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| A UN envoy returns to Burma |
| Saturday, 31 January 2009 |
The UN special envoy for Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is making his seventh visit to that country, which has become a virtual prison camp under its military junta.
Gambari's UN mandate is to gain the release of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other political prisoners, and to persuade the country's ruling junta to include her National League for Democracy in an effort toward political reconciliation.
On his previous trips, Gambari failed to move the regime toward dialogue with the league, an opposition party that won over 80 percent of parliamentary seats in Burma's last free election in 1990 - a result the junta refused to honor.
Worse yet, during his last visit, five months ago, Gambari foolishly asked the league to participate in the sham election that dictator General Than Shwe wants to stage in 2010. Under a rigged 2008 constitution, Suu Kyi would be prohibited from even voting, and 25 percent of Parliament seats would go to the military.
Gambari will be visiting the country, which is also known as Myanmar, in the aftermath of a crackdown on dissidents in which government courts handed down harsh prison sentences to scores of pro-democracy activists. On this trip, he should stick to his orders, demanding Suu Kyi's freedom and dialogue with her party. And if he is granted permission to meet with her, he should insist that she be allowed to confer first with party leaders who are not in prison.
In June, on the occasion of Aung San Suu Kyi's 63d birthday, Barack Obama saluted her, saying: "She has sacrificed family and ultimately her freedom to remain true to her people and the cause of liberty. And she has done so using the tools of nonviolent resistance in the great tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King."
Obama would be acting within that tradition if he aligned America with Burma's democrats and pressed Gambari not to deviate from his democratizing mission.
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| Artillery Battalion Shifter to Northern Arakan from Burma Proper |
| Friday, 30 January 2009 |
Buthidaung: An artillery battalion was recently moved to northern Arakan from Burma proper to provide reinforcement of military forces on the western Burmese border, said a military source.
Artillery Battalion 378 was re-stationed in the Tet Min Chaung area, a few miles from downtown Buthidaung in northern Arakan.
The battalion was reportedly shifted along with heavy arms and tanks from Rangoon Division last month. Local sources confirmed that the artillery battalion arrived at Buthidaung from Rangoon last month along with heavy artillery, including several cannons that have been placed on army vehicles.
The army authority confiscated a plot of land for the battalion about one mile square from local farmers. A witness said that many buildings have been constructed on the land and many heavy arms are being placed there.
The military authority is currently building the strength of the military in the area of western Burma with army battalions and other government forces.
According to an army source, 13 battalions, including LIBs 551, 552, 345, 352,353, 535, 536,565,564 and 537, are already stationed in Buthidaung Township along with the No. 15 Military Operation Planning Bureau and No. 3 Military Tactical Planning Bureau. The military authority is also constructing a military airbase in the area.
The military analyst said that the Burmese military government has extended troops along the western border recently despite that there are no strong insurgent groups in the area. It is believe that the reinforcements are intended to balance the scale of power with neighboring Bangladesh.
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| Junta extends artillery camp in Buthidaung Township |
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Buthidaung, Arakan State: An army artillery camp is being constructed by the military junta in Buthidaung Township, in northern Arakan, near the Bangladesh border, aiming to strengthen the military check post on the Western border, a reliable source from Arakan said.
The artillery camp is located at Kyauk Pry Daung of Buthidaung Township, about 80 miles north of Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State.
The army officers of Buthidaung Township confiscated about 100 acres of land from Rohingya villagers recently, for extension of the former artillery camp.
Previously, the army had an artillery camp, but recently it is being extended with confiscated land, for storing artillery weapons, which were brought from Rangoon.
Lt. General Maung Aye and other senior army officials visited the new artillery camp, during their trip to Arakan from January 10 to 15.
On January 13, many weapons and equipment were brought to Kyauk Pru Daung artillery camp of Buthidaung Township at midnight. The villagers, who were on the road and out of their houses, were arrested by the army for not seeing the incident, while weapons were brought inside the camp. However, the arrested villagers were released in the morning, a villager who was an eyewitness said.
After the dispute between Burma and Bangladesh over the issue of oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal last year, Burma has been building up military outposts in northern Arakan, bordering Bangladesh.
The concerned authority has also increased construction of roads and bridges in border towns, while extracting forced labor from villagers, another villager, who refused to be named, said.
The artillery camp is being built at the site of a former smaller artillery camp, which was used by the British during WWII.
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| Junta commander: 2010 elections could be postponed |
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A junta commander in southern Shan State said the planned 2010 elections could be postponed due to several reasons, while meeting with people from several civil services early in the month, according to reliable sources.
By Hseng Khio Fah
On 2 January, Kunhing Area Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Tin Maung Shwe held a civil service meeting with people from immigration, police department, educational department, health department and traffic police.
“Elections could be delayed due to four reasons,” an official who wishes to remain anonymous quoted the commander as saying.
Disruptive activities by dissidents both inside and outside the country
Tension with Bangladesh over gas exploration
Incomplete census
Problems in the drug eradication program
“The generals want the new American administration to remove Burma out of its decertification list,” commented one source.
Burma has since 1988 been in the US blacklist.
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| KNU overrules local officials, halts logging after SPDC general harvests 2,500 tons |
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IMNA
District level authorities from the Karen National Union (KNU) have ordered Htay Company, owned by Major General Hla Htay Win, to halt logging in the Makate Forest near Three Pagodas Pass. The halt order overrules local officials and military officers, who had permitted Htay Company to harvest over 2,500 tons of ironwood.
The 50,000 acre Makate Forest, one of the largest remaining large-timber forests in Burma’s southeastern border area, stands inside KNU Dooplaya District. The KNU and Brigade 6 of its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), have strictly controlled the forest with local villagers reporting that they are not allowed to log or even hunt within its reaches.
At the advent of the 2008 rainy season, however, Htay Company purchased logging rights from officials from Kyainnseikyi township administrative offices, the Dooplaya District Forestry Department and Battalion No. 17 of Brigade 6. The company began logging after the rains subsided in November, harvesting over 2,500 tons of timber in just two months.
The logging distressed local villagers, who felt that a forest they had been watching over for generations was being destroyed. In December, 5 representatives from 20 villages in the area drafted a complaint letter to the Dooplaya District Committee, which overseas the area.
According to Saw Liston, Dooplaya District Secretary, the villagers timed their letter to arrive on December 29th, immediately before a regularly scheduled forestry meeting involving district and township level officials. “Local villagers wrote a letter because they have protected this forest since before their grandmothers and grandfathers were alive,” Saw Liston told IMNA. “They said ‘the KNU is trading our heritage for money from the Htay company. Later, will the KNU also eat our rice?’”
Before receiving the letter, district level KNU authorities had not been aware of the logging by Htay Company, Saw Liston said, and in the subsequent meeting the Dooplaya District Committee ordered the logging to be halted. “Htay Company had an agreement with lower level district officials, but of this we did not know. When the villagers reported to us, we found out and then we discussed it in our meeting.”
Though the logging has halted, the Htay Company is being permitted to remove trees that have already been cut. “As our lower officers already made an agreement with the Htay Company, we will allow them to remove the trees they already cut,” Saw Liston told IMNA. “But we will not give them permission to cut any more trees. They have until May to remove their trees. This information has been informed to the Htay Company.”
In spite of the premature end to the timber project, Htay Company stands to make significant income. According to Htay Company sources, the large trees – each at least 15 feet in circumference and weighing 2 to 3 tons – fetch 30,000 baht per ton. Timber from the Makate forest, however, is likely destined to fetch an even higher price. According to a truck driver who is transporting timber for Htay Company, the trees are being transported to Abit village in Mudon Township, Mon State, where it is transferred and continues on for export from Rangoon.
According to an IMNA source in the Three Pagodas Pass Special Branch Police, Htay Company is owned by Major General Hla Htay Win, the former Rangoon Commander who was recently named Chief of Military Training.
With 10,000 acres and 2,500 tons of timber harvested – one fifth of the Makate forestland – local villagers left with the short end of the stick described the cultural and environmental impacts of the logging. “When the Htay Company cuts even one ironwood tree, it is very big and it destroys all the small trees around when it falls,” said one area resident. “And they [Htay loggers] leave all the branches from the trees they cut. They just leave the branches and there will fires in the hot season.” |
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| NLD brass demands meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi |
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by The The
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The 'National League for Democracy' despatched a letter yesterday to the Burmese military junta demanding that they be allowed to meet their leader Aung San Suu Kyi before she meets Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy on Burma.
