Rohingya refugee children celebrate ‘lifeless’ Eid on remote Bangladesh island

Rohingya children play at a refugee camp in Bhasan Char island, Bangladesh. (AN Photo)
Short Url
Updated 02 May 2022
Follow

Rohingya refugee children celebrate ‘lifeless’ Eid on remote Bangladesh island

  • Nearly 30,000 refugees have been relocated to Bhasan Char since end of 2020
  • Refugee children say they miss friends, family, Eid festivities

DHAKA: Rohingya refugee children relocated with their families to a remote Bangladeshi island said on Monday they missed Eid Al-Fitr celebrations with friends and relatives.

Nearly 30,000 refugees have been moved to Bhasan Char — an island settlement in the Bay of Bengal several hours’ sail away from the mainland — since the end of 2020 with promises of a better life and livelihoods.

The facility, expected to eventually house 100,000 people, is part of Bangladesh’s effort to ease pressure on congested camps at Cox’s Bazar, where more than 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled violence and persecution in Myanmar are living.

The second Eid Al-Fitr on Bhasan Char has not eased the feeling of isolation for its residents, with children reminiscing about the festivities they had experienced at Cox’s Bazar. 




Rohingya children play at a refugee camp in Bhasan Char island, Bangladesh. (AN Photo)

“My Eid celebrations are almost lifeless,” Mohammed Noman Yusuf, 16, told Arab News.

“Most of my friends are still living in Cox’s Bazar camps, and I am missing them a lot. It’s not possible to meet them in person so I resorted to phone calls.”

To mark Eid Al-Fitr, authorities have provided families with food packages and new clothes, but an estimated 7,000 children at Bhasan Char still long for more than what the island life has to offer.

“Where should I go wearing this new cloth?” Yusuf said. “It’s an island and definitely a confined place. There is little room to roam around here and there with friends, which is part of my Eid celebrations.”

Mohammed Ayub, 12, is among those missing his life at Cox’s Bazar, where he recalled far more things to do to mark the end of the Ramadan holy month. 




Rohingya children play at a refugee camp in Bhasan Char island, Bangladesh. (AN Photo)

“My Eid celebrations at Cox’s Bazar were much more colorful. Most of my friends and relatives are living there. I used to enjoy the merry-go-round rides during the Eid fair held at Cox’s Bazar,” Ayub told Arab News.

“But here we don’t get such things on the occasion of Eid.”

The boy’s spirits were significantly lifted when his father gifted him a pair of trousers to mark the religious holiday this year, but Ayub still dreams of the feast that had accompanied Eid celebrations.

“Having rich food like beef and chicken during Eid boosts our celebrations, but without them there’s nothing special in our kitchen on this Eid,” he said.

Nasima Akter, 12, told Arab News that she used to visit the beach at Cox’s Bazar to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, but noted that this year was better because they had more neighbors. However, she missed her relatives who remained at the mainland refugee camps.

“Many of our relatives are still living at Kutupalong, Cox’s Bazar. I can’t see them on Eid days. It’s very sad for me,” Akter added.

Moazzam Hossain, Bangladesh’s additional refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Arab News that authorities were making arrangements to add to the festivities for the children.

“With limited resources, we are trying our best to make Eid celebrations more colorful and joyful for the Rohingyas at the island,” Hossain said.


