News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 20 April, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 20 April, 2011
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Philippines urges Myanmar to free all political prisoners
Myanmar hopes to chair ASEAN in 2014
Burma Army soldiers fleeing from battlefields in Shan state
US Pushes Asean to Reject Burma
Activists target president with campaign
Politicians warned against ‘unlawful’ contacts
Migrants freed from Bangkok ‘factory prison’
Plight of Burmese Child Sex Slaves Revealed
Burma needs to stop ethnic wars and to release political prisoners
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Philippines urges Myanmar to free all political prisoners
INQUIRER.net First Posted 14:36:00 04/20/2011

MANILA, Philippinines—The Philippines has urged Myanmar to release the military-ruled nation’s political prisoners, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario noted Myanmar’s roadmap to democracy, which he said is crucial in “establishing a clear path to being able to join other countries of Asean in embracing democracy.”

In a meeting April 10 at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Informal Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the East Asia Summit in Bangkok, Del Rosario conveyed to Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Lwin Manila’s appeal to free the more than 2,000 political prisoners.

The United States has said that the most important step Myanmar can take to improve its international relations is to free its jailed political dissidents.

Lwin said Yanggoon has been making headway in implementing political reforms, citing that national elections were held, a new constitution was adopted, and the Parliament was convened.

The Asean 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 has eased sanctions on Myanmar's government, with the lifting of a visa ban on some civilian members of the regime.

The Obama administration has shifted the long-standing US policy of isolating Myanmar's generals, attempting to engage them while retaining sanctions imposed because of the military's poor record on human rights and democracy.

Washington is also concerned about Myanmar's alleged nuclear ambitions and trade in weapons with North Korea. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20110420-332258/Philippines-urges-Myanmar-to-free-all-political-prisoners
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Myanmar hopes to chair ASEAN in 2014
BY NAOJI SHIBATA DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD

2011/04/20

photoSurin Pitsuwan during an interview in Nara on April 18 (Naoji Shibata)

NARA--Myanmar (Burma) has told the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that it wants to chair the grouping in 2014 after declining the post in 2006 amid Western criticism.

In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun on April 18, Surin Pitsuwan, the ASEAN secretary-general, indicated that U.S. approval may hold the key.

He said the leaders of other ASEAN members will decide on the chairmanship, adding that the opinions of East Asia Summit members will likely be respected.

Surin said he wanted ASEAN's dialogue partners to "feel comfortable enough to come to our meeting."

Japan, China and South Korea are among the 16 members of the East Asia Summit. The United States and Russia will join this year.

Myanmar was scheduled to chair ASEAN in 2006. But other members persuaded it not to accept the post because the United States and European countries were critical of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar.

The government of Myanmar said it has shifted from a military regime to civilian rule after a general election in November.

It apparently hopes to demonstrate its legitimacy internationally by chairing ASEAN before its full-scale economic integration, which is slated for 2015.

Surin said he hopes the new Myanmar government, which still comprises many former military officials, will make substantial progress toward democracy.

"We hope there is a substantive change (in the way) they deal with their problems and their relations with the rest of the world," he said.

He also asked Western countries to lift economic sanctions against Myanmar at an early date, saying that its people are suffering more than its government.

Touching on other regional issues, Surin said the ASEAN Regional Forum is expected to discuss Thailand's border dispute with Cambodia at its meeting in July.

Thailand has refused to accept observers from Indonesia, this year's ASEAN chair, for the disputed border.

Surin said cautiousness is strong within the Thai military, rather than the government, toward an Indonesian mission.

"It's not the government (but) the military establishment and various other players in the system" that are not ready to accept observers, Surin said.

He added that he is watching Thailand's response after a general election to be held in the near future.

Surin offered his condolences to victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake on behalf of ASEAN. He said ASEAN wants to do whatever it can.

He and his friends already donated $10,000 (830,000 yen) through the Nippon Foundation to support the quake-hit areas. http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104190195.html

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Burma Army soldiers fleeing from battlefields in Shan state
Wednesday, 20 April 2011 16:11 Hseng Khio Fah

During these days, a large number of soldiers from Burma Army troops fighting with the Shan State Progress Party/ Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) in Shan State South, have reportedly been deserting from the battlefields, local sources reported.

So far, the known deserters were ten, all from Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 513 and 542 that have been fighting with the Shan army on 16-17 April, in Tawng Hio village, 20 miles south of Tangyan township, a source said.

