News & Articles on Burma-Thursday, 10 March, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Thursday, 10 March, 2011

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Green Shan: Dams part of junta strategy against rebels
1,700 Factory Workers Strike in Rangoon
Dams Will Displace Thousands, Threaten Existence of Ethnic Group: Report
Green Shan: Dams part of junta strategy against rebels
19 dead as quake rocks China near Burmese border
Regime troops reinforced in northern Shan State
UN Official Urges Inquiry into Burma Rights Abuses
President’s clout ‘is premature’, says NLD
Gems Emporium Opens in Naypyidaw
HIV quietly skyrockets in Burma
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Green Shan: Dams part of junta strategy against rebels
Thursday, 10 March 2011 16:25 S.H.A.N.

Sai Sai, head of the Shan Sapawa environmental group and leading member of Burma Rivers Network (BRN), told SHAN today completion of the 7 mega dams on the Salween would strangle the struggle of the resistance armed movements fighting for self-rule.

[Salween Dam Map (map: Salween Watch)]

Salween Dam Map (map: Salween Watch)
Speaking on the sidelines of the press conference launching “Stop the Dam Offensive against the Karenni” at an undisclosed venue on the Thai-Burma border, he said, “There are 7 dams being planned on the Salween. 7 dams mean 7 man-made lakes, which wills be closely guarded by tens of thousands of the Burma Army troops. The resistance fighters trying to cross the river will become sitting ducks.”

The projected 7 dams, from north to south, are: Kunlong, Nawng Pha and Tasang in Shan State; Ywathit in Karenni (Kayah) State; and Weigyi, Dagwin and Hutgyi in Karen State.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’, Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, United Wa State Army (UWSA), Karenni Army (KA) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) are active on both sides of the Salween, whose headwaters are in China

Of the 7 projects, Hutgyi and Tasang appears to be the most advanced:

* Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), China and Naypyitaw signed an MoA to go ahead in April 2010
* Egat, Burma and China’s Three Gorges Group Corporation signed MoU on Tasang on 11 November 2010, just 4 days after the elections were held


“Egat had taken over from the MDX group (that had been working on Tasang since (1997),” he explained. “And the projected expenditure has been raised from $ 6 billion to $ 10 billion now.”

The Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG) has expressed 6 main concerns that the dams are:

* Fueling conflict and instability
* Forging ahead in secret (without information or consultation to/ with the local population)
* Destroying forests and biodiversity
* Reducing agricultural production
* Threatening indigenous peoples
* Locating water surges and shortages


“We, the people, are the host,” complained a Kayah resident who requested anonymity. “It is insulting when the guest is doing what is wants without asking the host.

“It is also meaningless to call our state Kayah and then doing what it can to destroy the people of Kayah.”

Thaw Reh, who had made the main presentation, agreed. “They also like to say it is for the benefit of the community, while all the time it is for themselves,” he charged.

Thaw Reh said he was taking advantage of the fact that Beijing is currently holding the National People’s Congress (NPC) to organize the press conference. “There must be peace before development,” he maintained. “And for every development project to go ahead, the participation of the people is imperative.”

The SSA South, in whose operational territory the Tasang hydropower project is located, has said it would bow to the will of the people on the subject. In the meanwhile, the road construction from Mongpan, west of the Salween, to Monghta, east of the Salween, near Tasang, has been suspended because of warnings from the local activists, said Sai Sai. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3502:green-shan-dams-part-of-junta-strategy-against-rebels&catid=90:environment&Itemid=287
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1,700 Factory Workers Strike in Rangoon
By LINN THANT Thursday, March 10, 2011

Some 1,700 workers at a shoe factory in Rangoon have been on strike demanding better pay conditions since Tuesday, according to the factory workers.

Workers are involved in a sit-in at the Taiyi shoe factory in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone, about 11 km from downtown Rangoon. One told The Irrawaddy that they were demanding better salaries and overtime pay, and that their demands have not been met to date.

