NLD Applies for Meeting with Suu Kyi
Will monks shake Myanmar?
Clinton Expected to Address “Friends of Myanmar” Group
Asean leaders play it safe
‘A New Generation Carries On’
Livelihood consequences of SPDC restrictions and patrols in Nyaunglebin District
Two years after “saffron revolution,” Myanmar monks under thumb
Suu Kyi party seeks meeting of detainees
Quake damages ancient Buddhist temples in Burma
Burmese-American Held in Rangoon for 3 weeks
Burma junta still repressing monks: rights group
Rights group highlights persecution of Burma monks
Opposition members request meeting with detained leaders
U.S. allows Myanmar minister to visit Washington
127 political prisoners among 7,000 freed, Myanmar group says
Myanmar’s limited nuclear designs
Junta’s olive branch to SSA South
Teenage Lisu girl gang-raped and murdered by Burmese policemen
===========================
NLD Applies for Meeting with Suu Kyi
By KO HTWE      Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has sent a letter to the Burmese military authorities calling for permission to convene a meeting between the party’s central executive committee (CEC) and its detained leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the meeting was necessary “to determine the future policy of the party and to make critical decisions according to current political circumstances.”

The letter was sent to Snr-Gen Than Shwe on September 16, but the NLD has not received a reply, said Nyan Win.

Suu Kyi and Tin Oo have been detained since May 2003 when they were arrested after their convoy of vehicles was attacked by junta-backed thugs in Depayin Township in Sagaing Division, central Burma.

The terms of Suu Kyi detention were recently extended by 18 months after she was found guilty of harboring a foreigner, John W Yettaw, who swam uninvited to her lakeside house in Rangoon in May.

The last time the Burmese regime allowed the party’s central committee members to meet with Tin Oo and Suu Kyi was on April 27, 2004, at Suu Kyi’s home. According to NLD sources, the meeting was held to decide whether the party would attend the National Convention. The NLD decided to participate, but the regime later refused their application.

In a policy statement dubbed the “Shwegondaing Declaration” released in early May, the NLD indicated that it would take part in elections next year if the junta responds positively to a set of three basic requirements: the unconditional release of all political prisoners; amendment of any provisions in the 2008 constitution “not in accord with democratic principles”; and an all-inclusive, free and fair poll under international supervision.

Under the current conditions, the NLD has said the 2010 election is a “sham” designed to perpetuate military rule under the guise of democracy.

Meanwhile, the formation of a new political party, the Democratic Party, was announced in Rangoon last week. The party will be headed by the daughter of late Prime Minister U Nu, along with two daughters of former high-ranking political leaders.

On Thursday, the National Unity Party (NUP), a proxy party created by the military junta to contest the 1990 general election, celebrates its 21st anniversary.

In other election-related matters, Shan leader Shwe Ohn announced on January 29 that he was forming a new nationalist party to contest the 2010 general election.

In Kachin State, five leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) resigned from their posts on Sept. 7 to participate in the election under the banner of the Kachin State Progressive Party.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16835
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Will monks shake Myanmar?
Article By:
Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:09

Myanmar’s Buddhist monks face continuing intimidation, repression and severe jail sentences two years after the junta’s crackdown on anti-government protests, a rights group said on Tuesday.

A report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said around 240 monks were serving tough prison terms, while thousands have been disrobed or live under “constant surveillance” following their leading role in the 2007 demonstrations.

The protests began as small rallies against the rising cost of living but escalated into huge demonstrations led by crowds of monks that posed the biggest challenge to junta rule in nearly two decades.

The new report said the potential for a repeat of the protests is “very real” if the international community does not put pressure on the regime to enact credible political reform ahead of elections planned for 2010.

It details the arrest, beating and detention of individual monks after the 2007 uprising, in which at least 31 people were killed as security forces cracked down on protesters in the country formerly known as Burma.

The junta has since closed down health and social service programmes run by local monastic groups across the country and intensified surveillance of monasteries, according to the report.

Monks face repression

It said many monks — who also face repression for their important social service role after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 — have left their monasteries and returned to their villages or sought refuge abroad.

The cyclone killed 138 000 people and prompted international criticism of the government’s slow response.

“The stories told by monks are sad and disturbing, but they exemplify the behaviour of Burma’s military government as it clings to power through violence, fear, and repression,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“The monks retain a great deal of moral authority, making principled stands by monks very dangerous for a government that doesn’t.”

Meanwhile the rights group accused the junta of using Buddhism as a tool to gain political legitimacy — for example by lavishing gifts on selected senior monks and monasteries.

“It would not be surprising to see monks on the streets again if social grievances are not addressed,” Adams added.

On Friday Myanmar authorities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year’s cyclone and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7000 prisoners, according to witnesses.

