News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 14 February, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 14 February, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------
Havel to Address Prague Conference on Burma
Suu Kyi Praises Egyptian Army
China Stands Behind Burma
A Sad Valentine’s Day for Karen People
‘Activists’ to serve up to 55 years
Press group urges Myanmar to free Australian publisher
Ex-premier Chuan rocks tour boat in Shan East
Suu Kyi warned over support for Burma sanctions
Australian editor held in Burma
Funding cuts endangering exiled media
Egypt's Revolt Met With Wide Support, Censorship
--------------------------------------------
Havel to Address Prague Conference on Burma

A conference to discuss the current political situation in Burma is to be held this week in Prague. “Elections in Burma/Myanmar and the European Policy“ is the title of the conference which has been organized by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with NGO People in Need. The conference will be inaugurated on Feb. 15 with opening remarks by Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg, and Václav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic. The seminar will be attended by representatives of ministries of foreign affairs of EU countries, representatives of European institutions, members of the European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma, and representatives of several European civil society organizations active on Burma.

Irrawaddy: Published Monday, Feb. 14, 2011
---------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi Praises Egyptian Army
By THE IRRAWADDY Monday, February 14, 2011

RANGOON — Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged the country's armed forces to follow the example of Egypt's army, which she praised for not using force against pro-democracy protesters who last week brought down President Hosni Mubarak's thirty years of authoritarian rule.

“Even when hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets, the Egyptian army didn't shoot. Instead, it sided with the people,” said Suu Kyi in an interview with local reporters in Rangoon on Saturday.

“The Burmese Tatmadaw should follow their example,” she said, referring to the country's military, which seized power from a democratic government in 1962 and is deeply unpopular for its brutal crackdowns on mass anti-government uprisings in 1988 and 2007.

The weeks-long protests in Egypt, which were led by Internet-savvy youths rather than by the mainstream political opposition, have also inspired Burmese young people to prepare for yet another uprising against military rule.

“We were so fascinated by how young people in Egypt organized their protests. If we can create a network, then we will not need to depend on a particular person for leadership,” said a young Rangoon news reporter.

Suu Kyi said that the Internet and modern communication tools—which ignited the Egyptian pro-democracy movement—could also help to create a network among democracy supporters in Burma and strengthen their struggle against military rule.

In a recent interview with the BBC, however, she said she did not wish the events in Egypt to occur in her country, making it clear again that she preferred dialogue with Burma's military rulers over popular protests as a means to breaking the country's political deadlock.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party was disbanded last year after it refused to run in elections in November that were marred by widespread vote-rigging. The party has no presence in the country's new military-dominated Parliament but continues to command strong popular support.

Earlier this month, the Parliament elected the junta's former prime minister, ex-Gen Thein Sein, as the president of the new government and has chosen several incumbent junta ministers for ministerial positions in the new cabinet.

On Sunday, a commentary in the Burma's state-run newspapers said that Suu Kyi and her party would “meet their tragic end” if they refused to change their continued support for Western economic sanctions against the regime.
http://irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20747
-------------------------------------------------
China Stands Behind Burma
By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR Monday, February 14, 2011

BANGKOK—China is throwing its weight behind Burma’s predicted political transformation from military rule to a supposed civilian government, deepening its strong economic ties with the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation some have described as Beijing’s "client state".

China was the first to commend Burma’s new leadership, with President Hu Jintao sending his congratulations within hours after Thein Sein assumed the presidency Feb. 4.

The move is seen as "another confidence building measure by Beijing towards its western neighbor at a time when many countries in the region, from India to Southeast Asia, have their eyes on engaging economically with Burma," a Southeast Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"Beijing wants to have a solid presence on the ground in case the political change leads to a flood of other economic players," the diplomat added.

China’s gestures toward Burma have come even as Burmese national security experts caution against the rush to accept the new government under President Thein Sein, which is seen as no different from the junta, headed by strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe, it is replacing.

The 65-year-old Thein Sein, a retired army general and former prime minister in the outgoing military regime, was chosen by lawmakers in the first multi- party parliament since the military grabbed power in a coup nearly 50 years ago.

Thein Sein, however, was practically assured of victory in the legislature, of which 80 percent were military delegates and their political allies.

"Unfortunately the civilian head is a puppet. Thein Sein is weak, less ambitious and lacks a powerful base in the army," says Win Min, a Burmese national security expert living in exile in the US.

