News & Articles on Burma
Thursday 23 June, 2011
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Honorary doctorate for Suu Kyi
Suu Kyi urges US push for rights probe
Suu Kyi urges Congress to push Myanmar democracy
Suu Kyi: Does junta really want democracy?
Refugees struggle as EU cuts aid
Suu Kyi asks US to back war crimes probe
Suu Kyi Urges US Support for CoI
EU mission to Myanmar finds some optimistic signs
Suu Kyi Asks Congress to Help Myanmar Democracy
KIA is Ready for Ceasefire, if Offered Through Proper Channels
War snowballs; Kachin refugees influx to China border
Shwe Mahn to meet with MPs from Rangoon Region Assembly
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Honorary doctorate for Suu Kyi
June 23 2011 at 05:12pm
REUTERS
An honorary doctorate is to be awarded to Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi by the University of Johannesburg's humanities faculty, it said.
An honorary doctorate is to be awarded to Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi by the University of Johannesburg's humanities faculty, it said on Thursday.
Executive dean Professor Rory Ryan said that Suu Kyi represented the university's principles.
These included its respect for diversity and human dignity, and its call for academic freedom and accountability, he said.
Suu Kyi, a world-renowned advocate for human rights, was placed under house arrest in 1989.
The military offered to release her if she would agree to leave Burma, which has been renamed by the military junta as the Democratic Republic of Myanmar, but she refused.
She has spent 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest.
In 1990 she led National League for Democracy to win the election, but the military refused to recognise the party.
In March 2010 power was handed over to a nominally civilian government and Suu Kyi was released.
The university said it would award her a doctor litterarum et philosophiae (honoris causa) during a graduation ceremony in October. -
Sapa http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/honorary-doctorate-for-suu-kyi-1.1087851
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THE MANILA TIMES
Suu Kyi urges US push for rights probe
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Myanmar’s opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) urged US lawmakers to push for a United Nations (UN)-backed probe into human rights in her country as she warned of a long and difficult road to democracy.
Suu Kyi, who was released in November after spending most of the past two decades under house arrest, spoke on a video in a first-ever message to the US Congress, a stronghold of support for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
She asked lawmakers to do “whatever you can” to support the work of the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and assured that a so-called commission of inquiry would not be a tribunal.
“It is simply a commission of inquiry to find out what human rights violations have taken place and what we can do to ensure that such violations do not take place in the future,” she told a House of Representatives hearing.
Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power, warned that it would take time to reform Myanmar.
“It is going to be a long road; it has already been a long road and a difficult one, and no doubt the road ahead will have its difficulties as well,” she said.
But she added, “With the help and support of true friends, I’m sure we will be able to tread the path of democracy, not easily and perhaps not as quickly as we would like, but surely and steadily.”
The United States has publicly supported a UN-led probe—a longstanding demand of activists—but it has done little to make the investigation a reality, worrying that its efforts may be wasted so long as Asian countries—particularly China—are opposed.
UN-led commissions of inquiry elsewhere in the world have led to charges and prosecution, with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir risking arrest if he travels to countries that recognize the International Criminal Court.
Human rights groups say that Myanmar has a record of severe human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, torture and frequent rape of displaced women from minority groups.
Recent deadly clashes in far-northern Kachin State have triggered an exodus of refugees toward the border with China.
Suu Kyi has called on Myanmar’s rulers to free some 2,000 other prisoners, which rights groups say are detained for political reasons and often held in poor conditions.
“Why are they still in prison if this government is really intent on making good progress toward democracy? If it is sincere in its claims that it wishes to bring democracy to Burma, there is no need for any prisoners of conscience to exist in this country,” she said.
AFP http://www.manilatimes.net/news/world/suu-kyi-urges-us-push-for-rights-probe/
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Suu Kyi urges Congress to push Myanmar democracy
By: MATTHEW PENNINGTON | Associated Press | 06/22/11 10:59 AM
In this photo taken Tuesday, June 21, 2011, Robert Cooper, right, general secretariat of the Council of the European Union, External Economic Relations, Politico-Military Affairs, talks to journalists after meeting with Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Yangon, Myanmar.
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi addressed U.S. lawmakers by video on Wednesday, calling for a commission of inquiry into rights abuses in Myanmar and urging lawmakers' support for steps to open up "the real road to democracy" there.
Suu Kyi, freed from house arrest seven months ago, questioned whether Myanmar, also known as Burma, has made any real progress toward democracy since flawed elections in November that were meant to end of five decades of military rule.
"If (the government) is sincere in its claims that it wishes to bring democracy into Burma, there is no need for any prisoners of conscience to exist in this country," Suu Kyi said.
Her National League for Democracy party that swept 1990 elections but was barred from taking power has faced years of persecution by authorities.
Rights groups say Myanmar holds more than 2,000 political prisoners. Freeing them is a key demand of the U.S. and other countries that currently maintain tough sanctions against Myanmar and its military leaders.
Suu Kyi called for access to Myanmar for U.N. human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana, who is barred from visiting. She supported his call for a commission of inquiry into rights abuses that have taken place in Myanmar, but stressed it would be intended not as a tribunal to punish violators but to ensure rights violations do not recur.
Suu Kyi's comments were made in videotape statement recorded in Myanmar and aired at a hearing in Washington of the House Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific subcommittee. It is the first time the 66-year old democracy leader, who has spent about 15 of the past 22 years under some form of detention, has submitted such a statement to a U.S. congressional committee.
She urged lawmakers to do whatever they can to get Myanmar to implement the demands of a resolution adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council in March. The resolution — the latest of many adopted by the world body over the years against Myanmar, but with little impact — calls for prisoner releases, freedom of information and association, an independent judiciary and political reconciliation.
Ending a former U.S. policy of diplomatic isolation of the military regime, the Obama administration has attempted to engage Myanmar in the past 18 months but has made little progress.
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., was skeptical about the Obama administration's engagement policy, saying neither Myanmar's relations with Washington nor the situation in the country had changed.
"If proponents of pragmatic engagement are correct, then Burmese leaders should recognize this unprecedented opportunity being offered by the Obama administration and seek to improve relations with the U.S. by demonstrating tangible change. Unfortunately, this is not the case," he said.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/suu-kyi-urges-congress-push-myanmar-democracy
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UPI.com
Suu Kyi: Does junta really want democracy?
Published: June 23, 2011 at 4:00 AM
WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- Fulfilling U.N. rights demands is crucial to making Myanmar the democracy the ruling junta claims it wants, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi told U.S. lawmakers.
Freeing the estimated 2,000 political prisoners held by the army government will show that the junta truly wants to create a modern, democratic nation, the pro-democracy activist said in videotaped testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific subcommittee.
Getting the military, which has ruled the country since 1962, to free political prisoners is a key demand of a March U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution.
"If [the government] is sincere in its claims that it wishes to bring democracy to Burma, there is no need for any prisoners of conscience to exist in this country," Suu Kyi said, using the earlier name for Myanmar preferred among dissident groups.
"Surely democracy means that we all have the right to our own beliefs," said Suu Kyi, whose democracy party won an overwhelming victory in 1990 elections but was prevented by the military from assuming power.
Freeing political prisoners is a key demand of the United States and other Western countries maintaining tough sanctions against Myanmar and its government, which human-rights groups allege engages in child labor, forced labor, human trafficking and rampant use of sexual violence as an instrument of control.
The junta is eager to remove the sanctions, which bar some leaders from carrying out financial transactions through Western banks and from traveling to the United States, European Union or Australia, The New York Times reported.
Suu Kyi urged U.S. lawmakers to do all within their power to get the junta to comply with the U.N. demands, which also call for an independent judiciary, freedom of information and association, and political reconciliation.
"Without an independent judiciary we cannot have the rule of law, and without the rule of law none of our people can be secure," she said.
Suu Kyi, released from house arrest Nov. 13, 2010, after spending 15 of the previous 21 years in confinement, made the video secretly.
Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., who asked her to testify and arranged for the video testimony, would not say how the video was obtained, The Washington Post reported.
Lawmakers awarded Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008 -- the highest civilian U.S. award, equal to the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- but are holding off giving it to her until she is able to accept it in person.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/06/23/Suu-Kyi-Does-junta-really-want-democracy/UPI-79061308816000/#ixzz1Q5bv2K55
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Refugees struggle as EU cuts aid
By MAHN SAIMON
Published: 23 June 2011
Burmese refugees living in camps along the Thai border say they have been receiving less food and housing material since the EU reduced border aid earlier this year, triggering concerns about the extent to which already difficult conditions in the camps will be exacerbated.
An official at the Umpiem camp, south of the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said that each house was receiving three wooden poles and only 30 sheets of leaf roofing – “not even enough to build a loo”.
He said that funding was cut in all major sectors of the camp, including food, health, education and social projects. “Now we no longer receive chilli, and rice was also cut down to 13.5kg from 15kg.”
Veerawit Tianchainan, director of the Thai Committee for Refugees, said that following the EU’s decision to cut funding, other civil society groups had followed suit.
During a visit to the populous Mae La camp in March, EU official Kristalina Georgieva told refugees that funding would be reduced as the bloc looks to develop capacity training for its inhabitants in areas like agriculture, livestock and handicrafts.
Nine official camps that house close to 145,000 Burmese, mostly Karen, exist along the Thai-Burma border. The EU has been providing aid since 1995, but announced this year that it would be increasing funding to civil society groups working inside Burma.
The decision to reduce financial assistance before completing career training was criticised by Surapong Kongchantuk, chairman of the sub-committee of the Lawyers’ Council of Thailand.
“If they want to bring comfort for the refugees, they should give them professional training to make them capable of looking after themselves, and then cut down the aid only after that.”
He said that the move compounded concerns about the future of refugees in Thailand, following the Thai government’s campaign to register illegal migrants. Those who do not register face deportation.
