News & Articles on Burma-Thursday, 27 October 2011

News & Articles on Burma Thursday, 27 October 2011 --------------------------------------- Govt Push for Peace Talks with KNU, SSA-South Amendments to Political Party Law Approved Myitsone Workers Return to China, but Beijing Still Hoping for Restart Jade or jaded? The sanctions on Burmese gems SSA outlines peace proposal Hunger strike underway in Insein prison Floods Spread to Myanmar Myanmar's release of prisoners leaves U.S. cautiously optimistic Myanmar police shut down rare protest Rangoon police disperse farmers' protest ------------------------------------------ Govt Push for Peace Talks with KNU, SSA-South By LAWI WENG Thursday, October 27, 2011 Two of Burma's main ethnic rebel groups, the Shan State Army-South (SSASouth) and the Karen National Union (KNU), are preparing to hold separate peace negotiations with a government delegation in the near future, according to sources close to the rebels. The talks will focus only on establishing Naypyidaw's plan for making peace and its sincerity to stand by any agreement, said the sources. The proposal comes at a time when government troops have launched a military offensive against Kachin rebels in northern and northeastern Burma. Before holding talks with the government delegation, the SSA-South will gather opinions from among Shan civilians and Buddhist monks, said a Shan rebel spokesman. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Sai Hseng Murng, the deputy spokesman of the SSASouth, said, With regard to ceasefire talks, we are going to take one more week to ask opinions and suggestions from our people. After that, we'll review the opinions before making a decision on forming a peace talk mission. Naypyidaw issued an announcement on Aug. 18 inviting all armed ethnic groups in Burma to enter into individual peace talks with the government. Sai Hseng Murng said that members of pro-government Shan militias approached the SSA-South last month carrying a proposal on behalf of the Burmese government advocating peace talks. I think the government were testing to see whether we would agree to talks, said the SSA-South spokesman. With the former government, we did not have a chance to negotiate. But we view this new government differently. The SSA-South and Burmese officials met for peace talks once before, in 2007, at the Thai-Burmese border. However, talks broke down and were never resumed. The KNU, for its part, has been fighting the Burmese army almost continuously for more than 60 years. However, Karen sources said that they were confident talks with a government delegation will go ahead though no date has yet been fixed. If they are really serious, we wish to talk with them. If they want peace, we will pursue political dialogue, said Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the KNU. However, KNU officials maintain that they prefer to hold talks in a neighboring country, assumed by observers to mean Thailand. A source close to the KNU said that a Burmese government delegation tried to meet up with KNU officials last week in Myawaddy. A government delegation has previously met once with KNU representatives and once with the rebel New Mon State Party, though both times talks concluded without an agreement. Meanwhile, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have deployed more troops into Wa-controlled areas on the Thai-Burmese border, according to a Shan Herald Agency for News report on Oct. 26. The Wa rebels have sent more than 30 military trucks since Sunday into Hwe Aw, the UWSA 171sts headquarters in Mongton township in southern Shan State. The military maneuver follows 171st Military Region commander Wei Xwegang saying he had received a reliable report from Burmese army sources that the SSA-South had demanded areas on the Thai-Burmese border that are currently under the control of the UWSA to be transferred to the SSA-South in exchange for peace during a recent meeting with Burmese officials. The Burmese government recently reached an agreement to uphold a two-decade-long ceasefire with the UWSA and its ally, the National Democratic Alliance Army, both of which are based in Shan State. The Irrawaddy senior reporter Saw Yan Naing also contributed to this article. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22337 ------------------------------------------ Amendments to Political Party Law Approved By WAI MOE Thursday, October 27, 2011 Burma's Lower House of Parliament passed an amendment to the Political Party Registration law on Thursday, a move that could see Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) return to the political fray. Thein Nyunt, a pro-democracy independent MP who attended the day's parliamentary session in Naypyidaw, told The Irrawaddy that the Lower House or Pyithu Hluttaw approved the bill without objection. Last week, the Upper House or Amyotha Hluttaw passed a proposal to amend three clauses of the Political Parties Registration Law. The clause titled Preservation of the Constitution will be replaced by Respect and Obedience of the Constitution. Secondly, the clause in Section 10 of the act which prohibits anyone convicted by a court of law from joining a political party will be removed. The third amendmentarguably the most significantwould scrap the current law that maintains that, to be recognized, each political party must have contested a minimum of three seats in the previous general election. The amended bill means that a political party will be recognized as long as it has contested at least three constituencies in by-elections, 50 of which are scheduled for November. NLD spokesman Ohn Kyaing said that the party has closely watched the process in Parliament, and will soon sit to decide whether the party will register. The NLD leadership will discuss it and decide, he said. In recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Suu Kyi suggested the government is close to meeting her conditions to officially register her political organization. She did not rule out the possibility of running for office in a national vote expected in 2015. