News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 07 March 2012-uzl

News & Articles on Burma Wednesday, 07 March 2012 ----------------------------------------------- KNU and Burma government to meet in April to formalize ceasefire Suu Kyi's unthinkable leap from icon to parliament Political star reborn: Aung San Suu Kyi campaign inspires Myanmar to dream of brighter future Joseph E. Stiglitz: Myanmar's Turn Myanmar's endless ethnic quagmire Kachin War Aid Largely a Local Affair Myanmar, New Zealand to promote bilateral ties, cooperation Burma's Charities Still Can't Get Licenses NLD to build trust between army and peopl Japan, U.S. mull debt reduction for Myanmar -Nikkei Illegal Aliens or Refugees? 100,000 Burmese Chin Christians in India Prayuth asks Myanmar, Laos to curb fires ------------------------------------------- KNU and Burma government to meet in April to formalize ceasefire March 7 | Author: Eh Na The Karen National Union and the Burma government have agreed to meet in early April to formalize and finalize their preliminary ceasefire arrangement that was reached in a meeting on 12th January in the Karen State town of Pa-an. The KNU general secretary, Naw Zipporah Sein, told Karen News. Both sides agreed to meet in early April to continue to talk and to try to reach a concrete cease-fire arrangement. At the moment the date and place have yet to be confirmed. On 2nd March, KNU representatives, led by Naw Zipporah Sein, and other high raking KNU executive members Pdoh Saw Roger Khin, and military leaders General Mutu Say Poe, Brigadier General Mai Aye Sein, Colonel Saw Htoo Htoo Lay met with the Burmese government representatives in Thailand. The Burma government delegation was led by Railway Minister, U Aung Min, Security and Border Affair Colonel Aung Lwin, and a member of Myanmar Egress, U Kyaw Yin Hlaing, U Lat Maung Shwe. The delegation also included business people U Ngwe Soe, U Ko Ko Maung and Ma Su. Naw Zipporah Sein speaking to Karen News said. In future talks, we will focus our negotiations on about military matters the movement of troops, the positioning of troops and security issues. Naw Zipporah said that the KNU will include women representatives in future talks between the Karen and Burma government. Talks will include the participation of women. The KNU already has a policy for the inclusion of women in the peace talk process. The participation of women has also been urged by the representatives of Karen communities and organizations from around the world. http://karennews.org/2012/03/knu-and-burma-government-to-meet-in-april-to-formalize-ceasefire.html/ ------------------------------------------- Suu Kyi's unthinkable leap from icon to parliament By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press 1 hour ago YANGON, Myanmar (AP) On Yangon's teeming streets, 2012 is the year of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her once-banished image now appears everywhere, on T-shirts, keychains and coffee mugs. Pirated copies of "The Lady" the big screen version of Suu Kyi's life are the best-selling DVD. And in this devoutly Buddhist country, calendars with Suu Kyi's pictures are now outselling even the Lord Buddha. In just over a year since her release from house arrest, the 66-year-old opposition leader has made the once unthinkable leap into Myanmar's mainstream, transforming from political prisoner to political campaigner. Now she's trying to take another big step: from icon to elected official. For many people who put their dreams on hold during decades of military rule, Suu Kyi is seen as a savior and the solution to the country's problems creating expectations that even she warns can't be met anytime soon. If the pro-democracy icon wins the April 1 vote, she will become a junior and minority member of parliament, meaning that Suu Kyi's greatest challenge would be her lack of power to make any real change, at least for the foreseeable future. "The road ahead is rough and tough. Democracy is hard to achieve," Suu Kyi told a massive crowd last weekend in the city of Mandalay, where more than 100,000 people packed the streets to see her. Swarmed by a sea of humanity at campaign outings, Suu Kyi has warned that she is not "a wizard" and can't magically introduce her dreams of democracy, peace and more freedom. She tells the crowds she cannot make any campaign promises. But her appearance upstages her words. In response the crowd screams: "We love you Mother Suu!" a name she is affectionately called even by elders because she has the image of having mothered the country through its dark, difficult times. "Her presence is electrifying. It's not just a Nelson Mandela, a Gandhi, an Obama but it has an element of Marilyn Monroe and a rock star," said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar expert and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. "But can her ability to mobilize public support be translated into concrete change? I doubt it." As the dignified, determined Nobel Peace laureate travels the country campaigning for a seat in parliament, there is a sense of euphoria in Myanmar. The pace of change has been frenetic since a nominally civilian government took office a year ago, releasing hundreds of political prisoners, relaxing media censorship, approving Suu Kyi's candidacy and allowing massive crowds at her campaign rallies. What might normally be a little by-election to fill one-tenth of the seats in parliament has taken on enormous significance. A victory for Suu Kyi would be highly symbolic. It would anoint her with an elected office and a voice in government for the first time in her quarter century as Myanmar's opposition leader. Even if Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy opposition party win all 48 seats up for grabs they would only have a small minority. The military is guaranteed 25 percent of seats in the 440-seat lower house and the remainder is dominated by the main pro-military party. "Parliament is not about 60 million people behind Suu Kyi. It's about who has the largest number of seats in Parliament," Zarni said. Critics say this would put Suu Kyi right where the government wants her: On a pedestal, as poster child for "the new Myanmar" but politically neutralized. There remains great skepticism about the sincerity of the new government and Suu Kyi herself has called for cautious optimism, saying recently that "ultimate power still rests with the army ... we cannot say that we have got to a point where there will be no danger of a U-turn." Of all the disorienting changes, Suu Kyi's public prominence is perhaps the most vivid. Every morning in Yangon, people crowd into the headquarters of her National League for Democracy party, a rundown two-story house that has become part-Suu Kyi souvenir shop and part-spiritual Mecca for her supporters. "She is the person who can make my dreams come true," said 41-year-old Koko Lwin, a poor man in disheveled clothes who took a 10-hour bus ride from central Myanmar, went straight to the party headquarters and bought a Suu Kyi T-shirt. "She can make this country good. She can give me a good life." Sales are helping to fund the party's campaign. At a recent art show in Mandalay, organizers sold about 10 million kyat ($12,500) in artwork and 20 million kyat ($25,000) worth of Suu Kyi T-shirts, key chains and calendars, said Win Tin, a former journalist and poet who helped found Suu Kyi's party in 1988 and then spent 19 years as a political prisoner. As he entered the party headquarters, supporters filmed him with cell phones. "Ten months ago, nobody would have worn a Daw Suu Kyi T-shirt," said Win Tin. Daw is a term of respect. "People are getting bolder, and not only in support of Daw Suu and the National League for Democracy. But against the government." Vendors on Yangon's busiest streets say no T-shirt, DVD or calendar is selling better these days than those featuring Suu Kyi. "Even pretty actresses and Buddha can't compete with Suu Kyi this year," said U Myint, a vendor on a street lined with stalls selling calendars. "The Lady" starring Michelle Yeoh hasn't yet been released in the U.S. but it's a huge hit here, chuckles Cho Gyi, 25, who sells pirated movies near Sule Pagoda where soldiers gunned down Buddhist monks and other anti-junta protesters in 2007. He wears a Suu Kyi pendant around his neck. "To me, she's like a mother. I love her." For years, the former military junta tried to make the people forget Suu Kyi. They locked her in her lakeside villa and closed her upscale Yangon street to traffic. They padlocked her opposition party's offices and banned her picture from newspapers. People dared not utter her name in public, referring only in hushed tones to "The Lady." Some have described Suu Kyi as an accidental leader, but many in Myanmar see her as part of a national narrative. Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country's independence hero, Gen. Aung San, who was assassinated by rivals when she was just 2. In 1988 at the age of 43, Suu Kyi returned to her homeland after two decades abroad to nurse her dying mother just as an uprising erupted against the military regime. She was thrust into the forefront of the pro-democracy movement. A gifted orator with steely grace and charisma, she inherited her father's fortitude. Her ability to capture the hearts of the Burmese people was why the junta locked her up after brutally crushing the 1988 protests. She stayed under house arrest for 15 of the next 23 years. Some observers fear Myanmar's people will be disappointed in the new parliament when it fails to quickly deliver on their expectations. After years of isolation, Myanmar needs a top-to-bottom overhaul of its economy, education, health and banking systems and a plan to unify the country's ethnic groups after years of guerrilla warfare with the junta. But that disappointment is unlikely to dim Suu Kyi's star among the Burmese people, analysts say. "They identify her with democracy and freedom and with resistance, and they will continue to do that whether she manages to get into parliament, become prime minister, or not," said Monique Skidmore, a Myanmar expert at the University of Canberra. Zarni agrees: "If nothing concrete can be delivered in the next two to five years, the public will fault the regime. She can do no wrong." Nonetheless, there are fears of what the future holds for Suu Kyi. On a recent evening in Yangon, a group of former political prisoners gathered near the country's gold-domed Shwedagon Pagoda without a police officer in sight. They wondered about the prospects of a country that has wrapped its hopes and dreams around one person. "What we all expect is full democracy and true human rights. This will take a long time," said Aung Tun, 49, who spent a decade in prison for writing a book about student activism. "During that time, I am concerned that somebody who is impatient with the slow pace of change might take action and assassinate Daw Suu just like Mohandas Gandhi," he said, drawing grim nods from the group. "At the moment, there is no one who could replace her." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jPKfXCn93keXlMH4xsk-WXY00VjQ?docId=426d7ebcbc5946da9b7ac07fd1359819 ---------------------------------------------- Political star reborn: Aung San Suu Kyi campaign inspires Myanmar to dream of brighter future By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, March 7, 5:29 AM YANGON, Myanmar On Yangons teeming streets, 2012 is the year of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her once-banished image now appears everywhere, on T-shirts, keychains and coffee mugs. Pirated copies of The Lady the big screen version of Suu Kyis life are the best-selling DVD. And in this devoutly Buddhist country, calendars with Suu Kyis pictures are now outselling even the Lord Buddha. In just over a year since her release from house arrest, the 66-year-old opposition leader has made the once unthinkable leap into Myanmars mainstream, transforming from political prisoner to political campaigner. Now shes trying to take another big step: from icon to elected official. For many people who put their dreams on hold during decades of military rule, Suu Kyi is seen as a savior and the solution to the countrys problems creating expectations that even she warns cant be met anytime soon. If the pro-democracy icon wins the April 1 vote, she will become a junior and minority member of parliament, meaning that Suu Kyis greatest challenge would be her lack of power to make any real change, at least for the foreseeable future. The road ahead is rough and tough. Democracy is hard to achieve, Suu Kyi told a massive crowd last weekend in the city of Mandalay, where more than 100,000 people packed the streets to see her. Swarmed by a sea of humanity at campaign outings, Suu Kyi has warned that she is not a wizard and cant magically introduce her dreams of democracy, peace and more freedom. She tells the crowds she cannot make any campaign promises. But her appearance upstages her words. In response the crowd screams: We love you Mother Suu! a name she is affectionately called even by elders because she has the image of having mothered the country through its dark, difficult times. Her presence is electrifying. Its not just a Nelson Mandela, a Gandhi, an Obama but it has an element of Marilyn Monroe and a rock star, said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar expert and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. But can her ability to mobilize public support be translated into concrete change? I doubt it. As the dignified, determined Nobel Peace laureate travels the country campaigning for a seat in parliament, there is a sense of euphoria in Myanmar. The pace of change has been frenetic since a nominally civilian government took office a year ago, releasing hundreds of political prisoners, relaxing media censorship, approving Suu Kyis candidacy and allowing massive crowds at her campaign rallies. What might normally be a little by-election to fill one-tenth of the seats in parliament has taken on enormous significance. A victory for Suu Kyi would be highly symbolic. It would anoint her with an elected office and a voice in government for the first time in her quarter century as Myanmars opposition leader. Even if Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy opposition party win all 48 seats up for grabs they would only have a small minority. The military is guaranteed 25 percent of seats in the 440-seat lower house and the remainder is dominated by the main pro-military party. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/political-star-reborn-aung-san-suu-kyi-campaign-inspires-myanmar-to-dream-of-brighter-future/2012/03/07/gIQA4EIKwR_story.html ------------------------------------------- Joseph E. Stiglitz: Myanmar's Turn Published on Mar 7, 2012 YANGON - Here in Myanmar (Burma), where political change has been numbingly slow for a half-century, a new leadership is trying to embrace rapid transition from within. The government has freed political prisoners, held elections (with more on the way), begun economic reform, and is intensively courting foreign investment. Understandably, the international community, which has long punished Myanmar's authoritarian regime with sanctions, remains cautious. Reforms are being introduced so fast that even renowned experts on the country are uncertain about what to make of them. But it is clear to me that this moment in Myanmar's history represents a real opportunity for permanent change - an opportunity that the international community must not miss. It is time for the world to move the agenda for Myanmar forward, not just by offering assistance, but by removing the sanctions that have now become an