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| Labour agreement fails to eliminate forced labour |
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The Burmese government and the International Labour Office (ILO) have extended the Supplementary Understanding for the elimination of forced labour in Burma for a further twelve months. However, the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), based in Thailand, said that human rights violations are still happening in Burma, including the use of forced labour.
According to the Burmese newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, published yesterday, Minister for Labour, Aung Kyi received International Labour Office Executive Director, Mr. Kari Tapiola and party at the Ministry of Labour in Napidaw yesterday afternoon [….] The ILO Executive Director was accompanied by Law Officer, Mr. Drazen Petrovic of the Office of ILO Legal Advisor and ILO Liaison Officer, Mr. Steven Marshall.
The paper also wrote, “…His Excellency U Aung Kyi stated that he ‘welcomed this continuation of the cooperation between the government and the ILO which once again confirms the Government of Myanmar’s high level commitment to its policy for the prohibition of forced labour.”
The Burmese government also extended the Supplementary Understanding last year and yet forced labour and the recruitment of child soldiers has still been happening and are considered amongst the worst of human rights abuses by Aung Myo Min, the director of HREIB.
“Extending this agreement cannot end these abuses in Burma because when the people who are being forced to work, or the parents of child soldiers, try to complain to the ILO the Burmese regime attempts to prevent them and sometimes arrests them. When the ILO does take legal action on behalf of any cases that do get through to them it is better for the people involved. Although the government and the ILO keep extending this agreement, I do not expect the use of forced labour and other human rights violations to end in Burma.”
He continued, “Before the agreement was made the Burmese government would send documents to village headmen demanding a certain number of villagers for use as forced labour. After the agreement was made the government continued to use forced labour but gave the orders orally and without any documentation and therefore avoiding written evidence of the violations.”
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| Burmese junta should be referred to ICC: Report |
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New Delhi (Mizzima) - The United Nations Security Council should refer Burma’s military rulers to the International Criminal Court for committing crimes against humanity, by stopping relief aids in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 and persecuting survivors of the disaster, a new report said on Friday.
The report, which is the first independent inquiry into the aftermath of the disaster, said Burma’s military government’s “systematic obstruction” of relief work, penalization of minority ethnic groups and use of forced labour in reconstruction, could constitute crimes against humanity.
The report was a documentation by researchers from John Hopkins University in America, and an organization of Burmese volunteers called the Emergency Assistance Team – Burma (EAT), in the weeks following the deadly Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2, 2008.
Released on Friday in Bangkok, the report, said it had discovered that Burma’s military junta failed to provide adequate food, shelter and medical care in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Burma’s Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions, killing at least 1,40,000 people.
The report, which claims to have been framed after extensively interviewing relief workers and survivors, said despite the severity of the disaster, the Burmese junta refused to let in aid workers and relief supplies, arresting those volunteers, who secretly went in to help survivors. It continued confiscating land from the farmers and forced villagers to re-construct the devastated areas.
It also has details on allegations of aid being stolen and resold by the Burmese military authorities and how it had set-up check points to restrict movement into the disaster-stricken areas.
The junta treated the disaster, which devastated the lives of 2.4 million people, not as a humanitarian emergency, but as a security threat to the nation and instead of helping the survivors, went ahead with its political agenda of conducting a Referendum to approve its newly drafted constitution on May 10, the report said.
According to Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP-B), the Burmese junta arrested at least 21 aid volunteers, including well known comedian Zargarnar and former sports journal editor Zaw Thet Htwe, for their involvement in distribution of aid supplies to cyclone victims.
Even as the new report lists the Burmese military junta’s crimes in their response to the cyclone, the Tripartite Core Group, a group formed with the Burmese government, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tasked with emergency relief and recovery after the cyclone, said it was making remarkable progress in their work in assisting the survivors.
In an email message to Mizzima, UN humanitarian coordinator in Rangoon, Bishow Parajuli said, the situation of the survivors was getting better with the support of the international community.
“For thousands of people, a certain level of normalcy is being restored,” Parajuli said.
However, he admits that thousands are still in need of adequate supply of aid saying, “There is a continuous need to rebuild physical infrastructure, such as houses, schools, health facilities, and cyclone resistant shelters.”
In early February, the TCG launched a three-year medium term recovery plan appealing for nearly USD 700 million to carry out the plan.
“The UN hopes and believes that the international community will continue to be generous,” said Parajuli, adding, “The consequences of insufficient funding, is that people are not getting all the assistance they need and it will be more challenging to recover fully from the disaster.”
However, despite the UN’s appeal of USD 477 million for recovery work up to April, it was only able to achieve 66 per cent of the total amount that it needed.
Researchers, who compiled the report also said the Burmese military government’s restrictions on movements in the country, hindered estimating the death toll caused by a supposed ‘Second Wave’ of deaths in the period following the cyclone.
The report said, under international law, creating conditions where the basic survival needs of civilians cannot be adequately met, "intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health," is considered a crime against humanity.
The report, in its recommendations, said the junta should be referred to the International Criminal Court, by the United Nations Security Council, for committing crimes against humanity. |
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| Global Fund Discusses Possible Return to Burma |
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A visit to Burma this week by a Global Fund delegation could result in a resumption of the fund’s discontinued anti-AIDS program there, according to a report by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
The four-member Global Fund delegation led by William Paton, director of country programs, arrived in Burma on Tuesday for a four-day visit. It has since met 29 members of the Myanmar [Burma] Country Coordinating Mechanism (MCCM), headed by Health Minister Kyaw Myint, Xinhua was told by Sun Gang, country coordinator of UNAIDS in Burma.
The MCCM includes 10 representatives of government ministries, four UN agency members and four from international non-governmental organizations.
In August 2005, the Global Fund, the world's leading funder of programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, terminated its anti-AIDS program in Burma. The five year program would have cost more than US $98 million.
Global Fund announced that its decision to terminate projects in Burma was made in the light of “the [Burmese] government’s newly established clearance procedures restricting access of the principal recipient [the UN Development Programme], certain sub-recipients, as well as the staff of Global Fund and its agents, to grant-implementation areas.”
In 2006, the Global Fund was replaced by the Three-Diseases (3D) Fund—developed as a substitute by the European Commission, the British, Dutch and Norwegian governments and two anti-AIDS organization in Sweden and Australia.
A five-year 3-D Fund project to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria is projected to cost about $100 million. The 3-D Fund reported recently that it has provided nine non-governmental organizations in Burma this year with a total of $630,000.
Xinhua reported that if this week’s negotiations are successful, the Global Fund is expected to make a formal comeback by 2010.
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| New Report Slams Junta for Nargis ‘Crimes’ |
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In stark contrast to an earlier assessment of the Cyclone Nargis relief effort by Burma’s ruling junta and its international partners, a new report released today accuses the regime of widespread rights abuses that “may constitute crimes against humanity.”
The report, “After the Storm: Voices from the Delta,” is the first independent inquiry into the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2-3 last year, killing as many as 140,000 people.
Unlike the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) report released last July by the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), consisting of the junta, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the new report does not shy away from the issue of human rights abuses by the Burmese regime.
“We did not prompt this. We asked a number of questions about relief efforts and agencies, and what kept coming out was people trying to struggle and negotiate their communities’ relationships with the junta,” said Dr Chris Beyrer, director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which released the report.
The report is based on interviews with 90 private relief workers and cyclone survivors conducted between June and November 2008. The interviews were carried out by the Emergency Assistance Team—Burma (EAT), a social organization based on the Thai-Burmese border and staffed by community aid workers from cyclone-affected areas.
The interviews detail a pattern of abuses by the military authorities, including the misappropriation of relief supplies, forced labor and harassment and arrest of local aid workers.
“After one month, they came to the village, saw my supplies and started asking—they sent my information to Yangon [Rangoon] to investigate me. They were asking why there were so many supplies. They think it was anti-government. So I left; I don’t like prison,” recounted one relief worker who was interviewed for the report.
The authors of the report say that such abuses “may constitute crimes against humanity through the creation of conditions whereby the basic survival needs of victims cannot be adequately met,” in violation of Article 7(1)(k) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
“These allegations, taken together, may amount to crimes against humanity and may need to be investigated,” said Beyrer, adding that the case could be referred to the UN Security Council for consideration.
The report also highlights the international relief effort’s failure to engage community-based groups, and calls for a more thorough assessment of the situation in the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta, including the junta’s role in obstructing aid.
“There are some [international] groups working directly with community organizations, but they have to be very careful about how they work together. It is very risky. That is why we want the UN and Asean to tell the government to allow the community-based organizations to work freely to do their humanitarian work,” said Dr Cynthia Maung, who serves as the chairperson of EAT.
“We would also like to recommend that the UN or the international community do a more thorough assessment,” she added. “Unless we get a proper assessment or report, it may be very hard to continue working to improve the situation [in the cyclone-affected area].”
