BURMA RELATED NEWS – APRIL 12, 2011
Apr 13th, 2011
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press – Mon Apr 11, 8:07 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AP) – The most important step Myanmar can take to improve its international relations is to free its more than 2,000 political prisoners, a U.S. official said Monday, as Washington prepares to appoint a special envoy to the country.
Joseph Yun, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, described the November release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after years of house arrest as “very significant.”
But Yun urged Myanmar to go further. He described the government recently installed after elections that were boycotted by Suu Kyi’s party as “much the same people as before,” which means they are dominated by the military.
Yun said the United States was continuing its two-track policy of retaining sanctions while seeking to engage Myanmar. That approach was adopted by the Obama administration about 18 months ago after two decades of efforts to isolate the military government failed to force positive change.
Speaking at a conference on Myanmar at Washington’s Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Yun said the coming appointment of a U.S. envoy to the country, expected to be defense official Derek Mitchell, would give Washington a new interlocutor to speak with government and opposition, coordinate U.S. policy and work with the international community.
“We are looking for the release of political prisoners. I think that would be the single most concrete item Naypyidaw could do for the international community,” Yun said, referring to Myanmar’s administrative capital.
Yun said the U.S. also wants assurances the security of Suu Kyi and her supporters is not under threat, and the government to legitimize her party and bring it and other democratic and ethnic opposition parties into the political mainstream.
The U.S. offer of engagement was not sustainable forever “unless we get something for it,” Yun said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is urging Western nations to lift sanctions against Myanmar, an ASEAN member. They have been imposed for its alleged rights abuses and suppression of democracy. The European Union is likely to ease sanctions slightly on Tuesday by lifting a visa ban for a year on certain civilian members of the military-led regime, an EU official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.
Any easing would open a gap between the EU and the U.S., which says it is too early to lift sanctions.
Suu Kyi’s party won elections 1990 but was barred from taking power. The party was outlawed for refusing to participate in the November vote. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past
two decades under house arrest.
By Thanyarat Doksone, The Associated Press – 5 hours ago BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s prime minister reaffirmed Tuesday his government will send the more than 100,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand back home only when their safety is guaranteed.
Other officials had raised the issue of returning the refugees since Myanmar has transitioned from a junta-ruled country to an elected, nominally civilian government.
But Myanmar’s government troops are fighting several ethnic rebel groups, and on Tuesday, members of one of the largest ethnic minorities, the Shan, accused Myanmar’s army of launching a large-scale and brutal offensive against them.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters Thailand will send the refugees back “when it’s safe for them to return” but did not speculate when that might be. He said there would be “constant monitoring and evaluation” of the situation inside Myanmar to see if it would be safe to repatriate the refugees.
He added that he did not discuss the issue during a courtesy call by newly appointed Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, who is visiting Bangkok this week.
Non-governmental organizations working at the refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border have expressed concern about the timing of the returns.
“The refugees should be able to go home with safety and dignity and their returns must be voluntary,” Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman in Bangkok of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told The Associated Press.
She added the UNHCR should also be able to monitor their welfare after they cross the border. “Steps toward their returns should be prepared carefully and now is not the right time,” she said.
A coalition of support groups for Myanmar’s Shan ethnic minority issued a statement Tuesday accusing Myanmar’s army of breaking a 22-year-old cease-fire with Shan militias by launching attacks in northern Shan State.
The statement, issued by the Shan Women’s Action Network, the Shan Human Rights Foundation and other organizations, also accused the army of atrocities against civilians, “including shelling of Buddhist temples, gang-rape and using women as cannon fodder” by making them work as porters and walk in front of combat troops.
It said the army began the offensive March 13, and in three weeks, 65 battles had taken place and more than 3,500 villagers forced to flee their homes.
The state-controlled press, normally the sole voice of the government, has not reported large-scale fighting with the Shan but has reported on tensions with ethnic militias that have refused to bow to demands to integrate their troops into an official national border guard force.
Myanmar’s long-standing military junta handed over power to an elected, civilian government last month. But the election late last year was widely denounced as unfair and designed to perpetuate military domination of the government.
Ethnic rebel groups such as the Shan have been seeking greater autonomy for decades.
“Northern Shan State is being plunged into war and new atrocities inflicted on our people. Now is definitely not the time to lift sanctions against the regime,” said Kham Harn Fah of the Shan Human Rights Foundation.
By Matthew Pennington, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Tue, 12 Apr, 2011 1:04 AM EDT
WASHINGTON – The most important step Myanmar can take to improve its international relations is to free its more than 2,000 political prisoners, a U.S. official said, as Washington prepares to appoint a special envoy to the country.
