News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 12 April, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 12 April, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------
US urges Myanmar to free political prisoners
EU Should Support Commission of Inquiry on Burma
Myanmar Could Develop Nukes with N Korea's Help
Shan Farmers to Sue Govt over Land Seizures
Human Rights Abuses Reported in Shan State Clashes
Myanmar ATS drugs on rise, reveal UN report
Burma told to free prisoners
Burma military developing a secret weapon in north
Activists Fight to Stop Dam across Mekong
--------------------------------------------




US urges Myanmar to free political prisoners
MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press
Updated 05:11 a.m., Tuesday, April 12, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most important step Myanmar can take to improve its international relations is to free its more than 2,000 political prisoners, a U.S. official said Monday, as Washington prepares to appoint a special envoy to the country.

Joseph Yun, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, described the November release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after years of house arrest as "very significant."

But Yun urged Myanmar to go further. He described the government recently installed after elections that were boycotted by Suu Kyi's party as "much the same people as before," which means they are dominated by the military.

Yun said the United States was continuing its two-track policy of retaining sanctions while seeking to engage Myanmar. That approach was adopted by the Obama administration about 18 months ago after two decades of efforts to isolate the military government failed to force positive change.

Speaking at a conference on Myanmar at Washington's Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Yun said the coming appointment of a U.S. envoy to the country, expected to be defense official Derek Mitchell, would give Washington a new interlocutor to speak with government and opposition, coordinate U.S. policy and work with the international community.

"We are looking for the release of political prisoners. I think that would be the single most concrete item Naypyidaw could do for the international community," Yun said, referring to Myanmar's administrative capital.

Yun said the U.S. also wants assurances the security of Suu Kyi and her supporters is not under threat, and the government to legitimize her party and bring it and other democratic and ethnic opposition parties into the political mainstream.

The U.S. offer of engagement was not sustainable forever "unless we get something for it," Yun said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is urging Western nations to lift sanctions against Myanmar, an ASEAN member. They have been imposed for its alleged rights abuses and suppression of democracy. The European Union is likely to ease sanctions slightly on Tuesday by lifting a visa ban for a year on certain civilian members of the military-led regime, an EU official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.

Any easing would open a gap between the EU and the U.S., which says it is too early to lift sanctions.

Suu Kyi's party won elections 1990 but was barred from taking power. The party was outlawed for refusing to participate in the November vote. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest.

Associated Press writer Don Melvin in Brussels contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/US-urges-Myanmar-to-free-political-prisoners-1332490.php#ixzz1JJNzqX82

-------------------------------------------
EU Should Support Commission of Inquiry on Burma
Tuesday, 12 April 2011, 10:32 am
Press Release: ITUC

EU Should Support Commission of Inquiry on Burma

Brussels, 11 April 2011 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC and the ETUC are calling on the European Union to support the holding of a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, when the EU renews its Burma policy on 12 April.

"The Burmese military junta is responsible for appalling crimes over many years. Europe, and the rest of the international community, should support international moves for a UN Inquiry, to ensure that justice is done on behalf of the victims of the regime's reign of oppression and violence," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

"There is already significant support within European governments for a UN Inquiry to be launched, and the EU as a whole now needs to fully support it. Europe needs to take a strong stand and show that the regime cannot continue to act with impunity," said ETUC General Secretary John Monks.

ENDS http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1104/S00306/eu-should-support-commission-of-inquiry-on-burma.htm
---------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 12 April 2011 13:55
Myanmar Could Develop Nukes with N Korea's Help

WASHINGTON, 12 APRIL, 2011: Myanmar has not yet developed the technology for nuclear weapons, but has a chance of succeeding with help from North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported a scholar as saying Monday.

Speaking to a seminar at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Robert Kelly, a nuclear engineer, said Myanmar has several factories capable of enriching uranium that were built with German technology.

"When the Germans are inspecting, the factories appear to be civilian," said Kelly, a fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

"But when they are gone, the same machine tools are being used by military personnel to make equipment for missiles and the nuclear fuel cycle," Yonhap quoted him as saying.

Citing testimony from several defectors from Myanmar (Burma), some of whom have worked at the factories, and satellite photos, Kelly said that the Southeast Asian nation has made "efforts to develop gas centrifuges."