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22336 -------------------------------------------- Myitsone Workers Return to China, but Beijing Still Hoping for Restart By BA KAUNG Thursday, October 27, 2011 Nearly a month after Burma's President Thein Sein announced the suspension of the controversial Myitsone dam project in Kachin State, Chinese workers have begun returning to China, even as Beijing continues to signal its desire to resume the US $3.6 billion project in the near future. On Thursday, the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said that Chinese workers were leaving the project site and that there were no signs of construction. Chinese workers are leaving the site through border gates in Kachin State. We also learned that the construction materials stored for the project, such as cement and fuel, are being sold to local businessmen, said KIA spokesman La Nan. But we don't know if this means the project is just suspended or canceled, he added. A similar report was made by the Rangoon-based Eleven Weekly journal this week. The suspension of the controversial hydropower project on the Irrawaddy River was seen as a move by the new quasi-civilian government in Naypyidaw to counter growing Chinese influence in the country and improve ties with the West. While the Burmese government said it acted according to the will of the people, Beijing was clearly angered by the decision and called for talks with Naypyidaw to resolve the issue. Recent reports from China, many of which described concerns about the environmental impact of the dam as exaggerated and fabricated by the Western media, made clear that Beijing remains hopeful the project will resume. On Monday, The Global Times, a Chinese government mouthpiece, described Burma's decision to suspend the Myitsone project as a move to garner short-term political gain at the expense of business, adding that the whimsical change will inevitably send troubling signals to potential investors. Apparently to contain the fallout, Burmese Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo went to Beijing and held talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last week. During the meeting, Wen asked the Burmese government to honor bilateral agreements between the two countries and allow the successful implementation of Chinese investments in Burma. Implementing important China-Myanmar cooperative projects is in the interests of both countries, Wen was quoted as telling Tin Aung Myint Oo, according to China's state-run People's Daily newspaper, which also reported that the Burmese vice-president said that Burma valued cooperative relations and would proactively look for ways to resolve issues. According the Burmese government, the project will be suspended until 2016 when Thein Sein's presidential tenure expires. A top Burmese presidential adviser recently told The Irrawaddy that Naypyidaw will probably compensate China by granting it further economic concessions in Burma. He added that bilateral relation would not be much affected by the dam suspension because there are still many other Chinese investments in the country. Despite the suspension of the Myitsone dam, which was expected to generate 6,000-megawatts of electricity, most of it for export to China, both China and Burma expressed hopes that a strategic oil and gas pipeline from Burma's Bay of Bengal coast to China's landlocked Yunnan Province would be successfully completed. According to the China National Petroleum Corporation, which is constructing the pipeline, work on section 4 of the pipeline has begun in Shan State, and the whole project is expected to become operational by May 2013. The pipeline, with an estimated capacity of 20 million tons of crude oil per year that will enjoy tax concessions and customs clearance rights from the Burmese government, will enable China to bypass the Strait of Malacca when importing crude oil from the Middle East and Africa, cutting the shipping distance by around 1,200 km. As part of the oil pipeline project, China is also constructing a deep-water crude oil unloading port and oil storage facilities on Burmas Maday Island off the coast of Arakan Statean investment that will provide China with crucial access to the geopolitically strategic Indian Ocean, where the US is poised to increase its navy presence in the coming decade. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22338 ------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post Jade or jaded? The sanctions on Burmese gems Published: 27/10/2011 at 12:00 AM Newspaper section: News For centuries Burma has been prized for its high quality gemstones, and today the Burmese gems industry continues to thrive at a furious pace despite international sanctions. A Burmese worker washes blocks of jade stone, readying them for auction. The majority of Burma's jade goes to China. Conventional estimates are that up to 90% of the world's supply in rubies and 70% of premium jadeite is of Burmese origin. Long under the exclusive management of ethnic insurgents who controlled the mining areas, and black marketeers who monopolised the trade, the underworld of Burmese gems is now dominated by a myriad of newcomers. Fragile cease-fire agreements signed by Burma's central government with ethnic Kachin, Pa'O and Shan rebels in the 1990s have opened the gem mines and trade routes to other third parties. Since then, emerging state-run conglomerates, a handful of Burmese oligarchs close to the military elite, and hordes of foreign dealers have gained the upper hand in this thriving industry. Above all, trade has been boosted by an exuberant demand from jade-crazed China. Every year since 2007 new record levels in jade production and sales revenues have been reached to satisfy Chinese demand. Paradoxically, this Burmese gem boom has coincided with the imposition of "smarter" Western sanctions which have targetted Burma's lucrative mining, timber and gemstones sectors in reaction to the government's violent repression of the 2007 Saffron Revolution. During the latest 2010-11 fiscal year, Burmese jade export revenues officially topped US$1.75 billion _ a fifth of Burma's $8.86 billion total exports for that year. Production of jadeite has jumped to 46,000 tonnes, up from an average of 10,000 tonnes in the early 2000s. Organised by the state-run Myanmar Gem Enterprises (MGE), international gem emporiums are now held three times a year, mostly in the new capital Naypyidaw. The March 2011 emporium attracted over 6,500 foreign merchants and total monetary transactions reached a staggering $2.8 billion. The Burmese government granted attendees free wi-fi access and phone cards were available for $50 _ unthinkable offers at other normal times in Burma. Proceeds from gem sales during the latest special fair held in July 2011 exceeded $1.5 billion. In comparison, revenues from similar events during the 2000s stagnated between only $150-300 million. As a result of the rising source of revenue that these gemstone bonanzas are providing to the Burmese military-ruled state, international campaigns advocating a boycott of Burmese gemstones have become increasingly vocal. Western policy-makers have subsequently relied upon "targetted" sanctions against the industry. The European Union revised its legal Common Position vis-a-vis Burma in November 2007 to include a section on Burmese-origin gemstones, while in July 2008 the US Congress adopted the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Effort) Act, which was later signed into law by President George W Bush. In addition, Canada with the 2007 Special Economic Measures Act also prohibits all Burmese imports, including gems. Yet, if there is a straightforward rationale for Western sanctions, scepticism prevails regarding their on-the-ground policy relevance and impact on the circulation of Burmese gems. Indeed, since the implementation of these various laws, Burma's revenues from gemstones have continued to skyrocket. The root of this problem is due to a serious miscalculation by these Western governments. In recent years, China has become the dominant market for the global jade industry. Also, Burma's border trade, especially with China's southwestern Yunnan province, offers a credible alternative to circumvent Western trade sanctions. Consider the border town of Ruili in Yunnan province. In less than a decade, it has become one of Asia's major jade dealing centres, connected to international hubs such as Hong Kong, Taipei and Bangkok. In 2010, gem trading alone earned the town some 2 billion yuan ($300 million). A jade-oriented touristic economy is thriving. Young Chinese from Kunming and beyond are migrating to Ruili to work in shops or factories polishing Burmese raw stones into fashionable jewels. In Burma, it is estimated that there are nearly half a million people employed in this bustling industry. As with many other Burmese commodities, the dilemma of Western sanctions lies in the tension between the will to drain revenues out of the Burmese rulers' pockets without killing local indigenous entrepreneurship. Smarter sanctions were designed to address this dilemma. America's Burmese JADE Act was intended to emulate Africa's "blood diamonds" model. In 2003, the Kimberley Process was initiated to establish an international certification scheme to trace African-origin diamonds and eradicate the trade that illicitly funded civil wars, particularly in Sierra Leone and Liberia. NGOs and scholars have pushed for its extension to encompass the entire global gemstone industry. However, imposing a Kimberley Process-styled mechanism onto the Burmese gem trade is difficult, if not downright unrealistic. First, Burma's gems and jade industry is far less cohesive than its African diamond counterpart which is still dominated by a monopolistic few, headed by the De Beers consortium. In contrast, there are myriads of local miners, mid-sized companies and state-run conglomerates that are involved in Burmese gem mining, production and trade. Second, Burmese gems are exported through different transnational trading networks. Rubies are primarily exported through Thailand, though now also increasingly India, while jadestones are almost exclusively disseminated via the Chinese mainland into subsequent Chinese diaspora networks. Third, surprisingly the Burmese state still does not have a decisive monopolistic leverage over the industry, and there is no one multinational firm powerful enough to influence actors within Burma. Fourth, Burmese gems are not perceived as contributing to Burma's woes the way diamonds were in Africa. What activists relentlessly denounce is rather the profits scooped up by some Burmese individuals, although empirical numbers are difficult to find. Last, appalling