News & Articles on Burma-Thursday 9 June, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Thursday 9 June, 2011
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No Time to Waste on Burma: Ban Ki-moon
Rising Myanmar currency adds to economic hardship
Burmese Journalists Cautious on New Censorship Policy
UN Chief Touts Burma Performance in Re-election Bid
Overnight Clash in Kachin State
Fighting between Kachin and Burmese troops for three hours
Burma gets a record $20bn in foreign investment
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No Time to Waste on Burma: Ban Ki-moon
By Lalit K Jha Thursday, June 9, 2011

CHICAGO — The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, told a meeting of the Group of Friends on Burma on Wednesday that there is “no time to waste” in this Southeast Asian country, which even after the formation of a new government continues to face its challenges in the fields of human rights and democracy.

“There is no time to waste,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at his daily noon briefing at the United Nation headquarters in New York.

Releasing all political prisoners and reaching out as broadly as possible through dialogue to all those who have a contribution to make, including Aung San Suu Kyi and political forces inside and outside Parliament, will be key to ensuring that any reforms enjoy broad support, he said.

Both the secretary-general and his special envoy on Burma, Vijay Nambiar, briefed the Group of Friends on Burma during its first meeting since last year’s elections and the formation of the new government in Burma, which pro-democracy activists say is military rule in new garb.

“Whether the new government has the political will, capacity and support to live up to its commitments and promises is yet to be seen. In order for Burma to move forward, all citizens should be allowed to participate in building their country,” said Nesirky.

President Thein Sein’s stated recognition of the need to move forward in a way that strengthens national unity, including through wide-ranging reforms, is welcome, he said. Nesirky also stated the meeting took place against a backdrop of significant recent developments that could affect the country’s future direction and standing regionally and globally.

Collectively too, the international community has a shared responsibility towards the people of Burma, the UN spokesman said, adding that enabling the current process to result in a successful transition requires the global community to follow events closely, but also to recognize efforts and maximize opportunities for meaningful change.

“That is why, with the cooperation of the new government and the continued support of member states, the secretary-general is personally committed to the United Nations’ long-term engagement with Burma in the political, humanitarian and development areas, all of which are important to advance durable peace and democracy,” Nesirky said.

Meanwhile, Burma figured into a White House state dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama in honor of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“Freedom is indivisible. Each and every one has the same right to freedom, be it in North Africa or Belarus, in Myanmar [Burma] or Iran,” Merkel said in a toast. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21459
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Bloomberg Businessweek
Rising Myanmar currency adds to economic hardship
YANGON, Myanmar

A strengthening of Myanmar's kyat currency is causing further hardship in the impoverished Asian country, hitting exporters and workers paid in dollars, with farmers also set to suffer.

The kyat's rise over the past three months is in part linked to the U.S. dollar's weakness, but also reflects other factors, some of which stem from the military-dominated government's attempts to pump up economic growth and create more wealth for the country's elite.

Among them: wealthy locals selling their U.S. dollar savings to snap up land in newly created special economic zones, higher foreign investment from neighboring countries, and increased sales of exports such as gems despite extensive U.S. and European sanctions.

Officially, the kyat is pegged at about six to the dollar and is not freely convertible into other currencies. But virtually all business and most currency transactions in Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- are conducted using a black market rate.

That rate has strengthened steadily from 860 kyats to a dollar in April to 830 in May and around 770 kyats this month. Myanmar's ruling generals generally tolerate the black market for currency exchange as the only practical way of allowing commerce to continue in a country that is among the world's poorest.

Because people recall instances of sharp inflation, as well as the cancellation of many bank notes in 1987 -- an event that helped spark a failed pro-democracy uprising -- it is common for Burmese to keep savings in dollars, generally illegally.

"Since the movement for the U.S. dollar of late has been down, especially against currencies of countries that produce commodities, the rise of the unofficial kyat is not that remarkable," said Sean Turnell, an expert in Myanmar economics at Australia's Macquarie University.

But he said other factors also have a role in driving the kyat higher such as increased real estate purchases by buyers from neighboring China, usually disguised as transactions by individual Burmese.

The government is also selling state assets to favored businesses, who are financing the deals by exchanging their holdings of dollars for kyat.

Sales, meanwhile, are up for export commodities such as gems, logs, beans and pulses, which could drive up the black market rate when U.S. dollar payments are exchanged into kyat. The country has earned more the $3 billion in the past six months from the sale of gems and jade.

Myanmar's extensive underground economy, particularly the drug trade, has also been known to cause swings in the black market exchange rate.

"Burma's production of narcotics is up, and payments on this do filter through into foreign currency conversions into kyats to pay the ultimate producers," Turnell said.

Myanmar is a major producer of the stimulant methamphetamine and heroin.

