သို႔
အဖြဲ႔ဝင္မ်ား
၂ဝ၁ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဆန္႔က်င္ေရးေကာ္မတီ (ဂ်ပန္)
ယေန႔ (၅-၁၂-၂ဝ၁ဝ) AUN office တြင္ က်င္းပေသာ ၂ဝ၁ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ
ဆန္႔က်င္ေရးေကာ္မတီ (ဂ်ပန္) EBC ၏ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္အရ ေအာက္ပါအစီအစဥ္
အတိုင္း အစည္းအေဝး က်င္းပမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ေလးစားစြာ ဖိတ္ေခၚ
အေၾကာင္းၾကားအပ္ပါသည္။
ေန႔ရက္ - ၁၂-၁၂-၂ဝ၁ဝ (တနဂၤေႏြေန႔)
အခ်ိန္ - နံနက္ ၉ နာရီခြဲမွ မြန္းတည့္ ၁၂ နာရီထိ
ေနရာ - AUN office, Takadanobaba, Shinjuku
ျပန္ၾကားေရး
၂ဝ၁ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဆန္႔က်င္ေရးေကာ္မတီ (ဂ်ပန္)
Sunday, December 5, 2010
EBC Meeting Invitation (12-12-2010) [1 Attachment]
လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးမ်ားေန႔” အခမ္းအနား (တိုက်ဳိ) တြင္ ပါဝင္လႈပ္ရွားၾကပါရန္ ဖိတ္ေခၚျခင္း
၆၂ ႏွစ္ေျမာက္ “လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးမ်ားေန႔” အခမ္းအနားကို ဂ်ပန္ႏိုင္ငံရွိ ျမန္မာအသိုင္းအဝိုင္းမွ အျခားႏိုင္ငံျခားသား အဖြဲ႔အစည္းမ်ားႏွင့္အတူ ေအာက္ပါအစီအစဥ္အတိုင္း က်င္းပမည္ ျဖစ္ပါ၍ တခဲနက္ ပါဝင္ လႈပ္ရွားၾကပါရန္ ေလးစားစြာ ဖိတ္ေခၚအပ္ပါသည္။
ေန႔ရက္ - ၁ဝ-၁၂-၂ဝ၁ဝ (ေသာၾကာေန႔)
အခ်ိန္ - ညေန ၃ နာရီမွ ၄ နာရီခြဲထိ
ေနရာ - UN University ေရွ႕ကြက္လပ္ Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
ျပန္ၾကားေရး
၂ဝ၁ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဆန္႔က်င္ေရးေကာ္မတီ (ဂ်ပန္) (EBC)
News & Articles on Burma-Saturday, 04 December, 2010
News & Articles on Burma
Saturday, 04 December, 2010
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Belgian ambassador meets Suu Kyi
Regime Reinforces Troops, Weapons in Kachin State
Weekly Business Roundup (December 4, 2010)
Imprisoned Student Leader Warns of Second Depayin
Myanmar has 2,200 political prisoners
Myanmar Gets The Message, U.N. Says
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Belgian ambassador meets Suu Kyi
AFP December 4, 2010, 1:03 am
BRUSSELS (AFP) - The ambassador of Belgium, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, on Friday met Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi at her home and reiterated support for her fight for democracy.
Belgium's Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere said in a statement that the ambassador had told the democracy leader, who was released November 13, that European Union member states would back efforts to win democracy in Myanmar.
"The November 7 election not having produced an opening that was awaited, Belgium as well as other EU member states must back the democratic opposition in general and Aung San Suu Kyi in particular", he said.
"It is indispensable that the voice of the democratic opposition, as well as those of ethnic minorities and civil society, be heard," Vanackere added.
The minister also called for the release of the country's estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
"I urge the Myanmar regime to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi's recent release be a first step towards the unconditional release of all the other political prisoners."
Amnesty International claims there are still more than 2,200 political prisoners in Myanmar being held under vague laws frequently used to criminalise peaceful political dissent.