The report was released as Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, speaking at the annual Asean summit being held in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin, revealed that the Burmese regime was set to extend the TCG’s role in the delta.
It is unclear how the regional grouping, which has generally closed ranks in defense of the Burmese junta in the past, will respond to the report.
“We hope that there is a positive and constructive response, not a response of denial or obfuscation, but rather that people will say, all right, these kinds of practices must cease and desist,” said Beyrer.
“These kinds of allegations simply cannot be ignored. The people of the Irrawaddy delta deserve to have a reconstruction effort that’s free of rights abuses,” he added.
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| Burma Insists Rohingyas are ‘Bengalis’ |
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CHA-AM, Thailand — Burma is insisting at the Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) summit in southern Thailand that the boatpeople now fleeing Arakan State are not Rohingyas but Bengalis.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromiya, told a summit press conference that Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win told Asean colleagues at an informal dinner on Thursday that a reading of the region’s history would show the people now being described as Rohingyas were actually Bengalis and not members of any Burmese ethnic group.
The plight of refugees embarking in open boats from Burmese shores in the hopes of reaching Malaysia and Indonesia is being discussed on the sidelines of the summit.
Kasit told reporters that the Rohingya issue would be tackled by the so-called Bali Process, which is intended to help fight the problems of people smuggling, human trafficking and related transnational crimes in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. A Bali Process meeting would be held on April 14 and 15, he said.
Journalists noted that Kasit referred to the Rohingyas as Bengalis. Thailand, like Malaysia and Indonesia, cannot legally send boatpeople back to Burma if the Naypyidaw government does not accept them as Burmese.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, told the English-language daily Bangkok Post that his country and others had to be firm in dealing with the boatpeople. “If we cannot be firm we cannot deal with this problem,” he said. “We have to be firm at all borders. We have to turn them back."
Malaysia did not want to be “unkind,” Badawi said. “But the problem has been about people who come without permits."
A diplomat at Thursday’s dinner said there was general agreement that the problem was a regional one.
The Asean foreign ministers were due to meet on Friday to discuss the proposed establishment of a human rights body under Asean's new charter, in the face of widespread charges that it will be toothless because of the bloc's policy of non-interference.
The terms of reference for the new Asean Human Rights Body were nevertheless “in progress,” according to Thai government spokesman Panitan Watanayakorn.
Panitan told reporters that the new body should be “up and running” by October.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit said Asean delegates “should agree in principle today or tomorrow” on the terms of reference.
He said Thailand hoped to see the founding of the body—agreed to in principle in Article 14 of the Asean Charter—during his country’s tenure as chairman of Asean. He said Asean would have “a legal personality” when the human rights body was in place.
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| Fire devours 100 acres of forest a day in northern Burma on China border |
| Friday, 27 February 2009 |
A forest fire is raging in northern Burma on the border with China burning up over 100 acres of forest a day. The fire is spreading to forests in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, local sources said.
The fire broke out over a week ago in the controlled areas of the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) in east of Kachin State, Burma’s ethnic Kachin insurgent group that has a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese ruling junta since 1989, said NDA-K officers.
A NDA-K officer said smoke billowing from the fire is shrouding all the areas around the NDA-K headquarters in Pang Wah on the Sino-Burma border. The fire broke out because of the carelessness of farmers in the controlled areas.
There are no casualties in the NDA-K controlled areas yet but the group has detained several farmers who have been accused of burning forests in the area, said Lt-Col. N’hkum Doi La, an NDA-K officer.
Lt-Col. N’hkum Doi La added, that the NDA-K keeps warning civilians in the controlled areas, who are into farming, every year to use fire carefully in their farms when they burn trees in the fields. It has also held out a threat to villagers that those who misuse fire may be punished with the death penalty, added Lt-Col. N’hkum Doi La.
Every year during this time, people in NDA-K areas burn felled trees in their paddy fields to cultivate rice leading to fire breaking out outside the paddy fields, said NDA-K officers.
According to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, a fireman died while fighting the forest fire but it was brought under control on Wednesday with the help of about 4000 forest police personnel, soldiers and residents.
On February 18, a fire broke out between Burma and Yunnan’s Tengchong County and burnt down about 25 hectares of forest area on the Chinese side, stated Xinhua news.
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| MYANMAR: Majority of under-five deaths preventable - UNICEF |
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YANGON, 26 February 2009 (IRIN) - Most deaths of children under five are preventable or treatable in Myanmar, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The Under 5 Mortality Survey (2002-2003), conducted by the government and UNICEF, reported the main causes of early death as acute respiratory infection (21.1 percent), brain infection (13.9 percent), diarrhoea (13.4 percent), septicemia (10.7 percent) and prematurity (7.5 percent).
About three-quarters of all deaths occurred in the first year.
"Over two-thirds of child deaths could be prevented by inexpensive but proven high impact services like immunisation, better case management with antibiotics, insecticide-treated bed nets, supplementation of Vitamin A and other micronutrients," Osamu Kunii, chief of health and nutrition at UNICEF, told IRIN in the former Burmese capital, Yangon.
As part of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Myanmar has pledged to reduce its under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015, from 130 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 43.
"To achieve the goals we need more internal efforts and external supports, especially resource mobilisation such as funding," Kunii said, emphasising the importance of better collaboration and coordination between government, UN and NGO partners before 2015.
Greater awareness
But while the government and its partners work to expand health services to remote areas of the country, the public should also seek better healthcare for their children.
"We also have to put more focus on [the] behaviour change of families, and change the community towards supportive, healthy and hygienic environments for children and women,” he said, explaining that without parents’ cooperation, any initiative would be ineffective in reducing child mortality.
That applied to using treated mosquito nets, for example, as malaria is a major cause of infant death, and changing women’s diet. According to health personnel, traditionally many women avoid certain foods during pregnancy as well as during lactation in the belief they may harm the baby.
“Many women here avoid some foods which are in fact good for their babies, but eat other foods [that are] bad for babies. For instance, as a result of Vitamin B1 deficiency, so-called infantile beriberi occurs. It has been the major cause of infant deaths in this country," the UNICEF specialist said.
According to the State of the World's Children 2009, about 15 percent of infants are low birth-weight in the country. "Making mothers healthy is very crucial for saving children and making children healthier," Kunii said.
Importance of breastfeeding
He also suggested women should be encouraged to breastfeed exclusively as it is the simplest but most effective intervention to fight malnutrition and infectious diseases during the first six months of a child’s life.
However, only 15 percent of infants in Myanmar are exclusively breastfed. According to global research, increasing breastfeeding could reduce child mortality by 13 percent.
“We could save more children by mothers’ behavioural changes for infant and young children’s feeding practices.
“Just providing knowledge and raising awareness hardly changes people’s behaviour. To reduce individual risk behaviours, people need support from their family, peers, community and experts. We need to help communities create such environments to change individuals’ risk behaviours and protect children and women,” Kunii said.
In an effort to reduce the risk of child deaths, UNICEF is working with the government and other partners on immunisation drives, providing essential drugs and other supplies, Vitamin A supplementation and de-worming, the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, capacity building for basic and community health workers, and other critical child and maternal health activities.
“The emergency response to Cyclone Nargis has made us confident that all the partners can work together to achieve the same goals with the same vision. I’m sure we can do the same in achieving MDGs 4- for saving [a] child’s life,” Kunii said. |
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| Junta prepares for first ‘quarterly meeting’ of 2009 |
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New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese junta is gearing up to hold its first military quarterly meeting for 2009 in the second week of March, where it is likely to discuss major issues including plans for the 2010 general elections, sources in the army said.
The source said, following the meeting, the generals are likely to announce the election law for the 2010 general elections.
The quarterly meeting is a gathering of military officers including commanders of various military commands, brigade commanders, and up to the rank of director-generals from various ministries. It is usually held in Naypyitaw and attended by officers across the country.
But Aung Kyaw Zaw, a military analyst based on the Sino-Burma border, said while a high percentage of generals are for announcing the election law following their discussion in the meeting, a section of the military, particularly the older groups feel the announcement of the election law should be further delayed.
“People like Aung Thaung and Kyaw Hsan think that they should declare the election law now as they are sure that they have enough preparation,” he said, referring to the junta’s Minister of Industry-1, and Minister for Information.
But senior military leaders including Than Shwe and Maung Aye, who witnessed the military’s failure in the 1990 elections, feel that the announcement should be delayed in order to give opposition limited time for preparation.
“This might be one area they will discuss in the quarterly meeting,” he added.
The military usually holds three quarterly meetings in a year – in January, May and September. But in 2008, the military only held two, canceling a meeting in May. It also altered the timings of the meeting with the last quarterly meeting held in November.
“To me, it seems, that the quarterly meeting has lost its essence and is only used by a few top military leaders to explain their plans to their lower ranks,” Aung Kyaw Zaw said.
