News & Articles on Burma-Thursday, 21 June 2012-uzl

News & Articles on Burma Thursday, 21 June 2012 ----------------------------------------- Suu Kyi to Address Parliament in Historic Visit to U.K. Suu Kyi is symbol of hope: Hague Aung San Suu Kyi meets Prince Charles and Camilla Myanmar's Suu Kyi meets Prince Charles UPDATE: Aung San Suu Kyi finally gets honorary doctorate Aung San Suu Kyi: Warm British Welcome No Challenge to Burmese President Aung San Suu Kyi meant to leave Britain for a few weeks not 24 years Suu Kyi set for historic British parliament address Suu Kyi seeks international help to build Myanmar Suu Kyi readies herself for Myanmars leadership role Myanmar army accused of systematic rape in Kachin State Soldiers, rebels die in Shan state clashes ------------------------------------ Bloomberg News Suu Kyi to Address Parliament in Historic Visit to U.K. By Kitty Donaldson on June 21, 2012 Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will meet U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and address Parliament in London today during her first visit to Britain since 1988. Suu Kyi, who was kept under house arrest for 15 of the past 20 years by Myanmars military government, became a lawmaker in her country last month, a sign that it is opening up after decades of dictatorship. Her decision to travel is another such indication. For years she refused, even in 1999 when her husband, Michael, was dying in England, fearing that if she left Myanmar she wouldnt be allowed to return. Cameron visited Suu Kyi in Myanmar in April and announced moves to lift sanctions on the Southeast Asian nation at a joint news conference with her. The U.K. premier has proposed that aid to the country should be linked to democratic development and that a commission should establish guidelines for investing there, according to his office. We argued within the European Union that sanctions should not be lifted unconditionally, but should be suspended so they can be reimposed if necessary and if progress comes to a stop, Foreign Secretary William Hague told lawmakers in London yesterday. Myanmars president, Thein Sein, is absolutely sincere in his intentions but, of course there are elements in this government who are not so enthusiastic about these changes, Hague said. Further Reform The U.K. has invited Thein Sein to visit, Camerons spokeswoman, Vickie Sheriff, told reporters in London today. He is due in the coming months to continue with discussions that took place during the prime ministers visit, she said. Talks will focus on the provision for further reform. Myanmars political opening over the past year has put the nation back on the map for investors. In addition to the EUs suspension of sanctions, the U.S. said last month it will lift economic and financial restrictions on certain sectors of Myanmars economy and Japan forgave about $3.7 billion of debt. The invitation to address both houses of Britains legislature is an honor thats normally reserved for heads of state or government, such as Barack Obama in May 2011. Suu Kyi speaks at 3 p.m. in the 11th-century Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Parliament complex. Before her address she will meet the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at the couples London residence. Oxford Honor Yesterday, Suu Kyi received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in advanced civil law. She had lived in England in the 1980s with her husband, Tibetan scholar Michael Aris, and two sons, returning to Myanmar in 1988 when her mother fell ill. She became involved in uprisings against the authorities and was placed under house arrest the following year. In 1990, the military rejected an election victory by Suu Kyis National League for Democracy party in which it won about 80 percent of seats for a committee to draft a new constitution. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner known in Myanmar simply as The Lady, was detained during both that vote and elections in 2010. Since taking office in March 2011, Thein Sein has freed political prisoners, sought peace deals with ethnic armies, dismantled a fixed exchange rate that distorted government revenue and halted the construction of a $3.6 billion Chinese- backed hydropower project in response to criticism China was exploiting Burmese resources. He also met with Suu Kyi and convinced her party to rejoin the political process after boycotting the 2010 elections. Her party is pushing to change the current constitution, which guarantees the military a quarter of parliamentary seats. On June 19 Suu Kyi visited the British Broadcasting Corp., thanking its World Service radio channel for keeping her in touch during her years of house arrest. During the visit she met she met former Radio 1 disc jockey Dave Lee Travis, known as the Hairy Cornflake, whose show she said she enjoyed while a prisoner. To contact the reporter on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-20/myanmar-s-suu-kyi-to-meet-cameron-address-u-dot-k-dot-s-parliament ------------------------------------- Suu Kyi is symbol of hope: Hague Published: Thursday, Jun 21, 2012, 17:33 IST By Prasun Sonwalkar | Place: London | Agency: PTI Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is a "symbol of hope" for people striving for democracy, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said today as he praised her and the country's president for the bravery and vision shown by them. "She is a symbol of hope to all those people around the world striving for democracy. The progress we have seen in Burma is testament to the bravery and vision shown by Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein", Hague said after meeting Suu Kyi. "They have embarked on a process of reform that could bring genuine democracy to Burma. The fact that Aung San Suu Kyi now feels able to leave Burma and return to the UK for the first time since 1988 is a signal to the world of how much the situation in Burma has changed," he added. Noting that Myanmar continued to "face