Follow thewest.com.au on Twitter http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/8449121/belgian-ambassador-meets-suu-kyi/
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Regime Reinforces Troops, Weapons in Kachin State
By KO HTWE Friday, December 3, 2010
The Burmese army deploys more troops and weapons near the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Laiza and at other locations across Kachin State, according to residents.
Big-Gen Gwan Maw, the deputy commander in chief of the Kachin Independence Association (KIA), told The Irrawaddy on Friday: “What will happen depends on the troops that are serving on the front line. For the time being, there's no fighting because war depends on orders from superiors based on policy.”
Asked if the KIA was ready if the regime started fighting, he said, “A state of readiness is the nature of a army.”
The last direct talks between the regime and the KIA was more than three months ago. The KIO and its armed wing, the KIA, signed a cease-fire agreement with the junta in 1994 and now controls substantial areas of Kachin State. Tension between the two sides has ratcheted up in recent months.
Awng Wa, a leader of the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG), told The Irrawaddy on Friday said that government troops under the regime's Northern Command are reinforcing their weapons.
“The government is sending weapons to the troops based in Bamho Township,” said Awng Wa. “Now we can see many regime soldiers across the state.” He said the KIA is ready if the regime attacks.
A Laiza resident said townspeople have noticed many more government troops in the surrounding villages.
In its continuing campaign of intimidation and pressure, the regime recently closed the Lajayawng border crossing, a vital trade link between China and Kachin State about two miles from KIO headquarters in Laiza, to put more pressure on the cease-fire group.
“The closure weakens trade and commerce in the area,” said Gwan Maw. He said the KIA suggested that three-wheel taxi drivers leave the area because there was no work. Merchants in the area could decide for themselves whether or not to leave, he said.
In addition, the Burmese military government recently ordered the KIO to close all its liaison offices, in another attempt to force it to accept the BGF plan.
Recently, tension was also increased when the KIA reportedly shot at a helicopter flying close to its headquarters.
The regime has put pressure on 17 cease-fire groups to place their armed forces under Burmese army control since April 2009. Several of the smaller ethnic cease-fire groups have accepted the BGF plan, but all of the larger armies, such as the United Wa State Army—with 30,000 troops and the KIO with 10,000—have rejected the plan.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20248
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Weekly Business Roundup (December 4, 2010)
By WILLIAM BOOT Saturday, December 4, 2010
EU Sanctions ‘Hurt Many Innocent Small Burmese Businesses’
Many small family businesses in Burma have suffered from “misdirected” sanctions by the European Union, says a former senior British diplomat in Southeast Asia.
“Many innocent family businesses feature on the [sanctions] list simply because their businesses, such as furniture and jewelry, fall within the targeted sectors [of] timber and precious stones,” said Derek Tonkin, the British ambassador to neighboring Thailand for three years in the late 1980s.
Writing in the Brussels-based newspaper European Voice, Tonkin said the target lists were vaguely drawn up using Internet trade directories “without any thought for their relevance or accuracy.”
The small silversmiths and goldsmiths of Pakokku, allied to the monasteries not the military, have also suffered, he said.
Tonkin was writing as a debate has opened up on whether the EU should reconsider sanctions enforcement in the wake of Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from seven years of house arrest.
Advisers Stopped French President Forcing Total from Burma
French President Nicholas Sarkozy planned to force French companies, including oil and gas developer Total, out of Burma but was persuaded not to, according to revelations by WikiLeaks.
Sarkozy’s concern about Total’s continued business operations in Burma despite European sanctions were the subject of confidential US diplomatic messages sent from Paris to Washington, according to WikiLeaks.
It quotes US ambassador to France Craig R Stapleton describing the French leader as “forward-leaning” in his policies on Burma.
However, he was advised against intervening beyond existing EU sanctions by French political advisers.
Total and Chevron of the US have been able to continue operating gas fields in the Andaman Sea under a so-called “grandfather agreement” which meant they were excluded from sanctions imposed by the EU and the US after they had begun operations in Burma.