According to him, the top five – Snr. Gen Than Shwe, Vice Snr. Gen Maung Aye, Thura Shwe Mann, Prime Minister Thein Sein and Secretary (1) Tin Aung Myint Oo – meet in advance and take major decisions before the meeting and explaining to their junior officers the plan ahead.
“A few suggestions and discussions are made during the meeting, but major decisions are taken by the five before the meeting,” Aung Kyaw Zaw said.
Most reshuffles in the military takes place during the quarterly meetings and most military observers said the last quarterly meeting, usually in September, is always crucial in announcing major reshuffles in the military. |
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| Eine Mae villagers pressured not to host NLD members |
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(DVB)–Authorities in Eine Mae, Irrawaddy division, have pressured local villagers not to provide accommodation for National League for Democracy members, accusing the group of a plotting bomb attacks in the region.
Aung Din, the NLD chair in Mayanpin village, was chastised after he let youth wing member Htin Kyaw Linn from Eine Mae stay at his house when he visited the village.
Local authorities questioned Aung Din and warned him he would be punished if fail to inform them of such activities in the future, said Eine Mae NLD chair Maung Maung Gyi.
“The township’s deputy police chief Min Thu Khine told Aung Din not to let Htin Kyaw Linn stay at his house again, saying they can’t risk having bombings in the township,” said Maung Maung Gyi.
“He warned Aung Din that he would be punished if he failed to let them know when NLD members visit the village again,” he said.
“The government authorities are trying to create divisions between us and the people by calling us bomb plotters – they are basically defaming us.”
Some other party members said Eine Mae’s local police chief Sein Win had recently told officials from villages in the region during a community meeting to inform the police station of any visits made to their villages by NLD members.
Reporting by Ahunt Phone Myat |
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| Funeral charities ordered to keep vehicles at cemetery |
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(DVB)–Funeral charities in Rangoon division, including the Free Funeral Service Society, have been told to park their vehicles at Yeway cemetery during the night, according to an order issued by the authorities.
The order, issued on 8 February, states that all funerary vehicles used by funeral services of all religions must be kept overnight at Yeway cemetery as of 28 February.
FFSS patron and former actor Kyaw Thu said funeral charities could face legal action if they did not comply with the order.
"Rangoon municipal office summoned all religious groups in Rangoon and told us to keep the cars in respective cemeteries,” Kyaw Thu said.
“If we don't, we will be prosecuted."
The order was issued on the basis of a 1920 colonial law. Kyaw Thu has asked Rangoon municipal authorities to help him solve the problems caused by the order but has received no response from them.
Apart from FFSS, there are at least six funeral services including Muslim, Hindu and Christian services that have been giving free help to bereaved people.
Kyaw Thu said that FFSS had 16 funerary vehicles, some of which were worth millions of kyat.
Keeping the cars in the cemetery overnight as ordered would put a stop to the activities of the FFSS, Kyaw Thu insisted.
"We can't just park our cars in the alleys at Yeway as some of them are quite expensive,” Kyaw Thu said.
“We bought them with money from donors. The cars need to have covers and security,” he said.
“We have decided to carry on as before."
Christian and Muslim funerary vehicles which have been parking at churches and mosques in local townships are also worried about keeping them in Yeway cemetery.
"If the cars are kept in Yeway cemetery, the drivers will face problems,” a Muslim funeral official said.
“There is no [proper building to park the cars] yet. We are still discussing it."
A local Hindu funeral organisation which already keeps its five funerary vehicles at the cemetery said it had no problems with the new regulation.
Reporting by Aye Nai |
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| Naga villagers killed in rebel crossfire |
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(DVB)–A clash broke out after an encounter between rival Naga rebel groups on the India-Burma border on 22 February, with reported deaths of villagers caught up in the fighting.
National Socialist Council of Nagaland members led by Thuingaleng Muivah (aka Tui Mwepa), were pursuing a splinter group when the incident occurred.
A Naga national, El Laungsar, who is based on the India-Burma border, said that the villagers from Sumpra in Layshee township bumped into the fleeing splinter group members on the way to a market in Manipur state, India, and talked to them. The NSCN then arrived.
“They were pursued from behind by [the NSCN],” he said. “The villagers were caught up in the clash and died.”
The number of deaths is not known.
SPDC soldiers stationed in Nagaland are reportedly ordering Naga villagers in Burma not to go to India. The orders are being defied, however, as villagers continue to cross the border to buy and sell materials such as rice and salt.
Reporting by Khin Maung Soe Min |
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| Burmese 'Struggle' Amid Economic Crisis |
| Thursday, 26 February 2009 |
A Burmese dissident freed after serving more than 18 years in jail says he and many others outside the prison walls are now struggling to survive.
BANGKOK—A Burmese dissident just freed from prison after more than 18 years says everyone he knows is simply struggling to survive.
Zaw Myint Maung, a medical doctor elected to parliament in 1990 as a member of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), was freed this week by the ruling junta as part of a general amnesty, after 18 years and three months in prison.
"I have a lot of things to make up for with regard to my family," he said in an interview after returning to his home in Amarapura, in the central city of Mandalay.
"Yesterday, all my friends and acquaintances came to see me...From the time I got back in the morning until 9 p.m.," he said. "As we have aged, physically, each of us has changed. But if we look at all of them from the mental point of view, what I saw was that at present everyone was complaining about the financial crisis. Everybody is struggling."
"I can say for sure that everyone is struggling to survive. My political colleagues are struggling, just as my friends and acquaintances are struggling. So from the social and humanitarian point of view, most people are struggling. This is what I have been able to see."
Zaw Myint Maung was released from Myitkyina prison on Feb. 22.
He was sentenced to 25 years for attending meetings of the provisional NLD government in 1990, and later to 12 more years for writing a letter to the United Nations from Insein prison in Rangoon "about the sufferings ordinary prisoners had to endure."
'Inconveniences'
"There have been a number of inconveniences at home," he said.
"My wife has had to struggle for 18 or 19 years, so when I looked at the situation as soon as I got back, I could see that I would have to make up for all of the all the inconveniences that have occurred during my absence."
"So when the head of the household has been away from home for such a long time my wife has to bring up our children on her own... I have never eaten together at the same table with my young daughter," he said.
"When I got back she was at school, and when she came back from school, she was tired. Since we have never had any kind of an intimate relationship between father and daughter, she may be feeling a bit uncomfortable, just as I feel awkward in this situation."
The Burmese regime announced the release of more than 6,000 inmates Friday after U.N. rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana ended a five-day visit during which he called for the progressive release of "prisoners of conscience."
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who began her latest detention in May 2003, is among more than 2,000 people jailed in Burma for their political or religious beliefs, rights groups say.
The military junta denies the existence of any political prisoners, saying all detainees have committed crimes.
State-owned MRTV said on Friday the prisoners were being released for the "social consideration of their families" and to take part in elections promised for 2010, part of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy."
Western governments dismiss the roadmap as a charade, and human rights groups accuse the regime of seeking to eliminate all political opposition ahead of the election. Special courts have sentenced scores of dissidents to lengthy prison terms of up to 65 years in recent months.
The most prominent activists have been sent to the furthest corners of the country, making it almost impossible for relatives to deliver food and medicine to them, raising the possibility of the prisoners dying behind bars.
Zaw Myint Maung was one of three dissidents freed from Myitkyina prison in northern Kachin state.
Original reporting by Kywa Min Htun for RFA's Burmese service. Translated by Soe Thinn. Burmese service director: Nancy Shwe. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.
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| Junta pressurizes KIO’s 4th brigade in northeast Shan State |
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The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) is coming under increasing pressure from the Burmese military junta regarding the presence of its armed wing, the 4th Brigade of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northeast Shan State, said KIO sources.
The KIA’s 4th Brigade is under pressure and has been given two options by the junta--- to shift all KIA bases and troops from northeast Shan State to Kachin State or to surrender its weapons to the regime and transform into a new Kachin militia group in the same places, according to KIA’s 4th Brigade sources.
The KIA’s 4th Brigade has been under mounting pressure to relocate or surrender by the ruling junta since it signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta in 1994, said KIA officers in the 4th Brigade.
Recently, the Lashio based junta’s Northeast of Shan State Military Command (Ya Ma Kha) commander Maj-Gen Soe Win pressurized the KIA’s 4th Brigade with the two options, added the KIA’s 4th Brigade sources.
Till now, the KIA’s 4th Brigade officials have been countering the junta’s pressure and they say they will neither surrender their weapons nor move to Kachin State, said KIA officials in Laiza headquarters on the Sino-Burma border in Kachin State.
Under the control of KIA’s 4th Brigade in northeast Shan State, the KIA battalion 2, 8 and 9 are currently based in its controlled areas. The Brigade has now over 1,500 men and women in uniform and is the strongest brigade among all five brigades of the KIA in Kachin and Shan States.
In the past after the ceasefire agreement, there were two big killings in the KIA’s 4th Brigade by the Burmese Army.