Yangon-based economist Khin Maung Nyo said it is impossible to pinpoint a single reason behind the kyat's appreciation.

A large increase in foreign direct investment from countries such as China and rumors the government could change the official exchange rate could be among the reasons, he said.

Exporters are among those being squeezed by a stronger kyat. Farmers are also likely to feel some pain.

"The strong currency is stifling exports. Exporters earn less and the bad business will affect other businesses, ranging from producers and transportation to restaurants," said Kyaw Myint, an exporter of beans.

Kyaw Myint said that because his income from bean exporting has been reduced by about 9 percent, he will not be able to pay a good price to the farmers for the next harvest. He is uncertain if he will continue in the export business.

Meanwhile, others hit hard by the kyat's rise are employees whose salaries are pegged to the dollar.

Some foreign embassies and foreign companies have adjusted their payments to their employees, but at a fixed rate that does not keep pace with the currency's real value.

Thin Thin, a 35-year old accountant for a foreign company, said her real income had fallen so much she has trouble eking out a living. She gets about $120 dollars a month, which was worth 102,840 kyats two months ago, but now brings only 93,600 kyats.

She said the monthly rent for the apartment she shares with a friend remains 25,000 kyats per month and food prices likewise haven't fallen, making it impossible for her to survive if it were not for extra income she gets from tutoring several young students. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9NNNLK80.htm
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Burmese Journalists Cautious on New Censorship Policy
By KO HTWE Thursday, June 9, 2011

Journalists in Burma say that plans by the country's censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), to allow publishers to send some stories to print without prior inspection will put a greater burden on publishers, but won't necessarily lead to greater press freedom.

Beginning on June 10, publishers will be permitted to run stories on sports, entertainment, technology, health and children's literature without PSRD approval. However, they will still have to follow the “Three National Causes”—the basic principles espoused by Burma's military rulers—and avoid any writing that damages “state instability”.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Rangoon-based poet and former editor Pyapon Ni Lon Oo said the new policy will only make matter worse for the publishing industry.

“The editor of a magazine told me that the new rules will be stricter, and will put more pressure on editors,” he said.

He added that the new “post-censorship” policy is actually similar to the one that was in place before the military takeover in 1988.

At that time, he said, fiction and poetry that dealt with issues such as poverty or corruption were rarely published, but when they were, they often appeared with many passages blacked out, after PSRD officials decided they were too “sensitive” for public consumption.

“Readers knew it was censored when the saw black ink covering entire paragraphs,” he said.

Not everyone, however, felt that new policy was a step backwards. Some veteran journalists and the Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association (MWJA) welcomed the change as the first step toward media freedom.

“We have to proceed step by step to achieve press freedom, because the government has no experience with democracy and is anxious about what will happen if they give absolute freedom. So now they are just testing the waters,” said Ko Ko, the secretary of the MWJA and editor of two leading journals, Flower News and Yangon Times.

He also said that they will have to wait and see if the changes will eventually be extended to other news topics, such as business or politics.

Under the new rules, publishers will have to pay a deposit of five million kyat (around US $6,500) as a guarantee that they will follow the regulations. In the event of a violation, they will lose their deposit and be suspended for an unspecified period or until they are able to pay a fine.

Some editors said the challenge will be to balance the demands of their readers with the requirements of the law.

“If we try to give our young readers what they want, it could make problems for us, so we have deal with this carefully. But little by little, control could loosen,” said Tun Tun Oo, a news editor for the Rangoon-based Olympic sports journal.

Others, however, worried that the new policy was full of pitfalls, as there was always the danger of inadvertently getting on the wrong side of the censors.

“I think this could lead to trouble,” said Ko Myo of the Popular journal. “Publishers and the authorities may interpret stories differently, and this may cause misunderstandings.”http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21464
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UN Chief Touts Burma Performance in Re-election Bid
By BA KAUNG Thursday, June 9, 2011

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon touted his humanitarian efforts for Burma and other countries in announcing on Monday his candidacy for a second-term.

In a statement, the former South Korean diplomat said that the UN can be proud of its accomplishments during his current term, citing its quick and rapid response to the cyclone disasters in Burma, earthquake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan.

In 2008, when Burmese military rulers were refusing international relief aid in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 130,000 people in the Irrawaddy Delta, Ban Ki-Moon traveled to Burma and successfully talked the military rulers into accepting outside help.

A day after his formal announcement for re-election in New York, the UN chief presided over a meeting of his Groups of Friends on Burma at the UN headquarters, the first meeting since the country's new civilian government came into office. The group, which includes China and the US, was formed by Ban Ki-Moon in 2007 to review the world body’s policy on the Southeast Asian nation.

Following the meeting, the UN chief said that the new government in Burma continues to face the same challenges of serious and deep-seated political and economic problems, and the United Nations remains engaged with the country on its path to peace and democracy.