“They [the soldiers] deserted during the fighting. They changed into civilian clothes and passed through the village. Five soldiers came out on 17 April and another five on 19 April,” said an eye witness.

At least 10 Burma Army soldiers were reportedly killed including a battalion commander and 15 injured in the clash that took place on 16-17 April. They also lost five RPG launchers and 6 backpacks to the Shan army, according to a civil servant from Tangyan.

None of the members from Shan army were reported injured or killed. The two-day siege was led by Major Sai Hseng with over a hundred men from Brigade No. 36, according to the SSA.

“Burma army soldiers took refuge villagers’ trenches, bunkers and monastery making the Shan army unable to fire,” said a source.

The battles between the Shan army and the Burma Army have begun since 13 March up to date and had injured and killed dozens of civilians including soldiers. Meanwhile, the Burma Army demanded the Shan army to withdraw all of its troops that had moved to the north of Mandalay-Lashio highway. However, the Shan army has yet to give any response and is still active in the areas together with the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) “South” of Yawd Serk.

Last week, six Burma Army soldiers from Infantry battalion (IB) 152 based in Kholam sub-township of Namzarng township, surrendered to the SSA ‘South’ along with their weapons due to discrimination, abuses and forced labor, according to the SSA ‘South’. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3621:burma-army-soldiers-fleeing-from-battlefields-in-shan-state&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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US Pushes Asean to Reject Burma
By LALIT K JHA Wednesday, April 20, 2011

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration has said it is unwilling to work with the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) with Burma as its chair, given its poor track record on human rights and democracy.

The US government's views in this regard are being conveyed to Asean members at a time when Burma has intensified its bid to take on the chairmanship of the regional bloc in 2014.

“I mean, obviously, we would have concerns about Burma in any kind of leadership role because of their poor human rights record and domestically, I don’t have any more comment beyond that,” the State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, told reporters at his daily news conference.

Toner was responding to reports that the new civilian government in Burma has submitted a letter to the Asean Secretariat stating its readiness to take up the group's chair in 2014. At the 11th summit meeting in Vientiane in November 2004, under pressure from colleagues and the international community, Burma missed the chance to take the chair.

Burma wants Asean leaders to make a decision at the upcoming Jakarta summit on May 7-8, so it will have sufficient time to prepare for the year-long chair in three years time.

However, US officials said the Obama administration's position is clear—that unless Burma improves on its human rights records and addresses the issue of real democracy in the country, it will be tough for the international community to work with Asean if Burma plays a leadership role.

The State Department said it hoped that the nomination of a new special US representative to Burma by the US president last week would give fresh impetus to its policy on Burma.

“Hopefully, it will add new impetus to our outreach to Burma. But also, again, this is an individual who can also underscore our deep, deep concerns about the authoritative rule there,” Toner said when asked about the special US representative to Burma.

Meeting the long pending demand of his lawmakers, Obama, last week nominated diplomat Derek Mitchell as his special US representative on Burma. A well-known South East Asia hand, Mitchell will hold an ambassadorial rank in this capacity.

Currently the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs at the Department of Defense, Mitchell still has to undergo the rigorous confirmation process of the US senate before he can take on the new position.

“Whenever you name a senior official like this to do something, to lead our efforts in Burma, it elevates the initiative,” Toner said. “But we remain committed to our two-track approach to Burma and the engagement door does remain open.”

Meanwhile Surin Pitsuwan, the Asean secretary-general, told Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun on Monday that US approval may hold the key to the bloc's decision on Burma's chairmanship.

He said the leaders of other Asean members will decide the matter, adding that the opinions of East Asia summit members will likely be respected.

Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India are among the 16 members of the East Asia Summit alongside the 10 Asean member states.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21138
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Than Shwe Still in Control but Progress Possible: Former US Envoy
By LALIT K JHA Tuesday, April 19, 2011

WASHINGTON—Priscilla Clapp, a former US charge d'affaires to Burma, said last week that the country's new government is still a work in progress and that the complex post-election environment may evolve over the coming five years.

Speaking at a conference on Burma and North Korea in Washington, Clapp said the key determinant during this period will be the fate of Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

“He still controls major decisions and can be expected to do so as long as he survives. Both the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council, the name of the former ruling junta which was recently dissolved] and the new government are reflections of his predilections and preferences, and there is no question that he exists in his own strange universe, harboring deep and irrational apprehensions about the outside world that tend to deny Burma the benefits of interaction with a dynamic global community. Things could change rather quickly once he is no longer in place.”