Their release followed another HRW report on Wednesday that said the number of political prisoners in Myanmar had doubled to more than 2200 in the past two years.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the release of prisoners but urged the junta to free those still being held, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. http://news.iafrica.com/worldnews/1938064.htm
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Clinton Expected to Address “Friends of Myanmar” Group
By LALIT K JHA  Tuesday, September 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to attend a meeting on Wednesday of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s “Group of Friends” on Myanmar (Burma), signaling a heightened interest by the Obama administration in the Burma issue.

Informed sources told The Irrawaddy that the meeting—on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly session—could provide a platform for Clinton to inform international partners about the administration’s review of its Burma policy. The US State Department has indicated that Clinton will announce the results of the review soon.

Clinton told the Brookings Institute last week that she would discuss Burma with Asian partners in New York.

Ban’s 14-member “Group of Friends” was established by the secretary-general in December 2007. Several foreign ministers are expected to attend Wednesday’s meeting, although it is understood that Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win will not be there.

UN diplomatic sources said Nyan Win’s absence is understandable; given that a majority of the countries in the group do not agree with the Burmese regime’s “road map” and the continued house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Informed sources said the junta’s most recent amnesty was received coolly in the West in view of Suu Kyi’s continued detention. In a statement on the amnesty, Ban called on the junta to take further steps to ensure the release of remaining political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, as a necessary move towards a credible process of national reconciliation and democratic transition.

Meanwhile, Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 28.

Travel restrictions on Burmese diplomats in New York will also apply to Thein Sein, authoritative sources here said. His visa, like those of all Burmese officials, is annotated: “Traveler to remain within a 25-mile radius of UN headquarters, New York City,” the sources said.

Burma is expected to figure prominently on the agenda of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Saturday, convened by UN Secretary General Ban. Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win is expected to attend.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=16830
=======================
ASEAN SUMMIT
Asean leaders play it safe
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Published on September 22, 2009

It appears as if Asean leaders are not comfortable with the idea of meeting dissidents or activists during the late October summit in Cha Am/Hua Hin because they have asked for a list of civic groups prior to the meeting.

The leaders are scheduled to meet with representatives of Parliament, youth and civil society from Asean countries on October 23 – the first day of the summit, according to Vitavas Srivihok, director of the Foreign Ministry Asean Affairs Department.

Names of people waiting to meet the leaders need to be submitted through the Foreign Ministry of each country long before the meeting kicks off, he said.

Thailand, as the host country, wants to set up a meeting between civic representatives and Asean leaders to make the grouping look like a people-participating organisation.

However, the move to turn Asean into a people-centred organisation failed at the earlier summit in February because prime ministers from Burma and Cambodia refused to meet two civil representatives.

The Burmese and Cambodian nationals, who worked for non-government organisations, were denied audience because they were not recognised by the authorities. Instead, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met the two outside the meeting venue to control damage.

In a move to make sure the upcoming 15th Asean summit goes smoothly, groups have been told to submit a list of names for advance consideration, Vitavas said.

“The leaders want to find out about the representatives from their respective countries before meeting them,” he said. “Previously the names had arrived at short notice and some leaders were too surprised to see them. In some cases, it is understandable that the leaders might be reluctant to sit in the same room as dissidents.”

At the summit, taking place from October 23 to 25, Asean leaders will also be meeting their counterparts from six Asia-Pacific countries. All leaders have confirmed their participation and the government will invoke the Internal Security Law again to ensure everyone’s safety, Vitavas said.   http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/09/22/regional/regional_30112757.php
======================
‘A New Generation Carries On’
Tuesday, September 22, 2009

After the Burmese junta seized power on Sept. 18, 1988, its soldiers brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrators, including many young students and monks, resulting in thousands of civilians dead and injured.

Among those who died was a 16-year-old female student, soaked in blood, caught in a photograph while being carried by two doctors. The girl was Win Maw Oo, who later died in a hospital. The photograph of her appeared in the international media and became an iconic image of the 88 demonstrations.

Doctors carry Win Maw Oo who was fatally wounded in the crackdown that began after the military seized power on September 18, 1988.

Win Maw Oo’s parents live with the loss of their daughter. Each year they offer food to monks on the anniversary of her death. Her father said he doesn’t want monks to bestow merit on her soul because of her good deeds, because he knows her soul doesn’t want to be free until democracy comes to Burma. The Irrawaddy talked to her father, Win Kyu.

Question: You are offering food donations at a ceremony for your daughter Win Maw Oo. Are you allowed to hold the donation ceremony freely?

Answer: Yes. Some of government agents may be nearby during the occasion. But they are working on other business. They don’t interfere with us. There will be no problem, because our friends are coming to pay respect for her deeds, and we are just talking peacefully.

