News & Articles on Burma -Wednesday, 24 August, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 24 August, 2011
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UN Envoy Meets Suu Kyi, Visits Insein Prison
Shan MP to UN envoy: Need to establish IDP camps
Suu Kyi Makes Front Page in Burma
Burma’s President should keep his words to end civil war
DKBA Rejects Peace Talks
Asia's Best Performing Currency Weighs on Burma's Rulers
MYANMAR: Dire conditions for IDPs in Kachin as tension mounts
Chinese takeaway kitchen
Step up reforms, Ban urges Myanmar
UN envoy attends Myanmar parliament
UN human rights envoy to meet Suu Kyi in Burma
Shops warn of low purity Burma gold
Than Shwe's Hand Seen in Choice of New Intelligence Chief
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UN Envoy Meets Suu Kyi, Visits Insein Prison
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The UN's Special Rapporteur to Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, held talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Rangoon on Wednesday after a visit to Insein Prison where a number of political prisoners are currently held.

He also met with central executive committee members of Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Neither Suu Kyi nor Quintana disclosed any details of their talk. However, a press conference has been scheduled by Quintana for Thursday at Rangoon International Airport before he leaves the country, according to sources in Rangoon.

During his five-day visit to Burma, the UN envoy also visited the capital, Naypyidaw, where he sat in on a parliamentary session attended by MPs of both the Lower and Upper Houses.

During Quintana's meeting with government house speakers, he said that it is necessary to amend the current constitution in accordance with human rights, according to a report by the US-based Radio Free Asia (RFA), quoting Dr. Aye Maung, the chairman of the Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee for the Upper House.

Ethnic leaders frequently complain that the current constitution was written in 2008 by the military junta's hand-picked representatives, and that it doesn’t guarantee the rights of ethnic minority groups.

According to the RFA report, Quintana also said that the new government has made “some progress,” but that political activists who are currently being detained in prisons across Burma should be released in the interests of national reconciliation in the country,.

At the parliamentary session in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, Quintana also listened to calls by ethnic politicians for the release of political prisoners, and for allegations of human rights abuses by the Burmese army in ethnic areas to be investigated.

Quintana has been a vocal critic of the Burmese government and has previously proposed a UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity that have allegedly been committed by the Burmese army.

The UN envoy proposed the CoI in April 2010, and it is now supported by US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several EU nations. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21954
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Shan MP to UN envoy: Need to establish IDP camps
Wednesday, 24 August 2011 13:58 S.H.A.N.

Sai Hsawng Hsi, elected representative from Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), said he had broached the subject of setting up Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps near the war zone in central Shan State, during the meeting with UN Rights Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana.

“Many are either hiding in the jungles or fleeing to the border,” he said. “We think setting up IDP camps around the war zone will be a better solution.”

More than 300 clashes have taken place in Hsipaw, Tangyan, Mongyai, Monghsu and Kehsi townships between the Burma Army and the Shan State Army (SSA) since March, according to resistance sources.

Hsawng Hsi had also discussed a new bill on the selection of ward and village heads. According to it, each 10 households will elect a representative and the ward/village head will be elected among the 10 household representatives among themselves. “I think the ward/village administrator should be elected directly by the ward/village community concerned,” he said.

His statements were in response to Quintana’s question: What are the MPs (Member of Parliament) planning to propose at the second regular session of the parliament which started on Monday, 22 August.

Asked whether the parties have plans to propose the release of political prisoners, he replied to SHAN, “We certainly do. However, officially there are no political prisoners in Myanmar (Burma). It means we will have to use another label to get the message through.”

The SNDP will also be discussing the party’s proposal on the allocation of state funds during the parliamentary session today.

19 elected representative from 17 parties including the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) met the UN envoy who has been on a 5-day visit since Sunday, 21 August. http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3977:shan-mp-to-un-envoy-need-to-establish-idp-camps&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266
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Suu Kyi Makes Front Page in Burma
By KIHN OO THAR Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The front page of all Burma's major journals on Monday carried pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi's face-to-face meeting with President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw on Friday, despite a long-term ban on media from publishing images of the pro-democracy leader.

"Almost all today's journals have full-page images of the meeting,” said Ko Ko, the chairman of Yangon Media Group, on Monday.