Burma was named in a recent UN report as the world’s fifth-highest source country for refugees, higher than that of Colombia and Sudan. Along with the 145,000 in camps in Thailand, the majority of whom have fled decades of conflict in neighbouring Karen state, more than 200,000 ethnic Rohingya live a precarious existence in unofficial camps in Bangladesh.
http://www.dvb.no/news/refugees-struggle-as-eu-cuts-aid/16278
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Suu Kyi asks US to back war crimes probe
By AFP
Published: 23 June 2011
Burma’s opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday urged US lawmakers to push for a UN-backed probe into human rights in her country as she warned of a long and difficult road to democracy.
Suu Kyi, who was released in November after spending most of the past two decades under house arrest, spoke on a video in a first-ever message to the US Congress, a stronghold of support for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
She asked lawmakers to do “whatever you can” to support the work of the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma and assured that a so-called commission of inquiry would not be a tribunal.
“It is simply a commission of inquiry to find out what human rights violations have taken place and what we can do to ensure that such violations do not take place in the future,” she told a House of Representatives hearing.
Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won 1990 elections but was never allowed to take power, warned it will take time to reform Burma
“It is going to be a long road; it has already been a long road and a difficult one, and no doubt the road ahead will have its difficulties as well,” she said.
But she added: “With the help and support of true friends, I’m sure we will be able to tread the path of democracy, not easily and perhaps not as quickly as we would like, but surely and steadily.”
The United States has publicly supported a UN-led probe – a longstanding demand of activists. But it has done little to make it a reality, worrying its efforts would be futile so long as Asian countries – particularly China – are opposed.
UN-led commissions of inquiry elsewhere in the world have led to charges and prosecution, with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir risking arrest if he travels to countries that recognize the International Criminal Court.
Human rights groups say that Burma has a record of severe human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, torture and frequent rape of displaced women from minority groups.
Recent deadly clashes in far-northern Kachin state have triggered an exodus of refugees toward the border with China.
Suu Kyi called on Burma’s rulers to free some 2,000 other prisoners which rights groups say are detained for political reasons and often held in poor conditions.
“Why are they still in prison if this government is really intent on making good progress toward democracy? If it is sincere in its claims that it wishes to bring democracy to Burma, there is no need for any prisoners of conscience to exist in this country,” she said.
Burma held elections in November 2010 which the regime said was a step toward democracy, with the junta later handing over to nominally civilian rulers. But many outside observers say that the changes are purely cosmetic.
A recent joint study by Physicians for Human Rights and Johns Hopkins University found that in western Chin state, 91.7 percent of households had at least one family member who had been forced to work for the military in the past year.
One area of Chin state with particularly high rates of child conscription and sexual assault was under the command of Colonel Zaw Min Oo, who is now in parliament, said Chris Beyrer of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“In post-election Burma, a military commander whose forces violently repressed the Chin people now represents those same households and communities in the new parliament. That is not change, it is impunity,” Beyrer told the committee.
“The US has recently shown swift and effective leadership in diplomacy on calling for investigations into the killing of civilians by the Kadhafi regime in Libya. Why not Burma, where the evidence is overwhelming?” he said.
President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009 launched a dialogue with Burma, concluding that the previous Western policy of trying to isolate the government had failed.
The administration has repeatedly said it plans to keep pursuing diplomacy despite deep disappointment over the results.
http://www.dvb.no/news/suu-kyi-asks-us-to-back-war-crimes-probe/16272
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Suu Kyi Urges US Support for CoI
By KO HTWE and LALIT K JHA Thursday, June 23, 2011
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged US lawmakers to support the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) by the United Nations into alleged human rights violations in Burma.
Suu Kyi delivered the message at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific through a pre-recorded video message. Chaired by Donald Manzullo, the congressional subcommittee convened the hearing on Wednesday.
“Professor Quintana has spoken of the need for a CoI into human rights violations in Burma,” said Suu Kyi in her address to the congressional subcommittee. “I support his call for such a commission.”
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, has recommended that the UN should consider establishing a CoI into war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Burmese government.
Many human rights groups have claimed that the Burmese military regime is guilty of crimes such as the forced displacement of people, murder, sexual violence including rape and sex trafficking, torture, and the persecution of people based on religious or ethnic identity, among others.
Suu Kyi also questioned why the new government continues to detain political prisoners if it really intends to progress toward democracy.
"If [the government] is sincere in its claims that it wishes to bring democracy into Burma, there is no need for any prisoners of conscience to exist in this country," said Suu Kyi.
She also urged the US to look at the Burmese situation in the light of the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution which came out in March. The resolution, she said, includes such very important issues as political prisoners, freedom of association and information, independence of the judiciary, and the right of Professor Quintana to visit Burma whenever he thinks it is necessary.
It also includes the need for an inclusive political process in Burma and conditions where there can be a negotiated settlement leading to national reconciliation.
“All [the issues] that the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution has called for are essential if Burma is to enjoy constitutional liberalism and democratic institutions,” she said.
The hearing also featured testimony from Aung Din, the executive director and co-founder of the US Campaign for Burma, as well as Chris Beyrer, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights.
Manzullo, who has also kept pressure on the military junta in Burma by working annually to renew economic sanctions against the junta and its cronies, said in his statement that one should not forget that there are still 2,200 political prisoners languishing in Burmese gulags, including peaceful monks and citizens that took part in the Saffron Revolution four years ago.
The timing of the hearing also coincided with the Burmese army launching military offensives against ethnic resistance groups in Shan State and Kachin State, a maneuver that has driven nearly 20,000 refugees into hiding along the China-Burma border and into China.
“The recent news of clashes in Burma’s Kachin province between government troops and ethnic minorities, which has been the heaviest fighting in 17 years, adds further evidence to the argument that the situation in Burma has not changed,” wrote Manzullo in his statement.
Manzullo said the Saffron Revolution of September, 2007 exposed the Burmese regime for what it is—a brutal authoritarian regime willing to stop at nothing to crack down on thousands of peaceful, nonviolent protesters simply because they demanded their basic human rights.
“The recruitment of child soldiers, detention and torture of political dissidents, restrictions on freedoms of press, speech, assembly and association, and limited religious freedoms continue to prevail in Burma under the highly authoritarian military regime of General Thein Sein,” he said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21551
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STRAITS TIMES: Jun 23, 2011
EU mission to Myanmar finds some optimistic signs
YANGON (Myanmar) - A EUROPEAN Union delegation saw encouraging signs from Myanmar's new government but promises of reform must be matched by actions, the mission chief said on Wednesday.
The fact-finding mission was meant to measure the extent of change under the new nominally civilian regime as well as prospects for the EU to engage more with it, delegation chief Robert Cooper of Britain said.
Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, held its first elections in 20 years last November. The new government, comprising mostly retired military officers, has promised democratic reforms but made no major gestures in that direction. Critics say the vote was orchestrated to keep power in the military's hands.
The EU, like the United States, maintains economic and political sanctions against Myanmar because of its failure to implement democratic reforms and its poor human rights record. Myanmar has long pushed for the sanctions to be lifted.
It was the first high-ranking EU delegation to visit since the elected government took office in March. Mr Cooper asserted that the visit did not represents a change of policy by the European Union. 'The message of our visit was that we are also open to change ourselves in the relationship in response to developments here,' he said. 'We are also ready to change.'
'We see that something is happening in this country. We are trying to understand it a little better,' said Mr Cooper, who added that it met with a wide range of people. He met with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday. -- AP http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_682974.html
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The Wall Street Journal
Suu Kyi Asks Congress to Help Myanmar Democracy
Associated Press
WASHINGTON–Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi addressed U.S. lawmakers by video on Wednesday, calling for a commission of inquiry into rights abuses in Myanmar and urging lawmakers' support for steps to open up "the real road to democracy" there.
Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi talks to media after her meeting with an EU foreign affairs department official earlier this week in Myanmar. Ms. Suu Kyi addressed U.S. lawmakers via video on Wednesday, urging support for democratic reforms.
Ms. Suu Kyi, freed from house arrest seven months ago, questioned whether Myanmar has made any real progress toward democracy since the elections in November that were meant to end of five decades of military rule.
"If (the government) is sincere in its claims that it wishes to bring democracy into Burma, there is no need for any prisoners of conscience to exist in this country," Ms. Suu Kyi said, using the alternative name for Myanmar preferred among dissident groups.
Video
Watch Suu Kyi's Remarks to the U.S. Congress
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearings_livestream.asp
Ms. Suu Kyi's remarks were made in a videotaped statement recorded in Myanmar and aired at a hearing in Washington of the House Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific subcommittee. It is the first time the 66-year old democracy leader, who has spent about 15 of the past 22 years under some form of detention, has submitted such a statement to a U.S. congressional committee.
Her National League for Democracy party that swept the 1990 elections but was barred from taking power has faced years of persecution by authorities.
Rights groups say Myanmar holds more than 2,000 political prisoners. Freeing them is a key demand of the U.S. and other countries that currently maintain tough sanctions against Myanmar and its military leaders.
Ms. Suu Kyi called for access to Myanmar for U.N. human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana, who is barred from visiting. She supported his call for a commission of inquiry into rights abuses that have taken place in Myanmar, but stressed it would be intended not as a tribunal to punish violators but to ensure rights violations do not recur.
She urged lawmakers to do whatever they can to get Myanmar to implement the demands of a resolution adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council in March. The resolution—the latest of many adopted by the world body over the years against Myanmar, but with little impact—calls for prisoner releases, freedom of information and association, an independent judiciary and political reconciliation.
Ending a former U.S. policy of diplomatic isolation of the military regime, the Obama administration has attempted to engage Myanmar in the past 18 months but has made little progress.
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., was skeptical about the Obama administration's engagement policy, saying neither Myanmar's relations with Washington nor the situation in the country had changed.
"If proponents of pragmatic engagement are correct, then Burmese leaders should recognize this unprecedented opportunity being offered by the Obama administration and seek to improve relations with the U.S. by demonstrating tangible change. Unfortunately, this is not the case," he said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304791204576402130123153822.html
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KIA is Ready for Ceasefire, if Offered Through Proper Channels
By SAI ZOM HSENG Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is ready to stop fighting, but first it wants guarantees that any ceasefire proposal offered on behalf of the government will be respected by Burmese military commanders, according to officials from the group's political wing.
