News & Articles on Burma
Thursday, 14 July, 2011
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Ethnic Leaders Present Ceasefire Proposal to EU
Burma's Foreign Ministry Hit by Another Defection
Shan Women condemn Burma Army of using rape as war weapon
Govt Puts Brakes on Naypyidaw Construction Projects
Drop in sales at latest Myanmar gems fair
Explore returns to south-east Asia for holidays in Burma
Burma army use aircrafts to bomb Shan positions
A second Burmese diplomat defects
Lao PM Myanmar visit further enhances bilateral friendship
Burma’s Dead Men Walking
Children become latest victims of conflict in Kachin State
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Ethnic Leaders Present Ceasefire Proposal to EU
By SAW YAN NAING and LAWI WENG Thursday, July 14, 2011
Several ethnic leaders reported to EU officials about the ongoing conflicts in eastern Burma at a July 9 meeting in Bangkok at which they also called for the EU to broker political dialogue between Burma's government and its ethnic groups.
Leaders of an umbrella group of ethnic parties, the United Nationalities Federation Council (UNFC), told the European delegation that Burmese government forces had attacked the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northern Burma last month in a bid to protect Naypyidaw's business interests with China, said Nai Hang Thar, the secretary of the UNFC.
Nai Hang Thar, who is also secretary of the New Mon State Party, said the UNFC representatives had told the EU that thousands of refugees have been created as a result of the armed conflict.
“The ethnic leaders requested the EU to help them find solutions to the problems in Burma through political dialogue,” he said.
The KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization, which is a member of the UNFC, has proposed—via the UNFC—a ceasefire to the new government.
“The KIO wants the UNFC to lead peace talks,” said Nai Hang Thar.
According to a KIO draft of a proposed ceasefire agreement, the KIA will only agree to a six-month ceasefire if Naypyidaw commits to a political dialogue in which the UNFC plays a leading role.
The UNFC leadership also presented to the EU officials a proposal for the formation of a federal union in Burma, according to Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the Karen National Union, also a leading member in the UNFC.
The UNFC was formed in February this year at a meeting in northern Thailand which was attended by a dozen ethnic groups.
The UNFC leaders said they also asked the EU delegation to put more pressure on Naypyidaw to stop military activity in ethnic areas.
“All the government troops will have to retreat to their former bases if there is ceasefire,” said Nai Hang Thar. “Also, the government must declare ceasefires with all the ethnic armed groups in the country, not only in Kachin State.”
Zipporah Sein said, “We always welcome dialogue. But the dialogue must involve all ethnic groups, not on a case by case basis. Our aim is to establish a federal state.”
Sources claim that the UNFC has provided military training and that its members supported their allies when government troops launched attacks on ethnic groups in Karen, Shan and Kachin states last year.
Nai Hang Thar said that political dialogue is the only option for the government and the ethnic armed groups to solve the armed conflicts. If the dialogue doesn’t work, the ethnic armed groups will continue their military struggle, he said.
“When we know for sure that we can’t find a peaceful solution, we will declare that the country has fallen into a civil war,” he said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21693
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Burma's Foreign Ministry Hit by Another Defection
By WAI MOE Thursday, July 14, 2011
Another senior Burmese diplomat in Washington DC, Soe Aung, has defected to the United States. A source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said staff expected a significant reshuffle at the ministry very soon.
Soe Aung, the first secretary and the fourth-ranking official at the Burmese embassy in Washington, defected on Wednesday. A week earlier, Kyaw Win, who was Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy, defected to the US citing “no change” under the new administration.
According to Voice of America’s Burmese Service in Washington, Soe Aung wrote to the US State Department on Wednesday requesting asylum, citing fears for the safety of his family and himself.
Soe Aung told the Washington-based radio station that he had been ordered on Tuesday to return to Burma for an investigation over Kyaw Win’s defection the week before. He said that two other Burmese embassy staffers were called back to Burma and are now under investigation
The embassy secretary’s defection was the second significant case since the military-backed new government, led by President ex Gen Thein Sein, took office on March 30.
Sources at the MoFA have complained bitterly about a department beset with problems. One staffer who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition on anonymity said that many staff believed they had been unfairly treated by senior officials following the defection of Deputy Chief of Mission to Washington Kyaw Win.
The MoFA in Naypyidaw was last reshuffled in November 2009 when 65 staffers and diplomats lost their jobs or were demoted at foreign ministry departments and Burmese embassies abroad.
Like Burma’s other ministries, the foreign ministry has been dominated by ex military officers. MoFA sources said that although staffers are career diplomats at the ministry, almost all of ambassadors are ex military officers and family members of the ruling hierarchy.
A “civilian” staffer at the MoFA said there was an inside joke that the acronym really stands for the “Ministry of Family Affairs.”
Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin was not to be seen in his office this week, following news that his mother passed away on Saturday.
Burmese dissidents in exile welcomed the news of the senior Burmese diplomats' defections.
“Even its own officials have lost confidence in the government,” said Thuang Tun, a representative of the exiled National Coalition Government of Union of Burma. “We welcome the defectors.”
Asked about the case of Kyaw Win, a member of the Burmese community in Washington said the diplomat was on friendly terms with the former diplomatic community in the US capital, and that he tried to bridge understanding between the differing Burmese factions in the US capital.
According to a source, the MoFA previously sent a letter of warning to Kyaw Win concerning his close relationship with the Burmese community in Washington.
According to a MoFA source in Naypyidaw, “The chargé d'affairs [Soe Paing] in DC is a military man. But he doesn't understand English, so the no.2 [Kyaw Win] had to handle political matters.
He said that the heads at MoFA in Naypyidaw held an investigation and grilled the junior staff—all civilians—and that afterward “they were very depressed,” he said.
“We think Washington will be all army men and their siblings, from now on,” he said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21698
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Shan Women condemn Burma Army of using rape as war weapon
By Zin Linn Jul 14, 2011 8:32PM UTC
A press release has been delivered today by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) condemning Burma Army of using rape as war weapon. The Burma Army is clearly authorizing rape as a terror policy in its offensive against the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), according to information documented by SWAN and SHRF.
According to local sources, the operation launched by the Burmese government forces against the Shan State Army (SSA) and Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) is at a stalemate since April when they had their first fierce engagement. However small conflicts between the opposite forces take place everyday particularly in Mongshu, Mongyai, Hsipaw and Kehsi townships, Shan Herald Agency News (SHAN) said.
On July 5, 2011, a Burma Army patrol from Light Infantry Battalion 513 entered the village of “Wan Loi” in Kehsi township, and within hours had looted property throughout the village and raped four women and girls in separate incidents: Nang Mon, age 12, Nang Jarm, age 50, Nang Lord, age 30 and Nang Poeng, age 35 (not their real names), said SWAN and SHRF.
Twelve year-old schoolgirl Nang Mon was raped in her home in front of her mother, who was beaten when she tried to shield her daughter. Nearby villagers heard the girl’s screams but did not dare get involved. Fifty-year old widow Nang Jarm was also raped in her own house, according to the document.
Burmese soldiers even did not spare Nang Lord, who was 9 months pregnant. She was pulled roughly to the ground and raped. Another poor girl, Nang Poeng was caught outside the village, beaten, stripped naked and raped in a farm hut. She was found by other villagers running naked in the jungle, the press release said.
“Wan Loi” lies 15 miles from the SSA-N headquarters of Wan Hai, which has been under fierce assault by over 3,000 Burma Army troops since March 13, when the regime broke the 22-year ceasefire. The troops have been committing widespread atrocities against local villagers, including sexual violence, causing thousands to flee their homes.
“Foreign governments dealing with Burma should not be silent about these atrocities. ‘Business as usual’ means ongoing rape in our communities,” said Hseng Moon.
There has been no sign of dialogue between the Burma Army and the SSA but the government forces tried to persuade the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) for a negotiation. No further offer of ceasefire to the SSA has been made by the Burma Army since they met on April 11, 2011 in Mongkhurh, in the township of Hsipaw, Shan State North.
Northern Shan State is of crucial strategic importance for Burma’s military rulers, who are seeking to secure the area for major Chinese investments, including hydropower dams and trans-national gas and oil pipelines.
Meanwhile, Burmese army’s fighter aircrafts carried out bombing attack on Shan State Armys positions in Kehsi Mansan Township, southern Shan State, referring a spokesperson of the SSA, DVB said. Major Sai Lao Hseng said the attacks were carried out by two fighter aircrafts, presumably MIG jet fighters, at about 1.30 p.m. local time on 13 July.
The latest attacks occurred near the SSAs Wan Hai headquarters situated in mountainous region of southern Shan State, a strategic location for Shan troops who refused to be transformed into so-called border guard force, a plan imposed on them by the Burmese army.
“Burma Army troops are being given free rein to rape children, the pregnant and the elderly,” said SWAN coordinator Hseng Moon. “We strongly condemn these war crimes.”
This latest incident comes only weeks after the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand denounced the rape of 18 women and girls during renewed fighting last month in Kachin State. The breaking of ceasefire agreements with Kachin and Shan resistance groups has caused fighting to spread through 12 townships in northern Shan State. http://asiancorrespondent.com/60054/shan-women-condemn-burma-army-of-using-rape-as-war-weapon/
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Govt Puts Brakes on Naypyidaw Construction Projects
By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, July 14, 2011
NAYPYIDAW—All construction projects in Naypyidaw except for military projects and projects for ministers and vice-ministers have been temporarily suspended for three months because of government plans to reduce the budget, according to sources in the Burmese capital.
Construction has not stopped on the Naypyidaw International Airport and the houses of ministers and vice-ministers, the sources said.
An engineer from ACE Construction Company, which is owned by Union Minister Tint San, told The Irrawaddy that “the chairman of the Naypyidaw government council, Thein Nyunt, said that construction projects that are not so important will be put on hold, but major projects will go ahead as planned as the government moves to reduce spending.”