China to Build More Burma Dams as NGO Urges Better Standards
A Chinese environmental protection group has urged Chinese state-owned firms engaged in hydroelectric dam construction in Burma to use better environmental standards.
The Global Environmental Institute, a Beijing-based NGO, said with standards in Burma very low it was in the interests of developers as well as the local population to “adopt higher standards.”
The NGO was quoted by the Burma Rivers Network, a human rights group based in Thailand, after the Burmese authorities announced that another hydro dam is to be built in the Shweli region of Shan State.
A new dam is also planned at Bilin in Mon State.
China’s Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower Company has been commissioned to build the Shweli-2 dam in a joint venture with Burmese military leadership-linked Asia World, one of the Burmese companies on a US sanctions list.
The Shweli-2 dam will reportedly have an electricity generating capacity of 460 megawatts. Most electricity from the Shweli-1 dam is pumped to China, says the Burma Rivers Network.
It said there are no environmental standards on dam developments in Burma.
“If you compare it to Thailand or China and what they do in their countries, the affected communities there are consulted, so that’s why they avoid these places and come to Burma and do whatever they want,” said Burma Rivers Network spokesperson Sai Sai.
Sittwe Redevelopment Project by Indian Firm Finally Begins
The Indian engineering firm Essar has finally started work on renovating Burma’s west coast port of Sittwe, more than two years after an agreement was reached with the military government.
In that time, the project cost has risen about 35 percent to US $135 million.
Essar has begun a combined project to build modern ship handling facilities in Sittwe and dredge and widen the River Kaladan between its mouth at Sittwe and the landlocked India state of Mizoram.
A road parallel to the river is also being constructed.
It’s India’s biggest-ever infrastructure project undertaken in Burma, although Indian companies are investing much more financially in the Shwe gas field off the coast of Sittwe.
No reason has ever been given for the repeated delays in beginning the port and river project, which Essar says will now not be completed before mid-2013.
The work is expected to provide some employment for local people in and around Sittwe with some spinoff service business and trade in the longer term. However, India’s primary aim is to use Sittwe as a transshipment port in the movement of goods between its isolated far northeastern states and the major Indian Ocean port of Kolkata.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20251
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Imprisoned Student Leader Warns of Second Depayin
By KO HTWE Saturday, December 4, 2010
Htay Kywe, one of the imprisoned leaders of the 88 Generation Students group, said he is worried that Aung San Suu Kyi could face another attack like the one that killed many of her supporters in May 2003, according to his brother-in-law, Phyo Min Thein.
Phyo Min Thein, who is also a prominent political activist and former member of the Union Democratic Party, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that Htay Kywe spoke of his concerns during a 45-minute family visit at Buthitaung Prison in Arakan State on Dec. 2.
In this image taken from TV from footage issued on Saturday Oct. 13, 2007 by the Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Norway, shows Htay Kywe seen in Rangoon. (Photo: AP)
He said that Htay Kywe, who is currently serving a 65-year sentence for his political activities, asked him to convey his concerns to Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest on Nov. 13.
“He said he is worried that she could face another situation similar to the one at Depayin and asked me to warn her about that,” Phyo Min Thein said.
On May 30, 2003, around 5,000 armed thugs recruited by the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) ambushed Suu Kyi’s convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Division, killing an estimated 100 people.
Htay Kywe also expressed his continuing support for Suu Kyi as the leader of Burma's pro-democracy movement.
“He said that all political forces need to cooperate under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi to achieve national reconciliation,” said Phyo Min Thein, adding that they also discussed the lack of progress in reaching this goal.
According to Phyo Min Thein, Htay Kywe appeared to be thinner than usual and was suffering from a stomach ailment. He added that members of Burma's Special Branch police force monitored them throughout the visit.
Concerning prison conditions, Htay Kywe said that he is able to write and draw, but wants the authorities to move political prisoners serving their sentences in remote areas closer to their families.