“We want the Burmese government or a leading member of the Burmese army to offer proof that they will stop firing. We can't just accept a short letter saying that they will stop,” said La Nan, the joint-secretary of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, La Nan said that the KIO recently received a letter from Thein Zaw, the former Minister of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs, stating that “Northern Regional Military Commander Brig-Gen Zeyar Aung has already ordered his troops to stop firing, and the KIA needs to stop firing as well.”
He said that the letter was written by Thein Zaw in his capacity as an MP for Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital, and therefore could not be regarded as representative of the government's position or that of the Burmese military.
La Nan noted that when the KIO agreed to a ceasefire with the Burmese government in 1994, leaders of both sides were present and the agreement was signed in front of several witnesses.
“Even then, we found that the Burmese army couldn't be trusted not to attack our troops. For example, in 2001, they killed about 10 KIA Brigade 4 soldiers in northern Shan State for no reason. We don’t want problems like that in the future. That’s why we're asking for guarantees,” he said.
La Nan said that the KIO also recently received a letter from Zeyar Aung, the Burmese army's northern regional commander, but it made no mention of a ceasefire.
The letter denied that the recent fighting was part of a Burmese military operation, claiming that the conflict started because the army had to “protect a state-level project being carried out in cooperation with a neighboring country”—referring to a hydropower dam being built on the Taping River by a Chinese company.
Clashes between the two sides erupted in the second week of June. Although there has been no major fighting in recent days, there were reports of skirmishes in Putao Township, in the far north of the state, on Wednesday, suggesting that the conflict is spreading.
Despite the relative quiet that has prevailed so far this week, the number of refugees fleeing the affected areas is still high. Many have crossed the border into China, but some have already returned to Kachin State under pressure from the Chinese authorities, according to Mai Ja of the Kachin Women's Association Thailand, one of the groups assisting the refugees.
“Some refugees who are currently in China can't get food or medicine, so they will come back to Kachin State,” she said. “They are forced to stay in small rooms, and conditions aren't very sanitary, so they are having health problems.”
Most of the refugees in China are staying in the villages of Phin Chan, Loi Leng, Jang Fone, Naung Ang and Naung Tao in Yunnan Province's Yingjiang Township. The refugees in Kachin State are receiving assistance from an umbrella group of seven local NGOs known as Wunpawng Ning Htoi (“Lights for the Kachin People”). http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21555
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War snowballs; Kachin refugees influx to China border
Thursday, 23 June 2011 08:29 KNG
The civil war between the Burmese Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has forced nearly 20,000 Kachin refugees to flee to the China border fearing continuous clashes, said a doctor helping refugees.
The number of refugees has touched the figure of 13,000 in five refugee camps in Myu Lawt Wunli, Manau Wang, No. 3 Market place, Hpung Lung Yang and Nawng E Hku camp at the Laiza headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on the China border said, the doctor.
kachin_refugee_laiza2
Kachin refugees, Laiza.
The KIO, the political wing of KIA is providing each refugee with two cans of rice, while locally based Non Government Organizations (NGO) are providing health care.
In Waingmaw Township on the other side of Mali Hka River of Myitkyina, the Capital of Kachin State, there are over 800 refugees sheltered in a Buddhist monastery and a Christian Mission School said, a pastor from the township.
In Lah Ying village in China near China-Loije on the Burma side there are about 5,000 refugees staying in camps and over 150 refugees fled to the Mahtan village according to lists compiled from those camps.
However, the refugees hiding in the forests are sick from cholera and malaria in the rainy season. They are facing downpour without proper shelter or roof.
Almost all refugees are from the villages on the road between Myitkyina, Manmaw (Bhamo) and Loije and more than 20,000 refugees have fled to KIO controlled areas since the war began on June 9. Some refugees are staying on the other side of Laiza in China.
A bomb exploded in Myitkyina Tuesday night for the first time since the KIA and Burmese took on each other on June 9. http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1978-war-snowballs-kachin-refugees-influx-to-china-border.html
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Shwe Mahn to meet with MPs from Rangoon Region Assembly
Thursday, 23 June 2011 13:13 Myo Thant
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The speaker of Burma’s Lower House of Parliament, Thura Shwe Mahn, will meet with MPs from the Rangoon Region Legislative Assembly on Friday. The purpose of the meeting was not announced.
Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann.
Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann.
According to the agenda, the speaker will meet separately with members of the Lower House and the Upper House.
Legislators from the Rangoon assembly told Mizzima that the body would be convened on Wednesday and Thursday.
In the Rangoon assembly, there are 92 elected legislators and 31 legislators named by the Tatmadaw (armed forces).
Similarly, the Mon Regional Legislative Assembly session will be convened on July 7 and 8.
There has been no agenda announced, said Mon State legislative assembly member Dr. Aung Naing Oo of the All Mon Region Democracy Party.
Sessions of the legislative assemblies in other states and regions are likely to be convened at the end of this month or in early July. http://www.mizzima.com/news/election-2010-/5473-shwe-mahn-to-meet-with-mps-from-rangoon-region-assembly.html
Friday, June 24, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Thursday 23 June, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday 22 June, 2011
News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday 22 June, 2011
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Aung San Suu Kyi speaks
KIA Launches Targeted Urban Attacks
New Delhi Raises Security Issue with Naypyidaw
Rao meets Suu Kyi in first high-level Indian contact with her
Kachin Women slam Burma Army for using rape as a weapon of war
18 women gang-raped in Kachin state
Burmese Army Accused of Raping Kachin Civilians
Mass defections hit govt border forces
Burma pledges to rout Indian separatists
Burma chamber of commerce members have ‘dialogue’ in Sweden
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Aung San Suu Kyi speaks
Editorial Desk
The Statesman
Publication Date : 22-06-2011
There are two facets of Aung San Suu Kyi’s BBC lectures that have been smuggled out of Burma, coinciding with her 66th birthday. Quite the most critical, decidedly a deviation from her hitherto non-violent struggle for democracy, is the hint that ‘it’s possible’ to change her commitment to non-violence. She has spoken as a free citizen in a country that uses a spurious brand of democracy to serve as a shambolic facade to the rule of the junta.
The icon of democracy has referred to Mahatma Gandhi, who in her reckoning is the father of non-violence, to say, “between cowardice and violence he would choose violence any time”. Indeed, Suu Kyi has drawn a fine distinction while dwelling on the rationale of non-violence.
“I do not hold to non-violence for moral reasons but practical and political reasons.” Clearly, after two decades of detention and denial of power, she is now in a position to reflect, and with a remarkable degree of mental freedom. Implicitly does she realise that the non-violent struggle for democracy has led Burma nowhere. On the contrary, it has reinforced the repression of the junta, borne out by her extended detention and the ruthless suppression of the peaceful movement by the Buddhist clergy some years ago.
Is it possible that Suu Kyi has been influenced by the Arab Spring? Notably, she has been impressed by the internet technology that has lent an impetus to the movements in the Arab world. Hence perhaps her touching faith in a violent struggle should the need arise. It is significant too that she has compared Burma’s 23-year-old movement for democracy with the jasmine revolution in Egypt and Tunisia. She has been emphatic in her assertion that “the similarities between Tunisia and Burma are the similarities that bind people all over the world who yearn for freedom.” Yet the jasmine whiff is unlikely to stir her country just yet given the divisions within the National League for Democracy.
One section has played into the junta’s hands by participating in the elections. No less crucially, the military remains firmly entrenched unlike the occupants of the rusted thrones. Nonetheless, it is the change in perception that the world must take note of. Non-violence may have reached its sell-by date in Burma. As a free citizen, Aung San Suu Kyi has spoken the language of an intrepid crusader. She has exercised what she calls her ‘right of freedom of communication’. http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=19555&sec=3
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KIA Launches Targeted Urban Attacks
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Although fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Burmese government troops in Kachin State has diminished in recent days, tension remains and the KIA continues to launch targeted attacks in urban areas, according to local sources.
On Tuesday night, two bombs went off at government’s buildings—a police station and an immigration office—in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in northern Burma.
A police official at Police Station No. 1 in Myitkyina confirmed the explosion, but said there were no casualties. He said he believed the KIA was behind the plot.
La Nan, the joint-secretary of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), said that the bomb attacks were launched by the KIA in accordance with its policy of choosing targets where civilians would not be injured.
“The bombs went off at an immigration office and at Police Station No. 1, and no civilian was hurt. We attacked in places where we should attack. We only target the government’s important sectors,” said La Nan.
Seng Aung, a Kachin youth living in Laiza, the KIA’s headquarters on the Sino-Burma border, said that there was also an explosion last night at a bridge near Baw Hpum Yan, which is located on the route from Bhamo to Myitkyina.
In addition, the Thailand-based Kachin News Group reported that on Tuesday at midnight the KIA used mines to blow up a strategic railway bridge located on the Namkoi River between Myitkyina and Mandalay. The KIA targeted the railway because it is the main route used by the government to send reinforcements and supplies to Kachin State.
The KIA said it has not had any contact with the government following their last talks on June 19, and despite the fact that skirmishes between government troops and the KIA have died down for now, the KIA has not called a cease fire.
“We haven’t ordered our troops at the frontline to cease fire with the government troops,” said La Nan.
Meanwhile, on June 18-19, the KIA released 18 government soldiers that it arrested and detained during fighting with the government troops.
Some villagers in Maijayang Village, Momauk Township who fled home recently returned home two days ago and recommenced farming, said La Aung, a resident of Maijayang.
He said the situation has become more stable, but many villagers are still seeking refuge in Laiza.