working conditions in Burmese mines, including use of child labour, along with disquieting environmental issues are what have been singled out in international reports, including by Human Rights Watch. But a local gem-based economy is nonetheless prospering in Burma, promoted by local indigenous actors _ most notably the Kachin, Shan and Burmese Muslim communities _ along with other external regional buyers. Envisioning a Kimberley Process for Burma would entail concrete cooperation from all parties involved, including the traders of a business dominated by smugglers. Above all, it would require the voluntary participation of Chinese and Burmese authorities. However, the creation of an independent transnational regulation body to trace Burmese gemstones, starting with rubies, and which encourages the adoption of responsible and accountable corporate practices, especially at the local level, would be a constructive start. The US Burmese JADE Act envisioned such a mechanism, but US policy-makers have never actively pursued this. The West should further its focus on the Burmese gem industry without killing it, and disconnect it from its persistent will to punish the rulers in Naypyidaw. Renaud Egreteau is Research Assistant Professor with the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. The views expressed here are solely those of the author. http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/263365/jade-or-jaded-the-sanctions-on-burmese-gems --------------------------------------------- SSA outlines peace proposal Thursday, 27 October 2011 11:42 S.H.A.N. Prior to the expected talks with Naypyitaw, the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), better known as the SSA South, says the core of its planned proposition would be "political problems should be resolved by political means." Speaking to SHAN yesterday, Maj Lao Hseng, spokesman for the movement, said there were 3 main points to present: + The resolution of all political issues in the Union by political means (as opposed to military means) + Having fought each other for so long, a certain period for confidence building is necessary + The RCSS/SSA will also like to know what role Naypyitaw has in mind for the RCSS/SSA to play in the resolution of political issues by political means "We will then discuss and decide how best to go about it," he explained. Asked whether the Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), better known as the SSA North, will take part in the talks together with the SSA South, with which it had reached an agreement in May for a merger, he replied: "It will of course produce the best results, if we do it together. But it is entirely up to Wanhai (SSA North base) decision. We've been waiting since May for it to ratify the agreement. However, whether we are doing it together or separately, we will keep each other informed and will present same propositions." The SSA North is reportedly preparing to hold its annual conference to decide on the agreement soon, though no date and venue have been disclosed. Thailand and the local People's Militia Forces (PMFs), particularly the Markkieng and Homong PMFs, have been liasing between the two sides since August, according to SSA sources. The new government issued an announcement on 18 August inviting all armed movements fighting against it for peace talks. So far, it has signed ceasefire agreements with the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), two groups that are non-members of the 12 party United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC). The alliance, formed in February, has rejected Naypyitaw's proposed "group wise" negotiations and instead demanded that Naypyitaw deals with it directly. The SSA North is a member of the UNFC, while the SSA South is not. http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4147:ssa-outlines-peace-proposal&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266 ----------------------------------------------- Hunger strike underway in Insein prison By AYE NAI Published: 27 October 2011 Fifteen political prisoners in Rangoon's Insein jail have gone on hunger strike to protest a decision not to overturn a ruling that bars the majority of prisoners from the right to have their sentences reduced. The 15 are complaining that the revocation, which has been in place for 14 years, was unfair. Until 1997, Burmese penal law entitled all prisoners, except for those on death row or serving life sentences, to small remissions, often only a few days per year. Aung Zaw Htun, spokesperson for the Assistance Network for Families of Political Prisoners, which has released a statement on the issue, said the hunger strike commenced yesterday with the prisoners refusing breakfast. Among the strikers are Nyi Nyi Htun, who is serving an 18-year sentence, Kaung Myat Hlaing, 12 years, Nyan Lin Htun, 22 years, and Zin Min Shein, who was handed a 23-year sentence. The statement also urged the UN, international community and human rights groups to pressure the government to reintroduce the regulation. The last hunger strike in Insein prison, in May this year, was dealt with harshly by prison officials. Nearly 30 inmates began refusing food a day after Burmese authorities announced a highly criticised amnesty that saw nearly 15,000 people released from jail early, but only 55 of whom were political prisoners. Ten days into the strike, at least seven inmates were placed in solitary confinement and kept there for several days until authorities acceded to a number demands focused broadly on prisoners' rights. Insein prison, which houses more of the country's 1,700 