YANGON: After driving nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims out of the country, Myanmar’s military is building bases where some of their homes and mosques once stood, Amnesty International said on Monday, citing new evidence from satellite imagery.
A harsh security response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Aug. 25 sent members of the mostly stateless minority fleeing to Bangladesh and saw more than 350 villages destroyed by fire in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
An Amnesty report published on Monday echoed previous ones by saying the remains of some of those villages — and some buildings not previously damaged — had been bulldozed.
As well as rapid housing and road construction in the area, at least three new security facilities were under construction, the global human rights group said. In one case, Rohingya villagers who had remained in Myanmar were forcibly evicted to make way for a base, it said.
“What we are seeing in Rakhine State is a land grab by the military on a dramatic scale,” Tirana Hassan, Amnesty’s crisis response director, said in a statement. “New bases are being erected to house the very same security forces that have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya.”
At least four mosques that had not been wrecked by fire have been destroyed, or had their roofing or other materials removed, since late December, a time when significant conflict was not reported in the area, Amnesty said.
In one Rohingya village, satellite imagery showed buildings for a new border police post appearing next to where a recently demolished mosque had stood.
Spokespeople for the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the military were not immediately available for comment. Myanmar officials have said villages were being bulldozed to make way for new homes for returning refugees.
Myanmar has asked for “clear evidence” to support the conclusion of the United Nations and others that ethnic cleansing has taken place in Rakhine.
Myanmar and Bangladesh reached a deal in November to repatriate those who fled. Myanmar has said temporary camps to house returnees are ready, but the process has yet to start.
Amnesty said Myanmar’s “reshaping” of the region where the Rohingya lived appeared to be designed to accommodate more security forces and non-Rohingya villagers, and could deter refugees from agreeing to return.
“Rohingya who fled death and destruction at the hands of the security forces are unlikely to find the prospect of living in close proximity to those same forces conducive to a safe return,” the group said, “especially given the continuing lack of accountability for human rights violations.”
Myanmar builds military bases where Rohingya once lived and prayed — Amnesty
Myanmar builds military bases where Rohingya once lived and prayed — Amnesty
Children among four dead in Greece migrant shipwreck
- Greek Coast Guard launch search-and-rescue operation involving patrol vessels, lifeboats, and land teams
ATHENS: Four people, including two children, have died after a boat carrying migrants ran aground on a rocky shoreline on the eastern Greek island of Samos, officials said on Thursday.
Sixteen people were rescued, but how many were aboard the boat remained unclear.
The Greek Coast Guard launched a search-and-rescue operation involving patrol vessels, lifeboats, and land teams to locate any potential missing passengers.
A Greek government official said he expected the risk facing migrants to rise over the winter months and blamed conflicts in the Middle East for a swell in illegal crossings this year.
The incident comes after eight migrants — six children and two women — died in a shipwreck off the island on Monday.
Samos and other Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea are key transit points for migrants crossing from Turkiye to the EU, with arrivals in recent months that Greek authorities say are linked to ongoing wars in the Middle East and parts of Africa.
“The conditions are certainly not favorable,” Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos told private Skai television on Thursday.
“They do not tend toward reducing the flow of migrants, but rather increasing them — with all the geopolitical turmoil, especially in the Middle East, with ongoing wars and other issues,” he said.
Panagiotopoulos said he expected the risk of tragedies in the eastern Aegean to increase in the coming weeks as weather conditions worsen.
They added that Greece will renew efforts to seek EU funding for border wall construction under the Polish presidency of the EU, which starts on Jan. 1.
Separately on Thursday, police announced the arrest of nine people accused of operating a smuggling ring that allegedly provided migrants with false and illegally used documents to travel to western European cities.
The group, active since July, provided migrants with safe housing, clothing, and travel documents before escorting them to Athens International Airport, police said.
Fees for those services ranged from €3,000 to €5,000 ($3,150-5,250).
Italy’s interior minister last month said the Group of Seven rich democracies will to set up specialized police units aimed at investigating migrant trafficking in order to tackle irregular flows. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, which holds the G7
rotating presidency this year, has sought cooperation with the EU and African governments to crack down on human traffickers.
Meloni last year signed a deal with Albania to build reception camps there, but the rulings taken so far by the Italian courts have frustrated the government’s efforts to pursue its flagship plan to crackdown on irregular arrivals
Italian police said on Thursday they had blocked and revoked 3,339 applications for the arrival of non-EU workers in Italy as part of an investigation into the smuggling of illegal immigrants by organized crime.
The alleged false requests to hire non-EU laborers were submitted by 142 different Italian companies in the agriculture, construction, and home care sectors, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza police said in a joint statement.
According to an investigation by anti-Mafia prosecutors in the southern city of Salerno, the companies were being used by several local criminal
groups — from which €1 million ($1.05 million) in cash was already seized in July — to smuggle non-EU migrants
into Italy.
Police measures allow the 29 Italian provinces involved in the investigation to block issuing current permits and revoking those that had already been granted, the statement said.