Workers in Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone stage a sit-in in Feb. 2010. (Source: www.niknayman-niknayman.co.cc)
“We want to demand our rights peacefully,” said one of the factory workers. He said that the recent price hike in general commodities and transportation costs have pressured him and his fellow workers to demand better pay. “We can no longer survive on our current income. We are compelled to do this.”

The worker said that anti-riot police trucks have been stationed near the factory though this news cannot be independently verified.

Employees at Burmese factories generally earn an average monthly wage of US $30-50 while their counterparts in Cambodia and Vietnamese earn at least $120 a month.

The Taiyi shoe factory is one of at least 20 factories on the outskirts of Rangoon where industrial unrest broke out early last year. The disputes were resolved after the owners agreed to a monthly raise of 5,000 kyat ($5).

Last month, the International Labor Organization (ILO) renewed a memorandum of understanding with the Burmese government regarding procedures for lodging complaints against forced labor cases and child soldier conscription.

The ILO's executive director, Kari Tapiola, said last year that one of Burma's most fundamental issues was the complete absence of a legally functioning workers' organization.

Labor activists are hoping to form a labor union when Burma has a new government in the coming months. However, several factory workers have said that any future union will be formed of only the factory owners and government officials from the Labor Ministry, and would, therefore, not be representative of their needs.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20913
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Dams Will Displace Thousands, Threaten Existence of Ethnic Group: Report
By KO HTWE Thursday, March 10, 2011

At least 37,000 people will be displaced and the Yintale, a sub-group of the Karenni, could face extinction because of the damming of rivers across Karenni State, according to a new report released by local researchers.

The report, launched at a press conference in Thailand on Thursday by the Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG), exposes secret plans by the Burmese regime and the state-owned Datang Corporation of China to build three dams in the state under a memorandum of understanding signed in January 2010.

The three dams are the 600 MW Ywathit Dam on the Salween River; the 130 MW Pawn River Dam; and the 110 MW Thabet River Dam to the north of the Karenni State capital of Loikaw.

The Yintale, an ethnic group numbering only around 1,000, live as subsistence farmers on the banks of the Salween and Pawn rivers near the sites of two of the proposed dams, traditionally planting millet and sesame.
“If the dams go ahead, the income they generate will be stained with Karenni blood,” said Khu Thaw Reh of KDRG.

The KDRG report says that engineers guarded by armed soldiers are now surveying for the projects. Further evidence of their progress is the construction of shelters for engineers and workers and logging upstream from the dam sites, the report said, adding that local villagers have been told to stay away from the areas under development.

“These dams are killing off our people. We will have nowhere to go, even though this state belongs to us, at least in name,” said Khu Thaw, a KDRG member from inside Burma.

“It is sad for the future of the Karenni people. The regime shouldn't just come in here and do as it pleases just because there are so few of us,” he added.

Besides threatening indigenous people, the KDRG report says the projects could fuel conflict and instability in the area, destroy forests and diminish biodiversity, reduce agricultural production, and cause water surges and shortages.
Others agreed that the project would have a negative impact on the local environment.

“Nearly 50 species of animal in the area will be extinct because of these projects,” said Sai Sai, the coordinator of Burma Rivers Network, a coalition of organizations representing various dam-affected communities in Burma.

Another major concern is that the new hydropower dams could lead to the kinds of abuses that typically accompany major development projects in Burma.

“In the past, we experienced the building of the Lawpita hydropower dam. Even after we lost our land, we weren't able to demand compensation,” said Thaw Reh.

Lawpita, the first large-scale hydropower project built in Karenni State, forced over 12,000 people from their homes. An estimated 18,000 landmines were planted around the site and thousands of Burmese troops came in to secure the project, resulting in abuses against the local population, including forced labor, sexual violence and extrajudicial killings, according to the KDRG.

In total, the Burmese regime, working in partnership with Chinese and Thai companies, plans to build seven dams along the Salween River and its tributaries. Most are located in conflict zones and have exacerbated local resentment because almost all of the electricity expected to be generated will be sold to China and Thailand.