Some 10,000 Kachin people previously fled their homes and sought refuge in Laiza and other locations on the Sino-Burma border due to the hostilities that first broke out between the government and the KIA troops in northern Burma on June 9. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21543
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New Delhi Raises Security Issue with Naypyidaw
By SAI ZOM HSENG Wednesday, June 22, 2011
During an official three-day visit to Burma, India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna raised the issue of border security in bilateral talks with his Burmese counterpart, Wunna Maung Lwin, on Tuesday in Naypyidaw.
According to news agency Press Trust of India, Burma reiterated its firm assurance that it will not allow its territory to be used as a base for any anti-India activities. Security cooperation has been a major part of India-Burma relations because of the long border—1,463 km—that the countries share.
One of the members of the Indian delegation was quoted by the Indian news agency as saying that “the talks were excellent, positive, constructive and forward looking.”
The delegation also reportedly congratulated Burma on holding successful elections that saw the formation of its first civilian government in decades.
Tint Swe, a New Delhi-based Burma observer, said that India is concerned Burma's growing dependence on China.
Burma's new president, Thein Sein, visited Beijing on his first overseas trip as president last month when he discussed with the Chinese government conditions for the Chinese navy to dock in Burmese ports and secure direct access to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
London-based The Economist reported on June 9 that China is now the country with the greatest influence on Burma, and is the biggest investor in the Southeast Asian nation's energy, dams, mines and other natural resources.
“As its economic interests have grown, China has pressed for more access to Burma’s harbours and territorial waters, to monitor the security of the new port and pipelines and to keep an eye out for pirates. But this is a neuralgic issue for a country with a deep-seated suspicion of its powerful northern neighbor,” the report said.
Tint Swe said that the Indian government is also concerned about the ongoing armed conflicts in northern Burma, and the recent outbreak of hostilities between Burmese government forces and the Kachin Independence Army.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Tint Swe said, “Kachin State borders Sagaing Division in Burma, and it is in Sagaing that the Naga insurgents who fight against the Indian army are based. The Indian government wants to apply pressure on the Naga insurgents via its military cooperation with Naypyidaw.”
Earlier this month, the Burmese army reinforced its troop strength in the Ta-nai region of Sagaing Division ahead of clashes in Kachin State. Military observers speculated that the maneuver was directed toward the Naga insurgents, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland.
Prior to his visit to Burma, the Indian foreign minister launched a press release saying that he would discuss 110 million-dollar Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project. “We also propose to initiate a few new projects,” he said in the statement.
Several political observers have said that since India lost the opportunity to invest in the Lido highway project and the Tamanthi dam project, the Kaladan project is its last hope in Burma.
Burma’s government singed an MoU with India’s National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) in 2004 for the development of the Tamanthi Dam on the Chindwin River in western Sagaing Division. However, Naypyidaw reneged on the deal in May with economic observers saying that the contract would soon be issued to China instead.
The 1,079-km Lido highway, or “Stillwell Road,” was built during World War II by American general Joe "Vinegar" Stillwell to supply Kuomintang forces against Japan. It passes through the towns of Shingbwiyang, Myitkyina and Bhamo in Kachin State.
However, India abandoned plans in 2009 to reopen the road that could have connected its remote northeastern states to China's Yunnan province via Burma.
According to Aung Linn Htut, a former Burmese military intelligence officer, relations between the two countries are largely based on the countries' intelligence services. In 1992, India proposed to Burma's new military junta that the two countries agree to cooperate militarily—channeling military equipment and supplies, exchanging intelligence, and initiating training programs for Burmese military officers in India.
According to Burma's state-run The New Light of Myanmar, the Indian delegation also handed over the paperwork on a 500-ton capacity food security shelter, which was built in the Irrawaddy delta under a Burma-India friendship program. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21546
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Rao meets Suu Kyi in first high-level Indian contact with her
Yangon, Jun 22 (PTI)
In the first high-level Indian contact with Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met the Nobel laureate here and both expressed a desire for the bilateral relationship to ''blossom and grow''.
Rao, who was here as part of the delegation of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna during his three-day visit to Myanmar that ended today, called on Suu Kyi on Monday at her residence, official sources said.
The meeting, which was not part of Rao's schedule here, lasted for an hour, during which she "felicitated" Suu Kyi on her 66th birthday which was on Sunday, they said.
"Both expressed a desire for this relationship to blossom and grow," a source said.
Asked why Krishna, who headed the Indian delegation, did not meet Suu Kyi, the sources said he had a tight schedule and that the Indian Ambassador to Myanmar, V S Seshadri, had met her earlier.
Rao's meeting with Suu Kyi was, however, kept under wraps till the Indian delegation left the country.
The sources privy to the conversation that took place between the two said that Suu Kyi recalled her days in India, including the time she spent with her Indian friends.
Suu Kyi, who was recently freed from several years of house arrest, had done her Bachelors in Political Science from Lady Sri Ram College in New Delhi from where she graduated in 1964. She also lived in Shimla prior to her return to Myanmar in 1988.The sources said Rao spoke to Suu Kyi about India's relationship with Myanmar, which recently got its first civilian government in years, and New Delhi's help to this country in various fields.
Suu Kyi, welcoming India's role as a partner in economic development of Myanmar, spoke about the need for greater people-to-people contacts, the sources said.
She also spoke about the emotional and religious ties between the two countries.
As a prisoner in her own country, locked in her lakeside home in Yangon, Suu Kyi spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. She was freed in November last year.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/170725/rao-meets-suu-kyi-first.html
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Kachin Women slam Burma Army for using rape as a weapon of war
By Zin Linn Jun 22, 2011 7:48PM UTC
The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) released a press statement on Tuesday (21 June) denouncing Burmese government’s armed forces for using use of rape as a weapon of war in northern Burma offensive. Moreover, KWAT also demands an immediate end to the Burmese military regime’s widespread use of sexual violence in their offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Burma.
According to the press release, at least 18 women and girls have been gang-raped by government soldiers. It happened between June 10 and 18, last week, during Burma Army assaults on KIA positions along the Sino-Burma border. Four of these women were killed after being raped. One incident was so inhumane that the victim was raped in front of her husband, who was tied up and forced to watch. Another woman died from her injuries due to gang-rape.
KWAT also said in its statement that soldiers from five Burma Army’s battalions (Light Infantry Battalion 437 and Infantry Battalions 237, 141, 142, 139 and 437) had committed rapes, in four townships in Bhamo District. Two particularly brutal incidents took place on June 18, in Dum Bung village, Mo Mauk township of Bhamo. Government soldiers from LIB 437 caught three families who had not managed to flee in time. Six women and girls were gang- raped, and 7 kids were killed cruelly. In Je Sawn village, Man Si township of Bhamo, soldiers from LIB 139 gang-raped a 7-year-old girl and her grandmother and Killed them.
According to Kachin News Group [KNG], a local source said that Burmese troops raped women and small girls and also killed small children in Dum Bung village on Ledo road in western Kachin State. They took away men from three families to use as porters as they could not escape from government troops.
On June 17 in Sinbo, where 17 Burmese soldiers from Light Infantry 141were killed in action by Kachin Independence Army (KIA) battalion 5, a woman with four children and three other girls under 20 years of age were raped by Burmese troops. Although the three girls were not killed the woman died after the incident, the source said.
Another source said a couple was tortured and the wife died after being raped in Dawhpumyang village near Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State. In addition, a KIA officer on the front line informed KNG that Burmese troops deployed in Manje (Mansi) township in southern Kachin State are arresting and killing civilians. Three Kachin residents from these areas have been killed by the soldiers.
These incidents are not random acts of violence, said KWAT spokesperson Shirley Seng, according to Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.). The Burma Army is committing gang-rape and killing on a wide scale. It is clear they are acting under orders, Shirley Seng said.
KWAT demands that the regime immediately stops using rape as a weapon of war, ends the offensive against Kachin and other ethnic groups, and withdraws from the ethnic areas.
KWAT is also urging China to provide safe haven and humanitarian aid to those fled for their security, and to act as a go-between in the conflict.
The regime is committing atrocities on China doorstep, and destabilizing the border area, said Shirley Seng. She also said that it will be beneficial to China mediating the root causes of the political conflict of the nation en route for a genuine resolution. http://asiancorrespondent.com/58046/kachin-women-slam-burma-army-for-using-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war/
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18 women gang-raped in Kachin state
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 22 June 2011
18 women gang-raped in Kachin state thumbnail
Burmese troops sit by the side of a street in Rangoon. Use of rape as a weapon of war by the Burmese army is well-documented (Reuters)
Eighteen cases of gang-rape of Kachin women by Burmese troops have been confirmed by a Thailand-based rights group in the past three weeks, but it says the total could be nearer to 30.
A statement released today by the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT), which on Monday reported the rape of seven women, four of whom were then murdered, said that the 18 gang-rapes happened in an eight-day period between 10 and 18 June.
“Soldiers from five different battalions … committed the rapes, in four townships of Bhamo District,” the statement said. Bhamo has been the epicentre of fighting since 9 June between Burmese forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
It added that two particularly horrific incidents had occurred in two villages in Bhamo. In the first case, in Dum Bung village, Burmese troops “caught three families who had not managed to flee in time. Six women and girls were gang-raped, and seven small children killed”.
In Je Sawn village, soldiers “killed a 7-year-old girl and then gang-raped and killed her grandmother”.
While the allegations cannot be independently verified by DVB, there has been extensive historical documentation of rape by Burmese troops during military offensives in ethnic regions.
Opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi told a summit of Nobel prize winners in May that rape in Burma is a “very real problem” and “is used as a weapon by armed forces to intimidate the ethnic nationalities and to divide our country”.
Shirley Seing from KWAT said that reports of rape had come from five locations along the route being used by the Burmese army to mobilise columns as they continue their offensive against the KIA, which has launched several counterattacks in recent weeks.
“We only reported the 18 cases we could confirm, based on accounts from refugees and porters – we learnt there were about 30 cases,” said Shirley Seng.
The fighting is estimated to have displaced around 10,000 people, some of whom have crossed into China and some of whom have travelled to the KIA headquarters in Laiza, north of Bhamo.
The KWAT statement urged China to provide aid to the refugees and mediate in the conflict.
