News & Articles on Burma-Friday 10 June, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Friday 10 June, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------
Aung San Suu Kyi to give BBC lectures
Beijing’s Shadow Looms Over Official Visits to Naypyidaw
KIA on High Alert after Overnight Fighting
Kachin army refutes talk of war
Burma has not earned the right to more respect
Is Provincial Tour a Step Forward or Backward for Suu Kyi?
Fighting stops with exchange of captives
--------------------------------------------
Aung San Suu Kyi to give BBC lectures

By Peter Aspden

Published: June 10 2011 12:35 | Last updated: June 10 2011 12:35

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s opposition leader, is to give two of this year’s BBC Radio 4 Reith lectures. She will share the lecture series, entitled “Securing Freedom”, with Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former director-general of MI5.

Ms Suu Kyi’s lectures were recorded by a BBC news team which secretly entered Burma earlier this week, and which smuggled the tapes out on Thursday.

The two lectures, which will be played before public audiences and broadcast later this month, will address the themes of dissent in the context of her own experiences in Burma, and the nature of freedom.

Ms Suu Kyi said delivering the Reith lectures had a “very special meaning” for her.

“It means that once again I am officially a free person. When I was officially ‘unfree’, that is to say when I was under house arrest, it was the BBC that spoke to me – I listened.

“But that listening also gave me a kind of freedom, the freedom of reaching out to other human minds. Of course it was not the same as a personal exchange but it was a form of human contact.”

Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, was released from house arrest by the Burmese government last November, having spent 15 of the preceding 20 years under incarceration.

Her talks will be complemented by three lectures – two in London, one in Leeds – by Baroness Manningham-Buller, who headed MI5 between 2002 and 2007.

She will mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the US by discussing their impact on the world, and their continuing repercussions. She will also consider the role of security intelligence and reflect on the threats to freedom and the means to counter them. The lectures will be broadcast in September.

She said she was “honoured” to share the series with Ms Suu Kyi.

“[Her] selfless courage on behalf of Burma’s freedom should remind us not to take our own freedoms for granted.”

Gwyneth Williams, controller of BBC Radio 4, said the series was devised to “engage with some of the currents arising from a period of exceptional international political and economic turmoil”.

“These are two very different sides of a familiar story – the struggle for liberty and its defence.”

It is the first time the prestigious lecture series, which was first delivered in 1948 by the philosopher Bertrand Russell, has been shared.

This year’s lectures were originally to have been given by the sculptor Antony Gormley, but he pulled out in April citing work commitments.

Ms Williams described the recording of Ms Suu Kyi’s lectures over the past few days as “nail-biting” and said this year’s Reith series was “unusual”.

“It has been a period of extraordinary international convulsion with the Arab revolution following fast after the financial crisis. There are wars on several fronts and we have had to come to terms with a new wave of global terrorism.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1d9de428-934f-11e0-a038-00144feab49a.html#axzz1OsTMoWeT
-----------------------------------------------
Beijing’s Shadow Looms Over Official Visits to Naypyidaw
By WAI MOE Friday, June 10, 2011

High-ranking delegations from two key Southeast Asian nations visited Naypyidaw and met Burmese President ex-Gen Thein Sein and his key cabinet members this week, while Burma upgrades its relationship with the closest ally, China, to a “strategic partnership.”

Burmese state-run media reported on Thursday and Friday that Thailand’s military delegation and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, who came to Burma as a special envoy, held meetings with Thein Sein and the powerful vice president, ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, and other top officials of Burma.

On Wednesday, Thein Sein and Gen Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of defense services, met Thailand’s supreme commander Gen Songkitti Jaggabatara in Naypyidaw. It is the second Thai high-ranking military visit to Thailand’s western neighbor in two weeks after Royal Thai Navy chief Adm Khamthorn Pumhiran visited Naypyidaw last week to meet top Burmese generals.

“The two sides discussed matters for promoting friendly relations between the armed forces, and cooperation between the two armed forces for ensuring stability and peace in border areas,” The New Light of Myanmar reported about Songkitti Jaggabatara and Min Aung Hlaing’s meeting before the meeting with Thein Sein.

