By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, July 22, 2009
At least 10 passport brokers in Rangoon have been arrested by the Burmese authorities during a recent crackdown, according to sources in Rangoon.
Sources close to several passport brokers and the passport issuing office in Rangoon said Burmese intelligence officers had detained dozens of people suspected of dealing in Burmese passports.
The authorities also reportedly questioned staff at the passport issuing office in Rangoon.
One inside source, as well as a Rangoon-based journalist, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the authorities had cracked down on passport brokers because of the “massive corruption” involved in the trade.
Another Rangoon-based source said, “Many people are leaving country at the moment, and they don’t return. So, the authorities want to restrict it.”
Meanwhile, some reports said the crackdown was linked to the army officers who went into hiding over the “Shwe Mann scandal.” It is thought the wanted officers from Naypyidaw would try to leave the country with passports procured through brokers.
Recently, Burmese intelligence officials reportedly launched a crackdown against the army officers suspected of leaking information and photographs about Gen Shwe Mann’s secret trip to North Korea.
Ten high-ranking Burmese army officers were reportedly arrested for leaking confidential information, and will be court-martialed and could face the death penalty if convicted, said a Burmese intelligence official.
Sources said that four suspected Burmese officials had acquired passports through brokers and had already fled the country. Another two were reportedly arrested while in the process of acquiring passports.
The Irrawaddy could not independently confirm the report.
Some officials suspected of complicity had also gone into hiding, sources in Rangoon said.
The Bangkok-based English-language newspaper The Nation reported recently that several senior Burmese officials and some journalists were sacked some weeks ago after publication of photographs and video footage of secret tunnels in Burma surfaced in the international media. Photographs and video footage of a tunnel construction site in Burma were also published by Burmese media organizations.
During his seven-day visit to Pyongyang, Shwe Mann signed a memorandum of understanding at the defense ministry with North Korea’s Chief of General Staff, Gen Kim Kyok-sik, to formalize military cooperation between the two nations.
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16382
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Crackdown on Passport Brokers Linked to Leaked Photos?
Clinton Declares the US 'Is Back' in Asia
By ROBERT BURNS / AP WRITER Wednesday, July 22, 2009
BANGKOK — on her second trip to Asia as US secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton is carrying a no-nonsense message about American intentions.
"The United States is back," she declared Tuesday upon arrival in the Thai capital.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) speaks during a press conference with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu (R) at the Governement house in Bangkok on July 21. (Photo: Getty Images)
By that she means the administration of President Barack Obama thinks it's time to show Asian nations that the United States is not distracted by its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and intends to broaden and deepen its partnerships in this region.
Clinton trumpeted that line Wednesday in an appearance with a prominent TV personality before flying to a seaside resort at Phuket for two days of international meetings to discuss North Korea, Burma and a range of other regional issues.
Clinton said she would, as previously announced, sign Asean's seminal Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, a commitment to peacefully resolve regional disputes that has already been signed by more than a dozen countries outside the 10-nation bloc.
The US signing will be by the executive authority of Obama and does not require congressional ratification, said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the move publicly.
The administration of President George W Bush had declined to sign the document; Obama sees it as a symbolic underscoring of the US commitment to Asia.
On her arrival here Tuesday, Clinton reiterated Obama administration concerns that North Korea, already a threat to the US and its neighbors with its history of illicit sales of missiles and nuclear technology, is now developing ties to Burma's military dictatorship.
Clinton held out the possibility of offering North Korea a new set of incentives to return to negotiating a dismantling of its nuclear program if it shows a "willingness to take a different path." But she admitted there is little immediate chance of that.
A Clinton aide said the United States and its allies are looking for a commitment by North Korea that would irreversibly end its nuclear weapons program. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal US government deliberations, said there is no sign that North Korea intends to make such a move, keeping the US focus on enforcing expanded UN sanctions.
In her remarks about a possible Burma-North Korea connection, Clinton did not refer explicitly to a nuclear link but made clear that the ties are disconcerting.
"We know there are also growing concerns about military cooperation between North Korea and Burma which we take very seriously," she said at a news conference in the Thai capital.
"It would be destabilizing for the region, it would pose a direct threat to Burma's neighbors," she said, adding that as a treaty ally of Thailand, the United States takes the matter seriously.
Later, a senior administration official said that Washington is concerned about the possibility that North Korea could be cooperating with Burma on a nuclear weapons program, but he added that US intelligence information on this is incomplete. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.
The United States, in a joint effort with South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, is attempting to use UN sanctions as leverage to compel North Korea to return to the negotiating table over its nuclear program. A major element of the international concern about North Korea is the prospect of nuclear proliferation, which could lead to a nuclear arms race in Asia and beyond.
Clinton spoke to reporters after meeting with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the outset of a three-day visit to Thailand.
Clinton sharply criticized the military rulers of Burma for human rights abuses, "particularly violent actions that are attributed to the Burmese military concerning the mistreatment and abuse of young girls."
She said an Obama administration policy review on Burma is on hold pending the outcome of the trial of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest. The Noble Peace Prize laureate faces up to five years in prison if convicted, as expected.
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16377
Clinton urges Myanmar to free Suu Kyi
PHUKET, Thailand (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged Myanmar to free democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying such a move could pave the way for investments from the United States.
"If she were released that would open up opportunities at least for my country to expand our relationship withBurma, including investments in Burma," she said, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
Speaking after meetings in Phuket on the eve of Asia's biggest annual security forum, she said such opportunities were "up to the Burmese leadership".
Military-ruled Myanmar recently sparked outrage by putting Aung San Suu Kyi on trial in prison over an incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside house.
US President Barack Obama has described the court proceedings as a "show trial" and Myanmar has already been slapped with US sanctions for its detention of thousands of political prisoners.
Clinton said that while countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were moving "in a very positive direction", Myanmar was "moving in the opposite direction".
"We have been very clear in stating that the United States would like to see changes in the behaviour of the regime in Burma" she said, adding that the release of Aung San Suu Kyi was "critical".
Earlier Wednesday she said ASEAN should consider expelling Myanmar -- the bloc's problem child since it joined in 1997 -- if it does not release the imprisoned Nobel Peace Laureate.
Referring to US man John Yettaw's uninvited visit to Aung San Suu Kyi, Clinton said: "I regret deeply this unfortunate incident, which she had nothing to do with, and which served as an excuse for them to put her on trial."
The pro-democracy leader has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention since the junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in elections in 1990.
Critics of Myanmar's regime believe the trial is a ploy to keep her locked up for elections scheduled for next year.
Clinton reiterated concerns about possible cooperation over nuclear weaponry between Myanmar and fellow pariah state North Korea, one of the issues that is dominating the talks in Phuket.
On Tuesday Clinton also said she was "deeply concerned" by reports of human rights abuses in Myanmar, "particularly by actions that are attributed to the Burmese military concerning the mistreatment and abuse of young girls."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090722/wl_asia_afp/aseanarfusmyanmarsuukyi
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