Q. You are not calling for merit to be bestowed on her soul because of her last words, is that true?

A. Yes. When my daughter was shot, she was kneeling and holding a picture of Gen. Aung San. Her friends told her to lie flat to avoid the bullets, but she replied that she would not bend down. She said she would continue to fight until we have democracy even if something bad happened to her. She said please don’t let her soul be freed. Her friends told me this. As her parents, we respect her wishes, and we have followed her wish for 21 years. We won’t call her name to bestow merit on her soul. I will call her name loudly on the day when her wish for democracy is fulfilled.

Q. Can you recall the event for us?

A. I can never forget it. She had an indomitable spirit and a strong will. On that day, I tried to stop her from going. Her grandparents also tried to stop her. We said the situation was dangerous, and she shouldn’t go. She said she was a committed activist at her school, and she must go. She said she was a leader and responsible to help with the protest. She said she would return soon. Actually, when she met with her friends she became more energetic and followed along with the group.

She held up Gen. Aung San’s photo during the demonstration. They walked along Maha Bandoola Street and then to Pagoda Street. When they turned on Merchant Street, the troops opened fire.

At the beginning, the shots were low, around their knees. She was hit first in her left calf. She was shot again in her left thigh. When she was shot in her knee, she partially fell to the ground holding the photo.

The kids who marched with her said they asked her to lie down on the street. She said that would mean she was letting down the cause. She was trying to stay in an upright position when another bullet hit her in the right arm and went through her chest.

A medical team saw her and she said, “Please help me.” The doctors who carried her in the photo told me that.

She was still alive when she arrived at the hospital. The hospital called about 3 pm, but we couldn’t go then because the streets and roads were blocked with barbed wire and other barriers.

We got to the hospital around 4 pm and found her in intensive care. When I saw her, I felt confused. She was receiving oxygen to breath, and she was under anesthesia. She died that evening. I never had a chance to talk to her, and she may not have known her father was there.

She was born on Oct. 15, 1972 and was 16 when she died. When I returned home, I didn’t want to tell her mother and grandmother she was dead, but I had to. We could do nothing but grieve for her.

Seventeen students from her school were shot or injured. Three of them died including my daughter and two boys. One of the boys was 15. The boys died on the spot. There were many injured people in the hospital. They were groaning with pain.

Q. How do you feel now when you see the picture of Win Maw Oo being carried by the two doctors?

A. What can I say? The picture makes me very sad.

Q. How do you see your daughter’s life now?

A. I would say it was her destiny. I am proud to be her father. Her grandmother is now 86 years old, and she was an activist during post-independence politics, especially in the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) and in the Pa-Ma-Nya-Ta (Union of Burma National United Front). It seems my daughter inherited political activism from her grandmother. He grandmother even participated in the 2007 movement led by monks. She walked with monks from Kyimyindaing market to Kaba-aye junction.

Her grandmother led the anniversary ceremony for her granddaughter.

Q. How have things changed since the time of Win Maw Oo’s death?

A. A new generation carries on with respect for those who have fallen in the democracy struggle.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=16834
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September 22, 2009
KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
Livelihood consequences of SPDC restrictions and patrols in Nyaunglebin District

This report presents information on abuses in Nyaunglebin District for the period of April to July 2009. Though Nyaunglebin saw a reduction in SPDC activities during the first six months of 2009, patrols resumed in July. Since then, IDP villagers attempting to evade SPDC control report that they have subsequently been unable to regularly access farm fields or gardens, exacerbating cycles of food shortages set in motion by the northern Karen State offensive which began in 2006. Other villagers, from the only nominally controlled villages in the Nyaunglebin’s eastern hills to SPDC-administered relocation sites in the west, meanwhile, report abuses including forced labour, conscription into government militia, travel restrictions and the torture of two village leaders for alleged contact with the KNLA.
<<<<<FULL VERSION>>>>> http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f15.html
==============================
Two years after “saffron revolution,” Myanmar monks under thumb
Asia-Pacific News

Sep 22, 2009, 8:12 GMT

Bangkok – Two years after Myanmar’s Buddhist monks launched their unsuccessful ’saffron revolution,’ more than 250 monks and nuns remained in prison and the monasteries have been infiltrated by the ruling military junta, a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday said.

‘The movement as such has been forced underground,’ the report’s author, Bertil Lintner, said at a press conference in Bangkok. ‘But it doesn’t mean it’s dead. Monks are not foolish. They are not going to take to the streets to commit suicide, but when the time is right, I am sure you will see the monks again.’

Myanmar’s ruling military generals have always shown public reverence for the monkhood but have also tried to systematically control the institution’s political activism.

Since 2007, the controls have intensified, especially in anticipation of the general election in 2010, which promises to be neither free nor fair, Linter said.

