News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 27 September, 2011-uzl

News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 27 September, 2011
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Burma: Foreign Minister Meeting (Taken Question)
Burma police prevent rare democracy protest
Petition urges US to press Burma war probe
Thousands Flee as Kachin Fighting Escalates
Ban to Hold Meeting on Burma, as KIO Calls for UN Help
Death of a Journalist
Kachin Rebels Under Heavy Govt Army Bombardment
UN war crimes’ probe wins support in US
Protracted shelling unnerves Kachin army
War in NE Burma produces new IDPs
India wants to double trade with Myanmar
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Burma: Foreign Minister Meeting (Taken Question)
Tuesday, 27 September 2011, 2:53 pm
Press Release: US State Department
Taken Question
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
Question Taken at the SEPTEMBER 26 Daily Press Briefing
September 26, 2011

Question: Can you please provide a read-out of Assistant Secretary Campbell’s meeting with Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin?

Answer: Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell and Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma Ambassador Derek Mitchell met with Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22. The meeting was productive with an open and candid exchange of views by both sides. Assistant Secretary Campbell and Ambassador Mitchell welcomed recent positive steps taken by the Government of Burma, including President Thein Sein’s dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi. They emphasized that the United States seeks concrete steps from the Government of Burma to signify a genuine commitment to reform including release of all political prisoners, further meaningful dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, a cessation of hostilities in and violence against ethnic areas, and transparency in its relationship with North Korea. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1109/S00813/burma-foreign-minister-meeting-taken-question.htm
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BANGKOK POST
Burma police prevent rare democracy protest
Published: 27/09/2011 at 04:32 AM
Online news: Asia

Police in military-dominated Burma on Monday prevented a rare protest by pro-democracy activists on the fourth anniversary of a bloody crackdown on a monk-led uprising, an official said.

Myanmar protesters offer prayers at the Sule Pagoda after they agreed to call off a rally when asked by the authorities to do so, in downtown Yangon. Police in military-dominated Myanmar on Monday prevented a rare protest by pro-democracy activists on the fourth anniversary of a bloody crackdown on a monk-led uprising, an official said.

About 200 people had planned to march to Rangoon City Hall but agreed to call off the rally when asked by the authorities to do so, according to witnesses. Afterwards about 30 of them held prayers at a pagoda.

"After police asked them to stop, they prayed ... and then dispersed," according to a government official who did not want to be named.

Police said no arrests were made.

"We came here to pray for the release of political prisoners and to mark the fourth anniversary of the Saffron Revolution, but a police officer asked us not to go anywhere so that's why we have to go home," one of the activists said.

Other activists wore slogans on their T-shirts calling for an end to a controversial hydroelectric power project in northern Kachin State, electricity from which is destined for neighbouring China.

Last week police arrested a man who staged a rare solo protest against the Myitsone dam outside a Chinese embassy building in Rangoon. Concerns are growing in Burma about the impact of the project on the Irrawaddy River.

Security was tight on the anniversary of the crackdown on the 2007 protests, which began as small rallies against the rising cost of living but escalated into huge anti-government demonstrations known as the "Saffron Revolution."

At least 31 people were killed by security forces while hundreds were beaten and detained in the crackdown that ensued.

Burma is now ruled by a nominally civilian government but its ranks are filled with former generals and the country still has more than 2,000 political prisoners.

In recent weeks the regime has shown signs of engaging with its opponents, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won a 1990 election but was never allowed by the junta to take power.

The regime released the Nobel Peace Prize winner in November last year, shortly after an election that was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and intimidation. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party boycotted the vote.

In an interview with AFP earlier this month, Suu Kyi said there had been "positive developments" in Burma, but it was unclear whether President Thein Sein would be able to carry through his reform pledges.

The dissident said she did not want a popular revolt in Burma of the kind seen in Libya, adding: "Everybody knows that Libya's troubles are going to drag on for a long time." http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/258495/burma-police-prevent-rare-democracy-protest
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BANGKOK POST
Petition urges US to press Burma war probe

Published: 27/09/2011 at 01:32 AM
Online news: Asia

A petition by thousands of Americans on Monday urged the United States to press for a UN-led probe into alleged crimes against humanity in Burma, saying the country needs accountability to move ahead.