The Burmese regime often forces its imprisoned opponents to serve long sentences in relatively inaccessible parts of the country, making it difficult for them to receive regular family visits.
In a recent interview with United Press International, Suu Kyi described conditions in Burma's prisons as “brutal.”
During another visit in August, Htay Kywe told family members that Burma's Nov. 7 election would be meaningless without the participation of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and called on the army, political forces, pro-democracy parties and ethnic groups to work together toward an “all-inclusive” solution to the country's political problems.
Htay Kywe was first arrested in 1991 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for violating Burma's draconian security laws. Initially held in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison, he was transferred to Tharrawaddy Prison in Pegu Division in 1995.
He was released in July 2001, but was subsequently arrested on several occasions under Section 10 A of the 1975 State Protection Law, which allows the military authorities the right to detain suspects arbitrarily.
In 2005, Htay Kywe co-founded the 88 Generation Students group along with other prominent leaders of the nationwide pro-democracy uprising of August 1988, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Min Zeya and Pyone Cho.
From 2005 to 2007, the group engaged in nonviolent activities, including group visits to political prisoners’ homes and holding Buddhist ceremonies at Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon to commemorate political prisoners still behind bars.
On Nov. 11, 2007, Htay Kywe and other members of the 88 Generation group were given 65-year prison sentences for their alleged involvement in massive monk-led pro-democracy protests in September of that year.
Most of the imprisoned 88 Generation leaders are serving their sentences in remote areas, including Buthitaung Prison in Arakan State, Kengtung Prison in Shan State, Loikaw Prison in Karenni State, Kawthaung Prison in Tenasserim Division, Kalaymyo Prison in Sagaing Division, and Myitkyina and Putao prisons in Kachin State.
Buthitaung Prison is notorious for its harsh treatment of political prisoners and its severely cold weather.
According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are 2,203 political prisoners in prisons across Burma.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20253
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Myanmar has 2,200 political prisoners
Published: Dec. 3, 2010 at 11:28 AM
YANGON, Myanmar, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was kept under house arrest most of the last two decades, said prison conditions in the country can be brutal.
The Nobel laureate, who was released in November, vowed to spotlight the plight of other political prisoners, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Suu Kyi said she drew strength from her dawn meditation sessions.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has about 2,200 political prisoners.
People can be imprisoned in Myanmar for speaking out against the military, or even passing a rumor, and they face long prison terms, enduring torture, consuming barely edible food, lack medical care and spend years in solitary confinement, the report said.
"There's a great difference between prison and house arrest," said Phyo Min Thein, an opposition politician and brother-in-law of a political prisoner serving a 65-year sentence.
"Aung San Suu Kyi was treated well, while those in prison are treated with extreme oppression. Is it fair? Everything isn't fair. We live under an unfair system."
Political prisoners often include comedians, musicians, artists and writers and one of their major challenges is staying mentally healthy while being deprived of contact with loved ones, the report said.
U Khun Htun Oo, 67, a political representative of the Shan ethnic minority and in failing health, received 93 years in 2005 for a private discussion about political transition.http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/12/03/Myanmar-has-2200-political-prisoners/UPI-62211291393718/
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Myanmar Gets The Message, U.N. Says
Published on December 03, 2010
The military junta in Myanmar needs to consider political transformation that includes elements previously excluded from the government, a U.N. official said.
Vijay Nambiar, the U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, said he was encouraged by the openness exhibited by military authorities in Myanmar, adding he was allowed to meet with anybody he wanted to in the country.
Myanmar recently released Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. The release, however, followed a general election that world leaders brushed off as a sham.
Several political parties were disbanded ahead of the election, including Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
Rights groups, meanwhile, complain there are more than 2,000 political prisoners still behind bars.
Nambiar said he felt there was a role for the United Nations to play in encouraging political reform and socioeconomic development in the country.
"I did sense that the government did receive my message," he told U.N. Radio. "Now what they do is to be seen." http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=265051&catid=3
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