He added that it has not yet been confirmed whether the authorities have ordered a halt to the construction of two stadiums in Naypyidaw intended for use in the 2013 Southeast Asia Games. The stadium project is run by Max Myanmar Company, owned by Zaw Zaw, a close crony of Burma's senior military leaders.
An engineer from the stadium project also said that it was unclear if construction would go ahead as planned.
Among the projects that have been suspended are a national museum, a national library, a national archive and a Tatmadaw (armed forces) museum.
A construction project manager in Naypyidaw told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity that the suspension could last for more than three months. He added that uncertainty about the future of the projects was creating some confusion among companies as to whether they should continue hiring or not.
Some of the larger construction companies, such as ACE, TZTM and Shwe Taung, are expected to continue paying the salaries of their staffs, but smaller companies will have to lay off workers, he said.
In a speech on June 21, Burmese Vice President Sai Mauk Kham said that the Union government would complete important projects within the 2012 budget year but reduce expenses on unnecessary projects.
According to a bank official who requested anonymity, the Burma's former military junta spent 4 billion kyat (US $5 million) per day on construction projects.http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21694
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Drop in sales at latest Myanmar gems fair
YANGON, July 14 | Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:50am EDT
(Reuters) - Proceeds from the sale of jade, gems and pearls at the latest emporium in Myanmar this month were far lower than expected at 1.1 billion euro ($1.57 billion), an official from the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry said on Thursday.
Myanmar produces more than 90 percent of the world's rubies and fine-quality jade. It holds sales three times a year. Proceeds from the previous one in March hit a record high of more than 2 billion euros.
More than 22,000 lots of jade, 282 lots of gems and 355 lots of pearls were put on sale by state-owned enterprises and about 750 private companies in the sale held in the capital, Naypyitaw, from July 1 to 13.
"We expected to earn record high proceeds from this emporium since it was far better and larger than the previous ones in terms of quality and quantity," the official said, adding that bids were lacking for higher-quality jade lots.
Over 9,000 traders, including about 5,000 from foreign countries including China, Taiwan and Thailand, took part.
Gemstones are a lucrative source of income for Myanmar's military-backed government despite Western sanctions imposed on the resource-rich country.
Despite the embargoes, many of the gems reach Western countries through other Asian countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan in particular.
According to official data from the Central Statistical Organisation, Myanmar produced over 46.81 million kilos of jade, 1.43 million carats of ruby and 1.42 million carats of sapphire among other precious stones in fiscal 2010/11 (April/March). ($1 = 0.702 Euros) (Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Alan Raybould) http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/myanmar-gems-idUSL3E7IE0Y020110714?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews&rpc=401
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Breaking Travel News
Explore returns to south-east Asia for holidays in Burma
After a 16-year absence, Explore has announced the reintroduction of tours to Burma.
Returning to the country with gusto, 12 departure dates will be offered for a two week tour, over a six-month period from November.
A further three-week holiday and family trip will be featured in Explore’s new brochure, released in the autumn.
Featuring highly on a lot of people’s wish lists, there have been a number of false alarms about the reintroduction of tourism to the country over the last few years.
However, on each of these occasions Explore took its advice from Burma Campaign UK, who assured the company that the boycott was still in place.
Explore’s return to the country has been with the endorsement of Burma Campaign UK and the company continues to follow their guidelines closely.
As per the appeals of Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, the adventure travel specialist will not be using junta-owned hotels, flights or other services.
Everything will be done to minimise customer contact with the government as much as possible.
Ashley Toft, managing director of Explore, commented: “With the confirmed relaxation of the boycott, we look forward to offering interesting and competitively priced tours in this fascinating country.
“Rich in colonial history, it is almost as if Burma has been left in a time-warp.
“Largely untouched by tourism, it currently offers just 9,000 hotel beds.”
He continued: “In a recent interview for the BBC’s Reith Lectures, Aung San Suu Kyi encouraged (tourism) institutions to help the people of Burma, while conserving its environment.
“As one of the first UK operators to return to the country, we want to make sure that we act appropriately and responsibly for the benefit of the Burmese people and our customers.”
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/506779520?-10820
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Burma army use aircrafts to bomb Shan positions
By NANG MYA NADI
Published: 14 July 2011
Fighter aircrafts belonging to the Burmese army carried out bombing raids on Shan State Army’s positions in Kehsi Mansan township, southern Shan State, according to a spokesperson of the SSA.
Major Sai Lao Hseng said the attacks were carried out by two fighter aircrafts, presumably MIG jet fighters, at about 1.30 p.m. local time on 13 July.
“We captured their frontline post and they retreated to Wan Sai hills, and we trapped their soldiers,” said Lao Hseng.
“And two planes bombed SSA troops with ten bombs.”
The latest attacks occurred near the SSA’s Wan Hai headquarters situated in mountainous region of southern Shan State, a strategic location for Shan troops who refused to be transformed into so-called border guard force, a plan imposed on them by the Burmese army.
“They are trying to demolish Wan Hai step by step as we have troops along the route but we will defend it as much as we could,” said a Shan officer.
“If possible, we do not want to solve it by military means as our people are facing difficulties and scarcity of food due to the military operations (of the Burmese army).
There have been clashes since early this year between Burmese troops and Wan Hai based SSA soldiers.
http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-army-use-aircrafts-to-bomb-shan-positions/16569
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The Washington Post
A second Burmese diplomat defects
By William Wan, Thursday, July 14, 8:00 AM
A Burmese diplomat has requested asylum in the United States, apparently in response to a crackdown by his government after the defection of a more senior diplomat earlier this month.
Soe Aung, the fourth-ranking official in the Burmese Embassy in Washington, wrote to the State Department on Wednesday requesting asylum, according to the pro-democracy group U.S. Campaign for Burma. Soe Aung confirmed his defection in a brief interview with the Burmese Service of the Voice of America.
The embassy’s second-ranking official, Kyaw Win, said his own defection July 4 prompted authorities in Burma, also known as Myanmar, to recall Soe Aung and other diplomats for questioning.
Soe Aung was ordered to report with his family to the embassy Wednesday afternoon to be escorted home by a former military official, according to Campaign for Burma Executive Director Aung Din, who has been in touch with Soe Aung and his supporters. Soe Aung could not be reached Wednesday.
In an interview, Kyaw Win said Soe Aung had spoken to him about his fear of returning to Burma. “I felt bad for him, that he was being summoned and being questioned for my earlier decision to defect,” he said.
Embassy officials did not immediately return calls for comment.
The two diplomats seeking asylum both served on the civilian side of the embassy. The Burmese government has been controlled by the military since 1962.
“We are not against the government or against the country,” Kyaw Win said. “But the work we do is increasingly difficult and dangerous. And the military side, they don’t want to listen.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/a-second-burmese-diplomat-defects/2011/07/13/gIQA7ggDDI_story.html
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Lao PM Myanmar visit further enhances bilateral friendship, co-op
13:18, July 14, 2011
by Feng Yingqiu
Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong's three-day visit to Myanmar, which wrapped up on Wednesday, further enhanced the traditional friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between Myanmar and Laos.
A joint statement of Myanmar and Laos issued at the end of Thongsing's visit said both sides exchanged views on the possibility of constructing a friendship bridge across the Mekong River in order to facilitate and enhance road connectivity between the two countries.
Both sides agreed to further the bilateral cooperation between the Myanmar Home Ministry and Lao Ministry of Public Security on matters relating to suppression of transnational crimes, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and terrorist activities.
Both sides reaffirmed their policy to respect and safeguard each other's sovereignty and security by not allowing any armed insurgent groups from either side to keep their base in the territory of respective countries.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction over the success of the first meeting of the regional border committee held in Houaysay, Bokeo province of Laos in 2010 and agreed to convene a second meeting of the committee in Myanmar alternately.
To promote security in the Mekong River, both sides agreed to renew their commitment to enhancing cooperation on safeguarding the navigation in the Mekong River, assuring to prevent undesirable incidents from taking place in the future along the Mekong River through timely and effective exchange of information between the security forces of the two countries. http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7440023.html
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Burma’s Dead Men Walking
July 13, 2011
By Sebastian Strangio
A new Human Rights Watch report details how hundreds of convicts were beaten, forced to carry supplies for the military – and clear landmines with sticks and forks.
Last year, Yezaw was arrested over an unpaid restaurant bill. One evening in May, he and a group of friends met for dinner in the central Burmese city of Mandalay and ran up a tab they couldn’t pay. After his girlfriend’s father – a lawyer – accused him of stealing her motorbike to cover the debt, the 20-year-old was charged, taken to court and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Reeling from the apparent unfairness of the charge, Yezaw, now 21, said he hadn’t imagined what was to happen next. At the start of this year, he was transferred to eastern Karen State, close to the Thai border and, along with dozens of other prisoners, handed a dark blue uniform. For three months, he was forced to carry supplies for the Burmese military, enduring punishing jungle terrain, meagre rations and regular beatings for the smallest of infractions.
The skinny student from Mandalay was just one of hundreds of convicts who were rounded up for porter duty during the Burmese military’s offensives in Karen State following last November’s national election, when rebels seized the border town of Myawaddy and attacked army units.
Yezaw’s story is echoed in a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), entitled Dead Men Walking: Convict Porters on the Front Lines in Eastern Burma. The report estimates 700 prisoners from 12 prisons and labour camps across the country were transferred to Karen State to perform military labour during this year’s fighting. The report documents how civilian prison authorities, in collusion with the military, selected prisoners for porter duty ‘without any clearly stated criteria’ and forwarded them to conflict areas in a series of coordinated sweeps.
‘The men were a mix of serious and petty offenders, but their crimes or willingness to serve were not taken into consideration: only their ability to carry heavy loads of ammunition, food, and supplies for more than 17 Tatmadaw (Burmese army) battalions engaged in operations against ethnic Karen armed groups,’ it states.