The letter appealed to the regime to let them hold a plenary meeting of all party leaders to enable it to take new initiatives and programmes to be presented to the special envoy of the UN Secretary General, Mr. Gambari, during his ensuing seventh visit to Burma beginning on January 31.
"Our Central Executive Committee (CEC) requested the junta to allow us to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi first before she meets Mr. Gambari if we have to have any discussion with him. There will be new programmes, new initiatives and new attitudes to be discussed with him only after we can meet our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," party leader Win Tin told Mizzima.
He further said that the CEC would meet Mr. Gambari to show its respect for the UN's role but will not have any discussions unless they are allowed to meet their leader.
Though the UN special envoy, who is serving as negotiator as part of his shuttle diplomacy between the military regime and the opposition, could not meet either the top leader of the regime Snr. Gen. Than Shwe or detained Nobel Laureate during his last visit in August last year.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for over 13 of the last 19 years. Under the existing law, the period of her detention is over. She sent this argument to Naypyitaw, the capital and asked for a review of her detention order. But her appeal and argument is yet to fetch a response from the regime.
During his earlier visits the special envoy, to the frustration of the Burmese opposition forces, could not fulfill the preliminary steps to achieve his mission such as releasing all political prisoners including the Burmese pro-democracy icon, urging and persuading the junta for an all inclusive dialogue and negotiation with the Opposition and all ethnic forces.
Win Tin felt that if the visit is due to an emergency invitation by the junta, this must be the junta's attempt to exploit the UN to ease pressure on the regime.
The former journalist who spent nearly 20 years in prison said that he thought this invitation was to buy time and was dilatory in terms of tactics to forge ahead with its planned 2010 general elections under the dangerous new constitution which will enslave the entire country under military dictatorship.
NLD sticks to its position of calling for convening of the Parliament to amend the 2007 Constitution as they have demanded of the junta before.
One month after the sixth visit by Mr. Gambari the junta released a total 9002 prisoners in September but less than a dozen political prisoners were among them. |
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| Junta speaks of possible split in NLD |
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by Salai Pi Pi
New Delhi (Mizzima) – In a major development the minutes of a leaked secret meeting of Burma's Army Commanders said the leadership of the main opposition party – the National League for Democracy – is likely to split and that a faction is likely to emerge to contest the ensuing 2010 general elections.
The Commander of the Northern Military Command Maj-Gen Soe Win, during a recent meeting, told his fellow army commanders and officers that a faction is likely to emerge from a rift in the NLD to form another political party under a different name to contest the election.
According to the document, a copy of which is in Mizzima's possession, Soe Win made the comment while speaking positively of the junta's plan to go ahead with its roadmap to democracy.
But Nyan Win, spokesperson of the NLD dismissed the possibility of the NLD splitting saying, the junta is voicing its hidden wish.
"They [the junta] wishes that NLD would split," said Nyan Win, refuting any possibility of a break.
Nyan Win further said, the NLD has not even taken up 2010 election as an agenda in their meetings and does not consider it necessary as yet.
"We do not see the necessity of discussing the election," he added.
However, earlier on January 2, party members from Magwe Division branch in a letter urged the NLD central committee in Rangoon to call a meeting.
Khin Saw Htay, vice-chairman of the Magwe NLD branch said they sent a letter urging the central party executives to call a nation-wide meeting to discuss the stance of the NLD for the forthcoming elections.
"The letter urged the central party to call a meeting of party members from the whole country and to discuss how to face the period in 2010," Khin Saw Htay told Mizzima.
She said party members want to have a clear understanding of the NLD's stand on the election.
With party leader Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi imprisoned, Khin Saw Htay said, the NLD has a record of suddenly changing its political stand in the past.
"In the past, the party said it will not take part in the 1990 election but it did. Again they said they won't attend the national convention but it did," she said.
However, Khin Saw Htay said the request for a nation-wide meeting does not mean a break up, rather the members want to stick to a single policy.
NLD, led by detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, posted a landslide victory in Burma's last general election in 1990. But the ruling junta refused to hand over power and detained several of its leaders |
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| Armed forces becoming more corrupt and inefficient: Regional Commander |
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by Zarni
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In the minutes of a leaked secret meeting, a leading military commander admitted that the Burmese armed forces are becoming more indisciplined and corrupt besides being inefficient.
The officers are mishandling their subordinates, getting drunk, giving into hooliganism, issuing underrated rations to soldiers, becoming corrupt and giving work which is unbearably fatiguing to their subordinates, Commander of the Northern Military Command Maj. Gen. Soe Win said during a recent meeting attended by senior army officials.
In the document, a copy of which is in Mizzima's possession, Soe Win said the number of deserters and casualties in action are increasing, which makes recruitment more difficult in the armed forces.
Soe Win also said that the recruitment of new soldiers to make up for the depleting numbers in the army is the responsibility of all commanders. They are to replenish the decreasing numbers in the forces.
Moreover, he revealed the aim of junta is to establish an army which can compete with and challenge foreign armed forces.
"The fine tradition of our armed forces is becoming degraded gradually and so is the quality. We need to build our army to an international standard as a modern army which can fight against international armed forces," Soe Win said.
A Sino-Burma border based Burmese military analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw said that the junta in all likelihood wants to increase the strength of its army to 500,000 personnel from the current 400,000 so there is rampant recruitment of new soldiers.
Since 2006, the regime had planned to recruit a soldier from every village from over 60,000 villages in the country, he said.
"They thought they could recruit at least 60,000 soldiers a year if they could get one from each village. They are recruiting under this plan. Then there are many irregularities in recruiting soldiers by lower ranking officials without taking into consideration the quality of the newly recruited soldier," the military analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw, who has watched the Burmese Army for many years said.
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| New Dagon authorities confiscate paddy fields |
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New Dagon authorities confiscate paddy fields
Jan 29, 2009 (DVB)–Authorities in the port district of New Dagon township in Rangoon division have confiscated more than 6000 acres of paddy fields and driven farmers and animals from the land, according to local farmers.
The Rice Traders’ Association and township authorities decided to confiscate the land at a meeting held at the end of last year, to which only ten farmers were invited.
One farmer who used to own 40 acres of land said farmers had nowhere to turn for help.
"We don't know where to go to at the moment. At the meeting, the rice traders told us they would give us 40 percent of the profits and they would take 60 percent but we would share the expenses 50-50,” the farmer explained.
“They won't allow us to live on the land. Even when we were working on our own it was a struggle and now that they are taking 20 percent more than us, we are worse off,” he said.
“I don't want to be a farmer anymore, it is impossible."
Another farmer said the authorities had burnt haystacks, leaving the cattle with nothing to eat, and taken away the farmers’ homes.
"As they seized them by force, we could do nothing,” she said.
“We have to remove our lean-tos and hay stacks and we don't know where we are going to live. We have been working on this land for thirty years."
The Rice Traders’ Association and the township authorities could not be reached for comment.
The farmers are now preparing to report the matter to the International Labour Organisation and government authorities in Naypyidaw.
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| Stallholders evicted to make way for police station |
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(DVB)–Owners of shops and stalls situated around police station 1 in Myin Chan township, Mandalay division, have been ordered to move out by the end of March, according to a local business owner.
The owners of 78 stores were summoned to the police station on 17 January and told to take down their stalls and move out in preparation for the building of a new police station, a shop owner said.
"They say they are bringing the police stations up to ASEAN standard and they are tearing down police stations nationwide,” she said.
“They said they will take down the shops after they have done them in Rangoon and Mandalay. They will help us dismantle them."
Two goods depots were given land elsewhere by the government, but the other shops receive no compensation, the shop owner said.
"Our families will be in trouble and we are all feeling miserable,” she said.
“Our families depend on our business to survive and for our children’s education."
All the shopkeepers signed a petition letter and send it to Naypyidaw yesterday asking the authorities not to close down their stores.
The police station refused to comment on the matter.
Meanwhile in Bogalay, stall owners said local authorities have still not repaired the main market which was damaged by Cyclone Nargis.
Even though the stallholders have been unable to trade, authorities have still continued to collect the market tax from them, a stall owner said.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw |
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| UN envoy responds to NLD letter |
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(DVB)–The National League for Democracy has received a response from United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to its letter regarding the release of political prisoners and the need for inclusive political reform.
NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said the party had sent a letter to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in September last year and received the response from Gambari about two weeks ago.
"In our letter, we expressed our concern about the two main objectives we are trying to achieve; to free all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and to bring about political reform in which all parties and ethnic groups can participate," Nyan Win said.
"Mr Gambari said in his letter that the UN shared our concerns."
The letter did not mention the special envoy’s planned trip to Burma on 31 January or the 2010 elections, which the NLD has said they will not discuss.
Dr Thaung Tun of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma said he did not have high expectations of Gambari’s upcoming visit.
"On the question of whether the SPDC will follow the steps suggested by Mr. Gambari, we are now seeing more arrests and long prison sentences on political dissidents,” Dr Thaung Tun said.
“Mr Gambari should draw up plans prior to his visit to Burma to decide who he should be seeing and how much time he will spend there,” he advised.
“He should also put in effort for direct meeting with top leaders of the NLD and also general Than Shwe on the SPDC side,” he said.
“At the very least, we would expect him to hear the opinions of the NLD and the SPDC by the end of his trip. Apart from that, we can't expect anything much."
Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw |
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| Chins Face Human Rights Abuses: HRW |
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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday released a report calling for the Burmese military government to end human rights abuses against ethnic Chin in western Burma.
The New York-based human rights monitors also urged the Indian government and the newly formed Mizoram State government in northeastern India to “extend protection to Chin who have fled to neighboring India to escape ongoing abuses and severe repression in Burma.”
In the 93-page report, HRW said that ethnic Chin experience a wide range of human rights abuses, including forced labor, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and religious repression at the hands of the Burmese army and government officials.
The report also accused the ethnic Chin insurgent group, the Chin National Army (CNA), of committing abuses against Chin villagers, such as harassment, beatings and extortion.
HRW called on the Burmese army and ethnic armed groups to end abuses and for Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to allow humanitarian agencies in Rangoon unfettered access to Chin State.
The HRW report included testimonies from about 140 ethnic Chin inside Burma or living in Mizoram interviewed between 2005 and 2008.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, HRW Burma consultant David Mathieson said, “That was just from 140 interviews. There are almost half a million people in Chin State. Therefore, the true number of people who have been tortured is very difficult to calculate.
“Wherever there are soldiers of the Burmese army and non-state armed groups, such as the Chin National Front [the political wing of the CNA], civilians are vulnerable to abuses by armed groups,” he said. “Abuses sometimes happen in towns and cities in Chin state, but they happen most frequently in rural areas. Anywhere where there are Burmese army soldiers and any kind of low-intensity conflict, civilians are vulnerable to these types of abuses.”
HRW quoted one Chin Christian church leader now living in Mizoram as saying, “These underground groups, rather than being a help, make life even more difficult for us.”
However, Chin National Front Joint General Secretary (1) Shwe Khar denied the charges that CNA soldiers extort money, food and property from Chin villagers.
“Chin soldiers used to collect donations from the villagers, but did not extort money,” he said.
There are currently about 75,000 Chin people living in Mizoram and a few thousand in New Delhi. Thousands more have migrated to Malaysia and to other countries such as America and Canada.
Last year, at least 70,000 ethnic Chin were affected by a famine caused by a plague of rats, which ate rice stocks in many of the state’s villages, according to exiled Chin rights groups. More than 30 children died as a result of the famine.
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| ‘Second Chance City’ Welcomes another Leading Burmese Monk |
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MAE SOT — Secretly, singly or in small groups, Burmese monks who led the September 2007 uprising and then escaped the regime crackdown are leaving their hideout in Thailand and making their way to new lives in the US.
The latest to take this route to freedom is U Agga, 26, who slipped away from a “safe house” near Mae Sot on the Thai-Burmese border on Tuesday and boarded a midnight flight from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, bound for Seoul, South Korea.
From Seoul, he flew to New York, to be met by another fugitive from Burmese oppression, Pyinnya Jota, former deputy abbot of Rangoon’s Maggin Monastery. They’ll be settling in the New York State university town of Utica, which offered a new home to several monks who escaped to Thailand in the nightmare months following the September 2007 uprising.
Twenty monks who sought refuge in Mae Sot have been resettled in New York State, Arizona, California and France.
Six monks who shared a simple room with U Agga in the safety of a friendly Thai monastery near Mae Sot are still waiting for their resettlement formalities to be completed.
“Please don’t name the monastery,” pleaded U Agga. “There are Burmese government agents everywhere. Don’t even mention my former Burmese monastery.”
The group of fugitive monks moved to their secret quarters outside Mae Sot from a monastery near the Friendship Bridge connecting Mae Sot with the Burmese border town of Myawaddy. “We were told our safety couldn’t be guaranteed there,” U Agga said.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, based in Mae Sot, says 146 monks and seven nuns arrested during and after the September 2007 uprising have been sentenced to imprisonment or are still being detained.
Dozens escaped to Thailand and more than 100 fled to Bangla Desh, according to U Agga. For all, it was a hazardous journey to freedom.
U Agga escaped to the border area traveling in plain clothes and by bus and then laid low in a monastery for one month before crossing to Thailand.
“Most of us changed from our monks’ robes into civilian clothes,” U Agga said. “One donned a wig and posed as a bus conductor, riding that way to the border. A passenger complained when he took the bus out of its way, but the driver was a sympathizer and sorted it out.”
U Agga is determined that his new life in the US will allow him plenty of room to speak out for human rights in Burma.
“Wherever I live, I must continue to work for the freedom of the Burmese people, who are suffering under a brutal military dictatorship,” he said in a farewell message.
“The struggle continues. It didn’t end in September 2007. The regime didn’t defeat us, it just gave us new strength.”
U Agga’s new home, Utica, is a cultural melting pot, absorbing thousands of refugees from Bosnia, Somalia, Cambodia and Thailand. The publication Reader’s Digest has dubbed it “Second Chance City.”
Utica also has a reputation as a cultural and educational center, and U Agga hopes to devote himself to study.
In Burma, U Agga saw the monks’ engagement in the September 2007 uprising as a non-political demonstration of solidarity with an oppressed population.
“We didn’t make any politics, we acted just for the welfare of our country,” he said. “We did not demand a handover of power by the military to us or Aung San Suu Kyi. We just requested the military to treat people fairly and kindly.
“We still send our loving-kindness to the military leaders because they are hungry for it.”
Nevertheless, the events of September 2007 did leave their effect on U Agga’s thinking. At his monastery in Burma, he studied Buddhist scripture and meditation practices. In Utica, he said, “I want to study political science.”
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| Tensions Between Wa, Junta Continue to Rise |
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Tensions between the Burmese military and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have been mounting since a 30-member Burmese delegation led by Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the chief of Military Affairs Security, was forced to disarm during a visit to Wa-held territory in Shan State on January 19, according to sources in the area.
Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst based on the Sino-Burmese border, said that the visiting Burmese military officials and accompanying soldiers were told to disarm as they entered Wa-controlled territory to attend a meeting with the UWSA at their headquarters of Panghsang.
According to Mai Aik Phone, who observes Wa affairs, the purpose of the visit was to allow Burmese military leaders to learn how to launch an effective election campaign in the area in 2010. However, sources said that discussions were limited to plans to develop the local economy.
Since last year’s referendum on a military-drafted constitution, the Burmese regime has been sending delegations to different parts of the country to drum up support for an election slated to be held in 2010. The regime claimed to have won overwhelming approval for its new charter, despite charges that the referendum was rigged.
As part of its plans for the future, the junta has stepped up its efforts to persuade ceasefire groups to disarm. However, the Wa have been particularly resistant to this idea, putting renewed pressure on a ceasefire agreement that was reached 20 years ago.
On December 5, Brig-Gen Kyaw Phyoe, the Burmese Army’s regional commander in the Golden Triangle area of Shan State, met with the commander of the UWSA’s 468th Brigade, Col Sai Hsarm, in Mongpawk, south of Panghsang, to pressure him to withdraw troops from the area and “exchange arms for peace.” The Wa leader rejected the demand.
Earlier this month, the UWSA proposed a plan to designate territory under its control as a special autonomous region. Although the Burmese military hasn’t responded to the proposal, the UWSA has already begun to refer to its territory as the “Wa State Government Special Region” in official documents.