On January 2, 2006, five KIO servicemen including office staff and KIA soldiers in Muse Township Office were shot dead by Burmese troops. All the bodies were creamed by the Burmese Army.
There were similar atrocities in the KIA’s 4th Brigade, where nine KIA soldiers and two civilians in the KIA’s developing agricultural field were tortured and killed by the Burmese Army on March 22, 2001.
Despite the seriousness of the incidents, the KIO/KIA did not react strongly or threaten to break the ceasefire agreement between them. For this it was strongly condemned by its men and women in service and the Kachin people.
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| Activists demand intensified global pressure on Burma |
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by Solomon
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP-B), urged the international community on Tuesday, to assert more pressure on Burma’s ruling junta to release all political prisoners.
The AAPP-B, formed with Burmese activists and former political prisoners, on Tuesday said, the international community should not be full of praise and be satisfied with the Burmese junta’s release of a few political prisoners, but should intensify pressure on the junta.
Tate Naing, Secretary of the AAPP-B said, “The international community should intensify the pressure on the junta for the release of more political prisoners.”
In a statement, the group said, releasing a few political prisoners could not be termed as development, because the junta was using the release as a tool to ease-off mounting pressure.
“We cannot expect the political situation in Burma to improve just because a few political prisoners have been released. This is just a ploy to try and ease international pressure,” Tate Naing said in the statement.
He said all other political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin Oo, ethnic nationality leaders, and the 88 Generation student leaders, must be released if the military government really wanted to progress towards democracy and national reconciliation.
“We urge the international community to pressurize the SPDC more effectively for their release,” said Tate Naing, referring to the junta with its official name – the State Peace and Development Council.
On Friday, Burma’s military rulers announced amnesty for 6313 prisoners, across the country and on Saturday began releasing them. According to activists and UN human rights expert, Tomas Ojea Quintana, about 24 prisoners among those released were prisoners of conscience.
However, the AAPP-B said releasing 24 political prisoners, was too little in number compared to the overall number of more than 2,000 political prisoners, still languishing in jails across Burma.
Tate Naing said the international community, particularly; the United Nations had not put in their utmost effort in pressuring the Burmese authority, to release prisoners of conscience and to implement political reforms in the country.
“The UN should put their utmost efforts and do whatever they can within their mandate and should avoid urging the military government,” Tate Naing said.
But on the other hand, Burma’s military government has constantly denied the presence of political prisoners, and justified that the government had only arrested and sentenced those people, who had committed crimes that were prohibited by the existing law.
UN human rights expert, Tomas Ojea Quintana, who recently concluded a visit to Burma, in an interview to Mizzima said, he had suggested to the Burmese authorities to review its judiciary and to make it independent and impartial, so as to protect the fundamental rights of the people.
The UN envoy also said that the release of 24 political prisoners was a good sign, but not enough to consider as significant development.
Besides Tate Naing said, the UN should not endorse but reject the military junta’s proposed 2010 general elections because it was aimed to legitimize military rule in the country and was being forged against the peoples’ will.
He said, the junta drafted its new constitution without the peoples’ participation and the planned 2010 elections was against the 1990 election results, where Burma’s main opposition party – the National League for Democracy – won a landslide victory.
“So, at least the UN should push the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi, 88 generation students and 15 Members of Parliament from the 1990 elections,” he added. |
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| Changing patterns in Burma's media |
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Htet Aung Kyaw
(DVB)–With one of the most strictly-controlled media environments in the world, Burmese journalists who oppose the military government are forced to work in secret, with the prospect of lengthy imprisonment an everyday threat.
Exiled news organizations in countries such as Thailand and India work covertly with networks of journalists inside Burma, receiving and publishing articles and commentary on political developments inside the country.
The last few years have also seen a rise in internet bloggers, and subsequently a fierce crackdown by the regime. In 2008, two bloggers were jailed for 20 years each for publishing critical material of General Than Shwe.
DVB spoke to a number of journalists and media experts, both Burmese and foreign, to discuss the current media environment within Burma, and to highlight the differences for media inside and outside the country.
Maung Maung Myint is chair of the Burmese Media Association, Kyaw Zwa Moe is deputy editor of The Irrawaddy, and Larry Jagan is a freelance journalist with a focus on Burma.
DVB began by asking what the current situation is like for media freedom in Burma.
Maung Maung Myint: "It's obvious that Burmese government's pressure on the media inside the country has been more intensified since after the 2007 September uprisings – there has been sentencing of journalists and media right activists to long prison terms throughout this time.
"The situation on the Burmese media freedom is not good and we think it will be the same until 2010. After that, if we are unlucky, things will even get worse."
Kyaw Zwa Moe: "In Burma, now we have more journalists than we had 20 years ago. Despite various difficulties, the censor laws and the pressure from the government, they are doing what they can with an increased capacity."
"And we see that they are trying their best to reach their message and information to the audience."
Larry Jagan: “Twenty years ago the Burmese media was completely government-controlled and no dissident or different opinions were allowed.
“Now we see, particularly in the print media, a proliferation of magazines and newspapers, none of which are necessarily anti-government but many of which have pushed the boundaries of journalism, particularly on issues like HIV/Aids, the environment, and the economy.”
DVB: What is the significance of the outside media? Are exiled journalists affected by bias, and do foreign journalists have adequate expertise?
Kyaw Zaw Moe: "It is important for the journalists to be independent. There is always a factor about self-censorship, such as not criticising the democratic movement even when there is something wrong with it because the journalist himself/herself has is from the movement.
“This depends on how much they believe, understand and how much ethics they follow in their journalist profession."
Maung Maung Myint: "I don't see that the Burmese youths who became journalists out of the 1988 uprising and the other movements are holding bias thoughts just because they came from that path.
“They have their brain, and their own ability to see and hear things and they have their common sense to differentiate what is right or wrong. If one values his or her own status of being a journalist, then he or she will also value the quality of the news which is measured by truthfulness.
“A journalist who respects this will stand on the same side with the truth."
Kyaw Zaw Moe: "Another issue we are having with the media outside is that, we always emphasise on being the first to publish a news without trying to verify whether the information in it real or not, because the competition among the organisations here is big."
DVB: How much confidence can we can have in the outside media (with non-independent journalists and organisations worried about funding) and the inside media (with issues of oppression and self-censorship)?
Kyaw Zwa Moe: "I am positive about this. Despite increasing pressure from the government, we are having more committed journalists who aim for a more successful, independent media society in Burma.
“To have a say what will happen in next five years, it depends a lot on how much we, the media both inside and outside Burma, have in our mind to learn, devote and follow the media ethics."
Maung Maung Myint: "As long as there are people inside Burma who are fighting for the media freedom with a great sacrifice, the future light of the Burmese media will never go dim.
“At the same time, the media people inside Burma need to have an active communication with the media people outside. In that way, we will have more understanding towards each other and a better channel of information flow which will profit the people of Burma to get more knowledge and information.
“This is an achievement we have already gained to some level, but I have to admit that, we, the media people, have to do more than this as our people are not living in freedom like people in other countries."
Larry Jagan: “What I would say is that my experience is that Burmese journalists inside the country are very courageous. They try to push the boundaries quietly in their own way. They know far more than they are ever able to get into print.
“In the last five years or so there has been some very good training of Burmese journalists but what they all tell me is that we are waiting for the day when democracy comes so that we can be real journalists because there’s no way we can be journalists under the military regime.” |
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| Forestry officials confiscate cattle from farmers |
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(DVB)–Forestry authorities confiscated 24 bulls and 46 bullock carts from farmers in Kyauktaga village in Daik-U township, Bago division, accusing the farmers of stealing timber and bamboo.
The incident occurred on 22 February when the farmers were out collecting the materials they needed for their farms, one farmer said.
"We went to collect wood and bamboo for the rainy season and people from the forestry department came and confiscated our carts near Baina reservoir," a farmer said.
"They came with elephants, fired shots and confiscated [our cattle and carts]."
The officials confiscated the animals and carts from the farmers, reportedly on the orders of the district forestry office, and demanded a fine, the farmer said.
"We went to see them at the school building as we were told. We were then told to go to the district office for negotiations,” the farmer said.
“We don’t know where to go and don’t know how to proceed,” the farmer said.
“We will have to pay them the amount they demand by selling off what we have."
Daik-U township forestry department could not be reached for comment.
Reporting by Ahunt Phone Myat |
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| Naga villagers killed in rebel crossfire |
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(DVB)–A clash broke out after an encounter between rival Naga rebel groups on the India-Burma border on 22 February, with reported deaths of villagers caught up in the fighting.
National Socialist Council of Nagaland members led by Thuingaleng Muivah (aka Tui Mwepa), were pursuing a splinter group when the incident occurred.
A Naga national, El Laungsar, who is based on the India-Burma border, said that the villagers from Sumpra in Layshee township bumped into the fleeing splinter group members on the way to a market in Manipur state, India, and talked to them. The NSCN then arrived.