The report, based on HRW and KHRG interviews with 58 convict porters who escaped to Thailand, claims that porters used during offensives between 2009 and 2011 endured ‘horrific abuses’ at the hands of the Tatmadaw, including summary executions, beatings, torture, and the practice known as ‘atrocity demining,’ where porters were sent ahead to detect landmines with inadequate equipment and next to no training. HRW and KHRG describe the practice as a ‘wilful deferment of military obligation onto a vulnerable civilian population’ – and a potential war crime.
Photo Credit: Free Burma Rangers http://the-diplomat.com/2011/07/13/burma%E2%80%99s-dead-men-walking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+the-diplomat+%28The+Diplomat+RSS%29
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Children become latest victims of conflict in Kachin State
By AYE NAI
Published: 13 July 2011
An outbreak of diarrhoea in makeshift refugee camps in northeast Burma set up by Kachin Independence Organisation is affecting hundreds of children taking shelter there and resulted in two recent deaths, according to the KIO.
La Nan, spokesperson of the KIO told DVB three children have died so far in the camps set up in KIO headquarter town of Laiza near China’s Yunnan Province.
“Two children; aged 2 and 5, died in one day with diarrhea – so there are three deaths including the death of another child who was suffering from pneumonia (earlier),” said La Nan.
He said there are about 300 child patients seeking medical assistance everyday at local hospital suffering from illnesses related to lack of clean drinking water and inadequate sanitation.
“Children are mainly suffering from illnesses such as dengue fever and diarrhoea and this may lead to long-term health problems,” he said.
Some 20,000 refugees, who fled armed clashes between Burmese troops and KIO’s armed-wing, Kachin Independence Army that started last month, are sharing accommodation in large halls which makes it easier for the diseases to spread.
La Nan added the refugees are not getting any kind of assistance from aid groups, apart from one Non-Government Organisation in China providing blankets and mosquito nets when the refugees started to arrive in Laiza last month.
Beijing is yet to give the refugees official recognition. A statement released by Kachin Women’s Association-Thailand (KWAT) in June said China has restricted the movement of aid workers along the shared border with Burma.
Reports have also circulated that officials in Yunnan Province warned local households, some of whom are of Kachin ethnicity, along the border not to shelter refugees.
http://www.dvb.no/news/children-become-latest-victims-of-conflict-in-kachin-state/16548
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Friday, July 15, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Thursday, 14 July, 2011-UZL
BURMA RELATED NEWS - JULY 14, 2011(utk)
BURMA RELATED NEWS - JULY 14, 2011
InterAksyon - ASEAN sensitive to world opinion on Myanmar
IRIN - MYANMAR: Military porters "worked to death"
Reuters - Drop in sales at latest Myanmar gems fair
Asian Correspondent - Shan Women condemn Burma Army of using rape as war weapon
AsiaNews.it - Washington: another Burmese diplomat asks for political asylum
VOA News - Burmese Diplomat Defects, Cites Fears for Safety
Independent - Burma accused of using prisoners to clear landmines
UPI - HRW: Myanmar torturing prisoners
Inner City Press - At UN, Ban Slams Gaddafi Like Gbagbo, Defers on Opponents' Abuses, Myanmar
Xinhua - Lao PM Myanmar visit further enhances bilateral friendship, co-op
Grand Island Independent - Workshop gives insight into Karen culture
The Financial Times - Burma’s seaside retreat set for industrial boom
The Irrawaddy - Stemming the Chinese Tide
The Irrawaddy - Child Soldier Complaints on the Rise in Burma: ILO
The Irrawaddy - Burmese Army Accused in Four Rape Cases in Shan State
Mizzima News - Corruption in Burma, Part X: Fees for house registration
Mizzima News - El Nino phenomenon could hit Burma in August, November
Mizzima News - NLD leader Win Tin allowed to republish his books after 33 years
DVB News - Child torturer sentenced
DVB News - Burma army use aircrafts to bomb Shan positions
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InterAksyon - ASEAN sensitive to world opinion on Myanmar
14-Jul-11, 8:04 PM | Ria Rose Uro, Interaksyon.com
JAKARTA - Top diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to consider international opinion when they decide on whether to allow Myanmar to chair the regional bloc by 2014.
“We live, interact, synergize and benefit from our relationship with the (rest of the) world. Certainly we will be open to hear their sentiments,” Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN secretary-general, told reporters here on Wednesday.
He emphasized that “ASEAN is where it is (today) because of the goodwill of dialogue partners.”
The secretary-general is attending the ministerial meetings which will run from July 15 to 23. Consideration of the matter is with the foreign ministers meeting (FMM).
Earlier, Indonesian parliamentarian Kusuma Sundari, president of the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar (AIPMC), warned about the potential backlash from Western governments should Myanmar take over ASEAN’s chairmanship.
Sundari said that based on their interactions with government officials in Australia, the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), the would-be impact “will not be good for ASEAN as a whole.”
“You cannot help it. These governments still look at Aung San Suu Kyi as the icon of democracy in Myanmar,” she stressed.
But she acknowledged the Western government officials did not spell out what measures they would be taking to register their dissatisfaction to such an ASEAN action.
Daughter of Burmese independence hero Aung San, Suu Kyi leads the main opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) which won the parliamentary elections in 1990 but was not allowed to assume power by the military junta.
Placed under house arrest for several years, she was released November 13, 2010, one week after the first parliamentary elections in 20 years.
Advancing the schedule
Myanmar was supposed to assume the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN this year but was pushed forward to 2016 during a summit in 2006.
Last January, it asked to advance its chairmanship schedule to 2014.
During the 18th ASEAN Summit last May here, the region’s foreign ministers asked Indonesia to assess the readiness of Myanmar to lead the 10-country bloc.
Pitsuwan said recent signals from Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s new capital, indicated the country is ready to receive such an Indonesian diplomatic mission.
Such mission, he added, is “a reflection of ASEAN’s supporting Myanmar on a road to opening up.”
The region’s leaders in 2007 have emphasized that they “will strive to prevent the Myanmar issue from obstructing ASEAN's integration efforts…”
Key considerations
The parameters for evaluating Myanmar’s 2014 chairmanship bid varied among the member-states’ diplomats. But many of them share the common concerns with civil society and democratization activists.
Principal among the issues is national reconciliation which should start with a tripartite dialogue between the NLD, ethnic nationalities and the military junta which the United Nations have long called for but continue to be derailed.
Other issues include release of political detainees and addressing internal displacement.
In the 2005, 2007 and 2009 summits, ASEAN leaders have been calling for the release of political prisoners. International human rights groups estimated some 2,000 of them as of now.
They have also urged for the lifting of restrictions on Suu Kyi.
Pitsuwan said some other member-countries would like to ascertain the state of Myanmar’s interaction with the international community like the UN which has appointed a human rights rapporteur for the country for over a decade now.
Sundari also includes media repression as a key issue to look into.
Crucial credentials
Chairing the bloc in 2014 will accord crucial credentials for Myanmar, which has completed a military junta-crafted Seven-Step Roadmap to Democracy with the convening of its parliament and coming into force of a new constitution early this year.
This was a product of a November 2010 parliamentary polls that activists, along with the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines, criticized as a sham because of widespread repression on the media and the political opposition.
By 2014, Myanmar’s parliamentarians would have been more than half-way their elective and appointive terms. A fourth of the 664-member bicameral parliament are constitutionally-mandated to be military appointees.
Even as ASEAN maintains an open mind about world opinion, Pitsuwan said its leaders will ultimately decide on the Myanmar chairmanship question.
He said he is “confident the foreign ministers will decide in the interest of ASEAN.”
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MYANMAR: Military porters "worked to death"
BANGKOK, 13 July 2011 (IRIN) - Convicts forced to serve as porters for the military are subject to torture, execution, and warfare, says a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG).
"The military uses the porters as human shields to draw fire from the opposition, to trip land mines, and to walk ahead to be shot first in an ambush," David Scott Mathieson, co-author of the report and HRW's senior Asia researcher, told IRIN.
Since January, up to 1,200 civilian convicts have been drawn from 12 prisons and labour camps throughout Myanmar to serve as porters for the army in conflict-ridden southern and northern Karen and eastern Pegu states, the report, Dead Men Walking, released on 13 July, stated.
"The horrendous conditions of portering are systematic, widespread, and constitute a war crime," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of HRW. "The Burmese government is unwilling to end abuses such as portering, and there is an urgent need for international investigations."
Civilians flee
While the military's use of civilian "human pack mules" has been going on for the past two decades as part of counter-insurgency tactics against ethnic militias, rounding up prisoners has only been widespread since 1999, and is mainly done before major military offensives in a "chillingly systematic practice by the army", according to HRW.
Prisoners are used because civilians run from villages when the military arrives. "Civilians flee the area to avoid being taken as porters," Pearson said.
When 20,000 refugees flooded into Thailand after the offensive launched in Karen state earlier this year, many cited fear of being forced into portering as a reason, according to the report.
"Porters are given little food and no medical care," said Poe Shan, director of the KHRG.
One porter's leg was blown off in a land mine and he was left to die, said an interviewee cited in the report. "The soldiers left him... when we came down the mountain he was dead," said one escaped convict.
Abuses increase after elections
While human rights groups hoped for fewer abuses against civilians after the November elections brutalities continue to be meted out by the military junta, activists say.
"It is scandalous that the human rights situations have gotten worse after the elections," said Debbie Stothard, coordinator for the political advocacy NGO Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma.
"Now in 2011, after the elections, there are the same abuses as in the 1990s," said KHRG's Poe.
And until there is a change in the country's human rights situation, refugees will continue to flow into the surrounding countries, warned Stothard.
"War crimes in ethnic areas have always been a push factor for asylum seekers and refugees into Thailand. Portering is just one example of the whole range of war crimes being perpetuated by the military," she added.
Human rights groups, along with the UN Special Rapporteur, continue to call for a UN commission of inquiry into human rights violations, such as portering.
