Peaceful Burma (ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းျမန္မာ)平和なビルマ

Peaceful Burma (ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းျမန္မာ)平和なビルマ

TO PEOPLE OF JAPAN



JAPAN YOU ARE NOT ALONE



GANBARE JAPAN



WE ARE WITH YOU



ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေျပာတဲ့ညီညြတ္ေရး


“ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတာ ဘာလဲ နားလည္ဖုိ႔လုိတယ္။ ဒီေတာ့ကာ ဒီအပုိဒ္ ဒီ၀ါက်မွာ ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတဲ့အေၾကာင္းကုိ သ႐ုပ္ေဖာ္ျပ ထားတယ္။ တူညီေသာအက်ဳိး၊ တူညီေသာအလုပ္၊ တူညီေသာ ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္ရွိရမယ္။ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတာ ဘာအတြက္ ညီၫြတ္ရမွာလဲ။ ဘယ္လုိရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္နဲ႔ ညီၫြတ္ရမွာလဲ။ ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္ဆုိတာ ရွိရမယ္။

“မတရားမႈတခုမွာ သင္ဟာ ၾကားေနတယ္ဆုိရင္… သင္ဟာ ဖိႏွိပ္သူဘက္က လုိက္ဖုိ႔ ေရြးခ်ယ္လုိက္တာနဲ႔ အတူတူဘဲ”

“If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen to side with the oppressor.”
ေတာင္အာဖရိကက ႏိုဘယ္လ္ဆုရွင္ ဘုန္းေတာ္ၾကီး ဒက္စ္မြန္တူးတူး

THANK YOU MR. SECRETARY GENERAL

Ban’s visit may not have achieved any visible outcome, but the people of Burma will remember what he promised: "I have come to show the unequivocal shared commitment of the United Nations to the people of Myanmar. I am here today to say: Myanmar – you are not alone."

QUOTES BY UN SECRETARY GENERAL

Without participation of Aung San Suu Kyi, without her being able to campaign freely, and without her NLD party [being able] to establish party offices all throughout the provinces, this [2010] election may not be regarded as credible and legitimate. ­
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Where there's political will, there is a way

政治的な意思がある一方、方法がある
စစ္မွန္တဲ့ခိုင္မာတဲ့နိုင္ငံေရးခံယူခ်က္ရိွရင္ႀကိဳးစားမႈရိွရင္ နိုင္ငံေရးအေျဖ
ထြက္ရပ္လမ္းဟာေသခ်ာေပါက္ရိွတယ္
Burmese Translation-Phone Hlaing-fwubc

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Failure of international community before drama of Burmese people

http://www.asianews.it/view4print.php?l=en&art=14177

» 01/10/2009 13:33

MYANMAR
Failure of international community before drama of Burmese people
Pascal Khoo Thwe, a Burmese dissident, adds up the balance of a tragic 2008: Nargis and the military dictatorship have pushed the population to the breaking point. The junta has deliberately allowed people to die in order to confiscate their land. He stresses that the struggle for democracy must begin with the people.


Yangon (AsiaNews) - For most Burmese, 2008 will be remembered for "an apocalypse by the name of Cyclone Nargis" that devastated the country, "and the year the international community headed by the United Nations thoroughly failed" in the face of the emergency and the drama of the refugees, incapable of touching the power of a military dictatorship that "represses any voice contrary to the regime" in blood. The charge comes from Pascal Khoo Thwe, a Burmese activist of Padaung ethnicity, exiled in London, in an editorial published on the website of the dissident newspaper Democratic Voice of Burma.

He recalls how last May, the world was "waiting for the arrival of the biggest Olympic Games ever to be held" in China, and too preoccupied "not to do anything which could upset the striding dragon that is China" to think of the tragedy afflicting Myanmar. The situation was intensified by the neglect of the ruling junta, which did not take into consideration the alarm raised by a meteorological center in India, considering Nargis on the level of a simple tropical storm.

"The more people the storm killed," Pascal Khoo Thwe writes, "the better for the generals as no one could blame them for it and they could seize the prime lands of the people who perished." Many of the victims were of Karen ethnicity, a minority that the government has repeatedly tried to eradicate by force from the region.