During Tin Aung Myint Oo’s meeting with Vietnamese counterpart Hoang Trung Hai on Thursday, the vice president thanked Vietnam for its support in international and regional issues, the state media reported.

Like the Thai general’s visit in Naypyidaw, the Vietnamese delegation also highlighted security issues as Vietnam’s deputy defense minister, Lt-Gen Nguyen Chi-Vinh, held a separate meeting with Burmese defense minister Maj-Gen Hla Min on Thursday.

A day earlier, Nguyen Chi-Vinh was in Indonesia for the 8th Security Policy Conference of the Asean Regional Forum.

Although the Burmese state media did not elaborate, regional security issues were on the Thai and Vietnamese delegations’ agendas in Naypyidaw, a Burmese intelligence source who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

The source said the visitors from the two Southeast Asian nations raised their concerns about China’s influence in Burma, particularly regarding the Chinese navy’s potential mobilization in Burmese waters.

“Both Thai and Vietnamese delegations were concerned about China’s involvement and movements in Burma. The Thai military delegation also focused on border issues,” the source said. “India also recently sent an intelligence delegation to Burma over the Chinese naval issue.”

According to information from Burmese intelligence sources, Beijing has increasingly expressed its desire for security access in Burma during meetings with its counterparts from Naypyidaw in the past four months to protect its strategic interests in the country, particularly China’s energy routes in the Bay of Bengal and the Sino-Burmese oil-gas pipelines.

Beijing and Naypyidaw reportedly discussed the navy issue during Thein Sein’s China trip on May 26-28 when the two countries announced the “strategic partnership.” But it is still unknown whether top brass in Naypyidaw, particularly the former military chief and apparent de-facto leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe, agreed to the Chinese navy’s presence in Burma.

Within a week of Thein Sein’s Beijing trip, Li Yuanchao, a Politburo member of the Communist Party of China, came to Naypyiaw and met Thein Sein and Tin Aung Myint Oo on June 2. Although the Burmese state media reported Li Yuanchao’s meeting with Tin Aung Myint Oo, it did not report a meeting between the Chinese Politburo member and Thein Sein. However, China’s Xinhua reported Thein Sein-Li Yuachao’s meeting.

In an article entitled “Myanmar: China’s takeaway kitchen” in this week’s edition, The Economist magazine covered China’s increasing influence in Burma. It also mentioned China’s demands for naval access from Naypyidaw.

“As its economic interests have grown, China has pressed for more access to Myanmar’s harbors and territorial waters, to monitor the security of the new port and pipelines, and to keep an eye out for pirates,” The Economist said.

“But this is a neuralgic issue for a country with a deep-seated suspicion of its powerful northern neighbor." http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21473
----------------------------------------------
KIA on High Alert after Overnight Fighting
By SAW YAN NAING Friday, June 10, 2011

Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops stationed in eastern Kachin State's Momauk Township are on high alert following several hours of fighting with Burmese government troops on Thursday, as sources report that both sides appear to be bracing for further hostilities.

The fighting broke out early Thursday morning before dawn and continued until noon, according to sources in the area. The fighting involved Battalion 15 of the KIA's Brigade 3 and Burmese Battalion 437.

More government troops have been deployed as reinforcements along a route connecting Bhamo and the state capital of Myitkyina, as well as in Momauk and areas near the KIA headquarters of Laiza since late last night, according to Laiza resident Seng Aung, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday.

A resident of Maijaya, a village in Bhamo District, where Momauk Township is also located, said: “Almost all the Kachin men in the village have gone to the area where the fighting broke out yesterday. Now there are mostly only women, children and few men remaining in the village.”

The male residents were likely summoned by the KIA as reinforcements, as they serve as members of a paramilitary militia under KIA command, said the resident.

“If government troops continue to cross KIA-controlled areas, majors fighting is expected. If they withdraw their troops, the situation will return to normal,” said Seng Aung.

Lapai Naw Din, the editor of the Thailand-based Kachin News Group, said that the clashes on Thursday were serious because tension has been mounting between the KIA and the government over the KIA's refusal to become a border guard force under Burmese army control.