impediment to the country's transformation. So far, that transformation, initiated following legislative elections in November 2010, has been breathtaking. With the military, which had held exclusive power from 1962, retaining some 25 per cent of the seats, there were fears that the election would be a facade. But the government that emerged has turned out to reflect fundamental concerns of Myanmar's citizens far better than was anticipated. Under the leadership of the new president, Thein Sein, the authorities have responded to calls for a political and economic opening. Progress has been made on peace agreements with ethnic-minority insurgents - conflicts rooted in the divide-and-rule strategy of colonialism, which the country's post-independence rulers maintained for more than six decades. The Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not only released from house arrest, but is now campaigning hard for a parliamentary seat in April's by-elections. On the economic front, unprecedented transparency has been introduced into the budgetary process. Expenditures on health care and education have been doubled, albeit from a low base. Licensing restrictions in a number of key areas have been loosened. The government has even committed itself to moving towards unifying its complicated exchange-rate system. The spirit of hope in the country is palpable, though some older people, who saw earlier moments of apparent relaxation of authoritarian rule come and go, remain cautious. Perhaps that is why some in the international community are similarly hesitant about easing Myanmar's isolation. But most Burmese sense that if changes are managed well, the country will have embarked on an irreversible course. In February, I participated in seminars in Yangon (Rangoon) and the recently constructed capital, Naypyidaw, organised by one of the country's leading economists, U Myint. The events were momentous, owing both to large and actively engaged audiences (more than a thousand in Yangon), and to the thoughtful and moving presentations by two world-famous Burmese economists who had left the country in the 1960's and were back for their first visit in more than four decades. My Columbia University colleague Ronald Findlay pointed out that one of them, 91-year-old Hla Myint, who had held a professorship at the London School of Economics, was the father of the most successful development strategy ever devised, that of an open economy and export-led growth. That blueprint has been used throughout Asia in recent decades, most notably in China. Now, perhaps, it has finally come home. I delivered a lecture in Myanmar in December 2009. At that time, one had to be careful, given the government's sensitivities, even about how one framed the country's problems - its poverty, lack of rural productivity, and unskilled workforce. Now caution has been replaced by a sense of urgency in dealing with these and other challenges, and by awareness of the need for technical and other forms of assistance. (Relative to its population and income, Myanmar is one of the world's smallest recipients of international assistance.) There is much debate about what explains the rapidity of Myanmar's current pace of change. Perhaps its leaders recognised that the country, once the world's largest rice exporter, was falling far behind its neighbours. Perhaps they heard the message of the Arab Spring, or simply understood that, with more than three million Burmese living abroad, it was impossible to isolate the country from the rest of the world or prevent ideas from seeping in from its neighbours. Whatever the reason, change is occurring, and the opportunity that it represents is undeniable. But many of the international sanctions, whatever their role in the past, now seem counterproductive. Financial sanctions, for instance, discourage the development of a modern and transparent financial system, integrated with the rest of the world. The resulting cash-based economy is an invitation to corruption. Likewise, restrictions that prevent socially responsible companies based in advanced industrial countries from doing business in Myanmar have left the field open to less scrupulous firms. We should welcome Myanmar's desire for guidance and advice from multilateral institutions and the United Nations Development Program; instead, we continue to limit the role that these institutions can play in the country's transition. Whenever we withhold assistance or impose sanctions, we need to think carefully about who bears the burden in bringing about the changes that we seek. Opening up trade in agriculture and textiles - and even providing preferences of the kind that are offered to other poor countries - would likely benefit directly the poor farmers who make up 70 per cent of the population, as well as create new jobs. The wealthy and powerful can circumvent financial sanctions, though at a cost; ordinary citizens cannot so easily escape the impact of international-pariah status. We have seen the Arab Spring blossom haltingly in a few countries; in others, it is still uncertain whether it will bear fruit. Myanmar's transition is in some ways quieter, without the fanfare of Twitter and Facebook, but it is no less real - and no less deserving of support. Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University, a Nobel laureate in economics, and the author of Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy.http://www.straitstimes.com/Project_Syndicate/Story/STIStory_774792.html --------------------------------------------- Asia Times Oline, Mar 8, 2012 Myanmar's endless ethnic quagmire By Bertil Lintner CHIANG MAI - A mass movement is spreading across Myanmar on a scale not seen since tens of thousands of Buddhist monks led anti-government demonstrations in 2007 and the massive nationwide pro-democracy uprising against the old military regime in 1988. This time the mobilizing force is a by-election contested by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party to fill 48 seats in parliamentary bodies currently dominated by military aligned representatives. Wherever Suu Kyi appears on the campaign trail thousands of people of all ages have shown up to listen to her speeches, or just to line the roads and cheer along the routes of her motorcade. Big screen televisions, expensive sound systems and other sophisticated paraphernalia at her rallies are clear indications of support from sections of the private business community, which until recently had links almost exclusively with the traditional military establishment. Until a year ago many Western observers, including prominent European Union diplomats in Bangkok who cover Myanmar, asserted that Suu Kyi was a spent political force, that many young people didn't even know who she was because she had spent years under house arrest. Instead they felt that a new "Third Force" was emerging, one that challenged the supposed uncompromising stands of both Suu Kyi and the NLD, and the military-dominated government. The present mass movement shows clearly how wrong they were; most outsiders failed to understand that Suu Kyi was not only a political figure but, in the minds of many ordinary Myanmar citizens, a female bodhisattva who was going to deliver them from the evils of the country's military regime. At a recent rally in Mandalay, two teenage girls carried between them a huge red banner declaring that Suu Kyi was "a second god." Suu Kyi herself is opposed to her apotheosis but such representations promise to continue in the context of Myanmar's polarized political landscape. The existence of a viable "Third Force" may be a myth invented by donor agencies of Western countries and a host of mainly European private foundations eager to expand their enterprises and see a solution to Myanmar's decades-long political crisis. But there is a "third factor" to the equation which is bound