He dismissed as "poor, especially for high-tech activities such as missile and nuclear facilities" the quality of workmanship at the Myanmar factories, but did not preclude the chance of Myanmar succeeding.

"All experts judge that many of these efforts will be unsuccessful and beyond Burma's reach," he said.

"So the programme is not an immediate military threat, unless there are big changes. These would include support from another country such as DPRK and a shift to more useful technologies such as gas centrifuges. And Burma has a chance of eventually succeeding, still probably only with outside help."

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

US officials have repeatedly warned of possible nuclear proliferation to Myanmar from North Korea.

In June last year, a North Korean cargo ship, possibly on its way to Myanmar, returned home after being closely tracked by US Navy vessels.

North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun visited Yangon, Myanmar, in July, prompting the US to issue a statement calling on Myanmar to abide by an arms embargo and other UN sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests in 2009.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also expressed concerns in July about North Korea's alleged proliferation of nuclear technology to Myanmar.

"I've also shared with the minister our concerns about the exporting by North Korea of military materiel and equipment to Burma," Clinton said at the time.

"We know that a ship from North Korea recently delivered military equipment to Burma and we continue to be concerned by the reports that Burma may be seeking assistance from North Korea with regard to a nuclear programme."

-- BERNAMA http://www.malaysiandigest.com/world/20861-myanmar-could-develop-nukes-with-n-koreas-help.html
------------------------------------------
Shan Farmers to Sue Govt over Land Seizures
By KO HTWE Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Five farmers from the Tachilek and Kengtung townships in Shan State are planning to file a lawsuit against local authorities who confiscated their land, according to a lawyer representing the group.

Nearly 100 acres of local farmland was seized by township authorities over the past three years, much of which has been sold to Chinese businessmen who have converted the arable land into rubber plantations.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, lawyer Myint Thwin said that some of the land had been seized a long time ago, but farmers were unable to file a suit against the local government under the previous administration of the State Peace and Development Council.

“Now we can file a lawsuit by quoting articles from the new constitution,” he said. “The businessmen who took over the land have no legal documents.”

“The local authorities and businessmen have taken advantage of illiterate farmers,” he said.

Myint Thwin said he also received a letter of complaint from the farmers about land in Kachin State being confiscated due to the construction of a railway line.

Across the country, farmers have had land confiscated by Burma's military authorities and distributed to private companies. According to lawyers, who also provided documented evidence to The Irrawaddy, some 8,500 acres of farmland was seized in Rangoon Division, nearly 5,000 acres in Irrawaddy Division, 1,338 acres in Kachin State, and 600 acres in Mon State. Farmers in each of these regions have filed complaints and lawsuits, but no action has been taken.

The head of the Burmese military junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, delivered a Peasants' Day message on March 2 assuring the nation that the government is taking measures to improve the agricultural sector.

According to the 2008 constitution, Chapter (VIII) Act 356 states that “the Union shall protect according to law movable and immovable properties of every citizen that are lawfully acquired.”

However, 10 villages in Zayar Thiri Township in Naypyidaw are to be relocated because of a shopping center construction project for the forthcoming 2013 SEA Games, according to local residents.

“The villages must be relocated, each dispossessed villager will receive 500,000 kyat (US $500) per acre and a plot of land,” said a representative of the construction company.

The date for the relocation has not yet been fixed, but nearly 1,000 households have been forced to be relocated.

“500,000 kyat per acre won't last long,” said a dispossessed villager from Popa Kone. “But we can maintain our standard of living with just one acre of land.” http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21117
-------------------------------------------
Human Rights Abuses Reported in Shan State Clashes
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Large-scale human rights abuses occurred during recent fighting between Burmese government troops and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-North), which has left hundreds of thousands of local people in fear for their lives, according to a Shan human rights organization.

The Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), a Thailand-based organization, issued a statement on Tuesday regarding human rights abuses committed by the Tatmadaw (Burmese armed forces) during clashes between the Tatmadaw and the SSA-North.

According to the SHRF statement, villagers are being tortured and killed on suspicion of supporting the Shan resistance. In addition, women are being targeted for sexual violence—three women were gang-raped in separate incidents in the conflict area, the statement said.

