News & Articles on Burma, Wednesday, 08 July 2009
Jul 8th, 2009
Aung San Suu Kyi ready for resumption of her trial, lawyer says
Burma’s Military Government Distances Itself From International Community
Burma: ‘Time to take off the kid gloves’
US Expresses Concern over Burma
Meeting with Ban “Unsatisfactory”: NLD
UN Chief Speaks Out Against Lack of Human Rights
Burmese flash floods kill at least 30
ANALYSIS – The world is running out of options on Myanmar
Myanmar’s snub of Ban may prompt UN push
Myanmar excludes A/H1N1 virus from cause of pig deaths
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Aung San Suu Kyi ready for resumption of her trial, lawyer says
Asia-Pacific News
Jul 8, 2009, 12:12 GMT
Yangon – Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was briefed for two hours by her defence team Wednesday and is well prepared for her trial which is scheduled to resume on Friday, one of her lawyers said.
Suu Kyi’s defence team met with the Nobel peace laureate in Insein Prison in preparation for the continuation of her trial Friday, when defence witness Khin Moe Moe will testify, Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, said Wednesday.
‘Daw (Mrs) Aung San Suu Kyi is fully prepared for whatever happens at the trial,’ Nyan Win said.
Nyan Win, who is the official spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, also informed Suu Kyi that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been denied a meeting with her by the junta during his brief trip to Myanmar on Friday and Saturday.
‘She made no remark on that,’ Nyan Win said.
Myanmar’s military regime refused Ban’s request to meet Suu Kyi on the grounds that she was currently on trial, and such a visit might prejudice the judiciary.
The excuse was deemed ridiculous since it is well-known that Myanmar’s judiciary does not operate independently of the junta.
Ban said he was ‘very disappointed’ by the refusal, and described it as ‘missed opportunity’ for the regime.
Khin Moe Moe, an NLD member and professional attorney, was originally scheduled to testify on Friday, but the court session was postponed until July 10, shortly after UN chief Ban arrived in Yangon.
A special court has been set up at Insein Prison to try Suu Kyi for breaking the terms of her detention by allegedly permitting US national John William Yettaw to swim to her lakeside home-cum-prison on May 3 and stay until May 5.
Suu Kyi’s trial began May 11. While the prosecution was allowed to present 14 witnesses in the first week, the defence was initially allowed only one. Later a second witness, Khin Moe Moe, was permitted.
Critics have accused the military junta of using the case as a pretext to keep Suu Kyi in jail during a politically sensitive period leading up to a general election planned for next year.
Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention.
Suu Kyi’s NLD won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked from power by Myanmar’s junta for the past 19 years.
The new trial of Suu Kyi, whose most recent six-year house detention sentence expired May 27, has sparked a chorus of protests from world leaders and even statements of concern from its regional allies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations.
http://www.monstersandcritics.
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Burma’s Military Government Distances Itself From International Community
By Daniel Schearf
Bangkok
08 July 2009
Burma’s defiant reception of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week underscored the military government’s self-isolation from the international community. At the same time, Burma’s improved relations with another isolated nation, North Korea have raised eyebrows. Burma’s military rulers appear to be digging in more than just their heels to maintain their grip on power.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had high hopes that his visit to Burma would help win the release of political prisoners and push the military government to allow democratic elections next year.
Mr. Ban sought the release of more than 2,000 jailed for opposing military rule, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But after twice meeting with Burma’s ruling general Than Shwe, Mr. Ban was told he would not even be allowed to meet with the democracy leader, let alone see her released.
The U.N. chief expressed his frustration. He said Burma’s government failed to take an opportunity to show a new era of political openness.
“I am deeply disappointed that Senior General Than Shwe refused my requests,” Ban said. “Allowing a visit to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would have been an important symbol of the government’s willingness to embark on the kind of meaningful engagement that will be essential if the elections in 2010 are to be seen as credible.”
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won Burma’s last elections in 1990, but the military did not allow the NLD to take power.
The Nobel Prize winner has been held under house arrest for most of the time since.