to make Myanmar's journey towards democracy and peace extremely difficult: the unresolved ethnic issue. In the far north of the country, a bloody war between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic insurgent group fighting for autonomy within a federal union, shows no signs of abating despite several rounds of peace talks and mediation efforts by foreign reconciliation outfits. In other parts of the country, fragile ceasefire agreements between the government and various other rebel forces have maintained a semblance of peace. As Myanmar's history shows, ceasefires only freeze underlying problems and to date have not provided lasting solutions. There are still at least 50,000 men and women under arms across the country of ethnic resistance forces. To address these underlying problems, Suu Kyi has called for the convention of a second "Panglong Conference," in reference to an agreement that her father Aung San, who led Myanmar's fight for freedom from colonial Britain, signed with representatives of the Shan, Kachin and Chin peoples at the small market town of Panglong on February 12, 1947. The agreement paved the way for a new federal constitution, which was adopted in September of that year and declared independence on January 4, 1948. Aung San was assassinated by a political rival in July 1947, but his Panglong agreement was honored in the constitution. Chapter Ten of that charter even granted the Shan and Karenni States the right to secede from the Union after a 10-year period of independence. Other ethnic states were not granted that right but the Panglong agreement stipulated that "full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas is accepted in principle." One of Myanmar's main ethnic groups, the Karen, did not sign the Panglong Agreement and instead resorted to armed struggle in 1949. Other, smaller ethnic groups such as the Karenni, Mon and Muslim mujahids also took up arms, as did the powerful Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and various groups of mutineers from the regular army who wanted to turn the country into a socialist republic. The civil war and political chaos led to the formation of a military caretaker government in 1958, which after less than two years in office handed power back to an elected civilian government. In March 1962, Myanmar's experiment with parliamentary democracy and federalism ended abruptly in a military coup. Then civilian prime minister U Nu had convened a seminar to discuss the future status of the ethnic frontier areas, not in order to dissolve the union, but rather to find ways forward by better defining and strengthening the country's federal structure. The new military government, led by General Ne Win, arrested all the participants in the seminar and abolished the 1947 constitution. With federalism abolished, Myanmar adopted a strictly centralized power structure with the military at its core. Very little has changed since the 1962 coup; the military has remained in power in various guises ever since. The 1974 constitution laid down provisions for seven "divisions" - where the majority Bama live - and seven ethnic states but there was no difference between those administrative entities. The new 2008 constitution grants the formation of local assemblies and the old divisions have been renamed "regions", but Myanmar is a Union only in name. The first chapter of the new constitution enables "the Defense Services to be able to participate in the National political leadership of the State." (sic) Colonial construct When Suu Kyi first broached a "Second Panglong" after her release from house arrest in November 2010, she received the backing of several ethnic leaders and organizations, among them the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the All Mon Regions Democracy Party, and the Rakhine (Arakan) Nationalities Development Party. At the same time, several pro-government bloggers branded her a "traitor" for resurrecting the autonomy granting agreement. Among them was a "Myanmar patriot" who wrote last November in a commentary on the exile-run Irrawaddy's website: "The incoming Parliament must make Panglong illegal! Anyone who promotes Panglong must be tried for treason, for endorsing the divide-and-rule of colonizers. NO way! We will fight all the way to stamp out traitors." Suu Kyi has since gone quiet on a "Second Panglong" but the problem with the new constitution and its centralized power structure remains a huge obstacle to achieving lasting peace in ethnic areas. Even if such a conference was convened, the procedure would be the reverse of what it was during the independence struggle of the 1940s. In January 1947, colonial authorities set up what was known as the Frontier Areas Committee of Enquiry, which held talks with representatives of various ethnic groups. The Panglong Agreement was signed under colonial rule and half a year later an elected Constituent Assembly gave the country a new federal constitution under which independence was declared. Myanmar, then known as Burma, is a colonial creation that includes nationalities which historically had little or nothing to do with each other until British authority was established over the old Bama kingdom and a horseshoe-shaped ring of surrounding mountain ranges. Even today, there are remote tribal areas where the local people do not even know that they belong to a country called "Burma," or even less so "Myanmar." Myanmar's new military-drafted constitution is a non-federal one which ethnic representatives have been pressured to accept and lay down their arms in the name of national reconciliation. The constitution was ostensibly drawn up by a National Convention which met on and off over a 15 year period. Its delegates, however, were mostly handpicked by the then ruling military junta. Ethnic group representatives were clad up in their respective colorful national costumes for the spectacle and spent most of the time listening to endless speeches rather than discussing their regions' futures. A prominent Shan representative, Khun Htun Oo, was even charged with high treason and sentenced to 93 years imprisonment for criticizing procedures relating to the National Convention. He was released in January this year along with several hundred other political prisoners. None of the ceasefire agreements which the government has concluded with more than 20 big and small rebel groups since 1989 includes any political concessions by the central government. Rebels have in some instances been granted unofficial permission to retain control over their respective areas - and been encouraged to engage in any kind of business to sustain themselves. The government's strategy seems to have hoped rebel groups would be more interested in making money than pressing demands for constitutional reform and political autonomy. That strategy is obviously not working, as the flare-up of hostilities in the northern Kachin State shows. On the other hand efforts by the various ethnic resistance forces to form a united front - or even to devise a common political platform - have also failed miserably. Most neutral observers familiar with Myanmar's ethnic issues would argue that the conflict is not only between the Bama and other nationalities but also between different minority ethnic groups. For instance, tensions have existed for centuries between the Kachin and the Shan, between the Shan and the Karen. A smaller group, the Pa-O, even took up arms in the early 1950s to fight against local Shan princes. In later years, Shan and Kachin rebels fought turf wars for control of areas in the country's northeast which have sizable Kachin populations but belong to Shan State. Even more recently, the Shan and Wa armies have fought bloody battles for control of areas adjacent to Thailand's border. Ethnic divisions It is also clear that the different backgrounds of Myanmar's