The Wa area has been known by the Burmese military as “Shan State Special Region 2” since the UWSA entered into a ceasefire agreement with the regime in 1989.
In 2003, when the United Wa State Party, the political wing of the UWSA, attended a junta-sponsored national constitutional convention, it asked to be allowed to form a Wa State.
Wa political observers estimate that there are 20,000 UWSA soldiers currently deployed along Burma’s borders with Thailand and China, while an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 Wa villagers inhabit areas of lower Shan State.
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| Danish Minister Visits Burma |
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Danish Development Minister Ulla Toraes was in Burma last week—the highest ranking member of the European Union to visit military-ruled Burma in two decades.
Ulla Toraes and her delegation visited for two days, from January 21-22, accompanied by a Norwegian minister, Erik Solheim, the minister for environment and development.
Burma’s state-run-newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on January 22 that the two ministers held a meeting with the Myanmar Red Cross Society, led by its president Prof Thar Hla Shwe.
Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Denmark Red Cross Society also attended the meeting, the newspaper reported.
The New Light of Myanmar provided no further information about the two ministers’ discussions.
The two ministers flew in UN helicopters to the delta region where they inspected relief and reconstruction work in four villages in the delta, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.
One of Denmark’s leading newspapers, Politiken, reported on the trip under the headline: “Tornaes: Burma Needs Assistance.”
The newspaper report said the Danish ministers visited Burma for two days and saw a need for continued humanitarian assistance in Burma, considered to be one of the poorest nations in the world.
“It is quite clear to me that Burma is one of the world's poorest countries, and that neither can we nor should we neglect it. We must make an effort, although we know it will happen step by step,” said Ulla Tornaes, as quoted in Politiken.
In a UN news release, Norwegian minister Erik Solheim said, “The humanitarian relief and early recovery efforts after Cyclone Nargis have been more successful than expected. Many schools and homes have been rebuilt but still there are areas with great need for support. What is important is the continued and increased access for humanitarian workers.”
Denmark contributed US $11.4 million and Norway donated US $7.7 million to the humanitarian fund for the cyclone through the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), made up of the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the Burmese regime.
The TCG agreement will expire in June. Danish officials and many aid groups expressed concern on the looming deadline, according to Politiken.
“It is possible that the authorities, the UN and Asean will agree to allow the coordination group to continue,” Ulla Tornaes said. “We have a well-functioning mechanism which has proved that it is functioning correctly, so there is good reason to let it continue.”
An aid conference on Cyclone Nargis will be held in February in Bangkok, Thailand. The extension of TCG projects in Burma will likely be decided during the conference.
Jakob Simonsen, a UNDP director based in Copenhagen, wrote in Denmark’s Information newspaper that critics say that the minister-level visit to Burma as giving legitimacy to the repressive regime and breaching the EU common policy on Burma that bars high-level visits. The EU has imposed a visa ban on the regime.
But Simonsen noted: “Conversely, most of us probably agree that we can not turn a blind eye when hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been hit by a devastating disaster.”
Prior to visiting Burma, Ulla Tornaes also visited Thailand where she met with Burmese exile groups.
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| Suu Kyi, Gambari Likely to Meet: NLD |
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Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will probably meet with United Nations Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari during his forthcoming visit to Burma, her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said on Thursday.
NLD spokesperson Win Naing told The Irrawaddy that the NLD expected its leader to meet with Gambari, and it hoped the Nigerian diplomat would discuss meaningful issues and perhaps achieve a tangible breakthrough of some type during his visit.
“UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the UN envoy won’t visit unless there is a sign of progress in Burma,” he said. “And then the UN announced Mr Gambari’s trip—it seems there is something in hand for the envoy. In this situation, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi could meet Mr Gambari.”
The UN said on Monday that Gambari would visit Burma at the end of this month.
“What I can tell you about the reports you have been seeing is that I can confirm that the secretary-general has asked Mr. Gambari to return soon, and that the Myanmar [Burmese] Government has extended an invitation for him to visit the country,” UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said. “At this point, however, discussions are ongoing about the details of the visit.”
The visit will be the seventh trip to Burma for the special envoy since 2006. During his last visit, in August, he failed to meet with the Burmese junta leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, and Suu Kyi. He held two meetings with NLD leaders.
According to diplomatic sources, the first meeting between Gambari and the NLD was about 30 minutes. Gambari reportedly urged the NLD to join the 2010 elections. Gambari was criticized by the NLD for stepping out of a purely mediation role.
Win Naing said that during the second meeting, the NLD did not talk with Gambari about the 2010 election issue, but party leaders discussed four issues which were needed for Burma’s national reconciliation process.
The four issues were: release of political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi; holding a meaningful dialogue between the military regime and opposition groups; forming an economic development committee; and opening a liaison office in Burma for the UN secretary-general, Win Naing said.
Win Naing said the NLD was not optimistic about Gambari’s seventh trip.
“After the last six visits to Burma by the special envoy, we did not see any concrete results for political development in the country,” he said. “But we hope there may be a solution to start a genuine dialogue on this trip.”
In regard to Suu Kyi, Win Naing said her lawyer, Kyi Win, was denied permission to visit her by authorities, and a second lawyer, Hla Myo Myint, was recently harassed by authorities.
The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 elections, winning more than 80 percent of the constituencies. The military regime failed to honor the election results.
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| Chin 'living in slavery' |
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Human rights body highlights plight of persecuted Christian group
By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent
BANGKOK: The Chin people, Christians living in remote and rugged north-western Myanmar, are subjected to forced labour, torture, killings and religious persecution by the country's military regime, a human rights group said yesterday.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a report based on interviews with Chin refugees across the region, said thousands of Chin have had to flee their homeland, mostly across the border to India as well as to Malaysia and Thailand.
The population of the Chin state is reckoned to be around 500,000. But between 75,000 and 100,000 Chin currently live in the Indian state of Mizoram, without support from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). About 30,000 Chin live in Malaysia.
The refugees have fled lives of constant fear, hardship and harassment, and conditions that amount to little more than slavery.
HRW's report documents cases of Chin people being forced to work without pay for the Tatmadaw - the Myanmar army - in projects such as road-building, construction and porterage. They worked under harsh conditions and could not attend to their crops and families.
The report documents several individual cases of arbitrary abuse ranging from harassment for money, to torture and imprisonment. The Chin people's religious symbols are also often destroyed.
Ms Sara Colm, a senior researcher for HRW, told journalists yesterday that the exodus of minority groups from Myanmar showed no signs of stopping, and had to be recognised as a problem for the whole region. 'The Chin state is a template for how repression works in rural Burma,' she said.
Her comments came amid a storm over the Thai military's alleged abuse of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state, which has put pressure on Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to live up to his publicly stated commitments to human rights and justice.
Life for the Chin in their mountainous homeland, hard enough in normal circumstances, is made unbearable by the Tatmadaw which has 10 battalions stationed in the state. An assessment in 2007 by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar came to the conclusion that 70 per cent of the population of the Chin state live in poverty, and 40 per cent are without adequate food sources.
The junta has done nothing to alleviate famine conditions in the state, where the 50-year bamboo flowering cycle has recently fuelled a boom in the rat population - which has attacked crops after finishing off the bamboo.
The Chins' own armed group, the Chin National Army, no longer poses a significant threat to the military regime, but its cadres make matters worse by levying taxes on locals. Any contact, even accidental, between an ordinary local and a Chin National Army cadre is grounds for being beaten, tortured and imprisoned.
Conditions in Mizoram are also not friendly, even though Mizos and Chins are ethnically closely related. Chins have been harassed by the Young Mizo Association, an ultra-nationalist vigilante organisation which constantly threatens to evict them from Mizoram and has carried out its threats.
HRW called on India to do more for Chin refugees in Mizoram, including allowing UNHCR to set up an office there.
The group also called for more assistance in remote areas of Myanmar. 'There is a need to focus international attention on areas of Burma that are extremely remote and neglected,' said Ms Colm.
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| Burma's governance operates reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984 |
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by Kirk Duffin
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell writes of a fictional totalitarian regime that controls the masses through propaganda and government institutions named as antonyms. For example, The Ministry of Peace wages constant war, while the Ministry of Plenty is charged with rationing food and goods. Albeit, being a novel aimed at warning about the dangers of totalitarianism, of which Orwell witnessed during the Second World War, its fictional account holds validity in our own era.