Clapp said that despite their deliberate exclusion from the 2010 elections, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Aung San Suu Kyi will remain a potent political force in Burma that could serve to strengthen the position of opposition parties in the new parliaments if the NLD leadership is able to associate with a broad coalition of opposition forces and the government does not take further repressive measures against them.

Noting that economic reform will be key to the success of political transition in Burma, Clapp said that if the country continues its current descent into predatory crony capitalism, under which wealth is held only by a small upper layer of privileged society, resentment will fester and problems will arise.

“If the new leadership recognizes the need for serious reform, as has been advocated for many years by the international financial institutions, the conditions for real economic development could be put in place rather quickly,” she said.

The new government must also, she stressed, immediately address the SPDC’s unfinished business with the cease-fire groups. She said that rather than dictating conditions, the government must negotiate reasonable agreements that allow these groups to become part of the new government and not left out in the cold as they were by the arbitrary election laws.

“So long as this situation is neglected, a threat of renewed insurgency along Burma’s borders will hang over the heads of the country’s new leaders,” she said.

Clapp said that despite the dissolution of the SPDC with the swearing in of the new government, many of its elements are still in place. Than Shwe is still the ultimate authority, and former senior members of the SPDC and its ministries still occupy positions of power in the new government, albeit without their military uniforms.

“Many of the privileges accruing to the military under the SPDC have been preserved in one form or another in the new government,” she said.

For example, she noted that just before the new government was sworn in, the SPDC established a 'special fund' under the sole authority of the commander-in-chief to be used for purposes determined by the military.

“This fund is probably the Special Projects Fund controlled by the Senior General [Than Shwe] under the SPDC, which was the off-line account for the hard currency earnings from gas and other resource exports,” she said.

“Its creation suggests that the military will continue to control the lion’s share of national resources under the new government and there will be little chance of improving the public welfare,” she said.

The involvement of the former SPDC hierarchy could act as a spoiler as the new government attempts to implement provisions of the 2008 Constitution, Clapp said, noting that it is a discouraging sign that the new government does not feel bound to observe the provisions of its own Constitution as the law of the land.

“Although we can hardly consider the Constitution to be a prescription for democracy, it was at least a step in the right direction,” she said.

“For example, the SPDC flagrantly disregarded both its spirit and content by promulgating election laws designed to favor the government party and to impose harsh restrictions on all opposition parties, especially the NLD. As if this were not enough, election officials engaged in blatant ballot box stuffing when it became apparent that some of the government’s chosen candidates would lose to opposition parties in a fair vote,” she said.

Rumors persist that a supreme state council with the same membership as the outgoing SPDC may be created to serve as the ultimate authority for major government decisions.

“If such a body is established, either formally or informally, it will be clearly extra-constitutional and outside the law,” she said.

“Despite the remnants of the SPDC that persist in the new government, we would make a mistake to conclude that it is merely a carbon copy of the SPDC. The new government is a far more complex creature and some of its features will introduce elements of competition, popular representation and even transparency that have not existed for decades,” Clapp said.

One must begin to distinguish between the uniformed military and those who have been forced out of uniform and into political life.

“As they become increasingly involved in the process of parliamentary governance, the ex-generals will probably seek to translate their new elected and appointed positions into greater power for civilian institutions in order to replicate the authority they had while in uniform. Uniformed military will no longer control civilian institutions as they did under the SPDC and it can be said that they have taken one or two steps back to the barracks,” she observed.

“Although we have only had a brief glimpse so far of how the new national parliament will operate, there are early signs that it will be at least somewhat more responsive to public concerns than was the case under military rule,” Clapp said.

“In response to questions from opposition parties, for example, the new parliament provided more substantive answers than was ever the case with the SPDC. The optimists among us can hope that this trend continues as the parliamentary committees begin to do their work,” she said.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21131
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Activists target president with campaign
By AYE NAI
Published: 19 April 2011

Burmese President Thein Sein will be the target of a signature campaign led by activists in Burma who are demanding the government release political prisoners and begin political dialogue with the opposition.

According to campaign organiser Phyo Min Thein, one-time chairman of the Union Democratic Party (UDP), the petition will also call for the safe return of refugees and political exiles and an end to intractable conflicts with armed ethnic groups.

“The first step [the new government] needs to take is to release the detained democracy activists to allow them to take part in rebuilding our nation and developing a democratic system,” he said.