“The regime is committing atrocities on China doorstep, and destabilizing the border area … We believe it is in China’s interest to mediate towards a genuine resolution of the political root causes of the conflict.”
http://www.dvb.no/news/18-women-gang-raped-in-kachin-state/16265
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Burmese Army Accused of Raping Kachin Civilians
By KO HTWE Wednesday, June 22, 2011
A Kachin human rights group has accused Burmese government troops of multiple cases of rape during the recent armed conflict with the Kachin Independence Army in Kachin State, northern Burma.
In the statement released on Tuesday, Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) claims that at least 18 female Kachins—aged between 15 and 50 years old—were gang-raped by five different Burmese Army battalions in four different townships of Bhamo District from June 10-18.
Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 437 and Infantry Battalions (IB) 237, 141, 142, 139 and 437 committed the rapes in Momauk, Monyin, Mansi and Bhamo townships, KWAT alleges.
The statement also highlights evidence that IB 437 soldiers detained three families in Dum Bung Village of Momauk Township, gang-raped six women and girls and killed seven small children. The group also accuses soldiers from IB 139 of murdering a seven-year-old girl in Je Sawn Village of Man Si Township before gang-raping and killing her grandmother.
“I received this evidence from residents, porters and members of our group who are helping refugees in the area. We heard nearly 25 women have been raped in the war zone but 18 of them have been confirmed,” said KWAT spokesperson Shirley Seng to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
La Nan, joint-secretary of the Kachin Independence Organization, said that cases of rape in the area are difficult to investigate as it is currently under government control.
“The number of victims is likely to be higher than that mentioned by KWAT because there are villages that we cannot reach. We are trying to collect evidence regarding these matters,” explained La Nan.
While The Irrawaddy cannot independently verify any of these cases, the Burmese government has not yet responded to these allegations.
Roi Htoi, a young resident of Liaza, said that villagers far from the town are victims of gang rape. A local Kachin youth group, Education Economics Development for Youth, also distributed a statement on June 16 advising local residents, especially women, to move to safer places.
Another ethnic women’s group, the Shan Women’s Action Network, based in Thailand, released a report entitled License to Rape in 2002, which documented over 600 rapes and sexual assaults committed by Burmese government troops in Shan State.
In 2007, Thailand-based Karen Women’s Organization also released a report called State of Terror which documented more than 4,000 cases of abuse, rape, murder, torture and forced labor by the Burmese regime’s forces in recent years in around 200 Karen villages.
“Gang-rape has been one of the regular tactics of the military regime,” said Tin Tin Nyo, general secretary of Thailand-based NGO Women’s League of Burma (WLB), comprised of 12 Burmese women’s ethnic groups.
“Women don't create the war, but negative consequences of the conflict directly affect them with gang-rape taking place whenever there is a clash. That is why I was worried that the fighting is occurring again,” she said.
“They [military regime] say that a civilian government has now been sworn into power, but the rape cases that still take place demonstrate that nothing is different. Although the government has apparently changed, I'm sure that women are still victims of rape,” added Tin Tin Nyo.
Women's rights groups have long accused Burmese government soldiers of using systematic rape against ethnic women as a weapon and strategy to terrorize the ethnic population.
Since 1997, the Burmese regime has destroyed more than 3,000 villages and displaced over half-a-million civilians in eastern Burma, according to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an umbrella organization responsible for the distribution of aid at the Thai-Burmese border.
Recently, international and regional human rights groups —including the International Federation for Human Rights, Altsean-Burma and Burma Lawyers’ Council—urged the European Union to support the establishment of a UN Security Council Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Burma. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21544
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Mass defections hit govt border forces
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 22 June 2011
Troops from four Border Guard Force units in a Karen state region have mutinied as Burmese army battalions are deployed in preparation for a retaliatory offensive.
The majority of the defectors have joined the ranks of the opposition Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), according to DKBA Colonel Kyaw Thu, while some have returned to their original Burmese army brigades.
Kyaw Thu said that the DKBA, which steadfastly refused to transform into a government-controlled border force, has been bolstered by as many as 1000 soldiers since the series of defections on 12 June.
Two Light Infantry Divisions (LID) of the Burmese army are now mobilising in the Myainggyingu region of Karen state where the renegade units are based. The Border Guard Force (BGF) 1012 was the first to break rank last month when around 500 soldiers joined the DKBA.
Reports are circulating that two more LIDs have been sent but are yet to reach the Myainggyingu, which lies around 35km from the Thai border. Each LID is made up of 10 Light Infantry Brigades which are specially trained in counter-insurgency and jungle warfare.
Kyaw Thu, who belongs to the DKBA unit led by Brigadier General Na Kham Mwe, said that the “situation was getting worse” in Myainggyingu as more Burmese army units arrive. He added that the DKBA had “special plans” for a counterattack, and would be joined by the KNLA.
Last year the government threatened force against ethnic armies that refused to transform into BGFs. Only a handful agreed, while decades-old ceasefires between the government and some of Burma’s most prominent insurgent groups have collapsed.
The recent manoeuvres by government troops mark a further escalation of hostilities in Burma’s border regions, where several groups have refused to transform into government-controlled BGFs. Fighting has raged in Kachin state over the past fortnight, while Burmese troops have also launched assaults on the Shan State Army.
http://www.dvb.no/news/mass-defections-hit-govt-border-forces/16259
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Burma pledges to rout Indian separatists
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 22 June 2011
An Indian paramilitary searches for ULFA troops in Assam state in northeast India, close to the border with Burma (Reuters)
Indian separatists sheltering in northwest Burma will be purged and the shared border tightened to prevent arms and insurgents from crossing between the two countries, the Burmese government has told a visiting Indian minister.
Several rebel groups, notably the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), are believed to have bases inside Kachin state in Burma from which they can exploit the porous border. The two countries have signed counter-terror pacts aimed at stemming cross-border movement of rebels and weapons, and Delhi has bolstered security on its side of the border, but so far little has been done by Burma.
Indian external affairs minister, S M Krishna, who is in Naypyidaw for talks with the Burmese government, was given “firm assurances” that the mountainous frontier region will not be used as a launch pad by groups like the ULFA for attacks against the Indian government, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Krishna met with both the Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo. He is the first high-level Indian official to visit Burma since the new government came to power in March.
India has long been attempting to court the Burmese government, both due to the country’s sizeable energy reserves and its strategic position as a gateway to ASEAN economies. Burma is the only country in ASEAN that shares a border with India.
A gesture of closer economic relations came from Krishna in the form of 10 heavy duty rice silos designed to protect grains during natural disasters, such as the powerful cyclone that destroyed southern Burma in 2008.
According to the Kolkata-based The Statesman newspaper, bilateral trade between the two countries reached $US1.2 billion in the last fiscal year, doubling from the 12 months prior. Although India is Burma’s fourth largest trade partner, the volume still falls well behind China, which invested up to US$12 billion in the same period.
India’s campaign to build closer economic ties with Naypyidaw is seen as a wider attempt by Delhi to counter China’s growing influence in the Asia region, which will grow considerably once the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement starts bearing fruit. Burma is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and has opened its doors to substantial Chinese investment.
But Burma is also known for its ability to play competing countries off against one another, and may be looking to economic investment from India as a countervailing force to its dependence on China, which is behind the vast majority of energy projects in its southern neighbour.
India has made moves towards developing its northeast region where four states border Burma, both to facilitate increased cross-border trade and to help boost security. The plans include the construction of a 1,500km road along the borderline, as well as 50 helipads that will allow quicker deployment of border forces to separatist territory.
The Indian government has also looked to expand on its transport routes along the border with China, also as means to more effectively deploy troops in the event of unrest. That frontier is undermanned as India’s 4.5 million-strong military focuses its efforts on the volatile Pakistan border, as well as tackling several insurgent groups.
http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-pledges-to-rout-indian-separatists/16252
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Burma chamber of commerce members have ‘dialogue’ in Sweden
Wednesday, 22 June 2011 14:42 Thomas Maung Shwe
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - The Swedish government has confirmed that several members of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) traveled to Sweden in May as part of Swedish initiative to promote sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.
Myanmar Egress founder and Burmese newspaper and magazine publisher Dr. Nay Win Maung, one of the members of the delegation to Sweden.
Myanmar Egress founder and Burmese newspaper and magazine publisher Dr. Nay Win Maung, one of the members of the delegation to Sweden.
The delegates were visiting at the invitation of the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR), which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
According to a statement issued by SIDA in response to the controversy created in Sweden by the visit, the Burmese delegates were invited as part of a SIDA-funded program that NIR has embarked on that involves promoting the ‘objective to create a dialogue with industry and commerce representatives on issues such as market principles in several countries, including Burma’.
Burma continues to face trade sanctions despite elections in November 2010 that brought in a democratically elected government, one that critics claim is run behind the scenes by the military.
According to the Swedish media, Jytte Guteland, the head of the youth wing of the opposition Social Democrats, issued a press release demanding that the Swedish government explain the delegation’s visit and answer whether the visit meant that Swedish policy towards Burma had changed.
The SIDA statement indicated that the delegates were brought to Sweden to have a dialogue with NIR that ‘focused on corporate social responsibility, transparency and sustainable development’.
According to SIDA, to carry out this programme NIR has 'been in contact with reform-minded individuals in business organizations. The invitees were individual representatives of Burmese industry and commerce, known for wanting to pursue economic reforms’.
The Swedish news site Omvärlden first reported that the delegation included members of the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce. Both Omvärlden and Mizzima receive financial support from SIDA.
SIDA spokesperson Tove Silveira Wennergren told Mizzima that although representatives of the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce were included in the delegation they ‘were not invited as representatives of the Chamber, and there has been no direct contact with the Chamber as an institution’.
The Myanmar Chamber of Commerce was until recently headed by the EU blacklisted Burmese businessman Win Myint, Burma’s new commerce minister. While the chamber itself was never blacklisted by the EU, it does appear on the American sanctions list of entities that are identified and targeted for being close to the Burmese military regime.