‘There are agents in all major monasteries watching who is going in and out,’ Lintner said. ‘The monasteries have been infiltrated with informers.’

Regulations to register as a monk have also been tightened.

‘There is more scrutiny of who is registering to be a monk and more scrutiny of sermons to make sure they aren’t tinged with a political agenda,’ said David Mathieson, Myanmar expert for Human Rights Watch.

The report was released on the anniversary of the September 22, 2007, demonstration, in which thousands of barefoot monks marched into Yangon in a peaceful protest against decades of military rule and deteriorating economic conditions in the country of 54 million.

The demonstration raised hopes that Myanmar was finally being pushed toward political change because the junta would be afraid to crack down on the country’s revered Buddhist monks. That optimism proved unfounded.

‘The hopes that everyone had that this would carve out greater freedom in Burma were crushed five days later when the military started shooting, beating and arresting hundreds of Buddhist monks,’ Mathieson said.

At least 31 deaths were confirmed by the United Nations in the crackdown although other organizations estimated much higher casualties. Hundreds of monks and their followers were arrested. Thousands were disrobed and forced out of the monkhood.

As of last month, there were 237 monks in Myanmar jails and another 35 nuns, the Human Rights Watch report said.

The report was researched and written by Lintner, a well-known Myanmar expert who has spent a lifetime reporting and writing books on the South-East Asian country.

Lintner travelled to Malaysia, Sri Lanka, London and New York to interview monks who fled abroad after the 2007 protests and used other means to interview monks still inside Myanmar to find out what had happened to the monkhood over the past two years.

Prior to the crackdown, there were an estimated 400,000 monks and about 45,000 nuns in a country where about 90 per cent of the population is Buddhist.

Lintner argued that the monkhood has a long history of political activism in Myanmar and played a key role in the previous uprisings of 1974 and 1988.

Monks’ opposition in the 1940s to British colonialists for wearing shoes in Buddhist temples was ‘the spark that ignited the national independence movement,’ Lintner said.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1502470.php/Two-years-after-saffron-revolution-Myanmar-monks-under-thumb
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Suu Kyi party seeks meeting of detainees
September 22, 2009 – 6:44PM

The party of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says it has urged the chief of the ruling junta to allow a meeting between its detained leaders so they can discuss upcoming elections.

The Nobel Laureate’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has not yet said if it will participate in next year’s polls, which critics say are a sham designed to legitimise the military regime’s iron grip on power.

“We wrote a letter to Senior General Than Shwe on September 16,” party spokesman Nyan Win told AFP on Tuesday, referring to the reclusive junta leader.

“The main thing we urged for is permission for a get-together of the detained party leaders Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin Oo (vice chairman) and our central executive committee members,” he said.

He said they wanted to lay down NLD policy for the future and make “important decisions according to the recent political situation.”

“I cannot say whether they will decide for (participating in) the forthcoming elections or not. But the elections matter will be included in their consideration at the meeting,” Nyan Win said.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the country’s last elections, in 1990, but was never allowed to govern, and pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years.

She had her house arrest extended by 18 months in August, when she was found guilty of breaching her detention rules after an American man swam uninvited to her home in May.

Her sentence, which keeps her off the scene for the elections, provoked international outrage and she has appealed against the ruling, with a verdict due in October.

Tin Oo has also been under house arrest since 2003.

Burma’s military government announced that it would hold the elections in 2010 after approving a controversial constitution in May 2008, just days after devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country.

The junta released a batch of political activists earlier this month as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, but UN chief Ban Ki-moon has pressed the government to free those still being held, including Suu Kyi.

© 2009 AFP  http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/suu-kyi-party-seeks-meeting-of-detainees-20090922-g0dc.html
===========================
Quake damages ancient Buddhist temples in Burma

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 – 09:35 AM

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake shook parts of north-western Burma today, damaging Buddhist temples believed to date to the 11th century.

The moderate earthquake occurred just after 2am with the epicentre about 260 miles north- west of the commercial capital, Yangon, said Thein Htay, an official from the national Meteorological Department.

The quake was felt in several towns in the north-western Magway Division, none of which are densely populated or have high-rise buildings, he said. There were no known casualties.

Residents reported damage to two ancient Buddhist temples in Ohn Pwetaw village and a pagoda in Yay Nan Chaung, saying the structures were believed to have been built in the 11th century and were known for their colourful frescoes.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/quake-damages-ancient-buddhist-temples-in-burma-427263.html#ixzz0RpCluL1Z
===========================
Burmese-American Held in Rangoon for 3 weeks
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS         Tuesday, September 22, 2009

RANGOON — The US Embassy said Tuesday that it has been allowed to visit a Burma-born American detained in the country for the past three weeks but refused to divulge details about his health or whereabouts.

