News & Articles on Burma-Friday 3 June, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Friday 3 June, 2011
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UK Ambassador to Rangoon Visits Thai Border
US Sen. McCain says Myanmar sanctions should remain
Myanmar too poor for nuclear arms: state media
Red Cross to Return to Burma?
McCain warns Burma risks Arab-style uprising
McCain: Myanmar Must Free Prisoners
Prisoners' Hunger Strike Worries Suu Kyi
Germany’s Merkel voices concern over Burma’s ASEAN presidency
Burma's Minorities Call Out for Native Tongue
Karen BGF Troops Begin Returning to the DKBA
Burma Govt Defends Prison Conditions
Myanmar lifts suspension of visa-on-arrival
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UK Ambassador to Rangoon Visits Thai Border
By SAW YAN NAING Friday, June 3, 2011
Ambassador Heyn (third left) tours Mae La refugee camp on Thursday. (PHOTO: Irrawaddy)

The British ambassador to Burma, Andrew Heyn, conducted a fact-finding trip to the Thai border to meet with Burmese refugees and leaders of the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) on Thursday afternoon.

He toured Mae La refugee camp, 60 km from Mae Sot where he held talks with the camp committee and witnessed the living conditions in the camp—where more than 40,000 Burmese refugees are sheltered. Many of the refugees, the majority of whom are ethnic Karen, fled their homeland due to Burmese army attacks.

During his trip to the border, Heyn held a separate meeting with KNU leaders where they talked about the ongoing armed conflict in eastern Burma.

Zipporah Sein, the general-secretary of the KNU, said, “It is a fact-finding mission about what is really going on at the border and in Karen State. I think he [Ambassador Heyn] doesn’t want to listen only to the government. He wants to listen to both sides.

“We told him [Heyn] that we think there is no political change in Burma as fighting breaks out almost every day in Karen State, and the government hasn’t withdrawn its troops from the region,” she said.

The KUN leader said that the KNU would always welcome dialogue with the government to solve the ongoing political crisis. Armed conflict should be solved by political means, she said, adding that “if there is no tangible pressure on the government, we don’t see any sign the government will hold dialogue with us.”

During his trip, Heyn also raised the issue of a need of continued humanitarian support on the border.

Tun Tun, the chairman of Mae La camp, said that he had explained to the UK ambassador about the impact of reduced funding to the camp, highlighting a shortfall in education, health care and food.

Heyn also met and questioned several Karen refugee families who had recently fled from the conflict surrounding their villages in Karen State.

A housewife who talked to Heyn said, “The ambassador asked me the reason I fled to Thailand. I told him that I came here because I can’t stay a moment longer in my village because of the war.”

Tun Tun said that he told the ambassador that an end to the civil war depends on the Burmese government, which is the sole party that can bring about concrete changes, national reconciliation and peace in the country.

The camp committee told the ambassador that the fundamental rights of refugees must be fully respected when trying to solve refugee affairs, most notably repatriation.

Several observers said that repeated trips by foreign officials to refugee camps may be related to the repatriation of the refugees. Visits by foreign dignitaries frequently follow reports that refugee camps will be closed and refugees repatriated by the Thai authorities.

Thai officials have recently conducted visits to several refugee camps where they invariably ask refugees if they want to return to Burma. Thailand has promised that only those refugees who volunteer to return home will be repatriated. There are nine refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border housing more than 140,000 refugees. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21426
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US Sen. McCain says Myanmar sanctions should remain until ‘concrete’ steps to reform are taken
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, June 3, 1:53 PM

YANGON, Myanmar — U.S. Sen. John McCain reiterated a call for Myanmar to release more than 2,000 political prisoners, saying Friday that sanctions should remain on the repressive nation until its new government takes “concrete” steps toward democratic reform.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a three-day visit, the Republican from Arizona said both countries want better relations, but that Myanmar’s government needs to take more steps toward democracy — including “the unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience.”

( Khin Maung Win / Associated Press ) - U.S. Sen. John McCain, left, bids farewell to Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at her lake-side home after holding talks Thursday, June 2, 2011, Yangon, Myanmar. McCain began a brief trip to Myanmar on Wednesday to assess the situation in the country after a new civilian government promising reform took over from a military junta several months ago.

The release of political prisoners has been a top demand of Western nations that criticize Myanmar’s human rights record and are maintaining long-standing political and economic sanctions against its government until it undertakes reforms.