SHRF spokesperson Kham Harn Fa said, “Northern Shan State is being plunged into war and new atrocities inflicted on our people. Now is definitely not the time to lift sanctions against the regime.”

The conflicts started on March 13, when the 22-year-old cease fire agreement between the SSA-North and the Tatmadaw was broken. The SHRF statement said that the Tatmadaw mobilized 3,500 troops from over 20 battalions to attack the headquarters of the SSA-North in Mong Hsu Township, which is near the border between northern and southern Shan State.

Namp Lao village, located in the northeastern part of Mong Hsu, is where the first clash broke out. According to the SHRF statement, four novices were killed and two villagers injured by the Tatmadaw in that clash, and fighting then spread to Tang Yan, Kesi, Mong Yai, Hsipaw, Lashio and Kyaukme townships, with 65 battles taking place in the last three weeks.

A source close to the SSA-North from Lashio, the capital of northern Shan State, told The Irrawaddy that the SSA-North is using guerrilla warfare tactics to fight the Tatmadaw.

“When the Burmese Army attacked the Namp Lao and Wan Hai bases, which are the strongest bases of the SSA-North, the troops were spread into different areas. But the SSA-North troops are fighting back against the Burmese troops,” a local source said.

On March 31, SSA-North troops launched a bomb attack on an army convoy from the No 291 Light Infantry Battallion based in Nam Paung village, which is about 25 miles from Lashio. A villager from Nam Poung said that no one was injured in the bomb attack, but the vehicles were destroyed.

Over 100 local people from five to seven villages near Nam Paung were then forced to relocate to an area which has been controlled by Burmese army troops since the end of March.

A villager who formerly lived in Nam Hma Mauk Tong village, where SSA-North troops are also based, said that they were ordered by the No 291 Light Infantry Battalion based in Nam Paung to move to the new location. If they refused to do so, they would be arrested and their village burned, he said.

“About 50 soldiers came into the village after several gun fights occurred. Then they told every villager to get outside of the house and started looking for SSA-North soldiers inside. When they saw a picture of someone in an olive green suit like an SSA uniform, they seized the whole family without asking anything and took the electronics. After that they destroyed the rest,” said a local source who has moved to a new village.

“At that time I just prayed to the Lord Buddha to escape from such a terrible moment,” he continued. “Everything was okay when the SSA-North troops were based in our village. They even solved some problems for us.”

A source close to the SSA-North said that Col Yang, the leader of the SSA-North troops based in Nam Hma Mauk Tong, has fled but is still ordering his troops to fight back against the Tatmadaw.

Military observers said that Tatmadaw attacked the SSA-North, which has at least 3,000 troops, because it refused to transform into a border guard force under Burmese military command. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21119
---------------------------------------
Myanmar ATS drugs on rise, reveal UN report
12 April 2011

Political instability in Thailand's border areas is abetting Myanmar's infamous narcotics trade. A new UNODC report highlights a surge in the production of amphetamine-type stimulants and a new increase in its domestic demand.

drug-production-in-Myanmar.jpg
A police lab technician in Bangkok examines a shipment of siezed yaba/ Photo credit: Steve Sandford/IRIN

Chiang Rai: The young man sits on the railing of the long tail boat, explaining how he smuggles amphetamines into Thailand from Myanmar.

"When I transport 'Ya Ba' [crazy drug], I come down this way," says the ex-Wa army soldier, pointing across the River Kok on the Thai-Myanmar border, as the wooden vessel glides by a Thai checkpoint on the shoreline.

A sprawling border region, largely controlled by ethnic armies within Myanmar and corruption within the Thai security forces, has aided a thriving narcotics trade along the 1,800km border.

In 2009, seizures of pills in Myanmar and the countries immediately bordering Shan State tripled from the previous year, a trend that has continued in 2010, a recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) states.

Between January and September 2010, more than 44 million pills were seized in Thailand alone, while over 22 million pills were confiscated in Lao PDR, it added.