“They were pursued from behind by [the NSCN],” he said. “The villagers were caught up in the clash and died.”
The number of deaths is not known.
SPDC soldiers stationed in Nagaland are reportedly ordering Naga villagers in Burma not to go to India. The orders are being defied, however, as villagers continue to cross the border to buy and sell materials such as rice and salt.
Reporting by Khin Maung Soe Min |
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| Gas Discovery Reported Near Rangoon |
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The Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) has located an inland gas deposit in Dagon Myothit Eastern Township near Rangoon, according to residents in the exploration area.
MOGE started drilling a test well on February 12 on land owned by a local farmer, Than Tun, near Laydaungkan Village, said a local farmer.
“The exploration group came into the bean fields to conduct seismic surveys in search of gas,” he said. He said drilling tests proved successful on February 14.
Another farmer from Laydaungkan Village said, “They destroyed the crops planted by Than Tun without compensation.” Than Tun was hospitalized because of stress associated with the drilling, he said.
MOGE, which operates under the Ministry of Energy, would not respond to queries from The Irrawaddy about the reported gas discovery. MOGE is the government’s exploration and production department for oil and gas in Burma.
At least 21 multinational oil and gas companies from China, Singapore, South Korea, India, Russia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, France, Japan and Australia have long-term contracts with MOGE. The Burmese military government began to allow foreign investments in energy production in 1988.
The military government has signed gas and oil contracts with multinationals such as Total of France; CNOOC and SNPC of China; Daewoo of South Korea; onGC of India; Danford Equities of Australia and PTTEP of Thailand.
According to the Rangoon-based Myanmar Times weekly journal, the Burmese energy sector, including hydropower, oil and gas, comprises 65 percent of Foreign Direct Investment, which is made up of 12 economic sectors that include power, energy, mining, manufacturing, hotels and tourism, livestock and fisheries, transportation and telecommunications.
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| Authorities Threaten the Free Funeral Services Society |
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A Rangoon-based social welfare organization, the Free Funeral Services Society (FFSS), has been ordered by the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) not to park hearses in Rangoon municipal areas.
The YCDC ordered the funeral services society to relocate from Rangoon to the outskirts of the city before February 28.
Kyaw Thu, a member of the FFSS, said the YCDC also ordered it not to park its hearses at Byamma Vihara Monastery in Thingangyun Township in Rangoon, and instead park in a government cemetery outside Rangoon. The FFSS offices are located at the monastery.
Kyaw Thu said 16 hearses carry more than 50 coffins to burial or cremation sites every day in Rangoon, the former capital of Burma.
The FFSS provides free burial or cremation services for people who can not afford to pay burial or cremation fees for family members.
The FFSS has asked the YCDC to provide an area where the society can build a garage to keep the hearses, said Kyaw Thu. The YCDC has yet to reply to the request.
Kyaw Thu told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, “If they don't respond, we will work as usual until they seize the hearses, punish us and stop the free funeral services.”
Residents in the area say the government has long worried about the influence and popularity the FSSS enjoys among the public. Founded in 2001, the FFSS is a nongovernmental, apolitical organization that relies on donations from inside and outside Burma. Most donations come from Burmese living in Japan, Taiwan, England and the United States.
Media coverage of the FFSS was banned by the military government after leading members of the FFSS were involved in the 2007 pro-democracy uprising.
“We will continue the free funeral services,” Kyaw Thu said. “It is not our own business. We will do for the people.”
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| VOA: UDP Leader Threatens to Sue The Irrawaddy |
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The leader of the Canada-based United Democratic Party of Myanmar (UDP), Kyaw Myint, also known as Michael Hua Hu, is threatening legal action against The Irrawaddy and its editor, Aung Zaw, according to an interview carried by the Burmese service of the Voice of America (VOA) on Wednesday.
Kyaw Myint, who also goes by the name of Michael Hua Kyaw Myint Hu, told VOA that the basis of his legal action was an article published in The Irrawaddy on December 26, 2008. The article quoted a report in the now defunct magazine Asiaweek accusing a company run by Kyaw Myint of laundering money for the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which is heavily involved in the drug trade.
The company, Kyone Yeom, was chaired by Kyaw Myint in the 1990s.
Kyaw Myint told VOA he was never involved in laundering drug money. “I am preparing documents for a lawsuit,” he said. The action would be lodged in a court in Thailand.
The Irrawaddy article also quoted a report that appeared in Jane’s Intelligence Review in November 1998 saying Kyone Yeom had been blacklisted by the Burmese regime because Kyaw Myint, who claimed to be a deputy minister of finance for the UWSA, openly and brazenly flouted Burmese business laws and regulations.
Jane’s Intelligence Review had reported in March 1998 that on December 11, 1997, an article in the state-run vernacular press announced the black-listing of Kyone Yeom by the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development for “submitting false accounts.”
The Jane’s report added: “However, following meetings between Wa leaders and junta chief Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, the minister responsible, technocrat Brigadier General David Abel was abruptly shunted to an inactive post.”
At the time, Kyaw Myint was under surveillance by US agencies. A US State Department “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998" said that in February 1998, the Burmese regime effectively suspended the Kyone Yeom for violating the Myanmar [Burma] Company Act, although the government did not indicate that this was a counternarcotics action.
“The company's chairman, a former high-level United Wa State Army officer, was reportedly later sentenced to 9 years imprisonment,” the report said.
Kyaw Myint told VOA that he was arrested for political reasons and charged under State Emergency Act 5-J. He later escaped from prison and travelled first to the US and then Canada, reportedly with the help of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military analyst and former member of the Burma Communist Party, said that Kyaw Mint “wasn’t prominent before the Wa separated from the Communist Party in 1989. After the Wa’s ceasefire with the junta, he became well-known for doing business for the Wa.”
Related stories:
UDP Leader Involved in Drugs, Money Laundering, Says Ex-agent
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15174
Canada-based Party Linked to Controversial Businessman
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=14852
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| Burma releases 113 prisoners from Buthidaung jail |
| Wednesday, 25 February 2009 |
Buthidaung, Arakan State: Burma has released 113 prisoners including Rakhine and Rohingya from Buthidaung jail in Arakan State on February 22 night. Among the freed were 22 Rakhine and the rest were Rohingya prisoners, said a relative one of the released prisoners on condition of anonymity.
Burma announced the release of over 6,000 prisoners including 11 political prisoners, five monks, six NLD members and other prisoners, from prisons across the country on February 22, according to State television and radio.
The Burmese ruling junta has persistently denied the presence of political prisoners in the country’s jail. People believe that about 2,162 political prisoners and some religious persons are still in detention in various jails. They were arrested in 2003, but military junta persistently denies it. They (junta) claimed that they all are criminals, sources said.
The junta released the prisoners to participate in the general election to be held in 2010, for ushering in democracy in keeping with the regime’s seven-point road-map.
The announcement came a day after UN human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana wrapped up a six-day visit to Burma on February 19. This was his second trip to Burma since he assumed office in May 2008. He first visited Burma in August 2008.
Quintana was scheduled to visit Arakan and Kachin States where local opposition complain of repeated harassment by the authorities. People of Arakan hoped to meet the UN envoy and they would have apprised him of the difficulties they have been facing in Arakan. But the wish was not fulfilled as the UN envoy was not allowed to come to Arakan State. Local authorities had selected local villagers to meet the UN envoy, to provide pro-government statements, said a businessman who declined to be named.
A schoolteacher said that the Burmese ruling military had earlier also released prisoners after or before a UN envoys visited Burma to save face.
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| Deputy Home Minister visits northern Arakan |
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Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Deputy Home Minister Brig-General Phone Swe was on a three-day visit to northern Arakan on February 20 accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce.
On February 20, a meeting was held in Thri Mangala Hall of Maungdaw Town with all the Village Peace and Development Council members of Maungdaw Township. They were and asked to mobilise some local people who could talk at the meeting.
On February 21, at about 11 am, the Deputy Minister went to Powet Chaung and Bawli Bazaar villages in Maungdaw Township and held meetings separately summoning VPDC members including some local elders. The minister asked the villagers about the price of essential commodities in local markets.
The Deputy Minister was to give Kyat 100,000 to every village that participated in the meeting. Villagers from 14 villages participated in the meeting but only seven villages got the money
On February 22, at about 10 am, the Deputy Minister went to Taungbro from Maung Daw in a speed boat and checked the hospital, the border friendship gate, and surveyed the Bangladesh-Burma friendship Road and left for Maungdaw at about 2:30 pm.
In the evening, the Deputy Minister also went to Aleythankyaw village, Maungdaw south and held a meeting with villagers and VPDC members. At the meeting the minister asked the participants if they had any questions. So, one of the participants said “We have been facing restriction of movement for a long time. Please remove it”. The Minister told them that the matter will be looked into in the future. The minister added “You are Bengali people, we recognize you as Bengalis. You have been living here before the British period.”