Joseph Yun, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, on Monday described the November release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after years of house arrest as “very significant.”
But he urged Myanmar to go further. He described the government recently installed after elections that were boycotted by Suu Kyi’s party as “much the same people as before,” which means they are dominated by the military.
Yun said the United States was continuing its two-track policy of retaining sanctions while seeking to engage Myanmar. That approach was adopted by the Obama administration about 18 months ago after two decades of efforts to isolate the military government failed to force positive change.
Speaking at a conference on Myanmar at Washington’s Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Yun said the coming appointment of a U.S. envoy to the country, expected to be defence official Derek Mitchell, would give Washington a new interlocutor to speak with government and opposition, co-ordinate U.S. policy and work with the international community.
“We are looking for the release of political prisoners. I think that would be the single most concrete item Naypyidaw could do for the international community,” Yun said, referring to Myanmar’s administrative capital.
He said the U.S. also wants assurances the security of Suu Kyi and her supporters is not under threat, and the government to legitimize her party and bring it and other democratic and ethnic opposition parties into the political mainstream.
The U.S. offer of engagement was not sustainable forever “unless we get something for it,” Yun said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is urging Western nations to lift sanctions against Myanmar, an ASEAN member. They have been imposed for its alleged rights abuses and suppression of democracy. The European Union is likely to ease sanctions slightly on Tuesday by lifting a visa ban for a year on certain civilian members of the military-led regime, an EU official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.
Any easing would open a gap between the EU and the U.S., which says it is too early to lift sanctions.
Suu Kyi’s party won elections 1990 but was barred from taking power. The party was outlawed for refusing to participate in the November vote. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest.
Mon Apr 11, 2:08 pm ET
OTTAWA (AFP) – Myanmar has released a Canadian man who was arrested two weeks ago after illegally crossing the border from Thailand, Ottawa said Monday.
“The embassy of Canada in Bangkok has received confirmation that a Canadian citizen has been released from detention in Burma,” Lisa Monette, spokeswoman for the Canadian foreign ministry, told AFP in an email.
He is being provided with consular assistance, she added.
Ron Zakreski, 61, was detained on March 24, apparently while taking photos of the scene of an earlier battle between Myanmar government troops and Karen ethnic minority rebels.
He was being held in the border town of Myawaddy after being charged under immigration laws, Myanmar officials had said.
Zakreski, a retired psychologist, is described by his family in Canada as a veteran traveler and part-time photojournalist.
Canada, which has no diplomatic mission in Myanmar, said it had contacted the government of Myanmar, as had the Australian Embassy in Yangon (Rangoon) seeking Zakreski’s release.
The exiled Burmese news agency Democratic Voice of Burma reported that he had been sent back to Thailand after being found guilty of illegally crossing the Thai-Myanmar border and fined in court.
Myanmar, where power was recently handed from the long-ruling junta to a military-backed government, usually deports foreigners who enter the country illegally instead of imprisoning them.
In November a Japanese video journalist was arrested after crossing the porous border from Thailand to cover Myanmar’s first election in 20 years.
He was deported days later, after fighting erupted between government forces and ethnic insurgents near the place he was being held in Myawaddy.
Mon Apr 11, 3:12 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar has detained 146 boat people from Bangladesh after they were dumped on a beach by traffickers who told them they were in Thailand, an official said Monday.
“They are in the Irrawaddy region under investigation,” said the Myanmar government official, who asked not to be named.
He said more than 80 of the detainees were Rohingyas, a Muslim group living primarily in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state who are described by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
The group, found on a beach in late March, said they had paid to be taken from Bangladesh by boat to Bangkok and were told they had arrived in the Thai capital, he said.
“They will be charged under the immigration act. For the Rohingya they will be sent back to Maungdaw in Rakhine State. The others will be sent back to Bangladesh,” the official said.
As many as 300,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they live in “primitive and squalid conditions” in both official and makeshift refugee camps, according to US-based Human Rights Watch.
The rights group said in a February report that authorities in Myanmar have “systematically persecuted” the Rohingya for more than three decades.
In the past human rights activists have condemned the Thai navy for sending Rohingya asylum-seekers back to sea.
The UN Refugee Agency in Bangkok said it had confirmed that more than 140 people had been put ashore in the Irrawaddy Delta and was trying find out more information about them.
“Sometimes, the smugglers take people out in boats and sail them around and tell the people they have reached Thailand or Indonesia and these poor people find out they are in Myanmar,” said spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey.