Through the use of an Orwellian antonym, the government of Burma is officially known as the "State Peace and Development Council", LINK In truth, Burma, also known as Myanmar, is ruled by a military Junta, who controls the country through the oppression of its people.
The Junta has been accused of perpetual human rights abuses, namely forced labour camps and suppressing democratic reforms. For example, the "State Peace and Development Council" forces scores of citizens, through threats of violence and imprisonment, to toil for a foreign company in the extraction and production of oil. Furthermore, within the Southeast portion of Burma, forced labour is being used to aid in the construction of a large-scale pipeline, which is being constructed by a number of oil corporations from various nations.
Unlike Nineteen Eighty-Four, the situation in Burma is not bound by page numbers. Ending the oppression will take international action beyond the efforts of the United Nations. The international community cannot depend on the UN to issue continual resolutions against the "State Peace and Development Council". Burma will be reformed through direct intervention. Democracy will be given to the people of Burma through physical pressure, as opposed to constant condemnation.
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| The Enemy on the Road |
| Thursday, 29 January 2009 |
Burma Army Car Roads
Here in Northern Karen State, the Burma Army continues to shoot and kill people, to rape and to destroy, to dominate and to hold on to other people's land. In the past two months its main focus has been to move supplies and troops to its camps. The Burma Army has not launched any major offensives here in the north since its attacks in Mone Township, Nyaunglebin District between September and November 2008. However, because of where the new roads have been placed and the troops and camps on these roads, many villagers who fled during the height of the offensive (which displaced 30,000 people) in 2006 and 2007 still cannot go home. The roads not only enable the Burma Army to stock their camps and project their power more rapidly through the area, they also serve as formidable barriers to people trying to cross them. The roads cut through farms and villages, displacing all people along their axis, and separating communities from each other. The roads are patrolled and mined by the Burma Army, and thus act as barriers to travel, trade and the sending of relief. During this mission we have had to cross two of these roads to bring humanitarian assistance to people in need. With the help of the Karen Resistance (Karen National Union pro-democracy ethnic resistance group) we were able to cross the first road without incident. However, three days before we planned to cross the second road a Burma Army patrol shot and killed one Karen soldier and wounded another as they were trying to help villagers cross the same road. Again, with the help of the local resistance, we and IDPs who also needed to go were able to cross the second road, and to avoid the Burma Army.
Before we actually crossed this second road, we went to do a reconnaissance of a Burma Army camp and a road they had built in 2007. We sent most of our relief team to a nearby IDP site to give medical treatment and do a Good Life Club (GLC) program for women and children and then took a small team to photograph the Burma Army camps and road. This is a road that connects the town of Toungoo in the plains to the northwest to the Kyauk Kyi -- Hsaw Hta road (please see map) that runs west to east and cuts through the middle of northern Karen State. The valley we went to is called Ler Mu Plaw and was once a major rice producing area for this region.
From the side of a ridge we looked out over the now empty valley with charred remains of houses dotted across abandoned rice fields. One end of the valley was guarded by a Burma Army camp on a hill, and a road ran from the camp both ways. The southern extension ran south to connect to another road and camp network, and on to the Kyauk Kyi-Hsaw Hta road. To the north the road runs through the mountains and to the plains and the city of Toungoo. As we watched, a Burma Army column of about 100 troops marched north from a camp that dominates the Ler Mu Pla valley. At the northern end of the valley, and also on the road, was another column waiting to meet them. The Burma Army troops moved in a long column and trooped up the road though the valley cleared of all Karen villages. It was an empty valley, save for them.
This was the same road that we would have to cross later and, unbeknownst to us, at this time families were trying to cross this very road eight miles to the north. Two Karen soldiers went ahead to check the road and to provide security for the families and were attacked by Burma Army troops who were hiding on the edge of the road. When we got back to the Karen IDP site where we had started that morning we heard that the Burma Army had killed one Karen soldier and wounded another. Both soldiers were shot in the road while checking to see if it was safe for the villagers to cross. When the shooting started the villagers trying to cross the road ran back and escaped. After the recon, and on the way to link up with the GLC/medical treatment team, we met the wounded soldier who had been trying to help people across the road when his fellow soldier was killed and he was shot. He was being treated by one of our medics and the local staff of the mobile clinic in this area. He said the Burma Army was waiting on the road, but he did not see them. He and his friend were standing on the road, radioing ahead. They were getting ready to bring the IDPs across when the Burma Army opened fire, shooting his friend to the ground and shooting at him. He tried to return fire but his ageing weapon jammed after the first shot. He ran to help his friend, grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to drag him off the road. His friend was hit again and killed and at the same time he himself was hit twice causing him to drop his radio. He let go of his now dead friend and ran off the road. He was helped by other Karen soldiers who were protecting the IDP sites and villages nearby. He was carried to where our team was doing the program for IDPs. One of our medics treated him and he was carried to a clinic.
On the way back to the clinic, we met a family with all their belongings. We knew each other as I had stayed in the village and they had seen us and our teams many times throughout the years. They said that because of the attacks of the Burma Army they could not stay in their homes any more. They were now fleeing further south where they hoped would be a safer place and where they could continue farming. We gave them some help for their journey and prayed with them. And, even though we were all unhappy that they were leaving their homes, it was good to see each other on the way.
We then continued on to the clinic where the soldier was being treated. He was in stable condition and while the medics cared for him we prayed for him and his wife, who was also there.
He was in pain but only asked us for a new radio and new uniform as his pants were ruined by the gunshots. The medics said they would leave both bullets in his leg as they had missed any vital organs and that he would make a full recovery. (As of this report he is steadily improving). We then went on and re-united with the GLC/medical treatment team. This team was just finishing up the treatment of patients and had handed out relief supplies.
Mary Wah: The Human Cost
We played a soccer game with the people from the village and then, after that, one of the families came asking for a medic. They said that there was a lady named Mary Wah who was very sick, and that she apparently had overdosed on the anti-malarial drug quinine. It looked like she had tried to kill herself and was now in very bad condition. We were told her husband had stepped on a landmine two months earlier and died, and that she was in despair. (This was on the same road we had just looked at and the same one on which the Karen soldier had been wounded and his friend killed). We were told that two months ago in November 2008, the husband was crossing the road and stepped on a landmine which blew his leg off. In his agony he killed himself with his hunting rifle. His wife, Mary Wah, had now tried to kill herself. Even though she had a seven month-old son, she did not want to live. One of our team members from Partners who was part of the team that went to help her wrote the whole story down and this is his report:
"Mary Wah is from Htee Po Lo, the oldest of 9 children. On November 11, 2006, at 11:10 am, Burma Army troops came to their village. They burned down 12-18 homes, shot and wounded one villager, and destroyed all their rice barns. Mary Wah, her family, and all the other villagers escaped unharmed but lost all of their possessions and homes. Mary Wah and her friends finished the school year in the jungle.
Her husband is from De Mee Hkee. They got married when she was 15 on May 24, 2007. Because of Burma Army activities they moved to their current hide site to try and survive. 7 months ago Mary Wah gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
Two months ago, Her husband Mo Chi Wah went to a nearby village for supplies. While on his way back home he stepped on a Burma Army landmine and died. The following day his body was found by other villagers.
On 13 January 2009, Mary Wah ate 50 quinine pills, 20 aspirin, and 30 antibiotic capsules. She was found on the floor of her bamboo hut by her neighbor. When our team arrived [where?] Eliya, Doh Say, and Tha U Wa A Pa were asked to come and help her. Our head medic, Eliya, arrived at her house around 10pm. She was in shock with low blood pressure. He administered medicine and got her on an IV. Tha U Wa A Pa and Doh Say prayed that God would heal her and minister to her. Her life was saved.
Doh Say and I went to pray for her the next morning. Later that day Tha U Wa A Pa and Tha Ka Paw Doh also went to pray with her and encourage her that God loved her, that many people, like her family and our team loved her, that God had special things for her to do, and that she was needed.
The night before we left, Doh Say and I went to pray with her again. I had a lot of things to do that day and was tired. I didn't feel like going back across the river to meet her. Then Doh Say turned to me and said "You gave your word." I felt convicted that I must do my duty, ashamed that I almost didn't, and grateful that we did.
We brought her sweet cakes and milk. I talked to her mother who was there to help her and then bring her home when she recovered. Her mother said: "after her husband died she became helpless. She could not care for or feed her son." Mary said "I felt very confused. I could not cope. I decided to kill myself." Now as we talked and prayed she smiled and seemed encouraged.