Disregard for international community
Rights activists say the government’s dismissal of Mr. Ban’s request has demonstrated its disregard for the United Nations and the international community.
Debbie Stothard is the coordinator for the Alternative ASEAN network on Burma, a regional rights group.
“We really do hope that this is a wake-up call that diplomacy is not going to work on this brutal dictatorship,” Stothard said. “It’s pressure, and it’s leverage. And, it’s time the regime was held accountable for their crimes. That’s what they are afraid of. They are afraid of economic sanctions and they are afraid of prosecution for their crimes.”
Rights groups say the U.N. should investigate Burmese authorities for crimes against humanity and move for a global arms embargo.
But China, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, rejects sanctions against Burma.
Relations with N. Korea improving
While Burma’s dealings with the international community appear to be slipping, Burmese exiles and analysts say its relations with North Korea are improving.
Burma cut off relations with Pyongyang in 1983 after North Korean agents bombed a South Korean delegation visiting Rangoon, killing more than 20 people.
But, the two countries have found themselves drawn back together.
Bertil Lintner is a journalist and author in Bangkok who has followed Burma for more than 20 years.
“The leaders of the two countries discovered that they had a similar mindset,” Lintner said. “They were both worried about the outside world, about being pariah states, about being condemned by the United Nations. They felt that they were more or less alone in a hostile world. And so, it was not surprising that they sort of began a much closer cooperation in a number of fields, including military matters, way back in the late 1990s.”
Lintner says the two countries have become close allies.
He says Burma’s military leaders are particularly impressed with North Korea’s nuclear diplomacy.
“They do admire the North Koreans because the North Koreans, because they have a bomb, have been able to stand up to the United States. And, Burma would like to be able to do the same,” he noted.
Nuclear ambitions?
Lintner says it would take years for Burma to develop its own nuclear threat, even if North Korea defied U.N. sanctions by helping.
But, North Korea does appear to be helping Burma’s military government prepare for survival.
Photos leaked by dissidents appear to show North Korean experts giving advice on the construction of massive underground tunnels in Burma’s capital, Naypyidaw.
In addition to meeting and storage rooms, the photos, dated a few years ago, show underground parking spaces for tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Lintner says the tunnel network appears designed for the military to protect itself from attack.
http://www.voanews.com/
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Burma: ‘Time to take off the kid gloves’
BANGKOK, THAILAND Jul 08 2009 09:47
The international community has few options left for Burma after the United Nations secretary general’s failure last week to engage the recalcitrant military regime.
Having risked his reputation by accepting an invitation to visit the isolated South-East Asia state, analysts believe Ban Ki-moon left with nothing to show for his efforts.
Denying Ban even a meeting with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta, more than ever, seemed impervious to criticism and comfortable in its isolation.
“The UN secretary general card has [now] been played, Ban has lost and we’re not very surprised,” said Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador to Thailand, now a Burma analyst.
“I don’t know where the international community can go from here.”
The situation is likely to be discussed at the regional forum of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean ) in Phuket, Thailand, later this month, with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in attendance.
But even if they have recently broken with tradition and ventured criticism, the smaller neighbours of Burma are unlikely to achieve much and Asean’s strategy of granting the generals membership as a way of getting them to accept regional norms on democracy will once again be shown up as a failure.
A statement reiterating demands for the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners is expected, but is likely to fall on deaf ears.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on the weekend that the world was preparing to “respond robustly” to the junta, but Burma’s snub of Ban and previous UN special envoys suggests diplomacy is futile and a tougher approach is needed.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/
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US Expresses Concern over Burma
By LALIT K JHA Wednesday, July 8, 2009
WASHINGTON — The United States expressed concern on Tuesday over the state of democracy in Burma, and urged the military junta to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi.
“I think our concerns with the state of democracy are very well known. We, of course, have called for the release of the 2,100 political prisoners in Burma,” the State Department spokesman, Ian C Kelly, told reporters at his daily press briefing.
Kelly said the Obama Administration has called very specifically for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest.