Macron welcomes Nigerian president in first state visit since 2000
- Trip will focus on economic partnerships between France and Africa’s most populous country
PARIS: Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Thursday began a two-day visit to France, with both sides seeking increased economic cooperation and Paris looking to boost ties in English-speaking Africa following a series of setbacks with former allies on the continent.
French President Emmanuel Macron greeted his counterpart at the historic Invalides memorial complex, with the first official state visit by a Nigerian leader in more than two
decades.
The two national anthems rang out in the courtyard of one of Paris’ landmarks, kicking off a visit focused on encouraging economic partnerships between France and Africa’s most populous country.
Macron has sought a “renewal” between Paris and Africa since his 2017 election and after military coups and changing attitudes lessened France’s influence on the continent.
The trip is “an opportunity to deepen the already dynamic relationship between France and Nigeria,” Macron’s office said.
The west African country is the continent’s leading oil producer and has a robust film industry, dubbed “Nollywood.”
But challenges posed by insecurity and corruption have left 129 million Nigerians — more than half the country’s population — living
below the poverty line.
For Nigeria, which has been battling soaring inflation and food prices, the visit represents an opportunity to tap economic investment.
Nigeria was looking to build ties in “agriculture, security, education, health, youth engagement, innovation and energy transition,” Tinubu’s office said in a statement. He and Macron will also address “shared values concerning finance, solid minerals, trade and investment, and communication,” it added.
South Korea officials say three dead in heavy snowfall
SEOUL: Heavy snowfall blanketed South Korea for a second consecutive day Thursday, resulting in three deaths overall and disrupting flights and ferry services, authorities said.
The snow caused three fatalities in Gyeonggi province around the capital Seoul, officials said, including one person killed when a tent-style garage collapsed during snow removal.
Another died when a golf practice net gave way amid the extreme weather.
The prolonged snowfall led to the cancellation of 156 flights and disrupted 104 ferry services across 79 routes, the interior ministry said.
The second day of snow came after Seoul on Wednesday recorded its heaviest November snowfall since records began over a century ago, according to the country’s weather agency. The record snowfall also marked the capital’s first snow of the season.
Up to 40 centimeters of snow accumulated in parts of the capital by 11 am (GMT 02:00), the interior ministry said, while other areas outside Seoul saw snow piles reaching nearly 45 centimeters.
The second day of snow prompted the city government to deploy 11,000 personnel and 20,000 pieces of equipment for snow removal operations in the capital.
France arrests 26 as South Asian migrant trafficking ring smashed
- Traffickers are suspected of having smuggled several thousand people from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal
- Authorities estimate the network generated several million euros in illegal profits
PARIS: French authorities arrested 26 people and seized 11 million euros ($12 million) as they smashed a migrant trafficking ring suspected of bringing several thousand people from South Asia into France, border police told AFP on Thursday.
Charging between 15,000 and 26,000 euros per person, the traffickers are suspected of having smuggled several thousand people from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal into France since September 2021, the force said.
Authorities estimate the network generated several million euros in illegal profits, which were laundered through construction companies, gold trafficking and informal transfers of money back to South Asia.
The arrests took place between March and November 2024, said Julien Gentile, director of the French border force at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport.
“The smugglers facilitated migrants’ travel to the European Union via Dubai or African states, while providing them with illegally obtained tourist, work or medical visas,” said Gentile.
The head of the network is still at large, with France’s request for his extradition from Dubai yet to be agreed, according to the border force.
Of the 26 men arrested, 15 were placed in pre-trial detention with seven under judicial supervision.
The remaining four, who were recently arrested, were to be presented on Thursday to the investigating judge.
The 11 million euros’ worth of assets included properties, luxury cars, jewelry and gold.
Cellphone outage in Denmark causes widespread disruption and hits emergency services
- The network provider, TDC Net, said in a press release Thursday afternoon that the problems were likely due to an update carried out in the past 24 hours
- They had no reason to believe that disruptions could be due to cyberattacks
COPENHAGEN: One of Denmark’s largest cellphone networks suffered severe outages Thursday that prevented people from contacting emergency services, forced at least one hospital to reduce non-critical medical care, and prompted security services in some regions to patrol the streets in search of people in need of help.
The network provider, TDC Net, said in a press release Thursday afternoon that the problems were likely due to an update carried out in the past 24 hours and they had no reason to believe that disruptions could be due to cyberattacks.
TDC said later on Thursday that its operations had returned to normal and it was now investigating the cause of the outage.
Trains and buses in parts of the country also suffered delays due to signaling issues, with chaos in stations and people stuck on trains, Danish media reported.
The Center for Cyber Security, Denmark’s national IT security authority, and a branch of the Danish Defense Intelligence Service could not confirm if the two incidents were related.
TDC Net said Thursday evening it had implemented a fix that allowed customers to make calls, although with a reduced sound quality. The company urged customers needing to call 112, Europe’s emergency number, to remove the SIM card from their phone before placing the call.