Posted: 13 April 2011 0250 hrs
LUXEMBOURG: European governments Tuesday extended by one year a set of trade and financial sanctions on Myanmar — but opened the door to the Burmese foreign minister in an inducement to accelerate change.
Despite debate stirred by an appeal by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to relax them, the European Union “deems it necessary to renew the restrictive measures for a period of 12 months,” foreign ministers from the 27 states said in a statement after talks in Luxembourg focused on Libya and Ivory Coast.
However, it said the application of a visa ban and asset freeze for “certain civilian members of the government” would be lifted for a year, especially for Myanmar’s foreign minister “as an essential interlocutor” with the West.
Likewise, a ban on high-level EU officials visiting Myanmar.
The EU said it took the decision with a degree of reluctance, “in the hope” of “a greater civilian character of the government,” with a newly-opened parliament still dominated by the Burmese military after direct junta rule.
The release of Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi from house arrest in November, after a widely-criticised election, reignited debate over sanctions also enforced by the United States in response to human rights abuses.
Supporters say the sanctions are the only way to pressure the military rulers of Myanmar, where there are about 2,200 political prisoners.
Suu Kyi’s party has no voice in the parliament. It was disbanded for opting to boycott the November vote because the rules seemed designed to bar Suu Kyi from participating.
The United States also said in February that calls to ease sanctions on Myanmar were premature.
Myanmar Could Develop Nukes With North Korea’s Help: Expert
WASHINGTON, April 12 (Bernama) — Myanmar has not yet developed the technology for nuclear weapons, but has a chance of succeeding with help from North Korea, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported a scholar as saying Monday.
Speaking to a seminar at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Robert Kelly, a nuclear engineer, said Myanmar has several factories capable of enriching uranium that were built with German technology.
“When the Germans are inspecting, the factories appear to be civilian,” said Kelly, a fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
“But when they are gone, the same machine tools are being used by military personnel to make equipment for missiles and the nuclear fuel cycle,” Yonhap quoted him as saying.
Citing testimony from several defectors from Myanmar (Burma), some of whom have worked at the factories, and satellite photos, Kelly said that the Southeast Asian nation has made “efforts to develop gas centrifuges.”
He dismissed as “poor, especially for high-tech activities such as missile and nuclear facilities” the quality of workmanship at the Myanmar factories, but did not preclude the chance of Myanmar succeeding.
“All experts judge that many of these efforts will be unsuccessful and beyond Burma’s reach,” he said.
“So the programme is not an immediate military threat, unless there are big changes. These would include support from another country such as DPRK and a shift to more useful technologies such as gas centrifuges. And Burma has a chance of eventually succeeding, still probably only with outside help.”
DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
US officials have repeatedly warned of possible nuclear proliferation to Myanmar from North Korea.
In June last year, a North Korean cargo ship, possibly on its way to Myanmar, returned home after being closely tracked by US Navy vessels.
North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun visited Yangon, Myanmar, in July, prompting the US to issue a statement calling on Myanmar to abide by an arms embargo and other UN sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests in 2009.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also expressed concerns in July about North Korea’s alleged proliferation of nuclear technology to Myanmar.
“I’ve also shared with the minister our concerns about the exporting by North Korea of military materiel and equipment to Burma,” Clinton said at the time.
“We know that a ship from North Korea recently delivered military equipment to Burma and we continue to be concerned by the reports that Burma may be seeking assistance from North Korea with regard to a nuclear programme.”
Bangalore | Apr 11, 2011
Union Home Secretary G K Pillai today admitted that Chinese arms agents smuggle weapons into India after entering the country through Myanmar and Bangkok and supply them to insurgent groups.
“There is a lot of arms smuggling by Chinese arms agents, who come to India mainly through Myanmar and Bangkok. Most insurgent groups get weapons of Chinese origin through these arms agents,” he said to a query by reporters on the sidelines of a private college day function here.
To another question, he reiterated his recent statement at a CII function at Delhi that many industries buy peace with Maoists by paying them off as they feel the government is not able to provide them area security. “The Maoists are primarily interested in extortion of money rather any ideological principles”, he said.
On whether there was any proposal to redeploy the Army in Kashmir as there were reports about Chinese troops being seen there, he said “we’ve got forces, both the Indian Army and BSF deployed at LoC.We have no proposal to reduce any of that.”
He said this was the time when infiltration was increasing.
“We are much more vigilant, will possibly strengthen forces on the border to stop infiltration.”