Myanmar woman arrested for Suu Kyi ‘happy birthday’ post: local media

Updated 7 sec ago
Follow

Myanmar woman arrested for Suu Kyi ‘happy birthday’ post: local media

YANGON: A Myanmar woman arrested by the junta for “spreading propaganda” is being detained over a Facebook post celebrating the 80th birthday of jailed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, local media said.
Suu Kyi was the figurehead of Myanmar’s decade-long democratic thaw, becoming de facto leader as it opened up from military rule, but she has been incarcerated since February 2021 when the generals snatched back power in a coup.
She is serving a 27-year sentence on charges rights groups dismiss as fabricated and on Thursday marked her birthday behind bars while her son urged followers to publish messages declaring their support.
Myanmar’s junta said in a statement over the weekend it had arrested two Facebook users for “inciting and spreading propaganda on social media with the intention to destroy state stability.”
One of those detained — Hinn Yin Phyu — was arrested at accommodation for employees of state media station MRTV in the capital Naypyidaw on Saturday, the statement said, without providing details of her posts.
The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reported on Monday that Hinn Yin Phyu was an MRTV employee who had been arrested after posting a “happy birthday” message for Suu Kyi, citing sources close to the detained woman.
“May you live long and be free from illness, may you be free from the suffering caused by separation from your loved ones throughout your life, and may you only meet good people,” said the now-deleted post, according to DVB.
Despite being blocked in a digital crackdown accompanying the coup, Facebook remains Myanmar’s most popular social media platform.
State notices announcing arrests over social media use are commonplace but usually provide scant detail of alleged transgressions.
A spokesman for Myanmar’s junta could not be reached for comment on the arrest.
Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize as she refused to enter exile to escape her first period of incarceration by Myanmar’s military.
As she guided the country through its democratic interlude her reputation was tarnished on the international stage after she defended the military for their crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority.
When the generals toppled her government it sparked a protest movement that security forces swiftly crushed in the streets.
Since then the country has descended into civil war as pro-democracy activists formed guerrilla units to fight back, alongside ethnic armed organizations that have been battling the military in Myanmar’s fringes for decades.

China plans to show off new equipment at parade marking 80th anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender

Updated 38 min 10 sec ago
Follow

China plans to show off new equipment at parade marking 80th anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender

BEIJING: China plans to hold a military parade Sept. 3 marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender and featuring the People’s Liberation Army’s newest weaponry.
President and head of the military Xi Jinping will deliver a speech on the occasion, which will feature “new-type combat capabilities,” including hypersonic weapons and a range of electronic gear, said Wu Zeke, identified as a senor officer of the PLA, the ruling Communist Party’s military wing.
The force is the world’s largest standing military with more than 2 million members and an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of missiles, aircraft carriers and fighter aircraft.
Military parades are a favorite of Xi’s, held primarily to mark the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, Japan’s surrender and the anniversary of the PLA’s founding. Relentlessly drilled marching units, armored columns and aerial units all feature on such occasions.
Wu said inclusion of the latest generation weaponry demonstrates the PLA’s “strong ability to adapt to technological trends and evolving warfare, and to prevail in future wars, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Japan launched an invasion of China in 1937, seizing much of eastern China. Most of the fighting against Japan was carried out by the Nationalists, who later withdrew to the island of Taiwan after being driven out of the mainland by the Communists.
Much of China’s massive military upgrading has been aimed at conquering Taiwan, which China still considers part of its territory, as well as replacing the United States as the main military power in the Asia-Pacific.


China’s Xi urges Singapore leader to jointly resist ‘hegemony’

Updated 53 min 16 sec ago
Follow

China’s Xi urges Singapore leader to jointly resist ‘hegemony’

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Singapore’s prime minister to join the fight against “hegemony” and protectionism in trade as they met in Beijing on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s first official visit to China lasts until Thursday.
He met Xi on Tuesday morning at Beijing’s opulent Great Hall of the People, with the Chinese leader urging their two countries to work to “stand on the right side of history and on the side of fairness and justice,” according to state broadcaster CCTV.
He told Wong that “the world cannot return to hegemony or be dragged back to the law of the jungle,” a veiled swipe at the United States, after President Donald Trump launched a barrage of tariffs this year on countries including China and Singapore.
Wong, in turn, told Xi he believed the Singapore-China relationship was “more important than before” in a time of “global turbulence and uncertainty.”
“We can work together to establish closer ties and... continue to strengthen multilateralism and the rules-based global order for the benefit of all countries,” Wong said.
Wong, who succeeded Lee Hsien Loong, the son of founding premier Lee Kuan Yew, in 2024, has warned the trade-dependent city-state could be hit hard by Trump’s tariffs.
Although Trump imposed a baseline 10 percent tariff on Singapore, the country is vulnerable to a global economic slowdown caused by the much higher levies on dozens of other countries because of its heavy reliance on international trade.
Following his meetings in Beijing, Wong will head to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for a meeting of the World Economic Forum.