I made her a bracelet with colors that symbolized God's love . We gave her some help to take care of her son and I told her I would remember and pray for her. I prayed with her and Doh Say affirmed the value of her life as a child of God, a mother, and a woman with a future. As we left her parents told us, "Thank you so much and please come back when you can".
K2
The next day we and our teams crossed this same road to continue the relief mission in northwestern Nyaunglebin District and southern Toungoo District, also known as K2. To reach the crossing point, we had to go through the Baw Kaw Pla Valley, that once held four Karen villages and high yield rice fields. On our last visit here, in 2006, we had visited these villages and the village schools and seen the local boarding school with over of 75 children from outlying areas in attendance. Even then, however, the Burma Army had established two camps that are on ridges overlooking the valley and had begun shelling the villages, especially targeting the school. After a year of constant shelling and casualties (including the boarding school headmaster), the villagers gave up and evacuated. Now the villages and schools are gone, along with almost all of the houses. The jungle is rapidly claiming the rice fields, gardens and orchards. A covered bridge at the entrance to what was the village still bears the sign "Gate of Hope".
Because crossings of the car roads are so difficult, villagers must often wait for days, or even months, to successfully cross the roads. On the day we crossed, many villagers from both the north and south sides of the road crossed with us, carrying the children too young to walk, along with loads of belongings or things to sell in the neighboring regions. The KNU provides security, clearing for landmines before the crossing and securing both sides of the road as the people cross.
In the area we visited here there are over 9,000 people in hiding. We split the teams into three groups to try to cover most of this area. We went from village to village and hide site to hide site to provide medical and other care. The teams treated over 2,000 patients and gave out blankets, mosquito nets, clothes, and Good Life Club-mother and child packs.
Mr. Brave and the Flower of Di Htoo-born in hiding
The following is a story of two sisters and their aunt that exemplifies the people and situation here.
The picture above shows two sisters and their children, all of whom we had met when they were in hiding in the 2006 offensive. Before we met them back in 2006, we had already met their niece, Naw Eh Ywa Paw, who had been shot in the stomach by the Burma Army in an attack in which the Burma Army killed her father and grandmother. After treating Naw Eh Yah Paw and giving a service for her father and grandmother, we had come to the hiding place where these two sisters were. One sister, Naw Rosemary, had just given birth to a baby boy. The other sister, Naw Moo Eh Paw, 24, was about to give birth and our medics Naw Di Htoo and Gideon (who later married) helped deliver a baby girl. Both sisters asked us to name the newborns, and so we prayed for the babies and named Rosemary's boy 'Saw Brave', as he was born in a hiding place in the middle of an offensive to a brave mother. Naw Moo Eh Paw's daughter we named, 'Paw Di Htoo' after our nurse who delivered her. The name means "Flower of Di Htoo". Since the delivery they had had to flee many times and we had not seen them for almost two years. This time, when we came into the village where they were staying they both came to show us the children and to say "thank you". We talked together and they joined in with the GLC program and were also given help to buy rice enough to take care of their families' needs. Later on we talked to them and one of their aunts, Naw Ka Ree. Here are their stories.
Auntie Naw Ka Ree, 77 Years Old:
"In 2006 we were attacked the whole year. Sometimes we had no food. Thank you for your help when you met us in a hiding place then. I think you remember my husband K'Plae. He is blind. He is 75. Because he cannot see, he is now staying at a safer IDP place with other IDPs. But I came back to our old place here because these are my people and I want to be with them. So I go back and forth. " The same time as these attacks (2006) one of Naw Ka Ree's friends, Naw Shwe Htoo, 65 years of age (aunt of Naw Eh Ywa Paw), spent two nights hiding without food in a cave after the group she was fleeing with was ambushed by the Burma Army and scattered. A week later she was able to meet up with another group, but they were also attacked and this time she went seven days without food. Another couple in their eighties, who have now fled to the Thai border, went five days without food as they hid near their destroyed village.
Two Sisters: Naw Moo Eh and Naw Rosemary
Then the sisters, Naw Moo Eh and Naw Rosemary told us their story: "After you all left that first time we met in 2006, the Burma Army continued their attacks and we had to keep fleeing. The teams helped us and our organization helped us, but eventually we had to leave to another district. We always were yearning to come back home, and praying to be able to come back. We didn't want to go to a refugee camp, and there was nowhere we could stay and work the fields. Everyone was suffering, and some could share their food with us and some could not. The Burma Army continued to attack and shell the villages and fields in our district, and we kept praying. Some friends were killed and some were wounded. We were tired, hungry, and afraid. Sometimes the Burma Army shelled every day. Our father is very old, and also did not want to, nor could he, walk to a refugee camp.
We continued to pray, and we cried out to God to help: 'please let us stay in our home'. Finally after praying, we all felt we should try to go home. We heard the attacks had subsided, and even though there were new Burma Army camps in the area, we wanted to try. So we prayed and went in faith. We had no food, but we trusted God would provide something for us. We felt very sure He was helping us to come back. As we moved back to our old area, we realized we could not go back to our old village and farms, as they were now directly under a new Burma Army camp, so we climbed over a ridge and down into another valley, and to our amazement came to a field full of rice that had not yet been harvested. We found out that the owners of the field had fled before they could harvest, and would not be coming back, and that the farm was now abandoned. We began to harvest the rice and thanked God that we could now eat. Since then we have been back here, and we thank God and we thank you all. We have rebuilt our village. This is our home. Thank you so much for coming and for your help".
TWO MORE CROSSINGS
The teams continued to treat patients and go from place to place including a reconnaissance of a Burma Army camp and forced re-location site.(please see January 20 report: 'The Shadow of the Oppressor') We then all started the journey back to our starting point and needed to recross both roads we had crossed on our way into this area. Many IDPS joined us and on the other side of the road the Karen resistance led IDPs coming from the area we were headed. The resistance would secure the crossing and then our group would cross while those on the other side crossed over as well. We would all pass each other on the road. We moved carefully down to the road while the resistance watched the Burma Army camp that was on a hill above the road-crossing point. Karen soldiers positioned themselves on both sides of the road and aimed their weapons down each side of the road. The IDPs crossed at a run and some of us stayed on the road to help the IDPs cross.
When the last person had crossed, we left the road and thanked the resistance. We had moved about 200 yards down the trail from the road when two families of IDPs ran into us coming the other way. They looked terrified and were breathless. "Are we too late to cross, please we need to cross. We have run as fast as we could to catch up with the others."
The mother was in front with a heavy basket on her back. Her children were next to her and her husband was behind carrying a heavily loaded basket with their youngest child curled up on top. The other family was behind them. Their eyes pleaded and the children were pushing to keep going. I turned to the security with us and said, "Let's help them cross." "It is too late," he said. "The security on the other side has already gone back, but I will try to radio them." He tried to contact the far side security for five minutes but could not reach them. He looked at me and I nodded and said, "Yes". He said, "Let's go." We motioned for the families to follow and led them carefully to the road. We cleared both sides and guarded the road as they ran across. Once across they continued running to catch up to the earlier group. They made it.
We then rejoined our group who had waited further down the trail and continued through abandoned fields and villages to our next stop. We crossed a second road a few days later and are now completing the end of this January mission.
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| NEWS FROM INSIDE BURMA: Burma Army Car Roads |
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Here in Northern Karen State, the Burma Army continues to shoot and kill people, to rape and to destroy, to dominate and to hold on to other people's land. In the past two months its main focus has been to move supplies and troops to its camps. The Burma Army has not launched any major offensives here in the north since its attacks in Mone Township, Nyaunglebin District between September and November 2008. However, because of where the new roads have been placed and the troops and camps on these roads, many villagers who fled during the height of the offensive (which displaced 30,000 people) in 2006 and 2007 still cannot go home. The roads not only enable the Burma Army to stock their camps and project their power more rapidly through the area, they also serve as formidable barriers to people trying to cross them. The roads cut through farms and villages, displacing all people along their axis, and separating communities from each other. The roads are patrolled and mined b y the Burma Army, and thus act as barriers to travel, trade and the sending of relief. During this mission we have had to cross two of these roads to bring humanitarian assistance to people in need. With the help of the Karen Resistance (Karen National Union pro-democracy ethnic resistance group) we were able to cross the first road without incident. However, three days before we planned to cross the second road a Burma Army patrol shot and killed one Karen soldier and wounded another as they were trying to help villagers cross the same road. Again, with the help of the local resistance, we and IDPs who also needed to go were able to cross the second road, and to avoid the Burma Army.