"Nothing really has changed," he told IPS. "Than Shwe will still be the most powerful man, operating from behind Thein Sein."

Junta or no junta, China has in fact already established a footing in Burma. Its economic record bears this out: last year, China invested 8.17 billion dollars, mostly in Burma’s hydropower, oil and gas sectors.

This surge in Chinese investments has brought to 12.3 billion dollars Beijing’s total investments, out of the nearly 20 billion dollars in foreign funds for big- ticket projects that Burma has attracted since it opened its economy up to free market policies in 1988.

The ties between China and the most recent Burmese junta, which held power for two decades till the general election in early November last year, was also aided by the economic sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union for Burma’s dismal human rights record.

The US government banned new investments in Burma in 1997, and gradually tightened punitive measures, including limiting financial deals and visa restrictions on members of the junta. The EU imposed bans on the sale of weapons to Burma in 1996, followed by visa bans and the freezing of assets of the junta, their families and cronies.

"As long as Western sanctions are in place, China’s economic power in Burma will grow," says Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian and author of ‘The River of Lost Footsteps’, an account of Burma’s transformation during British colonization. "In the eyes of the (Burmese) government, the cost of Western sanctions is diminishing by the day.

"If the government was willing to ignore Western sanctions ten years ago when it was essentially broke, it’s hard to imagine how they’re going to suddenly pay attention to these same demands now, when (gas and oil) pipeline transit fees, natural gas and jade sales and the sale of electricity of new hydropower plants are set to bring in well over ten billion dollars in revenue a year," Thant told IPS, explaining the trade and investment portfolio dominated by China.

China’s growing influence has prompted Burma’s giant neighbor to its west, India, to also increasingly place security and economic interests over political ones to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian nation.

India has also opted for a tone of accommodation toward Burma’s attempts to gain much needed legitimacy for its civilian-led government.

"The recent elections in Myanmar [Burma] are an important step in the direction of the national reconciliation process being undertaken by the government of Myanmar," India’s External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said of the Nov. 7 poll, the first general elections in 20 years, which was plagued by irregularities.

While New Delhi has still not followed Beijing’s lead in praising Thein Sein, the tone of the Indian government’s statement following the elections suggests that "relations with Myanmar have become truly multi-faceted, with cooperation in a range of developmental and other projects in the areas of roads, power, hydro-carbon, oil refinery, transmission lines, telecommunications and information technology," says a South Asian diplomat.

Indian economic cooperation with the Burmese junta began in the mid- 1990s, marking a break from the strong pro-democracy positions it took, backing opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in her struggles with an oppressive regime. China’s growing footprint in Burma was among the reasons for this shift.

"China has majorly expanded in Myanmar and this has facilitated China’s entry into the Bay of Bengal," the South Asian diplomat noted on condition of anonymity. "India needs to have a countervailing presence in Myanmar to ensure its own interests are not jeopardized."

Burma’s neighbors in a 10-member regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have, like India and China, also come on board to accept and give legitimacy to the political culture emerging out of last November’s election.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=20745
----------------------------------------------------------
A Sad Valentine’s Day for Karen People
By SAW YAN NAING Monday, February 14, 2011

It was on the evening of Feb. 14, 2008, that two men carrying a gift basket of fruit walked up to the home of Mahn Sha, a prominent and well-respected Karen leader, in the town of Mae Sot, Thailand, and gunned him down.

“Good evening, uncle,” one man said in Karen before firing the first shot. Then another gunman also shot him repeatedly as he fell from his chair.

They rushed back to a black Hilux Vigo pickup truck and drove away. By then, Mahn Sha was already dead from multiple bullet wounds.

He was killed on the balcony where he often rested after lunch, leaving behind a distraught family. His death was also a great loss for Karen people around the world, especially for those who belonged to the Karen National Union (KNU), one of Asia’s oldest armed resistance groups.

Mahn Sha, who had served as the KNU's general secretary, was highly respected not only by the Karen, but also by Burmese opposition groups. He was considered a wise leader because he often spoke of the need for inclusiveness to bring all democratic forces and ethnic minority groups together in their struggle against military rule.

He died at the age of 64, survived by two daughters and two sons, including one adopted son.

“He was a good father not only for us but also for the Karen resistance,” said Say Say, Mahn Sha's adopted son. “He always made his people's well-being his first priority. His family came second.”

He said that although his adopted father spent most of his time with his soldiers, his family never felt neglected.