"There is an urgent need for an international investigation," said HRW's Pearson. "The brutal mistreatment of convict porters is just one among many systematic abuses," she said.
Burmese government officials were unavailable to comment on the report.
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Drop in sales at latest Myanmar gems fair
YANGON, July 14 | Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:50am EDT
(Reuters) - Proceeds from the sale of jade, gems and pearls at the latest emporium in Myanmar this month were far lower than expected at 1.1 billion euro ($1.57 billion), an official from the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry said on Thursday.
Myanmar produces more than 90 percent of the world's rubies and fine-quality jade. It holds sales three times a year. Proceeds from the previous one in March hit a record high of more than 2 billion euros.
More than 22,000 lots of jade, 282 lots of gems and 355 lots of pearls were put on sale by state-owned enterprises and about 750 private companies in the sale held in the capital, Naypyitaw, from July 1 to 13.
"We expected to earn record high proceeds from this emporium since it was far better and larger than the previous ones in terms of quality and quantity," the official said, adding that bids were lacking for higher-quality jade lots.
Over 9,000 traders, including about 5,000 from foreign countries including China, Taiwan and Thailand, took part.
Gemstones are a lucrative source of income for Myanmar's military-backed government despite Western sanctions imposed on the resource-rich country.
Despite the embargoes, many of the gems reach Western countries through other Asian countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan in particular.
According to official data from the Central Statistical Organisation, Myanmar produced over 46.81 million kilos of jade, 1.43 million carats of ruby and 1.42 million carats of sapphire among other precious stones in fiscal 2010/11 (April/March).
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Asian Correspondent - Shan Women condemn Burma Army of using rape as war weapon
By Zin Linn Jul 14, 2011 8:32PM UTC
A press release has been delivered today by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) condemning Burma Army of using rape as war weapon. The Burma Army is clearly authorizing rape as a terror policy in its offensive against the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), according to information documented by SWAN and SHRF.
According to local sources, the operation launched by the Burmese government forces against the Shan State Army (SSA) and Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) is at a stalemate since April when they had their first fierce engagement. However small conflicts between the opposite forces take place everyday particularly in Mongshu, Mongyai, Hsipaw and Kehsi townships, Shan Herald Agency News (SHAN) said.
On July 5, 2011, a Burma Army patrol from Light Infantry Battalion 513 entered the village of “Wan Loi” in Kehsi township, and within hours had looted property throughout the village and raped four women and girls in separate incidents: Nang Mon, age 12, Nang Jarm, age 50, Nang Lord, age 30 and Nang Poeng, age 35 (not their real names), said SWAN and SHRF.
Twelve year-old schoolgirl Nang Mon was raped in her home in front of her mother, who was beaten when she tried to shield her daughter. Nearby villagers heard the girl’s screams but did not dare get involved. Fifty-year old widow Nang Jarm was also raped in her own house, according to the document.
Burmese soldiers even did not spare Nang Lord, who was 9 months pregnant. She was pulled roughly to the ground and raped. Another poor girl, Nang Poeng was caught outside the village, beaten, stripped naked and raped in a farm hut. She was found by other villagers running naked in the jungle, the press release said.
“Wan Loi” lies 15 miles from the SSA-N headquarters of Wan Hai, which has been under fierce assault by over 3,000 Burma Army troops since March 13, when the regime broke the 22-year ceasefire. The troops have been committing widespread atrocities against local villagers, including sexual violence, causing thousands to flee their homes.
“Foreign governments dealing with Burma should not be silent about these atrocities. ‘Business as usual’ means ongoing rape in our communities,” said Hseng Moon.
There has been no sign of dialogue between the Burma Army and the SSA but the government forces tried to persuade the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) for a negotiation. No further offer of ceasefire to the SSA has been made by the Burma Army since they met on April 11, 2011 in Mongkhurh, in the township of Hsipaw, Shan State North.
Northern Shan State is of crucial strategic importance for Burma’s military rulers, who are seeking to secure the area for major Chinese investments, including hydropower dams and trans-national gas and oil pipelines.
Meanwhile, Burmese army’s fighter aircrafts carried out bombing attack on Shan State Armys positions in Kehsi Mansan Township, southern Shan State, referring a spokesperson of the SSA, DVB said. Major Sai Lao Hseng said the attacks were carried out by two fighter aircrafts, presumably MIG jet fighters, at about 1.30 p.m. local time on 13 July.
The latest attacks occurred near the SSAs Wan Hai headquarters situated in mountainous region of southern Shan State, a strategic location for Shan troops who refused to be transformed into so-called border guard force, a plan imposed on them by the Burmese army.
“Burma Army troops are being given free rein to rape children, the pregnant and the elderly,” said SWAN coordinator Hseng Moon. “We strongly condemn these war crimes.”
This latest incident comes only weeks after the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand denounced the rape of 18 women and girls during renewed fighting last month in Kachin State. The breaking of ceasefire agreements with Kachin and Shan resistance groups has caused fighting to spread through 12 townships in northern Shan State.
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07/14/2011 16:54
MYANMAR – UNITED STATES
AsiaNews.it - Washington: another Burmese diplomat asks for political asylum
The first secretary in the Myanmar Embassy in Washington defects. He had been ordered home. A colleague in the same embassy defected ten days ago. Experts believe the loss of hope for freedom and democracy at home are pushing many Myanmar officials to seek refuge abroad.
Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Soe Aung, first secretary of the Myanmar Embassy in Washington, expressed to the US State Department "his desire to apply for political asylum in the United States”. Myanmar has often been accused of serious human rights violations, including murder, torture, kidnapping, forced labour and using child soldiers. Recent elections have not changed the situation. Many Myanmar officials posted abroad are now losing hope for change and so have decided not to go home.
Soe Aung is a career diplomat who served in Geneva, Bangkok and Singapore. He was posted to Washington in 2008. On Tuesday, he was told to return home with his family within 24 hours for a possible investigation, Aung Din, the executive director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma, told Radio Free Asia.
For Aung Din, Soe Aung’s defection is connected with that of Kyaw Win, the Embassy's deputy chief of mission, who told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a letter that his efforts to push for reform were rejected by his government and that he feared prosecution if he returned home.
This set off alarm bells in Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry, which began a departmental enquiry that could have led to Soe Aung’s punishment for not preventing Kyaw Win’s defection.
“It is possible that more defections of the regime's diplomats will be coming soon,” Aung Din said. “Many civilian diplomats of the regime are beginning to lose their hope of seeing freedom, justice, and democracy in their country and are not willing to serve under a military regime disguised as a civilian government” or “ defend the regime in the international community."
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July 13, 2011
VOA News - Burmese Diplomat Defects, Cites Fears for Safety
Kate Pound Dawson | Washington
For the second time in less than two weeks, a senior Burmese diplomat has defected. He says he feared for his safety after being recalled to Burma.
Soe Aung, the Burmese embassy’s first secretary in Washington, sent a letter to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday declaring that he wanted to defect. He later told VOA’s Burmese Service that he fears for his safety and that of his family.
He had been ordered to return to Burma for an investigation into last week’s defection of another diplomat. Soe Aung said he was told on Tuesday that he must return to Burma within 24 hours, accompanied by a military official. His and his wife’s diplomatic passports had been confiscated. Soe Aung told VOA that two other diplomats already have been called back to Burma and placed under investigation.
Kyaw Win, the embassy’s deputy chief of mission, defected last week. He says he defected because his efforts to push for reform had been rejected and that he feared he would be prosecuted in Burma. Kyaw Win told VOA on Wednesday he had hoped that following last year’s election, Burma's military would ease its grip on power and improve its human rights record.
He says the human rights situation in Burma is getting worse, especially in remote areas. Kyaw Win says that in 1998, the military leaders promised change, but it never happened. He adds that in 2004, new leaders talked about changes, but it never happened.
Kyaw Win says he thinks Soe Aung and other civilian diplomats are being blamed for his defection, but that they were his subordinates. He says military and ex-military staff at the embassy are not being investigated.
Aung Din is executive director of the United States Campaign for Burma, a rights group based in Washington. He says diplomats could face stiff punishment, if Burmese military authorities decide they failed in their duties in the Kyaw Win case.
“He will be severely tortured, and he will be sent to the military tribunal for imprisonment," said Aung Din. "So I believe that he or she will have a great danger when he or she returns back to Burma.”
Burma's government has long been considered one of the most repressive in the world. The United States and many other governments have imposed tough economic sanctions on the country because of its lack of political reform.
The military described last year's election, the first in 20 years, as a key element of a plan to return the country to civilian rule after four decades of army leadership. But critics of the government say the vote solidified military control because an army-backed party won 80 percent of the elected parliament seats.
Aung Din of United States Campaign for Burma says there could be more defections in the coming months, in part, because the new foreign minister is replacing many career civilian diplomats with people he trusts. But he also says some diplomats might feel the way Kyaw Win does.
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Independent - Burma accused of using prisoners to clear landmines
Rights groups allege that convicts have been used as human triggers for mines in the war against ethnic tribes
By Andrew Buncombe and Joseph Allchin in Mae Sot, Thailand
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Dramatic testimony from escaped prisoners has revealed how the Burmese army is forcibly using convicts to serve as porters on the frontlines in military operations against ethnic tribes. Prisoners have been tortured, used as human triggers for landmines and – in some cases – summarily executed, according to human-rights groups.
Plucked from Burma's crowded jails scattered across the country, the prisoners are driven to operations in the east where troops are battling ethnic Karen rebels, who have opposed the state since its independence in 1948.
"We were carrying food up to the camp and one porter stepped on a mine and lost his leg," one prisoner, who subsequently escaped, told rights activists. "The soldiers left him; he was screaming but no one helped. When we came down the mountain he was dead. I looked up and saw bits of his clothing in the trees and parts of his leg in a tree." Another prisoner forced to carry supplies told about being shot after he and a group of 15 other prisoners ran away from the battlefield.
