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M ay 3 0 , 2013
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The Week cleansing that is prevalent in the country. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Islamic leaders expressed dismay over these plans. “If true, this is against the law,” said Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “It is discriminatory and also violates human rights,” she continued. This policy was in effect during past military rule. Details as to how it will be enforced now were not released. It would apply to two Rakhine townships that border Bangladesh and are about 95 percent Muslim. Nationwide, Muslims account for only about 4 percent of Myanmar’s roughly 60 million people. The order makes Myanmar perhaps the only country in the world to level such a restriction against a particular religious group, and is likely to bring further criticism that Muslims are being discriminated against in the Buddhist-majority country. Longstanding antipathy toward the Rohingya erupted last year into mob violence in which Rakhine Buddhists armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes, leaving hundreds of people dead and forcing 125,000 to flee, mostly Muslims. Since the violence, the religious unrest has ex-
panded into a campaign against Muslim communities in other areas. Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing said the policy was meant to stem population growth in the Muslim community, which a government-appointed commission last month identified as one of the causes of the sectarian violence. “This is the best way to control the population explosion which is a threat to our national identity. If no measure is taken to control the population, there is a danger of losing our own identity,” said National Affairs Minister for the Yangon Region Zaw Aye Maung, an ethnic Rakhine member of parliament. He said restricting the number of children in the poorer Muslim community will benefit them because smaller families are better able to feed, clothe and educate their children. “This restriction violates human rights,” said Nyunt Maung Shein, head of Myanmar’s Islamic Religious Affairs Council. “The authorities should be very cautious. If this is a step to ease tension between the communities, it will not produce the desired effect,” he added. Myanmar’s government does not include the Rohingya as one of its 135
In News recognized ethnic minorities. It considers them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. But Bangladesh says the Rohingya have been living in Myanmar for centuries and should be recognized there as citizens. For years, the Rohingya in Myanmar have faced a variety of heavy-handed restrictions. They needed permission to travel outside their villages, couples were required to have permission to marry, and were then limited to having two children. Any offspring that exceeded the regulation were “blacklisted” and refused birth registrations, and denied the right to attend school, travel and marry.
Russia Terminates Deal with Syria
Russia’s relationship with Syria may be about to change. According to a senior Russian official, Russia has decided to cancel the deal to sell S-300 missiles to Syria. Just last week, Russia insisted that it would go ahead with selling S-300 advanced missile systems to Syria, despite a request by Israel to call off the deal. Speaking to the Lebanese-based Al-Mayadeen television, which is close to the Hezbollah terror group, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia is “committed to the agreements” signed with Syria regarding the advanced missiles and will “fully carry them out.” As he has said previously, Lavrov reiterated that Russia does not intend to sign new agreements with Syria for the sale of weapons, but explained that since the S-300 deal was signed before the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, Russia intends to carry it out as planned. “We have no intention of breaking international law,” Lavrov explained. “However, we do not want our reputation as reliable suppliers of weapons to be affected.” However, Russia grew increasingly concerned that the missiles may get into the wrong hands and used to attack civilian aircrafts in Israel, prompting the decision to actually terminate the deal.
“We are very much concerned about this; the large Russian community in Israel is a major factor in our attitude to Israel, and we will not let this happen,” the official said. In return for cancelling the deal, Russia expects Israel to refrain from further air strikes in Syria. Reportedly, the agreement to annul the deal was determined during a meeting recently between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin. The official pointed out that Netanyahu, along with National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror, explained during the meeting that if the S-300 missiles fall into the hands of groups that oppose Israel, planes taking off and landing in Ben Gurion Airport will be in the range of those missiles. He added that Russia’s main goal is to keep Syria as a single entity, noting that the Syrians are willing to come to an international peace conference to be held in Geneva next month without preconditions, but so far the rebels insist that President Bashar Al-Assad must resign. “It is not acceptable and we are waiting for the United States to solve this problem with the rebels,” the Russian official said. He also stressed that Russia has no plans to provide asylum to Assad in Moscow. “We’re not going to offer this to him,” he said. This is a rare show of solidarity from Russia for Israel.
Baby Rescued from Sewage Pipe in China
A newborn baby weighing just 6.2 pounds was rescued alive from a sewage pipe below a squat toilet in a residential building in eastern China. Residents heard the baby’s cries from a public restroom, and firefighters spent two hours delicately sawing off an L-shaped section of the pipe to free the baby. As of now, it is unclear how the beautiful newborn ended up there, but it is now recovering in a hospital. The child, named Baby No. 59, re-