“It's not that he didn't love his family,” said Say Say. “We knew that he did, but we also knew that he loved his work because he did it for the sake of all his people.”

Mahn Sha graduated from Rangoon University in 1966 with a degree in history. During his time as a student, he was also an underground member of the KNU. He joined the movement full-time soon after leaving university.

From 1966 to 1974, he made several trips to Shan, Kachin, and Karenni states to meet with ethnic resistance groups. He also visited China twice to meet with leaders of the Burmese Communist Party and the Communist Party of China.

In November 1984, Mahn Sha became a KNU central committee member and moved to the KNU's headquarter in Manerplaw, Karen State.

While serving as the KNU's general secretary, Mahn Sha was seen as one of the group's leading lights and was being groomed to take over its troubled leadership.

Many sources said he was on the Burmese junta’s hit list because he was seen as a strong leader who always called for genuine political dialogue. When the KNU sent a delegation led by the late Karen leader Gen Bo Mya to Rangoon in December 2005 for cease-fire talks, the regime requested his exclusion.

In an interview with The Irrawaddy shortly before his death, Mahn Sha said that he had experienced the plight of the Karen people since his childhood. He said the Burmese regime’s oppression of the Karen people was what made him get involved in the Karen fight for freedom.

Today, on the third anniversary of his assassination, Mahn Sha is remembered as a great leader of his people, and one whose name will remain a prominent one among those who have served the Burmese democracy movement.

To preserve his legacy of service to the Karen, his children established the Phan Foundation soon after his death. To commemorate the anniversary of his assassination, the foundation, which also honors Mahn Sha's deceased wife, Nant Kyin Shwe, announced today that it had made grants of £8,000 (US $12,850) to Karen rights groups and individuals.

“We think this is one of the best ways we can pay tribute to our parents, and continue their work. The organizations we are supporting do fantastic work which deserves support,” said Mahn Sha's daughter, Zoya Phan.

“He [Mahn Sha] stood bravely for his people. He sacrificed his life for his people. It was a big loss and sadness,” said Saw Hla Htun, an advisory board member of the Karen Youth Organization.

“While many people happily celebrate Valentine’s Day today, Feb. 14 is a sad day for the Karen people,” said Saw Hla Htun.
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20754
------------------------------------------------
‘Activists’ to serve up to 55 years
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 14 February 2011

Additional sentences of up to 10 years have been given to seven people accused of being behind a spate of bombings, and who are already serving decades in prison.

The five men and two women learnt of their fate on Friday last week following a hearing at Eastern Rangoon Divisional Court. Six of them will serve an additional seven years, while one man, Kyaw Zwa Lin, was handed a decade.

All were charged under the Explosives Act, one of the three charges originally used to imprison them in 2008 when police allegedly discovered them with gunpowder. For this they received sentences of between 20 and 38 years.

Then last year these were extended by a decade after all were found guilty of assisting in the 2004 bombing at Zawgyi House Restaurant in Rangoon and the bombing at the Panorama Hotel in Rangoon in 2005.

Last week’s sentencing for involvement in the Shwe Mann Thu bus terminal bombings in 2005 brings to more than 50 years the longest of the jail terms they will serve. Lawyer Kyaw Ho said however that there was no strong evidence to support the most recent sentencing.

“There was no witness, evidence or exhibit whatsoever to prove their connection with the bombing,” he said. “The only thing used against them in the trial was the confession they gave to police during interrogation, which does not qualify as evidence.”

Similar complaints had been levelled by the defence team last year, particularly over the explosives charge that Kyaw Ho said should require testimonies from “the police’s Criminal Investigation Department and chemical specialists”.

Whether any political motive was behind the sentencing is unclear, but the group is alleged to have held links to the banned All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), a prominent activist group born from the 1988 mass student uprising. That allegation earned them charges under the Unlawful Associations Act.
http://www.dvb.no/news/activists-to-serve-up-to-50-years/14265
------------------------------------------------
Press group urges Myanmar to free Australian publisher
Posted: 14 February 2011 1750 hrs

PHNOM PENH: A foreign press association expressed concern Monday about the arrest of an Australian newspaper publisher in Myanmar, calling for his release from prison while awaiting trial.

Ross Dunkley, co-founder of the Myanmar Times -- the country's only newspaper with foreign investment -- was arrested in Yangon on Thursday.