He does not spare criticism of foreign governments, which "'urged', 'denounced', 'condemned' and 'demanded'," but did nothing concrete to change the situation and help the Burmese people. At the same time, he blasts the UN policy of "wait and see," while "hundreds of people were dying day by day."

The repression imposed by the military rulers also impacts those - few, in reality - who have promoted personal initiatives to help the populations and areas ravaged by the passage of the cyclone: Pascal Khoo Thwe cites the example of the most famous Burmese actor, Zarganar, who was "stopped, assaulted, and intimidated by agents of the junta," and finally "arrested and imprisoned for his efforts." He also tells about a farmer - the only survivor in his family - who, a few weeks after the catastrophe, reprimanded a volunteer with a foreign NGO, telling him: "Thanks for nothing and for coming too late. Keep on helping tyranny." "The farmer disappeared without a trace and nobody knows what happened to him." He also recalls those who "have courageously fought against the dictatorship for years, like Win Tin," a leading representative of the opposition party National League for Democracy, who seem to have "wasted their energy" without the international community providing them "any concrete help" or ceasing "to support the generals" in power.

For the future, Pascal Khoo Thwe does not seem to be on board with the wave of optimism that has accompanied the election of U.S. president Barack Obama. It is not a matter of distrust, justified among other things by many of his predecessors who never kept their promises, but a question of political realism. "Obama has too many things on his plate to sort out as the most powerful leader on earth, such as the mess in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel/Palestine and the global economic crisis, to name but a few. I would advise my countrymen that we should not pin our hopes on events abroad." He urges that "we must all stop mentally depending on foreign powers . . . and go beyond the politics of emotion." "We must stop our reliance on a magic bullet formula in politics, by really listening to the concerns of those at the grassroots level." Otherwise, there will be a repeat of the slaughter, massacres, and natural disasters on an even more devastating scale, which can be avoided only if the people are capable of facing the future "with less anxiety and emotion." "The history of Burma," he concludes, "has shown that good ideas or actions or foreign support alone are not enough to govern or rebuild a nation and maintain its soul."



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Biography of Dr.Saw Mra Aung

Biography of Dr.saw Mra Aung

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NOWHERE TO HIDE-BURMA-IRRAWADDY

http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=14900

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By JAMES FORREST Friday, January 9, 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


They are constantly running and hiding from the Burmese army. One 62-year-old Karen man said he believed he had fled in fear more than 100 times in his life. They build makeshift shelters in the jungle wherever they can and plant fields that might never see a harvest. With only the clothes on their backs and a few tools in their hands, they build schoolhouses from bamboo and try to give their children an education. More than anything, the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) of Eastern Burma try desperately to keep a candle of hope burning in their hearts.


Karen IDPs flee a Burmese army attack.
It is extremely difficult to reach IDPs in conflict areas. Humanitarian aid from NGOs and the UN World Food Program working in Burma does not stretch to the people of Karen, Karenni and Shan states who require it the most.

The IDPs of Eastern Burma rely on cross-border aid and intrepid groups such as the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) and the Back Pack Health Worker Teams to deliver it. The logistics are very difficult and the conditions are hazardous. With the dreaded Burmese army, or tatmadaw, controlling checkpoints on all roads, FBR teams must stick to jungle trails and use mules and porters for transportation.



It is a dangerous occupation. FBR teams have had eight members of staff killed since they set up 10 years ago. The tatmadaw often operates a shoot-to-kill policy in areas where villagers previously lived and regularly plant landmines around the villages to deter them from returning.

FBR teams travel into the most remote regions of Eastern Burma, as well as in ethnic areas in the west of the country to help IDPs with supplies of medicines, mosquito nets, blankets, tarpaulins and clothing. Sometimes, the vital aid is supplemented by organisations, such as the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People or the Karen Office for Relief and Development, but is not enough to meet the desperate needs of the internal refugees.


An FBR medic treats a Karenni IDP.
Naw Eh Moo Paw, 30, from Thong He Der Village in Karen State, told FBR: “My brother was 14 years old when the tatmadaw attacked our village in 1997. We all ran away, but he was not with us at the time and was too young to know how to react. He ran the wrong way—toward the Burmese soldiers. They shot him dead. When I think about him, I am sad. I want to defeat the tatmadaw, but I cannot. And so when they come, I have to run away.”