The prisoner, who used a fictitious name, said: "The soldiers told us at night that there was a lot of fighting on the mountain and that if we were alive tomorrow night we would be lucky. We heard the [soldiers] yell, 'Don't run, don't run'. I turned around to look and was hit with the first shot... the bullet hit my right shoulder and broke my arm. It knocked me down on to the ground."
The testimony is included in a report compiled by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Karen Human Rights Group. The report, Dead Men Walking, is based on interviews with almost 60 prisoners who have escaped from forced labour since 2010. "Convict porters are the Burmese army's disposable human pack mules. Press-ganging prisoners into deadly front-line service raises the Burmese army's cruelty to new levels," Elaine Pearson, of HRW, said.
In the general hospital of Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border, the wards are busy because of the war taking place in the mountains. The scarred and bandaged spill into the corridors. Virtually all of them are here because of one weapon: landmines.
The war also causes the vulnerable to flee in hungry throngs away from a conflict that often encompasses civilian populations.
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Special Reports
HRW: Myanmar torturing prisoners
Published: July 13, 2011 at 12:25 PM
BANGKOK, July 13 (UPI) -- Convicts who serve as porters for the military in Myanmar are nothing more than "disposable pack-mules," Human Rights Watch said in a 70-page report.
Human Rights Watch, in a joint report with the Karen Human Rights Group accuses, the military in Myanmar of torturing, executing and using convicted prisoners as human shields. The report called on the military to stopping forcing prisoners to serve as porters who are systematically worked to death.
In an interview with the United Nations' humanitarian news agency IRIN, David Mathieson, the report's co-author at Human Rights Watch, said the military forces the porters to walk ahead of them to draw fire from opposition forces and to trip land mines.
Both groups said human rights abuses against prisoners aren't isolated events. Authorities in the country have admitted to some abuses but denied using prisoners as human shields.
Elaine Pearson, deputy director of Asian affairs at Human Rights Watch, said the authorities in Myanmar are bringing cruelty to a new level.
"Convict porters are the ... army's disposable human pack-mules, lugging supplies through heavily mined battlefields," she said in a statement.
The organizations in their report call for a commission led by the United Nations to investigate violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Myanmar.
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Inner City Press - At UN, Ban Slams Gaddafi Like Gbagbo, Defers on Opponents' Abuses, Myanmar
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 14 -- The UN always says that it is watching, but only sometimes it denounces. So it is in Libya.
Abuses by Gaddafi forces, still prevalent, have been condemned from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on down. But amid reports of looting and beatings by anti-Gaddafi rebels, the UN in New York stands silent, trying to pass the buck to more distant parts of the UN system.
On July 13 Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner City Press: the Libyan rebels are, according to the [reports], responsible for looting and beating people in towns they have taken over in their drive towards Tripoli. These are towns viewed as supporting [Muammar al-] Qadhafi. There have been many UN statements on abuses by the Qadhafi forces. What’s the UN system’s response to these pretty well-documented reports of abuses going the other way?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I would have to check with the relevant folks, for example in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and with our colleagues in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs who have people on the ground in Benghazi. I think it is self-evident that we would condemn abuses, human rights abuses from whichever quarter. But I would want to add there that it is obviously important that the relevant people who would monitor these things — I am thinking of our colleagues who deal with human rights in particular — to be able to comment in detail on that.
This was followed up on:
Question: On this situation that you were just talking about in Libya, that I think Matthew asked you, about the rebels are now being accused of perpetrating attacks against the civilians…attacking civilians inside Libya and that is creating another problem.
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I have my work cut out being the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, but I am certainly not the spokesperson for Matthew Lee. So you might want to check with him what he was asking me. But the point that I was trying to make was that human rights abuses by anybody should be condemned and need to be investigated. And it is for the relevant people within the United Nations, particularly those who deal with human rights, to look into this.
This answer implies that Ban Ki-moon does not “deal with human rights,” and doesn't answer why Ban himself would condemn actions by Gaddafi forces, but defer to other “people in the UN.. who deal with human rights” to address documented abuses by anti-Gaddafi forces.
A similar dynamic played out in Cote d'Ivoire, where Ban himself criticized the use by Gbagbo forces of heavy weapons, while deferring to other in the UN system on murders by pro Ouattara and Soro forces in Douekoue and elsewhere.
Even worse is this UN's performance on Myanmar, where Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, ostensibly in charge of the UN's Good Offices role in Myanmar, has had nothing to say as the Burmese government has launched attacks against the Kachin people, and is now documented to be using Karen captives as slave labor and human shields.
On July 13 Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Nesirky:
Inner City Press: on Myanmar, there has been a report issued documenting the use by the military there of convicts pressed into service, some people call it slave labor or... human shields. It’s a report issued by the Karen Human Rights Group. Is it something that the UN system, particularly the good offices mandate, is aware of, and is it the type of thing that it would be raising to the Government to not be using convicts as human shields for its military?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I would be confident that our colleagues who deal with this topic would be aware of any reports that come out and would want to study them carefully. I don’t have any further details on what they may or may not do, having studied those reports.
Inner City Press: Thanks a lot. I am always trying to figure out what the scope of that good offices office is. I understand, like in almost any country in the world, the Office of Human Rights, the Commissioner, that there is some UN monitoring process. But this seems to be a country that there is a particular GA-mandated unit headed by the Secretary-General’s Chief of Staff. So, when you say “our colleagues”, is that the Office you’re referring to, or is it a more general --
Spokesperson: As you yourself pointed out, there are different parts of the UN system that would be dealing with different aspects of what transpires in Myanmar, or indeed in any other country. And as you well know, there is a country team in place in Myanmar. And outside of Myanmar, there is indeed the good offices mandate and there are those, including in the Office of the High Commissioner, who would be looking at Myanmar through that particular prism of human rights. And they of course coordinate with each other. They don’t work in isolation. If I have anything further on that, of course, I would let you know.
But a full 19 hours later, nothing had been said. Earlier in the week Ed Luck, Ban's adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, said that if inconsistencies or double standards are seen in the Secretariat's actions and statements, it should be brought up.
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Lao PM Myanmar visit further enhances bilateral friendship, co-op
English.news.cn 2011-07-14 10:47:03
by Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong's three-day visit to Myanmar, which wrapped up on Wednesday, further enhanced the traditional friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between Myanmar and Laos.
A joint statement of Myanmar and Laos issued at the end of Thongsing's visit said both sides exchanged views on the possibility of constructing a friendship bridge across the Mekong River in order to facilitate and enhance road connectivity between the two countries.
Both sides agreed to further the bilateral cooperation between the Myanmar Home Ministry and Lao Ministry of Public Security on matters relating to suppression of transnational crimes, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and terrorist activities.
Both sides reaffirmed their policy to respect and safeguard each other's sovereignty and security by not allowing any armed insurgent groups from either side to keep their base in the territory of respective countries.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction over the success of the first meeting of the regional border committee held in Houaysay, Bokeo province of Laos in 2010 and agreed to convene a second meeting of the committee in Myanmar alternately.
To promote security in the Mekong River, both sides agreed to renew their commitment to enhancing cooperation on safeguarding the navigation in the Mekong River, assuring to prevent undesirable incidents from taking place in the future along the Mekong River through timely and effective exchange of information between the security forces of the two countries.
Both sides agreed to carry out a joint boundary inspection and maintenance of boundary reference markers along the Myanmar-Laos boundary .
The Myanmar side expressed deep appreciation to Laos for the latter's consistent support in time of need at the United Nations and other regional and international fora, while the Lao side expressed its continued support to Myanmar in hosting the 4th GMS Summit in 2011, the 27th SEA games in 2013 and the 24th and 25th ASEAN Summits in 2014.
The Myanmar side also expressed its full endorsement to Laos in hosting the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in November 2012 with Myanmar President U Thein Sein expressing his intention to attend the meeting.
Both side also welcomed the frequent exchange of visits between the two armed forces and encouraged to continue such exchange to further consolidate understanding and warmer friendship among the armed forces personnel of the two countries.
At the invitation of U Thein Sein, Thongsing arrived the new capital on Monday on an official visit to Myanmar. Thongsing's trip represented the first one by a Lao leader after a new government was installed in Myanmar.
During the trip, Thongsing and U Thein Sein held talks on bilateral relations, security cooperation along Mekong Basin, border region peace and stability, seeking ways to promote bilateral trade and exchanged views on bilateral cooperation in culture, tourism industry, religious affairs and education, mutual cooperation in international and regional issues and ways to promote the existing friendly relations.
Thongsing also met with Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo, speaker of the Union Parliament U Khin Aung Myint and speaker of the House of Representatives U Shwe Mann.
Myanmar official media hailed the Laotian leader's Myanmar visit, saying that Myanmar-Lao friendly relations are improving.
"Good neighborly relations, fine traditions and friendship between the two countries are improving. Visits of leaders of the two nations will further strengthen bilateral friendly relations and are a force behind boosting bilateral cooperation in various sector," said the editorial of the New Light of Myanmar.
Myanmar and Laos, sharing border of over 230 kilometers, established diplomatic relations in 1955.
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Grand Island Independent - Workshop gives insight into Karen culture
By Kay Kemmet
kay.kemmet@theindependent.com
Published: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 10:06 PM CDT
Karen people do not ask, "How are you?" Helena Asherin, a Karen refugee from Burma, said this is because they aren't doing well very often.
But hopefully that is changing.
More than 60 percent of Nebraska's refugee population are from Burma, according to Karen Parde, refugee program coordinator for the Nebraska Health Department, and many are members of the tribal group Karen.
While Grand Island hasn't had many refugees from Burma, almost 30 have moved here in the past month. The majority are Karen. To promote education about the new ethnic group in Grand Island, the Multicultural Coalition hosted a workshop about the Karen Wednesday.