McCain called on Myanmar to allow the International Red Cross “unfettered” access to all prisoners in the country, something he said he hoped would start as soon as Saturday.

The organization has been unable to visit inmates here since the former military junta halted access in 2005.

McCain was in Myanmar to assess progress on reform since a new civilian government took over from a military junta in March. Rights groups and critics say little has changed since then because the new government is simply a proxy for the military, which has ruled for decades.

McCain, however, acknowledged that the new government “represents some change from the past, and one illustration of this change was their willingness to allow me to return to this country after 15 years worth of attempts to do so on my part were rejected.”

But “without concrete actions by this government that signal a deeper commitment to democratic change, there should be no easing or lifting of sanctions,” the 2008 presidential candidate said.

One key test of the government’s commitment to reform, McCain said, will be its ability to ensure the safety of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she tours the country later this month.

Suu Kyi’s last tour of northern Myanmar in 2003 rattled the military and ended with an ambush that killed several of her followers. Suu Kyi escaped, but was arrested and placed under house arrest — from which she was finally freed late last year.

“The new government’s ability and willingness to prevent a similar outcome this time will be an important test of their desire for change,” McCain said. “Concrete steps like these need not, and should not, take a lot of time.”

On Thursday, Suu Kyi expressed concern about the health of dozens of political prisoners who are staging a hunger strike to demand better food and conditions.

Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, held its first elections in 20 years in November. Suu Kyi’s political party boycotted the polls, and critics say the vote was designed to deliver power to the military’s allies.

Though the U.S. long tried to isolate Myanmar, the Obama administration has switched to a policy of engagement in hopes of coaxing democratic change.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-sen-mccain-urges-myanmar-to-free-political-prisoners-take-concrete-steps-to-reform/2011/06/03/AGbbAmHH_story.html
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Myanmar too poor for nuclear arms: state media
AFP
YANGON - MYANMAR is not wealthy enough to acquire nuclear weapons, a top government official told visiting US Senator John McCain, who called on Friday for an end to any military ties with North Korea.

'Myanmar is no position to take account of nuclear weapons and does not have enough economic strength to do so,' state media quoted Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo as telling Mr McCain in talks in the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday.

He said Myanmar was abiding by UN resolutions and has halted a peaceful nuclear research programme supported by Russia because the world 'may misunderstand,' according to the New Light of Myanmar English-language daily.

Mr McCain was in Myanmar to assess the new political landscape after the junta handed power to a nominally civilian government in March.

'The new government must abide by its international obligations to uphold United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding non-proliferation, and to cease any military cooperation with the government of North Korea, as required by international law,' he said on Friday at the end of the three-day visit.

US diplomatic memos released last year by the website WikiLeaks said Washington has suspected for years that Myanmar ran a secret nuclear programme supported by Pyongyang. -- AFP http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_675770.html
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Red Cross to Return to Burma?
By SAI ZOM HSENG and AP Friday, June 3, 2011

US Senator John McCain said he expects that in the coming weeks the Burmese government will allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to return to Burma and grant the organization access to prisoners.

Burma's state-owned newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Friday that McCain had spoken about the Red Cross and the issue of it resuming visits to Burmese prisons when he met Burmese Vice President Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo on Thursday in Naypyidaw.

McCain said at his press briefing in the American Center in Rangoon on Friday morning that the ICRC's access to prisoners is the first step in re-establishing US-Burma relations.

On Friday, the US embassy in Rangoon issued a press release from Sen McCain summarizing his three-day trip to Burma, saying he had met government ministers, ethnic representatives and opposition leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi whom he described as a “personal hero.”

“One critical step is the unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience. Respected international institutions and human rights organizations, including groups in the country, estimate that more than 2,000 men and women are imprisoned here for actions that should not be considered crimes in any country—the exercise of universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, of speech, of thought, of worship, of association, which all governments should uphold. I have asked the new government to grant the International Red Cross immediate and unfettered access to all prisoners in this country, which would help to improve their conditions,” said the statement.

The Republican from Arizona said both countries want better relations, but said that sanctions should remain on the repressive nation until its new government takes "concrete" steps toward democratic reform.

McCain acknowledged that the new Burmese government "represents some change from the past, and one illustration of this change was their willingness to allow me to return to this country after 15 years worth of attempts to do so on my part were rejected."

But "without concrete actions by this government that signal a deeper commitment to democratic change, there should be no easing or lifting of sanctions," the 2008 US presidential candidate said.