many challenges", Hague said he discussed with Suu Kyi the UK's support for the reform process and desire to help the people of Burma achieve economic development, entrench the rule of law, build democratic institutions and end ethnic conflict. During the day today, Suu Kyi is scheduled to meet Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prime Minister David Cameron and the International Development secretary Andrew Mitchell. She will address parliament in the Westminster Hall in a rare honour usually accorded to iconic current or former heads of state (she is neither). http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_suu-kyi-is-symbol-of-hope-hague_1704961 ------------------------------------ 21 June 2012 Last updated at 11:58 GMT Aung San Suu Kyi meets Prince Charles and Camilla Ms Suu Kyi, Prince Charles and Camilla Ms Suu Kyi arrived at Clarence House on Thursday morning, where she was greeted by Charles and Camilla Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, ahead of her historic address to the UK's Houses of Parliament. Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague held talks with Ms Suu Kyi and described her as a "symbol of hope" for all those striving for democracy. It is Ms Suu Kyi's first trip to Britain since leaving 24 years ago to lead Burma's pro-democracy movement. It has emerged the government has also invited Burma's leader to visit the UK. Ms Suu Kyi arrived at Clarence House in a chauffeur-driven Range Rover on Thursday morning, where she was greeted by Prince Charles and Camilla. She joined the royal couple in their private apartments, although no details of their discussion have been revealed. Ms Suu Kyi is now due to hold talks with the prime minister before delivering a speech in Westminster Hall - an honour normally accorded only to heads of state. Ms Suu Kyi met David Cameron in April when he became the first Western leader to visit Burma after the country's military leaders had decided to allow her and her party to stand in parliamentary elections. Since then, he has championed the suspension of international sanctions against Burma, arguing that new President Thein Sein is genuinely committed to reform. Earlier, Foreign Secretary William Hague said it had been a pleasure to welcome Ms Suu Kyi to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. "She is a symbol of hope to all those people around the world striving for democracy," he said. Mr Hague also praised Ms Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein for the progress they had made in their country. "However, Burma still faces many challenges," he added. On Wednesday, Ms Suu Kyi, who is on a four-day visit to the UK, accepted an honorary civil law doctorate from Oxford University - where she read philosophy, politics and economics at St Hugh's College in the 1960s. In a speech, the Nobel Laureate said her memories of her time in Oxford had helped her while she was under house arrest. Ms Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest in Burma for more than two decades, received the advanced degree - 19 years after she was awarded it. She worked in New York and Bhutan before settling back in Oxford in the 1980s with her husband, Tibetan scholar Michael Aris, and their sons Alexander and Kim. She became the leader of Burma's pro-democracy movement when she returned to Burma in 1988, initially to look after her sick mother. Ms Suu Kyi, now 67, was placed under house arrest by the military and not released until November 2010. Her two-week-long tour to Europe - her first since 1988 - also includes visits to Switzerland, France and Norway. Incentive Meanwhile on Thursday, BBC foreign correspondent Fergal Keane said the Burmese government had confirmed it had received an invitation to visit the UK and was "planning to discuss" it. Our correspondent said he understands the visit is expected to come later in 2012. It will be the first visit by a Burmese head of state to the country's former colonial ruler in half a century. President Thein Sein is a former general who now leads a military-backed party which won the majority of seats in the 2010 general election - a poll boycotted by the party of Ms Suu Kyi. She has spoken warmly of the president in the past, saying he is a man she trusts in negotiations. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18529727 Analysis Mike Wooldridge World Affairs correspondent, BBC News, London Aung San Suu Kyi makes history when she addresses both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. But the very challenging political realities of Burma run through the business end of her day too. Foreign Secretary William Hague said they had discussed Britain's desire to help the people of Burma achieve economic development, entrench the rule of law, build democratic institutions and end ethnic conflict - building the organisational capacity of Aung San Suu Kyi's own party a vital element. Her April meeting with David Cameron presented another chance to reinforce this support for the transition from military rule to democracy, which has now seen Burma's president invited to Britain as well. But for Aung San Suu Kyi there is no underestimating the significance of the address she gives in Westminster Hall - the first female foreign dignitary to do so. -------------------------------------- Myanmar's Suu Kyi meets Prince Charles AFP, Thursday, Jun 21, 2012 LONDON - Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met British heir to the throne Prince Charles on Thursday ahead of her historic address to both houses of parliament. Her royal encounter on the third day of her first trip to Britain in 24 years came as the British government confirmed it had invited Myanmar's reformist president Thein Sein to visit London. "He is due to visit the UK in the coming months to continue the discussions they began when the Prime Minister was in Burma in April," said a spokesman for Cameron. Downing Street said Suu Kyi was "aware of the invitation." Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, who is visiting Britain for a week as part of a sweep through Europe, met Charles and his wife Camilla at their Clarence House residence in London. Charles knew Suu Kyi's late English husband Michael Aris, and became patron of the Tibet expert's Memorial Trust for Tibetan and Himalayan Studies after Aris died in 1999. She earlier met British Foreign Secretary William Hague at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where she received loud applause. Suu Kyi, a recently-elected lawmaker herself following her release from house arrest in 2010, was to address British lawmakers later in the 11th-century Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliament complex. She is only the fifth foreign dignitary since World War II to address both houses of parliament in the cavernous hall, following in the footsteps of US President Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI, Nelson Mandela and Charles de Gaulle. The Myanmar opposition leader will also meet with Cameron. The pair previously met in Myanmar in April when Cameron announced moves to lift sanctions on the Southeast Asian nation in recognition of its moves towards democracy. On Tuesday, Suu Kyi made an emotional return to Oxford, the southern English city where she studied and brought up the family she would later leave behind. The 67-year-old said she was deeply moved on Wednesday as she was honoured by Oxford University, where she studied politics, philosophy and economics in the mid-1960s. "Today has been very moving," Suu Kyi said in a speech after she was presented with an honorary doctorate in civil law in the grand surroundings of Oxford's 17th century Sheldonian Theatre. "During those difficult years I spent under house arrest I was upheld by my memories of Oxford. They helped me cope with the challenges I had to face," she said. After her speech she received a standing ovation from an audience of more than 1,000 dons and students from the university. She was awarded the doctorate in 1993 but, like the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991, she was unable to pick it up at the time, fearing that if she left Myanmar she would not be allowed to return. Suu Kyi spent nearly two decades in Oxford, and brought up her sons Alexander and Kim there with Aris. When she left for her homeland to care for her dying mother in 1988, she could not have imagined it would be nearly a quarter of a century before she would return. She only saw her husband and two sons a handful of times in the intervening years. When her husband was dying he urged her to remain in Myanmar and pursue her struggle. She was released from house arrest in November 2010 and is now a member of parliament. "The road ahead is not going to be easy, but Oxford, I know, expects the best of its own," she said in her speech. Suu Kyi will head to France on June 26 for the last leg of her European tour, following a rockstar welcome from cheering crowds in Ireland, Norway and Switzerland. On Saturday, she finally delivered her Nobel Peace Prize speech in Oslo, 21 years after winning the award while under house arrest. Her visit to Britain has been clouded by continued communal violence in western Myanmar where dozens of people have been killed and an estimated 90,000 people have fled their homes. http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20120621-354516.html ----------------------------------- UPDATE: Aung San Suu Kyi finally gets honorary doctorate June 21, 2012, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OXFORD, England -- It was a long wait, but Aung San Suu Kyi has finally received her honorary degree from Oxford University. In a speech, Suu Kyi praised the role Oxford played in helping her see humankind at its best during her long years under house arrest in Myanmar. "The most important thing that I learned was respect for all of civilization," she said, wearing a traditional red academic gown and black hat. "In Oxford I learned to respect all that is best in human civilization. That helped me cope with something that was not quite the best." She said "the saddest thing" about Myanmar is that its young people do not get to have a similar college experience because university life has been "shattered." The leader of Myanmar's opposition was honored on June 20 at the university's Encaenia ceremony, in which it presents honorary degrees to distinguished people. Suu Kyi celebrated her 67th birthday on June 19, when she met briefly with the Dalai Lama, who is also visiting England. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader tweeted a photo of the meeting in the morning on June 20. Suu Kyi said the Oxford visit brought back strong memories of her carefree student days. "I didn't feel any different from then," she said, recalling idyllic summer days spent reading outside in Oxford. Author John le Carre was also honored, and Suu Kyi praised his novels during her speech, saying they helped ward off a sense of isolation while she was unable to travel. Suu Kyi, who is making her first visits outside of her native country in 24 years, was awarded the honorary doctorate in civil law in 1993 but was unable to collect it. The ceremony capped an emotional homecoming to Oxford, where Suu Kyi studied philosophy, politics and economics between 1964 and 1967. She lived in Oxford for many years with her late husband, the Tibet scholar Michael Aris, and their sons Alexander and Kim. Historian Peter Carey, a family friend, said the trip is "partly a walk down memory lane, it's partly a very powerful homecoming to something that was a third of her life." He said her late husband had always been optimistic about the prospect of political change in Myanmar and did not expect his wife to be trapped there for so long. "He always said to me, 'Peter it's not so long now. It's just around the corner,'" Carey said. Aris died of cancer in 1999, having been denied a visa to visit his wife in Myanmar while he was ill. Suu Kyi smiled as she received the degree while hundreds applauded. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/south_east_asia/AJ201206210040 ----------------------------------- Aung San Suu Kyi: Warm British Welcome No Challenge to Burmese President VOA: Posted Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 9:10 am Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded an honorary doctorate Wednesday from Oxford University, which she said stood up and spoke for her during her long years of isolation under house arrest in her homeland. In her acceptance address, the Nobel laureate told her audience that she survived years of imprisonment under Burmese military rule, in large part because of what she learned at Oxford about respect (for) all that is best in human civilization. She also lamented the lack of campus life in Burma, saying the young people there have for generations been denied the advantages that come with the freedom to pursue knowledge. She asked the university to help restore academic life to her impoverished country, and to help ensure that investments in Burma are, in her words, democracy friendly and human rights friendly. Earlier Wednesday, Aung San Suu Kyi says Burma's president should not see the warm welcome she has received during her first trip to Britain in 24 years as a challenge. The Nobel Peace laureate said in a television interview the reception is a sign of how much the world wants Burma to change in the right direction. She also said she does not view her new position as a perilous one. I think of it as a challenge. It's a challenge not just to me and my party but it's a challenge to the government as well, and of course to the people in general, because they must play their part. A nominally civilian government came to power last year, as the country's long-ruling military junta stepped aside. Aung San Suu Kyi released from house arrest in November 2010 won a parliament seat in an April elections. Burma's constitution effectively bars the opposition leader from the presidency because of a rule against candidates whose relatives are foreign citizens. Aung San Suu Kyi married a British national, and their two children were born abroad and live in Britain. Aung San Suu Kyi attended Oxford University in the 1960s and lived with her family there until her return to Burma in 1988. On Thursday, she addresses both houses of parliament in London a rare honor before departing later this week for France. Her tour has also included visits to Switzerland, Ireland and Norway, where she received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize denied her while under house arrest. She left Britain and her husband and sons there when she returned to Burma to take care of her sick mother. She spent most of the next 20 years in some form of detention under Burma's decades-long military dictatorship. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide election in 1990, but Burmese military leaders refused to relinquish power. She was released from her latest house arrest in November 2010 following an election which led to political changes in Burma after half a century of military rule. After her release, Aung San Suu Kyi resumed active leadership of the National League for Democracy, which she co-founded. http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/06/20/aung-san-suu-kyi-warm-british-welcome-no-challenge-to-burmese-president-2/ ------------------------------------------- THE INDEPENDENT Aung San Suu Kyi meant to leave Britain for a few weeks not 24 years Peter Popham: Wednesday 20 June 2012 She and her family paid a terrible price about which she has never been willing to speak The look on her face as she arrived at the airport yesterday, a blinding smile on the point of bursting through her pursed lips, said it all: this was a homecoming. The word may not be diplomatic for years she fought against the canard spread by Burma's junta that she was not really Burmese but a tool of foreigners, a creature of the hated British oppressor but it contains plenty of truth. When she left the family home in Park Town, Oxford, on 31 March 1988 and flew to Rangoon to nurse her gravely ill mother, it was a mercy dash, no more. She was going away for a few weeks or months, not 24 years. Oxford had been her home twice over: in 1964 she had arrived from Delhi, where her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, was the Burmese ambassador, as a fresher at the all-female St Hugh's College, to take a degree in politics, philosophy and economics. She threw herself into student life, teaching herself to punt, buying a Moulton bicycle and volunteering as a stage manager on plays. She was appalled by the adventurous attitude of her fellow students to sex. "I will never sleep with anyone except my husband," she declared, to the derision of the others, "until then I will just go to bed hugging my pillow". She was not a brilliant student: twice she tried to change her course, without success, and emerged with a third-class degree, which hampered attempts to return to academic life. After marrying Tibet scholar Michael Aris in 1972, they settled in the city, eventually moving to a Victorian house with their sons Alexander and Kim. Once the children had got past their first years of school, she set about fulfilling her early ambition to be a writer: her best and most important work was a biography of her great father, Aung San. Oxford was her life. Back in Burma, in 1988, students and others pressed her to join the democracy movement, but she resisted. She knew what it would mean: there would be no dipping a toe in then withdrawing it. Burmese politics had killed her father, assassinated before he could become the first prime minister of independent Burma. It was not for herself that the delegations wanted her she had never made a political speech or taken a political stand but because she was her father's daughter and would bring the lustre of his name to their movement. Finally, she agreed. She and Michael were aware it would massively disrupt their domestic routine, but neither could have anticipated that it would blow the