US Campaign For Burma activists protest across the street from the Burmese Embassy in Washington DC in 2007. A petition by thousands of Americans on Monday urged the United States to press for a UN-led probe into alleged crimes against humanity in Myanmar, saying the country needs accountability to move ahead.

The US Campaign for Burma said that 13,000 US citizens signed the petition, many of them at concerts by U2 whose frontman Bono is a longtime supporter of Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The advocacy group's executive director Aung Din presented the petition to the US State Department's ambassador-at-large on war crimes, Stephen Rapp, on the fourth anniversary of Burma's bloody crackdown on a monk-led uprising.

The State Department and rights groups say that Burma's military has razed villages, forced villagers into labor and used rape as a weapon of war in its campaign against ethnic minority rebels.

"Justice is a crucial part of national reconciliation in any country. Burma cannot move forward until these attacks stop and the rule of law is realized," Aung Din said in a statement, using Burma's earlier name.

"Four years ago peaceful monks were massacred, and yet the perpetrators of these atrocities have never been held accountable. How long will the Obama administration wait before taking real action to help find justice?" he said.

The United States has publicly supported a UN-led Commission of Inquiry into possible crimes against humanity but has done little to make the idea a reality, with officials believing that Asian nations would oppose the effort.

President Barack Obama's administration in 2009 opened a dialogue with Burma after concluding that the previous efforts to isolate the regime had failed. US officials have hailed what they see as promising signs but insist that more action is needed.

Burma's junta handed power to a nominally civilian government in March, although the opposition says that the change is cosmetic with the military still firmly in charge.

Suu Kyi, in a recent interview with AFP, said that a UN probe would help bring "future harmony and forgiveness" and "has nothing to do with revenge."

But the International Crisis Group in a recent report warned that a commission could "cause retrenchment" by Burma's leadership. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/258423/petition-urges-us-to-press-burma-war-probe
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Thousands Flee as Kachin Fighting Escalates
By KO HTWE Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Thousands of villagers have been forced from their homes since Friday as fighting between the Burmese Army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Battalion 4 intensifies, according to volunteer groups.

Kaw Ja, a member of a Kachin youth group which is helping refugees in the area, said that many thousands of people living in four townships in the northern Shan State battle region have taken shelter with relatives or friends due to the conflict.

She claimed that as many as 20,000 refugees may have abandoned their homes in the region, but The Irrawaddy cannot independently verify this figure.

“Villagers can hardly be found in the war zone. But it is hard to tell if they are refugees or internally displace people because most take shelter in houses of relatives or close friends. Some villagers who have no relatives or friends have taken shelter at the church, but they run away when the police investigate and take their photo,” said Kaw Ja.

There are more than 200 villages boasting a population of over 200,000 people from various ethnic groups in the area controled by KIA Battalion 4. Many residents who accept villagers face an investigation from authorities for having overnight guests without permission, she added.

“I heard villagers are running as much as they can, but still nobody is giving them assistance,” said La Rit who heads the Kachin Refugee Support Group.

Due to the outbreak of violent clashes between the KIA and government troops in June, Laiza has seen an influx of more than 10,000 refugees.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, KIA spokesman La Nan said that he did not know many details about the refugees other than increasing numbers could be heading to border towns such as Muse, Kyugok and Namkham.

Since 1997, the Burmese regime has destroyed more than 3,000 villages and displaced over half-a-million civilians in eastern Burma, according to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an umbrella organization responsible for the distribution of aid at the Thai-Burmese border.

Most villagers head to churches in the area but investigations by the Burmese authorities make them flee in terror, claims Mai Ja of the Kachin Women's Association Thailand, one of the groups engaged in relief efforts near the Sino-Burmese border.

