VICE (2013) s06e05 Episode Script

1 SHANE SMITH: This week on Vice: escaping an ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA TOBONI: The signs in front are asking all Rohingya to come in, give their personal information to receive aid.
The concern, though, is that that information is actually being used to repatriate families back to Myanmar.
SHANE: And then, the cost of keeping the peace in Africa.
What is the biggest misunderstanding about the UN? Most of the peace-keeping operations today are taking place where there is no peace to keep.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING) (CROWD SHOUTING) They're saying that right now, it's time for change.
(CROWD CHEERING) This past summer, the plight of a little-known Muslim minority group in Myanmar made headlines around the world.
Reports of government orchestrated torture, rape, and ethnic cleansing against a minority group in the country of Myanmar.
These people, the Rohingya, have been subject to decades of government-led persecution, and with the rise of Buddhist nationalism across the country, this crisis has reached a boiling point.
A recent wave of brutal violence has forced nearly 700,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.
So, we sent Gianna Toboni to the epicenter of the world's fastest-growing refugee crisis to investigate the future of the Rohingya.
GIANNA: This is the waterway that the Rohingya have used, in order to escape Myanmar and get to Bangladesh.
We're out here with the Bangladeshi border patrol.
Lieutenant Colonel Arif is gonna give us an idea of what the last few months have been like for them.
Bangladesh's border guard was on the front lines as Rohingya refugees began fleeing Myanmar following the latest round of fighting in Rakhine State.
After decades of persecution, a group of Rohingyan insurgents formed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA.
They say they're fighting for citizenship and basic rights.
On August 25th, they launched a coordinated attack on multiple security outposts, killing 12 officers.
Within hours, the military responded with a brutal crackdown.
In so-called clearance operations, the military is accused of killing thousands of Rohingya, committing widespread rape, and burning down entire villages.
We have seen the villages burning very, very clearly.
All these places were totally covered with smoke.
GIANNA: At the height of this crisis, how many people were crossing per day? In one wave, there'll be 10,000 to 15,000.
- GIANNA: In a day? - Yeah, in a day.
They have to cross this river, but there were too many persons in one boat, so they was capsizing of the boats.
We have to recover lots of dead bodies.
GIANNA: As hundreds of thousands of Rohingya flee, Bangladesh have left their borders completely open.
Many of those Rohingya are living in Kutupalong Extension Site, now the world's largest refugee camp.
(MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER PLAYING OVER PA) GIANNA: This is one of the most densely populated places in the world, and just in the last few months, more than 650,000 Rohingya refugees have landed here.
The Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for centuries, and they're not officially recognized as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups.
The government denies them citizenship and claims they're illegal immigrants that have crossed over from Bangladesh, making them, essentially, a stateless people.
- (PEOPLE CHATTERING) - (BOY SPEAKS ARABIC) GIANNA: Nearly everybody we spoke to had photos and videos on their phones documenting the atrocities that they say were committed against them by the military.
(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: Oh my God.
(MAN 2 SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (MAN 3 SPEAKING) GIANNA: Who filmed this? (MAN 3 SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (MAN 4 SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (MAN 4 CRYING, SPEAKING) GIANNA: Since the violence broke out, the government has imposed a near media blackout in Rakhine State.
But a network of Rohingya bloggers are determined to find ways to get information out of Rakhine, though they face detention and arrest if they're caught inside Myanmar.
We're walking to meet a citizen journalist, or blogger.
He's one of the people who's been sneaking out videos and photos of what's happening, which is incredibly important for human rights organizations, but also for journalists like us who can't get access there.
How is information how are these videos and photos getting out? - So you have a WhatsApp group of - Yeah.
of different bloggers and journalists, and that's how you're getting the information.
What do you think happened to them? (MAN SPEAKS) What kinds of crimes are the Burmese military committing against the Rohingya people? (MAN SPEAKS) GIANNA: While some Buddhist monks, like the infamous Ashin Wirathu, are notorious for perpetuating hate speech against the Rohingya, it's the military that encourages those sentiments, in some cases denying Rohingya even exist.
(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: Even Aung San Suu Kyi, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, has repeatedly defended the security forces from international criticism.