To another question Indo-Pak peace initiative during the World Cup, he said “We have had good talks. I think there has been some forward movement. We will take that forward as much as we can. I am quite hopeful”.
By Francis Wade Apr 12, 2011 2:23PM UTC
Twice in the past week Thailand has said it intends to begin the process of returning refugees to Burma. How and when it will go about doing this remains unclear: Tak governor Samart Loifah said that they should now consider returning “voluntarily”, while national security chief Tawin Pleansri spoke of a plan to begin closing the nine border camps in lieu of their deportation.
Both men consider the 145,000-plus refugees a “burden” on Thailand: they destroy natural resources in Tak province, where the three largest camps are located, and make the locals feel they were better cared for than Thais, Samart claimed.
But most tellingly, he said that Burma considers the Thai border region a ‘safe haven’ for ethnic Karen and Shan rebels who have for decades been able to move freely across the porous border. Burma’s conflict with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has stretched over 60 years, and is possibly the world’s longest-running; Thailand has historically allowed Karen troops a certain degree of movement inside its border because it felt the rebels could act as a buffer to protect against its traditional enemy, the Burmese army.
But the latest murmurings show that the times may be changing: top Burmese government officials have, rightly or wrongly, said on several occasions in recent weeks that rebels shelter among the refugees in the camp, and Thailand’s recent disquiet about the refugees may reflect more a submission to Burma’s hidden demands than any real substance behind the “natural resource burden” claims.
There is also a prominent business element to the saga: the overland trade route through the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Friendship Bridge has been closed since July last year, with initial speculation that Naypyidaw was protesting attempts by Thailand to re-route the Moei river, which divides the two countries. Thailand’s Foreign Trade Department estimated in October last year that around $US3 million was being lost each day due to the closure of the bridge, the main land-crossing between the two countries. In 2009 trade through Mae Sot was worth about $US860 million, nearly a quarter of the total annual bilateral trade.
According to Samart, however, the river is not the problem, but more the people who come across it: the Burmese feel that Mae Sot has become an enclave for KNLA troops, Samart argued, and the border closure would last until Thailand stops giving succour to the resistance movement.
This development has unfolded in tandem with Thailand’s tightening up on restrictions for refugees. Unlike bygone days when Thailand would provide a safe haven for those who needed it, some 10,000 Karen who fled earlier this year were forced to find shelter in flimsy makeshift camps along the Moei river, with the threat of deportation always in the air.
Rather than a being burden on Thailand’s natural resources (that claim really lacks credibility), the refugees have become a political inconvenience to a country looking to reassert itself on the new Burmese government. Thailand recently lost its spot at the top of Burma’s foreign investment table to China, and with that much of its economic muscle in the country. The economic crutch provided by China has meant that Burma can afford to wield more clout with its neighbours, hence almost blackmailing Thailand into returning refugees, one of the most internationally visible signs of Burma’s hidden domestic crisis.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011, 10:32 am
Press Release: ITUC
Brussels, 11 April 2011 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC and the ETUC are calling on the European Union to support the holding of a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, when the EU renews its Burma policy on 12 April.
“The Burmese military junta is responsible for appalling crimes over many years. Europe, and the rest of the international community, should support international moves for a UN Inquiry, to ensure that justice is done on behalf of the victims of the regime’s reign of oppression and violence,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
“There is already significant support within European governments for a UN Inquiry to be launched, and the EU as a whole now needs to fully support it. Europe needs to take a strong stand and show that the regime cannot continue to act with impunity,” said ETUC General Secretary John Monks.
By Associated Press, Monday, April 11, 12:32 PM
BRUSSELS — A European Union official says the EU is likely to ease sanctions on the government of Myanmar on Tuesday.
The official says the visa ban on certain civilian members of the regime will be lifted for a year. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have appealed for the lifting of sanctions against Myanmar, which held its first elections in two decades in November. After the elections, democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest.
But any easing would open a gap between the EU and the U.S., which says lifting the sanctions is premature. The political and economic sanctions were imposed because of Myanmar’s poor human rights record.
Is Burma’s Strongman Really Retiring?
By Robert Horn Monday, Apr. 11, 2011
More often than not, dictators, like mafia dons, can never retire. It’s a rare strongman who can avoid an assassination, coup or revolution and fade into the sunset on his own terms rather than with a prison term. Yet according to members of Burma’s newly inaugurated government, Senior General Than Shwe, who ruled the impoverished Southeast Asian country since 1992, has hung up his epaulets and handed over power to chosen successors. Few Burma watchers, and few people in Burma, however, believe 78-year-old Than Shwe has truly called it quits.