Recently, international and regional human rights groups —including the International Federation for Human Rights, Altsean-Burma and Burma Lawyers’ Council—urged the European Union to support the establishment of a UN Security Council Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Burma. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22152
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Ban to Hold Meeting on Burma, as KIO Calls for UN Help
By LALIT K JHA Tuesday, September 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon prepares to hold a meeting of his “Group of Friends on Burma” on Tuesday to discuss the current situation in the country, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) is calling on the world body to take a more active role in resolving its armed conflicts.

Several ministers from key countries are expected to participate in the meeting of the “Group of Friends,” a consultative forum for developing a shared approach in support of the implementation of the secretary-general’s good offices mandate in Burma.

Among its key members are Australia, Indonesia, Russia, the United States, China, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, France, Norway, Thailand, India, Portugal and Britain. Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, who is in New York to attend this year's session of the UN General Assembly, is expected to attend the meeting.

The announcement of the meeting came on the same day that KIO President Lanyaw Zawng Hra wrote to Ban seeking UN assistance in ending Burma's civil war. In his five-page letter, Lanyaw said that ethnic conflict in Burma directly affects regional development and the stability of neighboring countries.

The KIO urged the international community, including the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Burma's neighbors, to help the country find a way to end its civil war and finally achieve national reconciliation.

“Despite the fact that Burma achieved independence in I 948 as the Union of Burma, it has been operating as a Unitary System, rather than practicing a true federal system as agreed to by independence leader Gen. Aung San and ethnic leaders,” the letter said.

Lanyaw said that over the past 60 years, successive governments have ignored agreements with ethnic groups and broken promises to build a federal union. “In fact they have found new ways to suppress the concerns of the ethnic minority people; continuing to ignore our basic rights despite our willingness to resolve these differences through peaceful means,” he wrote.

“This ongoing disrespect of our original agreement ensured by the Burman majority rulers has driven the ethnic minority to maintain arms to protect our peoples and to ensure our basic rights, self-determination and promised autonomy inside our own lands,” he wrote.

Claiming that since independence in 1948, the ethnic minority territories have been pushed to the outer edges of the country bordering all of the neighboring nations, the letter said the civil war is happening in almost all of the border areas of Burma.

“One can interpret this civil war as a people's war to secure equal rights for not only the ethnic minority, but also the problems of unequal development in the country. It also presents a very complex set of national security issues. As such, these civil wars are not only the concern of our own country but also viewed as problematic and burdensome for our neighboring nations,” he said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22147
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Death of a Journalist
By YAMAMOTO MUNESUKE Tuesday, September 27, 2011

It was painful to witness the images broadcast worldwide on September 27, 2007. Japanese cameraman Kenji Nagai was lying on his back on a street in Rangoon. Then there was the piercing sound of a bullet fired from the rifle of a soldier.

Kenji Nagai, a man I considered a colleague, was dead. Immediately, I thought: It could have been me. As a photojournalist, I also report on conflicts. I have covered many Asian countries, including Burma, and I imagined myself in Kenji Nagai’s place, lying dead on a street in Rangoon.

But, I was in Japan, and he was in Rangoon. However, I knew the streets where the pro-democracy demonstrations occurred—the scene was very familiar to me.

For me, the shooting confirmed the true mentality of the Burmese junta, which has been killing and imprisoning the Burmese people with impunity for decades: 3,000 or more people dead in 1988 alone, the year I started covering events in Burma.

On the day Kenji Nagai was murdered, I was taking photographs of Burmese exiled activists who were demonstrating in front of the Burmese Embassy in Tokyo, demanding the Japanese government stop supporting the State Peace and Development Council financially.

Later that day, my mobile phone started ringing, one call after another without a break. News agencies and newspapers were calling me to check if the unidentified Japanese journalist killed in Rangoon was me or not. One call was from Australia, from my Burmese friend who had worked as my interpreter when I made trips to Burma. He explained that he was worried about me when he heard the news.

Before long, the Japanese media confirmed the dead journalist was Kenji Nagai. His name was new to me, and we had never met.

The TV news showed video of the shooting of Kenji Nagai over and over again for several days. The Japanese public was horrified and angry. The Japanese government seemed shocked. Perhaps for the first time, the government realized the SPDC is truly an evil government.