He said that Weekly Eleven, Flower News and the Myanmar Post were among the print media running with front-page pictures of Suu Kyi.

"Before, it was impossible for us to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's picture,” he said. “Then, recently, the regulations were relaxed, and small pictures of her were allowed in the inside pages.”

Opposition leader Suu Kyi arrived on Friday for the first time in Naypyidaw, where she attended a government-initiated workshop on economic development. After meeting with Thein Sein, she had informal talks with several cabinet members.

Burma's journals were also allowed to display photographs of Aung San Suu Kyi's informal meetings with the government ministers.

For many years, Burma's journals and newspapers have been subject to rigorous inspection and censorship by the government's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), which is notorious for its draconian attitude toward media freedom and which frequently suspends offenders.

Veteran journalist Maung Wun Tha said, “The meeting between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the president is an indisputable fact. Therefore, journals reported it because it was directly concerned with the president. Given some extent of freedom to report this event, we are now enjoying somewhat more freedom of expression than before."

But while Suu Kyi's visit to Naypyidaw made splash headlines in private journals, the county's state-run press only reported it in brief.

"There could be some underlying reasons why government newspapers reported it so briefly,” said Maung Wun Tha, who is an adviser to the political journal Pyithu Khit [People's Age]. “At present, we cannot say precisely to what extent we will continue to enjoy freedom from such censorship.”

Another editor in Rangoon, who asked not to be identified, said that freedom of the press can only be credible if the government allows the media to report other news about Suu Kyi, such as her meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, and other foreign diplomats.

News reports and articles on the journals' online versions are generally not subject to censorship.

“While print publications are subjected to censorship, Internet news is not affected,” said Ko Ko. “A better political climate will allow more freedom in the media arena to prevail.”

According to a housewife in Rangoon, the cost of Monday's state-run newspapers are higher.

“I paid 300 kyat [US $0.45] for a government newspaper on Monday,” she said. “It is usually just 100 kyat. [$0.15]”

Although she speculated that the reason for the increase was due to the pictures of Suu Kyi, other sources noted that demand for journals has been very high this month, and many subscribers did not receive their copy.

According to a young journalist in Rangoon, sales of journals and tabloids have increased because the media has been given a freer rein to report everyday events and social affairs.

“Dealing with the government departments for your news reports is basically the same as before—you always get messed around and redirected to someone else,” he said. “They never offer explanations or account for their decisions.”

On June 10, a policy change was effected when the PSRD announced that no prior censorship would be imposed on press articles that fall under any of five categories: sports, technology, health, art and children's literature.

There are currently 153 registered journals, including news and sports publications, and 176 magazines running in Burma.

State-run publications last week also relented on a long-running propaganda campaign against international and exiled media such as the BBC, VOA, RFA and DVB. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21951
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Burma’s President should keep his words to end civil war
By Zin Linn Aug 24, 2011 4:34PM UTC

The military-backed Burmese government announced its rejection of peace talks based on the principles of the 1947 Panglong Treaty to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on the weekend, referring KIO officials Kachin News Group said.

KIO officials in Laiza said the five-month old President Thein Sein government declared clearly that it will only agree to peace talks with the KIO in accordance with the 2008 constitution. However, the KIO countered the government’s stance on Monday that it cannot talk under the guidance of the 2008 constitution which KIO did not recognized, according to KIO officials in Laiza.

A truce which lasted over 16 years between the two sides broken on June 9th when government troops hit the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) at Sang Gang, in Bhamo District, arguing it was defending the Taping (Dapein) hydropower Dam.

During the lengthy armistice phase, there were no political talks; however, the KIO and other ethnic ceasefire groups were pressured to transform their armed wings into the Burma Army-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF) or militia groups, after the controversial 2008 constitution was put in place.

Meanwhile, on August 18, seven Burmese soldiers were killed during fighting with the KIA at Wawang Kumbang, in Manmaw (Bhamo) District, Kachin News Group said. According to KIA officials from the Laiza headquarters, Burmese soldiers died in action were from Infantry Battalion No. 47, based in Manmaw, said sources close to government troops.