“The joke in Burma is that Than Shwe has transferred power — from his right hand to his left,” said Aung Zaw, editor of The Irrawaddy, an online magazine published by Burmese exiles in Thailand. “He still goes to his office every day. He is still the ultimate authority.” After 19 years as head of the country’s military regime, last year Than Shwe allowed the first multi-party elections since 1990. He just didn’t allow anyone except his hand-picked protégés to win them. Leading opponents, such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, were barred from running, and her National League for Democracy party chose not to participate claiming the rules were rigged to ensure Than Shwe’s underlings in the military would emerge victorious. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the polls “neither free nor fair,” and marred by fraud, repression and intimidation. (See TIME”s list of the world’s top 10 old leaders.{http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2022256_2022240_2022237,00.html})
Though some who are more friendly to Burma’s rulers, such as Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary General of the regional bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have described the elections as a “new beginning” for democracy, other critics have said the transition taking place under Than Shwe closely resembles the faux civilian rule perpetrated by his mentor, former dictator Gen. Ne Win, during the 1970s and ’80s. Ne Win had a constitution approved and a parliament of loyalists installed through sham elections. Although he resigned the presidency in 1981 and all political posts in 1988, he continued to pull the strings of power from behind the scenes. He still inspired so much fear that many Burmese would only refer to him as “Number One.”
It wasn’t until Ne Win’s family, known for corruption and bullying behavior, allegedly began scheming against some in power that Than Shwe moved against his patron, sentencing his son-in-law and grandsons to prison terms for treason and condemning “Number One” to house arrest until he died in 2002. Few in Burma could have imagined such an end for a man who had wielded such absolute power.
Such an end, however, isn’t beyond the imaginings of Than Shwe, considering his role those events. As time goes by, Than Shwe’s protégés will build their own power bases and may feel more emboldened. He “is aware of the risks,” said Benedict Rogers, author of the biography Than Shwe, Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant. “If enough people in the military, especially at senior levels, decided they had had enough of him, they could turn on him and his family.” (Read more about Than Shwe.{http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1929130,00.html})
Than Shwe’s ordering of soldiers to shoot Buddhist monks during an uprising in 2007 was reported to have caused some dissension within the military, but he has seemingly managed to keep officers with misgivings in line. Despite widespread poverty among Burma’s people, Than Shwe and his family have a reputation for greed and flaunting their wealth. In 2006, a video of the lavish wedding of Than Shwe’s daughter, in which she allegedly received $50 million in gifts, circulated in Burma. “The public’s disrespect and hatred toward Than Shwe’s family members are much worse than for Ne Win’s family,” said Aung Zaw.
Other authoritarian leaders, such as China’s Deng Xiaoping and Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew, successfully maintained much of their power and influence long after stepping back from official leadership roles. Than Shwe, who once headed the military’s psychological warfare department, has the skills to do the same. “He is manipulative and cunning, and he makes his moves in secrecy,” Aung Zaw said. Rogers said that Than Shwe, who often makes public displays of his generous donations to Buddhist temples, keeps at least seven fortune tellers on his staff to help him ward off any ill fortune or plots against him. Yet even they can not predict with certainty what the general’s end will be. There is no doubt, however, that Than Shwe’s detractors are hoping one of Asia’s more enduring religious principles eventually catches up with him: karma. “You reap what you sow,” said Aung Zaw.
bdnews24 – ‘Verdict on sea limits by year-end’
Tue, Apr 12th, 2011 9:42 pm BdSTDial 2000 from your GP mobile for latest news
Sheikh Shahariar Zaman
Dhaka, Apr 12 (bdnews24.com) – The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) will deliver verdict on maritime boundary dispute with Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal by the end of this year.
“Bangladesh and Myanmar will complete filing their pleadings to ITLOS by July and oral hearing will be held in September or October,” additional foreign secretary Khurshed Alam told the bdnews24.com Tuesday.
“We expect to get a verdict by the end of this year.”
The government accepted the jurisdiction of ITLOS in December 2009 to settle the maritime boundary dispute with Myanmar.
“Our lawyers led by US-based Foley Hoag company are making preparations in this regard,” he said.
An ITLOS bench comprising 23 judges would deliver verdict after hearing both sides, he added.
The dispute arose as Bangladesh wanted to delimit Bay of Bengal on ‘equity basis’, while Myanmar on ‘equi-distance basis’.