multitude of ethnic groups, many with armed insurgent wings, will make it difficult to achieve a lasting solution to the problem. The insurgency among the Karen, who number at least 3.5 million and live in the Irrawaddy delta southwest of the old capital Yangon and in hills near the Thai border, is one of the longest lasting in the world. Many of them are Christian, mainly Baptist, and they have dominated most Karen rebel movements for more then six decades. The majority of the Karen, however, are actually Buddhist and fierce battles have been fought between the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the forces of the Christian-led Karen National Union. The Shan are Buddhist and related to the Thais and the Laos, and traditionally have been ruled by feudal princes called saohpa, or "Lords of the Sky." They took up arms when the Panglong Agreement's 10-year-trial period was up in 1958 and it was clear that they would not be allowed to exercise their then constitutional right to secede from the union. The Kachin in the far north are almost entirely Christian, also mainly Baptist. Their rebellion broke out in 1961 when the then U Nu government tried to make Buddhism the state religion and at the same time had negotiated a border agreement with China which many Kachins disapproved. Shortly after the war broke out, Kachins, whose guerrilla warfare skills were recognized and utilized by Britain and the United States during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, quickly seized control of most of their rugged hill country between China and India. The government has consistently failed to dislodge the Kachin from the geographical strongholds they established in the 1960s. The strongest and most powerful of Myanmar's ethnic armies, the drug-trafficking United Wa State Army (UWSA), has recently received scant attention. Its more than 30,000 men and women in arms are equipped with sophisticated weaponry obtained mainly in China, including modern automatic rifles, heavy machine-guns, 120mm mortars, and even man-portable, surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles. The UWSA was born out of a mutiny among the Wa hilltribe rank-and-file of the CPB in 1989 where they drove the old, orthodox communist and mainly Bama leaders into exile in China. The CPB subsequently crumbled and was later divided into four regional ethnic armies of which the UWSA was the strongest. Currently the UWSA controls a huge area adjacent to the Chinese border, enclaves along the Thai border in the south, and most of the lucrative production areas of narcotics, opium, heroin and methamphetamines in the Myanmar sector of the so-called Golden Triangle. The Wa have never been controlled by any central government in Myanmar. They were headhunters well into modern times and few outsiders entered the area before it was taken over by the insurgent CPB in the early 1970s. Since the 1989 mutiny, the UWSA has independently administered the areas it controls. The pre-2010 elected government requested that all of those ethnic armies convert themselves into "Border Guard Forces" under command of the Myanmar Army. That proposal, however, had few takers; only some of the smallest former rebel groups agreed. For now, the plan seems to have been put on ice but it is unclear how the government aims to tackle the issue over the medium term. At the same time, there has been no deviation from the previous ceasefire strategy: stop fighting, engage in business, and forget any visions of a federal Myanmar. According to sources familiar with recent government-ethnic group negotiations, ethnic leaders have been told that "a discussion about federalism is not even on the table." On the other hand, there are few countries in the world that have a federal system based on ethnicity or along linguistic lines. India, the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia are a few examples and show the perils ahead for such a potential model in Myanmar. India has survived and despite all the problems that country faces is perhaps the best model for Myanmar to adopt. The United States has geographical entities as member states of a union, Germany is based on ancient kingdoms and principalities, and even multinational Malaysia has a federal system based not on ethnicity - there are no Malay, Chinese and Indian states there - but on the old Malay sultanates. Whichever model Myanmar aims to follow, it cannot be done unless significant clauses in the present constitution are amended. Most of these, including those concerning state structure and ultimate military control over the decision-making process, cannot be considered without the approval of at least 75% of all parliamentarians in both the Upper and Lower Houses and would need to be enshrined through a national referendum. In practice, this makes any fundamental constitutional reform impossible. Scrapping the 2008 constitution and drafting a new one based on some kind of federal concept is likely the only viable way ahead to resolving Myanmar's unresolved ethnic issue. Judging from the government's response to ethnic demands, that isn't likely to happen any time soon. Whatever the outcome of the present mass movement and the likelihood of some token NLD representation in parliament after the April 1 by-elections, Myanmar's ethnic quagmire will endure and the government's half-hearted calls for national reconciliation will remain unfulfilled. Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review and author of several books on Burma/Myanmar, including Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Democracy (Published in 2011). He is currently a writer with Asia-Pacific Media Services. (Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NC08Ae02.html --------------------------------------------- Kachin War Aid Largely a Local Affair By SIMON ROUGHNEEN / THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, March 7, 2012 LAIZA, Kachin StateWith headlights dimmed it is difficult to spot every rubble-strewn crest-and-wave in time, and the surrounding dark enhances the jolts from the bumps and hollows in the coiling road from Laiza to Jeyang camp. It is just a 15 minute drive from Laizaheadquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)to Jeyang, site of the largest camp for the estimated 70,000 people driven from their homes by fighting in the region. The current conflict began in June 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire between the KIO and Burmese government. The Jeyang camp sits a stone's throw from the Burma-China border, marked by a river of the same name, and in what in daytime is sun-lit valley floor, walled off on either side by haze-topped, tree-lined slopes. The sun, as it turns out, keeps the camp lit at night as well. Pointing to the somewhat faint street lamps, arranged at 10-yard intervals either side of the road through the camp, Kachin activist San Naw said the KIO got those lamps from China. They are solar-powered and charge up during the day so there's some light in the camp at night. The previous morning, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) varnished newly-made latrine huts, while nearby hundreds of children attended a camp school run by teachers who fled the same villages as the rest of the 5,600 population. Headmaster Hkun San escaped Ban Dawng village, 20 miles from Laiza, as Burmese troops approached in August 2011. We do not have enough classroom space here, and we have only 32 teachers for 1,056 students, he said. The camp is managed and largely-funded by the KIO, although officials such as KIO Relief Committee head Labang Doi Pyi Sang are reluctant to talk up the group's work with IDPs, saying they are just doing what they can to help. We try as much as we can to replicate their village life here, he says, pointing to the wood-and-bamboo buildings close by. A school, clinic and