“How can investors think that this is just business as usual when armies are battling all around them and people are fleeing for their lives?” said Thaw Reh. “They should wake up to the risks of these dams and immediately stop their operations.”

At present, 21 major dam projects are under construction around the country, in Kachin, Shan and Karenni states and Mandalay and Sagaing divisions. The total output of these dams, many of which are being built by Chinese companies, is expected to be 35,640 MW of electricity.

Datang Corporation, the company involved in building the Karenni dams, belongs to the United Nations Global Compact, whose members commit to conducting business according to universally accepted principles of human rights and environmental and labor standards, according to the KDRG report. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20912
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Green Shan: Dams part of junta strategy against rebels
Thursday, 10 March 2011 16:25 S.H.A.N.

Sai Sai, head of the Shan Sapawa environmental group and leading member of Burma Rivers Network (BRN), told SHAN today completion of the 7 mega dams on the Salween would strangle the struggle of the resistance armed movements fighting for self-rule.

[Salween Dam Map (map: Salween Watch)]

Salween Dam Map (map: Salween Watch)
Speaking on the sidelines of the press conference launching “Stop the Dam Offensive against the Karenni” at an undisclosed venue on the Thai-Burma border, he said, “There are 7 dams being planned on the Salween. 7 dams mean 7 man-made lakes, which wills be closely guarded by tens of thousands of the Burma Army troops. The resistance fighters trying to cross the river will become sitting ducks.”

The projected 7 dams, from north to south, are: Kunlong, Nawng Pha and Tasang in Shan State; Ywathit in Karenni (Kayah) State; and Weigyi, Dagwin and Hutgyi in Karen State.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’, Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, United Wa State Army (UWSA), Karenni Army (KA) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) are active on both sides of the Salween, whose headwaters are in China

Of the 7 projects, Hutgyi and Tasang appears to be the most advanced:

* Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), China and Naypyitaw signed an MoA to go ahead in April 2010
* Egat, Burma and China’s Three Gorges Group Corporation signed MoU on Tasang on 11 November 2010, just 4 days after the elections were held


“Egat had taken over from the MDX group (that had been working on Tasang since (1997),” he explained. “And the projected expenditure has been raised from $ 6 billion to $ 10 billion now.”

The Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG) has expressed 6 main concerns that the dams are:

* Fueling conflict and instability
* Forging ahead in secret (without information or consultation to/ with the local population)
* Destroying forests and biodiversity
* Reducing agricultural production
* Threatening indigenous peoples
* Locating water surges and shortages


“We, the people, are the host,” complained a Kayah resident who requested anonymity. “It is insulting when the guest is doing what is wants without asking the host.

“It is also meaningless to call our state Kayah and then doing what it can to destroy the people of Kayah.”

Thaw Reh, who had made the main presentation, agreed. “They also like to say it is for the benefit of the community, while all the time it is for themselves,” he charged.

Thaw Reh said he was taking advantage of the fact that Beijing is currently holding the National People’s Congress (NPC) to organize the press conference. “There must be peace before development,” he maintained. “And for every development project to go ahead, the participation of the people is imperative.”

The SSA South, in whose operational territory the Tasang hydropower project is located, has said it would bow to the will of the people on the subject. In the meanwhile, the road construction from Mongpan, west of the Salween, to Monghta, east of the Salween, near Tasang, has been suspended because of warnings from the local activists, said Sai Sai. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3502:green-shan-dams-part-of-junta-strategy-against-rebels&catid=90:environment&Itemid=287
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19 dead as quake rocks China near Burmese border
The Associated Press

Date: Thursday Mar. 10, 2011 5:25 AM ET

BEIJING — An earthquake toppled houses and damaged a hotel and supermarket in China's extreme southwest near the border with Burma on Thursday, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 150, officials and state media said.

