bangladesh since the outbreak of violence three weeks ago, fleeing burning villages and alleged army atrocities, joining what has become one of the world’s largest refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Nearly 30,000 Buddhists and Hindus have also been displaced inside Rakhine.
Rights group say Myanmar’s army has used the ARSA’s attacks as cover to try to push out the estimated 1.1 million Rohingya population.
Myanmar’s government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has denied the allegations.
It labels the militants as “extremist terrorists.” They have also previously described the group as harboring fighters who have trained with the Pakistani Taliban, ideas that have become the currency of arguments among the mainly Buddhist public for why the crackdown is justified.
Al-Qaeda on Tuesday urged Muslims around the world to support the Rohingya cause and “make the necessary preparations — training and the like — to resist this oppression” in a statement on Telegram.
ARSA has repeatedly distanced itself from the agenda of international jihad, instead insisting its claims are local and in defense of major state repression.
“ARSA feels that it is necessary to make it clear that it has no links with Al-Qaeda, ISIS (Daesh), Lashkar-e-Taiba or any transnational terrorist group,” the group said in a statement posted on its Twitter account.
“We do not welcome the involvement of these groups in the Arakan (Rakhine) conflict. ARSA calls on states in the region to intercept and prevent terrorists from entering Arakan and making a bad situation worse.”
Analysts warn the treatment of the Rohingya — and the huge number of new angry and dispossessed refugees in Bangladesh — is rich pickings for militant recruiters.
The refugee camps in Bangladesh are bursting at the seams, with aid groups and authorities scrambling to erect new shelters and provide food and medical support to an endless tide of hungry and traumatized arrivals.
More than 100 Rohingya have died while making the perilous boat crossing over to Bangladesh, with two more bodies, including a one-month old baby, washing up on shore on Thursday.
Two thirds of the Rohingya refugees are children, according to the UN, hundreds of whom have arrived in Bangladesh alone after being split from their families in the swirl of violence.
In London, meanwhile, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has condemned violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar as “unacceptable.”
“We need to support Aung San Suu Kyi and her leadership but also be very clear and unequivocal to the military power sharing in that government that this is unacceptable,” Tillerson said.
“This violence must stop. This persecution must stop. It has been characterised by many as ethnic cleansing. That must stop,” he said during a visit to London, speaking alongside British counterpart Boris Johnson.
“I think it is a defining moment in many ways for this new emerging democracy,” Tillerson said, acknowledging that Suu Kyi found herself in a “difficult and complex situation.”
Johnson also called on Myanmar’s de facto leader to use her “moral capital” to highlight the plight of the Rohingyas.
“I think nobody wants to see a return to military rule in Burma, nobody wants to see a return of the generals,” he said.
“It is vital for her now to make clear that this is an abomination and that those people will be allowed back” in the country, he added.
Rohingya militants say they have ‘no links’ with global terror
Rohingya militants say they have ‘no links’ with global terror
Indonesia joins BRICS, vows to strengthen Global South cooperation
- BRICS now accounts for about 48% of world’s population, over 37% of global economy
- Jakarta wants to attract more foreign investment, find alternatives to West-led order, expert says
JAKARTA: Indonesia announced on Tuesday its acceptance into the BRICS bloc of emerging economies, vowing to strengthen cooperation with countries of the Global South.
Initially comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the group expanded last year with the accession of Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and the UAE.
Morphing into the most powerful geopolitical forum outside of the Western world, BRICS now accounts for about 48 percent of the world’s population and more than 37 percent of the global economy.
Rolliansyah Soemirat, spokesperson for Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Indonesia is committed to contributing to the agendas discussed by BRICS, which include economic resilience, tech cooperation and public health.
“BRICS is an important platform for Indonesia to strengthen South-South cooperation and to ensure that the voices and aspirations of Global South countries will be represented in the global decision-making process,” Soemirat said.
Indonesia’s accession had been approved by BRICS leaders in August 2023, but the world’s fourth-most populous country opted to formally join the bloc after the formation of the newly elected government following last year’s elections. Its accession was welcomed by the government of Brazil, which holds the group’s rotating presidency in 2025.
“As the largest economy and most populous nation in Southeast Asia, Indonesia shares with other BRICS members the support for the reform of the global governance institutions and contributes significantly to the deepening of Global South cooperation,” Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Brazil holds the BRICS presidency this year under the theme “Enhancing Global South Cooperation for a More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance” and will host the annual leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro in July.