I don't think there's ethnic cleansing going on.
It's a matter of people on different sides of a divide.
GIANNA: Pressure continues to mount against Suu Kyi, especially when stories of survivors are released, like that of 26-year-old Jamalida, who fled Myanmar in an earlier wave of violence in 2016.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: Jamalida tried to come forward with her story in Myanmar.
She gave an interview to both the media and the government, who claimed there were discrepancies in her account.
On the Facebook page for Suu Kyi's office, a post claimed her story was an example of "fake rape.
" Within days of her interview with the journalists, locals warned Jamalida that the military was searching for her.
GIANNA: As hundreds of thousands of Rohingya flee persecution in Myanmar, they're now met with resistance in Bangladesh.
Local authorities are cutting off all Rohingya access to the rest of the country, essentially trapping them in the camps.
(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) All these Bangladeshi police officers down here are pulling over these tuk-tuks.
They're trying to make sure that Rohingya don't leave the camps and go into Cox's Bazar.
- Who are these people? - (MAN SPEAKS) Rohingya.
And so where are you sending them? (MAN SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (MAN SPEAKING OVER MEGAPHONE) How have the Rohingya people affected your economy, affected your day-to-day? (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: The Rohingya now outnumber the locals here, and Bangladeshi community leaders are increasingly frustrated by the impact this has had on their economy.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: While these anti-Rohingya sentiments intensify, the Bangladeshi government is registering the Rohingya, which could lead to what they all fear: being sent back to the country where they've been hunted by the military and still have no citizenship or basic rights.
This center right here is being run by the Bangladeshi military.
All the signs in front are asking all Rohingya to come in, give their personal information, and all their biometrics, in order to receive aid.
The concern, though, is that that information is actually being used to register and repatriate families back to Myanmar.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) (BEEPS) (MAN SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (WOMAN SPEAKS) (MAN SPEAKS) GIANNA: What are you doing here today? (SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Does it concern you that the information you're giving them is gonna be used to repatriate your family? GIANNA: Government officials running the registration center denied our request for an official interview but confirmed what we suspected.
Will this information be used to repatriate these people? (MAN SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) - Yes? - Okay.
Yes.
- (WHISTLE TWEETS) - GIANNA: Do you feel like it's misleading them, telling them to register so they can receive aid when in fact the information's gonna be used to repatriate them? (MAN SPEAKING) No? GIANNA: Because they think that they're here to receive aid, and that's why they're registering.
They don't think this information is being used to repatriate them.
- It doesn't matter what they're thinking? - What they're thinking.
But this is their lives, right? If they're repatriated, their lives could be at risk.
GIANNA: In February, Bangladesh turned over a list of more than 8,000 Rohingya, the first group meant to be sent back to Myanmar under the repatriation agreement.
As people begin to talk about repatriation, what's the fear? Concentration camp? GIANNA: These fears are not unfounded.
Myanmar recently announced the construction of so-called transit camps, where repatriated Rohingya could be held against their will.
The continued threat of repatriation has only exasperated tensions among ARSA, the militant group whose attack reportedly first sparked this wave of violence.
This 20-year-old soldier says he joined ARSA after he was tortured by the military and he was there on the night of the 25th.
(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Plans for repatriation are in the works.
It was supposed to start today.
Does ARSA have any plans to attack in protest of this? GIANNA: The future of the Rohingya remains more uncertain than ever.
With the start of monsoon season, landslides, flooding, and waterborne diseases threaten to worsen the already dire conditions in the camps.
Thousands of lives may be at risk, and pressure is building on the international community to step in and help.
But so far, the US and EU have done little more than donate funds to Bangladesh and issue statements condemning Myanmar.
And China and Russia have repeatedly blocked the UN Security Council from taking action.
Vice cofounder Suroosh Alvi sat down with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to understand the role that the global community should play in protecting the Rohingya from a potential genocide.
How bad is the Rohingya crisis right now in Myanmar and Bangladesh? It's absolutely terrible.
I have never seen a population so discriminated in the world.
There were tens and tens of villages burned to the ground, violations of human rights that are absolutely intolerable, rape in horrible numbers, and this is the worst crisis we are facing in today's world.