“We hope the government led by President Thein Sein will make a positive response to our call.”

Activists in Burma face significant risks, with hundreds behind bars for speaking out against what they claim is injustice by the government. Burma holds nearly 2,200 political prisoners.

Their release would prove to Burmese and the international community that “[the government] is governing the country under real democratic standards”, said monk Dhamma Thiri, a leader of All Burma Monks’ Association.

The prospect of a prisoner amnesty had been mooted as one of the first signs of appeasement by the new government, which was sworn in last month, but nothing has yet taken place.

The campaign organisers are also looking to establish a youth network to further unify activists’ demands.

Phyo Min Thein said the first step would be to collect signatures in Rangoon from National League for Democracy members, ethnic political groups, veteran politicians and former students during the 1988 uprising.
http://www.dvb.no/news/activists-target-president-with-campaign/15317
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Politicians warned against ‘unlawful’ contacts
By SHWE AUNG
Published: 20 April 2011

One of the ubiquitous signs seen in Burma warning people not to 'divide the country' (Wikimedia Commons)

Politicians in Burma are forbidden from communicating with groups deemed by the government to be ‘unlawful’, according to the country’s Union Election Commission.

Parties risk being dissolved if they refuse to abide by the new rules that effectively sever contact between MPs and exiled media and human rights groups, a directive issued on 5 April warns.

It could also cut lines of communication with the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma’s most potent opposition force whose party status was cancelled last year after it refused to compete in the November polls. Party spokesperson Nyan Win said how that the NLD has never been declared “unlawful” by the government.

There is still however a great deal of ambiguity over who qualifies as an ‘Unlawful Association’, a charge that is used frequently by Burmese courts to jail activists, journalists and lawyers.

“There are a lot of points they didn’t make clear as to which groups are unlawful,” said Nay Myo Wei, chairman of the Peace and Diversity Party. “It will be difficult [to be clear] if the government or the UEC doesn’t specify which groups we should not be communicating with.”

The party is preparing a letter for the UEC in which it will also ascertain whether the NLD falls under this banner.

Burmese law dictates that any “combination or body of persons” deemed by the president to be “[interfering] with the administration of the law or with the maintenance of law and order”, or indeed who is “a danger to the public peace”, will serve a minimum two-year jail term.

The subsequent criteria defining these charges is vague.

But according to the leader of the National Democratic Force, Khin Maung Swe, parties had already been told not to communicate with unlawful groups – still, however, no list of those that fit the criteria has been released.

Several inside reporters for DVB have been sentenced under the Unlawful Associations Act, suggesting that links to certain exiled groups is a crime under Burmese law. State media in Burma regularly accuses groups like DVB and Radio Free Asia of “generating public outrage”.

The directive casts further doubt on assertions by the government, which was sworn in last month, that Burma is transitioning to a new era of civilian rule that it brands “disciplined democracy”.

Some observers claim however that a greater degree of transparency exists in the new parliament, although no let up in the oppressive political climate in Burma is evident.
http://www.dvb.no/news/politicians-warned-against-%E2%80%98unlawful%E2%80%99-contacts/15340
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Migrants freed from Bangkok ‘factory prison’
By MAHN SAIMON
Published: 20 April 2011

Police raids on a factory in the Din Daeng area of Bangkok yesterday ended in the release of more than 60 Burmese migrants who claim they were kept in prison-like conditions and forced to work.

The majority of those used as factory “slaves”, and Thai media has described the incident, were female, one of the released told DVB. They had been kept in four-storey building and were prohibited from leaving or making phone calls.

Thai authorities carried out the raids after two of the migrants escaped this month and told police of the situation.

“We had to live like prison inmates and I’m now having difficulty moving my lower body parts,” said one female, who came to Bangkok from the Thai border town of Mae Sot in search of better wages.

“I have been here for eight months but most of the rest have been only for about two or three months. We made an attempt to escape [in January] but they got the police to catch us and fined us THB5000 [$US165] each,” she said.

A Thai anti-human trafficking official said that employers at the garment factory had threatened further arrest if the migrants attempted to flee, adding that they were forced to work and paid little.

The Bangkok Post quoted a police official who said they had worked on average 16 hours a day for only THB200 ($US7) a month, while one migrant told DVB they received only THB10 ($US0.30) for each garment they made.

“I have about THB40,000 ($US1,330) debt and [the employers] still haven’t covered our travel expense [to Bangkok],” she said.