Indonesia’s interest in joining BRICS is likely a part of the government’s drive to attract more foreign investment, said Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.
“The move is to do with seeking opportunities to expand sources of investment from a group of countries that do not force Indonesia to choose sides or leave traditional partnerships with the West,” Kharisma told Arab News.
“However, this outcome is not guaranteed,” he said. “The investment patterns of BRICS countries have not shown a clear tendency to prioritize or politically favor fellow members. There is no assurance that Indonesia’s investments will increase significantly.”
Joining BRICS may also be a way for Indonesia to showcase the look of a “new global order,” Kharisma added.
“Symbolically, it is a signal from a country like Indonesia, which has benefitted from the West-led order all this time but wants to integrate even more (into) the global order, that it is seeking ‘alternatives’ should the West-led orders become … less friendly to developing countries.”
Ukraine says conducting combat operations in Russia’s Kursk region
- Russia’s army said over the weekend that Kyiv was mounting a “counter-attack” in the region
- Ukraine’s forces have held onto a swathe of territory since a shock incursion last August
KYIV: Ukraine said Tuesday its forces struck a Russian military “command post” in Russia’s Kursk region during “combat operations,” while backtracking on a claim it had launched a fresh offensive in the border area.
Russia’s army said over the weekend that Kyiv was mounting a “counter-attack” in the region, where Ukraine’s forces have held onto a swathe of territory since a shock incursion last August.
In an English-language statement, Kyiv’s army said it had launched a “high precision” strike near the village of Belaya — south-east of Kyiv-controlled territory — without saying if it had used Western long-range weapons.
An original version of the statement, published by the Ukrainian General Staff on its Telegram account, said Ukraine had launched “new offensive operations” in the Kursk region.
The post was then edited and the reference to a “new offensive” removed.
“This strike is an integral part of the combat operations of units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, which conduct combat operations” in the Kursk region, the updated statement said.
Pro-Kremlin military bloggers have reported a powerful new Ukrainian offensive, but Kyiv had not commented on those reports, only saying in regular daily briefings that fighting in the region was ongoing.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had on Monday also alluded to fighting in the Kursk region in his evening address, stating that Kyiv was “maintaining a buffer zone on Russian territory” and “actively destroying Russian military potential there.”
It is not clear if Ukraine had advanced much in the region, but the assault would come nearly three years into Moscow’s invasion and two weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump will return to the White House.
Trump has vowed to begin talks to end the Ukraine war and Kyiv’s hold in Kursk could influence any negotiations.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Ukraine’s “position in Kursk” would “factor in any negotiation that may come about in the coming year.”
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the western border region in August 2024, before Russia repelled some attacks, including with the help of North Korean soldiers sent by Pyongyang.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, French far-right leader known for fiery rhetoric against immigration, dies at 96
- A polarizing figure in French politics, Le Pen was convicted numerous times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence
- Le Pen routinely countered that he was simply a patriot protecting the identity of “eternal France”
PARIS: Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front who was known for fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism that earned him both staunch supporters and widespread condemnation, died Tuesday. He was 96.
A polarizing figure in French politics, Le Pen was convicted numerous times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence. His statements — including Holocaust denial, racist denunciations of Muslims and immigrants and his 1987 proposal to forcibly isolate people with AIDS in special facilities — shocked his critics and strained his political alliances.
Le Pen routinely countered that he was simply a patriot protecting the identity of “eternal France.”
Le Pen, who once reached the second round of the 2002 presidential election, was eventually estranged from his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who renamed his National Front party, kicked him out and transformed it into one of France’s most powerful political forces while distancing herself from her father’s extremist image.
Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally as the party is now known, confirmed Le Pen’s death in a post on social media platform X. Bardella’s unusually warm tribute highlighted Le Pen’s polemical past, including his ties to the Algerian war, describing him as a “tribune of the people” who “always served France” and expressing condolences to his family, including Marine.
The post appeared to blur the distance the rebranded party had sought to establish between its firebrand founder and its more polished, modern direction under Marine Le Pen.
French President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, expressed “his condolences to (Le Pen's) family and friends,” in an uncharacteristically short statement issued by the presidential palace.