Some 48 full-time FBR teams are in operation around the country. The volunteers are homegrown—drawn from the communities they serve—Arakan, Lahu, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Pa-O, Shan and Karenni ethnic groups. FBR teaches the volunteers how to navigate safely around the areas where they operate, how to interview people and record their stories, and about international human rights. They learn how to cross rivers with ropes and how to disarm landmines. Some are selected to be trained in medicine where they learn to treat the most common illnesses they come across, including acute respiratory infections, malaria, anemia and skin diseases. Some 50,000 people—essentially IDPs—are treated by FBR teams every year.

FBR says its teams bring hope, help and a message of love to the IDPs. One volunteer medic said, “I work with FBR because I want peace.” Another said, “I have known about the relief teams since I was a little boy and I decided to help our people as best I can.”

It appears the FBR and the Back Pack teams’ tasks will be ongoing—everywhere the IDPs set up home, the Burmese army reacts by hunting them down, attacking them, burning their villages and abusing them. Several organizations have recorded the staggering amount of human rights abuses, killings and rapes that are perpetuated by soldiers of the Burmese army against ethnic villagers in Eastern Burma, but no one seems able to prevent them.

One young villager had this message: “We never think about going to the refugee camps on the border, because we want to live in our own country. Tell the Burmese regime to put a stop to the oppression, so we can move back to our homes and live in peace.”

James Forrest is a volunteer who works with displaced people in Burma.


Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org



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Increasing vegetable production in Myanmar

http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=36141

availability of vegetables in Myanmar is less than 50 percent the recommended daily dietary intake of vegetables (300 g/day). An FAO assisted project provides the platform to highlight this key issue and initiating remedial action at national level.

With US$2.9 million funding provided by the European Commission, an FAO project in Myanmar plans to support most needy people in the Northern Rakhine State through food, nutrient and livelihood security and natural resource management.

"The development of new technologies and their integration into farmers’ social systems are of paramount importance in predominant agricultural economies such as Myanmar", said Imai Shin, the FAO representative in the country.

The project is providing modern scientific technologies for vegetable production, seeds and improved cultivars, and building stronger extension networks for the effective dissemination of relevant technologies.

Last year, the project distributed 15 MT of potato tuber seeds and 245 kg of vegetable seeds to farmers. Farmers were also given 12.5 MT of bio-compost (organic manure) for vegetable production. Farm yard manure, compost, green manure and other steps relate to increase the organic carbon content in the soil.

500 litres of bio-pesticide (Neem) and 15 knap sack sprayers were handed out for pest and disease management in vegetable crops, although Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the preferred plant protection technology. Chemical insecticides and fungicides were procured strictly for judicious use by the farmers, under the guidance of project scientists.



A workshop on vegetables for sustainable food and nutritional security was held at the Seed Division Compound in Yangon on 22 and 23 December 2008. Fifty participants attended, drawn from concerned departments of the Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS), international non-governmental organizations and private seed companies, the World Food Programme and FAO.

The workshop drew up an action plan for upgrading technical knowledge and skills for fresh vegetable production and promoting local seed production; understanding the important role of and processes in vegetable-based small scale enterprise development; emphasizing people’s participation to improve rural livelihoods; and improving stakeholders’ skills in forming a functioning group, with effective communication and technology use.

Bir Mandal, FAO’s chief technical advisor of the project Support for sustainable agriculture and rural livelihoods in Northern Rakhine State, noted that other parameters are important too, such as the provision of sufficient irrigation water, the development and utilization of modern vegetable seed varieties as well as selective small farm mechanization.

The project, which runs from November 2007 until the end of 2010, aims to empower farmers, landless poor and women headed household to produce more food; generate income through crops (rice, pulses, rape-seed mustard, groundnut and vegetable crops), livestock (poultry, duck and goat), oil mills and fruit tree nurseries; reduce ecological imbalance through the use of biogas plants; and develop and strengthen local capacities and institutions to ensure sustainability.

Vegetables are rich sources of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals. An estimated two billion people in the world suffer from the lack of vitamins and essential minerals; most of them are women or children, particularly in the developing world, resulting in ill health, lack adequate physical and mental development and liable to various diseases including blindness.