Trafficking of Burmese migrants to Thailand is rife: many are approached by trafficking rings in Burma with promises of higher wages in Thailand, but poor anti-trafficking enforcement and state corruption mean that the majority are forced into exploitative labour.

The Thailand-based Nation newspaper said that two of the suspects – identified as Darong Wu, 50, and his wife Namee Li, 26 – have been detained by police on suspicion of trafficking and labour violations.
http://www.dvb.no/news/migrants-freed-from-bangkok-%E2%80%98factory-prison%E2%80%99/15337
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Plight of Burmese Child Sex Slaves Revealed
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, April 19, 2011

RANONG, Thailand—“The latest price of 'opening a Burmese packing' here is 13,000 baht,” explained Thidar, a Burmese prostitute in Thailand's Ranong province bordering southern Burma.

Inside the brothel of No. 3 Ranongpattani Road, a group of Burmese prostitutes reveal that “opening a Burmese packing” means a Burmese virgin girl being forced to work for the first time in the brothels of this small fishing port town.

They explain that every month around 40 girls from all over Burma—some as young as 13 or 14—are sold by human traffickers to Thai brothels in Ranong. Some are even sent to the popular tourist resort of Phuket, with around 200 Burmese girls currently working as prostitutes in their brothel alone.

“She came here for 'packing opening' three months ago,” Thidar said, pointing at a Burmese teenager sitting in the corner of the dingy room where they received Thai and Burmese customers.

Thidar herself is a former vegetable seller from Rangoon's Insein Township. She was approached 10 years ago in her local market by a Burmese woman who told her that she could make good money at a restaurant in Kawthaung, the Burmese border town on the opposite side to Ranong.

“The woman said I would have a good selling job and I wanted to earn some money,” she said. So at the tender age of 15, she left her mother and stepfather and was taken from Rangoon to Kawthaung with two female companions of a similar age.

Upon arrival in Kawthaung she was kept in a restaurant sealed with curtains for two days, but ran away after being forced into sex with a Burmese man.

“I ran away in the rain onto the streets of Kawthaung market,” she said. “When I saw a police station, I asked for help. But the lady followed me and brought me back from the police saying I would be sent home to Rangoon.”

But when she was back to the brothel again, she was tied with ropes and flogged. A few days later, she was taken with some other young girls to Ranong in a small boat and sold to a Thai brothel owner in the neighborhood of Paukkhaung.

“After I arrived, I was asked to take a pill and then I fell asleep. When I woke up, I found myself naked and smeared with blood.”

The brothel owner told her that she had to pay back the amount of money which he had bought her for. Even since then, she has been working as a prostitute and now has two children fathered by a Mon fisherman who died at sea during a storm.

These prostitutes' income depends on the number of customers they receive. For a single instance of sexual intercourse the brothel owner charges a customer 350 baht, of which the worker only receives half.

“I don't know what else to do for a living except this job. I could not undo what had happened, so I kept this job,” she said.

According to Thidar and her fellow workers, poverty and lack of care by their own parents were main reasons why they were tricked by human traffickers and forced into prostitution. Ei Ei, in her 20s, the daughter of a sea gypsy family in Kawthaung, said she hates her mother who never sent her to school and did not look after her properly. She added that she held various jobs to support the family ever since childhood.

“I used to work on a dynamite-fishing boat and also on a squid boat at sea,” she said.

She was later approached by a prostitution broker and first arrived in a Ranong brothel five years ago. As a prostitute, she has already married four times and is now addicted to various kinds of illicit drugs which she buys with her meager wages or receives from customers in exchange for oral sex.

She said that the use of drugs, particularly a drug compound called “Asean” popular among the Burmese community there, helps her forget the harsh treatment received from her customers.

“The Burmese fishermen are the worst in abusing us. They force me to perform oral sex against my will and they also refuse to use condoms,” she said.

Like most of her colleagues, she has no identification card and thus has to pay the police a license fee of 200 baht every day.

In this town of 130,000 thousand Burmese migrant workers, the local police refuse to tackle the human trafficking issue and are even collaborating with the criminals, claims Kyaw Than, a local Burmese restaurant owner who migrated from Burma 32 years ago.

“These very young Burmese girls keep streaming in. The policemen themselves are involved in these issues,” he said.

Burmese workers in Ranong face high risks of disease including malaria and HIV/AIDS, plus limited access to medical facilities and a poor educational environment for their children. These migrants—particularly Burmese sex workers—also face police and military harassment, according to a 2009 survey by the Institute of Developing Economies.