Embassy spokesman Drake Weisert said officials were allowed to visit Kyaw Zaw Lwin, also known as Nyi Nyi Aung, on Sunday and have since contacted his family. He had a visa to visit the country, but it is unclear why he traveled to Rangoon.

Dissident groups have said the Maryland-based Kyaw Zaw Lwin arrived in Rangoon on Sept. 3 and has not been heard from since. It is not known why the junta detained him, but many of his family members have been held over the years for their pro-democracy activities.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin’s mother is serving a five-year jail term while his sister was sentenced to 65 years in prison for her role in pro-democracy protests two years ago.

The news of Kyaw Zaw Lwin’s whereabouts comes just days after the junta announced it was granting early release to 7,114 prisoners for good behavior on humanitarian grounds. The country is believed to hold roughly 65,000 prisoners, including more than 2,200 political detainees, according to estimates by human rights groups.

Only 119 of those released Friday were political prisoners and the amnesty did not include the country’s best-known political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is head of the National League for Democracy and remains under house arrest.

The junta has repeatedly denied holding any political prisoners, saying all inmates have been found guilty of criminal offenses.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the number of political prisoners has more than doubled in the past two years, and more than 100 dissidents have been jailed in recent months.

Among those imprisoned in the past two years include people involved in peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 and some who assisted victims of the cyclone in 2008. The group said some were handed decades-long sentences.

It said the country has 43 known prisons holding political activists and more than 50 labor camps.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16833
========================
Burma junta still repressing monks: rights group

Writer: AFP
Published: 22/09/2009 at 11:01 AM

Burma’s Buddhist monks face continuing intimidation, repression and severe jail sentences two years after the junta’s crackdown on anti-government protests, a rights group said Tuesday.

A Burma Buddhist monk offers prayers at Shwedagon Pagoda – Rangoon’s most famous landmark. The country’s Buddhist monks face continuing intimidation, repression and severe jail sentences two years after the junta’s crackdown on anti-government protests, a rights group has said.

A report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said around 240 monks were serving tough prison terms, while thousands have been disrobed or live under “constant surveillance” following their leading role in the 2007 demonstrations.

The protests began as small rallies against the rising cost of living but escalated into huge demonstrations led by crowds of monks that posed the biggest challenge to junta rule in nearly two decades.

The new report said the potential for a repeat of the protests is “very real” if the international community does not put pressure on the regime to enact credible political reform ahead of elections planned for 2010.

It details the arrest, beating and detention of individual monks after the 2007 uprising, in which at least 31 people were killed as security forces cracked down on protesters in the country formerly known as Burma.

The junta has since closed down health and social service programmes run by local monastic groups across the country and intensified surveillance of monasteries, according to the report.

It said many monks — who also face repression for their important social service role after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 — have left their monasteries and returned to their villages or sought refuge abroad.

The cyclone killed 138,000 people and prompted international criticism of the government’s slow response.

“The stories told by monks are sad and disturbing, but they exemplify the behavior of Burma’s military government as it clings to power through violence, fear, and repression,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“The monks retain a great deal of moral authority, making principled stands by monks very dangerous for a government that doesn’t.”

Meanwhile the rights group accused the junta of using Buddhism as a tool to gain political legitimacy — for example by lavishing gifts on selected senior monks and monasteries.

“It would not be surprising to see monks on the streets again if social grievances are not addressed,” Adams added.

On Friday Burma authorities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year’s cyclone and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, according to witnesses.

Their release followed another HRW report on Wednesday that said the number of political prisoners in Burma had doubled to more than 2,200 in the past two years.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the release of prisoners but urged the junta to free those still being held, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/154962/burma-junta-still-repressing-monks-rights-group
==========================
Rights group highlights persecution of Burma monks

Sept 22, 2009 (DVB)–A US-based rights group has condemned the ongoing persecution of Buddhist monks in Burma on the second anniversary of the September 2007 monk-led uprising.

With as many as 240 monks serving “tough sentences”, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report details via testimonies the continued oppression, intimidation and surveillance of the monks over the past two years.

The report, ‘The Resistance of Monks’, claims that at least seven of the detained monks are in poor health as a result of their ongoing detention, with many being subjected to torture.

The reverence of monks in Burma was illustrated during the 2007 uprising, which came to be known as the Saffron Revolution after footage was released of thousands of saffron-robed monks marching through the streets.

The report suggests that the ongoing repression of monks is an attempt by the junta to stem their influence, given their position “at the forefront of social movements”, according to the report’s author, Bertil Lintner.

Furthermore, the number of monks “has decreased drastically since 2007” with many “young monks taking off the robe and going back to the village”, Lintner said, adding that “many are scared”.