Lar Nan, Joint-General Secretary-2 of the KIO, said it will not talk bilaterally any more with the government since such negotiation failed in the past. Talks between the KIO and the Burmese government were also abortive in 1963, 1972, and 1980 respectively; though, they all failed to get to the bottom of the political standoff between the two sides.

Currently, KIO declared that it will talk through the ethnic alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), keeping on the spirit of the Panglong Agreement.

On August 15, in response to charges during August-12 press conference by information minister Kyaw Hsan, the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) issued a statement urging all parties concerned to revitalize the 1947 Panglong Agreement signed by the Burmese leader Aung San and leaders of the (then known as) Frontier Areas, Shan Herald Agency for News said.

SSPP/SSA says in its statement, “Instead of regarding ethnic peoples as enemies and accusing them as subversive elements, it’s high time national reconciliation was being forget by the present authorities on the basis of equality, justice and the Panglong Agreement.”

The historic agreement basically guaranteed self-determination of the ethnic minorities and offered a large measure of autonomy, including independent legislature, judiciary and administrative powers. However, the dream of equality and a federal union is far from being realized some six decades after signing the Panglong Agreement.

According to some critics, the NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi supports the Panglong Agreement and self-determination for every ethnic nationality while the President Thein Sein government strongly opposed it. Thus, various ethnic leaders emphasized that they don’t have confidence in the new 2008 constitution which abandoned the Paglong values.

On August 18, the government proposed joining in peace talks to ethnic armed groups. But, it was rejected by the KIO and the UNFC, because the government uses divide-and rule policy towards ethnic groups without considering the Panglong Agreement.

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) has been founded during a conference held from 12 to 16 February 2011 involved 15 ethnic groups. The UNFC has selected six Central Executive Committee members and 10 Central Committee members. Gen Mutu Saypo of the Karen National Union (KNU) becomes Chairman and Lt Gen Gauri Zau Seng of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) Vice Chairman-1, Maj Gen Abel Tweed of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) Vice Chairman-2, and Nai Hongsa of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) General Secretary) respectively.

In a statement issued on last 17 February, the UNFC said part of its basic principles and aims are to work for a better recognition of the ethnic armed groups, for ethnic equality, rights and self-determination, and for a genuine democratic federal Union of Burma.

Successive governments rejected the political dialogue with ethnic armed groups, which demand self-determination and a genuine federal union, for over six decades. If the President Thein Sein government stubbornly refused to honor the Panglong accord, the ongoing civil-war in Burma may not stop in a short period.

However, President Thein Sein told members of parliament on 22 August, at the first Union Parliament second regular session, that his government will pay attention to oppositions’ suggestions. He said the government has already prepared to talks on peace with armed ethnic groups since the progress of the frontier areas is dependent on stability.

The whole nation is cautiously watching the current political disaster with the ethnic people whether the president will take responsibility of his latest parliament speech. http://asiancorrespondent.com/63256/burma%E2%80%99s-president-should-keep-his-words-to-end-civil-war/
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DKBA Rejects Peace Talks
By THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, August 24, 2011

MAE SOT, Thailand—Brigade 5, a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), has rejected an offer of peace talks from the Burmese government, and has instead called for a withdrawal of all Burmese army forces deployed in ethnic states.

Brig-Gen Saw Lah Pwe, the commander of DKBA Brigade 5, told The Irrawaddy that he cannot accept the government's offer, referring to it as a “fake.”

“Government officials passed on the word through a Buddhist monk that they want to make peace with us,” he said. “This is an old tactic they have used in the past. If they were truly sincere, they would look to make a nationwide peace agreement.”

On Aug. 18, government officials from Naypyidaw reportedly sent to Brigade 5 as an envoy a prominent Buddhist monk named U Pinya Thami, an abbot from Taungalay monastery in Karen State capital Pa-an.

The DKBA's Brigade 5 broke its alliance with the Burmese army and Naypyidaw in November 2010 after the general election. It has since battled constantly with government forces in eastern Burma, and rejoined its mother organization, the Karen National Union (KNU), from which it had split in 1995.

Brigade 5 called on the government to officially declare a nationwide ceasefire, to withdraw all its units currently deployed in ethnic states, and to release all political prisoners and let them participate in the political process.
Dialogue must involve the government, ethnic groups, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and other political parties, said the DKBA renegades.