"The Karen people are just wonderful people," said Parde. She presented the workshop, but also brought three Karen refugees with her from Omaha. There were two sessions at 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. at the Workforce Development Building in Grand Island. About 30 local people attended the 1:30 session.
Asherin works with the Omaha Public Schools and translates for the Karen refugees there. Omaha has the largest Karen population, and Lincoln comes in second in Nebraska.
"I think most of the people in the U.S. don't know much about the Karen," said Asherin, who moved to the U.S. four years ago from a refugee camp in Thailand.
She said that Karen people came to the U.S. for the same reason all immigrants come here: They wanted a better life. But with a refugee community, the motives are different. Most would like to still live in their home nation, according to Parde, but were forced to leave for many different reasons.
For the Karen, 50 years of constant fighting between the Burmese government and Karen nationals led to unsafe conditions. Asherin showed a video of interviews with Karen refugees.
In the video, some discussed the nomadic lifestyle the Karen people live in the jungle. They are constantly running from gunfire and searching for food. If they tried to grow crops -- the Karen mostly eat rice -- the Burmese would open fire on them.
Because of these conditions, almost 40,000 have immigrated to the United States, according to Asherin. But before immigrating here, they lived in Thailand in refugee camps.
"We hope this is going to be the last country (we live in)," Asherin said.
She lived in one of those camps, and talked about how their homes, which were more like shacks, were so close together that they could hear their neighbors' conversations. She said that one time a neighbor began singing a song in his home, but couldn't remember the next part, so her brother started singing. But he couldn't remember the ending, so another neighbor finished the song from another home.
In addition to difficult backgrounds, the Karen also have a unique culture.
Because the Karen were mostly farmers in Burma, many get their first job when they move to the United States. They also have never paid a bill. Asherin said many try to pay bills right away, because they are worried about being late.
They also do not shake hands, and men and women do not hold hands in public.
They have strict rules about marriage. Unmarried women and men are expected to abstain, and aren't allowed to openly date. Once a couple marries, they are expected to stay together.
Asherin is married to an American man, and she said that her mother used to cry every night. Her mother was worried that because the divorce rates in the U.S. are so high, the marriage wouldn't last. But Asherin said her marriage is working out, and she has a young son.
"They want to learn American culture while maintaining there own," Parde said.
It's also acceptable for teachers and parents to use violence to discipline children in their country, according to Asherin.
The Karen people are shy and quiet, she said. They also do not ask questions because teachers and doctors are well respected and expected to fully inform.
Asherin said that most Burmese refugees are Christian, but some are Buddhist and a small portion are Muslim.
They speak Karen and many speak Burmese. In the group that came to Grand Island, many understand English, but only a few speak fluently, said Carlos Barcenas, Multicultural Coalition director.
With a large population of Burmese refugees in Omaha and Lincoln, Parde said more could come to Grand Island.
With language and cultural barriers, Asherin said the new refugees will need help.
Barcenas is working to help the Grand Island Karen refugees find rental homes because they still are living in hotels after working at JBS Swift for four weeks.
In addition to help and community support, Asherin said, they want to be treated normally.
"They want to learn American culture, and they want you to understand them," Parde said.
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July 13, 2011 10:43 pm
The Financial Times - Burma’s seaside retreat set for industrial boom
By a Financial Times Correspondent
With its rough scrub fringed by gently lapping waves, Burma’s Maungmagan beach looks an unlikely candidate to become one of south-east Asia’s single biggest investment destinations.
A few kilometres north of the quiet town of Dawei on Burma’s southern coast, Maungmagan is the planned site of a 250 sq km port and industrial centre, which Italthai, the Thai developer, hopes will become a new trade hub between India and south-east Asia.
Ramshackle fishing boats bob in the channels that planners say will soon be ploughed by container vessels and families bathe in hot springs where factories will stand.
These dreams come with an initial price tag of $5.8bn – the cost of the port itself, basic utilities and an eight-lane highway to connect the Dawei Special Economic Zone to Thailand’s transport network 230km to the east.
South-east Asia has struggled to capitalise on its proximity to China and India, its efforts handicapped by poor infrastructure. Singapore, 1,600km south of Dawei, remains the region’s main import-export point for goods coming to and from India and further west, and international road and rail links are still in their infancy.
The project’s backers hope that Dawei, also known as Tavoy by some locals, will go some way to addressing these problems. It lies on the north-south axis between China and Indonesia and the east-west axis between mainland south-east Asia and India.
Somchet Thinapong, who is leading the project for Italthai, estimates the port will cut seven days off the time it takes goods from factories in Thailand and Vietnam to reach India, but he sees the project capitalising on one of Asia’s last pools of untapped cheap labour.
“It is not just about time saved,” says Mr Somchet “I think you have to see this port as more than just transport: it is a production base in itself.”
Italthai, Thailand’s largest construction firm, says the full ten-year project will initially target steel, petrochemicals, pulp and paper manufacturers before moving on to lighter industry.
The company estimates that some 10,000 residents will have to be relocated, but locals say they know little about the plans.
Although most are nervous about talking to visitors, one local rubber tapper tells the Financial Times that although he has been told he will have to leave his land, there has been no mention of timing or compensation.
The port concession has been given to Italthai by Burma’s military rulers on a 75-year build, operate, transfer contract. Small, cryptic survey signs bearing the company’s logo have gone up round the site, and some scrub has been cleared, but Mr Somchet says substantive construction will not begin until the end of the year.
Much of the start-up funding will come from Asian banks, he adds, but Italthai has already started looking for equity partners.
The company has a controlling shareholding in the Dawei Development Corporation with Burmese investors likely to take at least 25 per cent and Asian sovereign funds some of the rest. Mr Somchet said that Italthai was in negotiations with a number of funds but declined to identify them.
Foreign investment in Burma remains a sensitive issue in western nations that imposed sanctions after the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988.
The US is maintaining broad restrictions on doing business with Burma, and the European Union bars investments in mining, gems and timber.
Burma’s elections last year and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s opposition leader have raised expectations the restrictions could be relaxed.
But Mr Somchet says Italthai has made no effort to attract western businesses to set up in the Dawei project and has plenty of interest from elsewhere.
“We have options, we have solid interest from many companies from China, some from Japan, some from Singapore,” he says.
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COMMENTARY
The Irrawaddy - Stemming the Chinese Tide
By YENI Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Although China has thus far been able to keep the Burmese leaders in their hip pocket while heavily investing in Burma to further both its economic and strategic interests, the Chinese may be on a collision course with Burma’s general population.
The growing animosity of the Burmese people towards Chinese who have come to do business in Burma was highlighted by a clash in Mandalay’s jade market on June 27th.
A group of Chinese buyers allegedly agreed to buy a jade stone from a Burmese gems trader for a price of 4 million kyat (US $5,000), but when they returned to collect the item, the Burmese vendor had already sold it to another customer.
Infuriated, the Chinese buyer allegedly swore at the Burmese dealer and physically assaulted him. A crowd of local Burmese responded by attacking the Chinese traders, who phoned the police.
Although police officers were quickly deployed and brought the situation under control, local Burmese residents who heard about the incident ratcheted up the tension by gathering at the jewelry store and singing the Burmese national anthem. As a result, the police were required to escort the Chinese traders out of the market via a squad car.
No charges were pressed against the Chinese for physical abuse, but the next day they were deported to Yunnan and reportedly banned from reentering Burma (although there were subsequent reports that they were seen at the recent annual gem expo in Naypyidaw).
Although in this instant the lit powder keg was diffused, the rapid and intense anger displayed by the local Burmese community towards the Chinese traders is indicative of the Burmese population’s simmering resentment of the growing Chinese influence over both the social and economic life inside their country.
The Chinese “invasion” of Burma is highly visible in Mandalay, Burma’s second largest city, as well as in Upper Burma, where growing numbers of Chinese migrants have poured in over the last 20 years, secured citizenship cards from corrupt Burmese officials and established successful businesses.
Today, the Chinese are believed to make up 30–40 percent of the 1 million people residing in Mandalay, the capital of Burma’s last kingdom and a hub of traditional Burmese culture and Buddhism.
While the Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of Mandalay’s downtown area—which has been rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping malls—and for returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India, their dominance of the city center has pushed Mandalay’s Burmese residents out to the suburbs.
Ludu Daw Amar, who was Burma’s best-known female journalist and social critic before her death in April 2008, once told The Irrawaddy that Mandalay felt like "an undeclared colony of Yunnan," and the recognition of this by the local Burmese community has fueled the fire of anti-Chinese sentiment in the city.
But the Chinese, whose business interests in Burma are supported by their national government, are not going away. As a growing powerhouse in the regional and global economy and geopolitical landscape, China has a clear strategy of using Burma to advance its interests in those areas.
China is now Burma's second-largest trading partner and biggest foreign investor. The latest official Chinese statistics reveal that the country’s investment in Burma reached $12.32 billion, primarily in oil, gas and hydroelectric ventures.
Experts have noted that Burma is an important part of China’s effort to revive its “Southwestern Silk Road,” running from Yunnan Province down to Burma, and then westward to Bangladesh, India and the Indian Ocean.
One of the biggest Chinese projects is construction of pipelines that will annually bring 12 million tons of crude oil from Africa and the Middle East through one pipeline, and 12 billion cubic meters of Burmese gas through another, into China’s Yunnan Province from Burma’s western Arakanese coast. Chinese companies are also involved in an estimated 60 hydropower projects in Burma.
To first grease the wheels for these investments, and then protect them once they were underway, China has supported the Burmese generals with military and economic assistance since the 1988 military coup, while at the same time most Western governments have placed sanctions on the Burmese military and its leaders.
The Chinese support of the oppressive regime is no surprise—China has displayed its habit of coddling repressive regimes in countries such as Sudan, Iran, and Zimbabwe. In all of these countries as well as in Burma, China has stepped in with diplomatic protection, usually in exchange for access to local market for its goods or a stake in oil fields or other natural resources.