political prisoners than any other jail, was built by the British in 1871 to house around 5,000 inmates, but the current capacity is thought to be almost double that. http://www.dvb.no/news/hunger-strike-underway-in-insein-prison/18419 ------------------------------------------------- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: October 27, 2011, 12:12 PM SGT Floods Spread to Myanmar Add Myanmar to the list of Southeast Asian countries that are getting walloped by intense flooding. Earlier this week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) issued a report that flash floods in part of Myanmar have left 78 people dead or missing, with more than 35,000 people affected, 3,000 houses destroyed and a pressing need for food, shelter and other essentials. That's certainly not nearly as bad as the woes in Thailand, where an area the size of Connecticut has been inundated and Bangkok is at risk of going underwater. It may also not be as bad as Cambodia and Vietnam, which have also been struck by devastating floods in recent weeks. But Myanmar has fewer resources to deal with disasters than those countries, and given the relatively under-developed media and relief networks there, it's also often harder to get a complete picture of the damage when big storms or floods occur. Sometimes, relief workers find out much later the damage was worse than they believed. The latest flash floods occurred in the Magway, Mandalay and Sagaing regions of Myanmar, after two days of heavy rain on October 19 and 20 near the Myanmar -- Bangladesh border. Initial estimates by UN departments showed that in addition to the 3,000 destroyed houses, some 8,500 houses were also damaged to varying degrees, while other crucial infrastructure like schools, monasteries and villages were also damaged. The Magway Region, the largest of Myanmar's seven districts and home to 4.2 million people, was the worst affected by these floods. Around 26, 000 people lost their houses and their belongings, with 75% of houses flooded in the Seikphyu Township, an area which was severely affected by Cyclone Giri in 2010. In the Pauk Township, the strong winds and river current also washed away bridges and damaged roads, making it difficult to deliver aid to affected people, according to the report. Local authorities and the private sector, under the coordination of the UN, have begun emergency relief, setting up temporary camps in affected areas and providing kitchen sets, family kits and other necessities to people now displayed from their homes. Authorities have recorded the need for more essentials -- including shelter, blankets, clothes, utensils and water. A medical team was also deployed from Naypyitaw on Monday, with the Department of Health setting up temporary clinics for the displaced. At least there's some good news. Myanmar's government, which was widely criticized for its insufficient response after the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, has taken efforts to better its response to natural disasters, including warning citizens to evacuate and welcoming more international relief during Cyclone Giri in 2010. http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2011/10/27/se-asian-floods-spread-to-myanmar/?mod=rss_asia_whats_news -------------------------------------------- Myanmar's release of prisoners leaves U.S. cautiously optimistic The Obama administration wants more reforms before economic sanctions are lifted in the Southeast Asian nation. By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times October 26, 2011, 3:27 p.m. Reporting from Washington--- The Obama administration was encouraged by Myanmar's recent release of some prisoners under a "humanitarian" amnesty but wants to see more reforms before the U.S. considers lifting economic sanctions on the impoverished nation, officials say. The military government in the Southeast Asian nation has appeared more flexible with political opponents in major cities, but violence has continued against ethnic minorities in the rural north and east, Derek Mitchell, special U.S. envoy for Myanmar, said last week in Washington. Mitchell said there were also "credible reports" of continuing human rights abuses against women and children. "We have seen encouraging signs over time," Mitchell said, but "some things haven't changed, and we should be noting those." Myanmar, which last year ended strict house arrest for pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, continues to fall short in key areas, U.S. officials said. Mitchell said Myanmar should release hundreds more political prisoners that human rights groups say remain incarcerated, not just the estimated 120 to 300 prisoners who were released this month. A total of 6,359 detainees were granted amnesty in a step that coincided with a religious holiday and a trip to India by President Thein Sein. Myanmar, also known as Burma, should halt a clandestine relationship with the reclusive communist regime in North Korea, Mitchell said. U.S. officials long have worried that North Korea might be trying to sell Myanmar missiles or nuclear weapons technology. Partly because of those concerns, the Obama administration has sought to build a new relationship with Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962. Over the years, the international community has repeatedly condemned the regime for widespread corruption and systematic violations of human rights and humanitarian law. Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, said this month in neighboring Thailand that it was "undeniably the case that there are dramatic developments underway" in Myanmar. But some pro-reform groups warned that the government has eased its harsh grip before, only to crack down again. They said the regime's motives are not always clear. Peter Manikas, Asia director of the National Democratic Institute, a nonpartisan U.S. organization that promotes democracy overseas, said experts disagree on how to interpret Myanmar's decision to abandon a hydroelectric dam project on the Irrawaddy River that China had planned. The project would have displaced thousands of people, and the move to cancel it was widely seen as a sign of a new sensitivity to public opinion. But Manikas said Myanmar officials may be trying to move the country further from China's orbit and closer to India. "We need to try to take advantage of these signs of warming," Manikas said. "But there's a danger that the entire international community is becoming unjustifiably enthusiastic. We need to approach this with some degree of skepticism." Myanmar's efforts also may be timed to encourage its selection as chair of a major regional group, the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations. Officials say such an appointment, which could come next month but wouldn't take effect until 2014, would signal legitimacy for the regime and improve its international standing. If Myanmar does implement reforms, Washington is likely to respond with symbolic moves, including reinstating a U.S. ambassador. The United States withdrew its envoy in protest in 1990 after security forces brutally crushed a student-led uprising, killing thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators. A charge d'affaires has run the U.S. Embassy since then. paul.richter@latimes.com Copyright (c) 2011, Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-us-myanmar-20111027,0,1618949.story ------------------------------------ Myanmar police shut down rare protest YANGON | Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:33am EDT Oct 27 (Reuters) - Police in Myanmar halted a demonstration on Thursday by about 60 landless farmers, a rare protest that tests the new civilian government's commitment to reforms after decades of brutal suppression of dissent. Riot police confiscated placards and ordered the demonstrators to leave peacefully after they staged a sit-in outside a government building in the country's biggest city, Yangon, to protest against eviction from their farmland. "We have approached parliament for help but nothing happened, so we decided to take to the street," said Pho Phyu, a lawyer and an activist who campaigns for farmers' rights. Demonstrations are rare in Myanmar, a country ruled by the military for five decades until an election last year brought in a new civilian government. The new government has recently made overtures towards the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, released more than 200 political prisoners and promised to pursue social and economic reforms. Previous protests over high prices in 1988 and 2007 were brutally suppressed by the military, leading to the imposition of western sanctions that have restricted development and hurt the country's economic elite. Pho Phyu said the authorities had seized about 10,000 acres (4,050 hectares) of land owned by about 1,000 farmers, who were given only small amount of compensation. "At first, they promised that joint-venture farming would be carried out between the farmers and private businessmen on these lands but nothing happened," he said. President Thein Sein has pledged to offer micro loans and price guarantees to raise living standards for millions of farmers in a country that depends on agriculture for about 40 percent of its gross domestic product. About half of the Burmese workforce is employed in the agriculture sector and the country was once the world's biggest rice exporter. But evictions are common and farmers have little money or legal recourse to launch any challenge. (Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Martin Petty and Yoko Nishikawa) http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/27/myanmar-protest-idUSL3E7LR11L20111027?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews&rpc=401 ------------------------------------------ Rangoon police disperse farmers' protest By AFP Published: 27 October 2011 Police in Burma on Thursday broke up a demonstration of around 100 farmers protesting against the confiscation of their land, detaining three people, officials said. Led by a human rights lawyer, the demonstrators staged an early morning sit-in outside the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development in downtown Rangoon, a government official who did not want to be named told AFP. "The leader, lawyer Phoe Phyu, and two farmers were detained for questioning," another official said. A security official said the farmers were from the outskirts of Rangoon. "They came here to protest because their farm land has been confiscated and they want their land back," he said. "Police asked them to disperse as it's not in accordance with the law." Police officers also confiscated the protesters' banners and continued patrolling the area after dispersing the demonstrators. Protests are rare in authoritarian Burma, where pro-democracy rallies in 1988 and 2007 were brutally crushed by the junta. Demonstrators must have permission from the authorities. Last month, police detained a man for holding a solo protest against a Chinese-backed dam and blocked another rally against the project, which was later suspended by the authorities in a rare response to public opinion. http://www.dvb.no/news/rangoon-police-disperse-farmers-protest/18424