After a recent meeting attended by leaders of Brigade 5, including Saw Lah Pwe, Col. Kyaw Thet and Maj. San Aung, the group released a statement saying that no genuine peace would result if the DKBA alone made peace with the government. It said the DKBA [Brigade 5] will fight for true peace and democracy.

Last week, the state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar announced that that the government had offered an “olive branch” to the armed groups, encouraging them to contact their respective state or division governments as a first step toward meeting with a union government delegation.

The ethnic armed groups, however, rejected the offer by the government to enter into one-on-one ceasefire talks, and insisted that negotiations must take place between the government and the United Nationalities Federal Council, an alliance of the major ethnic armed groups. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21952
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8/24/2011 @ 3:30AM |222 views
Asia's Best Performing Currency Weighs on Burma's Rulers

Switzerland isn’t the only country struggling to fend off upside currency speculators. Burma (Myanmar) has a similar headache, and none of the sophisticated tools available to the gnomes of Zurich. Burma’s currency, the kyat, is powering ahead of its peers in Asia, up 30% in the past year. A dollar now fetches less than 700 kyat, compared to 1,000 a year ago. President Thein Sein has said the currency’s strength was strangling exporters and hurting the economy. Yet this crisis might be exactly the spur that Burma’s new rulers need to enact economic reforms and turn around a country that lags light years behind its Southeast Asian neighbors.

You won’t find the kyat (pronounced ‘chat’) listed on your Bloomberg screen. If you go to a state bank in Burma, the official exchange rate is around six to the dollar. This is absurdly out of whack with the black-market rate. It’s just one of several exchange rates that the government uses in its accounting, a relic of Burma’s socialist economy and a serious obstacle to macroeconomic reforms. Thein Sein has tried to restructure this system, and the IMF is willing to assist, but as with so much in Burma there are powerful vested interests standing in the way. Export taxes on many commodities were recently slashed to 2%, which may provide some relief.

Why is the kyat so strong? One reason is the weak dollar – Burma’s commodity exports are priced in dollars. Another is the slew of privatizations and asset sales over the last year that had to be settled in kyat. Speculation in kyat by Chinese investors is another supposed cause. But much of what passes for economic analysis in Burma is guesswork. It hasn’t published a credible budget for years and its statistics are notoriously unreliable. Suffice to say that untangling the foreign-currency regime is far from the only challenge facing Burma’s new semi-civilian government, which was elected last November.

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi didn’t participate in that election. Foreign critics of Burma rightly decry her treatment and that of other dissidents, many of whom are in jail on spurious charges. However, there are signs – tentative, yes – that Suu Kyi may be coming in from the cold. Thein Sein, a retired general, met with her for the first time last week in Nyapyidaw, the generals’ purpose-built capital. This is a symbolic breakthrough, and doesn’t herald a democratic dawn. But every regime has to start somewhere, unless it wants to end in rubble. Burma needs all the help it can get to turn around the economy, beginning with measures to straighten out the kyat. http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmontlake/2011/08/24/asias-best-performing-currency-weighs-on-burmas-rulers/?feed=rss_home
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MYANMAR: Dire conditions for IDPs in Kachin as tension mounts
Photo: Contributor/IRIN
Fighting in Kachin State displaces thousands to makeshift camps
LAIZA, 23 August 2011 (IRIN) - A group of villagers travels along a muddy mountain path in northern Myanmar with food, clothing and any belongings they can carry in bamboo baskets on their backs; babies are strapped to young children's chests as they try to keep up with their parents.

"We are afraid the Burmese soldiers will be attacking our village at any time," says Lum Hong, leading the group of 15 families from the village of Ng Eng, in central Kachin state. "We had to leave everything behind. Our cows, our oxen, our farmland. Everything. We don't know when it will be safe to go back."

The group was en route to a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in central Kachin's Dam Bung District after hearing of a government troop build-up near their village on the edge of territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

The latest fighting between the two groups erupted on 9 June, when government forces broke a 17-year ceasefire agreement with the KIO near the Taping River.

The total number of IDPs who have arrived in the Kachin capital of Laiza is estimated at 10,000, according to the Kachin Relief Development Committee (KRDC), a Laiza-based organization. The KRDC was formed by the KIO following Myanmar's demand that all ethnic groups lay down their arms and form a Border Guard Force in 2010. The KIA, along with several other ethnic groups, refused and a government build-up of forces began.