It is essential that the international community is able to tell the authorities in Myanmar, especially the military authorities, that violence needs to stop and that the people that fled have the right to return and the right to return in safety, in dignity, voluntarily, and that conditions need to be created for them to be well-received.
But is anyone listening you? Well, there is people listening, but there is not yet a unanimous approach to this crisis, allowing international community to speak with one voice and to tell the authorities in Myanmar, "Stop.
" What the Rohingya are asking for are basic human rights, recognition, and security before they agree to be repatriated.
Now, this would require the international community to step in and for the United Nations to oversee these efforts.
However, if we look at past and current UN missions worldwide, we can see that this will not be an easy task.
To understand the myriad of complex problems facing these UN forces, also known as Blue Helmets, you have no further to look than their most dangerous active mission, Mali.
I read something that you said.
"The world is in trouble.
" - I think I said, "World is a mess.
" - (BOTH LAUGH) So, is the world in more of a mess today than it was when you were prime minister of Portugal? Yes, I mean, we have a multiplication of new conflicts.
When I was young, we lived in a bipolar world.
You have the Cold War.
On one side, the United States, on the other side, the Soviet Union.
And when things might risk to be out of control, the two superpowers would normally find a way.
Today, we live in a world that is no longer bipolar, and you no longer have wars between countries.
You have situations in which in one country there are plenty of different actors.
You have government troops, sometimes international troops, ethnic groups, religious groups, political groups, and those conflicts are becoming more and more interlinked.
If you look for instance at Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, you have fighters that go from one place to another.
So there is a link between all these conflicts and this new, global threat of terrorism.
SUROOSH: This global terrorism is best embodied by ISIS, who have largely been defeated in Syria and Iraq, but is gaining momentum in destabilized nations around the world, most notably the Sahel region of Northern Africa.
What does that mean in the context of the mission in Mali, what's being called the most dangerous place in the world right now? ANTONIO: What you have in Mali is a situation in which you have terrorists groups operating, but the Peacekeepers were sent to Mali because of a peace agreement with several of the movements that did not include terrorist groups that are operating there.
And so, in Mali, we have a peacekeeping force that has had more casualties than anywhere else.
Correct me if I'm wrong, UN forces, they can't fire their guns unless they're shot upon, but in Mali, they're actually getting into counterterrorism - and fighting a war on terror.
- That is the problem.
- (MAN SHOUTING) - (EXPLOSION) ANTONIO: Mali is exactly the example where the peacekeeping force by itself will never be able to solve the problem.
SUROOSH: The operations in Mali could be the key to stopping terrorism as it spreads across Africa.
And Secretary-General Guterres gave one of our crews, led by correspondent Aris Roussinos, exclusive access to join UN Peacekeepers on the ground on their most dangerous active operation.
We're about to head off with a Bangladeshi battalion based here in Gao, all the way up to Anéfis, about two days' drive north, across terrible roads and hostile territory.
(MAN SPEAKING OVER PA) (MAN 2 SHOUTING) (MAN 3 SHOUTS) (MAN 4 SHOUTS) (MAN SPEAKS ON PA) SUROOSH: The UN sources Peacekeepers from all around the world, offering $1,300 a month to recruits drawn mostly from countries like Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
ARIS: Tell us about the convoy and what we're doing.
What happened on 24th of September? (RIFAT SPEAKS) SUROOSH: Since 2013, more than 100 Peacekeepers have been killed.
That IED was one of at least seven other attacks in less than a year, along the same route our convoy was now planning to take.
- ARIS: Good luck.
- Thank you.
SUROOSH: Mali became a hot spot for instability after the collapse of the Libyan regime, flooding the region with weapons.
Jihadist groups and multiple Malian rebel factions vying for power left Mali in disarray.
Today, the UN mission here, called MINUSMA is responsible for maintaining a tenuous peace agreement that only half of the warring factions actually support.
ARIS: Five years into the international intervention in Mali, and the security situation is still so bad that the only way to bring vitally needed goods up to the north of the country is in convoys like this, escorted by heavily armed UN Peacekeepers, like these Bangladeshi troops.
