Arakan News Agency
Torrential rain did not deter a crowd of well over 100 people turning out to witness Kofi Annan’s arrival in the Muslim ghetto of Aung Mingalar
Despite the protests that had greeted Mr Annan’s arrival in the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe a day earlier, residents of Aung Minglar welcomed the members of newly formed Rakhine advisory commission. Residents of the IDP said they hope the body will help foster peace between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the state.
The former UN secretary general and the eight other commission members were on a two-day visit to Sittwe to meet with community members and discuss local concerns, as well as to share the commission’s aims.
They also visited an ethnic Rakhine IDP village, before going on to speak to IDPs in one of the state’s notorious camps where Muslim Rohingya have been buried in grim conditions since communal violence broke out between the two communities in 2012 where more than 120,000 remain displaced mostly Rohingya.
Rohingya are denied citizenship and face severe restrictions on movement and access to medical care.
U Aung Thein, 63, a community leader in Aung Mingalar, who had also met with Mr Annan as part of an official Muslim delegation the day before, said, “For now I have no idea what Mr Kofi Annan can do, but I hope the commission and the government can solve the problem.”
Some controversy has surrounded concerns that the commission does not include anyone who identifies as Rohingya. However, U Aung Thein said he was satisfied that there were Muslim representatives on the commission and added, “I trust them, Rakhine or Muslim, as long as they want peace.”
And in response to concerns voiced by ethnic Rakhine protestors that “foreigners” such as Mr Annan could not understand local feelings, U Aung Thein said, “I am not sure what Kofi Annan knows about our problems, but if he doesn’t understand we can talk to him.”
Scores of residents squeezed into a small hall at the madrasa in Aung Mingalar to meet Mr Annan and the other delegates in talks lasting around 20 minutes. Police politely ushered journalists out and Muslim residents in to make sure as many locals as possible could fit into the hall. Dozens of others waited outside in the rain.
Ma Mar Lar Shwe, a 35-year-old noodle seller, said, “It is not good for us living here now, but we are hopeful Kofi Annan can help, and I feel happy today because he is here.”
She added that the fact residents were not allowed to leave the ghetto meant that they couldn’t get proper jobs, and said women who were pregnant suffered because they were not allowed to leave to give birth, though there were no nurses in the quarter.