family apart. Michael wrote in a cheerful letter home after she had taken the plunge the whole family was there to watch her make her first major speech, before a million people outside Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon that he hoped the tottering junta would collapse by Christmas, then family life could resume. Whether Suu was ever quite that sanguine is not clear. But in their worst nightmares they could not have foreseen the terrible years ahead: the way the regime would deliberately prevent her husband and children from visiting her, cynically exploiting her emotions to try to drive her out of Burma for ever. Of course she never succumbed, and all four of them paid a price about which she has never been willing to speak. Oxford, where she travelled yesterday, remained intensely nostalgic. Buddhism warns sternly against attachment, and that includes attachment to place. But to the extent that this devout Buddhist can admit the concept, England for Aung San Suu Kyi is home, quite as much as the villa in Rangoon where she spent so many years confined. What she must be feeling today, after a birthday reunion with her English in-laws, other relatives and friends in the city where she lived for more than 15 years, is impossible to imagine. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/peter-popham-aung-san-suu-kyi--meant-to-leave-britain-for-a-few-weeks--not-24-years-7866752.html ------------------------------------- Suu Kyi set for historic British parliament address AFP, London, June 21, 2012 Last Updated: 10:43 IST(21/6/2012) Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will on Thursday address both houses of the British parliament a rare honour bestowed on only four foreign dignitaries since World War II. Suu Kyi will follow in the footsteps of US President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI when she speaks in the 11th-century Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliament complex. The prestigious engagement is part of Suu Kyi's week-long trip to Britain, part of her first trip to Europe since 1988. The democracy leader will also meet with prime minister David Cameron. The pair previously met in Myanmar in April when Cameron announced moves to lift sanctions on the Southeast Asian nation in recognition of its moves towards democracy. Suu Kyi said she was deeply moved on Wednesday as she was honoured by Oxford University, in the city where she studied and brought up the family she would later leave behind. "Today has been very moving," Suu Kyi, 67, said in a speech after she was presented with an honorary doctorate in civil law in the grand surroundings of Oxford's 17th century Sheldonian Theatre. "During those difficult years I spent under house arrest I was upheld by my memories of Oxford. They helped me cope with the challenges I had to face," she said. After her speech she received a standing ovation from an audience of more than 1,000 dons and students from the university where she studied politics, philosophy and economics in the mid-1960s. She was awarded the doctorate in 1993 but, like the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991, she was unable to pick it up at the time, fearing that if she left Myanmar she would not be allowed to return. Suu Kyi spent nearly two decades in Oxford, southern England, and brought up her sons Alexander and Kim there with her English husband, Michael Aris. When she left for her homeland to care for her dying mother in 1988, she could not have imagined it would be nearly a quarter of a century before she would return. She only saw her husband and two sons a handful of times in the intervening years. When her husband was dying in 1999 he urged her to remain in Myanmar and pursue her struggle. She was released from house arrest in November 2010 and is now a member of parliament. "The road ahead is not going to be easy, but Oxford, I know, expects the best of its own," she said in her speech. On her 67th birthday on Tuesday, she made an emotional return to Oxford where her former college St Hugh's threw a birthday party. In an interview with BBC television on Wednesday, she confirmed her desire to lead the people of Myanmar "if I can lead them in the right way". She rejected the suggestion that her release from more than two decades of house arrest in 2010 had been a "confidence trick" aimed at getting sanctions on the country lifted. She also warned foreign companies rushing to invest in Myanmar since the military-backed civilian government began to implement reforms that they would be closely watched. Her visit to Britain has been clouded by continued violence in western Myanmar where dozens of people have been killed and an estimated 90,000 people have fled clashes between Buddhist Rakhines and stateless Muslim Rohingya. http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Europe/Suu-Kyi-set-for-historic-British-parliament-address/Article1-876335.aspx ----------------------------------- Suu Kyi seeks international help to build Myanmar MY SINCHEW.COM: 2012-06-21 11:43 LONDON, June 21 (Bernama) -- Citing recent changes in Myanmar, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday cautioned that "too many people are expecting too much" from her country and sought the help of the international community and her alma mater to build the road ahead "inch by difficult inch." Addressing the Oxford University at the traditional ceremony Encaenia in which Suu Kyi and eight others were honoured with honorary doctorates, she appealed for help to build the road ahead "inch by difficult inch," Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. She said that "too many people are expecting too much" from her country. Describing the day in Oxford as "moving," Suu Kyi was awarded the honorary doctorate in Civil Law. Suu Kyi, who turned 67 Tuesday, was described by Chancellor Chris Patten as a "star shining in the east, the light of her countrymen," and given a prolonged standing ovation. Reiterating her appeal for help with the provision that any form of