The spokesman said the Obama Administration is currently reviewing its Burma policy. “We have a new Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell. So I would suspect that we will have more to say when we will begin to wrap up this policy review and have more to say at that time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, announced in Bangkok on Saturday that Ibrahim Gambari, the Special UN Envoy for Burma, would convene a meeting of the Group of Friends on Burma for a briefing upon his return to New York.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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Meeting with Ban “Unsatisfactory”: NLD
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Burmese opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) said a meeting between the party leaders and UN chief Ban Ki-moon during his two-day trip to Burma was “unsatisfactory” because of the severe time limitation.
Win Naing, a spokesperson for the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that his party will release a statement on Thursday about the details of the meeting with Ban in Naypyidaw on July 3.
Four central committee executives of the NLD, Hla Pe, Soe Myint, Nyunt Wai and Than Tun, met with the UN general secretary in Burma’s new capital.
Win Naing said his party leaders were firstly allowed to meet and talk with Ban for only two minutes. The party leaders were then given ten minutes after they asked for more time.
“We are not satisfied with the time limit. We wanted to discuss current events far more and submit our proposals, but we had no choice,” said Win Naing.
During the meeting with Ban, the NLD’s executive members talked about the release of political prisoners, calls for dialogue and a review of the current constitution, said sources in Rangoon.
During his two-day visit, Ban also talked with Burma’s No 1, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, and urged him to release an estimated 2,100 political prisoners and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and embark on democratization ahead of multi-party elections scheduled for next year.
Ban also asked for a meeting with the detained opposition leader Suu Kyi. Than Shwe rejected his request, reasoning that the opposition leader was under trial.
Ban ended his visit to Burma on July 4 as Burmese observers were commenting that his trip had been “a failure” due to his failure to meet with Suu Kyi.
Before he left Rangoon, the UN general-secretary said he was “deeply disappointed” that junta chief Than Shwe had refused his requests to visit the detained pro-democracy leader.
Journalists in Rangoon, however, said that hough Ban had been humiliated by junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe, his frank message to the generals would have irked them.
The NLD also stated that the failure of Ban’s trip was due to the Burmese generals’ unwillingness to move forward to democratization in Burma and not the efforts by the UN secretary general.
Win Naing said, “Ban Ki-moon tried his best. But, he failed to achieve what he wanted because of decisions by the Burmese government.”
“We recognize what the UN has tried to do for Burma, on the contrary,” he added.
Nyan Win, the main spokesperson for the NLD, also said that the failure was due to “a lack of willingness and genuine goodwill on the part of the government.”
Ban’s first trip to Burma was in May 2008 after Cyclone Nargis had slammed into Burma’s Irrawaddy and Rangoon Divisions. During his first trip, he eased the junta’s tight control over the inflow of international humanitarian aid to parts of the country affected by the cyclone.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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UN Chief Speaks Out Against Lack of Human Rights
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Using the power of his office, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon achieved a rare diplomatic feat during his recent visit to military-ruled Burma. He broke a taboo by delivering a public speech about the lack of democracy and human rights in the country.
So far, the notoriously prickly regime, which controls the South-east Asian nation with an iron grip, has accepted Ban’s verbal thrust without an outburst. But Burma watchers wonder how long that silence will last, given the regime is known to lash out at U.N. officials who have made public statements in the country about the debilitating effects of ignoring political and civil liberties.
“Neither peace nor development can thrive without democracy and respect for human rights,” the world body’s top diplomat said over the weekend to an audience of diplomats, U.N. officials and staff from aid agencies in Rangoon, the former capital. “Peace, development and human rights are closely inter-related.”
“Myanmar’s human rights record remains a matter of grave concern,” Ban added, using the name of the country that the junta opts for, instead of Burma. “Myanmar’s way forward must be rooted in respect for human rights.”
Ban’s speech, on the last of his two-day stay in Burma, also touched on the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who has spent over 14 years either under house arrest or in Rangoon’s Insein Prison. He called for the release of the Nobel Peace laureate and the over 2,100 political prisoners languishing in Burmese jails.