When the funeral service was held on October 8, 2007 in Tokyo, hundreds of Burmese exiles attended the service to honor Kenji Nagai. They apologized for his death on behalf of the SPDC government, which they hate. It was a natural feeling for the Burmese people who live in Japan to express their sorrow for Kenji Nagai, who was now a martyr in the Burmese struggle for democracy.

Media coverage on Kenji Nagai focused on his personality, his professional work in Iraq and elsewhere, but neglected any factual background on what had been happening in Burma under the military regime for the past 20 years. There were almost no critical questions about Japan’s foreign policy toward the military junta—whether it was trying to help the country move toward democracy or helping the SPDC.

As a photojournalist, I have been critical of Japan’s foreign policy which has favored the SPDC generals rather than the democratic forces and the ethnic minorities. You can get a sense of Japan’s policy toward the SPDC through various comments made by top Japanese diplomats.

For instance, the then Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi made an ignorant comment in May 2003, when she was asked about the murderous attack on Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade at Depayin. She said, “There is no deterioration of environment for dialogue between the SPDC and Aung San Suu Kyi.” She retracted her comment the next day.

In May 2006, Japanese ambassador to the UN, Kenzo Oshima, said, “Burma does not constitute a regional threat yet,” and along with China and Russia, Japan opposed efforts by the US and EU to put Burma on the Security Council agenda.

The latest and most shameless comment was made by Yoichi Yamaguchi, the former Japanese ambassador to Burma (1995-97). After the killing of Nagai, he was quoted in the Japanese media as saying several offensive comments:

“Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy gave money to the demonstrators.”

“There is not a single so-called political prisoner there [in Burma] in the true sense.”

“The regime has succeeded in maintaining economic growth of over 5 percent annually, earning it the widespread trust of the people.”

After Kenji Nagai’s death, the Japanese government took a seemingly strong stance. In New York, Foreign Minister Komura demanded an apology from the SPDC. But as time passed and the crackdown by security forces continued, the Japanese government remained quiet, simply waiting for the UN Security Council to act.

“The government will coordinate efforts with the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to make progress in the democratization of Myanmar [Burma],” Komura said after the UNSC’s presidential statement was announced.

Later, Japan cancelled a grant of up to 552 million yen (US $4.7 million).
The grant had been intended to finance the construction of a human resources center.

On October 28, the People’s Forum on Burma, an NGO formed in Tokyo in 1996 to support the Burmese people’s struggle for democracy, made a plea for the Japanese government to fundamentally change its foreign policy toward the SPDC by giving full-scale humanitarian support to the 160,000 displaced people in refugee camps in Thailand.

The group also asked for a halt in grants to the Union Solidarity and Development Association, which was accused of taking part in the suppression of the demonstrators. In 2006, the USDA received a Japanese grant of nearly 24 million yen ($209,000) for construction of three grade school buildings. It also demanded that Japan stop humanitarian aid to subsidize Burma’s healthcare and education budgets while the military regime allocates more than 50 percent of its national budget on the military.

The group wants to pressure the Japanese government to support the Burmese people and the pro-democracy groups, instead of helping to keep the generals in power.

A Burmese citizen in Tokyo, a former political prisoner, said Burmese exiles remember two Japanese citizens: one with hate, and one with great respect.

One is former ambassador Yoichi Yamaguchi; the other is journalist Kenji Nagai.

Yamamoto Munesuke’s books include “Burma’s Children” and “Burma’s Great Illusions.” He was deported from Burma in 1998 “for gathering news,” following his exclusive interview with Aung San Suu Kyi.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22150
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Kachin Rebels Under Heavy Govt Army Bombardment
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Incessant barrages of heavy artillery fire by Burmese government troops on Monday evening have forced Kachin Independence Army (KIA) forces in northern Shan State to withdraw their military bases.

More than 1,000 government troops have been involved in the ongoing military onslaught since Friday. The KIA's two battalions reportedly lost their bases on Monday, which are located between Muse and Kutakai towns close to the Sino-Burmese border.