Today’s report goes on to say that a repeat of the 2007 protests is a “very real” prospect with little credible political reform having been enacted in the run-up to controversial elections next year.

Earlier this month a number of monks reported being intimidated by authorities, with at least four arrested. Many said that they had been warned not to take part in potential protests this year.

A previous HRW report released last week on political prisoners preempted the release of around 100 detained activists, journalists and politicians.

Critics of the junta, such as opposition National League for Democracy member Win Tin, said it was done for cosmetic purposes, “like putting make-up on a dead person’s face”.

Reporting by Joseph Allchin http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2875
====================
Opposition members request meeting with detained leaders

Sept 22, 2009 (DVB)–Senior members of Burma’s main opposition party have urged the ruling junta to let them meet with detained general-secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and chairman Tin Oo, a party spokesperson said yesterday.

The letter was sent by the National League for Democracy (NLD) on 16 September, urging the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to allow its Central Executive Committee to hold discussions with the two regarding the party’s working process.

The government has scheduled Burma’s elections for next year, although the NLD are yet to announce whether it will participate.

“We said in the letter that this is an important time for our country and that the NLD needs to meet with [the two] in order to lay the group’s policies for the future,” said Nyan Win.

“We didn’t mention about the elections at all in the letter,” he said, adding that the government has not yet responded to the request.

Suu Kyi was in August sentenced to a further 18 months under house arrest, while Tin Oo has been under house arrest since 2004.

Nyan Win said that Suu Kyi was on Sunday allowed to meet with her family doctor Tin Myo Win, who was previously barred from visiting the lakeside compound where she is being held.

“Dr Tin Myo Win and his group were allowed to give Daw Aung San Suu Kyi a checkup yesterday [Sunday],” he said.

“I met with the doctor around 5:30pm that day and he said she was in good health but had low blood pressure.”

Suu Kyi was taken to court on 14 May held in a unit inside Rangoon’s Insein prison until the verdict was given on 11 August.

The 64-year-old opposition leader has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years, following the NLD’s landslide election victory in 1990.

Her renewed house arrest was seen by critics of the junta as a ploy to keep her in detention beyond the 2010 elections.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw  http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2873
===============
U.S. allows Myanmar minister to visit Washington
Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:54pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In a gesture toward Myanmar’s military rulers, the United States has allowed the country’s foreign minister to travel to Washington to visit the Myanmar embassy, a U.S. official said on Monday.

Foreign Minister Maj. Gen. Nyan Win did not meet any U.S. officials while in Washington and is now in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition that he not be named.

“The foreign minister has already made a side trip to Washington … while in Washington he did not meet anybody from the U.S. government,” the official said.

Relations between the United States and Myanmar, which has been under military rule for almost five decades, have been strained this year by the junta’s conviction of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for an internal security breach.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years in some form of detention, was sentenced on August 12 to another 18 months of house arrest, enough to keep her off the campaign trail for next year’s elections.

Suu Kyi was indicted in May for breaking a security law protecting the state from “subversive elements” a few weeks before her house arrest was due to be lifted.

Her trial triggered international outrage and critics said the charges were trumped up by Myanmar’s military rulers to minimize her influence before Myanmar’s elections next year.

The charges stemmed from a bizarre incident in May, when an American, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home in Yangon and stayed there, uninvited, for two days. He was sentenced to seven years’ hard labor but was later deported.

Myanmar plans to hold its first election in two decades next year, which the junta says will bring an end to almost five decades of unbroken military rule. Few, however, are convinced, and say the army will still hold the real power.

The Obama administration is reviewing its policy toward Myanmar, sometimes known by its colonial name Burma. While U.S. sanctions have not brought change in Myanmar, there appears to be little sentiment now in the administration to ease them.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Paul Eckert) http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE58L0H920090922
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127 political prisoners among 7,000 freed, Myanmar group says
Posted : Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:47:28 GMT
By : Anna Meyer
Category :
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Bangkok – Myanmar freed 127 political prisoners in an amnesty of 7,114 jail inmates last week, a prison-watch group based in Thailand said Tuesday. Myanmar’s junta announced a general amnesty Thursday for the prisoners “on humanitarian grounds” and began freeing inmates Friday.

But according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a group based on the Thai-Myanmar border, only 127 political prisoners were released under the amnesty, of whom 43 were members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, who remained under house detention.

“Important political figures like Daw [Madam] Aung San Suu Kyi, Shan NDL leader U Khun Tun Oo, 88 Generation Students leader Min Ko Naing and other prominent activists are still in prison because the regime perceives them as a threat to its absolute power,” association head Tate Naing said.

The 88 Generation Students is a group behind the 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally suppressed by the military in a country that has been under military rule since 1962.