“A historic figure of the far right, he played a role in the public life of our country for almost 70 years, which is now a matter for history to judge,” the statement read.
Marine Le Pen, thousands of kilometers (miles) away in the French territory of Mayotte, was inspecting the aftermath of destructive Cyclone Chido at the time of her father’s death.
Despite his exclusion from the party in 2015, Le Pen’s divisive legacy endures, marking decades of French political history and shaping the trajectory of the far right.
His death came at a crucial time for his daughter. She now faces a potential prison term and a ban on running for political office if convicted in an embezzling trial.
As Le Pen’s health deteriorated in recent years, he was hospitalized several times, including after he suffered a stroke.
Le Pen is survived by his wife and three daughters, Marie-Caroline, Yann and Marine.
Philippines welcomes clemency for 220 Filipinos in UAE
- Recently pardoned Filipinos join another 143 given clemency on occassion of Eid Al-Adha
- Philippine government is coordinating with UAE authorities for their immediate repatriation
MANILA: The Philippines has welcomed the UAE’s decision to extend clemency to 220 Filipinos as a move strengthening bilateral relations and the government’s labor migration efforts.
Serving prison terms for various offenses, the Philippine nationals were pardoned as part of last month’s National Day celebrations — a move officially announced by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday night as “proof of the strong ties between our two countries.”
The Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai were coordinating with UAE authorities to ensure the immediate repatriation of the released.
“We are deeply appreciative of the continued generosity and understanding shown by the government and people of the UAE towards Filipinos. The pardon granted reaffirms the strong and growing relationship between our two nations, built on mutual respect, cooperation, and shared values,” they said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The Philippine government regularly works to assist Filipino nationals facing legal issues, including providing legal aid, negotiating with local authorities, and securing repatriations or clemency where possible.
The 220 recently pardoned join another 143 pardoned in the UAE on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha.
The Middle East chapter of Migrante, a global alliance of overseas Filipino workers, also welcomed the development saying that it was “pleased with the decision” and that it “increases the ties” between the two countries.
“It goes without saying that every country relies on one another. Countries in the Middle East, such as the UAE, need the labor force of migrant workers from countries with a lack of jobs, like the Philippines,” Migrante Middle East told Arab News.
“This development further promotes the Labor Export Program of (Marcos’s) government.”
Nearly 1 million overseas Filipino workers live in the Gulf state — most in Dubai. They are a key source of remittances to the Philippines and contribute as well to their host country’s development.
Swedish navy recovers anchor of tanker suspected of Baltic Sea cable damage
- Sweden sent a submarine rescue vessel to assist Finland in the investigation last week.
- “The HMS Belos has located and lifted the anchor and handed it over to Finnish authorities,” Swedish navy spokesman Jimmie Adamsson told AFP
STOCKHOLM: The Swedish navy said Tuesday it had recovered from the Baltic Sea the anchor of an oil tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ and damaging four underwater telecom cables and one power cable on December 25.
Sweden sent a submarine rescue vessel to assist Finland in the investigation last week.
“The HMS Belos has located and lifted the anchor and handed it over to Finnish authorities,” Swedish navy spokesman Jimmie Adamsson told AFP.
The Eagle S, flying the Cook Islands flag, is suspected of having damaged the EstLink 2 electricity cable between Finland and Estonia in the Baltic on December 25, putting it out of action.
Finnish police said on December 29 that they had found a trail from the anchor stretching dozens of kilometers (miles) along the seabed.
The national energy agency Fingrid said it had requested that authorities seize the tanker.
Finnish authorities have banned eight crew from leaving Finnish territory. Finnish customs have said they suspect the tanker, currently located east of Helsinki, is part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” — ships that carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products that are embargoed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Finnish telecom operator Elisa said Monday that two of the damaged telecom cables had been repaired. The Estlink 2 power cable has not yet been repaired.
According to operator Cinia, one of the remaining telecoms cables — running between Finland and Germany — should be fixed by January 10.
In late December, NATO announced it would strengthen its military presence in the Baltic after similar incidents there since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Energy and communications infrastructure in particular have been targeted as part of what experts and politicians call Russia’s “hybrid war” with Western countries.
The Baltic is surrounded by a number of NATO member states.
Two telecommunications cables were cut on November 17 and 18 in Swedish territorial waters.
A Chinese-flagged bulk carrier, the Yi Peng 3 is suspected of involvement.