He is being held in Myanmar's notorious Insein prison, according to his business partner in Cambodia, where he is a key shareholder in Post Media, the publisher of the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

The Overseas Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC) said in a statement that it saw "no reason to imprison Dunkley ahead of his trial, and is concerned that his arrest is an abuse of the law in order to resolve a business dispute".

It added: "The OPCC is further concerned that Dunkley's arrest is in line with a trend of increasing authoritarianism in some countries in the region and efforts to circumscribe hard-won press freedoms."

Post Media chairman David Armstrong has suggested Dunkley's arrest is linked to a power struggle between foreign and domestic owners of the Myanmar Times, which publishes weekly editions in English and Burmese.

Dunkley co-founded the Myanmar Times in 2000 with local partner Sonny Swe, the son of an influential member of the junta's military intelligence service.

But Sonny Swe was jailed in 2005 and his stake was passed to Tin Tun Oo, who is reportedly close to the military regime's information minister.

Dunkley is due to appear in court on February 24, Armstrong said.

-AFP/ac http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1110664/1/.html
------------------------------------------------
Ex-premier Chuan rocks tour boat in Shan East
Monday, 14 February 2011 15:58 S.H.A.N.

A low profile visit by former Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, last month has prompted junta leaders to impose stiff restrictions on tour buses coming from the kingdom into Burma’s Shan State East, according to sources on the Thai-Burma border.

[Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org)]

Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org)
“The trip he made on 23 January wasn’t even his first one,” said an informed source. “He had already made several merit making trips to Thart Zawntawng and Wat Hokhong in Kengtung (160 km from Maesai) with his friends. He even visited Mongla (80 km further from Kengtung) where he was recognized by some locals who seized the opportunity to take photographs with him.”

“Tour buses from Thailand since 10 February are no longer allowed to enter Tachilek (opposite Maesai),” said a visitor. “As for vehicles going to Mongla, there are only vans that are permitted to pass through since 6 February.”

Immigration officials have been blamed by higher authorities for their lax passport scrutiny procedure, but there are as yet no reports whether any official has been punished.

Chuan, 73, has been known as the Thai prime minister least liked by Burma’s ruling generals. He headed the Democratic Party led coalition governments between 1992-95 and 1997-2001. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3462:ex-premier-chuan-rocks-tour-boat-in-shan-east&catid=93:general&Itemid=291
--------------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi warned over support for Burma sanctions
A Rangoon supporter wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of Aung San Suu Kyi. [AFP]
PHOTO

A Rangoon supporter wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of Aung San Suu Kyi. [AFP]

Last Updated: 6 hours 7 minutes ago

Burma's state media says democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi and her party will meet tragic ends if they keep up their support of Western sanctions.

The remarks follow a recent statement by Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

It argued the punitive measures were helping to pressure the authorities and had not affected the economy significantly.

It was the first explicit criticism of the Nobel Peace Prize winner by state media since her release after seven years of house arrest in November.

The report, in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, invites Ms Suu Kyi and her party to cooperate with the people in building a democratic nation. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201102/3138638.htm?desktop
-------------------------------------------
Australian editor held in Burma
February 14, 2011

An associate close to the Australian editor of the Myanmar Times in Burma says the allegations against him are not true.

Co-founder of the newspaper, Ross Dunkley, was arrested in Rangoon late last week for allegedly violating his visa condition and possessing marijuana.

If convicted, Mr Dunkley faces up to five years in jail or deportation.

However, his friends say the arrest comes at a time when Mr Dunkley is engaged in a power struggle with his Burmese business partner, who has links to the country's military.

David Armstrong, the chairman of the Thailand-based Post Media company and a close business associate of Mr Dunkley's, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program that there are serious questions over the nature of the allegations.

"There's been a few reports, particularly very early in the piece, which said that he was involved with the possession of marijuana and overstaying the visa and neither of these is true. It's just in the way things happen sometimes in the media," he said.

"People speculate about what might be the reason for something going on. Eventually someone who should know things repeats the speculation and they become a source as it were."

He said that Mr Dunkley's lawyers say his arrest was unlawful.

"I really don't pretend to know what goes in the opaque world [of] the Myanmar (Burma) Government and legal systems, but it's not clear just exactly what Ross has done to breach his visa conditions."

Mr Armstrong said there has been no word on Mr Dunkley's condition in prison, adding that the last time anyone had contact with Mr Dunkley was on Thursday afternoon as he was being transferred from the court to a police station.

Management dispute

While he said it would only be speculation, Mr Armstrong pointed out the coincidence of the arrest with ongoing discussions about who should be controlling the paper.