“Aung San Suu Kyi must be allowed to participate in the political process without further delay,” Ban said after being denied a chance to meet the 64-year-old Suu Kyi, currently being held in the Insein Prison as part of a bizarre trial after a U.S. citizen showed up as an uninvited guest in her home in early May after he swam there across a lake.
Little wonder why Ban’s critical comments – which shatter the illusion being created by the regime that it is on the right track as part of its “roadmap to democracy,” including a planned general election in 2010 – is being welcomed in some quarters.
In the past, the junta has not been kind to the far less provocative and milder comments about the shortcomings of the regime’s model for democracy and the humanitarian situation made by Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. special envoy to Burma, and Charles Petrie, the former U.N. humanitarian coordinator in the country.
Gambari was given a dressing down by Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan in March last year for comments the Nigerian diplomat made about flaws in the “democratic” political process being pushed by the junta. Gambari said that the U.N. wanted this push, including the new constitution, to be inclusive, accommodating the opposition.
Petrie paid a different price for speaking his mind in a press release issued in October 2007. The junta refused to renew his visa, prompting an early departure from his post, after the head of the United Nations Development Programme deplored the “deteriorating humanitarian situation” in the country
The regime described that statement as “unprecedented” and “very negative.”
But by going many steps further, Ban’s speech is being described as “encouraging” by the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), the democratically elected government forced into exile after the regime refused to recognised the results of the 1990 general elections.
“This is the first time that someone has been so openly critical about the reality in Burma,” says Bo Hla Tint, the foreign minister of the NCGUB. “It was important for Mr. Ban to tell the regime how the U.N. sees the problem in Burma.”
“The U.N. secretary-general’s role is important to bring change in Burma,” the minister in the exile government told IPS. “It has to be part of a long serious political process, and not just a one-time event.”
The personal commitment shown by Ban to usher in an open and inclusive democratic culture in Burma is being well received by the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-member regional bloc of which Burma is a member.
“The prime minister, as the chair of ASEAN, supports the U.N. secretary-general’s trip to Myanmar and he wants to ensure that the U.N. keeps engaging the Myanmar government,” said Panitan Wattanayagorn, the acting spokesman for the Thai government. “We will see from this point onwards what more can be done now that the U.N. secretary-general has delivered his message.”
Such a regional response marks a departure from the harsh comments by Western governments that saw Ban’s trip as a failure, achieving barely any concessions from the junta. A key to this dismissive stance was Ban being denied access to meet Suu Kyi.
“Although we know that expectations among some in the international community was very high and they wanted the secretary-general to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, it is not fair to say the mission was a failure because the meeting did not take place,” added Panitan in an interview. “The issues are much more complex and beyond this single issue.”
But for the current U.N. engagement to achieve political reform in Burma more is required, say human rights groups that have continued to expose the litany of abuse in a country that has been under the grip of successive military regimes since a 1962 coup.
“Setting the standards through a speech is the easiest thing to do; achieving the standards is the difficult part,” says David Scott Mathieson, Burma consultant for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based global rights watchdog. “That is where the hard work and effort is going to be.” “The average person in Burma will find Ban’s speech patronising,” Mathieson told IPS. “They expect more from the U.N.”
Marwaan Macan-Markar
http://rinf.com/alt-news/
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Burmese flash floods kill at least 30
At least 30 people were killed when a landslide caused by torrential rain swept away homes in Burma.
The dwellings were built on a dump at Lonkhin Jade Mine near Phakant – around 1,500km (930 miles) north of Rangoon.
A jade merchant said: “So far as we heard from our field offices, about 30 people were killed when their houses built on the mine dump were swept away in the flash flood caused by torrential rain on July 4.”
And an official added: “We also heard there were some casualties in the landslide, which came last Saturday after it had rained heavily for about four days.
“The road between Lonkhin and Phakant remains blocked and inaccessible.”
Such accidents are common in the rainy season in that area, known for Burma’s famous ruby and jade. At least 20 people were killed in flash floods in Moegok and Phakant in June and July last year.
© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.
http://itn.co.uk/
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ANALYSIS – The world is running out of options on Myanmar
Reuters
ANALYSIS – The world is running out of options on Myanmar Reuters – A Myanmarese living in Thailand carries a Myanmar flag during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in …
2 hrs 53 mins ago
BANGKOK (Reuters) – The international community has few options left for Myanmar after the U.N. secretary-general’s failure last week to engage the recalcitrant military regime.
Having risked his reputation by accepting an invitation to visit the isolated southeast Asia state, analysts believe Ban Ki-moon left with nothing to show for his efforts.
Denying Ban even a meeting with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta, more than ever, seemed impervious to criticism and comfortable in its isolation.
“The U.N. secretary-general card has (now) been played, Ban has lost and we’re not very surprised,” said Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador to Thailand, now a Myanmar analyst.
“I don’t know where the international community can go from here.”
The situation is likely to be discussed at the regional forum of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phuket, Thailand, later this month, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in attendance.
But even if they have recently broken with tradition and ventured criticism, the smaller neighbours of Myanmar, the former Burma, are unlikely to achieve much and ASEAN’s strategy of granting the generals membership as a way of getting them to accept regional norms on democracy will once again be shown up as a failure.
A statement reiterating demands for the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners is expected, but is likely to fall on deaf ears.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the weekend that the world was preparing to “respond robustly” to the junta, but Myanmar’s snub of Ban and previous U.N. special envoys suggests diplomacy is futile and a tougher approach is needed.
DEALING WITH GENERALS, NOT DIPLOMATS
“Everyone has tried diplomacy, but these are army generals we’re dealing with, not diplomats,” said Mark Farmaner of the Burma Campaign UK.
“The generals are impervious to criticism, but not to pressure. They’re scared of real pressure and it’s a myth they think they’re invulnerable.”
Although not yet on the table, a U.N. Security Council resolution is an option, but risks opposition from China — the closest Myanmar has to a major ally — and Russia, who are among the five veto-wielding permanent members able to block action.
Some analysts suggest the U.N. should test the regime by threatening legal action over its poor human rights record, by way of an International Commission of Enquiry or referral to the International Court of Justice.
Increasingly, China could hold the key.
It has shown more diplomatic flexibility of late and supported two resolutions on sanctions against neighbouring North Korea for its nuclear weapons programme.
As in North Korea, Beijing is concerned about instability in Myanmar and might be willing to act to forestall that, lest it interfere with its considerable commercial interests.
“The generals feel they can get away with anything because China will give them blanket protection, but that may not be the case,” said Debbie Stothard from the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma.
“It’s time for a U.N. resolution and time for Ban to take off the kid gloves regarding Burma. The regime is afraid of the Security Council, but if it doesn’t act, the generals will continue to do whatever they like,” she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
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Analysis
Myanmar’s snub of Ban may prompt UN push
Published Date: July 08, 2009
By Louis Charbonneau
The Myanmar junta’s refusal to allow UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will likely prompt a new push for Security Council action, but all depends on China. The 15-nation council has been unable to take serious action in the case of the former Burma because China, the nearest Myanmar has to a major ally, has been opposed.
Like the United States, Britain, France and Russia, China is a permanent veto-wielding member of the council and can block any action. The last time the council said anything about Myanmar was in May 2008, when it issued a non-binding statement urging the junta to ensure an upcoming referendum on the country’s new constitution would be “an inclusive and credible process”.
At the time, critics said the referendum that approved the constitution was a farce. Many UN officials and diplomats worry next year’s multi-party election will be the same. China has shown flexibility on North Korea. It has supported two sanctions resolutions against Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons program. But Beijing has been unwilling to allow the council to impose sanctions on Myanmar, whose nearly 2,000 km coastline provides neighbor China with easy land and sea access to South Asia markets.
One Security Council diplomat said it may be time to try again to press China to use its influence on the secretive military rulers of Myanmar to reform. “I think China knows the council will have to look again at Myanmar,” the Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity after Ban’s visit. Other Western diplomats have expressed similar views.
