The UN has expressed concern over "reports of intensified fighting" in northwest Rakhine state's Rathedaung township.
Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims are stranded on at least two trawlers between Bangladesh and Malaysia, rights groups recently said, as Southeast Asian governments tighten borders to keep out the new coronavirus.
Rohingya Muslims have been discarded by the international community and are at high risk for contracting Covid-19 in crowded living spaces.
"Our navy and coastguard are on alert and they have been instructed not to let these boats enter Bangladesh," Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen says of the refugee boats that were turned away by Malaysia.
After four years in power, the government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has done little to change the country’s legal framework, the London-based rights organisation said.
Eighteen ambassadors to Myanmar –– including from the United States, Britain and Turkey –– issued a joint statement on Wednesday, saying they were "deeply concerned," and called for an end to fighting in the country.
A spokesman for Myanmar's military placed the blame of the attack on the Arakan Army , an ethnic armed group seeking greater autonomy of the restive Rakhine state. A spokesman for the Arakan Army, denied responsibility.
European Union members of the council, in a joint statement to reporters, later urged Myanmar to comply with the measures ordered by the UN’s top court, stressing that they are “compulsory under international law.”
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be "Bengalis" from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations.
Myanmar's gamble to send Suu Kyi to represent the country at the International Court of Justice has backfired.
Israel has gone after people across the world for genocide denial, but now it seems to be supporting Myanmar, a state accused of genocide.
The case accuses Myanmar of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention through its brutal military campaign in 2017, which targeted the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state.
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