"There have been discussions about who should be controlling the company and the paper and who should have the management control, because the local shareholding is 51 per cent and I think some of the locals shareholders think that they should have more say," he said.

"However, there is an agreement in the setting up of the company which gives the international investors the management control of the company, but there have been discussions on that issue."

Mr Armstrong also said that Burma's current process of forming government and establishing ministries may have something to do with the arrest.

"This is a time of change in Myanmar and while in general terms, the military still retains fairly firm control, within that, there are changes within ministers and departments and so on, so people who go further down the line who used to exercise power may not be exercising the power in the future, so perhaps in that respect, there is something going on."

Ross Dunkley's next court appearance has been scheduled for February 24. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201102/3138499.htm?desktop
---------------------------------------------
Funding cuts endangering exiled media
By AFP
Published: 14 February 2011

Burma’s media in exile, long a thorn in the side of the ruling generals, are being squeezed by funding cuts that some blame on a change in policy by Western donors in a shifting political landscape.

Overseas-based media such as the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) are seen as an important source of news in the impoverished nation, where an authoritarian government keeps a stranglehold on domestic reporting.

As a new political system emerges in Burma with a new parliament, some believe donors have been tempted to divert funding into the country, despite evidence it is still dominated by the military hierarchy.

Within weeks of the first elections in 20 years, DVB – an Oslo-based television, radio and on-line news provider that is banned in Burma – cancelled several programmes after suffering big losses in subsidies.

DVB deputy manager Khin Maung Win said the cuts amounted to about $1 million in 2011, partly because the group had received roughly $US500,000 in extra funding last year to cover the November election.

He said it would result in job cuts among some of the group’s 150 journalists based in Norway, Thailand or Burma.

“As of now, we cannot conclude it is a policy change from the donors’ side… But it has a painful effect on us,” he said.

Another exiled news organisation, Thailand-based Irrawaddy, recently axed its monthly printed magazine to concentrate on its online edition.

The situation “weakens the influence of media that have an extremely positive role,” said Vincent Brossel of media rights group Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Burma 174th out of 178 countries for press freedom.

He said the cuts were especially harsh because the organisations had become gradually more independent from opposition groups such as Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

Burma’s exiled media derives most of its financial support from European governments, mainly Scandinavian, and from public and private donations from the United States.

The DVB did not say which donors were behind the cuts, but it is believed to be mainly European governments.

Mikael Winther, the Danish ambassador to Burma, Thailand and Cambodia, said that his government for its part had not changed its policy toward the junta.

“Denmark is not supporting any government in Burma,” he said. “But since we now have more access inside than we had before, we do support poverty-oriented projects for people suffering inside Burma,” he said.

Some believe that the release of Suu Kyi, who was freed from house arrest just days after Burma’s controversial polls in November of last year, has heralded new thinking among many donors.

“Definitely there is concern that there is a major shift in donor policy toward exiled groups including cross-border aid assistance,” said Aung Zaw, founder and director of Irrawaddy.

He said some donors might want to channel money to projects inside the country, or be unhappy with exiled media’s coverage critical of the regime and the election.

Irrawaddy has lost around a third of its annual $US1 million in subsidies and has had to cut 20 of its 60 contributors.

Maung Zarni, a Burma researcher at the London School of Economics, argued that funding cuts were part of a “deliberate strategy”.

European policy strategists “have concluded that the only way towards change in Burma is through development of free market institutions and pragmatic collaboration with the generals in power”, he said.

Reporters working inside Burma for banned exile media organisations risk long jail sentences.

Earlier this month DVB video reporter Maung Maung Zeya, 58, was handed 13 years in prison after being caught filming at the scene of a bomb blast in April 2010.

His son Sithu Zeya has been given an eight-year jail term on similar charges, according to Aung Thein, a legal adviser for political prisoners.

DVB TV is watched almost as much as the state-funded channels in Burma, despite a ban on the sale of satellite dishes, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The DVB website is also a respected source of news for those outside the country.

Other established independent media sources covering the country include Radio Free Asia (RFA), financed by the United States, and the BBC’s Burmese service, which recently escaped being axed in severe cuts by the broadcaster.

Many Burmese rely on such radio broadcasts from outside Burma to keep up with world news. Suu Kyi herself regularly tuned into the BBC and other broadcasters during her years of detention.

While access to exiled media websites in Burma is restricted by the authorities, some people use proxy servers to bypass the blocks.

