News & Articles on Burma-Saturday, 29 July, 2011-UZL

News & Articles on Burma
Saturday, 29 July, 2011
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The Burmese regime "use" Aung San Suu Kyi to cover
Most dangerous country online - Myanmar?
Need To Release All Remaining Political Prisoners
UN: Burma Must Release Remaining Political Prisoners
Myanmar: Cyber war: Myanmar leader in attacks in 2011
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» 07/30/2011 12:29
INDIA - MYANMAR
The Burmese regime "use" Aung San Suu Kyi to cover the violence against Kachin
by Nirmala Carvalho

Waves of refugees fleeing across the border to China. But the government blocks the borders and prevents the entry of aid to war zones. The Nobel Laureate is open to mediate for peace. Activist: the meeting between Suu Kyi and the Myanmar Minister is window-dressing, to gain international credibility.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) - The civil war between Burmese army and Kachin ethnic militias, to the north of Myanmar, along the border with China, continues to cause waves of refugees fleeing across the border. Soldiers threaten the civilian population, killing and raping women and girls, the situation is serious and the war front covers a variety of areas. So says Raw Zau, coordinator of the Kachin Refugee Committee (KRC), a humanitarian organization based in New Delhi, India, and active in bringing aid to the Burmese minority. Speaking to AsiaNews he also accuses the Burmese leadership of exploiting the image of Aung San Suu Kyi to cover the crimes committed by the regime and gain credibility within the international community.

From 9 June the northern Kachin State has been the scene of a bloody conflict that has sowed death and terror among the population. So far there have been 32 confirmed cases of sexual violence against women by the Kachin soldiers, 13 of which ended with the murder of the victim. On 26 July in a gun battle between the two sides four Burmese soldiers were killed and 12 others were wounded in an ambush by the Kachin Independence Army militia (Kia).

In order to suppress the resistance, says the activist Zau Raw, "the central government continues to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid to the war zone, in the areas controlled by the Kachin and along the border with China." Only in the last two weeks about two thousand families living in seven villages located near Bhamo, have fled their homes. Thousand others have fled from Kala Yang, Tapant and Kazue, by order of the authorities.

The coordinator of Kachin Refugee Committee (KRC) has criticized Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese opposition leader, for not taking a long position on the conflict. But recently the Nobel Laureate said she was ready to mediate between the government and ethnic groups, to achieve a ceasefire. In an open letter sent to the president Thein Sein and Kachin leaders, the activist calls for a "peaceful solution" in the interests of "all ethnic minorities in the Union of Myanmar."

Raw Zau then accused the Burmese government - which took office last April and is an emanation of the military regime - of "exploiting" the image of the "Lady" to ease international pressure. He recalls that the woman was released after the "farce" elections of November 2010 to cover allegations of fraud and early voting. And now that the army is engaged in a civil war against a minority, it is organizing "a meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and a government minister for the sole purpose of diverting attention" from its atrocities and war crimes and crimes against 'humanity' in the ethnic areas.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-Burmese-regime-use-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-to-cover-the-violence-against-Kachin-22242.html
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Most dangerous country online - Myanmar?

Myanmar has become the No. 1 source of Web attack traffic worldwide as the Asian country makes its debut in a cyberthreat index covering the first quarter of 2011, according to new report (registration required).

Released Wednesday, the latest edition of Akamai's quarterly "State of the Internet report" noted that Myanmar's sudden appearance at the top of the chart was "certainly unusual". This was the first time the country placed in the ranking, which has a four-year history, noted the content network delivery provider. It added that the attacks from Myanmar seemed related to attack traffic in late-February and early-March which targeted port 80.

According to Akamai, Myanmar accounted for 13 percent of the observed attack traffic despite only targeting 25 unique ports, among which 45 percent of the attack were targeted at port 80. In contrast, the United States--ranked No. 2--accounted for 10 percent of attack traffic with tens of thousands of targeted ports. Attack activities from the U.S. were strongly indicative of general port scanning and not specifically-targeted attacks, said the company.

To round out the top 5 on the list: Taiwan ranked third, Russia fourth, and China fifth.