Ban embarked on his two-day visit to the Southeast Asian country with low expectations, telling reporters ahead of time it would be a “very tough mission.” His goal was to inform the generals of the growing international dismay over what rights groups say is the country’s dismal human rights record and to urge Senior General Than Shwe to release the country’s more than 2,000 political prisoners and keep his promise to democratise.
Ban traveled to Myanmar’s remote new capital, Naypyidaw, where he asked Than Shwe to let him meet with Suu Kyi, being held at a guesthouse at the notorious Insein prison in Yangon on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest. After making Ban spend the night in Naypyidaw, Than Shwe told him on Saturday he could not visit Suu Kyi because she was on trial and he did not want it to appear as if the junta was being “interfered with or pressured from outside”.
Critics say Nobel laureate Suu Kyi’s trial is a sham intended to ensure she does not take part in the country’s first election since 1990, which Suu Kyi’s party won. She has spent most of the time since then under house arrest at her Yangon lakeside home. On Saturday evening, Ban told a packed audience of non-governmental organizations, opposition members, government officials and diplomats in Yangon he was “deeply disappointed that they rejected my request” to see Suu Kyi.
Ban also said Myanmar’s human rights record was of “grave concern” and its people would suffer if the regime continued to be isolated as a result of its failure to initiate meaningful, inclusive democratic reforms. There was no applause during Ban’s speech but his rebuke of the generals in front of a local audience prompted murmurs throughout the crowd at Yangon’s Drug Elimination Museum.
Ban may face some criticism since he left without any guarantees from the generals that Suu Kyi and the more than 2,000 political prisoners would be freed. Human Rights Watch had urged Ban not to make the trip. Ban, however, told reporters in Yangon it was too early to call his visit a failure. “My meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi or not meeting with her should not be the benchmark of success or failure of my visit,” Ban told reporters. “I believe they will seriously consider my proposals and I believe they g
ot the message.
Among his proposals to the junta were release of all political prisoners before the 2010 election and steps to ensure the poll is free and fair. UN officials said he asked the generals to allow international monitors into the country to observe the elections. Ban said later that Than Shwe promised him the election would not be rigged and power would be handed over to civilians afterwards.
UN officials said privately it would be unfair to blame Ban for the generals’ unwillingness to budge on Suu Kyi and other issues. They also said that with the Security Council divided on Myanmar, Ban was the world’s only card to play. “You can’t fault him for trying,” a UN official said. One of the few top world figures the Myanmar supremo is willing to meet, Ban had hoped he would have some sway with the 76-year-old Than Shwe, having convinced him last year to allow humanitarian aid groups to enter Myanma
r to help with post-Cyclone Nargis recovery efforts. But that was not the case.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in his blog that if Ban was unable to persuade the generals to keep their promises of reform the world would have to act. “The international community will work with Burma if the generals are prepared to embark on a genuine transition to democracy,” he wrote. “But if the Burmese regime refuses to engage, the international community must be prepared to respond robustly.” – Reuters
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/
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Myanmar excludes A/H1N1 virus from cause of pig deaths
www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-08 12:28:27
YANGON, July 8 (Xinhua) — The Myanmar health authorities have confirmed that the recent death of nine pigs in a pig farm in a Yangon’s suburban township was due to food poison and not because of swine flu, the local weekly 7-Day News reported Wednesday.
According to examination of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, the nine pigs bred in the South Okkalapa township died of the food poison on June 28 for being fed with littered rotten food.
The nine pigs out of 23 died on the spot, while three others were rescued after the case was reported to the authorities.
There has been so far no case of swine flu infected to pigs in Myanmar but a single girl who was infected with new influenza A/H1N1.
However, the new flu A/H1N1 case has been under control in the country, according to Wednesday’s announcement of the Health Ministry which also confirmed that none of the 203 persons coming into contact with a new flu girl victim were found further infected with the A/H1N1 virus.
Myanmar reported the first case of new flu A/H1N1 in the country on June 27 with a 13-year-old girl who developed the symptoms after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.
The girl patient is now reported to be in the stage of gradual recovery after she was hospitalized.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
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