SIDA spokesperson Silveira Wennergren declined to tell Mizzima what other organizations or businesses the rest of the delegation came from. ‘Unfortunately, due to the nature of this visit and in consideration of the security of the participants, SIDA cannot disclose detailed information about the participants and their respective affinities’, she said.
Last month, NIR director of operations Sofia Svingby told Omvärlden that the delegation included members of Myanmar Egress, a self-declared civil society organization that is a registered business in Burma and charges tuition for students to take ‘civil society’ classes at the organization’s head office located in a Rangoon hotel.
Photos of the delegation posted on the Omvärlden Web site show that Myanmar Egress founder, Burmese newspaper and magazine publisher Dr. Nay Win Maung, was part of the delegation. Nay Win Maung, who started his first magazine with the help of Ye Naing Win, son of then SPDC Prime Minister and Military Intelligence Chief Khin Nyunt, remains a controversial figure in Burmese opposition circles.
http://www.mizzima.com/news/world/5466-burma-chamber-of-commerce-members-have-dialogue-in-sweden.html
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday 21 June, 2011
News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday 21 June, 2011
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Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to address U.S. Congress on Myanmar conditions
India Puts Security, Trade With Burma Ahead of Democracy
Krishna lands in Myanmar capital
Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Dave Lee Travis kept me going'
Suu Kyi to Address US Congressional Committee
Kachin Displaced by Conflict in Need of Food, Medicine
Letter from Laiza: High Spirits at the Kachin Rebel Headquarters
New Refugee Arrests Undermine Recent Progress
Australian media boss seeks acquittal in Myanmar
Myanmar clashes continue along border
Confusion over Kachin conflict orders
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Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to address U.S. Congress on Myanmar conditions
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 21, 2011 -- Updated 0105 GMT (0905 HKT)
(CNN) -- Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will address members of the U.S. Congress this week, a rare foray into American politics for a woman who is lauded internationally even as she struggles to be heard in her native Myanmar.
Suu Kyi will not be in Washington for Wednesday's hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives' subcommittee focused on Asia and the Pacific. But she will testify via video about conditions in her nation, including on recent elections that drew widespread criticism, U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo said Monday in a statement. Myanmar is also known as Burma.
"This hearing will highlight these sham elections and Burma's difficult road ahead," Manzullo, R-Illinois, said. "I am excited to share the videotaped testimony of (Suu Kyi) so everyone can hear of the junta's continued military offenses against ethnic groups and the dire human rights situation in Burma."
The daughter of Gen. Aung San, a hero of Burmese independence, Suu Kyi repeatedly challenged Myanmar's long-time military junta and promoted democracy over the years. Her efforts helped her win the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, while making her a target of Myanmar's regime and leading to her decades-long detention.
Last November, Myanmar held its first elections in 20 years. The vote drew fire from critics who said it was aimed at creating a facade of democracy. The regime had refused to allow international monitors or journalists into Myanmar for the vote.
Members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party were among those who boycotted the vote, describing it as a sham.
But shortly afterward, on November 13, the Nobel laureate was released from house arrest -- having spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest or in prison.
Since being freed, Suu Kyi has largely remained in Myanmar with some exceptions -- like an address last January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which she urged the world's political and business elite not to forget the people of Myanmar as they rebuild the global economy.
Earlier this month, Sen. John McCain traveled to Asia and met with Suu Kyi -- whom he called "a personal hero of mine for decades." During his talks, he said that he promised U.S. support for her efforts to promote democracy. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/20/dc.myanmar.suu.kyi/index.html
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June 21, 2011
India Puts Security, Trade With Burma Ahead of Democracy
Daniel Schearf | Bangkok
India's foreign minister is in Burma for meetings with top leaders that are expected to focus on security and trade. New Delhi says the trip, the first since a civilian government took office, is an opportunity to "further vitalize" the relationship.
S.M. Krishna’s visit is India’s first high-level engagement since the country’s military government was replaced with a nominally civilian leadership in March.
India says the two sides will discuss security cooperation as well as trade and investment.
Krishna is not scheduled to meet with opposition and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was banned from participating in the election.
India was once a vocal Suu Kyi supporter but changed its policy in the early 1990s in order to have better cooperation with the military government.
Professor D.S. Muni at Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies says India realized there was a heavy security cost for supporting Aung San Suu Kyi and calls for democracy in Burma.
“Certainly as a result of change in New Dehli’s policy there has been considerable cooperation on the border, for instance," Muni said. "Lot of northeast insurgencies which have been earlier taking shelter in Myanmar - the Myanmar government’s cooperation is forthcoming.”
Muni says although there is cooperation, India has not been entirely satisfied with Burma’s border security and hopes to improve communications with the new government over the issue.
Critics say Burma’s controversial November election merely gave a civilian face to continued military rule.
A quarter of all parliament seats were reserved for the military and the military party won by a landslide amid widespread reports of voter fraud and intimidation.
Muni says although India is not pushing openly for democratic change in Burma, it has engaged in quiet diplomacy on the issue.
The engagement policy has also paid off economically for both Burma and India.
Bilateral annual trade volume shot from tens of millions of dollars in the 1980s to about a billion and a half dollars last year. Muni says Burma has also discussed brokering new deals for critical energy supplies including oil.
While that remains far less than the several billion dollars of annual Chinese trade and investment, Muni says India is more worried about Chinese naval activity in the region.
"Recently there were visit[s] of the two Chinese ships," Muni said. "Now there is a Chinese ship coming to Singapore. The Chinese are setting up a port development in Sri Lanka, they're planning a port development in Chittagong [Bangladesh]. So, I think this naval activity has suddenly alerted almost anyone who has concern for security in the Bay of Bengal.”
The Indian foreign minister’s visit coincides with a visit to Burma by a delegation from the European Union.
The EU group also met with government ministers and was to meet Tuesday evening with Aung San Suu Kyi. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/India-Puts-Security-Trade-With-Burma-Ahead-of-Democracy-124279464.html
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Krishna lands in Myanmar capital
Irish Sun
Tuesday 21st June, 2011
(IANS)
Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Tuesday arrived in this Myanmar capital for the first high-level interaction between the two countries since a civilian government took charge in March.
Accompanied by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, he flew in by a special aircraft from Yangon, the erstwhile capital from where the government shifted base in 2005. Krishna is on a three-day visit that ends Wednesday.
He will hold delegation level talks with his Myanmarese counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin, when the two sides will review pending infrastructure-related joint projects.
These includeing the Kaladan multi-modal transport system that will link India and Myanmar through a sea-river-land route, easing access to the border regions of the two countries.
The two sides will also sign agreements on developing a second industrial park in Myanmar with India's help. Krishna will also give 100 computers to Myanmar to digitalise the country's land records department.
Krishna will meet Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo, when the two sides will discuss the security situation in the region and the means to enhance their strategic relations, Indian officials said.
On Wednesay, Krishna will meet President Thein Sein before returning to New Delhi.
The new civilian government was voted into office in the November, marking the transfer of power from the military junta headed by Senior General Than Shwe. http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/800124/cs/1/
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Channel 4 News
Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Dave Lee Travis kept me going'
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Dave Lee Travis kept me going' - Reuters
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has spent 15 years under house arrest since 1989, said the DJ's request show helped make her "world much more complete".
Asked what kind of music she used to tune into, she said: "I used to listen to all sorts of different programmes, not just classical music. I can't remember what the name of that programme... Dave Travis? Was it?"
After broadcaster Eddie Mair, who conducted the Radio Times interview, asked if she meant Dave Lee Travis, Ms Suu Kyi responded: "Yes! Didn't he have a programme with all different sorts of music?
Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Dave Lee Travis kept me going' - Getty
"I would listen to that quite happily because the listeners would write in and I had a chance to hear other people's words. It made my world much more complete."
She added: "We listen to the radio much more than the average person who's not under house arrest and we listen much more carefully because that's really our only line to the outside world.
"The first six years (under house arrest)... I could be in touch with everything... with culture, with art, with books, with music."
Mr Lee Travis presented request programme A Jolly Good Show for 20 years until 2001.
He said: "I'm not surprised that Aung San Suu Kyi listened to my show, but I'm touched she remembers it."
http://www.channel4.com/news/aung-san-suu-kyi-dave-lee-travis-kept-me-going
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Suu Kyi to Address US Congressional Committee
By LALIT K JHA Tuesday, June 21, 2011
WASHINGTON — In a first of its kind, Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's opposition National League of Democracy (NLD), will address a congressional committee to inform US lawmakers of the ground realities in Burma and her impressions of US-Burma ties.
Suu Kyi has sent the congresspersons a pre-recorded video message titled “Piercing Burma’s Veil of Secrecy: The Truth behind the Sham Election and the Difficult Road Ahead.”
Subcommittee Chairman Congressman Don Manzullo announced on Monday that the pre-recorded video message from Aung San Suu Kyi will be played to the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on Wednesday.
“This hearing will highlight these sham elections and Burma’s difficult road ahead. I am excited to share the videotaped testimony of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi—the daughter of Burma’s revolutionary hero General Aung San—with my colleagues and the public, so everyone can hear of the junta’s continued military offensives against ethnic groups and the dire human rights situation in Burma,” said the Republican lawmaker.
Manzullo is co-author with Congressman Joseph Crowley of the legislation that awarded Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008, although the actual presentation of the medal has yet to take place. He has also kept pressure on the Burmese government by working annually to renew economic sanctions against them.
Washington-based US Campaign for Burma said that the timing of the hearing could not be more urgent, as Burma’s regime continues to launch military offensives against ethnic resistance groups in Burma's northern Shan and Kachin states that have driven nearly 20,000 refugees to flee to China or to go into hiding along the China-Burma border.
Additional witnesses include Aung Din, the executive director and co-founder of the US Campaign for Burma and former political prisoner from Burma, and Dr. Chris Beyrer, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights and co-author of several studies on the situation of public health and human rights in Burma.