For more on this story, read Myanmar No. 1 source of Web attacks on ZDNet Asia.
http://www.zdnet.com/news/most-dangerous-country-online-myanmar/6268280
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Need To Release All Remaining Political Prisoners
Saturday, 30 July 2011, 3:06 pm
Press Release: United Nations

Myanmar: Ban Underlines Need To Release All Remaining Political Prisoners

New York, Jul 29 2011 2:10PM
Releasing all remaining political prisoners is the single most important step that authorities in Myanmar can take, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, expressing hope that the Government of the Asian nation will soon take steps towards greater democracy.

Mr. Ban <" http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=1894">spoke by telephone earlier today with U Wunna Maung Lwin, Myanmar’s Foreign Minister, just days after he welcomed a meeting between a Government minister and Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent opposition figure.

Ms. Suu Kyi, who spent almost 15 years under house arrest during the past two decades, was released in November last year.

In his conversation with the Foreign Minister, the Secretary-General “underlined that he had publicly welcomed the reform measures announced by the new Government,” according to information released by his spokesperson.

“He hoped that the Government would now move toward concrete action and take the country forward towards peace, democracy and prosperity.”

Mr. Ban also pressed for “early action” on releasing Myanmar’s remaining political prisoners, describing their release as the “single most important step the international community expected to take.”

The Secretary-General also voiced his concern to the Foreign Minister about the ongoing violence involving some armed groups and the impact of that on civilians, saying the Government must resolve the situation peacefully.
Jul 29 2011 2:10PM http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1107/S00601/need-to-release-all-remaining-political-prisoners.htm
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VOANews.com:
UN: Burma Must Release Remaining Political Prisoners
Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 8:50 pm UTC

The United Nations Secretary General says Burma's government must release all remaining political prisoners as its first priority in improving its relations with the international community.

According to a U.N. statement, Ban Ki-moon said Friday it was the “single most important step” the government should take. He welcomed the government's recent reform measures, and said he hoped they would lead soon to “concrete action” that will bring progress towards peace, democracy, and prosperity.

The statement said Mr. Ban also voiced his approval of the Burmese government's meeting this week with democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi met with Labor Minister Aung Kyi Monday at a government house in Rangoon, her first high-level government meeting since her release from house arrest in November.

The Secretary General made the comments to Burma Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin in a phone call.

Burma elected a civilian government last year to take over from the long-standing military rulers.

But the opposition and human rights officials say the military is still in charge under the guise of an elected civilian administration.
http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/07/29/un-burma-must-release-remaining-political-prisoners/
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Myanmar: Cyber war: Myanmar leader in attacks in 2011

In the first quarter of 2011, 13 per cent of all cyber attacks in the world came from the country formerly known as Burma, ahead of the United States, Taiwan and China; in 2010, it did not even make the top ten list. Only 2 per cent of the population has access to a heavily censored internet. Egypt ...

Friday, July 29, 2011
By Asia News See all articles by this author

Yangon – In the first three months of 2011, Myanmar was the largest source of cyber attacks in the world, a far cry from last year when it did not appear in the top ten list, this according to a report issued by the leading US tracking company Akamai.

The survey also found that Egypt and Libya experienced major Internet outages in the first quarter of this year when their governments sought to cut off access in response to widespread protests.

In that same period, Myanmar accounted for 13 per cent of total global attack traffic. Thus, a country where only 2 per cent of the population has access to the internet pulled ahead of the Unite States (10 per cent), Taiwan (9 per cent), Russia and China.

What is not clear is whether the attacks are the work of individuals or organised local groups, or whether the country is used as a proxy to strike at sensitive targets.

Cyber attackers are in fact known to use countries like Myanmar, China and Russia, even Israel and Kazakhstan, because of their malleable internet security laws, or take advantage of local policies that promote web wars.

Last year, the Burmese government announced plans to boost access to the web, something activists and experts dismiss as a smokescreen since it continues to enforce heavy-handed censorship and controls. http://www.speroforum.com/a/57871/Myanmar---Cyber-war-Myanmar-leader-in-attacks-in-2011

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