But while the Chinese businessmen and Burmese military leaders will make out like bandits from the activities of the unaccountable Chinese state-run resource companies, the local Burmese people are expected to see almost no profit, while at the same time suffering severe damage to their environment and being forced in many cases to relocate.
The easily understood resentment of the Burmese population has recently begun to result in violent attacks in northern Burma.
Burma Rivers Network, an advocacy group that represents communities affected by hydro-power dam projects being constructed by Chinese companies, said that much of the recent fighting in Kachin State has occurred near Chinese-backed dams that are opposed by local residents. In mid-June, the group said the dams are "fueling further conflict" and "not benefiting the people of Burma.”
But Burma as a whole depends heavily on China for everything from military hardware to consumer goods, and therefore even attacks by ethnic armed groups have not persuaded the Burmese government to either slow or halt the Chinese economic invasion of their region.
During his first visit to Beijing after the formation of Burma’s “new” government, President Thein Sein signed a slew of financial pacts, including an agreement for a $763 million line of credit from the China Development Bank, as the two countries upgraded their ties to a "comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership."
Meanwhile, Chinese goods now account for about 80 percent of Burma's imports, ranging from electronic devices to cement, paint, flour, textiles, iron products and raw materials for soap, reported the Rangoon-based newspaper Biweekly Eleven.
Although greater Burmese dependence should logically result in greater Chinese influence, the Burmese regime has always in the past managed to fend off outside pressure, including that of China. Part of the Burmese leaders’ willingness and ability to remain semi-independent politically, although increasingly dependent economically, is cultural.
Dr Poon Kim Shee, a scholar in international relations, pointed out in a paper called “The Political Economy of China-Myanmar [Burma] Relations: Strategic and Economic Dimension,” that the Burmese military never completely trusted any external major power because Burmese leaders have deep seated feelings of “sinophobia as well as xenophobia.”
Burmese leaders “were socialized in a political culture of distrust,” he said, quoting the late China scholar Lucian Pye, who was a political scientist and sinologist who also worked in Burma and concluded that psychology was more important than economics in explaining development.
But at the top level, Burmese and Chinese government leaders still call each other “Paukphaw,” a Burmese word for fraternal, which reflects the close and cordial relationship between the two countries. The clash in Mandalay, however, reveals a more antagonistic relationship at the grass-roots level, and if the leaders of the two nations are not careful, there could be a repeat of the anti-Chinese riots of 1967.
This must be prevented, but the question is how to do so.
One way is for both the Burmese and Chinese governments to recognize that it is in their own best interests for them and the Chinese businesses to act responsibly towards the Burmese population and environment.
For a start, the globally emerging sense of corporate social responsibility—a practice that requires companies to address social and environmental considerations alongside the drive for profits, a concept that remains unfamiliar to most Chinese businesses—should be required of Chinese enterprises in Burma.
On the Burmese side, new labor laws should be created to counter the increasing labor discontent and abuses and secure the rights of workers. This would develop trust by creating a perception of flexibility that would be beneficial to both the Burmese hosts and the Chinese investors.
Like it or not, China’s influence both on the Burmese and global economy, energy supplies, environment and security are growing. The best way for Burma to positively assimilate this outside influence is to achieve greater efficiency in its economy, and the best way to do that is to undertake political and economic reform and accept democracy.
Improvements in respect for human rights are also necessary, as they are tied to aid and investment.
Also vital is the protection and training of Burma’s local work force, as the country’s most valuable resource is its human capital, i.e. the resources, talent and expertise of its workforce.
There is no quick fix, however, and what is most frightening for the people of Burma is that their leaders still lack the political will and policy to work with all stakeholders to rebuild the military-ruled failed state.
But the Chinese are coming, and if the Burmese leaders won’t retool themselves to fit the needs of their outside investors, big brother to the north may do it for them.
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The Irrawaddy - Child Soldier Complaints on the Rise in Burma: ILO
Thursday, July 14, 2011
The International Labor Organization (ILO) in Rangoon said on Wednesday it has received an increased number of complaints in 2011 of the Burmese military recruiting underage children.
Steve Marshall, the ILO liaison officer in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy that the increase in complaints is due to an awareness campaign the ILO initiated earlier this year, but that the figures should not be interpreted to mean that there has been an increase in the recruitment of child soldiers by the Burmese army.
He said there is no evidence of active child soldier recruitment in the current conflict zones in Shan State and Kachin State.
According to data by a Rangoon-based voluntary network, the ILO office in Rangoon has received 424 reports or complaints concerning underage recruitment from January until July. It also said that 326 of the cases are “in process,” meaning they have been reported to the military, while 98 are still under ILO investigation.
“I received more complaints from family members [of recruited children] within these last few days,” said Thet Wai, a member of the voluntary network that works closely with ILO. “I am currently assisting in 10 cases of child recruitment.”
The Burmese regime formed a committee in 2004 to investigate child soldier issues. The government has since denied the recruitment of child soldiers in the army. However, ILO said that the number of reports of child recruitment has increased year after year.
Another network member in Rangoon, Ko Soe, said that the recent increase in recruiting children as soldiers is due to the outbreak of hostilities between ethnic armed groups and government forces.
“Child soldiers frequently run away from their army bases,” he said. “When they get caught, they are imprisoned.”
The voluntary network said that 12 cases have been reported to ILO of children being imprisoned for desertion; however only four have been released, according to the network.
Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party and opportunists close to the military serve as brokers across the country in recruiting children for the army, according to network volunteer Maung Maung. As a commission, they receive 50,000 to 70,000 kyat [US $63 to $88] per child, he said.
According to network volunteers, one of the greatest difficulties for a recruited child's family is that they cannot contact their child because the army invariably transfers the child to another location.
In 2002, Human Rights Watch estimated that there were about 70,000 child soldiers in Burma, including those in ethnic armies as well as government forces.
Recently, the UN Security Council agreed a resolution against the recruitment of child soldiers and pressed nations to stop the abuse of children, including rape and attacks on schools.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the resolution—an initiative by current Security Council president Germany—is the eighth since 1998 to condemn nations and militaries which use children to wage war and subject them to brutal violence like rape and maimings.
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The Irrawaddy - Burmese Army Accused in Four Rape Cases in Shan State
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, July 14, 2011
Four recent rape cases that occurred on the same day this month in a conflict zone in Shan State demonstrate that Burma's military continues to use sexual violence against women as a weapon in its offensives in ethnic areas, according to human rights groups.
According to a statement released by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) today, three women and one girl were raped when a patrol from the Burmese army's Light Infantry Battalion 513 entered the village of Wan Loi on July 5.
Using pseudonyms, the groups identified the victims as Nang Mom, age 12; Nang Jarm, age 50; Nang Lord, age 30; and Nang Poen, age 35. All four were assaulted as the Burmese troops were plundering the village, located about 25 km from the Shan State Army–North (SSA-N) headquarters of Wan Hai.
Charm Tong, a leading member of SWAN, said that her organization received information about the rape cases from members of the group currently living in the conflict zone. She said that SWAN members met and interviewed the rape victims.
According to the statement, Nang Mon was raped in her home in front of her mother, who was struck when she tried to protect her daughter. Nearby villagers heard the girl’s screams but did not dare intervene. Nang Jarm was also raped in her house.
Nang Lord, who was nine months pregnant, was pulled roughly to the ground and raped, while Nang Poeng was caught outside the village, beaten, stripped naked and raped in a farm hut. She was found by other villagers running naked in the jungle, said the statement.
“Villagers, particularly women and girls, are suffering during the four-month-old Burma Army offensive in northern Shan State. The world should not be silent about these crimes,” said Charm Tong.
Wan Hai, the SSA-N headquarters, has been under fierce assault by Burmese government troops since March 13.
Similar incidents have also been reported in other ethnic areas where fighting has resumed between the Burmese army and former ceasefire groups.
In June, the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand reported 18 cases of rape since government troops started clashing with the Kachin Independence Army last month in northern Burma's Kachin State.
The Shan right groups said that government troops have been committing widespread atrocities against local villagers, including sexual violence, causing thousands to flee their homes.
Hseng Moon, the coordinator of SWAN, said, “Burma Army troops are being given free rein to rape children, the pregnant and the elderly. We strongly condemn these war crimes.”
Meanwhile, fighting in Shan State has intensified, according to the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN).
SHAN editor Saeng Juen said that there was a major clash between the SSA-N and Burmese troops in Kehsi Township, in northern Shan State, on July 12. The fighting continued the entire day, and a Burmese fighter jet appeared the following day.
Since then, he said, both sides have made military reinforcements in the conflict zone.
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Corruption in Burma, Part X: Fees for house registration
Wednesday, 13 July 2011 11:35 Sandi May
Rangoon (Mizzima) – Burma’s new government has voiced concern about the need to tackle the endemic corruption in the country. In many areas of everyday life, citizens face a call for bribes or extra payments, the cost of which can be hard to pay for a person on a low income.
One process that ought to be free is house registration. Burmese citizens must keep the authorities informed of their whereabouts and need to be registered. In theory, this process is free. During the new government’s first parliamentary session, Minister of Immigration and Manpower Ministry Maung Oo briefed MPs saying application for household registration were being processed without delay if the papers were in order and it would not cost money.
According to Maung Oo’s briefing, the head of household should come in person and he or she must bring an application letter, Immigration Form 10 issued by the township of his or her last address, residential proof of the old address, the original and copy of ownership certificate of the house of the last address, original and copy of the occupational certificate issued by the city development committee in case of a new flat and apartment, and the rent agreement signed by a landlord for the tenants.
But in practice, Mizzima found the real situation is not as straightforward as the minister described and money often has to change hands if the required documentation is to be obtained.
Anecdotal evidence offered by a number of people Mizzima talked to offers an insight into the difficulties. On occasions, it would appear, it helps having friends in positions of authority.