investment in the country needed to be "democracy-friendly and human rights-friendly," Suu Kyi said her people wanted Myanmar to become like "a bit of Oxford-ian Shangri La." "The saddest part in recent times has been a lack of campus life in my country. Our young people have not had the freedom of campus life. I would like the University of Oxford to help restore campus life," she said. Recalling her days in Oxford, which she considered her home after studying and living there with her family, Suu Kyi said the "precious memories" provided her with the inner resource to face the challenges in the last 24 years. Admitting her to the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law, the chancellor described her as "unbowed champion of liberty, who have given your people and the whole world an example of courage and endurance." There was some irony in the ceremony honouring her: Suu Kyi, who studied at the St Hugh's College in Oxford, left in 1967 with a third-class degree in philosophy, politics and economics. Suu Kyi is scheduled to meet Prime Minister David Cameron, Foreign secretary William Hague, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall on Thursday. She will address parliament in the Westminster Palace on Thursday afternoon. http://www.mysinchew.com/node/74669 -------------------------------------- PAKISTAN OBSERVER: Thursday, June 21, 2012, Rajab 30, 1433 Suu Kyi readies herself for Myanmars leadership role London/OxfordMyan mars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced in Britain that she was prepared to take the helm as the leader of her people, the strongest signal yet she saw herself as someone who could lead her country one day.Myanmars then-ruling junta freed the Oxford-educated Nobel Peace Prize laureate from house arrest in 2010, ushering in a period of reform and enabling her to travel abroad for the first time in decades.Asked by the BBC if she was prepared to lead her people, given the prospect of national elections in 2015, Suu Kyi replied: If I can lead them in the right way, yes.Even so, any bid for Myanmars presidency looks unlikely, since it would require changing a junta-drafted constitution designed to protect the countrys still-powerful military. Now a symbol of non-violent political resistance, Suu Kyi, 67, left her two sons and husband in Britain in 1988 to nurse her dying mother in Myanmar, where she was swept up in pro-democracy protests that the military brutally crushed.She languished under house arrest for much of the next two decades, unable to spend much time with her sons or be with her husband before he died of cancer in 1999.She was released in November 2010 after an election that installed President Thein Seins quasi-civilian government - ending nearly 50 years of military rule - which has launched a series of dramatic reforms. These included holding by-elections in April in which Suu Kyis National League for Democracy won 43 seats in Myanmars fledgling parliament.While Thein Sein, a former general, announced on Tuesday a second wave of reforms, Suu Kyi was hailed as a hero on her visit in Britain as part of a broader European tour.Given star treatment on her 67th birthday on Tuesday, she received a standing ovation when she addressed a packed auditorium at the London School of Economics at the start of her emotional comeback to Britain.Its all of you and people like you that have given me the strength to continue, she said, to whoops and cheers from the audience. And I suppose I do have a stubborn streak in me. She then travelled to the city of Oxford, where she read politics, philosophy and economics in the 1960s and lived for many years with her husband, the late academic Michael Aris, and her two sons: Kim, now 35, and Alexander, 39.Welcome back! Welcome back! chanted a crowd of about 200 activists and residents who gathered in central Oxford for a glimpse of Suu Kyi as her motorcade glided through the medieval alleys of Britains oldest university town. Peter Khin Tun, 54, a doctor who fled Myanmar 18 years ago, said: We are very proud of her. I feel very close to her. Thats why I came here. She is true to herself. Nowadays its very rare to see someone with a sincere heart.While in Oxford, Suu Kyi was expected to meet her sons and other family members, some of whom she had never met, in a private reunion - a moment certain to be both joyful and painful for a woman who refused to leave Myanmar for decades for fear that its military leaders would not let her back in.I missed them (her sons), and they missed me, but as I said, when I looked at the lives of my colleagues it was much worse, she told Britains Sky News.I dont justify it, I think that everybody must accept responsibility for what they do. I accept responsibility for what I did and what I am, and so must my sons. Myanmars constitution, which was ratified after a heavily rigged referendum in 2008, reserves a quarter of parliamentary seats for military personnel chosen by the armed forces chief.It also disqualifies presidential candidates with spouses or children who are citizens of a foreign country. Alexander and Kim became British after the military junta stripped them of Myanmar citizenship in 1989.Constitutional amendments require the support of 75 percent of parliament, including at least some military delegates, which even Suu Kyi will struggle to get. Do we think it can be amended? Yes, we think so, because we think that its possible to work together with the military to make them understand why we think that this constitution will not move us in a positive direction, she said in London.Reuters http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=161231 -------------------------------------------- Alaska Dispatch Myanmar army accused of systematic rape in Kachin State Hanna Ingber | GlobalPost.com | Jun 20, 2012 YANGON, Myanmar Last month, Myanmar soldiers entered a village in war-torn Kachin State and found a 48-year-old grandmother taking shelter in a church. Ten troops allegedly beat the woman with rifle butts. They stabbed