In every meeting the minister asked all the VPDC Chairmen to provide information about the villages. The village Chairmen had to provide information about the population in every village, family lists, number of houses, acres of paddy fields, acres of pea, sunflower, ground nut, onion, garlic, summer paddy growing areas, acres of shrimp project, number of voters including male and female, votes of supporters, protests by voters and rejected votes of the referendum in May 2008.
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| Junta battalion outpost on the Thai-Burma border on fire |
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Buildings housing a construction unit of the Infantry Battalion IB 65 of Mongton, eastern Shan State, opposite Chiangmai province, was burnt to the ground due to forest fire on Sunday, according to local sources.
The fire started burning at about 2pm (Burma standard time) but no one could stop it until the 4 buildings and a six wheel truck went down with the fire, said one of the local villagers who has assisted in fighting it.
“This burning might be because of the soldiers’ mopping up their base,” he said. “But the wind has also been very strong.”
The burnt down buildings were located at the bottom of the way to the IB 65 command post, west of Kawngnaliu, between Monghang and Nakawngmu.
On the following day, the fire started burning again near the house of the deputy commander, but nothing was lost this time because of the local people’s assistance. The fire was heavier than yesterday’s blaze.
On the first day, there were about 40 villagers went to assist fighting fire and on the second day there were about 80 villagers.
“If we did not go and help, we were sure the deputy commander’s home would be burnt too and it could spread to our village (Nakawngmu),” said a local.
The IB 65 command post is based near the Thai-Burma border and it is known to drug watchers in Thailand in the past as the main depot for heroin and methamphetamines manufactured in the township.
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| Christians forced to donate for Buddhist pagoda festival in Putao |
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Burmese government employees in Putao district in northern Kachin State had to contend with a forcible cut in their January salaries as contribution for a local Buddhist pagoda festival. The cut was enforced by the Putao district military authorities two weeks ago, said local people.
Local government personnel said the junta’s District and Township Peace and Development Councils (Kha Ya Ka and Ma Ya Ka) forcibly cut between 700 Kyat to 1,000 Kyat (about US $1) from the January salaries of about 400 personnel in Putao and Machyangbaw townships in the district for the Kong Muq Lung Buddhist Pagoda Festival held from February 7 to 10.
Most government employees in the two townships are Christians but they dared not refuse to donate from their salaries for the Buddhist religious festival which has nothing to do with Christian practices, sources said.
Besides, the junta’s military strategic command commander of Putao summoned a meeting of middle-class civilians (who have less money than others) from Christian communities and collected funds for the Kong Muq Lung Buddhist Pagoda Festival, according to Christian sources in the district.
A local Christian who donated for the Buddhist festival said, “We do donate for any social cause. But we cannot donate to other religious functions. It is because of the junta’s order we were forced to donate for the Pagoda Festival.”
On the night of the last day of the pagoda festival while the stage show was being held, the temporary bamboo-bridge on Mali River which joins Kong Muq Lung village where the pagoda is situated on the east of the river bank and Htawa Dam village on the west of the river bank, collapsed due to overcrowding but the number of causalities are yet to be reported, added local people.
The festival of Kong Muq Lung pagoda is held every year and the junta’s Northern Military Command (Ma Pa Kha) commander Maj-Gen Soe Win also joined the festival, said locals.
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| NLD clarifies its statement |
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New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma's main opposition party the National League for Democracy on Monday clarified its statement issued on February 17, saying it is not to be misunderstood that detained party leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in agreement with the ruling junta’s statement.
In its statement on February 17, the NLD urged for a dialogue between Burma’s military supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe and detained opposition party Aung San Suu Kyi for a breakthrough in Burmese politics.
But the statement, in its reference to the ruling junta’s statement No. 1/2007, had mistakenly said, “Confrontation, utter devastation, economic sanctions and total isolation, which are described in the paragraph seven (7) of SPDC's Statement No. 1/2007, do not benefit the country or the people,” conveying a wrong message that the NLD agreed with the junta’s statement.
Nyan Win, NLD spokesperson, told Mizzima that they are clarifying the mistake as it can be misunderstood.
In its ‘Clarification Statement’ released on Monday, the NLD urged readers to correct the mistake and to read the paragraph as, “Paragraph seven (7) of the SPDC’s Statement No. 1/2007 asserts that confrontation, utter devastation, economic sanctions, and total isolation do not benefit the country or the people.”
In 2007, Than Shwe released a statement saying that he is willing to embark on a dialogue with the Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on the condition that she drop her confrontational stand, utter devastation, call for sanctions and total isolation.
The NLD, in its statement on February 17 said, Aung San Suu Kyi had conveyed a message to the junta’s Liaison Minister Aung Kyi that she is willing to talk to Snr. Gen Than Shwe on his statement accusing her and her party of choosing a path of confrontation, utter devastation, calling for economic sanctions, and total isolation.
According to the NLD statement, the detained Nobel Peace Laureate also said, she is willing to talk to Than Shwe if he is willing to come to an agreement over the accusations and is also willing to issue a joint statement after the talks.
With regard to Than Shwe’s accusation in his statement released in 2007, Nyan Win told Mizzima, “We have nothing to withdraw, as the economic sanctions were not imposed by us but are only concerned with the country that imposed the sanctions. And we have not done anything that the junta accused us of doing.”
Moreover, the NLD statement also reiterated its call for a talk between Than Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi saying, "We always keep the door open".
"Instead of arguments and counter arguments between these two VIPs, there should be a dialogue for the sake of the country," the statement said. |
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| Lack of Proper Equipment Hampers Burma’s Firefighters |
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Lack of money and effective equipment is hampering Burmese local authorities tackle an increasing number of dry season fires.
The official government newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported a total of 96 serious fires had broken out in Burma in January.
Fires so far in February include a blaze on Tuesday that destroyed a plastics factory in Rangoon’s Dawbon Township and a disastrous one on February 22 that swept through Kyaut Oe village in Sagaing Division, destroying 85 homes. The 649 villagers left homeless by the blaze are being sheltered at the local monastery.
A forest fire that began last week in a northeastern border region of Burma has spread into neighboring Chinese Yunnan Province, according to China's official Xinhua news agency. More than 200 hectares were ablaze, the agency said.
More than 3,000 soldiers, armed police and villagers were marshaled to fight the fire in the border county of Tengchong. The firefighters dug a 10,000-meter ditch on Sunday to keep the blaze from spreading, but a combination of strong gales, dry weather and mountainous terrain made their work difficult, Xinhua said.
Of the 96 serious fires registered in January, 74 were caused by kitchen accidents and negligence, 14 by electrical short circuits and six by arson. There was one forest fire.
The New Light of Myanmar report did not say whether there had been casualties.
In 2008, more than 5,000 houses, 15 factories and workshops and 30 warehouses were destroyed by fire, according to official statistics. More than 17,000 people were made homeless.
Firefighters in Burma are hampered by a lack of such essential equipment as extension ladders and fireproof clothing, according to fire department officials.
The country has 217 fire stations. There are an additional 328 auxiliary fire stations, which rely on donations from local communities. “If you want the firemen to put out the fire, you have to give them money,” said one source.
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| Gas Discovery Reported Near Rangoon |
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The Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) has located an inland gas deposit in Dagon Myothit Eastern Township near Rangoon, according to residents in the exploration area.
MOGE started drilling a test well on February 12 on land owned by a local farmer, Than Tun, near Laydaungkan Village, said a local farmer.
“The exploration group came into the bean fields to conduct seismic surveys in search of gas,” he said. He said drilling tests proved successful on February 14.
Another farmer from Laydaungkan Village said, “They destroyed the crops planted by Than Tun without compensation.” Than Tun was hospitalized because of stress associated with the drilling, he said.
MOGE, which operates under the Ministry of Energy, would not respond to queries from The Irrawaddy about the reported gas discovery. MOGE is the government’s exploration and production department for oil and gas in Burma.
At least 21 multinational oil and gas companies from China, Singapore, South Korea, India, Russia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, France, Japan and Australia have long-term contracts with MOGE. The Burmese military government began to allow foreign investments in energy production in 1988.
The military government has signed gas and oil contracts with multinationals such as Total of France; CNOOC and SNPC of China; Daewoo of South Korea; onGC of India; Danford Equities of Australia and PTTEP of Thailand.
According to the Rangoon-based Myanmar Times weekly journal, the Burmese energy sector, including hydropower, oil and gas, comprises 65 percent of Foreign Direct Investment, which is made up of 12 economic sectors that include power, energy, mining, manufacturing, hotels and tourism, livestock and fisheries, transportation and telecommunications.
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| Army seizes domestic animals for extortion |
| Tuesday, 24 February 2009 |
February 24, 2009: Burmese Army troops with the sanction of the authorities are seizing domestic animals like cows and bulls forcibly to extort money from owners as ransom in Chin state.