One key test of the government's commitment to reform, McCain said, will be its ability to ensure the safety of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she tours the country later this month.

Suu Kyi's last tour of northern Burma in 2003 rattled the military and ended with an ambush that killed several of her followers. Suu Kyi escaped, but was arrested and placed under house arrest—from which she was finally freed late last year.

"The new government's ability and willingness to prevent a similar outcome this time will be an important test of their desire for change," McCain said. "Concrete steps like these need not, and should not, take a lot of time."

On Thursday, Suu Kyi expressed concern about the health of dozens of political prisoners who are staging a hunger strike to demand better food and conditions.

The ICRC has been unable to visit inmates since the former military junta halted access in 2006 after the Burmese authorities demanded that Red Cross officials be accompanied by representatives from a government-backed social organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, the forerunner of the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

In 1999, the ruling military regime first allowed the ICRC access to political prisoners.

Tate Naing, the secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) said that political prisoners from Kalay Prison in Sagaing Division had recently demanded that ICRC’s access to prisoners be resumed. Tate Naing said that the ICRC provided 50 percent of the health care and treatment to prisoners across the country before it was suspended by the authorities.

Last week, the ICRC representative in Burma, Georges Paclisanu, held talks with Soe Maung, the minister of the president's office, to discuss a number of issues, including the ICRC's request to regain permission to visit prisons, according to the ICRC's Southeast Asian media spokesperson Philippe Marc Stoll. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21422
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McCain warns Burma risks Arab-style uprising

Published: 3/06/2011 at 01:31 PM
Online news: Asia

US Senator John McCain warned that Burma could face a Middle East-style revolution if the new army-backed government fails to implement democratic reform and improve human rights.

US Senator John McCain, seen here with Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi following their meeting, at her house in Yangon on June 2. McCain pledged to support efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar in talks with Suu Kyi during a visit to assess country's new political landscape.

"The winds of change are now blowing, and they will not be confined to the Arab world," the senior Republican told reporters on Friday, at the end of a three-day visit to the military-dominated nation.

"Governments that shun evolutionary reforms now will eventually face revolutionary change later."

McCain was in Burma to assess the new political landscape after the junta handed power to a nominally civilian but army-backed government in March following the country's first election in 20 years.

The November vote, won by the military's political proxies, was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and the exclusion of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest shortly afterwards.

McCain urged the government to ensure the safety of Suu Kyi, who said this week she hoped to soon conduct a political tour around the country that will be a key test of her freedom following her release.

"Aung San Suu Kyi's last attempt to travel freely was marred by violence, and the new government's ability and willingness to prevent a similar outcome this time will be an important test of their desire for change," McCain said.

In 2003 Suu Kyi's convoy was attacked in an ambush apparently organised by a regime frightened by her popularity.

She was arrested along with many party activists and placed under house arrest for a third time. The dissident has spent most of the past two decades in detention.

On Thursday McCain, who has described Suu Kyi as "my inspiration", met the Nobel Peace Prize winner and pledged to support efforts to foster democracy.

His visit comes as President Barack Obama, who beat McCain in the 2008 White House race, pursues greater engagement with Burma.

McCain, who held talks with regime figures in the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, said it was "clear" that the new government wanted a better relationship with the United States.

But he said it was too soon to lift economic sanctions, calling for the release of the country's more than 2,000 political prisoners. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/240403/mccain-warns-burma-risks-arab-style-uprising
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McCain: Myanmar Must Free Prisoners
Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar—U.S. Sen. John McCain is calling on Myanmar to release more than 2,000 political prisoners, saying that sanctions should remain on the repressive nation until its new government takes concrete steps toward democratic reform.
[0603myanmar01] Khin Maung Win/Associated Press

John McCain, here with Aung San Suu Kyi at her lakeside home, said sanctions on Myanmar should stay in place until other political prisoners are released.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a three-day visit to assess progress on democratic reform, McCain said Friday that both nations want better relations, but Myanmar's government needs to do more — including allowing the International Red Cross "unfettered" access to all prisoners.

The organization has been unable to visit inmates here since the former military junta halted access in 2005.

Critics say little has changed since then because the new government, which took power in March, is simply a proxy for the military, which has ruled for decades.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576362634119322572.html
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Prisoners' Hunger Strike Worries Suu Kyi
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Friday, June 3, 2011

RANGOON — Burma pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed concern Thursday about the health of political prisoners who began a hunger strike two weeks ago.