Some 500 troops were involved in the fighting—which included mortar shelling—on Thursday. At least three government soldiers were killed and six injured, while two KIA soldiers were wounded, said Lapai Naw Din.

The KIA, which has an estimated 10,000 troops, signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 1994. However, the ceasefire informally broke down following skirmishes between the two sides late last year.

On Feb. 7, an armed clash between government troops and the KIA occurred just southeast of Bhamo, another area that is under the control of KIA Brigade 3.

On Oct. 18 of last year, an office of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization, was raided by government troops who arrested two KIO officials. A few days later, government newspapers referred to the KIA as “insurgents” for the first time in more than a decade and a half. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21469
----------------------------------------------
Kachin army refutes talk of war
By AYE NAI
Published: 10 June 2011

Three Burmese soldiers died and 11 more were injured as heavy fighting erupted in northern Burma yesterday, the latest sign that a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the government may be on the verge of collapse.

The fight reportedly broke out after the KIA refused to return a Burmese army captain and a private captured in KIA territory on 8 June on suspicion of spying. Two Burmese battalions launched an assault on the Kachin army’s Battalion 15 base in Momauk township. Fighting began in the morning and lasted around three hours.

After lengthy negotiations, however, the two were released yesterday evening.

James Lundau, spokesperson of the KIA, told DVB that two Kachin troops were also injured. But he cast aside suggestions that it marked the final nail in the coffin for relations with the Burmese government, which have become increasingly tense since the KIA’s refusal last year to become a Border Guard Force.

“I think this problem can be solved through talks,” he said. “I don’t think the attack was ordered by Naypyidaw but instead by regional commanders. They [Burmese government] cannot control their frontline soldiers.”

It marks the latest in a recent series of clashes in Kachin state that have prompted observers to speculate that outright war in the border regions may be imminent. The Burmese army appears to be intensifying its presence close to other insurgent groups like the Shan State Army (SSA) that have shunned the Border Guard Force proposals.

Troops launched an assault on the SSA’s 7-Mile base in central Shan state on 3 June that SSA soldiers claimed included the use of chemical weapons. A week earlier the KIA and Burmese army exchanged gunshots and mortar fire near to the Kachin state town of Mansi.

It followed warnings from Kachin commanders that Burmese troops must withdraw from their territory by 25 May or risk fighting.

James Lundau said however that he believes the government wanted to maintain the ceasefire. “President Thein Sein said he wants to keep the door open to dialogue and we agree with him – we’ll just have to negotiate with high-ranking officials.”

Additional reporting by Francis Wade http://www.dvb.no/news/kachin-army-refutes-talk-of-war/16054
---------------------------------------
Burma has not earned the right to more respect
Editorial Desk
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date : 10-06-2011

US Senator John McCain went to Burma recently and made headlines for several days. That was good for him, and he highlighted what needs to be done in the recalcitrant, pariah state. He was succinct in reiterating that Burma under the new "civilian leader", President Thien Sien, must do much more before normalisation of diplomatic ties with the US and other Western nations can occur. Evolutionary change, he added, is inescapable, and it would be in Burma's interest to recognise that fact.

Since the "Arab Spring" began earlier this year, many politicians, near and far, have compared the dramatic political changes in the Middle East and North Africa with the situation in Southeast Asia. Some say that what has happened, and is happening, in the Middle East and North Africa could very well take place here.

That may be a bit dramatic. The political environment in Burma is quite different, but its citizens are suffering the same kind of political oppression. Burma has powerful neighbours to help and provide the assistance it needs, and mitigate whatever pressure comes from abroad.

There is also a lack of unity when it comes to the international approach to Burma. Divergent viewpoints and approaches enable the generals in their hideout in Naypyidaw to engage outsiders the way they want.

It is interesting that the international community has not learned a single lesson from the Burmese crisis since 1988. That helps explain why Burma will not change under the current circumstances. After all, why should the junta leaders change, when they have followed their own plans so efficiently?

From the Burmese rulers' point of view, the country is now officially led by a civilian government. But most outside observers view this with scepticism. Obviously with a new government, several Western countries have sufficient excuse to initiate moves to help Burma, despite the ongoing human rights violations there, on the pretext of helping the Burmese people. These countries are mostly interested in the country's abundant energy resources.