The number of IDPs in Laiza now matches the usual population of the city, home to KIO headquarters. Four temporary camps house the IDPs, but a permanent government-funded camp is near completion, just outside Laiza.

In the camp

Craftsmen are building another 500 bamboo huts on the banks of the Chayan river.

A makeshift school has been built to accommodate the growing number of displaced children, but reading material is scarce and a handful of teachers make do with a chalk board.

At the food supply tent, KRDC chief Doi Pi Sa La Bang oversees the latest distribution of rations to the new arrivals. Food and medicine have been largely donated by churches and individuals.

"In terms of food, we are giving one tin of rice for every two people per day," the former KIA captain explains. Doi Pi Sa La Bang is hoping for international mediators to help solve the problem and bring back peace.

At the medical tent, one of the biggest problems facing the new arrivals is the unsanitary water supply.

Torrential rains during the monsoon season have created dirty living conditions for IDPs who have been sleeping in the jungle.

"Right now we are trying to prevent disease from spreading, but it doesn't help when there are so many people crammed into small shelters," says Naw Sang La Sang, a young doctor.

KIO spokesperson Lah Nan said in the short term, the IDPs should be able to survive - but with many farmers unable to work their fields and donations running short, the future looks grim.

"We need medication, more shelters, and ultimately - we must have a long-term solution for the IDPs," Lah Nan said. A renewed ceasefire seems a long way off.

Elsewhere in the KIO-controlled areas, approximately 10,000 IDPs are in temporary camps scattered along the China border. The KRDC estimates 6,000 have crossed into China seeking safety with relatives. The figures do not include IDPs in Myitkyina, an area of Kachin controlled by the government.

contributor/nb/mw http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=93570
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Myanmar
Chinese takeaway kitchen
Three articles look at China’s influence in South-East Asia: first; resentment in Myanmar; second, Cambodian rivalries; third, Banyan on the strategic implications

WAIST-DEEP in the muddy water, hundreds of people swirl their pans, scouring the black sediment for the sparkle of gold dust. They have come from all over Myanmar to Kachin state, where the N’Mai and Mali rivers merge to form the mighty Irrawaddy, knowing that a good day may yield $1,000-worth of gold—and that time for gold-panning is running out.

Across the river, the corrugated-iron roofs of a prefabricated barracks glint in the midday sun. They house hundreds of Chinese labourers working on the Myitsone hydropower project. This, according to Myanmar’s government, will be the sixth highest dam in the world, and generate 6,000MW of electricity a year. On completion in 2019, the dam will flood the gold-prospecting area and displace more than 10,000 people. All the electricity will be exported to China. All the revenue will go to Myanmar’s government. If an environmental and social impact study was conducted at all, it did not involve consulting the affected villagers.

A local Catholic priest who led prayers against the dam says his parishioners were moved to a “model” village, into tiny houses on plots too small for cultivation. The letters of concern he sent to Myanmar’s leaders went unanswered. He says he will stay in his historic church “till the waters rise over the doorstep”.
In this section

Those displaced are not the only ones worrying about the project. The project abuts territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of a plethora of ethnic insurgencies that have battled the central government for decades. Last year several bombs exploded at the dam site and in May the KIO warned that if the dam were not stopped it would lead to civil war. The KIO’s armed wing recently engaged in skirmishes with government forces, despite a notional ceasefire.

The KIO was banned from last year’s election in Myanmar because it refused to let its fighters join the government’s “border security force”. Its threat came as Myanmar’s newly installed “civilian” president, Thein Sein, a former general, embarked on a state visit to China.

China has a big stake in Myanmar. It is the country’s leading foreign investor. Myitsone is one of many hydropower, mining and infrastructure projects there. China’s most ambitious undertaking is a new deep-sea port for oil tankers. Due for completion in 2013, it will take gas from Myanmar’s offshore Shwe field and will have the capacity to satisfy 10% of China’s oil-import needs.