Suu Kyi spoke after meeting US Senator John McCain, who is visiting Burma to assess prospects for reform under its new nominally civilian government.

The 22 prisoners on the strike are demanding a better diet and other improvements in their conditions, according to the Thailand-based Assistant Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), which monitors the situation of an estimated 2,000 political detainees in Burma.

Suu Kyi told reporters she was worried about the health of the striking prisoners. "If the government continues to treat political prisoners like this, it is a sad affair," she said.

The hunger strike began after a government clemency program last month reduced all convicts' sentences by one year, leading to the release of more than 14,000 prisoners. However, only about 50 of those freed were political prisoners, because many of them are incarcerated with sentences of several decades.

McCain, speaking in Bangkok before he went to Burma, said he called on the government to release political prisoners. Their freedom has been a top demand of Western nations who criticize Burma's human rights record and maintain political and economic sanctions against its government until it undertakes reforms.

The Republican from Arizona and 2008 presidential candidate held talks with government officials Wednesday in the capital, Naypyidaw, and state television aired footage of the meetings

The magazine "Pyi Myanmar" this week cited a prison official saying the prisoners had stopped their hunger strike on May 25 and were all in good health.

The prisoner support group in Thailand denied that report, however, and said seven prisoners had been placed in solitary confinement for undertaking the hunger strike. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21420
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Germany’s Merkel voices concern over Burma’s ASEAN presidency
By Zin Linn Jun 02, 2011 8:04PM UTC

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to openly discuss Burma’s political and human rights problems before the country takes its turn as chair of the regional bloc, according to AFP news.

“Looking at the discussion about Myanmar (Burma) and its interest in taking over the presidency of ASEAN, I am a little bit concerned,” she told a forum in Singapore, a founding member of ASEAN.

Merkel told an audience of government officials, foreign diplomats and academics that “the present leadership of Myanmar has not really proved that they are serious about embarking on the road of democracy.”

The 10-member ASEAN rotates its chairmanship annually, with Indonesia currently presiding.

Following ‘the 7 November 2010 election’, the junta released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest on November 13. Then President Thein Sein’s so-called civilian government took the office in March. Built upon the SPDC’s unilaterally drafted 2008 Constitution and the undemocratic elections in 2010, Thein Sein’s new government will be continually plagued by promises of state impunity and military supremacy.

Although the new government did not stop systematic human rights violations, its authorities said that they were ready to host the ASEAN summit in 2014. However, Last month, other ASEAN leaders said they had no objections in principle to the request but urged Myanmar (Burma) to improve its human rights record leading up to 2014.

Burma was originally scheduled to chair an ASEAN summit in 2006, but it skipped its turn to chair because of widespread criticism of its human rights record and its negative response to calls to implement political reforms. The United States and European nations have repeatedly called for Rangoon’s government to release 2,000 political prisoners, including opposition ethnic leaders, as well as to carry out democratic transformation.

Human Rights Watch pointed out in its May 6 statement that Burma has failed to address concerns repeatedly raised by ASEAN leaders in past summits.

“Rewarding Burma with ASEAN’s chairmanship after it staged sham elections and still holds 2,000 political prisoners would be an embarrassment for the region,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“ASEAN leaders need to decide if they will let Burma demote ASEAN to the laughingstock of intergovernmental forums.”

However, the Thein Sein government has been reinforcing its troops in several areas where ethnic armed groups that did not follow the border guard force (BGF) plan are based. Armed reinforcements have been reported in Karen State and Shan State in eastern Burma since early this year.

Sporadic armed clashes has been going on recently between the junta’s troops and armed ethnic groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU), the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Brigade 5, the Shan State Army–North (SSA-North) and Shan State Army-South (SSA-South).

Hence, Burma has been going on with war against the ethnic minorities who are defending their basic civil rights including self-determination. If ASEAN leaders consider offering the chair to Burma in 2014, they should pressure Thein Sein government to stop the unjust war on the ethnic people. They ought to push Burma to end the civil war.

In this ongoing civil war, Burmese soldiers have been committing lots of crimes – lootings, rapes, burnt down villages, destroying the crops, killing innocent ethnic villagers, forced-labor and forced conscription.

In April, an alliance of democratic political parties – Friends of Democratic Parties – pushed the new President Thein Sein to start putting into practice the words made in his inauguration speeches without hindrance. The political party leaders especially called for a general amnesty for political prisoners in the country and the convening of an all-inclusive union conference in quest of reconciliation.