“We think the more sources for accurate, objective information in Burma, the better and the declining trends are troubling,” said RFA spokesman John Estrella.
http://www.dvb.no/news/funding-cuts-endangering-exiled-media/14259
-----------------------------------------
Egypt's Revolt Met With Wide Support, Censorship
By RAPHAEL G SATTER / AP WRITER Monday, February 14, 2011

LONDON— From London to Gaza City to Seoul, the world was savoring the spectacular fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, with demonstrators rallying in the thousands Saturday in cities across the world. But other authoritarian regimes weren't celebrating — and some were trying to censor the news.

In China, where the ruling Communist Party ruthlessly stamps out dissent, terse media reports downplayed the large-scale pro-democracy protests in Egypt that forced Mubarak from power and instead emphasized the country's disorder and lawlessness.

In oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, where coup leader Teodoro Obiang has been in power since 1979, state-controlled media was ordered to stop reporting about Egypt altogether, according to African news site afrol.com.

Nearly everywhere else, newspapers congratulated Egypt's revolution, with many headlines carrying the word: "Finally."

The headlines were matched with an outpouring of international support. Human rights group Amnesty International organized dozens of rallies around the world, with events in New York, Chicago, Houston and cities in 15 other countries.

In London's Trafalgar Square, thousands gathered to see scenes from Tahrir Square beamed via video link on to a giant screen. Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary general, told the crowd that the rally was both a celebration of Mubarak's departure and a protest against the strongmen still holding sway over the region.

London-born Shariff el-Wardany, 33, whose family is from Cairo, said he was "still numb" that the Egyptian dictator had gone.

"We were told many years ago that we would never see this day," he said. "The elite could go anywhere, do anything, they could commit crimes and nobody could touch them. That's all changed now."

In the Middle East and Africa, politicians and activists were still struggling to find their footing as the shockwaves from Mubarak's resignation spread through the region. In Yemen and Algeria, violence erupted as protesters pressed their demands for democratic reforms. In Uganda and Zimbabwe — two countries ruled by long-serving strongmen — opposition figures invoked Mubarak's downfall as a warning to their current rulers.

In Gaza, a celebratory rally organized by the radical Islamist group Hamas — and the silence maintained by both the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government — spoke to the possible repercussions of Mubarak's ouster for long-delayed peace process.

Hamas has had a tense, often angry relationship with the deposed Egyptian president, who, along with Israel, has kept Hamas-ruled Gaza blockaded for the past four years. If Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood wins a role in any post-Mubarak government, it could help Hamas shore up its position.

Wider afield, the congratulations kept pouring in.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd commended Egyptians on what he called a clear and courageous protest movement.

"My view is that the people of this most ancient civilization truly deserve a most modern of democracies," Rudd told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Japan and South Korea issued statements noting Mubarak's resignation, while India — which with Egypt was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War — said it welcomed Mubarak's decision to step down "in deference to the wishes of the people of Egypt."

In Indonesia and the Philippines, two countries whose own "people power" revolts toppled long-ruling dictators, the praise was more fulsome, although there were words of warning too.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, son of the late President Corazon Aquino — the country's democracy icon who was swept to power in a revolt that toppled the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos — welcomed the "relatively peaceful resolution" of the political crisis in Egypt, saying it showed that "aspirations for a more free and fair society are universal."

The country's left-wing alliance Bayan, which fought Marcos and has remained a critic of succeeding regimes, expressed hope that "the great unity and determination of the Egyptian people inspire others worldwide in their fight against tyranny."

"The importance of people power has once again been affirmed," said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes. "What comes after people power however, is another difficult challenge, as we Filipinos well know."

Indonesians — who chased longtime Washington ally Gen Suharto from power in 1998 — largely echoed the sentiment.

"Congrats Egyptians," Luthfi Assyaukanie, leader of Indonesia's Liberal Islamic Network, wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter. "I know how you feel today. I had the same feeling 13 years ago. The real struggle has just begun."

In Thailand, which has been rocked by demonstrations aimed at forcing the country's prime minister to step down, protest leader Thida Thavornseth said Egypt's experience had shown "that the power of the people is enormous and triumphant."

"(Still) if you take Thailand as an example, the people seemed to have won several times, but in the end, power was passed on to the new dictators who then again suppressed the people," Thida told The Associated Press.

Associated Press journalists across the world contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

http://irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20744

Read More...

Collapse...