Source: agrifeeds.org


Publication date: 1/8/2009


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Myanmar steps up tight bio-security against cross-border bird flu

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/09/content_10629165.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2009-01-09 11:18:00 Print

YANGON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar authorities have stepped up tight bio-security against cross-border bird flu, banning poultry import from neighboring Bangladesh, the local Biweekly Eleven reported Friday.

Bio-security check is also being carried out at the Maungtaw border point in prevention against mixing of home-breed poultry with migratory wild birds which are moving into Myanmar in the cold season especially at this time, the report said.

The Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department (LBVD) has called on the country's people to take preventive measures against cross-border bird flu, saying that the avian influenza was found occurring intermittently in neighboring countries in both the east and northwest and attributing the phenomena to have been caused by the migratory birds, carriers of deadly H5N1 virus from one place to another.



Migratory birds from different regions across the world used to fly over Myanmar territory during the winter season period between November and February, according to experts.

The authorities have also called for keeping awareness about the modes of infection of the avian influenza and intensifying precautionary and educational measures to prevent any occurrence in humans and birds.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is cooperating with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in prevention against avian influenza.

In April last year, the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) declared Myanmar as a bird-flu-free country three months after the country was proved that there was no residual bird flu virus remained over the period since January.

From February 2006 until the last in December 2007, there were numerous outbreaks of the avian influenza in Myanmar covering 25 townships of six states and divisions.

All of the occurrences were blamed for infecting from abroad especially that the virus was carried into the country by migratory birds from the cold regions in the world infecting local birds, according to the LBVD.

Myanmar reported outbreak of the avian influenza in the country for the first time in some poultry farms in Mandalay and Sagaing divisions in early 2006, followed by those in Yangon division in early 2007, in Mon state's Thanbyuzayat and western Bago division's Letpadan in July and in eastern Bago division's Thanatpin and in Yangon division's Hmawby in October the same year.

Despite the declaration as a bird-flu-free country, the Myanmar livestock authorities continued to call on the country's people to exercise a long-term precaution against the deadly H5N1 bird flu.


Editor: Han Jingjing

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Ban must visit Burma to begin the end-game

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2009/01/ban-must-visit-burma-to-begin-the-end-game/63584.aspx

By Thaung Htun
09.01.2009 / 13:03 CET
A more active role by the UN's secretary-general is one of ways the international community can deepen its engagement with Burma's problems, argues the government-in-exile.
In backing a visit to Burma (Myanmar) by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the EU's envoy, Peiro Fassino, in mid-December added to the clarion call for the UN to take a lead role in Burma.

The EU itself is already well engaged, via a range of economic sanctions. It has opened channels of dialogue on Burma with interlocutors like the Philippines. Just before Christmas it pledged a further €40.5 million to aid efforts inside Burma, focusing particularly on victims of the Nargis cyclone of last May.

But, the EU cannot enact positive change on its own. It needs concerted action from the UN, starting with a high-profile, top-level, well-focused visit by Ban himself.

Instead, the United Nations secretary-general seems to be waiting for a miracle before he is prepared to visit Burma. Like a scientist afraid of his own experiment, he aims to plot the result before he begins the process.

He is seeking, he says, an assurance that there will be an outcome. This is an untenable position, overly cautious by far for a situation as critical as the one in which Burma finds itself. The UN is willing to allow the Burmese military junta to ride roughshod over international standards of human rights, political practice, economic sustainability and foreign relations. The global body is allowing the regime to push on towards a sham election in 2010, which will inevitably bolster their power and defer the development of democracy in Burma.


While the shortcomings of the UN indicate a global system that is failing Burma, the UN is not alone.

Regionally, a virtual free-for-all has erupted as investors from China, Russia, Korea, Thailand, and elsewhere rush into Burma. A resources and energy assets boom has given the military regime an opportunity to open the flood-gates. Sanctions in place in the EU and the US have ensured Burma's neighbours have few serious competitors, or watchdogs.

A step-by-step plan
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, as the legitimate and mandated de jure government in Burma has outlined a step-by-step plan for more focused and successful engagement with Burma.