Some of the groups fighting here Al Qaeda, the Islamic State they've been fighting the best-equipped, most powerful militaries in the world for nearly two decades now.
Do you think the UN Peacekeeping force is capable of taking on such a powerful enemy? (RIFAT SPEAKS) SUROOSH: This policy cedes the initiative to jihadist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, ensuring that they will always determine when and where an attack occurs.
This leaves the Peacekeepers operating on the front lines in a precarious position when unplanned stops occur.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) One of the civilian trucks, been escorting us, had a mechanical failure, so we stopped at this village in the middle of the desert.
The UN Peacekeepers here, they're handing out supplies.
SUROOSH: These supplies are part of the UN's hearts-and-mind strategy to win over villagers and limit the insurgents' influence.
(RIFAT SPEAKS) (MAN SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (RIFAT SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SUROOSH: Winning the hearts and minds of these villagers is a crucial part of the peacekeeping missions.
The most complex perception about peacekeeping is the following: Peacekeeping was conceived, as the name indicates, to keep the peace.
And so the idea is, let's have a force of the world, Blue Helmets, that is not supposed to fight.
The Peacekeepers were supposed to preserve the stability of a country that has reached peace.
The truth is that most of the Peacekeeping operations today are taking place where there is no peace to keep.
SUROOSH: For outsiders, entering these unfamiliar areas can prove fatal.
In October of last year, four US soldiers were ambushed in a local village on Mali's border with Niger.
NEWSMAN: US officials describe a scene of confusion during that October 4th attack, involving some 50 ISIS-affiliated fighters near the Mali border.
SUROOSH: The Islamic State showed off footage of the ambush, which some speculate occurred after local village elders tipped off a jihadist group to the Americans' presence.
Who is in control of this area, this area of the desert? (RIFAT SPEAKS) (PEOPLE SHOUTING) You can see just above us is a German Tiger attack helicopter giving us air cover as we go through what is an Arab-populated town that's hostile to the international presence here.
We've stopped here, waiting for a civilian vehicle, one of the trucks that's broken down.
SUROOSH: That mechanical failure placed us in a region controlled by the MAA, an ethnic Arab militia accused of maintaining relationships with jihadist groups.
(SPEAKS FRENCH) (SPEAKS FRENCH) (ARIS SPEAKS) Okay.
SUROOSH: Last year, despite millions in aid, reported jihadist attacks in Mali were up 500 percent from 2014.
ARIS: There's still a couple of hours of daylight left, but the Bangladeshi UN Peacekeepers here are already setting up camp for the night.
They're moving the civilian supply trucks into the middle and putting the armored vehicles around them for defense during the night.
The next section of the road, all the way up to Anéfis, that's the most dangerous part of the journey, the most hostile local population, where the UN faced the most attacks.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING) (ENGINE STARTS) ARIS: We've reached the end of this leg of the journey.
We're in the oasis settlement of Anéfis.
We're going to be handed over to next UN contingent, but we're not entirely sure which nationality they'll be.
That's the nature of working the multinational force.
(MAN SPEAKING FRENCH) (SPEAKING FRENCH) SUROOSH: We joined Senegalese Peacekeepers on their routine intelligence-gathering mission in local villages.
The village is entirely empty.
There's no one here.
It's kind of weird.
(SPEAKS FRENCH) SUROOSH: What we saw in these contested areas was a sense of distrust between the UN and the locals.
(SPEAKING FRENCH) SUROOSH: And that distrust is driven in part because the locals often don't understand what the UN's role in the region is supposed to be.
(MAN SPEAKING FRENCH) SUROOSH: As the attacks continue in Mali and across the Sahel, the deteriorating security situation is leading some to call for the UN mandate to be expanded in an effort to stabilize the region.
What are the implications if the international community can't gain control of what's happening in Mali? It's not only Mali.
It's Libya that's not far away.
Nigeria, the Boko Haram, is also not far away.
If these area fails, this will have tragic consequences for the people there.
But the instability and the insecurity will spread, migrant movements will increase exponentially, and this will be a serious threat for all the region, with very clear implications for Europe.
We need to understand the challenges we face are global, that no country can do it alone.
If we fail to do so, I'm afraid the mess will get worse.