A report said that the southern Chin state, Matupi based military regime Infantry Battalion (IB) no. 304 seizes domestic animals from pastures on the pretext that the cattle had entered army land. After which they demand Kyat 50,000 per cow/bull from the owners to return the cattle. If the owners cannot provide the money, soldiers kill the animals.
“We used to leave domestic animals like bulls, cows and mitthuns to move around freely day and night. But now soldiers drag them to the army territory to extort money from the owners,” said a local.
The military regime (IB) no. 304 is located a mile from Matupi town and the surrounding areas are the main grazing ground for domestic animals because there is a river near the camp. The soldiers, therefore, drive them into their territory and seize them at night.
The owners of domestic animals in Chin state had complained to the Chin state of the second Tactical commander lieutenant colonel. But he paid no heed.
“Now also the soldiers have seized five bulls to extort money from the owners at Kyat 50,000 a bull. They will kill them to eat if the owners cannot give the money demanded,” he added.
The military regime IB no. 304 has been catching and killing domestic animals for three years now. They have killed 100 mitthuns till now.
Therefore, the owners of domestic animals in Matupi town are less afraid of wild beasts than soldiers for their cattle. - Khonumthung News |
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| Burma nears high noon and still the UN falters |
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Over this weekend Burmese authorities began to free prisoners from Rangoon's notorious Insein prison under a government amnesty for 6,313 inmates nationwide. No one is certain how many of the 2,000-plus political prisoners would be released but it is clear that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her deputy Tin Oo, both of whom have been under house arrest since mid-2003, have been excluded from the amnesty.
Incidentally, Tin Oo's prison term was extended by a year on the eve of the arrival of UN Rapporteur on Human Rights Tomas Ojea Quintana on February 14. A slap in the face to the UN would be an understatement.
The development came a day after UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari had just briefed the Security Council on his recent trip to Burma.
While the release of the political prisoners should be welcomed, one should not lose sight of the fact that things aren't always what they seem in trouble plagued Burma.
Things move at snail's pace and whatever development may have come out of the country must be received with a great deal of caution.
Like his last two trips to the military-run country, Gambari didn't have much to say or offer to the UN Security Council. In fact, he was harshly criticised. France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert called Gambari's report "very, very thin and disappointing."
He said the Security Council must not legitimise elections in Burma, scheduled for 2010, unless they are democratic and ensure that the opposition can fully participate.
It wasn't that difficult to figure out because the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had sent him there empty-handed.
Before Ban there was Kofi Anan and his point man on Burma, Razali Ismail. Like the current bunch, Razali couldn't make headway with the stubborn Burmese generals.
And yet, these men still keep coming and yet the world continues to use the same benchmark to determine if these visits are successful or not. Photo ops with Suu Kyi or a meeting with junta supremo General Than Shwe should not be the benchmarks for success.
Catch words like 'national reconciliation' and 'democratisation' make nice sound bytes for the international audience and community, but for the Burmese junta, they want to know what any of these issues mean for them in real terms.
To be fair to the UN, the world body has neither carrot nor stick to offer the generals. But the UN can generate ideas and in situations like this, ideas count a great deal.
For too long, the UN, and much of the international community, has been dealing with Burma without a clear objective and strategy.
We have to move beyond just telling the junta what we don't like, and the UN must develop a more comprehensive plan of action for all stakeholders in Burma.
In other words, the Burmese generals need to know what awaits them - harsh jail terms or a Cabinet position under a civilian-led government.
For too long, regional countries and Asean members try, at times half-heartedly, to bring about changes in Burma. We use word like "Road Map" and "Constructive Engagement", borrowing them from the Middle East and South Africa, respectively, without realising that for that in these cases, such words actually mean something.
The previous administration of Thaksin Shinawatra became a laughing stock when its Bangkok Process flopped. They were allowed to retreat quietly after the junta announced they have a roadmap for democratisation of their own. Burma's general election is scheduled for next year and time could very well be running out for Asean and the world community if something is not done seriously.
US President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address made the world's tyrants a proposition.
"We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist," Obama said.
Incidentally, it is becoming clear that Burma could be the first test case for this approach.
Since the late 1990s, the US has maintained economic sanctions against Burma. But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during her recent visit to Indonesia, announced a review of US policy towards Burma. She did not rule out easing sanctions or other forms of diplomatic engagement.
"Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta," Clinton said, adding that the policy of Burma's neighbours of "reaching out and trying to engage them" has not produced desired results either.
The Bush Administration won a great deal of admiration for its tough position on Burma. But in real terms it didn't do much in loosening the junta's tight grip on its people or improving their livelihoods.
It's Obama's turn now. And by all means, Washington should conduct a policy review. But the US president must stick to what he said in his inaugural address: Relax your grip on your people and we just might extend a hand to you.
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| CONCERN FOR THE NEXT CYCLONE SEASON IN MYANMAR |
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BANGKOK, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- People affected by the cyclone in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta have expressed great concern for the next cyclone season, said Bishow Parajuli, the United Nations' Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country.
He said that adequate shelters, rehabilitated school buildings and cyclone resistant community buildings were some of the urgent needs expressed by the communities.
"People will need support across all sectors, for years to come," he said in a statement following the visit by members of Germany's Parliamentary Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development to the delta over the weekend.
Over 130,000 people were killed or missing after Cyclone Nargis struck the region on May 2 and 3, prompting an international humanitarian mission which was coordinated by the Asean Secretariat and the UN.
The UN said this was the second visit by a European high-level delegation so far this year.
Last month, the Minister of Environment and International Development of Norway, Erik Solheim, and Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark, Ulla Toernaes, also visited the delta to assess the progress in Post-Nargis response and future recovery needs.
-- MORE
MYANMAR-GERMANY 2 (LAST) BANGKOK
During the full day visit to villages in Bogale township, the delegation witnessed activities in the sectors of health, cyclone resistant shelter, housing, food security, water and livelihoods, implemented and supported by the Myanmar Government, the UN and non-governmental organisations.
Besides noting the progress in the relief and recovery work, the delegation could see for themselves that there was continuing need for support for the 2.4 million people who were severely affected when cyclone Nargis struck in early May last year.
"Of particular focus, were German funded activities. They also noted the progress in the relief and recovery work, the delegation could see for themselves that there is continuing need for support for the 2.4 million people who were severely affected," the UN said.
The Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan (Ponrepp) that was launched earlier this month, outlines medium-term recovery needs for the next three years.
The plan was made under the auspices of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), comprising the Myanmar Government, Asean and the UN, in collaboration with the humanitarian community, and has an estimated cost of nearly US$700 million.
The UN Revised Appeal for US$477 million, covering the period up to April 2009, now stands at 65 percent or US$310 million funded.
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| Myanmar PM to attend ASEAN summit in Thailand |
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Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein will attend the 14th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Hua Hin, Thailand in the near future, said an official announcement from Nay Pyi Taw Tuesday without specifying the date of his attendance.
At the invitation of his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thein Sein will represent Myanmar at the summit.
Myanmar has urged its people to strive together in building the ASEAN community, anticipating that the future emergence of the ASEAN community by 2015 will benefit Myanmar citizens along with other regional members in sharing the fruits of peace and stability, prosperity and socio-cultural development.
ASEAN's three pillars are known as political security community, economic community and socio-culture community.
Myanmar, which joined the ASEAN along with Laos in July 1997, ratified the ASEAN Charter in July last year.
The last 13th ASEAN Summit was held in Singapore in November 2007.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN's 10 leaders will meet at the 14th ASEAN Summit scheduled on Feb. 27 - March 1 in Thailand.
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| Army buys 24, 00,000 tins of rice from farmers |
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February 24, 2009: The Burmese military junta has purchased 14,00,000 tins of rice from farmers in Kalemyo and 10,50,000 tins of rice from Tamu Township in Sagaing Division, upper Myanmar.
A report said that the military authorities have ordered completion of collection of rice within this month.. Till now farmers have achieved two thirds of their target set by the authorities in Kalemyo.
Now the Burmese Army Infantry Battalion (IB) no. 89 based in Kalemyo is purchasing rice in two allocated areas, which are NatChaung, Letpanchaung, Sakhangyi and Chichai villages at Kyat 2500 per tin.
At the same time the military regime IB. 309 based in Tamu also purchased rice from some villages at Kyat 2500 a tin, said a local.
Some farmers cannot cultivate enough rice to achieve their target set by the authorities, so they have to provide Kyat 17,500 in cash per acre in place of the rice.
The military has purchased the rice from local farmers cheaply and they are using their own vehicles to carry it. But, in some villages, where vehicles cannot enter, villagers are having to carry the rice in bullock carts up to the army's motor parking place free of charge.
The actual price of rice is Kyat 3,000 a tin in the market, but the army procured it at Kyat 2,500 a tin. The people, therefore, are very disappointed.