market lie to the left, with Baptist and Catholic churches to the right. The mostly Christian Kachins are an ethnic minority who number around one million people living in Burma's northern reaches. Local NGOs are supplementing the KIO effort. At Mai Ja Yang, another KIO stronghold on the China border but several hours drive from Laiza, there are around 5,000 IDPs from northern Shan State. Some stay at accommodation intended for Chinese casino workers who fled soon after the onset of fighting last summer. Hkawng Nan, a 19-year-old nurse working at a temporary clinic set up to assist IDPs in Mai Ja Yang, said, we don't always have enough things and sometimes have to send people to the hospital when we run out. In the IDP camp nearby, children show signs of skin infection, said Nag Zing Bawkwa, a doctor at Mai Ja Yang Hospital. We see many cases of diarrhea and respiratory conditions, he adds. Some of the displaced now staying around Mai Ja Yang are supported by Wunpawng Ninghtoi (WPN), a local NGO. We are trying to look after 20,000 IDPs, says Maran Tu, the WPN vice-chairman at her office in Mai Ja Yang. WPN is part of a network called Relief Action Network for IDP and Refugees (RANIR) which is headed by La Rip. He told The Irrawaddy that the bulk of money for the relief effort comes from the KIO and other Kachin organizations. Forty percent is from the KIO and another 20 percent from Kachins in China, the USA, Thailand, the UK and more still from Kachin church groups, he explains. He says that the relief effort has been mostly unsupported from outside, aside from diaspora Kachin, adding that we have spent around 500 million kyat in helping the IDPs. We have received some small donations, he says, but the INGOs [international NGOs] say that we don't have the capacity here to work to their international standards, and they would like to come here and do the work themselves. RANIR's office telephone number is written on a note posted at eye-level beside the main door at the KIO headquarters. In rebel-held Kachin areas, the dividing line between the KIO and NGOs is not so cleara nexus in keeping with what is often the case in territories where civil conflict takes place. La Rip is aware of this dilemma, which frequently comes up in policy and academic debates on delivering international humanitarian assistance to war zones. The UN and INGOs often operate in rebel-held areas around the globe, or work in tandem with local NGOs in locations where complete independence is not assured or clear. Barbara Manzi is head of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in Rangoon. Speaking by telephone, she says that the UN is currently discussing ways to access all areas of Kachin State where IDPs are located. We are aware that various local partners have done good work, she says, adding that it is not correct to make judgments about one organization or another. The international NGOs are concerned about impartiality, says La Rip. They think that we are too close to the KIO. But, he asks, What option do we have? The UN is not here, the NGOs are not here. Only the KIO has the trucks and the money to bring supplies to the camps, up high in the mountains. Should we just leave the IDPs alone, and not help, just to try prove some sort of 'independence'? We [the KIO] have spent two billion kyat on helping the 46,000 IDPs already, says Labang Doi Pyi Sa.There are over 30 camps in our territory, but some are up in the mountains where it is cold and hard to reach. It is a big burden and impossible for us to take care of the IDPs on our own. Barbara Manzi acknowledges that the existing conditions for humanitarian work are challenging, adding that the looming monsoon season, due in April, will make aid work even more difficult. So with no end to the fighting in sight, and the rainy season approaching, the needs of IDPs will likely grow. We will need more plastic and tarpaulins for shelter, says Maran Tu. And more medical supplies, as the rain will bring disease. Pointing to the several families gathered in the WPN yard, collecting their twice-monthly ration of rice, oil, salt, soya beans, dry fish and soap, he adds that right now we need around 100,000 yuan per day just to feed the 20,000 IDPs we support. The Irrawaddy sought comment from Oxfam and Tr 󣡩re (the Irish section of Caritas, the Catholic Church's humanitarian and development agency) as two NGOs that have contributed to helping Kachin IDPs. However, neither organization replied at the time of publication. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23163 ------------------------------------------- Myanmar, New Zealand to promote bilateral ties, cooperation (Xinhua) 11:07, March 07, 2012 YANGON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and New Zealand have vowed to promote bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries after a new civilian government was set up in March 2011, official media reported Wednesday. Views on the move were exchanged between Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin and his visiting New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday, reported the New Light of Myanmar. McCully, who is currently on his first visit to Myanmar since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Myanmar and New Zealand in November 1954, also met with Myanmar President U Thein Sein Tuesday. McCully also met with U Shwe Mann, speaker of the parliamentary House of Representatives. The pair discussed further strengthening of bilateral ties between the two countries in their meeting. McCully is due to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, chairwoman of the National League for Democracy, later on Wednesday. According to earlier report, as part of the two countries' bilateral cooperation, the New Zealand Trades Enterprise Limited ( NZTE) has been providing technical assistance to Myanmar business enterprises since 2010 to help develop some sectors of the country such as milk and dairy products production, construction of modernized milch cow breeding farms and motor cars production. Besides, the NZTE joined a Myanmar Nwe Win private company in investing in building an artificial beach in the country's northernmost Kachin state. The project also involves investment from Japan, Australia and China. The project, located near the bank of Ayeyawaddy river, stands a short distance to the Lido highway connecting India, Myanmar and China. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7750462.html --------------------------------------------- Burma's Charities Still Can't Get Licenses By HPYO WAI THA / THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, March 7, 2012 RANGOONWhile President Thein Sein was offering partial credit to civil society for Burma's successful transition to democratization in his first annual inauguration speech to the country last week, most of the privately run NGOs in the country are still operating without approval from the government. Their registrations are still pendingmostly for unknown reasonsand many have been waiting for years for official permission while at the same time offering their services to needy people across the country. Former Burmese movie star Kyaw Thu, chairman and founder of the Free Funeral Services Society, watches as the body of a monk is carried to a hearse in Rangoon in 2011. (PHOTO: Reuters) "We have been waiting to get officially registered since 2008," said Kyaw Thu, the president of Free Funeral Service Society (Rangoon), on Monday. FFSS, a nongovernmental and apolitical organization that has been supported by well-wishers from inside and outside Burma, has been operating free funeral services since 2001. The Society applied to renew its license nearly four years ago. "The authorities concerned in Naypyidaw said they had already given the green light to our case to those in Rangoon Division, said one-time actor