The first vital and unavoidable step would be for the secretary-general to visit the country – and to so as soon as possible. That would be an opportunity to present and embody the international community's concern over widespread human rights violations and the volatile actions of the country's rulers.

Second, the UN's special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, must go to Burma again to meet officials and to establish the infrastructure to: a) ensure the release of all political prisoners; b) facilitate open negotiations between Aung San Suu Kyi, the victor in Burma's last democratic elections, and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the name Burma's military regime has given itself; c) to set a permanent liaison office in Burma to pursue the direct intentions of the secretary-general and; d) to bring solutions to Burma's economic crisis.

Third, a process of on-going engagement needs to be rolled out. The generals need to be obliged to meet and engage appropriately with the UN special envoy and must grant all relevant UN officers unlimited access throughout the country.

Fourth, the UN should kick off a process of national reconciliation, capitalising on the work already done in this direction by the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), which I represent at the UN. This process must be inclusive of all opposition parties, the military and all ethnic groups. This must take place before the proposed elections in 2010 to head off the usual ruses employed by the generals in order to exploit international goodwill, to marginalise authentic opposition voices in Burma and to ensure the irrevocably flawed 2010 election can never take place.

Fifth, all such processes need to have the full-backing of the UN and have their agenda set by the UN. This needs the backing of the UN member states, who must stand up and act on Burma more than they are, and should be a priority as the run-in to the 2010 election looms closer.

Sixth, this process has to be fully open, the dialogue made public and the results known to all, so as to ensure full accountability and the good governance of the initiative.

These are concrete steps, not idle thoughts. Such a programme could bring progress to Burma. The international community understands these mechanisms and can work within them. And yet there is inaction, a sense the rhetoric is there to knit a veil for international leaders.

Recently, Ban said that the actions of the junta are “abhorrent and unacceptable” and called for “bold action” on the generals' part to move towards democracy. But, the words will sink quickly unless they are forcefully backed up by Ban himself.

This is not the time to be overly fastidious in the interests of protocol or realpolitik, or to protect the perceived dignity of the secretary-general's office. Our people are in grave danger.

We can only hope the EU will continue to provide weight to the growing movement to begin the process of lasting change in Burma.

Thaung Htun represents Burma's government-in-exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), at the United Nations.


© 2009 European Voice. All rights reserved.

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Fall in rice price hurts Myanmar exporters, farmers

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BKK357563.htm

09 Jan 2009 07:36:25 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The fall in world rice prices is hurting exporters in Myanmar, who say they are shipping grain at a loss, and is adding to the problems of poor farmers struggling to recover from Cyclone Nargis.

"A tonne of our 25 percent broken rice now fetches only $250 in the international market," one rice exporter told Reuters.

"With a 10 percent deduction for export tax, we get only $225 per tonne, compared with about $260 a tonne we had to pay in the domestic market a few months ago," the exporter said, asking not to be identified.

Vietnamese 25 percent broken rice, an Asian benchmark, was quoted at around $335 per tonne this week. Rice from Myanmar is generally of inferior quality because of poor milling. The main buyers are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and African countries.


After a bumper harvest in Myanmar, a tonne of 25 percent broken rice in the domestic market now costs around $230.

That's a little better for exporters but not much good for farmers, who say they are selling below cost price, with the result that some are being forced off the land.

"With soaring costs for inputs and labour, and falling rice prices, it's no longer commercially viable for us to grow rice," farmer Ba Tin from the cyclone-hit Kawthmu Township said, adding some farmers in the region had lost their land to private firms.

Army-ruled Myanmar earned $100 million from exporting 358,500 tonnes of rice in fiscal 2007/2008 (April/March) -- a fraction of what it sold in its heyday as the world's largest rice exporter, before independence from Britain in 1948.

In its best year, 1934, when it was called Burma, it exported 3.4 million tonnes. Thailand, today's top exporter, shipped around 10 million tonnes last year.

Myanmar had stood to benefit from a jump in world prices and a panic about supplies in 2008, when some big exporting countries restricted sales to ensure their people had enough to eat.

In February 2008 it agreed to sell 300,000 tonnes a year to Bangladesh.

But then Cyclone Nargis struck in May, and the generals banned rice exports from that month to preserve stocks.