Coincidently, an independent watchdog organization, Freedom House, has named 17 countries and three territories as the world’s most repressive societies in its 2011 report. Among those topping the list of the world’s worst human rights abusers are Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan. The annual report was launched in Geneva.

The countries on the list including Burma have received the lowest rankings on political rights and civil liberties. The report notes that unfortunately, the same countries keep appearing on this hit parade of violators year after year.

Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from house-arrest was welcomed worldwide, but Western governments who impose sanctions on Burma want the new government to show more of its commitment to human rights.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/56507/germany%E2%80%99s-merkel-concerns-asean%E2%80%99s-chair-to-burma/
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Burma's Minorities Call Out for Native Tongue
By KO HTWE Thursday, June 2, 2011

Representatives from five of Burma's main ethnic parties met from Monday to Wednesday in Rangoon during which time they confirmed a proposal that ethnic languages and literature be taught as optional languages in government schools in their respective regions.

The meeting involved representatives from the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMDP), the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the Chin National Party and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party.

The representatives also discussed the ongoing conflict in their respective areas.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Naing Ngwe Thein, the chairman of the AMDP, said they will move to propose a resolution recommending ethnic languages at the next session of parliament.

Currently, Burma's Ministry of Education dictates that all subjects be taught in Burmese. The ethnic MPs aim to propose that ethnic languages are offered as additional and optional to students in each ethnic state.

In addition, the ethnic parties wish to propose that ethnic literature is made optional at state schools in each respective region.

Burma is home to more than 135 ethnic minorities, with at least 108 different ethno-linguistic groups. There are an estimated 3.3 million speakers of Shan Language; three million speakers of Karen; 850,000 Mon; 900,000 Kachin; and 400,000 Chin.

Under the democratically elected U Nu government of the 1950s, all schools in ethnic areas were permitted to teach ethnic literature in its native tongue to students. However, school curricula were centralized after Gen Ne Win's military coup in 1962, and regulations were passed that all subjects be taught in only one national language—Burmese.

Burmese education expert Thein Lwin said that curricula should be adopted in people's own language.

“By learning in their own language, ethnic minority children also have the opportunity to learn their culture and traditions,” he said.

“However, it will take some time to transform each curriculum into different languages,” said Kyaw Thein, the chairman of Arakan Literature and Culture Association.

In many of Burma's ethnic regions, the native language and literature is only taught in monasteries, churches, and Literature and Culture Associations.

At the first session of the People's Parliament in March, former Education Minister Chan Nyein said that to set respective curricula in the language of each national race is impossible as there are so many ethnic groups in Burma, according to a report in The New Light of Myanmar.

“The learning of the languages of national races outside of school will be supported,” said Chan Nyein.

However, an official from the Mon Literature and Culture Association, said that it is impossible for the government to set ethnic language on the school curricula because the 2008 constitution does not mention the inclusion of ethnic literature at school.

Government didn't put ethnic minorities literature in the curriculum of school for a long time make most youth in the ethnic region neglect to learn their own literature.

A member of the Kachin Literature and Culture Association based in Myitkyina said that it is increasingly rare to find lesson sin Kachin Literature because so many young people have no interest in literature.

“Finance and location are the two biggest problems in learning Kachin literature,” she said. “If young people want to learn literature, they would probably be best going to church.”

Hkawng Seng Pan, a graduate student from Myitkyina, said that if the government respects minority rights, it must allow not only Kachin language to be taught at schools, but other minority languages as well.

A member of the Shan Literature and Culture Association in Taunggyi, said the role of Shan literature is fading day by day because young people in the cities are not interested in learning Shan literature. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21414
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Karen BGF Troops Begin Returning to the DKBA
By SAW YAN NAING Friday, June 3, 2011

Although the Burmese government appeared to have won a strategic victory last year when it convinced most of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) to join its Border Guard Force (BGF), both the strategy and the victory seem to be unraveling as many Karen BGF troops are either deserting back to the DKBA or shifting their loyalties to the armed ethnic group while remaining in government uniform.

Tellingly, when a group of Karen BGF soldiers gathered on their military base and watched footage of the bloody clash initiated by Brig-Gen Saw Lah Pwe and his breakaway DKBA Brigade 5 against Burmese government troops in Myawaddy last November, they cheered the Brigade 5 fighters, said a DKBA source.