“Some of the Thai brothel owners immediately deport Burmese sex workers as soon as they are found to be HIV positive,” said Khine Pan Zon, an aid worker for the World Vision NGO who is giving health counseling to Burmese sex workers in Ranong.

She added that those HIV-positive sex workers who continue to work often no longer care about their own lives and start abusing drugs, cutting off contact with their family members back in Burma.

There are an estimated 1,000 Burmese sex workers in the town, with nearly 40 of them said to have come from Burma's Irrawaddy Delta after it was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

“I am now sending money to my family in Burma and will go back there once I saved some money,” said a 32-year-old Burmese sex worker from Irrawaddy Division who works in a karaoke shop.

“I just came here to get a proper job, but ended up in an unexpected life. So there is no way out for now.”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21134&page=2
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Burma needs to stop ethnic wars and to release political prisoners
By Zin Linn Apr 20, 2011 7:58PM UTC

At least 10 Burma Army soldiers were reportedly died in action including a battalion commanding officer and 15 injured in the combat that occurred on 16-17 April. The Shan army also seized five RPG launchers and 6 backpacks from Burmese troops, quoting a civil servant from Tangyan Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.) reported.

None of the members from Shan army were injured or killed, the source said. The two-day siege was led by Major Sai Hseng with over a hundred men from Brigade No. 36, according to the SSA.

The SSA’s First Brigade-turned Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) is reportedly expanding its controlled area to Namtu, Namhsan, Mongmit and Kyaukme townships while combating against the Burma army, as said by the local residents. The clashes between the two sides are reported almost everyday since 13 March. The SSA was given an ultimatum to lay down arms by Burma Army on 1st April. But up till now the SSA is still reportedly take no notice of it.

Throughout these days, several soldiers from Burma Army troops warring with the Shan State Progress Party/ Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) in Shan State South have reportedly been deserting from the battlefields, local sources reported via Shan Herald Agency for News.

Up to now, the identified deserters were as many as ten; all of them were from Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 513 and 542. The two battalions have been fighting against the Shan soldiers on 16-17 April, in Tawng Hio village in Tangyan Township, a local source said.

“The soldiers deserted during the fighting. They changed into civilian clothes and passed through the village. Five soldiers came out on 17 April and another five on 19 April,” said an eye witness.

According to a source Burma army soldiers took shelter under villagers’ trenches, bunkers and monastery to avoid shooting from the Shan armed forces. The battles between the Shan army and the Burma Army have begun since 13 March up to date and had injured and killed dozens of civilians including soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Burma Army demanded the Shan army to withdraw all of its troops that had moved to the north of Mandalay-Lashio highway. However, the Shan army has yet to give any response and is still active in the areas together with the Shan State Army (SSA) “South” led by Yawd Serk.

Last week, six Burma Army soldiers from Infantry battalion (IB) 152 based in Kholam sub-township of Namzarng township, surrendered to the SSA ‘South’ along with their weapons due to discrimination, abuses of power and forced labor, according to the SSA ‘South’.

At the same time, ten villagers in Kyaukme, Shan State North, have been detained and tortured over suspicion of collaboration with the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’, quoting local sources Shan Herald Agency for News said. They were detained by troops from Light Infantry Battalions 501 and 502, based in Kyaukme together with troops from Mogok, Namlan and Mongmit.

On the other hand, the family members of the detained victims are expecting helps from elected Shan representatives. The SNDP leader Sai Ai Pao is a State Assembly representative for Hsenwi and state minister for Industry and Mines. Besides, Sai Naw Kham is also a State Assembly representative for Hsipaw as well as state minister for Construction.

However, this war upon ethnic populace launched by Burma Army produces not only deserters from Burmese military but also victims from Shan villages. In addition, it forces to flee political exiles, illegal migrants and refugees into neighboring countries.

Currently, political activists in Burma have been taking historic risks with a signature-campaign to release political prisoners who are behind bars for speaking out against what they say is injustice by the government.

Some political analysts believe releasing over 2,000 political prisoners and stopping the aggressive wars on ethnic people are the most important topics to address by the new ‘Thein Sein government’. Releasing political prisoners and calling peace to armed ethnic groups would prove to the international community that new government is going along political change through the real democratic values.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/52826/burma-needs-to-stop-ethnic-wars-and-to-release-political-prisoners/

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