Officials say the ban was eased from July and government data shows Myanmar exported 127,600 tonnes worth $43 million in the first seven months of the fiscal year from April to October 2008. Around 101,000 tonnes was sold in April, before the cyclone.

EXPORT DRIVE

Prices have since collapsed. Thailand's benchmark 100 percent B grade white rice traded at $550 per tonne this week, barely half the record high of $1,080 seen in April 2008.

Sein Win Hlaing, secretary general of Myanmar's Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the export market was being liberalised to help the sector. Trade has until recently been controlled by exporters close to the junta.

"We do realise the grave consequences of plunging rice prices. We have relaxed some restrictions to forge the export drive. Small-scale exporters are being allowed," he said.

But economists said problems were piling up.

"Falling rice prices in the world market are only partially to blame. The main thing is we have to cut costs for the growers. We need to provide them with soft loans and subsidised inputs," said a former Yangon University economist, declining to be named.

The fall in domestic prices is not all bad news, though, with many people in Yangon relieved at cheaper food.

"After Cyclone Nargis we were worried that rice prices would go up," food stall owner Kyaw Myint said. "Now I'm very glad to be able to sell steamed rice to my customers, all in the lowest income bracket, at very low prices." (Editing by Alan Raybould)

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Fw: [burmainfo] 今週のビルマのニュース(0901号) 新たな亡命政府が発足?ほか

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
    ビルマ市民フォーラム メールマガジン     2009/1/9
People's Forum on Burma   
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ビルマ情報ネットワーク(BurmaInfo)からのメールを転送させていただき
ます。

(重複の際は何卒ご容赦ください。)



PFB事務局
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ビルマ情報ネットワークの「今週のビルマのニュース」をお送りします。


「今週のビルマのニュース」バックナンバー
http://www.burmainfo.org/weekly.html

きょうのビルマのニュース(平日毎日更新)もご利用ください。
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/burmainfo/


ビルマ情報ネットワーク (www.burmainfo.org)
秋元由紀


========================================
今週のビルマのニュース Eメール版
2009年1月9日号【0901号】
========================================

【今週の主なニュース】
新たな亡命政府が発足?

・ビルマは4日、英国からの独立61周年記念を迎えた。
自宅軟禁されているアウンサンスーチー氏は同日、父
アウンサン将軍「国と国民のために決然と行動せよ」
という言葉の書かれた幕を自宅の外に掲示した。
氏が書記長を務める国民民主連盟(NLD)本部では
式典が開かれ、党員や外交官ら約300人が参加した
(5日付DVBほか)。

・軍政トップ・タンシュエ将軍は4日、恒例となっている
独立記念日の晩餐会を欠席した。欠席の理由については
体調が悪かった、外交官と会うのを避けたかった、など
憶測があるが詳細は不明
(5日付イラワディ誌)。

・国外に拠点を置く民主化団体の連合体であるビルマ連邦
国民評議会(NCUB)は1日に声明を発表し、2010年に
総選挙開催を予定している軍政に対抗するため、2009年に
新しい亡命政府を設立する計画があると発表した。1990年の
総選挙で当選した議員や少数民族の代表などで形成する。
民主化勢力には既に、アウンサンスーチー氏のいとこを首相
とするビルマ連邦国民連合政府(NCGUB)という亡命政府が
あるため、新たな亡命政府の発足にはNCUB内部にも賛否
両論ある模様。

【その他】
ビルマへの観光客が大幅減、ほか

・12月30日にラングーンでスーチー氏の解放を求めるデモを
行った国民民主連盟(NLD)党員9人が逮捕された
(30日付イラワディ誌ほか)。

・2008年にラングーンのミンガラドン空港から入国した観光客の
数が2007年に比べて大幅に減少した(6日付AFP)。また2008年
9月までのビルマの日本との貿易額は前年同時期に比べて5.6%
減って約2億7600万ドルだった(6日付JEN)。

・ビルマ西部アラカン州沖のシュエ・ガス田開発で、同田の権益を
持つ大宇ら韓国企業が経済協力開発機構(OECD)の「多国籍企業
行動指針」に違反しているという指摘が市民団体などから提起されて
いたが、韓国政府が「違反は一切ない」と回答したことがわかった
(12月24日付イラワディ誌ほか)。