The KIA has an estimated 10,000 troops with 4,000 of them based in northern Shan State. The government's military offensive against the KIA—under the direct command of military regional commander Maj-Gen Aung Kyaw Zaw—has raged for five days without any signs of abating.

In its Tuesday offensive which began at 8 am, hundreds of Burmese Army soldiers opened a three frontal attack against a strategic mountain called “Chan Shin” which was held by KIA forces headquartered in Loikang, near Kutkai.

Col. Zau Raw, commander of KIA forces in northern Shan State, told The Irrawaddy that the government army has been using 105mm artillery and is trying to seize their military stronghold in Loikang.

“The KIA has occupied all the strategic locations in the area and instead of directly confronting the Burmese Army forces, we are launching counter guerrilla attacks and also using heavy weapons,” he said. He added that refugees fleeing the conflict were prevented from crossing the Sino-Burmese border by Chinese authorities, but The Irrawaddy cannot independently verify this report.

The KIA official revealed that three KIA soldiers have been killed since Friday and a number have also been wounded. But the number of government casualties remains unknown with Burmese state-run media neglecting to mention the fighting until Tuesday.

The current conflict is the most intense since the collapse of a 17-year ceasefire agreement between the two sides in June when fighting broke out near Chinese-built hydropower plants in Bhamo Township of Kachin State. This followed the KIA's outright rejection of the government's border guard force (BGF) plan under the new civilian administration which took office in March this year.

During two following rounds of peace talks, the government offered the 10,000-strong KIA a chance to renew the 1994 ceasefire agreement but rejected their demands for a political dialogue between all armed ethnic forces and Naypyidaw.

Sporadic fighting between the two sides has continued in different parts of Kachin and Shan states since then.

The KIA has been fighting the Burmese government from 1961 until 1994 when a fragile ceasefire agreement was reached. It sought to guarantee regional development and offered political solutions for the KIA's demand for greater autonomy within a federal system, but this never materialized.

Kachin leaders rejected the current 2008 Constitution as they believe it failed to guarantee ethnic rights, and are currently asking Napyidaw for a political dialogue while expressing a lack of confidence regarding the government's recent tentative economic and political reforms.

The government appears well prepared for the latest offensive against KIA troops as it has renewed a temporary ceasefire with the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army (UWSA)—Burma's largest ethnic armed group—in east of the country a few weeks ago. The UWSA also refused to accept the BGF plan.

Even though there has been no indication that the UWSA is providing military aid to the KIA in the latest fighting, another local armed group, the Shan State Army, is now fighting alongside KIA troops against the government army, KIA officials claim.

The fighting has forced the China-run hydropower plants in Bhamo Township to shut down and creates difficulties for other major Chinese investments. These include the controversial Myitsone Dam Project in Kachin State and a strategic oil pipeline passing from the Bay of Bengal to Yunnan Province through central Burma and northern Shan State.

Asked if the Burmese authorities will be able to wipe out KIA forces in Shan State, Zau Raw said, “No, No. That will be impossible. We have been fighting this war for over 50 years with guerrilla tactics and we are still using this same method.”

“Heavy clashes have broken out across the region and our policy is to continue to defend our areas by guerrilla warfare.” http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22153
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UN war crimes’ probe wins support in US
By AFP
Published: 27 September 2011


Some 13,000 Burmese pro-democracy activists in US have signed a petition urging Obama to back a UN war crimes' probe into Burma (Reuters)

A petition by thousands of Americans on Monday urged the United States to press for a UN-led probe into alleged crimes against humanity in Burma, saying the country needs accountability to move ahead.

The US Campaign for Burma said that 13,000 US citizens signed the petition, many of them at concerts by U2 whose frontman Bono is a longtime supporter of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The advocacy group’s executive director Aung Din presented the petition to the US State Department’s ambassador-at-large on war crimes, Stephen Rapp, on the fourth anniversary of Burma’s bloody crackdown on a monk-led uprising.

The State Department and rights groups say that Burma’s military has razed villages, forced villagers into labour and used rape as a weapon of war in its campaign against ethnic minority rebels.

“Justice is a crucial part of national reconciliation in any country. Burma cannot move forward until these attacks stop and the rule of law is realised,” Aung Din said in a statement.

