"YANGON, Myanmar, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A student opposition movement in Myanmar is leaving its trademark red cross in public places but is otherwise keeping a low profile, its members say.
The crosses -- spray-painted on walls and traffic signals -- have been appearing more frequently, the German magazine Der Spiegel reports. Students who go out at night with cans of paint have adopted the name 'Red Campaign' for their movement."
The campaign operates deep undercover, with members organized into groups of five. In one recent case, when posters that said "Remember 88" were pasted on a university wall, soldiers were sent to remove them.
"The government has seldom been so hated as it is now," a teacher who is a leader in another group, "88 New Generation," said.
The 88 refers to Aug. 8, 1988, when 1 million people participated in non-violent protests against the former dictator, Ne Win. Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a leader in 1988 and has been under house arrest for most of the time since.
On the 20th anniversary last week, demonstrations were held around the world against the military junta, except in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where a silent march ended in about 50 arrests.
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Myanmar dissidents stay out of sight - UPI.com
Bangkok Post | Top Stories | Burma ripoff
"Rangoon - The United Nations on Thursday finally acknowledged that over the past three months some $1.56 million in aid for the victims of Cyclone Nargis has been lost to 'odd' Burmese foreign exchange regulations.
'The loss in value due to foreign exchange for the Cyclone Nargis international humanitarian aid during the last three months has been about $1.56 million,' said Daniel Baker, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Burma."
"We are not getting the full value of dollars donated for emergency relief, and donors are extremely worried and keen to see that this issue is resolved," said Baker, in the latest UN update on relief efforts for Cyclone Nargis.
UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes had raised concerns about the loss during his first visit to the country last month.
Under Burma's foreign exchange controls, all foreign agencies must convert their dollars in to Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) at government banks before making local purchases.
A sharp devaluation of the FECs against the dollar between May to July meant the UN and various non-governmental organizations providing relief to victims of Cyclone Nargis, were losing up to 20 to 25 per cent on the FEC exchange rate.
The Burmese military government has apparently refused to drop its foreign exchange requirements, which have been in place for decades, but recommended that UN agencies and NGOs make direct dollar transfers when making purchases in the country, as a means of skirting the FEC use.
The FEC system was put in place to assure that official transactions put dollars in the state banking system and got them out of the ubiquitous black market.
Attracting international aid for the relief effort for Cyclone Nargis, which smashed into central Burma on May 2-3 leaving about 140,000 people dead or missing, has already been complicated by the government's initial reluctance to allow supplies in to the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta and its refusal to grant visas to foreign aid workers.
The refusal to lift its foreign exchange requirements of monetary aid was deemed another barrier to donations for the Cyclone Nargis effort.
The UN had made flash appeals for approximately $500 million in emergency aid for the cyclone's victims.
The country has been cut off from aid from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and Asian Developemnt Bank and from bilateral aid from most western countries since 1988, when the army cracked down on a pro-democracy movement, killing an estimated 3,000 people.
Benchmarking Burma - WSJ.com, ビルマ記録
By BENEDICT ROGERS
FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA
August 15, 2008
The United Nations special envoy on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is expected to arrive in Rangoon in the next few days for another round of talks with the country's military regime. If his visit is to have any meaning, he must move beyond the U.N.'s traditional diplomatic niceties and make concrete demands for change.
ビルマの国際連合の特使、イブラヒムGambariは、国の軍隊の政体の別の会談のためのこれから数日間のラングーンで着くと期待される。 彼の訪問が意味を持つことなら彼はU.Nの従来の外交正確さを越えて動き、変更のためのコンクリートの要求をしなければならない。
Since 1990, U.N. envoys have made 37 visits to Burma. The Human Rights Council and General Assembly between them have passed more than 30 resolutions, and the Security Council has made two Presidential Statements. All of this has had little effect. Vague requests to the junta to engage in dialogue with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, made without any deadline, have led nowhere. She remains under house arrest, just as she has been for 12 years.
1990年以来、U.Nの公使はビルマに37の訪問をした。 その間の人権議会および総会30以上の議案を可決し、安全保障理事会は2つの大統領声明をした。 これすべては僅かな影響をもたらした。 会議への不明瞭な要求は締切なしでなされる民主主義のリーダーAung San Suu Kyiとのダイアログで従事するどこも導いた。 彼女は自宅軟禁の下にちょうど彼女が12年のためだったので、残る。
So rather than more of the same, the U.N. must present the regime with specific benchmarks for progress, accompanied by deadlines. The first benchmark should be the release of political prisoners, who currently number over 2,000. Many are in extremely poor health due to bad prison conditions, mistreatment, torture and the denial of medical care. Mr. Gambari should insist that the junta release political prisoners before U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Burma in December. And Mr. Ban should be willing to cancel his trip if the junta doesn't comply.