Witnesses reported that people were buried under debris from buildings damaged by the quake, centred in Yunnan province's Yingjiang county, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

China Central Television said the quake hit while many people, including students, were home for a customary midday rest. The report said at least two students were among those killed, but didn't give details. The state broadcaster showed several buildings with concrete foundations that had cracked and buckled.

The website of the Chinese government earthquake monitoring station said the magnitude-5.8 quake struck just before 1 p.m. (0500 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometres. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a magnitude of 5.4 and at a deeper 35 kilometres.

At least 19 people were killed and 157 other people were hurt, said Ren Xueli, an official with the Yunnan Disaster Relief Centre. China Central Television said 166 were injured.

CCTV reported that about 100 armed police, firefighters and soldiers were using three excavators to try to rescue a man and a girl trapped inside a four-story building that had partially collapsed.

He Shuhui, head of an armed police squad, was quoted as saying they were trapped in a stairway on the ground floor of the building.

Another official on duty at the centre, Gao Shaotang, said many houses had been toppled. Xinhua said the army was sending 400 soldiers to the site for rescue efforts.

The epicentre was in Shiming Village, just over a kilometre from the county seat, but triggered a power outage across Yingjiang, which has a population of about 300,000 people, Xinhua said.

The mountainous area lies 2,400 kilometres southwest of Beijing, close to the border with Myanmar, and is home to many ethnic groups on both sides of the border, which sees heavy traffic in people and goods.

Xinhua said the quake-prone region has been hit by more than 1,000 minor tremors over the past two months.

The Myanmar Meteorological Department released a statement saying a quake had hit some 370 kilometres northeast of Mandalay, the country's second-largest city.

The statement did not mention injuries, damage or the specific area of Myanmar most affected by the quake. Authorities in the tightly ruled country tend not to immediately discuss the effects of natural disasters.

Much of the area on the Myanmar side been under the control of various armed ethnic groups, who have battled the Myanmar military to remain free from central government control. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110310/yingjiang-yunnan-china-earthquake-110310/
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Regime troops reinforced in northern Shan State
Thursday, 10 March 2011 13:02 Jai Wan Mai

(Mizzima) - About 200 regime soldiers believed to be from the 1st Military Operations Command in Kyauk Mae have been dispatched to the Lashio area in northern Shan State, according to sources.

In early Feb, the Burmese junta also dispatched about 36 military vehicles from Mandalay to the Lashio area.

‘The aim of the reinforcements is to threaten the 1st Brigade of the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N)’, said the source, who added that the regime has banned vehicles from traveling through SSA-N areas.

Since the ban affects vehicles traveling to Wan Hai, the SSA-N headquarters area in Kesi Township, the prices of goods and cost of transportation have increased.

According to a trader in Mong La, many families of the SSA-N have moved into Nam Luap, Hselur and Mong Yang townships and about 2,000 homes have been built for the new arrivals. The source said the resettlement of SSA-N in the area is a concern for the regime and it makes the area a target for attack.

The relationship between the 1st Brigade of the SSA-N and the local authorities has deteriorated since the SSA-N has refused to transform itself into a militia force. As a consequence, regime troops launched four attacks on the group around Wan Hai in Kesi Township during the past year.

The 1st Brigade is lead by Sao Pang Pha. It is closely allied with the United Wa State Army and the National Democratic Alliance Army on the Burma-China border.

The SSA-N has joined in a political alliance with the Karen National Union, the Karenni National Progressive Party, the Kachin Independence Organization, the New Mon State Party and the Chin National Front, in which each army has agreed to come to each other’s aid if they are attacked by the Burmese regime. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/4991-regime-troops-reinforced-in-northern-shan-state.html
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UN Official Urges Inquiry into Burma Rights Abuses
By LALIT K JHA Thursday, March 10, 2011

One year after first recommending that the United Nations establish a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, the UN's Special Rapporteur on human rights in the country, has reiterated his call in a new report.