These close ties are not entirely comfortable for either side. Between 1m and 2m Chinese citizens have moved into northern Myanmar. They dominate the jade-and-gem trade, push up land prices and flaunt their wealth in Mandalay and Myitkyina, where all the posh cars have Chinese number plates. Local resentment is growing. Church leaders in Myitkyina say Chinese people make up more than half the population. Many Burmese say their northern states are like a Chinese province.

China, for its part, worries about the security of its investments and people. In the past it has leaned on Myanmar’s leaders to prevent fighting between the army and the ethnic insurgencies. When conflict broke out in 2009 with the Kokang, an ethnic-Han-Chinese minority, 37,000 people fled to China, provoking sharp criticism of the Burmese junta.

As its economic interests have grown, China has pressed for more access to Myanmar’s harbours and territorial waters, to monitor the security of the new port and pipelines, and to keep an eye out for pirates. But this is a neuralgic issue for a country with a deep-seated suspicion of its powerful northern neighbour.

Myanmar’s xenophobic leaders are trying to reduce their dependence on China by playing it off against India and the West. But India has been slow in trying to gain a toehold, while America and the European Union have recently extended sanctions on Myanmar. These include America’s embargo on backing loans from the World Bank, which would impose higher environmental and other standards on big infrastructure projects such as Myitsone.

So the regime is being drawn into China’s orbit as much from necessity as choice. That does not make China any more popular. In the words of an old Burmese monk: “We are China’s kitchen. They take what they like and leave us with the rubbish.” http://www.economist.com/node/18806782
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Step up reforms, Ban urges Myanmar
August 24, 2011

BANGKOK: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed talks between Myanmar’s president and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, calling on both sides to build on the tentative improvement in relations.

Ban is “encouraged” by Friday’s meeting, the highest-level dialogue between the Nobel laureate and the authorities since her release from seven years of house arrest in November, according to a statement received on Tuesday.

The UN chief “expects the meeting to be followed by further steps towards a sustained high-level dialogue focused on national reconciliation. “Whether these and other recent developments will move Myanmar forward depends on how all parties choose to work with each other,” the UN said.

“It is in the national interest that they seize the opportunity to extend and accept conciliatory gestures to achieve durable peace and unity.”

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, attended Myanmar’s parliament and met senior regime figures on Tuesday as authorities allowed him to visit the country for the first time in more than a year.

Tomas spent the third day of his trip in the capital Naypyidaw before heading to Yangon where he is due to hold talks with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, a government official said.

It will be the first time the envoy has met the Nobel laureate, who was under house arrest during his last visit in February 2010, and comes as the government appears to be keen to improve its international image.

He will also visit the city’s notorious Insein prison, which is believed to house some of the country’s around 2,000 political prisoners.

In a statement ahead of his visit, Quintana said his mission “takes place in a somehow different political context, with a new government in place since April, following last year’s elections, and my main objective is to assess the human rights situation from that perspective”.

Suu Kyi was released from detention just days after November elections that were marred by cheating and the absence of her party.
Agence France-Presse http://gulftoday.ae/portal/fb333d70-3e52-4637-9a9e-a18608a26999.aspx
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UN envoy attends Myanmar parliament
Published on 23 August 2011 - 2:01pm

A UN rights envoy attended Myanmar's parliament and met senior regime figures on Tuesday as authorities allowed him to visit the country for the first time in more than a year.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, spent the third day of his trip in the capital Naypyidaw before heading to Yangon where he is due to hold talks with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, a government official said.

It will be the first time the envoy has met the Nobel laureate, who was under house arrest during his last visit in February 2010, and comes as the government appears to be keen to improve its international image.

He will also visit the city's notorious Insein prison, which is believed to house some of the country's around 2,000 political prisoners.

A civilian administration is now nominally in charge of Myanmar but its ranks are dominated by former generals.

The international community has called for a number of reforms in Myanmar including the release of political prisoners.

Quintana angered Myanmar's ruling generals last year by suggesting that human rights violations in the country may amount to crimes against humanity and could warrant a UN inquiry.

He has since been refused visas to visit several times.

His visit comes after Suu Kyi met with President Thein Sein on Friday in the highest-level discussions with the authorities since her release.

The UN envoy, who arrived in the country on Sunday, observed parliamentary meetings in Naypyidaw and met the speakers from both houses on Tuesday.