Kyaw Thu to The Irrawaddy. But the officials in Rangoon said they still haven't received any official letter to extend our registration." In a country where an assembly of more than five people is banned for fear of political unrest, anyone who wants to set up a group or organization is required to apply for official permission to operate. Otherwise, they are likely to be outlawed or disbanded. Kyaw Thu added that working without government registration caused some setbacks in FFSS operations which consist ofapart from free funeral serviceshumanitarian work, a charity clinic service and free education. "We had logistic problems with the local authorities in Pakokku, an upcountry town in Burma, during the last rainy reason when we went there for flood relief efforts, he said. They said we our license was invalid." Without the renewed registration, he couldn't upgrade his clinica charity service that now treats more than 200 patients a dayinto a hospital where it can perform optical surgery free of charge. All the necessary medical instruments are ready. What we desperately need is a new license," the FFSS president said. Under the military dictatorship, Burma had seen the awakening of volunteerism in the social work sector, especially in health and education, where the junta was not interested in providing for the welfare of its people. Since then civil society groups have mushroomed. "We have applied for an official license since 2008, and I was informed I would get it soon but I don't know exactly when," said Myint Aye, the president of Parami Social Work Organization which focuses on free funerals, blood donations and humanitarian relief work in Phakant ,a provincial town in war-torn Kachin State in northern Burma. Khin Soe, the secretary of Chan Mya Thazi Civil Society in Mandalay that boasts at least 50 privately run social welfare organizations, said that about 90 percent of them are still waiting in line to become officially approved. The society has been in service since 2010, providing funeral, blood donation and health care services free of charge to the community. "We are doing what the government shuns to do. What we are doing is nothing political. It'd be better for us if we had government approval for our work," said Khin Soe. Kyaw Thu said the people in power need to know what is happening on the ground, and should pay official visits to understand the real situation. "The president praised civil society groups in his speech but is he aware of the fact that most of us haven't yet been officially recognized? There's no peace in Kachin State either. As long as his orders are neglected, his efforts will become useless. What a shame!" said Kyaw Thu. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23161 ------------------------------------------ NLD to build trust between army and peopl e By Win Ko Ko Latt in Shan State MYANMAR TIMES; Volume 31, No. 617 March 5 - 11, 2012 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi waves to supporters during a by-election rally in Yangon Regions Thongwa township on February 26. Pic: AFP DAW Aung San Suu Kyi has called on the military to support the countrys fledgling democratic system. The National League for Democracy chair said during a one-day visit to southern Shan State on March 1 that she wanted to see better relations between the people and the Tatmadaw. I will say what the people dare not say, which is that we want our Tatmadaw to stand for democracy, she told supporters in Heho township on March 1. She also urged members of the Tatmadaw to vote for her party in the April 1 by-elections. I am the daughter of Bogyoke Aung San, father of independence. I was born into a Tatmadaw family. I want to see a warmer relationship between the people and Tatmadaw based on trust. She also urged people to vote based on the policy and tradition of a political party rather than personality. I request people openly to vote for my party. My party is also getting ready to obey the peoples wish, she said in Kalaw township. She said people need to have unity but not necessarily need to agree on everything. Respect and recognition of other cultures, traditions and languages was also important for national development. The basic requirement for national development is unity. We cannot establish a prosperous country without it. Our party also recognises the equal rights of ethnic people. We want to see our country as a genuine democratic union, she said. Rule of law is as important as internal peace. Our country cannot go as it did in the past. We need political, economical and social reform. http://www.mmtimes.com/2012/news/617/news61702.html -------------------------------------------- Japan, U.S. mull debt reduction for Myanmar -Nikkei 07 Mar 2012 01:59 Source: reuters // Reuters TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) - Japan, the United States and major international financial institutions will start talks on large-scale debt reduction for Myanmar as early as this month, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday. The restructuring could effectively write off hundreds of billions of yen in loans to Myanmar. It would pave the way for economic assistance on the basis of Myanmar taking further steps towards democracy, the Nikkei said, without citing sources. It would open the door for Japan to resume yen loans to Myanmar, which stopped in 1987. Japan is Myanmar's biggest source of foreign aid, with development assistance loans to the country worth 400 billion yen ($4.95 billion) in arrears. Myanmar owes a total of around 100 billion yen to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and other multilateral lenders, facing the need to cut its debt load to gain access to new credit, the Nikkei said. While coordinating with the United States, Germany, the World Bank and other stakeholders, Japan intends to step up aid discussions with Myanmar's government, the Nikkei said. One proposal would have Japan provide bridging loans to help speed repayment to multilateral lenders, it said. Last month, the United States eased some restrictions on Myanmar to support work by institutions such as the Asian Development Bank which are carrying out economic assessments, and giving technical assistance to its new civilian government. The former military junta has made way for a nominally civilian government that embarked on a major reform drive, freeing hundreds of political prisoners, loosening media controls and engaging with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Some expect U.S. and European sanctions to begin to be lifted if by-elections on April 1, in which Suu Kyi will run for parliament, are free and fair. A November 2010 general election was widely criticised as a sham. ($1 = 80.7350 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Daniel Magnowski) http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/japan-us-mull-debt-reduction-for-myanmar--nikkei ---------------------------------------------------- Illegal Aliens or Refugees? 