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Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician,diplomat,author,and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021. She has served as the chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) since 2011,having been the general secretary from 1988 to 2011. She played a vital role in Myanmar's transition from military junta to partial democracy in the 2010s.
Rakhine State is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast,it is bordered by Chin State to the north,Magway Region,Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east,the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between latitudes 17°30' north and 21°30' north and longitudes 92°10' east and 94°50' east. The Arakan Mountains or Rakhine Yoma separated Rakhine State from central Burma from North to South. Off the coast of Rakhine State there are some fairly large islands such as Ramree,Cheduba and Myingun. Rakhine State has an area of 36,762 square kilometres (14,194 sq mi) and its capital is Sittwe.
The Rohingya people are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State,Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017,when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh,an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. Described by journalists and news outlets as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world,the Rohingya are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. There are also restrictions on their freedom of movement,access to state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared to apartheid by some academics,analysts and political figures,including Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu,a South African anti-apartheid activist. The most recent mass displacement of Rohingya in 2017 led the International Criminal Court investigating crimes against humanity,and led to the International Court of Justice investigating genocide.
Insurgencies have been ongoing in Myanmar since 1948,the year the country,then known as Burma,gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based,with several ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's armed forces,the Tatmadaw,for self-determination. Despite numerous ceasefires and the creation of autonomous self-administered zones in 2008,many armed groups continue to call for independence,increased autonomy,or the federalisation of the country. The conflict is the world's longest ongoing civil war,having spanned more than seven decades.
Khun Htun Oo was a chairman of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and a politician who was imprisoned in 2005 for treason,defamation,and inciting dissatisfaction with the Burmese government. His sentence was protested by numerous Western governments and the human rights group Amnesty International,which named him a prisoner of conscience.
The Rohingya conflict is an ongoing conflict in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State,characterised by sectarian violence between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities,a military crackdown on Rohingya civilians by Myanmar's security forces,and militant attacks by Rohingya insurgents in Buthidaung,Maungdaw,and Rathedaung Townships,which border Bangladesh.
The Rohingya Patriotic Front (RPF) was a political organisation headquartered in Cox's Bazar,Bangladesh. The RPF had a small and poorly armed insurgent army of 70 fighters,who were active along the Bangladesh–Burma border and in northern Arakan,Burma. The goal of the RPF was to create an autonomous Muslim zone for the Rohingya people.
Aye Tha Aung is a Burmese politician,former political prisoner and former Deputy Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw,the upper house of the Myanmar parliament. In the 2015 election,he contested and won the Rakhine State №6 constituency for a seat in the country's upper house.
Aye Maung is a Burmese politician and was the chairperson of the Arakan National Party,one of Myanmar's ethnic political parties. He is currently the leader of the Arakan Front Party. He is a staunch nationalist known for his hardline stance against the Rohingya people,having tirelessly campaigned against the minority group and have been involved in instigating attacks against them in the communal violence in 2012.
Ko Ni was a prominent Burmese lawyer and an expert on constitutional law. He was assassinated in Yangon,Myanmar,on 29 January 2017.
Violent clashes have been ongoing in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State since October 2016. Insurgent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have led to sectarian violence perpetrated by Myanmar's military and the local Buddhist population against predominantly Muslim Rohingya civilians. The conflict has sparked international outcry and was described as an ethnic cleansing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In August 2017,the situation worsened and hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Myanmar into Bangladesh,with an estimated 500,000 refugees having arrived by 27 September 2017. In January 2019,Arakan Army insurgents raided border police posts in Buthidaung Township,joining the conflict and beginning their military campaign in northern Rakhine State against the Burmese military.
Mohammed Abdul Gaffar (1910–1966),also known as Abdul Gaffar,was a politician from Arakan,Burma. He was elected to the Legislature of Burma in British Burma from Buthidaung in 1947. After Burmese independence in 1948,the President of Burma Sao Shwe Thaik appointed Gaffar as one of the seven members of the Inquiry Commission of Arakan in 1949. Gaffar was elected to the Chamber of Nationalities from Akyab West constituency in 1952. He was elected from Maungdaw in 1956. He also served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Health in the government of Prime Minister U Nu.
Fazal Ahmed is a Rohingya lawyer and former politician in Myanmar. He was a leader of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR). He was elected as Parliament of Myanmar MP during the 1990 Burmese general election.
Nur Ahmed,also known as Tin Maung,was a Rohingya legislator,health worker and activist. He was a CEC member of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights. He was elected to the Parliament of Myanmar in 1990.
Ebrahim,also known as Chit Lwin,is a Rohingya lawyer,accountant and former politician. He was elected as a Parliament of Myanmar MP in 1990 election. He was the chairman of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights. The party was later banned by the Burmese military junta and its members are barred from contesting elections.
Shwe Maung is a Rohingya rights activist in Myanmar and politician who served as a member of parliament in the House of Representatives for Buthidaung constituency from 2011 to 2016.
The Mayu Frontier District was a short-lived administrative zone of Burma which existed between 1961 and 1964. It covered the Maungdaw District of present-day Rakhine State in the historical region of Arakan. The zone was administered directly from the capital Rangoon.
Wai Wai Nu is a Burmese activist who advocates for the rights and equality of all people in Myanmar,including the Rohingya. She was listed one of the BBC 100 Women in 2014. In 2017,she was named one of Time magazine's Next Generation Leaders.
Nay San Lwin is a prominent Rohingya political activist and blogger from Myanmar. He is a prolific commentator on Rohingya issues on radio,television channels and other mainstream media outlets. He was publicly attacked by the Myanmar presidential office and state counsellor's office for his role in getting out news about military atrocities in Northern Rakhine State.