The current military regime, which came to power on September 16, 1988, had released 45,732 prisoners under six previous amnesties, but according to association, only 1.3 per cent of them were political prisoners.

An estimated 2,000 political prisoners remained in Myanmar jails, 124 of whom are known to be in poor health.

“We are happy for those political prisoners released and for their loved ones, but from a political perspective, this is just a cynical ploy designed to ease international pressure,” Tate Naing said.

Myanmar has been under increasing pressure from the international community to release all its political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, prior to a general election planned in 2010.

Without participation by the country’s main opposition figures, the polls would lack credibility and would not be accepted by the international community, both the regime’s critics and allies have warned.

“There can be no real progress towards democracy in our country until all political prisoners are released,” Tate Naing said.

Copyright DPA http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/286693,127-political-prisoners-among-7000-freed-myanmar-group-says.html
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Myanmar’s limited nuclear designs
22 June 2007

There has been a flurry of international interest in Myanmar’s recent moves to re-establish diplomatic relations with North Korea and to recommence talks with Russia on the construction of a nuclear reactor.

While the regime’s human rights record, including renewed detention of local human rights leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for another year on 25 May, is the prime cause for Western condemnation, the appearance of a nuclear-equipped Myanmar in league with fellow pariah North Korea was sure to attract Western attention.

North Korea and Myanmar were previously linked by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in her 2005 list of ‘outposts of tyranny’ along with other US betes noires including Belarus, Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe. However, the theories that Myanmar is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme do not stand up to closer scrutiny.

Myanmar has been in discussions with Russia since 2000 about the purchase of a 10 megawatt (MW) low-enriched water reactor for medical research purposes. Neighbouring countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia have similar existing facilities.

The initial talks with Atomstroiexport of Moscow and Myanmar’s Minister of Science and Technology U Thaung broke off in 2003 reportedly because Myanmar had insufficient funds for the project. However, the country’s balance of payments position is now better than it has been for decades thanks to growing export earnings from natural gas. The authorities in the new capital, Naypyidaw, therefore feel it is time to resume negotiations. These are set to continue in the second half of 2007.

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© 2007 Jane’s Information Group http://www.janes.com/news/security/jid/jid070622_1_.shtml
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Junta’s olive branch to SSA South
News – Shan Herald Agency for News
Monday, 21 September 2009 15:08

In an apparent attempt to discourage any alliance between the ceasefire groups, who are at loggerheads with Naypyitaw over the proposed Border Guard Force (BGF) program, Burma’s ruling military council has asked Thailand to inform the non-ceasefire Shan State Army (SSA) South, of its desire to initiate peace talks with the group, according to a reliable source close to the leadership.

This is the third time the olive branch has been offered by Naypyitaw to enter into negotiations for peace:
•    The first meeting scheduled for May 23, 2007 did not take place as the two groups disagreed on the choice of venue.
•    The second time was last March, when Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, on his return from Burma, said he had been approached by the Burmese authorities to ask the rebels for talks. “Nothing ever came out of it,” said the source, “as Bangkok was too embroiled in its own internal problems to bother with ours.”

The latest offer comes at at a time when Naypyitaw is engaged in massive military preparations around the United Wa State Army (UWSA) along the Sino-Burma border.

The SSA South has repeatedly called for a coalition against Burma’s military junta. The source, however, declined to say whether or not it has received a response from Panghsang, the Wa supreme headquarters.

Border sources, meanwhile, say a recent closed door meeting between the UWSA’s Thai-border based 171st Military Region and Burma’s Kengtung-based Triangle Region Command had ended inconclusively. “The only choice appears to be to fight,” a Wa source, was quoted as saying, “because the Burmese Army has said the BGF proposal was non-revisable.”

According to the proposal, each BGF would have 326 officers and men with 30 of the officers from the Burmese Army and the rest from the ceasefire army concerned. Most ceasefire groups had turned it down. The result was the brief war with one of the Wa’s allies Kokang, which ended in the defeat of Peng Jiasheng, the Kokang leader in August.

The 171st Battalion, with 5 brigades, is commanded by Wei Xuegang, who is in Panghsang. Its day to day affairs are looked after by his younger brother and second in command Wei Xueying.

Wei, wanted both in Thailand and the United States, on drug charges and unwanted in China, presumably to avoid ensuing diplomatic scandals, appears to have only two options:
•    To fight
•  To surrender and hope he is treated as former druglord Luo Xinghan, who is running a highly successful business in Burma, and not as his former boss and brother-in-law Khun Sa, who died under house arrest in Rangoon in 2007

“No one else wants freedom more than me,” Khun Sa, who was also wanted in Thailand and the United States, once claimed. “Because if freedom is not achieved, there is no place for me to live,” he had said. http://www.bnionline.net/news/shan/7078-juntas-olive-branch-to-ssa-south.html
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Teenage Lisu girl gang-raped and murdered by Burmese policemen
News – Kachin News Group
Monday, 21 September 2009 17:44

A teenage Lisu tribal girl was gang-raped and murdered on September 8 by a group of Burmese policemen in the Burmese border town Mongkoe, the former Mongkoe Defense Army (MDA)’s territory in Burma’s northeast Shan State, said local sources.