Reports in state media said he held talks with senior figures on Monday, including labour minister Aung Kyi, who was at the forefront of renewed dialogue with Suu Kyi.

The 66-year-old's release by the junta after seven straight years of house arrest came just days after a November election that was marred by allegations of cheating and which was won by the military's political proxies.

In a statement ahead of his visit, Quintana said his mission "takes place in a somehow different political context, with a new government in place since April, following last year's elections, and my main objective is to assess the human rights situation from that perspective". http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/un-envoy-attends-myanmar-parliament
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UN human rights envoy to meet Suu Kyi in Burma
Tomas Ojea Quintana is in Burma for the first time in more than a year. [AFP]

A United Nations human rights envoy visiting Burma will meet opposition pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, in Burma for the first time in more than a year, has met MPs in the capital Naypyidaw including the Parliament chairman, but no senior government or military figures.

He's now in the old capital Rangoon, to meet Suu Kyi and also to visit Insein prison, believed to hold many of the country's 2,000 political prisoners.

His visit comes days after Suu Kyi met with President Thein Sein in the highest-level discussions with the authorities since her release from house detention in November. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201108/3300700.htm?desktop
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BANGKOK POST
Shops warn of low purity Burma gold

Published: 24/08/2011 at 03:20 PM
Online news: Asia

High gold prices have prompted many Burmese migrant workers in Thailand to sell gold they brought with them from their home country, hoping for a handsome profit, but the gold shops here say the Burmese gold is of low purity.

The warning came from Somchai Chongnittayakan, owner of a gold shop in the Andaman Sea province of Ranong where there is a large population of Burmese workers, both legal and illegal.

He said many Burmese had come to his shop wanting to sell their gold.

Mr Somchai said had rejected the Burmese gold after checks showed it was only 91% or 92% pure.

The two standards of gold sold and bought in Thailand were 100% and 96%, he said.

Mr Somchai warned the other shops to thoroughly check the quality before buying any Burmese gold from customers.

Fake gold was also becoming a big problem, he said. If a customer looked even slightly dubious the gold shop would be better advised not to buy it.

Three common tests to tell if the gold is genuine are - a close visual examination, rubbing it with a stone to examine the metal beneath the surface, and testing the gold with fire, which is the most accurate method of all, said Mr Somchai. http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/253268/shops-warned-over-low-quality-burmese-gold
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Than Shwe's Hand Seen in Choice of New Intelligence Chief
By SITHU Wednesday, August 24, 2011

NAYPYIDAW — A trusted disciple of Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the former dictator who is still believed to wield ultimate power over Burma's new government, has reportedly been appointed to lead the country's powerful military intelligence unit.

Maj-Gen Soe Shein, a personal assistant to Than Shwe, has recently taken the helm of the Military Affairs Security (MAS), as the unit is known, replacing its former chief, Maj-Gen Kyaw Swe, according to MAS sources in Naypyidaw.

“Before abolishing the former ruling military council, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Snr-Gen Than Shwe promoted Soe Shein from colonel to brigadier-general. Very recently Soe Shein was promoted to major general to take over as the director of the MAS,” a source told The Irrawaddy.

Many observers believe that Than Shwe has retained his grip on Burma’s military, the country's most powerful institution, despite dissolving the SPDC and officially transferring his former position of commander-in-chief to Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

Defense Ministry sources told The Irrawaddy in April that reports from the War Office marked “Confidential” were still being sent to the 77-year-old former ruler of Burma, despite his official retirement as head of the military following last year's elections.

Soe Shein's promotion to the position of MAS chief reignites speculation about Than Shwe’s lingering grip on the Burmese military and the new administration led by former military general Thein Sein.

“Soe Shein is Snr-Gen Than Shwe's most trusted man. His appointment as chief of the MAS means that the old man will be watching everyone through constant updates on the current situation,” a MAS officer said.

The MAS was created following the dismantling of the former Military Intelligent Service (MIS), led by once powerful general and former prime minister, Khin Nyunt, who was purged in 2004 and later sentenced to 44 years imprisonment on charges of corruption and insubordination; he is now under house arrest.

The MIS was notorious for keeping a watchful eye not only on the country’s ordinary citizens, but also on army officers and political exiles living in the West. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21953

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