従って同じの多くよりもむしろ、U.Nは締切と一緒に伴われる進歩のための特定の基準との政体を示さなければならない。 最初の基準は2,000に現在番号が付いている政治犯の解放べきである。 多数は医療の悪い刑務所の状態、酷使、苦悶および否定による非常に悪い健康にある。 Gambari氏は12月のビルマにU.Nの事務総長の訪問の前にBanKimoonことを会議解放の政治犯主張するべきである。 そしてMr.Banは会議が従わなければ彼の旅行を取り消して喜んでべきである。
Another important benchmark would be immediately ending the military offensive against civilians in eastern Burma, which has destroyed 3,200 villages and displaced more than a million people since 1996. The junta has destroyed twice as many ethnic villages as has the Sudanese regime in Darfur. Burma has the highest number of forcibly conscripted child soldiers in the world.
別の重要な基準は3,200の村を破壊し、1996年以来の百万人より多くを転置した東のビルマの一般市民に対してすぐに軍の抗勢を終えていた。 会議はDarfurでスーダンの政体を持っているその民族の村を二度破壊したあることが。 ビルマに世界で高頻度の強力に徴集された子供の兵士がある。
Setting such benchmarks with realistic deadlines would enable Mr. Gambari to evaluate the progress he is or isn't making. If the junta complies, so much the better. But if it misses the benchmarks, that would clearly signal the need for international action.
現実的な締切のそのような基準を置くことはMr.Gambariが彼によってがあったりまたは作っていない進歩を評価することを可能にする。 会議が従えば、そんなによりよいの。 しかし基準を逃せば、それははっきり国際的な行為のための必要性に信号を送る。
The international community could impose several powerful sanctions for failure to meet these benchmarks. One would be revoking the junta's credentials to represent Burma in world bodies like the U.N. The junta is an illegitimate government, having overwhelmingly lost elections in 1990 and proven itself negligent in its handling of Cyclone Nargis. According to the U.N., more than a million cyclone victims have still not received help. The U.N. also says the regime has been stealing millions of dollars of aid money through its below-market fixed exchange rates. The junta is unfit to govern, and there is a legitimate alternative in the form of the leaders elected in 1990 now living as a government in exile.
国際地域社会はこれらの基準に会う失敗のための複数の強力な認可を課すことができる。 1つはU.Nのような国連のビルマを表すために会議の信任状を取り消していた。 会議は圧倒的に選挙を失い、サイクロンNargisの処理で怠慢なそれ自身を証明される不法な政府、1990年にである。 U.Nに従って、百万のサイクロンの犠牲者より多くはまだ助けを受け取ってしまわなかった。 U.Nはまた政体がずっと市場以下の固定為替相場によって何百万の援助のお金のドルを盗んでいることを言う。 会議は支配して不適当であり今流浪の政府として住んでいる1990年に選ばれるリーダーの形に正当な代わりがある。
Beyond that, a universal arms embargo should be imposed through the Security Council -- and maximum pressure placed on China and Russia not to use their veto. Major financial centers such as Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as the European Union, should impose carefully targeted financial sanctions against the ruling generals' personal assets. And the international community should call the generals by name for what they are: criminals. The prosecution of Sudan's leader Omar al-Bashir and the capture of Radovan Karadzic have set a precedent. Burma's generals should be brought to account in the International Criminal Court or through another jurisdiction.
それを越えて、自在継手の武器禁輸は安全保障理事会を通して課されるべきである -- そして拒否権を使用しないために中国およびロシアに置かれる最高圧力。 東京、香港およびシンガポールのような主要な金融センターは、欧州連合、また支配generals'に対して、注意深く目標とされた財政の認可を課すべきである; 個人的資産。 そして国際地域社会はであるもののための大将を名指しで電話するべきである: 犯罪者。 Sudan'の実行; sのリーダーオマールAlバシルおよびRadovan Karadzicの捕獲は先例を置いた。 ビルマ大将は国際的な刑事法廷でまたは別の司法権によって説明するために持って来られるべきである。
The U.N.'s credibility is on the line to an unusual degree in Burma, given the obvious illegitimacy of the regime and the obvious harm it's doing to its people. Mr. Gambari owes it both to the Burmese people and to the U.N. to try a different, and hopefully more productive, approach on this trip.
U.Nの信頼性は人々にしている明らかな害および政体の明らかな非合法があるビルマの珍しい程度にラインにある。 Gambari氏はビルマの人々とU.Nに別およびうまく行けばより生産的試みるためにそれをこの旅行のアプローチ負う。
Mr. Rogers is advocacy officer for South Asia at Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the author of "A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People" (Monarch Books, 2004).
ロジャース氏はキリスト教の団結に南アジアおよび"の著者のための世界的に唱道の役人である; 悪のない土地: ビルマカレンPeople"の集団虐殺の停止; (君主は2004年予約する)。
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