Most amphetamines are produced in small, mobile labs near Myanmar's borders with China and Thailand, primarily in territories controlled by active or former ethnic insurgent groups, many of which now operate as criminal syndicates rather than politically motivated insurgents, according to the 2011 International Narcotics Control Strategy (INCS) report released in March.

"Burma's drug enforcement authorities have not suppressed drug production and trafficking from the ceasefire enclaves of certain ethnic minorities, primarily the region controlled by the United Wa State Army [UWSA]," it stated.

But while the UWSA is considered a prime player in the drug trade, there is also a surge in production - of both amphetamine tablets and heroin - by militia groups aligned with Myanmar's military-led government.

This is attributed to the army's reliance on taxation of opium, and its policy to allow proxy militia groups to deal in drugs in exchange for policing resistance activity, maintains Shan expert Kuen Sai.

Despite promises by the UWSA to eradicate poppy fields in its Northern Myanmar region, the policy has led to a rise in opium production in other areas of the country, he said.

"As the drug trade goes, it has a balloon effect. When it was suppressed in the Wa area it went to other areas. The production began to build up in other areas of Shan state," explains Kuen Sai.

"But not all of the drugs are produced by the Wa," he adds. "Along the Thai-Burma border there are many areas not under control of the Wa. They are mostly under the control of the Burma army and militia groups. These militia groups are the main competitors for the Wa right now."

Thai challenge

Drug eradication has been a constant challenge for Region 4 Special Forces Colonel Peeranate Ketthem, who overseas the northern borders of Thailand.

"The drug organizations have set up the factories in the ethnic groups' community, where they can control production.

"For example, in northern Shan state they've built up factories in four or five places and also built a factory in the area between Ko Kang ethnic group and Wa state."

The colonel estimates that less than 30 percent of the total amount of drugs being smuggled in is actually intercepted by Thai forces.

Indeed, the vast stretches of land between the two borders provide ample room for crossing undetected.

Smuggling experience

On the Kok River, the former Wa soldier tells of the smuggling he once undertook just to survive.

Often going without proper food and supplies, the former soldier would get just over US$300 for each delivery down the river. The parcels, containing 10,000-20,000 tablets, were usually wrapped in watertight packets.

"The people who would order me to do the deliveries were usually army commanders. We couldn't really refuse."

And with no signs of the conflict easing up, most observers expect the drug problem to continue.

According to the INCS report, in 2010, Myanmar was categorized by US President Barack Obama as one of three countries to have "failed demonstrably" to meet its international counter-narcotics obligations and all indications suggest the country's production of amphetamine type stimulants continued to rise.

Myanmar, Venezuela and Bolivia are among 20 countries - including Afghanistan, Colombia and Mexico - that have been identified as "major illicit drug producing and/or drug transit countries", according to the report sent to the US Congress.

Source : IRIN http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/myanmar-ats-drugs-on-rise-reveal-un-report
--------------------------------------
Burma told to free prisoners
WalesOnline
Apr 12 2011

The most important step Burma could take to improve its international relations was to free its 2,000-plus political prisoners, a top US official said.

Joseph Yun, deputy assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific affairs, said the US also wanted Burma to legitimise the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi, which was outlawed before November elections that were swept by pro-military parties.

Mr Yun said the US was continuing its two-track policy of retaining sanctions while engaging Burma, but said engagement was not sustainable forever “unless we get something for it”.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/latest-world-news/2011/04/12/burma-told-to-free-prisoners-91466-28503912/#ixzz1JJJR237t

---------------------------------------
Burma military developing a secret weapon in north
Tuesday, 12 April 2011 17:19 KNG

An unknown chemical weapon is being developed in highly-secured areas in the country’s north, by workers wearing protective suits and guarded by Burmese military personnel, according to witnesses.

The secret site where the weapon is being developed is situated in Mabein Township, in southern Shan State, close to the border with Kachin State, according to locals and timber loggers.

Sources at the weapon site told the Kachin News Group (KNG), workers at the site have to wear NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) protective suits and the guards have also been alerted that people who breathe the gas from the site will die.

However, the secret weapon has not been identified yet, the sources added.
mabein-burmaNo one except workers are authorized to approach or enter the secret weapon project site by Burmese soldiers, who have guarded the site since the project started early last year, locals said.