Uganda’s long-serving President Museveni to seek reelection, official says

Updated 24 June 2025
Follow

Uganda’s long-serving President Museveni to seek reelection, official says

KAMPALA: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni will seek reelection for another term in polls due early next year to extend his nearly four-decade rule, according to a senior official from the ruling party.
Although he was widely expected to run for office again, it is the first confirmation from his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Uganda will hold its general election in January, in which voters will also elect lawmakers.
Museveni, 80, has been in power since 1986 and is Africa’s fourth longest-ruling leader. The ruling party has changed the constitution twice in the past to allow him to extend his rule.
In a video posted late on Monday by state broadcaster UBC on social media platform X, the chairperson of the ruling party’s electoral body Tanga Odoi said Museveni would pick up forms on June 28 to represent the party in the polls.
“The president ... will pick (up) expression-of-interest forms for two positions, one for chairperson of the party and the other to contest if he is given chance for presidential flag bearer,” Odoi said.
NRM and other political parties are at present vetting and clearing their candidate for the polls.
Museveni’s closest opponent will be pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine who came second in the last polls in 2021 and has already confirmed his intention to run in 2026.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, rejected the 2021 results, saying his victory had been stolen through ballot stuffing, intimidation by security forces and other irregularities.
Rights activists and critics have long accused Museveni of using patronage and security forces to maintain his grip on power but he has denied the accusations and says his long rule is due to popular support.


Fearing war with Russia, Finland hardens NATO’s north frontier

Updated 24 June 2025
Follow

Fearing war with Russia, Finland hardens NATO’s north frontier

  • A Finnish government defense report late last year described “a heightened risk of an armed conflict,” citing the development of Russia’s military capabilities since the start for the war in Ukraine
  • Finland has since announced plans to stockpile land mines

LAPPEENRANTA: At a shooting range 10 miles from the Russian border, Finnish army reservist Janne Latto opened the trunk of his car and unpacked a small surveillance drone and controller, equipment he sees as vital for any future conflict with Finland’s neighbor.
Since the invasion of Ukraine prompted Helsinki to join NATO two years ago, tensions reminiscent of the Cold War have resurfaced along the forested 1,340-km (833-mile) frontier, Europe’s longest with Russia. The Nordic nation is beefing up an already-sizeable reservist force and will host a new command for NATO, whose members meet in the Hague on June 24 for an annual summit. Still under construction, an imposing barbed-wire-topped fence now dominates a once-bustling section of the border, closed by Finland after it accused Russia of weaponizing migration. Shopping malls and restaurants that buzzed with Russian visitors have fallen quiet. On the other side, Russia has slowly begun dusting off Soviet-era military bases, satellite images show. Kyiv’s June 1 attack on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, including at the Olenya airfield near northern Finland, brought the war in Ukraine closer to home.
For this story, Reuters spoke to a dozen people in Finland’s border region, where the emerging divisions have left some unable to visit relatives and caused economic losses. Others supported the measures, citing a need to prepare for and deter future conflict. At the shooting range — near the lakeside town of Lappeenranta, some 100 miles from Russia’s second city, St. Petersburg — Latto said the Lauritsala Reservists were training with three drones including the Parrot Anafi surveillance vehicle, used by the professional armies of several NATO members, including Finland.
A grant from Finland’s association of reservist groups meant ten more were on order, he said.
The 2022 assault on Ukraine hardened 47-year-old Latto’s perception of Russia.
“What if they decide to come and change the border, just like they went to Ukraine,” said Latto, who runs a small business assembling neon signs and billboards.
He recalled Soviet attempts to invade during World War Two, and how Finland was forced to cede approximately 10 percent of its territory to Russia, including Ayrapaa, a nearby municipality that his grandfather died defending in 1944.
The countries each insist they pose no threat to the other. Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said some level of Russian buildup is a normal response to Helsinki’s accession to NATO, which more than doubled the length of Russia’s border with the alliance.
However, a Finnish government defense report late last year described “a heightened risk of an armed conflict,” citing the development of Russia’s military capabilities since the start for the war in Ukraine, and saying Moscow had ambitions to create a “buffer zone” from the Arctic to Southern Europe. Finland has since announced plans to stockpile land mines. It banned Finnish-Russian dual nationals from flying drones and Russians from buying property, and last week warned that mobile signals were disrupted in regions near Russia.
“Finland is responsible for over half of the entire land border between NATO countries and Russia,” Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen posted on X on Thursday, saying the country’s defense posture was to ensure the border “remains inviolable.” Finland’s presidency declined to comment for this story. Russia’s foreign ministry did not respond to a comment request. President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denied any plans to attack NATO. He said he did not see NATO rearmament as a threat. After Finland joined the alliance, Moscow announced plans to strengthen military capacity in Russia’s west and northwest.
The activities of the Finnish reservists, who also use firearms in target practice, are voluntary, although most have completed Finland’s long-standing mandatory male conscription.
More than 50,000 Finns take part in such clubs, up by about a third since before the Ukraine war, according to the Finnish Reservists’ Association, with a similar increase in the number of reservists called up by the military for refresher training. Even older members of Latto’s band of volunteers could see service in a crisis, as Finland raises the reserve’s upper age limit to 65 to add 125,000 troops to a wartime army, and to take the number of reservists to one million by 2031.
He welcomed the extended military service, saying older reservists could be drone or radar operators.
“You don’t have to run with the infantry to be a part of the modern battlefield,” said Latto, a skilled hobbyist who has made his own first-person-view goggles to control a homemade drone.