Tun Kyaw (Thanlyin)
“I have lived in Thanlyin now for about six years, moved from Thaketa. First I lived with my parents when I got married. Now my parents have died and we sold our house and divided the proceeds of the sale among our siblings. Now I live in a rented dwelling. My name is on Immigration Form 10 and the household registration issued by the Thaketa Township Immigration Department. This is a Thaketa address. I have not yet got a new household registration with this new address in Thanlyin Township. As far as I remember, yes, we didn’t need to pay any money to get this household registration as they were issued on our doorstep in the past. When I had my children, their names were inserted in our household registration free of charge too. We gathered at a house in our locality and made the insertion of additional family members in our household registration. We could obtain the death certificate and death registrations easily in the past as with birth registrations.
“Now this situation has changed. Making a household registration will cost you at least 50,000 kyat (US$ 62). How can those who live hand to mouth afford such a large amount? Despite it being said that this essential document is issued free of charge, the situation has not yet changed. If they really want to issue this document easily and free of charge, they should visit door to door as they did in the past. We are still living with a temporary household registration certificate.”
Cho Lwin Khaing Oo (Tamwe)
“My first baby daughter was just born, and I made an insertion of an additional family member in my household registration. I found the news reported by the weekly journals saying the household registrations were being issued easily and free of charge. But I haven’t yet got this document in this way. I sent my husband to the immigration office to register. He got the document on the same day, but my husband said that he had to give 15,000 kyat (US$ 18.75) as a tip. The lady staff member asked him for tip money saying, ‘I issue this document on the same day so please give me some tea (tip) money.’ When my husband asked how much for the tea money, she replied 15,000 kyat was enough for her. Then my husband gave this money without making any complaint or bargaining. He also comforted me by saying this practice was rampant and normal everywhere and not to make any complaint. We had to give this tea money despite the news in the journals that we do not need to pay any money.”
Than Htoo (Hlaing Township)
“I visited the Immigration Office last week to list my daughter-in-law as a new family member in our household registration. We didn’t need to pay any money there because the officials at the township immigration office are my close friends.”
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El Nino phenomenon could hit Burma in August, November
Thursday, 14 July 2011 20:10 Tun Tun
New Delhi (Mizzima) – There is more than a 50 per cent probability that an El Nino weather phenomenon will occur again in Burma this August, said Burmese meteorologist Tun Lwin. In 2010, some lakes dried up because of the EL Nino effect in Burma.
According to observations recorded by 25 El Nino watch groups around the world, there is a 50 per cent probability in August and a 70 per cent probability in November.
Dr. Tun Lwin said that only a strong El Nino could affect Burma.
“The epicenter of El Nino is far from Burma. The epicenter is located near Peru and Ecuador in South America,” Tun Lwin told Mizzima. An El Nino leads to drought and very high temperatures.
The El Nino condition is based upon the Oceanic Nino Index. When water temperature is 5 degree Celsius higher than normal temperatures in the sea, an El Nino can occur. If it is nine degree higher than normal, a strong El Nino will occur.
“El Nino can spoil a monsoon. It causes drought, so the whole country could suffer bad consequences. I don’t want to say that El Nino can affect only Central Burma. It can affect the whole country. There is little rain in Central Burma even in normal conditions so you could say that Central Burma could be severely affected,” Tun Lwin said.
The lifetime of an El Nino phenomenon is one year. Tun Lwin said that relevant governmental departments should issue warnings about a possible El Nino.
“Departments such as agricultural and health departments should issue warnings. To avoid heath problems and a problem of scarcity of water, we need to prepare well,” Tun Lwin said.
In 2010, lakes, ponds and wells dried up in Mon, Arakan, and Shan states, Rangoon, Pegu, Irrawaddy, Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe regions because of El Nino. Temperatures reached 47 degree Celsius in Myinmu in Sagaing Region, 46.5 degree in Myinchan in Mandalay Region, 45 degree in Monywa (Sagaing Region) and Magwe (Magwe Region), and 44.8 degree in Nyaungoo in Mandalay Region.
A state-run newspaper reported on May 14, 2010, that 11 people in Taungdwingyi, Magwe Region, were hospitalized due to high temperatures and seven died; 14 people in Nyaungoo in Mandalay Region were hospitalized due to high temperatures.
Myinmu, Myinchan, Monywa, Magwe, Mandalay, Meiktila, Rangoon (Kabaraye), Kawthaung, Mogok, Theinzayat, Minbu, Naypyidaw, Pyinoolwin, Yamethin, Khayam faced a total of 21 high temperature records in 2010, Rangoon-based Weekly Eleven journal reported.
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NLD leader Win Tin allowed to republish his books after 33 years
Thursday, 14 July 2011 20:56 Mizzima News
(Interview) – Writer and National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Win Tin, who has been banned from writing and publishing books for 33 years, will see his books in print again soon. Win Tin was imprisoned for more than 19 years from 1989 to 2008. Mizzima reporter Myo Thant interviewed him on his books, the lifting of the publishing ban, his views on censorship and other issues.
Question: How did the lifting of the ban come about?
Answer: I have been prevented from publishing these books for many years. They didn’t even allow me to use my pseudonym or my real name in the media. But now they have changed their mind.
Q: How far back do these books go?
A: I wrote these books 30 to 40 years ago.
Q: How many books are they allowing you to republish and what type of books are they?
A: A total of about 10 books. I didn’t write too many books. The books are poetry, travelogue, journalism, translations, etc. Some of the new publishers are Bagan, Nay Yi Yi, etc. They all came to me and I gave them my permission. The publishers heard this news and informed me. For instance, Bagan publishing house knew that my translation of ‘Queed’ could be republished. Some weekly journals came and asked my permission to reprint my books in serials.
Q: Do you have any plan to write new books?
A: I don’t; it’s difficult for me to write new books now. But I wrote new prefaces and prologues to my old books in the forthcoming new editions and imprints. I don’t know yet how much they (the censor board) will allow.
Q: How did the publishers and weekly journals come to know your old books could be republished?
A: I think they have connections with the censorship board. For instance, Bagan publishing house asked my permission to republish my book and then within an hour, a weekly journal asked my permission to reprint my old work in their journal in serials.
Q: Why were you banned from writing and publishing your books or even writing under your pseudonym?
A: I attacked the Burmese Socialist Party. Then the subsequent military regime also banned my books and writings too. But I could write articles until 1987. Both the BSPP and junta banned my books.
Q: How did you feel when the censorship board lifted the ban?
A: I didn’t feel much. Indeed I’m not a famous writer. It’s not too significant, but I must say it is a good thing to get permission to republish after about 50 years otherwise old copies of these books and manuscripts would be lost or disappear forever.
Q: As a journalist and author, how do you feel about government censorship?
A: The censor board and censorship policy must be abolished. In any country, censorship is not good. I can’t accept it in any form. I urge my fellow journalists and writers not to accept it. We must resist it; we must oppose it. We must demand censorship be abolished in Burma.
I am over 80 now. I focused on journalism in my career, and devoted my life to journalism. I’m not a writer; I’m a journalist. I didn’t write many books. I wrote books occasionally. Sometimes I wrote travelogues. I wrote some books on painting. Many publishers came to me and asked my permission to reprint all these books, and I have nothing more to give them to reprint. I must say I am happy about it, and it may be beneficial to new generations because these books would be lost and disappear entirely if they weren’t reprinted now.
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DVB News - Child torturer sentenced
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 14 July 2011
A man facing charges of severely torturing a child in Irrawaddy Division’s Henzada town has been sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday after a local court found him guilty of causing serious injury and unlawful detention of the child.
Sett Hmu Htay Win (also known as) Snow, was found guilty by Henzada township court of seriously injuring and detaining Soe Htet Aung (also known as) Htake Kwat, a nine-year-old orphaned child who worked as a waiter at You & Me teashop owned by a relative of Htay Win.
Htake Kwat was beaten up and severely tortured by Htay Win in late June when he was caught making an attempt to run away from his work place.
Images of the boy obtained by DVB show evidence of extensive burning; local sources say hot irons were applied to his stomach, back and thighs, and burning plastic poured on his forearm. He also claimed Htay Win had forced him to eat animal faeces and drink his urine.
Maung Maung Kyi Win, a government lawyer representing Htake Kwat in the trial, said Htay Win was initially sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in total; seven years for causing serious injury and one year under the unlawful detention charge.
However, township level courts in Burma could only pass a sentence at the maximum of 7 years, so the judge decided Htay Win to serve his terms concurrently.
“The court passed the maximum sentence within its jurisdiction– we can say it was a fair decision,” said Maung Maung Kyi Win.
“The defendant has the right to file an appeal at higher level court if he thinks the punishment was too harsh.”
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DVB News - Burma army use aircrafts to bomb Shan positions
By NANG MYA NADI
Published: 14 July 2011
Fighter aircrafts belonging to the Burmese army carried out bombing raids on Shan State Army’s positions in Kehsi Mansan township, southern Shan State, according to a spokesperson of the SSA.
Major Sai Lao Hseng said the attacks were carried out by two fighter aircrafts, presumably MIG jet fighters, at about 1.30 p.m. local time on 13 July.
“We captured their frontline post and they retreated to Wan Sai hills, and we trapped their soldiers,” said Lao Hseng.
“And two planes bombed SSA troops with ten bombs.”
The latest attacks occurred near the SSA’s Wan Hai headquarters situated in mountainous region of southern Shan State, a strategic location for Shan troops who refused to be transformed into so-called border guard force, a plan imposed on them by the Burmese army.
“They are trying to demolish Wan Hai step by step as we have troops along the route but we will defend it as much as we could,” said a Shan officer.
“If possible, we do not want to solve it by military means as our people are facing difficulties and scarcity of food due to the military operations (of the Burmese army).
There have been clashes since early this year between Burmese troops and Wan Hai based SSA soldiers.
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