A local farmer said, "We know it's not fair! But we are afraid of them; we can sell our rice at Kyat 3,000 a tin at the market price. But now we have to give them at Kyat 2,500 a tin, accounting for a discount of Kyat 500 a tin."
"The farmers are giving seven tins of rice for every acre they cultivate. The demand is very high as we can cultivate about 50 tins of rice. Sometimes we can cultivate only 30 tins of rice from an acre of land. Cultivation is totally dependant on the weather and the season. They increase our target every year," said a farmer in Letpanchau village.
The junta has started purchasing rice from November 2008. But there is no explanation or information to the people regarding this. - Khonumthung News |
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| Drugs – junta’s short and straight road to Obama |
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Drugs-again-appear to be a key factor in the ruling military junta’s attempt to influence a change in the new US administration’s Burma policy in its favor.
The regime had already tried at least once during the first years of George W. Bush who came to office in 2001. Well-known DCI Associates was contracted to lobby for it. Violent crackdown on poppy cultivation in northern Shan State was launched. The campaign culminated in the visit to Washington by Brig-Gen (then Col) Kyaw Thein on 13 May 2002 to meet with the drug officials there.
However, feelings against the junta were high in the US capital, especially after the 20-June 2002 publication of License to Rape by the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), a scathing report on the regime’s use of sexual violence in the war against the armed opposition in Shan State. Which finally led to call it quits by Gen Khin Nyunt, the lobby’s mastermind.
Now, 7 years after, with the election of Barack Obama who has arrived amid the Hamburger crisis on the world’s stage with a vow for change, the leaders in Naypyitaw are dusting off their old lobbying strategy.
The first indication came with persistent directives to the commanders in Shan State for an all out war against poppy cultivation. They came at a time when earlier warnings by local army units, whose survival depends on the local people’s monetary and food contribution, to grow poppies “only on the nape (out of sight) and not on the forehead (in sight)” had largely become too routine to the point of being ignored by both the warners and warned.
Many fields in Southern Shan State grown within eyesight from the motorroads were thus struck down by the Army. “We have already paid our taxes for the season,” complained a farmer in Namzang, who was unaware of the orders from above. “Why are they doing this?”
Knowing the dilemma the local troops were facing, Naypyitaw even dispatched its own security units to the Shan-Kayah border to destroy several fields, reported border-based Karenni Anti-Drugs Action Committee (KADAC) in December.
Unfortunately for the farmers, though many more fields were spared by the local army columns, they were not by the gods who appeared to be in favor of the regime. According to sources from southern Shan State, a large number of fields were either washed away or sunk by the late monsoon downpours. Some of those that survived the rains were later stunted by intense frost bite.
Bu all accounts, only fields in eastern Shan State came through. “Little damage by the rains and frost,” said a pro-junta Lahu militia member in Mongton township opposite Chiangmai. “And by the time Burmese columns arrived to destroy the fields, most of them were already harvested.”
“The columns slashed down whatever that was left anyway,” he added.
Another indication came from Col Tin Maung Swe, area commander in Kunhing township, 140 miles east of Shan State capital Taunggyi, who told a meeting of government officials on 2 January that whether or not the 2010 elections would go according to plan depended on 4 factors.
Disruptive actions by the opposition
Continued tension with Bangladesh over territorial dispute
Completion of national census
Success of the drug eradication project vital in convincing the new administration in Washington
The latest haul in Rangoon on 25 January of 118kg of heroin stowed on a Singaporean flagged cargo ship involved increased cooperation not only with Chinese narcs but also with the United States’ Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according the National League for Democracy’s Foreign Affairs Officer Nyo Ohn Myint. Not only that, he said, but a return to Washington of Lin Myaing, Burmese ambassador who was recalled following Khin Nyunt’s ouster in 2004, could be a strong indicator of the resumption of the drug lobby.
The real test of Naypyitaw’s seriousness of course would be its policy toward the United Wa State Army (UWSA), many leaders of whom are already on Washington’s blacklist.
Tension between the two sides have been on the upsurge since the termination of the nationwide referendum on the “Nargis Constitution” in May.
The group has been under heavy pressure to “exchange arms for peace,” an official euphemism for surrender, in contrast to the other main ceasefire group in Shan State, the Shan State Army (SSA) North. The latter has already been informed at least twice that talks on the “exchange arms for peace” issue will be reopened only after a new government has been installed.
Obviously, this is still a big gamble.
On 18 February, Washington, through its new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has already signaled possibility of a major shift in its Burma policy.
The question remains how Beijing will respond to it. In the meanwhile, the Opposition will be having its hands full trying to tackle with the rather uphill job for continued international support.
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| Freedom with strings attached |
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by Myo Gyi
Monday, 23 February 2009
The Burmese military regime announced that they would release 6313 prisoners and began releasing them since Saturday, February 21. Among them, a prisoner of conscience said he was freed with strings attached.
Pe Sein, age 74, Organizer of the 'National League for Democracy' (NLD) party Monyin branch, Kachin State, said that he was freed with strings attached.
He said he was made to sign on a bond in accordance with section 401(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (parole) and was released from Myitkyina prison on Saturday.
He was arrested on 27 September 2007 during the monk-led protests, later known as the popular 'Saffron Revolution'.
He was charged under section 505(b) of the Penal Code for committing crime against public tranquillity and was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in a summary trial.
Mizzima's reporter Myo Gyi, in order to find out more of Pe Sein's meaning of freed with strings attached, interviewed him after he was released from the prison.
Q: Now that you are freed, how is your health?
A: I'm now 74 years old. As an aged person, my health is not perfect. As all my dentures are damaged, I could not eat well, making me suffer from indigestion. Apart from that, there are no serious health problems. I think I'm not so bad. But I haven't yet visited my doctor.
I reached my hometown Moenyin only at about 1 p.m. yesterday. I haven't yet seen any doctors. I plan to go to Mandalay for a medical check-up. I will go for a check-up along with my fellow prison inmate Dr. Zaw Myint Maung from Amarapura who also plans to undergo a medical check-up. He told me to come to Mandalay. So I have the plan to visit Mandalay.
Q: Why do you think the authorities release?
A: We were not released unconditionally, but on condition. They told us that we were released under section 401(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. We had to sign on a bond saying we have to serve again a suspended punishment along with the next conviction. I have the remaining prison term of eight months from my original two years imprisonment. If I am convicted again with another case in the future, I have to serve the remaining suspended prison term –a new punishment for breaching this bond.
Q: Please tell me about your prison experience?
A: My prison experience is not so significant. I was not tortured and there was no persecution against me. I could stay in prison peacefully in a special cell segregated from ordinary criminal prisoners.
Q: Could you read and have the right to information in prison?
A: We could read in prison but we could not listen to the radio. We could read books and other reading materials permitted by the prison authorities. And also weekly journals which were permitted by the jail superintendent with his signature were available to us.
Q: What are your future plans?
A: At the moment, I plan to undergo a medical check-up. I'll take treatment if needed after that. I have both vision and hearing problems. My leg was fractured. I cannot go alone for medical check-up. I need a companion for this trip. I think I need to take care of my own health first at the moment. But I am not disappointed with my party affairs. I have to continue this work also.
Q: They (authority) said the prisoners were released to let them take part in the planned 2010 election. What is your comment on this election?
A: It is, as I said before. We were released on condition, with strings attached. So it is contrary to the freedom and fairness of the 2010 election. I view it like that.
Q: What are your feelings about your fellow colleagues who are left in prison and on the people?
A: Though I was released from prison, I am not happy for myself. I feel very sorry for those who are still in prison. There were three persons including me imprisoned in connection with the 2007 September protests and charged under section 505(b) of Penal Code. Only I was released. Dr. Zaw Myint Maung had been in prison for a very long time. So I think I was in their criteria of 'ageing people' category. I am now 74 years old. Let alone in the entire nation, even my two co-defendants are still in prison so I feel extremely sorry for them. I cannot be happy as many political prisoners are still in prison and I was released with strings attached.
Q: How many political prisoners are there in Myitkyina prison?
A: There are over 20 political prisoners still in Myitkyina prison. But I do not remember all their names. I learnt that there are over 10 prisoners from Rangoon including Ko Zagana. We could not see them. In our cell, there are still about eight prisoners. So the total will be about 20. Even more tragic is the case of Ko Aye Thein who is insane. Another is Ko Hla Myo Naung from 88 Generation Students who lost one eye in the prison. Another one of his eyes will be lost unless he can get treatment in time. So I feel very sorry for them.
Q: What do you think is the reason for your release?
A: I think I am included in their criteria of ageing persons. Not only among political prisoners, no other prisoner in the entire prison in Myitkyina of a total of over 1,000 in number, are older than me. I think I was included in this ageing and disabled category so that they released me from prison.
mizzima |
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posted by moderator
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04:46 |
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