In a progress report submitted to the UN General Assembly on March 7 and released to the press on Wednesday, Quintana said the human rights situation in Burma remains serious, but also notes that last year's election offers opportunities for positive developments, provided the government demonstrates the necessary political will.

The report, which suggested the establishment of a CoI as one option among others, also pointed out that while it is the role of Burmese authorities to undertake measures to improve the human rights situation in Burma, that responsibility falls to the international community if they fail to do so.

“While the Government has responded that allegations of violations of human rights are investigated already by competent authorities, in the context of the gross and systematic nature of human rights violations in Myanmar [Burma] over a period of many years, the Special Rapporteur reiterates that it is essential for investigations of human rights violations to be conducted in an independent, impartial and credible manner, without delay,” the 20-page report said.

Quintana, who hasn't visited Burma since February of last year, said his requests for a visa to return to the country to examine the post-election situation have been repeatedly rejected by the Burmese government. Since the Nov. 7 election, he has expressed concern over restrictions on parliamentarians' freedom of expression.

The report also noted that 2,189 prisoners of conscience remain in detention in Burma as of January 2011, and urged the Burmese military junta to immediately release all political prisoners.

Another area of concern is growing tensions between the regime and ethnic armed groups. The report said that the Kachin were excluded from the political process, while the Wa and Mongla groups refused to participate. There are reports of cease-fire groups re-arming in anticipation of resumption of renewed conflict.

The report also highlighted the Burmese regime's failure to adequately guarantee the basic right of citizens to an education, despite burgeoning revenue from exports of resources.

“Myanmar must take appropriate measures towards full realization of the right to education to the maximum of the available resources,” the report, noting that multi-billion-dollar profits from natural gas sales to Thailand have not been used to improve the educational infrastructure in the country.

Arguing that the new government must prioritize the economic, social and cultural rights of citizens, the report said there will have to be fundamental changes to how the government manages its budget.

Observing that funds from the sale of natural gas are estimated to account for 70 percent of the country’s total foreign exchange reserves, with sales totaling around $3 billion annually, the report said that if these funds had been included in the state budget, they would have accounted for 57 percent of total budget revenue.

“Instead, they contributed less than 1 percent of total budget revenue, with much of this revenue reportedly never entering Myanmar,” the report said, demanding that these funds need to be included in the government’s budget and managed transparently with proper checks and balances.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20908
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President’s clout ‘is premature’, says NLD
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 10 March 2011

Recent appointments of government ministers to cabinet positions by Burma’s president-elect contravenes domestic law, according to the National League for Democracy, which claims he cannot wield such power until he officially takes office.

The group, which was legally dissolved as a political party last year, released a statement highlighting what it called a discrepancy between Burmese law and practice.

Spokesperson Nyan Win told DVB that the 2008 constitution, which came in to force in February following the new parliament’s first session, “doesn’t approve a person who is still the president-elect to carry out those tasks”.

The constitution, which was rushed through in the weeks following the devastating cyclone Narigs in May 2008, remains a highly controversial document, with critics alleging it contains multiple decrees that are geared towards sidelining the opposition.

The vast majority of cabinet and committee positions have been awarded to ministers with military backgrounds, casting doubt on the ruling junta’s assertions that Burma is transitioning to civilian rule.

The NLD will be urging other parties to echo its disquiet about the alleged illegal manoeuvring by Thein Sein, who had been prime minister of Burma before being elected to the top position on 4 February, although he is yet to be sworn in.

The elected government, led by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 80 percent of the November 2010 vote, is also yet to be installed.

Despite the disbanding of the NLD, whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi has remained a global icon of Burma’s pro-democracy movement, the party continues to provide strong opposition to the military junta and wields significant influence across Burma.
http://www.dvb.no/news/president%E2%80%99s-clout-%E2%80%98is-premature%E2%80%99-says-nld/14670
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Gems Emporium Opens in Naypyidaw
By WAI MOE Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Burmese military regime launched the 48th Gems Emporium in its administration capital Naypyidaw on Thursday, selling and exporting precious stones to international customers, mostly from China, despite Western sanctions.