her, stripped her naked and gang-raped her over three days, according to the rights group Kachin Womens Association Thailand (KWAT). In October, KWAT reported the kidnapping and subsequent sexual abuse of a 28-year-old Kachin woman named Sumlut Roi Ja in a nearby township. That same month, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), soldiers detained 20 Kachin civilians including two women in the state capital Myitkyina. The captives were taken to a mountaintop where soldiers forced the women to go from tent to tent, sleeping with each officer. The soldiers said things like, You Kachin women like Burman penises very much, dont you. All the Kachin women like our penises. Rape and sexual abuse among Myanmars ethnic women is nothing new. Rights groups say its been going on for decades the terrible tactic of a rogue regime. But now now that Myanmar has emerged from decades of isolation and chosen to enter the international community, Western sanctions have been lifted and the country stands ready to host an ASEAN conference in 2014 the alleged abuse stands to undermine the countrys progress. In many ways, these ongoing rights violations can be seen as a test for Myanmars nascent reforms. A recent KWAT report found 43 cases of sexual violence and rape by the Myanmar army in Kachin State since a 17-year ceasefire broke down in June 2011. Of those cases, 21 women and girls were killed. In a new Myanmar (formerly Burma), will these alleged abuses be stopped? Will past perpetrators be punished and forced to acknowledge their crimes? Will the government, still largely comprised of the military, be able to properly investigate military crimes? And does Myanmar need such justice to have true reform and long-lasting peace? Without justice social justice, political justice without that, we cannot build sustainable peace, said Nang Raw of Shalom Foundation, an organization in Yangon that works to strengthen ceasefires between the government and ethnic groups. Activists agree that Myanmar needs justice. Some activists and members of Aung Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) party argue that the abuses must be addressed immediately in order to end a culture of impunity in the army and begin to create a just society. Others argue that the time is not yet right, and that justice must wait for democracy to be institutionalized. TIMING IS EVERYTHING Many activists say the time to act is now. Past wrongs must be addressed in order to have true peace in Myanmar, said David Mathieson, senior Asia researcher for HRW. Looking backwards helps to bolster the future, he said, adding that a functioning judicial system needs to be a top priority. The activists are eager to test the governments new reforms. KWAT helped bring the case of Sumlut Roi Ja to the Supreme Court in Naypyidaw, the new capital, accusing soldiers of abducting and sexually abusing her. The court agreed to hear a case filed by the womans husband and summoned officials from the regional command that oversees the accused army division to the court. However, the court swiftly dismissed the case. Phyu Phyu Thin, a recently elected NLD legislator, wants to move quickly, too. Military officers who committed such kinds of sexual violations should accept what they have done and should be punished, she said. Of course, this is no easy task. Myanmar has been fighting with ethnic groups since it gained independence from the British in 1948, and many say the abuse stretches back nearly as far. An end to the fighting has been one of the prerequisites for the West's reengagement with Myanmar. But despite peace talks, the fighting continues. Since June, as many as 75,000 people have been displaced near the Chinese border. And the constitution, as it stands, shields the military from prosecution. An amendment to change the law will be difficult given how many past and present military officials currently hold government positions. Thus, some activists say now is not the right time to act. Moving too fast to address rights violations could cause the government to backtrack. Nang Raw of the Shalom Foundation says people must be patient and take another kind of lesson from the past. When Suu Kyi and others in her party won the vote in 1990, the NLD quickly started talking about holding the military accountable for its brutal 1988 crackdown. But before they could make good on their promises, the ruling junta refused to transfer power. This time, people are very, very careful, Nang Raw said. We need justice, she said, but how and when we settle these things, it should be very timely. We cannot be very loud right now. Even Suu Kyi herself isnt advocating aggressive action. At this moment what I want most is reconciliation and not retribution," she said on her recent trip to Europe, as reported by The New York Times. LICENSE TO LIE The new government set up a National Human Rights Commission late last year. But the commission said in February that it did not think the time was right to investigate reports of abuse in ethnic regions. "The national reconciliation process is political," chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Win Mra said at a press conference in Thailand. To investigate into conflict areas would not be appropriate at this time." Previously, the official party line of the former Myanmar junta was to deny all allegations of human rights violations. Often, they accused ethnic rebel armies, like the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), of committing their own atrocities. In 2002, Shan Womens Action Network (SWAN) released a report, License to Rape, that detailed 173 incidents of rape and sexual violence committed by the Myanmar army in Shan State between 1996 and 2001. The report attracted international attention, and the junta investigated. Their team wrote their own report, denying the allegations: License to Lie. HRW took issue with the methodology used by the juntas fact-finders, who reportedly went to villages and essentially asked rape victims to raise their hands, according to