Rightly so, Burma has played its cards well, hedging powers against each other, knowing full well the international community will never consolidate its willpower because there are too many other crises to deal with around the world.

Of late, Burma has cleverly has succeeded in convincing the West - especially some of the EU and Scandinavian countries - that it is better to help the Burmese people inside the country than those exiled around the world. This is a cunning scheme hatched by Naypyidaw that will affect the exiled Burmese community.

In addition, the country's military leaders are sidelining the main opposition party leader, Aung Saan Suu Kyi, reiterating that she is stubborn and non-cooperative. These Western countries are eager to follow Nayphidaw because they want to get their footprints in Burma as soon as possible.

The time has come for the international powers - namely the US, EU and Asean - to work more closely together. Burma is the proposed Asean chair in 2014, and it will serve as a benchmark, possibly a black stain, for the regional grouping whether the regime that has been so cruel and inhumane to its own people will be given legitimacy in the international arena.

Substantial changes must come first, otherwise Burma will have to wait. To argue that the new government needs to consolidate its power before any meaningful change is possible is a bit naive. Burma's strongman, General Than Shwe, is still a very powerful figure, deciding major moves. Without a common approach by other countries, the Burmese military leaders, under the cover of an "elected" parliament, will continue their reign of terror. http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=19361&sec=3
------------------------------------
Is Provincial Tour a Step Forward or Backward for Suu Kyi?
By BA KAUNG Friday, June 10, 2011

Will another round of detention befall Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi if she goes out of Rangoon later this month as planned? That is the major concern among her followers and the Western governments that support her.

Suu Kyi, turning 66 on June 19, will celebrate her birthday and then begin the trip, though she has not as yet announced the details of her itinerary, according to officials of her disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Party officials said that she will visit the regions close to Rangoon, most probably Irrawaddy Division which was devastated by powerful Cyclone Nargis in 2008, and that the trip will last only a matter of days.

Coincidentally, the Irrawaddy delta was one of the first places she went for a political tour in 1989 when she found herself looking down the barrel of a gun—an army captain drew his gun to shoot her as she passed through an army blockade in Danubyu Township.

This will be Suu Kyi's first trip outside the former capital since she was placed in custody in 2003 when she and her followers were violently attacked by a state-organized mob in the town of Depayin in upper Burma. The attackers allegedly included members of Union Solidarity and Development Association, the predecessor of the new government's ruling party.

“Her trip will certainly increase the political momentum because she will reach out to people on the ground and listen to their voices,” said Tin Oo, the Nobel Peace Prize winner's deputy.

“This a major political organizing feat which will have a political impact, of course,” he said. Tin Oo was with Suu Kyi during the Depayin attack.

During the trip before her last round of detention in 2003, Suu Kyi organized the reopening of local party offices which had been forced into closure by the authorities and also occasionally gave public speeches to local crowds.

This time around, her party has been disbanded for boycotting the elections on grounds of an undemocratic constitution, but continues to function in an unofficial mode. Tin Oo said that she will meet with local party members to boost their morale and give speeches if requested to do so by locals—something which is clearly unavoidable.

It is assumed that the new government will exercise restraint toward Suu Kyi during her provincial trips, so as to maintain a veneer of civilian rule. The official line regarding this issue thus far is that Suu Kyi “can act as an ordinary person,” and she should participate in the new parliament by standing in elections.

In the face of an imminent political movement however, the government will have no hesitation to squash it by using country's Emergency Act which remains in effect as it was under military rule.

The US administration has pressed the new Burmese government to ensure her safety and security. Republican Senator John McCain stressed this point again to the Burmese leaders during his recent visit to the Southeast Asian nation. But the government has made no assurance of Suu Kyi's safety if she goes out of Rangoon.

Suu Kyi's forays have always been a sensitive issue for the country's rulers in the past. When she attempted to go out of Rangoon after her release from house arrest in 1995, the train on which she reserved a seat for the trip to Mandalay was derailed. Another time, her car was blocked when it reached a bridge on the outskirts of Rangoon. She was then manhandled and forcibly sent back to her lakeside house on University Avenue.