“Four years ago peaceful monks were massacred, and yet the perpetrators of these atrocities have never been held accountable. How long will the Obama administration wait before taking real action to help find justice?” he said.

The United States has publicly supported a UN-led Commission of Inquiry into possible crimes against humanity but has done little to make the idea a reality, with officials believing that Asian nations would oppose the effort.

President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009 opened a dialogue with Burma after concluding that the previous efforts to isolate the regime had failed. US officials have hailed what they see as promising signs but insist that more action is needed.

Burma’s junta handed power to a nominally civilian government in March, although the opposition says that the change is cosmetic with the military still firmly in charge.

Suu Kyi, in a recent interview with AFP, said that a UN probe would help bring “future harmony and forgiveness” and “has nothing to do with revenge.”

But the International Crisis Group in a recent report warned that a commission could “cause retrenchment” by Burma’s leadership. http://www.dvb.no/news/un-war-crimes-probe-gathers-steam-in-us/17840
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Protracted shelling unnerves Kachin army
By AYE NAI
Published: 27 September 2011

Four days of heavy shelling by Burmese troops against Kachin forces in the country’s northeast has prompted the rebel group to relocate non-combatants to safer areas and send all its soldiers to the frontline.

The spokesperson of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), La Nan, said the group will “utilise guerrilla warfare tactics” in a bid to fend off the Burmese assault, which has seen around 1000 troops deployed to KIA territory in northern Shan state.

Two KIA bases have been vacated since the assault began on Friday in Muse, Kutkai and Man Tong townships.

“It’s quite intense fighting. The [Burmese army’s] forces are exceeding 1000 troops and they are still reinforcing,” said La Nan.

The current fighting marks some of the heaviest seen since clashes broke out between two sides in June, triggered largely the KIA’s refusal to accede to demands to become a government-controlled Border Guard Force. The government is also keen to gain control of areas close to KIA territory that host lucrative hydropower projects.

The fighting has affected areas of northern Shan state and southern and central Kachin state where the KIA has a strong presence. Until June the opposition group had maintained a 17-year ceasefire with the central government.

The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand reported yesterday that it has so far documented 37 cases of rape in areas of Kachin state where government troops are active. The group said it had counted 18 by the end of June, and feared the phenomenon, long derided by human rights groups as a “weapon of war” of the Burmese army, was escalating.

According to the KIA, the current offensive is being directly supervised by Lieutenant General Soe Win, the Burmese military’s second-ranking official, and the Northeastern Regional Military Command. It pre-empted the army’s quarterly meeting in Naypyidaw on Saturday last week.

Prior to the first wave of attacks on Friday, the KIA’s Brigade 4 raided a police station in the Shan state town of Muse. It has also launched attacks on Burmese outposts in Lweje town and Singlun village tract in eastern Kachin state, while battles continue in Dawphonyan sub-township.

“Although [the government] is talking about political dialogue, the military can use military means to solve the problems,” said La Nan. “Their aim is to conquer everything. I think the result of the quarterly meeting will be a war cry.”

The political wing of the KIA, the Kachin Independence Organisation, recently sent a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon urging the body to mediate in the conflicts unfolding inBurma’s border region.

The Burmese army is also battling opposition forces in Karen state and southern Shan state. http://www.dvb.no/news/protracted-shelling-unnerves-kachin-army/17845
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War in NE Burma produces new IDPs
Published on Monday, 26 September 2011 10:20
Written by KNG

The Burma Army’s storm-offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which started on September 24 in northeast Shan State, is producing new Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), local IDP observers said.

Hundreds of Kachin and Shan IDPs were displaced in at least six villages, especially in the controlled area of the KIA’s Brigade 4, during three-days of heavy fighting, IDP observers said.

The IDPs in villages like Daknai, Nawng Ing, Mungli, as well as villages in Htanhpa Bum Mountain and villages in Banggai Bum Mountain under control of a KIA Battalion under Brigade 4, are fleeing to the government-controlled towns of Nam-um, Nampaka and Muse, according to IDPs.