・カレン女性機構(KWO)によれば、12月27日にカレン州ニャウンレビン
地区の村でカレン民族の少女(7)の射殺体が見つかった。
強かんされた跡があった。事件の直前に村に入ったビルマ軍
兵士に容疑がかけられており、家族らがビルマ軍に捜査を求めて
いるがビルマ軍は応じていない。


【ビルマへの政府開発援助(ODA)約束状況など】

〔草の根・人間の安全保障無償資金協力〕

12月24日
・イラワジ管区 橋建設 約807万円
・モン州 橋建設 約800万円


【イベントなど】

・在日ビルマ人共同行動実行委員会アクション-国連事務総長に対し、
一刻も早くビルマを訪問し、スーチーさんを含むすべての政治囚の
釈放と対話の促進を軍政に働きかけるよう要請するアピール行動
(国連大学前、5~9日15~16時)

・日本ビルマ救援センター
月例ビルマ問題学習会「ビルマ難民の第三国定住について」
講師:中尾恵子
(大阪ボランティアセンター、16日19時~)

・難民の第三国定住に関するシンポジウム 
外務省主催、国際移住機関(IOM)共催
(三田共用会議所、2月5日13時半~)
*要申込

・ミャンマーの伝統糸あやつり「ヨウッテー・ポエー」~
シリーズアジアの人形芝居part14~
王族から庶民にまで広く愛されたミャンマーの華麗なる伝統芸能 
7年ぶりの来日公演 
現代人形劇センター主催
(ラゾーナ川崎プラザソル2月7日15時、18時半。
カスケードホールいきいきプラザ一番町 B1階2月10日15時、19時。
レクチャーデモンストレーション 東京ミッドタウン
富士ゼロックス501会議室、2月11日14時、16時)
*チケット発売中

・第55回ビルマ市民フォーラム例会(池袋・ECOとしま8階、2月21日18時~)

★ジェーン・バーキン最新アルバム『冬の子供たち』が
発売中。アウンサンスーチー氏に捧げる楽曲「アウンサンスーチー」を収録。

☆特定非営利活動法人メコン・ウォッチの
季刊誌「フォーラムMekong」、最新号はビルマ特集。
-ビルマ~サイクロン後の人々、軍政-
http://www.mekongwatch.org/resource/forum/FM_vol9_2_01.html


【もっと詳しい情報は】

きょうのビルマのニュース(平日毎日更新)
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/burmainfo/

ビルマ情報ネットワーク
http://www.burmainfo.org/


【お問い合わせ】
ビルマ情報ネットワーク 秋元由紀

====================================
今週のビルマのニュース Eメール版
2009年1月9日号【0901号】

作成: ビルマ情報ネットワーク
協力: ビルマ市民フォーラム
====================================


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配布元: BurmaInfo(ビルマ情報ネットワーク)
    http://www.burmainfo.org
連絡先: listmaster@burmainfo.org

バックナンバー: http://groups.yahoo.co.jp/group/burmainfo/

※BurmaInfoでは、ビルマ(ミャンマー)に関する最新ニュースやイベント情報、
 参考資料を週に数本配信しています。
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Read More...

Burmese Censor Board tightens grip on films for festivals

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1496-burmese-censor-board-tightens-grip-on-films-for-festivals.html

by Mizzima News
Friday, 02 January 2009 18:20


Chiang Mai (Mizzima) — Burma's Information Ministry has announced that makers of films and documentaries will need to seek prior permission from the Censor Board to be able to contest in international film festivals, sources in the Burmese film industry said.

"The film censorship board has issued a new order. All films and documentary makers must seek permission before contesting at international film festivals," a film director in Rangoon said on condition of anonymity.

According to sources in Rangoon's film industry, the new regulation came into being after director Kyi Phyu Shin won the "2008 Best Short Film Award" of the National Geographic Society with her 15 minute-long documentary film in 2008.

Director, Kyi Phyu Shin, won the award for her documentary film on the life of a Burmese painter called Wathone. The English-subtitled film named 'Scathes of Wathone' included interviews with Wathone.

Read More...