“Whether the new Government has the political will, capacity and support to live up to its commitments and promises is yet to be seen,” he said in a statement. “In order for Myanmar [Burma] to move forward, all citizens should be allowed to participate in building their country’s future.”

Ban Ki-moon is now almost assured of winning his second five-year term because all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the United States and China, the consistent defender of Burma on the international stage, have declared their support of his candidacy for re-election.

In 2007, during the first year of Ban Ki-Moon's current term in office, mass anti-government protests took place in Burma, which was followed by a violent government crackdown.

The UN chief dispatched his special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to Burma for a number of visits, but Gambari was unsuccessful in his attempts to bring about talks between Suu Kyi and the military generals.

Ban Ki-Moon visited Burma for the second time in 2009 and met with the former military chief Than Shwe while Suu Kyi was facing trial on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest, but his request for a meeting with the Nobel Peace Laureate was rejected.

Despite his strong statements on continued government crackdowns on democracy movements in the Arab world, democracy activists and rights groups have criticized the UN chief for focusing on rhetoric rather than actions regarding human rights issues in countries like China and Burma.

“He does not want to upset China, Russia or any key players in the UN who have a say over his job. He was making a lot of trips, but he did not deliver any significant change on Burma,” said Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma.

“Ban Ki-moon has been playing it safe and been in a holding pattern on Burma, but if he does get a second term, I hope he will take the gloves off and really push hard for change in Burma,” she said.

Similarly, Tin Oo, the deputy of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), said that Ban Ki-Moon was more interested in courting China's support for a second term than achieving progress with Burma.

“Though we appreciate the fact that he is an Asian, we were not very satisfied with his performance for Burma's democratic struggle,” he said in an interview with The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

However, Min Zin, a Burmese researcher at the University of California in Berkeley, said that the UN chief's overall performance for Burma can be evaluated positively, and Ban Ki-Moon is in no position to enforce his agendas without cooperation from the Burmese government and support from China.

Since Gambari left his position in 2009, Ban Ki-Moon has not made any replacement and his chief of staff, Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar, is currently acting as his special adviser on Burma.

The US government sought the removal of Gambari from his post in late 2008—more than a year before he stepped down, according to a confidential US diplomatic document released by Wikileaks.

The cable noted that Gambari was unable to secure significant progress from the Burmese regime on critical issues such as the release of political prisoners and a meaningful and time-bound dialogue between military leaders and the democratic opposition, including Suu Kyi.

Under the new government in Burma, the UN agencies in Rangoon are still facing restrictions on their activities.
And during a meeting with Vijay Nambiar last month, Suu Kyi requested the appointment of a full-time UN envoy in Burma.

Ban Ki-Moon is the second UN chief from Asia, after Burma's U Thant who served at the world body for two consecutive terms from 1961 to 1971. His current term is due to end in December.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21462
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Overnight Clash in Kachin State
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, June 9, 2011

Tensions finally snapped in Kachin State on Thursday when fighting broke out between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Momauk Township, according to Kachin sources.

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Seng Aung, a local resident of Laiza, the KIA headquarters near the Sino-Burmese border, said that an armed clash broke out before at 2 am on Thursday and continued until noon.

“It is like the government troops are intimidating the KIA,” he said. “They want to test the Kachin army because it had previously warned them not to cross into its area.”

Seng Aung said the fighting involved KIA Brigade 3's Battalion 15 and Burmese Battalion 437. Causalities are as yet unknown, but both sides have suffered losses, he said.

Momauk Township lies under the control of KIA Brigade 3 where tension between the government and KIA troops had been rising for months, said a source close to the KIA.

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. Kachin sources claim that one Burmese battalion commander was killed.

Although the Kachins had signed a ceasefire with the Burmese government in 1994, tensions had been mounting since last year when the KIA rejected Naypyidaw's border guard force (BGF) order.

“Becoming a BGF means submitting yourself to the total control of the government,” said Col. James Lun Dau, a KIO central committee member.

On Oct. 18 2010, an office of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), was raided by government troops who arrested two KIO officials. A few days later, the regime's state-run media The New Light of Myanmar referred to the KIA as “insurgents” for the first time in years, and the long-held but fragile ceasefire was all but declared broken.

In September, the KIA troops also fired at a helicopter owned by the government-friendly Htoo Group of Companies while it flew over KIO headquarters in Laiza, according to Kachin sources.

Meanwhile, tensions also appear ready to boil over in Karen State, sources say.

Karen sources reported that the Burmese army has reinforced three battalions near ethnic Karen rebel-controlled areas of Kawkareik Township in southern Karen State.