The gems emporium follows the success of last year's fair when the junta netted an estimated US $1.7 billion in jade sales.

On Tuesday, ahead of the opening ceremony, junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe arrived at the venue along with five top generals: Maung Aye, Shwe Mann, Thein Sein, Tin Aung Myint Oo and Tin Aye, some of whom appeared in military uniform while others wore civilian dress. Their pictures appeared in a state-run-newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, which highlighted the significant of the Gems Emporium.

Also attending were Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the current Joint-Chief of Staff (Army, Navy, Air Force) who was promoted to a four-star general last week, and another of Than Shwe’s favorite generals, Brig-Gen Maung Maung Aye, the commander of the Naypyidaw regional military command.

Two top military cronies, Aung Ko Win who is a patron of the Myanmar Gems Entrepreneurs Association, and Tay Za who chairs the association, were also at the venue during the generals’ visit.

According to state media, the emporium is scheduled to be held on March 10-22 ahead of the 66th anniversary of Armed Forces Day on March 27. The organizers said they expected 4,000 gems merchants from 10 countries to visit the emporium while over 5,000 merchants from 20 countries were invited.

“Altogether 16,939 jade lots, 206 gems lots and 255 pearl lots will be on sale at the 48th Myanma Gems Emporium,” The New Light of Myanmar reported.

Thanks to China’s giant economy, the Burmese regime has enjoyed increased earnings from exporting gems, even though Western countries' sanctions target Burmese gems.

Burma earned $1.7 billion from selling jade to neighboring countries in 2010, an increase from $198 million in 2005, officials said.

According to data and photographic evidence gleaned from gems emporiums in Naypyidaw over the past two years, the regime sells gems in Euros, not US dollars. One jade lot sold to a Chinese businessman at the emporium in late 2010 was valued at more than Euro 5 million.

Military-run Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd and companies run by cronies, such as Tay Za's Htoo Group of Companies, Zaw Zaw’s Max Myanmar Group of Companies, and Ne Win Tun’s Ruby Dragon Jade & Gems Co Ltd, are involved in jade and other gem mining in Burma.

In recent years, Max Myanmar unearthed an enormous slab of jade weighing 115,000 kg from one of its sites in Hpakant Township, Kachin State.

Although Burma earned $1.7 billion from jade exports last year, few if any benefits are passed on to ordinary citizens, including local Kachin people who say they see nothing from the mining profits. Burma ranked second from bottom of Transparency International’s 2010 index out of 178 countries.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20914
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HIV quietly skyrockets in Burma
Patrick Winn, March 9, 2011 03:12

Not only are anti-retroviral meds scarce, many Burmese don't know the virus exists

In recent years, Burma (also called Myanmar) has solidified its standing as one of the worst places to contract HIV.

The latest to document the reclusive nation's HIV/AIDS woes is the Globe and Mail, which reports the government is treating "only the sickest" patients. Young men well into their illness are being sent home, writes journalist Mark MacKinnon.

Only those clinging to life get drugs. Why? Because of the roughly 242,000 Burmese with HIV, according to the Globe and Mail, only 20,000 can get their hands on much-needed medicine.

Those medicines are anti-retrovirals: drugs largely responsible for transforming HIV from a death sentence to a chronic illness.

But that promise is only available to those who can access the drugs. Though they've plummeted in price, relieving some of the worst-hit parts of Africa, they're still scarce in Burma. As of 2008, according to the U.N., Burma's government spent only 0.3 percent of its GDP on health -- less than any other country on the planet.

There are other factors at play, according to this Inter-Press Report that blames rising HIV rates on laws criminalizing male-on-male sex. In Yangon, Burma's largest city, nearly 30 percent of new HIV cases are among gay men, according to the report.

And as for HIV awareness in Burma? Many foreign relief workers report that sick men and women first learn about the disease when they show up sick to clinics in Yangon.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-rice-bowl/hiv-quietly-skyrockets-burma