100,000 Burmese Chin Christians in India By Michelle A. Vu , Christian Post Reporter March 6, 2012|6:06 pm WASHINGTON Some 100,000 ethnic Chins from Burma have fled torture and religious persecution in their homeland to take refuge in Mizoram state in eastern India, where they make up an astounding 10 percent of the population but on paper they don't exist. This problem the Chins' legal non-existence in Mizoram brought together a panel of humanitarian experts on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about the plight of this highly overlooked ethnic group 90 percent of which is Christian at a media event for the release of the 134-page report, "Seeking Refuge: The Chin People in Mizoram State, India." "Partially due to difficulty with access into Chin state in Burma and Mizoram in India, there has been much less focus on the Chin situation than it really warrants," said Joel Charny, vice president for humanitarian policy and practice at Interaction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based relief and development organizations. "This report shines a badly need light on a painful, neglected situation." The Chin people are from Chin State in western Burma. Since 1988, tens of thousands of Chins have fled to neighboring Mizoram to escape ethnic, political, and religious persecution under the notorious Burmese military regime. There are an estimated 100,000 Chins in Mizoram state. Until January 2011, foreigners were not allowed into the eastern Indian state. A delegation, that included panel members, traveled to India from April 7 through May 2, 2011, to assess the situation of the Chin people in Mizoram. What they found was a little-reported, long-term, urban refugee problem that included the Chins in India being considered illegal aliens and therefore in constant danger of arrest, fines, and deportation even though they could face torture and death if returned home. Like us on Facebook Because the Chins in Mizoram are undocumented and not recognized as refugees, they cannot obtain legal work and mostly resort to manual labor, farm work, construction work, selling goods in markets, and maid service to earn a living. It is not unusual for them to be underpaid, but they cannot report it to local authorities out of fear of being arrested or deported. Matthew Wilch, a U.S. human rights lawyer and the lead writer of the report, described the Chins' financial situation in Mizorum as "chronic economic instability." Eviction of Chin families from their rented home is very common. It is especially hard for Chin children born in Mizoram because they are stateless and their parents often don't have enough money to enroll them in school. Jenny Yang, director of advocacy and policy for the Refugee and Immigration program at World Relief and a member of the team that visited Mizoram last year, said, "[I]t (the 2011 trip to Mizoram) was also unique in that there was virtually no international presence, no non-government organization. And UNHCR didn't have a presence at all, which meant that the protection challenges and humanitarian challenges that the refugees face was that much more urgent because they have no international body providing protection for this group of people." Yang recalled that during the trip to Mizoram, she met a woman who was crying while recalling her plight. The Chin woman shared to Yang that Burmese military officials had detained and tortured her 18-year-old brother out of suspicion that he was a pro-democracy activist. After two weeks of being tortured in jail, her brother died. His body was released to her parents and it was after this that the Burmese military realized that her brother was not a pro-democracy activist but only a student. The woman said that her other brother was also tortured in jail, and his left hand was cut off. With only one hand left, her brother fled to Mizoram to escape being detained again. Back in Chin State, the woman was a teacher and had two children. But one day she reported to authorities that one of her 14-year-old students was raped by two Burmese soldiers. While at the market that week, the woman's friends informed her that Burmese authorities were at her home. Upon hearing that, she fled to Mizoram, where she lives with her handicapped brother and her parents. "There is no assistance program or protection for them whatsoever in Mizoram," Yang stressed. "Even as these refugees are fleeing persecution in Burma, they flee to India where there is no protection for them at all, and the fear they have is perpetual not just in Burma but in India as well. "Without the legal status of a lot of these refugees, without some sort of documentation, what we found is that this lack of protection has affected literally every single aspect of their lives: their livelihood, their access to healthcare, their access to education, and literally every aspect of their lives. They live not only in fear, but on the margins of a society because they are not recognized as refugee in Mizoram state." The panel recommendation includes that the central government of India maintain the lifting of the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) so that humanitarian organizations, governments and individuals can travel to Mizoram state to meet with those affected by the Chin refugee problem and find a solution. It also recommends the Indian government and UNHCR establish and maintain refugee protection for Chins in partnership with the international community, and for the Indian government to provide Chins with legal status and access to legal and court protections so they will be freed from the threat of arrest and deportation. Another recommendation is for the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, the Czech Republic and other countries and the European Union to partner with the central government of India and Mizoram to provide refugee protection and assistance to Chins. India's Mizoram state is overwhelmingly Christian, with 95 percent of the 1 million population being followers of Jesus. "I cannot overstate the importance of the Christian community and church in Mizoram state," noted Jenny Yang. "The influence of the church, whether it is the Presbyterian church, the Baptist church, or the Catholic church especially, is critical and they will continue to be critical in providing any kind of assistance to refugees in the future." http://www.christianpost.com/news/illegal-aliens-or-refugees-100000-burmese-chin-christians-in-india-70954/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post Prayuth asks Myanmar, Laos to curb fires Published: 7/03/2012 at 02:14 AM Newspaper section: News Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has asked the Myanmar and Lao governments to help curb forest and farmland fires near border areas in a bid to tackle the haze problem in the North. Haze has affected not only the northern part of Thailand but also nearby border towns in Myanmar and Laos, said Gen Prayuth yesterday. Smoke from forest fires and slash-and-burn activities in neighbouring countries is believed to have contributed to the haze. Chief opposition whip Jurin Laksanavisit said the opposition would file an interpellation in parliament demanding the government explain what it has done to ease the problem. In Chiang Rai province, the level of haze-induced air pollution is still higher than 120 microgrammes per cubic metre (ug/cu m), the safe level. Chiang Rai city is covered by smog. Chettha Mosikrat, head of Chiang Rai's disaster prevention and mitigation office, said the levels of dust particles in the air in Chiang Rai and nearby provinces posed a serious concern. Farmers in neighbouring countries and in northern provinces have continued to burn weeds on their farmland. A ridge of high pressure in the region, which results in dust particles lingering in the air for longer periods, has also worsened air pollution in the provinces, said Mr Chettha. Prime Minister's Office Minister Woravat Au-apinyakul met authorities in Chiang Mai yesterday to discuss anti-haze measures. Chiang Rai's disaster mitigation office has sprayed water into the air to increase humidity and lower dust levels. The office also distributed face masks to people in residential areas. Phayao governor Maitree Inthusut has led the province's campaign against weed burning by farmers. The province has encouraged farmers to plough their land to root out weeds instead of burning them to prepare the land for new crops. In Nan, Muang district municipality deployed fire trucks to spray water around the municipal area. The level of fine dust in the province yesterday was about 152 ug/cu m, which is above the safe level.http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/283206/prayuth-asks-myanmar-laos-to-curb-fires