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| 11 villagers remain detained after Karen rebel steals gun from army |
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HURFOM: Eleven villagers are being detained as Burmese soldiers attempt to retrieve a pistol stolen by a Karen rebel in Lamine Township, Mon State.
In the second week of January, Military Operations Management Command No. 19, lead by military column commander Khin Maung Cho, arrested eleven villagers from Kanine Ka Moke village Lamine Township, Mon State.
“All of the victims are innocent people,” said a man, 36, from Kanine Ka Moke village. “There are four men and seven women, including a six year old girl and a seventy year old man.” As of January 27th, Light Infantry Battalion No. 587 was still holding all 11 villagers. HURFOM could not, however, confirm how they are being treated.
The arrests followed the theft of a pistol from captain Aung Win Zaw of LIB No. 597 in the third week of December. According to a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier in the area, the 9 mm gun was snatched from the captain’s hip as he walked home. According to the KNLA soldier, as well as HURFOM’s field reporter in the area, a soldier from Column 4 of KNLA Battalion 16, Brigade 6, stole the gun.
LIB No. 587 has been trying to retrieve the pistol ever since, say local sources. According to a villager, Khin Maung Cho has been threatening villagers. “If I don’t get the gun back,” a villager quoted him as saying, “all of you will be put in jail.”
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| 'Six million Burmese need food' |
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By Jonathan Head
The United Nations has warned of acute food shortages in parts of Burma, despite a better than expected rice harvest over the past year.
Its World Food Programme has issued a report warning that six million people in Burma are now in need of food aid.
They include a million in the Irrawaddy Delta, hit by Cyclone Nargis last year.
But the WFP says it cannot get enough food aid to the western Rohingya and Chin areas, because of restrictions imposed by the military government.
When Cyclone Nargis wiped out Burma's rice-bowl, the Irrawaddy Delta, last year, it was widely assumed that the country would face severe food shortages.
And the UN's World Food Programme says that is what has happened - but not because Burma is growing any less rice.
Military restrictions
Production has dropped by half in the Irrawaddy Delta - but in other regions, yields have been much higher, so that there is actually a healthy surplus available for export.
But the number of Burmese who cannot grow or buy enough to eat has risen sharply to six million, says the WFP.
The UN wants to increase food aid - but cannot, because the government inexplicably stopped it from buying rice locally last year, and because the military restricts access to the worst-hit areas along the western border.
These are where ethnic Rohingya and Chin people live; their plight is reported to be desperate, with Chin state hit by a huge plague of rats.
The UN is hoping its appeal will persuade the Burmese government to lift these restrictions.
The dire conditions in which most Rohingyas live is one of the factors driving so many of them to Thailand, where they claim to have been subjected to brutal treatment at the hands of the Thai military in recent weeks.
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| Residents Forced to Clean Town for PM's Trip |
| Wednesday, 28 January 2009 |
Maungdaw: Residents in Maungdaw have been forced by district authorities to clean their town in advance of a visit by the Burmese military junta's prime minister, Lt. General Thein Sein, said a town elder.
"Today he is scheduled to arrive in our town, so the authority forced us to clean all streets in town by sweeping and to paint the trees and fans white with lime," he said.
Townspeople in Maungdaw are very busy currently with sweeping and painting their houses and streets to prepare the town for Lt. General Thein Sein's trip.
According to a local report, Prime Minster Lt. General Thein Sein will be visiting to inspect the development of the region near Bangladesh. Because of this, the authorities in Maungdaw are decorating the town and adding fresh coats of white paint to show the PM during his trip.
The authorities have also destroyed the plastic tarps used as awnings over the pavement and sidewalks by shop owners and market vendors. The tarps were allowed to be put up by the municipal authorities in Maungdaw after being paid bribes by the shop owners.
The elder said, "This is not only busy for the townspeople but also the government officials. I saw many government officials have repaired the damaged roads and bridges as well as painting the trees located at office compounds and government buildings."
Many damaged roads and bridges have been neglected by local authorities for a long time, but they are now being repaired in an effort to make a good impression on the prime minister.
Townspeople say that this is typical for the local authorities whenever high authorities come to the area. The roads and bridges get repaired when high officials come to visit, but as soon as they leave, the local government lets them fall back into disrepair and neglect.
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| Nasaka loots money from Hajis |
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Maungdaw, Arakan state: Nasaka, Burma's border security force looted Kyat 70,000 from two Hajis while they were going home in a car on January 18, at about 11 pm, said a relative of the victims.
The Hajis were identified as Sayed Ahamed from Kilaidaung Para and Salma Khatoon from Sanda Para of Aley Than Kyaw village in Maungdaw Township.
After Hajj in Mekkah, they returned to Rangoon and then to Sittwe (Akyab), the capital of Arakan State. After arriving in Buthidaung town by boat they went to Maungdaw town. From Maungdaw town, they went to their villages having rented a car at about 10:30 pm, on January 18.
When they reached at the Shikdar Para village bridge (black bridge), a section of Nasaka stopped the car and looted kyat 70,000 from the two Hajis. The bridge is on the Maungdaw-Aley Than Kyaw Road, and is about two miles from Maungdaw Town. The Nasaka personnel were from Magyi Chaung out post of Nasaka area No.7, said another relative of the victims.
The following day, a complaint was lodged with the commander of Magyi Chaung Nasaka camp with the help of the Village Peace and Development Council members but no action was taken against the culprits. The Nasaka Commander said, "I will tell them not to commit such crimes in the future." But, the commander did not return the money to the victims.
"The Nasaka looting money from the Hajis, is a deliberate act against the Rohingya community," a village elder said.
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| Sarapa demands money on false allegations |
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Buthidaung, Arakan State: The Military Intelligence (Sarapa), from Taung Bazaar of Buthidaung Township has demanded money from two villagers on false allegations that they had received money from their relatives in Saudi Arabia (KSA) on January 16, according to a relative of the victims.
The victims have been identified as Md.Taher (28), son of Abdul Hamid, Md. Halek (25), son of Nazir Hussain of Badana village of Taung Bazar village tract, in Buthidaung Township.
On that day, a Sarapa officer and a staff accompanied by three other local collaborators of the Sarapa went to the village and entered Gura Meah's house at about 2:00 am, to arrest him, on allegations that he had received money from his relatives in Saudi Arabia. However, at that time, Gura Meah was not at home, a friend of Md. Taher said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Gura Meah's wife woke up and on seeing the strangers in the house, she cried loudly for help. Hearing her scream, the nearby villagers rushed to the spot and caught one of the collaborators called Md. Nur. But, the Sarapa officials and two other collaborators managed to escape.
The collaborator of Sarapa, who was caught, was handed over to the Tactical Operation Commander (TOC) of Buthidaung Town.
The following day, the Sarapa again went to the village and arrested the victims as they chased the Sarapa and their collaborators. The victims have been detained in the Sarapa camp, and have not been released because they were unable to meet their demands.
The Sarapa demanded Kyat 5,00,000 each for their release, but, the victims could not manage to accumulate the amount. Therefore, they are still in the Sarapa's custody, according to an aide of the Sarapa.
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| Authorities heighten security, ban movement of people in Northern Arakan |
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Maungdaw, Arakan State: Concerned authorities of Northern Arakan have changed the towns of Maungdaw and Buthidaung into ghost towns, prior to the high profile visit of SPDC officers, a local from Maungdaw said.
The authorities of Maungdaw and Buthidaung Township ordered the people not to come out of their houses, until further orders were issued, he added.
The high level SPDC officers, maybe Sr. General Than Shwe and others, according to the local people of Northern Arakan State. They also said that nothing of the kind had ever happened before.
Northern Arakan state's towns are buzzing with activity, with security personnel clearing the town and heightening security arrangements. The local people had to clean the roads, markets, schools and hospitals for the past one week, a source from the Maungdaw Municipal office said.
All the operations were controlled and directed by Western Command Commander, General Thaung Aye, in association with the concerned authorities of both towns, he added.