A Burmese official in Myawaddy in southern Karen state said that three government battalions under Light Infantry Division 22 were sent to south of Kawkareik with the aim of launching an offensive against the Karen troops from Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 6.

On May 24, an internal conflict broke out within the Karen BGF, formerly known as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), at the group's former headquarters, Myaing Gyi Nyu in southwestern Karen State. A faction of the Karen BGF, Battalion 1012, seized total control of Myaing Gyi Nyu after defecting from the BGF.

Tensions between the government troops and Battalion 1012 have remained high ever since. Other Karen armed groups are reportedly prepared to provide military assistance to any breakaway Karen BGF if it is attacked by government troops.

Maj-Gen Thet Naing Win, the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations-4 arrived earlier this week in Pa-an, the capital of Karen State, to discuss with colleagues the latest military developments in the region.

In recent weeks, both major clashes and minor skirmishes have been reported on an almost daily basis from southern Karen State, most notably in and around Three Pagoda Pass, Kawkareik and Kyainseikgyi.

Most of the confrontations have occurred between government troops and a coalition of Karen armies, including the DKBA and the KNLA.

Meanwhile Burma’s state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper has blamed ethnic Karen rebels for a bombing on a passenger train last month that killed two people.

The report said Thursday that a suspect was arrested in Karen state 10 days after the May 19 bombing. The report said he confessed he was assigned by senior members of the KNLA and provided with explosives. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21463
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Fighting between Kachin and Burmese troops for three hours
Thursday, 09 June 2011 17:58 KNG

Fighting broke out for nearly three hours this morning at 7 a.m. local time between Kachin and Burmese troops in Bhamo District in Kachin State, northern Burma, Kachin officers confirmed.

The fighting was between the Burmese Army’s Momauk-based Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 437 and the Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA) Battalion No. 15, under Brigade 3, at the KIA-controlled Sang Gang Village in Momauk Township in Bhamo District, according to KIA officials at the Laiza headquarters, in eastern Kachin State.
kia_soldier_0906

A KIA soldier temporarily stopped at Uru Hka riverbank in Hpakant jade Mining Township in Kachin State, Northern Burma.
The fighting was located close to the Taping River on the road heading to the Taping No. 1 and Taping No. 2 hydropower plants, from Myitkyina-Bhamo Highway. The two hydropower plants were constructed by the China Datang Corporation (CDT).

According to a KIA official in Laiza, this morning’s fighting intensified when over 200 Burmese troops marched into the KIA’s Sang Gang Post and started shooting at the KIA post near Prang Kadung Village.

At least three Burmese soldiers were killed and six injured in the morning fighting. However, only two KIA were injured, a KIA officer in the frontline said.

The major fighting stopped this morning. However, shots can be heard occasionally, KIA officials said.

Yesterday, the KIA’s Battalion 15 arrested three Burmese soldiers, including two officers, from LIB No. 437. They were carrying two machine guns and two pistols, said KIA officers.

An armed Burmese soldier was arrested in the morning when he and his comrade entered the KIA controlled area. However, his comrade escaped, after throwing away his gun.

His two officers were arrested in the evening when they entered the KIA controlled area to secure the release of the captive soldier, carrying two machine guns, added KIA officers.

The KIA officers in Laiza said all three were arrested for security reasons and negotiations regarding the captive Burmese soldiers are still taking place.

Small skirmishes between the Burmese army and KIA gradually increased in the KIA’s Brigade 3 area, in eastern Kachin State, and Brigade 2, in Western Kachin State.

All KIA troops in Kachin State and Northern Shan State have been on alert to stop government troops by force when they try to enter KIA territories.
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9 June 2011 Last updated at 12:30 GMT
Burma gets a record $20bn in foreign investment

Burma received a record $20bn (£12.2bn) in foreign investment in the past year, the country has said, dwarfing previous pledges for the isolated nation.

The amount compares with just $302m in 2010 and a total of $16bn for the prior two decades combined.

Neighbouring China was the biggest foreign investor, most of which will be invested in power projects.

The country, long ruled by a military junta, held elections last year for the first time in 22 years.

The figures suggest that the elections may succeed in opening the economy of the country, for years under sanctions over its human rights record.

China invested $8.27bn in the year to March 2011, followed by Hong Kong with $5.39bn and Thailand with $2.94bn, according to the Ministry of National Planning Development.

Elections

Military-backed parties won by far the largest number of seats in the November polls in Burma, officially known as Myanmar.

Under the 2008 constitution, 25% of seats were reserved for the military.

Opposition groups and Western nations have criticised laws under which the polls were held and condemned the elections as a sham.

The party that won Burma's elections in 1990 - the National League for Democracy led by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi - is not represented in parliament.

The new president, Thein Sein, is a retired general, former prime minister and seen as loyal to junta leader Gen Than Shwe.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13710466

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