After Nov. 7 election, Manzullo said the junta’s claim of receiving 80 percent of the vote “comes from the barrel of a gun.” As the election returns were coming in to Burma, junta troops engaged in shootouts with ethnic minority forces in border areas, sending tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into Thailand, he said.
“Artillery fire even flew over the border, injuring refugees, Thai civilians and Thai soldiers on the Thai side,” Manzullo said.
Meanwhile, citing the very fact that he was allowed to visit Burma for the first time in 15 years, Sen John McCain said that was an indication that the new government formed after last year’s general election could represent a change from the past, though he came out in support of establishing a commission of inquiry into war crimes in Burma.
“This is not the time for the United States to lift sanctions,” he said. “We should also work to establish a UN Commission of Inquiry, which has nothing to do with retribution and everything to do with truth and justice for the Burmese people.”
Sharing his experience with a Washington-based think tank, McCain said that his visit to Burmese capital Naypyidaw was a dislocating experience.
“It was the first time I had been allowed to return to the country in 15 years, which is one indication that this new civilian government could represent a change from the past,” McCain said in his speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Maritime Security in the South China Sea.
Another noteworthy change, he said, was the new capital of Naypyidaw. “Massive government buildings, marble-strewn palaces, brand new hotels, 18-lane highways—and the strange thing about it: no one is there.
“Ours were the only cars on the road,” he said. “The buildings were nearly empty. It was a dislocating experience. And it certainly was a sad contrast with the crushing poverty in Rangoon.
“I visited a private AIDS clinic that was overflowing with people, many orphaned children who need more care than is available. I went to a service that offers free funerals for departed souls whose families are too poor to provide their loved ones with the dignity of a decent burial. It breaks your heart, and it makes you wish the government would devote similar levels of enthusiasm and resources to the development of their nation as the construction of their capital,” he said.
McCain said from that he took from his meetings with Burma's First Vice President, the two Speakers of Parliament, and others, that “it was clear that this government wants better relations with the United States.
“I stressed that my government and I share this aspiration, and that such a feat is not impossible. After all, if the United States and Vietnam can improve relations, which I know a thing or two about. Anything is possible,” he said.
But the main point he stressed during those meetings was that any improvement of relations would need to be built on actions by both sides. The US should be willing to put every aspect of its policy on the table, and to make tangible changes that the government in Naypyidaw asks for.
“But this can only be done in conjunction with concrete actions on their part, especially those steps called for by the UN Human Rights Council: releasing all prisoners of conscience; providing the Red Cross unfettered access to all prisons; commencing a real process of national reconciliation that involves ethnic and political opposition parties, including the National League for Democracy; and guaranteeing the safety and freedom of movement of Aung San Suu Kyi,” McCain said.
Following his return from Burma, McCain has briefed the US State Department and officials of the Obama administration on his impressions about Burma and the way forward. Referring to his meeting with Suu Kyi, McCain said the reason he is hopeful for the Burmese people has a lot to do with her.
“This amazing lady remains an inspiration to her people, and to me,” McCain said.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21534
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Kachin Displaced by Conflict in Need of Food, Medicine
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Around 2,000 Kachin war refugees who have fled recent fighting between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are now in need of food, shelter and medical assistance, according to relief groups.
Seven local Kachin groups are assisting the refugees and have already formed a committee to assist the fleeing villagers. The committee is responsible for distributing food and small amounts of medicine donated by other villages in the area.
People from around 60 villages have fled their homes since the fighting began nearly two weeks ago. Most are living in the jungle, while some are receiving assistance from relatives living in villages outside the conflict zone, according to Mai Ja of the Kachin Women's Association Thailand, one of the groups engaged in relief efforts near the Sino-Burmese border.
“We provide food and a small amount of medicine donated by other villages, but it isn’t enough. They are still hiding in the jungle, and many are in need of medical assistance,” said Mai Ja, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
“We are especially concerned about the spread of malaria, flu and diarrhea. There are already many cases of diarrhea, although no one has died from it yet,” she said, adding that there have been reports of the disease at almost every location where the refugees are staying.
Most of the refugees are from Momauk, Bhamo, Mansi and Waingmaw townships. A few are from villages near Laiza, where the headquarters of the KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), is located.
According to La Nan, the joint-secretary of the KIO, there are plans to build three camps for the refugees in the area controlled by KIA Brigade 3. The camps will be in the villages of U Ra Pa, Na Ya Pa and Naw Hpar in Momauk Township. All are about one day's walking distance from the conflict area.
“Right now, we are able to provide some food—basically just rice, salt and oil—and a small amount of medicine. We can’t solve all of their problems, but we will do as much as we can to help the refugees,” said La Nan.
Meanwhile, there have been reports that some refugees who crossed into China nearly a week ago have been forced to return.
“The Chinese authorities told them that fighting had stopped in their area, so they were told to go back,” said Mai Ja.
Clashes between the Burmese army and the KIA erupted on June 9, after negotiations between the two sides over a hostage situation broke down. According to a KIA statement released on Monday, the Burmese army fired the first shot.
However, according to the state-owned New Light of Myanmar, the KIA initiated the conflict. “Tatmadaw [Burmese army] columns inevitably counterattack KIA troops for their threats and armed attacks,” read the headline of a report published in the newspaper on Saturday.
On Sunday, KIA troops destroyed a Burmese intelligence outpost in Bhamo Township. Since then, the situation has been quiet but tense.
There has been no official contact between the two sides since the government sent four Kachin leaders to Laiza as intermediaries to call for a cease-fire on Friday. In response, the KIA asked the government to provide some evidence that it has ordered its army to stop firing. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21538
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Letter from Laiza: High Spirits at the Kachin Rebel Headquarters
By RYAN LIBRE Tuesday, June 21, 2011
In Laiza spirits are high. There is a vibrancy in the air and the leadership of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), talk of their options with optimism. Many civilians have huddled into churches and makeshift refugee camps just meters from the Chinese border. They have chosen this spot because they don't trust the central government not to order an attack on civilians, but know that Naypyidaw is concerned about shelling China by accident. Those left in the city don't look scared.
The Kachin are in the honeymoon stage of war. If this turns into a full-scale prolonged war, this honeymoon will fade as the realities of war and refugees grow. However, the celebratory atmosphere in Laiza is not without warrant. I have personally seen many factors, some of which are still unknown even to specialists on the topic, that give the Kachin reason to be optimistic about their position and enable them to bargain with the central government with authority. The Burmese army has no chance of quickly wiping out the KIA as they did the Kokang in 2009.
The Kachin are known to be fierce fighters, but they are not warmongers. Even now, in the excitement of renewed fighting, one of the most frequently spoken words I hear during the long civil debates among the leaders and elders is “simsa,� which means peace in their native Jinghpaw language. The Kachin are the most peace-loving, kind and tolerant people I have ever come across.
However, the Kachin cannot live peacefully without their own army under the current government. As one civilian member of the KIO's central committee told me, “There are so many gross abuses of power now, I can't image what would happen if we had no arms to create a balance.�
Naypyidaw demanded that the KIO/KIA accept the Border Guard Force (BGF) plan without addressing any of the reasons the Kachin feel they need to protect themselves. In the many talks the two sides held to discuss the BGF issue, the central government never truly negotiated. It thought it had enough weapons and power to bully the KIA to accept, but in the end was unable to get its own way, which brings us to the inevitable fighting this week.
The commander of the Burmese army's Northern Regional Command, Brig-Gen Zeyar Aung, wrote a letter to the KIO under the heading, “In response to your request [for a cease-fire],� even though the KIO had never asked for a cease-fire. Before the Kachin leaders could even begin to draft a reply, they had to decide what this example of Orwellian doublespeak was actually supposed to mean. Reading between the lines, they decided that the message from the northern commander was this: “There is no meaningful dialogue to be had with us.� After much deliberation and many drafts, the KIO replied, in part, that if the government wanted the fighting to stop, there was no need for a cease-fire. Simply stop your troops from entering our area and the fighting will cease by itself, they said.
This is proof that the central government is incapable of, and seemingly not even interested in, working toward a lasting solution to the deep-seated problems that have been with this unequal union from the very beginning. The KIO has asked China to step in and mediate the situation. But at this stage, they seem more convinced than ever that the “road map to disciplined democracy� was created to give directions to a dead end and waste time so that the central government could continue to rape the land and amass wealth and weapons.
Even though they appear to have lost all faith in Naypyidaw, the KIO/KIA still believe that peace will return to their homeland. The US, EU and UN can all do more to bring lasting peace to the Kachin and Burma. However, even combined, they have less influence over Burma than China does. What China will do is still not clear.
What the Kachin see as a solution is clear. As Gen Gam Shawng, the KIA chief of staff, told me: “If we get real state rights and a federal union, we will lay down our arms. It will be a clean and lasting diplomatic solution.�
It is equally clear to the Kachin that the Lady in Rangoon, rather than the generals in Naypyidaw, represents their best hope of achieving the permanent peace they seek. This is probably why, at a time when Laiza had been emptied of much of its population, many of those who remained, including KIO/KIA leaders such as Gen Gam Shawng and Gen Gun Maw, took precious time away from their duties to pay their respects to Aung San Suu Kyi on her 66th birthday last Sunday.
Some 150 people attended a birthday event organized by a group known as the Democratic Force, consisting mostly of students from the '88 generation. The majority were Kachin, although there were also many other ethnic groups and Burmese at the party. After the ceremony was finished, people lined up to sign a two-meter tall birthday card for Suu Kyi. Gen Gam Shawng was the first to add his name.
It is impossible to understand how the Kachin see Suu Kyi without looking at the relationship her father, Gen Aung San, had with them. It was Aung San who convinced the Kachin to join the union. They trusted his promise of a union based on equality, a promise that was betrayed by his successors. This history has forever changed Kachin State and its people, making it difficult for some Kachin to put complete trust in Suu Kyi's promises.