SPLIT FAMILIES
Some businesses are unhappy with the changes. Shopping malls and restaurants once buzzing with Russian visitors are noticeably emptier. Up to 13 million annual cross-border trips have ended, affecting dual citizens with family in Russia.
The vanishing Russian tourists and dearth of trade has taken at least 300 million euros annually from a 5.5 billion euro local economy, the region’s council said. Unemployment soared to close to 15 percent at the end of last year, higher than the national average.
Antique shopkeeper Janne Tarvainen said that previously, some locals complained the Russian visitors had made it hard to get reservations in restaurants or find parking spots.
“I saw it differently – money was coming into the town,” said Tarvainen, who is now looking for online shoppers to replace Russian footfall.
Oksana Serebriakova, 50, whose grandfather was Finnish, moved to Lappeenranta from Moscow after the COVID-19 pandemic looking for better opportunities for her 17-year-old son Vitalik. Her older son and the boys’ father stayed in the Russian capital, with plans for frequent visits.
The border closure has split the family, creating “a very sad situation,” said Serebriakova, who is studying for a business administration diploma at a local vocational college.
The migration problem “could have been solved” with measures such as strict checks at entry points similar to airports, she suggested.
Finland has around 38,000 dual citizens, official data shows, considerably less than other countries bordering Russia. About 420,000 Finns who lived in territory ceded to Russia after World War Two settled in Finland.
Ivan Deviatkin, a local politician who has a son in Finland and an aging mother in Russia, unsuccessfully challenged the border closure in Finland’s courts. Nine plaintiffs now have a complaint pending hearing at the European Court of Human Rights, which has asked Finland to justify the shutdown.

’RE-BORDERING’
For decades after World War Two, Finland gradually opened trade and travel connections with Russia.
Now though, the E18 motorway that links Helsinki and St. Petersburg ends abruptly at metal barricades at the border, as do other previously busy roads. Finland closed the frontier over the arrivals of undocumented migrants in 2023, which Helsinki viewed as a Russian policy response to its accession to NATO. Moscow said it was abiding by rules and that Finland had adopted an anti-Russia stance.
At the time, the borderline was hardly visible, mostly marked only by poles or a low barrier to keep domestic animals from wandering off, with a small trail for occasional canine patrols to follow. In place of that, Finland is raising 200 km (124 miles) of 4.5-meter (15 ft)-high fence dotted with cameras and motion sensors in the most passable areas of the forest-covered 1,340-km (833 mile) border. A new dirt road runs parallel for quicker access by border guards.
The changes had made “a big, big impact,” said Finnish Border Guard Head of Operations Samuel Siljanen.
“We’ve moved kind of from an era of de-bordering to one of re-bordering,” he said.

NATO COMMAND
Hopes for a quick detente run low. Helsinki believes Russia will reinforce the neighboring Leningrad military region once the war in Ukraine ends, president Stubb has said, although he downplays any threat from Russia so far.
Behind the border, satellite images show Russia beginning some work on garrisons, including building new warehouses. A senior government official aware of Finland’s military planning described such work as minor and not a threat. Finland has long had a strong military. It has ordered 64 US-made F-35s to modernize its fighter jet fleet. It has the largest artillery arsenal in Western Europe, another official said.
The sources requested anonymity to speak about sensitive matters.
It is important “to signal credibly to Russia that it’s not worth it,” said Chatham House associate fellow Minna Alander, whose research includes work on Finnish and Northern European security. She said Finland was not a threat to Russia.
“NATO will never attack Russia, and I believe they know this,” Alander said.
The new NATO northern headquarters will host around 50 officers from countries including the US and UK together with the Finnish Army Command, in the eastern Finnish town of Mikkeli, a two-hour drive from the border.
“In the event that we ever moved into a conflict, this headquarters would be working alongside NATO forces in a command and control role,” Brig. Chris Gent of the Allied Land Command told Reuters on a visit in Finland.