“I was surprise when I saw this. They are BGF but they cheered the DKBA. It seems to me that the BGF doesn’t really exist,” he said. “It is like Saw Lah Pwe is their hero.”

Lt-Col Po Bi is the head of Karen BGF Battalion 1012, which until recently occupied Myaing Gyi Nyu, the former DKBA headquarters in Hlaing Bwe Township, southern Karen State. On May 24, he kicked out his BGF government advisors and ordered the 500 soldiers under his command to remove the BGF badges from their uniforms and replace them with their old DKBA insignia.

After this act of open defiance, Po Bi announced there are no more BGF troops in Myaing Gyi Nyu, only DKBA. He then deployed his troops in Mae Tha Waw in southern Karen State and ordered them to stay on high alert while they waited to see the government's reaction.

At least two other BGF battalions joined the Po Bi-led faction and defied the BGF, with the rest of the Karen BGF battalions remaining neutral thus far. Sources said the majority of Karen troops that previously joined the BGF have now unofficially resumed their status as DKBA soldiers.

There are divisions between Karen BGF battalions and the top Karen leaders in the BGF who previously headed up the DKBA and are now BGF government advisors, including Gen Kyaw Than, Col Chit Thu and Pah Nwee.

Sources in Myaing Gyi Nyu said U Thuzana, a Buddhist monk who is influential with the Karen BGF troops, has been attempting for one month to get all Karen BGF battalions to reunite with the DKBA.

U Thuzana reportedly traveled recently to Pa-an, the capital of Karen State, to meet BGF advisor Gen Kyaw Than with the intention of urging him to return the BGF battalions to DKBA ranks. However, Kyaw Than has not agreed to the monk's request.

However, sources reported that the Karen BGF, DKBA Brigade 5 and KNLA troops are now connected and have agreed to provide back-up military assistance to each other if government troops attack.

The government appears to have lost control over the Karen BGF, the sources reported. In addition, some Karen BGF soldiers stationed at frontline bases have developed good relationships with KNLA soldiers, a potential threat to the Naypyidaw given that the BGF is estimated to have 2,000 armed men while DKBA Brigade 5 has about 1,000 and the KNLA has about 4,000.

“Po Bi's troops won’t open fire against government troops first. But if the government forces open fire against them, there will be a big war,” said Brig-Gen Johnny, the commander of Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 7.

“It is time for the Karen to be united, we have to help each other. I want to call on all Karen people inside and outside Burma to help each other,” he said.

In preparation for war, the Karen rebels ordered their fighters to stand by and collected ammunition and rations such as rice and dry foods, sources said.

Some DKBA family members, especially women and children, have moved to the Thai-Burma border due to fears of resumed fighting, said Htoo Klei, the secretary of the Karen Office of Relief and Development (KORD).

The fact that Myaing Gyi Ngu is now under full control of DKBA and KNLA troops might provoke the Burmese military, one observer said. But state-run television denied that Myaing Gyi Ngu is occupied by the Karen armed ethnic groups, and other observers said the government will try and break the unity of Karen armed groups by using divide-and-rule tactics.

Due primarily to their religious differences, the DKBA split from the Christian-dominated Karen National Union, the political wing of the KNLA, in 1994 and signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 1995. Afterward, with the backing of government troops, the DKBA launched attacks against the KNLA until the fall of Marnerplaw, the KNU headquarters.

However, after the bloody clash in Myawaddy on Nov.
8, which forced some 20,000 civilians to seek temporary refuge in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, and the execution-style killing of six soldiers belonging to the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, the DKBA’s loyalty to the government declined dramatically.

Htee Moo, a DKBA source on the border, said that the government also doesn’t trust the Karen BGF any longer and reportedly wants to seize their weapons. In addition, Karen sources said that a group of DKBA troops led by Maj Kyaw Thet also collected a tax of 100,000 kyat from each bus passenger in Kawkareik Township on Wednesday.

The coalition of Karen rebels now have recovered many abandoned bases deep inside Karen State and are patrolling and launching ambushes against government troops, sources said.

Since the Myawaddy clash, it is believed that the government has not used BGF troops to attack the DKBA. Some believe that the Karen BGF troops wouldn't listen to the government if they were ordered to attack their fellow Karen in the DKBA.

The government ordered all ethnic armed groups to transform into members of the BGF. Kachin, Wa and Mon militias rejected the order, but the DKBA (other than Brigade 5) officially joined the BGF last year. But Karen observers said that is seems as though the BGF plan is not working as intended and has become a joke among the Karen BGF and DKBA.

