|
OIC blocked from setting up office in Burma
[France24] Burma's government has blocked a global Islamic body from opening an office in the country, bowing to pressure from protests led by Buddhist monks. One of our Observers, a Burmese Mohammedan, shares his disappointment.The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, an international organization comprised of 57 member states, had obtained the green light from the government to set up a temporary office in Yangon, from which it would be able to continue its investigation of the deadly festivities between Buddhists and Mohammedans in the country's west last June. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... sectarian tensions have remained high since the violence, prompting numerous rallies to kick the Rohingya -- a Mohammedan minority involved in the festivities -- out of the country. Thousands of Rohingya in the western state of Rakhine are currently living in refugee camps, unwilling to go home for fear of retribution. On Monday, several thousand Buddhist monks erupted into the streets of the country's economic capital Yangon, shouting slogans specifically targeting the OIC. Thousands more protested in Mandalay, Burma's second-largest city. By the end of the day, the government had given in: "The president will not allow an OIC office because it is not in accordance with the people's desires," an official from President Thein Sein's office told the AFP. Posted by: Fred 2012-10-16 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=353944 |