Mathieson. HRW says it does not have evidence that the army orders soldiers to rape ethnic women, but attributes the widespread violence to impunity among troops. HRW has also documented abuses committed by the KIA, supporting some of the juntas claims. THE WORLD WAITS Given recent reforms, many international observers appear willing to wait and see whether the situation improves. The United Nations human rights expert for Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, recently told the Democratic Voice of Burma that a UN-led Commission of Inquiry into the ethnic violence was no longer politically feasible. What is needed instead, he said, is the initiation of a process of justice and accountability within the country. During US Secretary of State Hillary Clintons visit to Myanmar last February, she too stepped back from a previous call for a UN war-crimes probe into abuses. We are going to support the principle of accountability, and the appropriate mechanism to ensure justice and accountability will be considered," she said, according to AFP. "But I think it's important to try to give the new government and the opposition a chance to try to demonstrate they have their own approach toward achieving that. DOCUMENTING THE TRUTH In the meantime, there are those working quietly to document crimes so that when the time is right, they are ready. Ah Hkawn, a young Kachin woman, spent half of last year investigating physical and sexual abuses by the Myanmar army against her people. She and an American researcher hiked for days through the mountains near the Chinese border. They lugged water and instant noodles through the nonstop rain to reach distant villages where people had been affected by violence. Ah Hkawn, whose straight black bob frames her round face, says the reforms give her hope but that, as long as violence continues, she must look out for her people. Activists still fear retaliation and must be careful, she said. They only bring forward cases of victims who live in territory controlled by the ethnic rebels or are already dead. In the second part of this Special Report, "Beyond Aung San Suu Kyi: Women in the New Myanmar," GlobalPosts Hanna Ingber returns to Myanmar, also known as Burma, where she lived for a year under the harsh rule of the military junta, and brings us the stories of women the world has not seen nor celebrated, but who have worked quietly and persistently toward change.http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/myanmar-army-accused-systematic-rape-kachin-state ------------------------------------------- Soldiers, rebels die in Shan state clashes Published By United Press International YANGON, Myanmar, June 20 (UPI) -- A dozen Myanmar soldiers have died in clashes with the Kachin Independence Army in Myanmar's northern Shan state, unconfirmed reports said. Fighting broke out in five areas in Shan state in eastern Myanmar after the army sent in reinforcements to its security forces, local residents told the expatriate Kachin News Group. The KIA said one of their men was killed and another injured, noted the report by KNG, based in Thailand to the south of Shan state. At least two unarmed civilians were killed in their homes this by month by Myanmar soldiers, a resident in one of the towns told KNG. The long-running fight with rebels in several states including Kachin, Karen, Shan and Mon has been a concern for the military which ruled the country for most of the years since independence from the British in 1948. The nominally civilian elected government of former military officers and ex-senior junta leaders continues to battle rebels but also seeks negotiations with various political wings of the insurgents. Many of the rebel groups say they are fighting for more autonomy from the central government, formerly in Yangon and now in the newly built city of Naypyitaw. The rebels also want the landless and poor farmers to have more social and financial benefits from the exploitation of natural resources -- something many countries are keen to do now Myanmar is on the road to democracy and more open to investment by Western business groups. However, ethnic tension and ensuing community unrest could derail the government's gradual move toward a more open society, especially if the military clamps down hard on suspected rebels and insurgents. The long-running fight with the Karen rebels as well as those in the Kachin, Shan and Mon states have dogged the military which ruled the country for most of the years since independence from the British in 1948. A result of the fighting has been thousands of displaced people from their states to surrounding countries. Earlier this month Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi told the mostly Karen refugees in Mae La camp in Thailand she will work to get them back to Myanmar as soon as possible. Suu Kyi, who heads the main opposition party National League for Democracy visited the camp near Mae Sot during a trip to Thailand which borders Karen state, directly south of Shan state. Mae La camp on the border with Myanmar is one of the largest in Thailand for ethnic Myanmar groups fleeing fighting between rebels and the military. Meanwhile, a refugee crisis is unfolding on Myanmar's western border with Bangladesh after clashes between Muslim minorities and the majority Buddhists in Rakhine state. Bangladesh has closed it border crossings with Myanmar, turning people back. A statement by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said this week it is increasing its aid to Rakhine state after government estimates claim around 48,000 people have been displaced in the outbreak of violence this month. A court in Rakhine sentenced two Muslim men to death this week for the rape and murder of a woman -- the event which triggered the sectarian clashes in which at least 50 people died. 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.upiasia.com/Top-News/2012/06/20/Soldiers-rebels-die-in-Shan-state-clashes/UPI-40271340226558/

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