As with the previous military rule, the current nominal civilian government led by former general Thein Sein will continue to detest the sight of her being welcomed by the ordinary public as a national hero and giving speeches critical of the country's social and economic conditions.

But there is a considerable degree of optimism in the NLD leadership that Burma's democracy icon will be less likely to face another bloody attack by state-organized thugs this time around.

First, because the new government is desperately seeking legitimacy for its so-far cosmetic transition to the parliamentary rule, and also because the grisly memory of Depayin remains fresh in the minds of so many people.

Min Zin, a Burmese researcher at the University of California in Berkeley, said that Naypyidaw will avoid the use of violence as long as it can contain the movement of Suu Kyi.

“As long as this containment is manageable, violence is unlikely. But I don't rule out the option of violence by the government. It depends,” he said.

Thu Wai, a veteran politician who participated in the elections and viewed the new political system as the beginning of a gradual progress to democracy, said that there is a visible flexibility on the part of both Suu Kyi and the new government, hence little prospect of violence during her trips.
The Burmese president made pledges to abide by the rule of law and good governance during his first inaugural speech in March. He is also seeking Burma's chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2014, which Western democracies and rights groups are trying to make conditional with Burma's political progress.

In addition, the Burmese government made an explicit commitment to the United Nations to keep the “peace door” open to political forces that had not accepted the recently adopted constitution or political road-map, according to Vijay Nambiar, the UN special envoy for Burma, who briefed the UN Security Council about his meeting with Burmese officials last month in Naypyidaw.

This all goes to prove the Burmese government's relentless pursuit of international legitimacy.

The true test of Burma's transition will hinge on how the country's rulers will respond to Suu Kyi attracting crowds and giving political speeches, and eventually generating political enthusiasm across the country.

Once the rulers make a mistake, the international perception of Burma will be instantly back to square one.

For Suu Kyi at 66, there will probably be no more time for her to come out of another round of detention and carry the democratic movement forward.

However, Tin Oo said that Suu Kyi will be more cautious than ever in her activities as she has been since her release in November.

“She is quite different now, in her advancing years, and has more experience,” he said. “She is always holding the door open for the government.” http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21470
----------------------------------------------
Fighting stops with exchange of captives
Friday, 10 June 2011 18:28 KNG

The gun battle between the Burmese Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State, Northern Burma, has temporarily stopped after exchange of live and dead captives, KIA officials said.

In the exchange, the dead body of a Corporal KIA civilian fighter was exchanged for six Burmese Army captives, including two officers, on Thursday, June 9 at 6 p.m. at the frontline, according to sources at the frontline.
sang_gang_fightingThe Corporal KIA fighter was killed by different forms of torture by Burmese troops after he was arrested at the KIA Sang Gang Post Wednesday morning, the sources added.

Two Burmese officers and one soldier were captured in Sang Gang by KIA Battalion 15 on Wednesday, June 8, and three more Burmese soldiers were captured in the Sang Gang fighting, said sources from KIA Battalion 15.

Two Burmese soldiers were killed and more than 10 were injured in the fighting. Two KIA soldiers were injured by Burmese mortar rounds, sources said.

The fighting took place at the Sang Gang Post in N’mawk (Momauk) Township, in Manmaw (Bhamo) District. It started at 7 a.m. in the morning and ended at 1 p.m., according to witnesses.

More than three Burmese Battalions with about 500 troops were involved in the fighting at Sang Gang with KIA Battalion 15, in N’mawk Township. The identified Burmese troops were from the N’mawk-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 437, Manmaw-based Infantry Battalion No. 237 and Dawhpumyang-based Infantry Battalion No. 142, according to KIA officials.

Most of the Burmese troops were withdrawn from the area of the fighting after the exchange of captives, said sources from the battle zone.

No more fighting has taken place at the KIA bases in Kachin State and Northern Shan State after yesterday morning’s fighting.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of KIA, are trying to initiate a political dialogue on the two parties’ problems with President Thein Sein’s central Burmese government.
http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1933-fighting-stops-with-exchange-of-captives.html