On January 26, the Commander ordered all Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) members from Maungdaw and Buthidaung to join the welcome program in Buthidaung, from 10 am to 4 pm. They were provided with required transport like cars, boats etc, a village authority member from Buthidaung said.
The authorities banned the movement of cars and people in the town or rural areas and the towns have since become ghost-like, a student from Maungdaw said.
In Maungdaw, the local people were not allowed to leave their houses from 10 am to 4 pm in the evening. Most of the town authorities and USDA members were only going to receive and welcome the officers at Buthidaung in the morning by car. However, the officers did not come to the Northern Arakan state till 4pm in the evening and no one knew the reason, a source from Maungdaw town authority said.
"It seems like a red alert in our town and no one is allowed to walk on the streets, only dogs are roaming around the town. It is like a ghost town. Some times only security personnel can be seen patrolling the town," a student from Maungdaw said.
"The village authority has ordered us not to leave our houses. Walking or sitting on the road is also prohibited," a farmer from Bolibazaar village said.
The authorities of both towns removed heighten security in Northern Arakan today, a source from police from Maungdaw said.
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| NLD holds lecture on Law Affairs in Rangoon |
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by Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The fortnightly lecture on Law Affairs was held this afternoon at the National League for Democracy (NLD) HQ in Rangoon.
Thingangyun constituency (1) NLD MP and Central Legal Aid Committee member advocate U Thein Nyunt, delivered his lecture on the title 'Burmese Laws and Practical Problems' and he led the discussions on his lecture.
Central Executive Committee (CEC) member U Win Tin told Mizzima that U Thein Nyunt had based his lecture on the official strategy of the NLD, national reconciliation, restoring democracy and human rights, and also on the NLD's tactics of working within the legal framework, resolution of political issues by political means and other legal issues.
"NLD has resolved all political issues within the legal framework and by legal means throughout its history. We are also following this line. He explained and discussed all these things by blending them with his experiences and legal matters," U Win Tin said.
In the Q&A section, he discussed South Africa's experience of the 'Truth Commission' exercised by those who toppled the apartheid government for national reconciliation. In this programme, the people, who admitted their crimes, were pardoned.
The lecture was attended by youths, women's wing members and CEC members including U Win Tin, U Nyunt Wai, Thakin Soe Myint, U Khin Maung Swe among others. There were a total of over 150 people.
Today's lecture and talk was jointly organized by the Rangoon Division Assistance to Youth Organization and Township and NLD Youth Organizations in 'Youth Education Programme'. |
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| Burmese opposition eyes U Lin Myaing's US visit |
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by Zar Ni
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese Opposition has its eye on former Burmese ambassador to the United States, U Ling Myaing's current visit to the US.
Speculations abound that the visit of U Ling Myaing, who has a reputation of being flexible and diplomatic, has a lot to do with the Burmese efforts at lifting of the economic sanctions imposed by the US on Burma. However, others are of the opinion that he is on a personal tour.
People have also been speculating that the junta uses him because of his reputation of having good relations with the US government, while residing in that country during his diplomatic obligations.
On the other hand, Burmese observers and analysts feel that if he really tries to get the US sanctions imposed on Burma lifted, he will undoubtedly fail.
Thailand- based Burmese analyst U Win Min told Mizzima, "I do not think he will succeed in persuading the US administration to lift the sanctions. It will only be possible depending on the Burmese government's good gesture before the upcoming general elections such as releasing political prisoners and the quantum of political concessions offered to the people".
Former Naval Officer U Lin Myaing served in the Burmese Navy for 26 years. He also worked for the Narcotic Eradication Programme in association with the US government.
With the Burmese junta intensifying its repression against political dissidents and activists by more arrests, doling out harsh prison terms to them, the US government is also moving ahead with their economic sanctions on the junta, targeting the top brass of ruling generals and their cronies.
According to the US Finance Department, they targeted major state-run businesses, the senior officials of the junta, the cronies and cohorts of the ruling junta and their economic networks and empires. Currently over 100 people are under this economic sanction.
When ousted Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt was in power, the military regime hired DCI lobby firm at the cost of USD 300,000 for lifting the US sanctions and facilitating recognition of the junta by the US government.
However, the junta stopped all its dealings with DCI later and U Lin Myaing lobbied on their behalf besides performing his diplomatic duties. He lobbied a great deal with US Congressmen, the diplomatic community said.
According to intimate friends of U Lin Myaing, he is tolerant and flexible and he managed to contain the US government's economic sanctions on Burma to some extent, with his diplomatic skill.
During his diplomatic tour to the US, under Gen. Khin Nyunt's policy, he met and discussed with the opposition parties in the US. In these meetings, he persuaded and organized these opposition parties to oppose the US economic sanctions on Burma.
When Gen. Khin Nyunt was ousted from his post in 2004, he was recalled to Burma along with many other diplomats and reassigned to the Foreign Ministry as Director General.
After two years, he retired from this post and is currently working as advisor to a company, which has close proximity with the top brass of the ruling military generals. |
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| Voice of desperation from Mandalay |
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by Mungpi
New Delhi (Mizzima) - U Maung, nudging 70 years or more, was taken aback when he received a notification in mid-January to evacuate his two-storey apartment building.
"I don't know where to go and what to do," says U Maung, as he talks about the notification that ordered him to leave his dear home, which he had bought a decade ago.
"The government wants it back," he said, "It's their property. I only have to plead as there is nothing else I can do."
U Maung resides in one of the two-storied small apartments on the 30th Street in Mandalay's former Police Academy compound. His worries are that an order from the Police Academy, now known as Central Police Training School, also known as Yabakah, has stated that his apartment will be retaken by the concerned police department.
"They have ordered us to evacuate our houses latest by March 31," U Maung explained in a quavering tone over telephone.
His worries are shared by several others, who like him had bought the police academy owned apartments. There are at least, 250 to 300 apartments in the entire police academy owned compound.
In the mid 1990s the Police Academy, which is the only police training school in Upper Burma, engaged private construction companies to build several two-storey apartments in and around its main training field and in parts of its officer's quarters.
The stretch of area covers the blocks of streets from 31st, 30th, 29th, 28th that runs across North to South and 66th, 67th, and 68th that runs across East to West in Chan Aye Thar Zan Township and parts of Aung Mya Thar Zan Township's police officer quarters.
U Maung said he bought the apartment from a private construction company with a contract to pay a monthly fee of 1000 Kyat (later increased to 3000 Kyat) to the police Academy as contribution to their fund.
"I was never told that we could be evacuated like this without any compensation," U Maung says.
But he said he had been afraid that his wildest nightmares would come true someday, when after about a year of moving into his newly bought apartment in 1996, he received a letter from the Police Academy and was made to sign.
"The letter was undersigned by the head of the academy and it stated - We understand that the land is owned by the Academy while the building belongs to us," U Maung said.
"We were then made to sign the letter."
But he said his fears subsided when police officers in the neighborhood told him that it was a mere formality and that nobody would force him out of his house.
"I was beginning to feel that their words were true but suddenly in mid-January I received this notification," U Maung told Mizzima in shaky tone.
To the dismay of U Maung, an officer at the Central Police Training School in Zeepinkone near Pyin Oo Lwin, about 45 miles Northeast of Mandalay, told Mizzima on Tuesday that the order was issued not only to those apartment owners in Mandalay but in all the states and divisions across the country.
"The order is from the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is for in all parts of the country," the officer said, adding that the order is to evacuate all residential houses constructed in and around police owned compounds.
"I don't know the reasons for the order but residents have to evacuate before the end of March or we will be compelled to take necessary action according to the law," the officer said.
The officer said, though the Central Police Training School had been shifted to Zeepinkone near Pyin Oo Lwin, the former Police Academy Compound in Mandalay still remains under their administration, but he failed to provide any possible reasons for re-claiming the area.
The Central Police Training School, before being shifted to Zeepinkone in the mid-1990s, filled up its previous training grounds with apartment buildings leaving only a small open field unoccupied.
"But it does account for good payment for them," U Maung said, "as they have increased the monthly contribution to 3000 kyat. They are collecting hundreds of thousands every month."
Desperate residents including U Maung have gathered in small meetings and have come up with a plan to appeal to the Ministry of Home affairs in Naypyitaw and to Burma's military supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe personally.
"I don't know what will be the outcome. As of now we can only hope and pray that they [the junta] would be merciful and do not take away our houses," U Maung says.
"Because this is all I have and I have no where else to go," he adds.
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