The fact that many now see her as a person worthy of real admiration is perhaps a signal that the KIO/KIA is willing to let go of the past and work together for the future.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21537
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New Refugee Arrests Undermine Recent Progress
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Tuesday, June 21, 2011
BANGKOK - on June 7, the day after 96 Pakistani Ahmadiyah refugees and asylum seekers were freed on bail in what was hailed as a landmark new departure in Thailand's dealings with refugees, six other Pakistani asylum seekers and one refugee were arrested in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok.
The seven were sent to Bangkok’s Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre (IDC), site of the high-profile June 6 release, says the UN refugee agency (UNCHR). "We are deeply concerned about these arrests that just increase the sense of insecurity that refugees and asylum seekers already feel", said Jean-Noël Wetterwald, UNHCR regional representative and coordinator for Southeast Asia.
The June 7 arrests were followed up on June 9 with the arrest of nine more Ahmadiyah asylum-seekers in Ayutthuya, with still more Ahmadiyah detained on June 15. The new arrests include children under five years old, as well as a number of Sri Lankan nationals. The Ahmadiyah are members of a minority Islamic group that is oppressed in Pakistan, where they are not recognized as Muslims and are often victims of sectarian violence.
Speaking on Monday evening at Bangkok's Foreign Correspondent's Club, Thailand National Human Rights Commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara described possible human rights violations at the IDC, such as detention conditions he depicted as crowded and unhealthy. One year ago today, Thailand assumed the Presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Thailand has long been a destination for refugees fleeing oppression in south and southeastern Asia, and currently around 140,000 Burmese refugees are in Thailand, mostly in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border. Monday, June 20, was World Refugee Day, with Burma cited as the world's fifth-highest source of refugees with 415,700 worldwide, around 200,000 of which are Rohingya.
The Rohingya are a Muslim people numbering around one million, mostly living in northern Arakan State in western Burma. They are denied Burmese citizenship and have long been persecuted. According to Refugees International, state and army land seizures, forced labor, arbitrary arrests and extortion of Rohngya are common.
More than 40 Rohngya are detained in Suan Plu IDC, which sits close to the main banking and finance district in Bangkok. Others are held elsewhere in Thailand, some of whom have languished inside detention centers for more than two years, although negotiations are taking place between refugee rights groups and the Thai authorities for the release of the Rohingya detainees.
In early 2009, allegations that the Thai army abandoned nearly 1,000 Rohingya at sea caused international anger, prompting then newly-installed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva to say he would investigate the claims. A diplomatic cable sent from the US Embassy in Bangkok, which was released early on Tuesday, outlined that prior to March 2009, the US sought to influence Thailand's 'pushback' of Rohingya trying to enter Thailand by sea.
The American representatives, including then-Ambassador to Thailand Eric John, said they raised the issue with Thai officials and lawmakers, including PM Abhisit, resulting in what the Americans perceived to be a temporary respite in Thailand's maritime pushbacks. The cable acknowledged the role played by media coverage, including that of The Irrawaddy, in pressuring the Thai authorities to relax the pushbacks.
After the advocacy push and media coverage, the next group of Rohingya arrivals to Thailand's shores were well-treated, according to the US account. However, the Thai authorities cited their concerns that the granting of full refugee status to a party of 78 Rohingya being held at Ranong would prompt more refugees to come to Thailand in the hope of acquiring the same status and possible eventual third-country resettlement to a Western nation.
The cable mentioned US efforts to address the 'root causes' of the Rohingya problem, namely the human rights situation in Burma and Arakan State specifically. The US said it wanted Burma's fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to pressure Burma into improving conditions in Rohingya-populated regions of Burma, measures that some analysts believe would reduce the numbers of Rohingya seeking refuge abroad.
On June 9, US Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration Eric P Schwartz reiterated the American position that “the solution to the Rohingya issue lies in Burma.� However, it is not clear that the US can convince Burma's neighbors that Burmese Government policy toward Rohingya is the cause of their flight to Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia .
In early June, Bangladeshi Food Minister Abdur Razaque accused Western countries of being the root cause of the Rohingya refugee crisis, due to their pressure on his country to register more of the estimated 200,000 Rohingya. Only 28,000 are officially-recognized as refugees by Dhaka, with the rest living in dire conditions in squalid camps.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21536
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STRAITS TIMES: Jun 21, 2011
Australian media boss seeks acquittal in Myanmar
Ross Dunkley (above), co-founder of the Myanmar Times, the country's only newspaper with foreign investment, is on trial in Yangon on charges including assaulting a 29-year-old woman and giving her illegal drugs, leading to injury. -- PHOTO: AFP
YANGON - AN AUSTRALIAN newspaper boss on trial in Myanmar asked to be acquitted on Tuesday in closing arguments of a case that some observers say highlights the risks of doing business in the military-dominated country.
Ross Dunkley, co-founder of the Myanmar Times, the country's only newspaper with foreign investment, is on trial in Yangon on charges including assaulting a 29-year-old woman and giving her illegal drugs, leading to injury.
If convicted on all counts he could face up to 14 years in prison.
A verdict will he handed down on June 30, the judge announced.
'I ask for an acquittal for these charges as he didn't commit any crime,' said defence lawyer Aung Than Soe.
A public prosecutor, Mone Mone, asked the court to hand down 'an appropriate punishment,' without demanding any specific sentence. -- AFP http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_682251.html
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Myanmar clashes continue along border
Published: June 21, 2011 at 6:22 AM
YANGON, Myanmar, June 21 (UPI) -- A rebel army in northern Myanmar reportedly warned its troops to expect protracted fighting after clashes with government soldiers forced thousands of civilians to flee.
Religious groups, including Christian churches, in the town of Laiza in the mountainous Kachin state bordering China are caring for the refugees. Hundreds arrive daily, a report by the independent news organization Democratic Voice of Burma said.
Fighting broke out June 9 near Bhamo, around 40 miles from the Chinese border. The clashes marked the end a 15-year cease-fire between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar central government.
Unconfirmed reports said at least four rebels and a number of government troops died. Several bridges also were destroyed by the KIA.
The government blamed the escalation in fighting on the KIA, a report in the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar said. KIA troops entered the Tarpein hydroelectric dam, a joint China and Myanmar project, and seized ammunition from security guards.
Troops were moved into the area to protect civilians and the dam, the New Light report said.
However, the KIA said fighting is a result of the breakdown of talks aimed at having KIA members join the central government's Border Guard Force, made up mainly of former rebel forces. The KIA refuses to join the BGF.
The government's policy of maintaining the BGF has been a relatively successful tactic between it and insurgents in several sensitive border areas, mainly in Kachin, in Shan state directly to the south and in Karen state, further south and which borders Thailand.
DVB also said a human rights group in Thailand said seven Kachin women were raped in separate attacks allegedly by Myanmar troops. Four of the women were subsequently killed.
All incidents were in, or close to, Bhamo where additional battalions of government soldiers have been deployed in the past two weeks to fight the KIA, the Kachin Women's Association Thailand said.
Further south, the government -- ostensibly civilian but consisting of former military leaders -- sent more troops into Karen state after sections of BGF in the state returned to their rebel group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
Last week, two battalions of government troops were sent to Myainggyingu, where BGF troops left to join the DKBA. Two more battalions arrived this week.
No fighting has been reported but the army is looking for the rebellious BGF soldiers, a commander with the Karen National Liberation Army, which is fighting alongside the DKBA, said.
Despite ruling Myanmar, formerly called Burma, for most of the years since independence was granted by the British in 1948, the military has had uneasy relations with the country's ethnic peoples along its borders.
Last November, at the time of national elections, clashes between the Myanmar army and rebels in Karen state left several dozen people dead and sent thousands fleeing into Thailand, it was estimated at the time.
Many rebel groups were pressuring their people to boycott the national elections that the junta was setting up as the first civilian poll in nearly 20 years.
Several Western leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, condemned the vote as a sham. The winning party was a group consisting of many of the former military rulers who resigned their commissions to run as civilians.
Also, one-quarter of seats in Parliament are reserved for military appointments, which critics say makes the government a military one in all but name.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/06/21/Myanmar-clashes-continue-along-border/UPI-78371308651720/#ixzz1PvBLGMEy
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Confusion over Kachin conflict orders
By DVB
Published: 21 June 2011
The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) has claimed that the Burmese army’s senior command had told troops not to launch attacks on bases in Kachin state from 18 June onwards, an order that was seemingly ignored.
Former communications minister Thein Zaw, who is now a parliamentary representative in the Kachin capital of Myitkyina, has been negotiating on behalf of the government since fighting between the two sides began on 9 June. It was Thein Zaw who reportedly told the KIO, the political wing of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), about the order.
“He sent us a letter claiming the Burmese army had ordered its troops to stop fighting as of 8pm on 18 June if we don’t open fire at them first,” said La Nang, KIO spokesperson. Despite the order, fighting continues today.
There have been doubts in recent weeks about how much authority the central government has over its frontline forces. The United Wa State Army (UWSA) said this week that President Thein Sein should exercise “more control” over troops, while shortly after the first wave of fighting began, KIA spokesperson James Lundau said he did not believe the orders to attack were coming from Naypyidaw.
Continued fighting in Burma’s northern and eastern border regions stems from the refusal of various ethnic armies to become government-controlled Border Guard Forces.
Since 9 June, clashes in Kachin state have spread, and the KIA has now mobilised all five of its brigades. The fighting has forced upwards of 10,000 to flee their homes.
Negotiations between both sides at the KIA headquarters in Laiza on 17 June were fruitless, with the KIA rejecting government proposals to rekindle the ceasefire as insincere. The following day, heavy fighting broke out in Shwebu township. One woman was killed in the crossfire.
State-run newspapers on the same day carried an article claiming the Burmese army “inevitably [had to] counterattack the KIA for their threats and armed attacks”. The KIA however maintains that it is fighting a defensive battle.
Fighting has also resurfaced in Shan state, with six battles between the Burmese army and Shan State Army occurring on 17 June alone.
http://www.dvb.no/news/confusion-over-kachin-conflict-orders/16238
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