Since last year, Chinese timber loggers and trucks have been banned from entering logging sites in the Mabein area, where teak is logged and transported to the Chinese border.

The site is isolated from villages in the township and it is also not accessible by local ethnic armies like the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), local observers said.

The military-controlled Burmese government is cooperating with North Korea and Russia for the development of modern weapons and a nuclear bomb. http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1886-burma-military-developing-a-secret-weapon-in-north.html
-----------------------------------------------
Activists Fight to Stop Dam across Mekong
By DENIS D. GRAY / AP WRITER Tuesday, April 12, 2011

BANGKOK — A plan for the first dam across the Mekong River anywhere in its meandering path through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam has set off a major environmental battle in Southeast Asia.

The $3.5 billion Xayaburi dam is slated for the wilds of northern Laos and would generate power mostly for sale to Thailand. The project pits villagers, activists and the Vietnamese media against Thai interests and the Laotian government in its hopes of earning foreign exchange in one of the world's poorest countries.

In this 2010 photo released from the NGO International Rivers, a fisherman works near the site of the proposed Xayaburi Dam in Paksey, northern Laos. (Photo: AP)
A decision on whether the dam gets the green light, is axed or deferred for further studies is expected April 19 during a meeting in the Laotian capital among Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Opponents warn it could open the way for 10 more dams being considered along the lower Mekong.

"Our lives and livelihoods depend on the health of the Mekong River," said Kamol Konpin, mayor of the Thai riverside town of Chiang Khan.

"As local people have already suffered from dams built upstream in China and watched the ecosystem change, we are afraid that the Xayaburi dam will bring more suffering."

China has placed three dams across the upper reaches of the Mekong, but otherwise its 3,000-mile (4,900-kilometer) mainstream flows free.

The Xayaburi would cut across a stretch of the river flanked by forested hills, cliffs and hamlets where ethnic minority groups reside, forcing the resettlement of up 2,100 villagers and impacting tens of thousands of others.

Environmentalists say such a dam would disrupt fish migrations, block nutrients for downstream farming and even foul Vietnam's rice bowl by slowing the river's speed and allowing saltwater to creep into the Mekong River Delta.

A Thai firm would build the 1,260 megawatt hydroelectric project. However, Thai villagers along the river are staging protests and planning to deliver letters to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Lao Embassy in Bangkok, where the Thai government has maintained an official silence on the issue.

Pianporn Deetes, of the US-based International Rivers, said environmentalists are ready to take their case to court if Abhisit doesn't deliver a positive response.

Last month, 263 non-governmental organizations from 51 countries sent letters to the governments of Laos and Thailand urging that the project be shelved.

Laos said in February that the Xayaburi would be the "first environmentally friendly hydroelectric project on the Mekong" and that will "not have any significant impact on the Mekong mainstream."

"We are excited about this project," the statement said.

Vietnam's official media, in a rare disagreement with its communist neighbor, has blasted the dam, while scientists and environmental groups have called for its construction to be delayed for 10 years until more research is conducted.

"It seems that countries of the lower Mekong still haven't learned lessons from the impact of the Chinese dams," Pianporn said. "Xayaburi is so important because it could set off the destruction of the lower Mekong."

Since 2007, there have been proposals to put up 11 mainstream dams in Cambodia and Laos.

The Mekong River Commission, set up by the four Southeast Asian neighbors in 1995 to manage the river, has expressed serious reservations about Xayaburi. A study by the group recommended a 10-year moratorium on all mainstream dams, a stand supported by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a Southeast Asian trip earlier this year.

The commission cited feared damage to migrations of between 23 and 100 fish species, among a host of other environmental problems.

Another MRC document showed nobody spoke in favor of the dam during public consultations this year in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, while many officials, academics and residents cited problems or lack of information about the project. No consultation was held in Laos.

"If this project goes ahead it would be unimaginably irresponsible," said Ame Trandem of Rivers International.

Somkiat Khuengchiangsa, who has spent his life along the river and heads The Mekong-Lanna Natural Resources and Culture Conservation Network, said governments are more interested in the economics of the project than its effect on residents.

"Rivers are not the property of nations or groups of people.
They belong to all mankind," he said.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21115