One observer on the border said, “The Karen BGF don’t want to fight and they don’t want to be BGF,” said one observer on the border. “They have become a headache for Naypyidaw.”
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21424
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Burma Govt Defends Prison Conditions
By WAI MOE and KO HTWE Friday, June 3, 2011

Burma’s media censorship board has reportedly ordered several Rangoon weekly journals to publish articles countering recent exile and foreign media coverage of a hunger strike by political prisoners in Insein, Kalay and Hkamti prisons.

In late May, two private weekly journals, the owners of which are known to be close to the Ministry of Information's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), published articles highlighting the Correction Department's response to allegations of human rights violations in prisons and last month's hunger strike by 22 political prisoners demanding better conditions.

The Flower News journal, owned by Ko Ko who currently chairs the regime-sponsored Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association, reported in its May 27 edition that the political prisoners in Insein who went on human strike have now “stopped the strike, have meal and healthy [sic].”

The report also said that the prisoners had issued a list of six demands: good meals every day; cells and beds free from bed bugs; the installation of mosquito nets and fans; fresh clothes every six months; pens and pencils and the opportunity to write letters; separate quarters from criminal prisoners; private rooms to meet friends and family during prison visits.

A prison official was quoted in the journal as saying that the Prison Department, which is an organ of the Ministry of Home Affairs, was arranging the best possible meals for prisoners, and regularly served vegetable soup, fish heads and dry fish.

The prison official reportedly said that mosquito nets cannot be issued to prisoners for security reasons, and that fans could not be installed in cells because of the cost of electricity. He was also quoted as saying that a lack of space in prisons prohibits the possibility of prisoners having separate cells or privacy. However, he said he would forward the proposal for pens and pencils to his superior officers, the report said.

However, Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) said the Prison Department's explanations are incorrect and that its response “twists the truth.” AAPP said that the director-general of the Prison Department, Zaw Win, was quoted in 2009 as saying that there are 248,664 prisoners in Burma and that each meal was budgeted at 57.9 kyat [5.8 cents in 2009].

Ko Ko, the editor of both The Flower News and Yangon Times, told The Irrawaddy that the the Prison Department had not ordered his publications to report the Prison Department's response, but had “invited” journals to quote their policy.

After the new government took power in March, an official from the PSRD issued a statement to the country's media saying that publications that focus on sport, educational literature, magic, technology, art and children's literature will be able to publish freely without going through the censorship board.

On Friday, the censorship board reportedly issued permission for journals to publish news about this week's visit to Burma by powerful US senator, John McCain. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday afternoon, a Rangoon-based editor who asked to remain anonymous said journals were told they could publish a report about the visit, but not photographs.

The PSRD routinely censors books, journals and newspapers. Any media criticism of the military junta is strictly forbidden. Despite their strict rules and regulations, and draconian censorship practices, the PSRD currently licenses the publication of 326 newspapers, magazines and journals in Burma. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21423
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Myanmar lifts suspension of visa-on-arrival
08:51, June 03, 2011

Myanmar has lifted a suspension of visa-on-arrival arranged through travel agencies for visitors from regions where no Myanmar embassy is set up, the local Biweekly Eleven News reported Thursday.

Myanmar re-granted the visa-on-arrival of its kind, which was halted in last September ahead of Myanmar's general election in November the same year.

At present, as a special case, Myanmar issues such visa to travelers brought back from Cambodia's Siem Reap and China's Guangzhou after the Myanmar Airways International (MAI) launched its maiden flights to the two destinations in February and March this year.

Meanwhile, the report added that Myanmar is deliberating to grant such visa-on-arrival for 10 selected countries phase by phase, quoting the Hoteliers Association.

According to official statistics, the number of tourist arrivals in Myanmar reached 106,795 in the first three months of 2011, up 24 percent from 85,519 in 2010 correspondingly.

In the whole of 2010, a total of 791,505 travelers visited Myanmar, of whom 297,246 arrived through the Yangon International Airport. Most of the tourists came on package tour, business and social purposes.

Visitors from Thailand stood top in Myanmar's tourist arrival, followed by those from China, France, South Korea and America.

Meanwhile, travel companies from Myanmar and South Korea have recently signed a memorandum of understanding on tourism cooperation, setting a quota of 1,000 tourists from South Korea to visit Myanmar monthly.

Source: Xinhua http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7399542.html

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