The 14-year-old girl Ngwa Ma-le was gang-raped and killed by Mongkoe territorial police in-charge sergeant U Thein Myint along with five or six junior colleagues based in the territorial police station in the town’s section 7, said family sources.

After four days, the girl’s naked body was found face down in the drain of a paddy field owned by local farmer Lahtaw Zau La, where her neck was stuck to the drain with wooden sticks and also tied with her longgyi (cloth for lower body worn by Burmese women or Burmese sarong), said local eyewitnesses.

According to the victim’s family sources, the girl was gang-raped and murdered when she went to the policemen, who called her over telephone at about 8:30 at night, local time.

The police, to divert attention, have arrested more than seven innocent local people, including local young men and relatives, who discovered the girl’s body. They have been severely tortured until they vomited blood in the police prison cell, said relatives of the victim.

Till now, the police have not tried to find the girl’s killers. Her parents and relatives are being threatened in different ways to prevent the actual perpetrators of the crime from being tried, according to the victim’s relatives.

Similarly, a Kachin high school girl was stripped and there was an attempt  to rape her in Mongkoe High School by  the school headmaster on August 14, said her family’s sources.

The 16-year-old Hkawn Tsin (not her real name) from Gawn Zam village in Mongkoe stays and studies in the school. She narrowly escaped rape by her school headmaster U Thant, who is from the Burmese military, said school sources.

School sources added, Hkawn Tsin was instructed to go to the school office at about 6:30 p.m. by the headmaster U Thant after the school was over. The headmaster attempted to rape her in the office.

She was saved by other women school teachers and the headmaster’s wife when they heard the girl’s cries for help from the school office. The girl cried out when she was stripped and made to lie on the floor, said her relatives in Mongkoe.

Two days after the incident, the parents of Hkawn Tsin were summoned to the school by the headmaster and the parents were gifted Chinese Yuan 600 (US $85.7) as a sign of apology. But, the parents have rejected the school headmaster’s request not to take the case to court, said the victim’s parents.

Following the incident and in fear of further lawsuit, the headmaster U Thant does not stay in the school any longer. He attends the school from Pongsai near Mongkoe, said school sources.

School sources said the headmaster spent a total of Chinese Yuan 1,000 (US $142.8) to 1,600 (US $228.6) as bribe to town military authorities and gave 600 Yuan (US $85.7) to the girl’s parents to evade legal action.

The money, however, was forcibly collected at the rate of 15 Yuan per student from all government schools under the administration of the Mongkoe High School on the orders of the immoral headmaster U Thant, said sources among local school teachers.

U Zaw Oo, the head of electricity supply in the town and president of town Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) is the key person, who is protecting the headmaster from legal action, said local sources.

Mongkoe, the border town near China is chaotic since it was captured from the Mongkoe Defense Army (MDA) led by Mungsa La by Burma’s ruling junta in 2000.

The leader Mungsa La was deceitfully invited to a meeting in Lashio in Northeast Shan State by the Burmese junta and detained on the way between Muse and Lashio just before the capture of Mongkoe.  Mungsa La died in prison in 2007.

The MDA was formed by the Kachin military officer Mungsa La when the Communist Party of Burma (CBP) collapsed in 1989.

After Mongkoe came under the Burmese junta, the local Lisu and Kachin civilians have been cruelly ruled and dealt with like enemies by the locally based territorial police station, said local people.

It is not unusual for the police to detain innocent young men and women on the roads at night and for women to be raped by policemen, said residents.

According to residents, over 70 Chinese motorcycles owned by local residents were stolen and resold for extra income by the territorial policemen led by Sergeant Thein Myint.

The motorcycles began to be stolen since the territorial police in-charge Sergeant Thein Myint arrived in Mongkoe in December 2008, said residents.

Most motorcycles are stolen from the venues of festivals and cerebrations by breaking locks but the police never catch the thieves, said a resident, whose motorcycle was recently stolen by local policemen.

The junta’s immigration office also demands between 1,600 Yuan (US $228.6) to 3,000 Yuan (US $428.6) for issuing a piece of Family Unit Document from the local people and 200 Yuan for each new born family member to be added to the Family Unit Document, said residents.

http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/7079-teenage-lisu-girl-gang-raped-and-murdered-by-burmese-policemen.html