The residents of villages in KIA’s Battalion 2, near the town of Tamonye, are fleeing to Kutkai and Tamonye, said IDPs.

Some IDPs from the villages of Dima and Nawng Ing are fleeing to the China border, near Pangsai. The morning of September 26, about 40 IDPs from Dima and Nawng Ing, in Pangsai, were prevented from crossing the China border by Burmese policemen. They were instructed to find shelter at Pangsai Kachin Baptist Church, according to IDPs.

An IDP in Pangsai said, “We have to flee to the secured area because we cannot live in our village. The government troop’s mortar rounds landed in our village and injured some villagers. We are extremely worried about being tortured by Burmese soldiers. So, we have to leave.”

At another Burmese border town, Mongkoe, Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers and border guard troops only allow their own citizens to cross to the Chinese border town of Manghai and prevented Burmese IDPs from entering into China, Mongkoe residents said.

More IDPs will be produced in northern Shan State because there is no sign of a stoppage in the fighting between the government troops and KIA in the short term.

On Saturday, the government launched the storm-offensive with over 1,000 troops, the largest number of troops ever deployed in the KIA’s Brigade 4 area, in Northern Shan State.

Since the civil started in Kachin State, about 10,000 Kachin IDPs have taken shelter in government-controlled Myitkyina, Waingmaw, Manmaw (Bhamo) and N’Mawk (Momauk) and over 20,000 Kachin IDPs have sheltered in the KIA headquarters at Laiza, near the China border.

The IDPs in Kachin state mainly receive aid and support from local NGOs like the Metta Development Foundation, Kachin churches and the KIO.

Until now, Kachin and Shan IDPs in Northern Shan State have not received any aid from local NGOs and international refugee agencies, said IDP observers.
http://kachinnews.com/news/2069-war-in-ne-burma-produces-new-idps.html
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27 Sep, 2011, 03.20PM IST, PTI
India wants to double trade with Myanmar

NEW DELHI: Leveraging the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, India wants to double its commerce with Myanmar and diversify the bilateral engagement to agro-research and natural gas exploration.

The India-Myanmar trade, comprising pulses, meat, products, timber and pharmaceuticals, is only USD 1.5 billion at present.

"I propose that we work towards doubling of bilateral trade by 2015. We also need to work towards broad-basing our trade basket," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said while chairing Joint Trade Commission meeting along with Myanmar Commerce Minister U Win Myint here.

Sharma said business community of the two countries should utilise Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme and the ASEAN FTA channels to diversify the bilateral trade.

India has operationalised its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a leading member.

Sharma said construction of the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project comprising waterway and roadway by 2013 would transform the trade between India's north-eastern states and the rest of the world.

Being built at USD 120 million, the project envisages a direct trade corridor between Indian ports on the eastern seaboard and Sittwe Port in Myanmar and then through riverine transport and by road to Mizoram.

The two countries have recognized the need to collaborate in building a land customs station at India-Myanmar Border (at Mizoram).

It was noted that the border trade point at Moreh, on Indian side and Tamu, on Myanmar side, is stabilising.

Sharma invited his Myanmar counterpart to inaugurate the second border trade point at Zowkhatar (Mizoram) that will connect to Rhi in Myanmar. The ministers stressed the need for two additional border trade points - Pangsau Pass (in Arunachal Pradesh) and Avangkhung (in Nagaland).

India and Myanmar have also expanded the list of items for border trade from 22 to 40.

Sharma offered India's assistance for capacity building in agricultural research and improving the seed variety in Myanmar.

He said India is keen to participate in the gas sector of Myanmar. Indian companies have shown interest in setting up of gas-based units and invest in LNG infrastructure.

He also pushed for Indian participation in allocation of gas blocks in Myanmar. The Myanmar side showed strong support for the proposal, a Commerce Ministry statement said.

Myanmar is source of one-third of India's imports in pulses and one-fifth in timber.

With the implementation of India-ASEAN FTA and the Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme, the two countries can step up the commercial engagement, it was noted at the meeting. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/india-wants-to-double-trade-with-myanmar/articleshow/10139379.cms