“The tribunal will decide the direction of delimitation lines on Talpatti point and Saint Martin point,” Alam said.
Talpatti is the furthest southwest point and Saint Martin southeast one.
The coastline distance between Talpatti and Saint Martin is 700 kilometres and Bangladesh claimed over 900 kilometre outer limit of continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal.
“The delimitation issue with Myanmar will be settled by ITLOS while the claim of the outer limit will be decided at the United Nations,” Alam said.
There were instances of countries getting justice on the equity basis, he said.
“Germany won the case against Denmark and the Netherlands and delimited the maritime boundary on equity basis in 1969,” he added.
After the completion of delimitation, Bangladesh would be able to explore natural resources, including gas and oil, in the Bay of Bengal.
09:33, April 12, 2011
Myanmar Port Authority (MPA) will carry out for the maintenance of the water course of Yangon river aimed at facilitating the arrival of oceanliners and inland trasport vessels, according to the Yangon port authorities Monday.
MPA has planned for safety drive of foreign vessels ranging from 15,000 tons to 35,000 tons and tackling timely completion of freight-handling.
Myanmar Ministry for Transport U Nyan Tun Aung inspected the wharves along Yangon river by Thameehla Vessel last Saturday, the official daily New Light of Myanmar said.
According to the official figures, a total of 41 small and large jetties at Yangon port can yearly handle 6,800 vessels of Inland Water Transport and private-owned vessels on the arrival and 6,885 vessels for their departure.
The port tackles over 360,000 tonnes of incoming commodities and over 280,000 tonnes of outgoing commodities.
Meanwhile, the Dawei deep seaport project of Myanmar and Thailand is targeted to complete in 10 years in three phases and the project is to be carried out under a build-operate-transfer ( BOT) system for 60 years which is extendable.
The Dawei deep seaport, industrial zone and road and rail link to Thailand construction project represents the first ever special economic zone in Myanmar.
The project, which costs 13 billion U.S dollars, includes construction of Dawei Deep Seaport, buildings for shipyard and maintenance work, establishment of zone, petrochemical industries, oil refinery, steel plant, power stations and Dawei-Bangkok motor road and railroad and laying of oil pipeline along the motorway and railroad, according to the framework agreement.
A total of 25 vessels ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes will be able to berth at 22 wharves simultaneously and 100 million tons of goods will be handled a year with the deep seaport made up of the south port and the north port.
An area of 250 square kilometers has been designated to build a zone comprising of two heavy industrial zones, one medium heavy industrial zone and one light industrial zone. Source: Xinhua
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Large-scale human rights abuses occurred during recent fighting between Burmese government troops and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-North), which has left hundreds of thousands of local people in fear for their lives, according to a Shan human rights organization.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), a Thailand-based organization, issued a statement on Tuesday regarding human rights abuses committed by the Tatmadaw (Burmese armed forces) during clashes between the Tatmadaw and the SSA-North.
According to the SHRF statement, villagers are being tortured and killed on suspicion of supporting the Shan resistance. In addition, women are being targeted for sexual violence—three women were gang-raped in separate incidents in the conflict area, the statement said.
SHRF spokesperson Kham Harn Fa said, “Northern Shan State is being plunged into war and new atrocities inflicted on our people. Now is definitely not the time to lift sanctions against the regime.”
The conflicts started on March 13, when the 22-year-old cease fire agreement between the SSA-North and the Tatmadaw was broken. The SHRF statement said that the Tatmadaw mobilized 3,500 troops from over 20 battalions to attack the headquarters of the SSA-North in Mong Hsu Township, which is near the border between northern and southern Shan State.
Namp Lao village, located in the northeastern part of Mong Hsu, is where the first clash broke out. According to the SHRF statement, four novices were killed and two villagers injured by the Tatmadaw in that clash, and fighting then spread to Tang Yan, Kesi, Mong Yai, Hsipaw, Lashio and Kyaukme townships, with 65 battles taking place in the last three weeks.
A source close to the SSA-North from Lashio, the capital of northern Shan State, told The Irrawaddy that the SSA-North is using guerrilla warfare tactics to fight the Tatmadaw.
“When the Burmese Army attacked the Namp Lao and Wan Hai bases, which are the strongest bases of the SSA-North, the troops were spread into different areas. But the SSA-North troops are fighting back against the Burmese troops,” a local source said.
On March 31, SSA-North troops launched a bomb attack on an army convoy from the No 291 Light Infantry Battallion based in Nam Paung village, which is about 25 miles from Lashio. A villager from Nam Poung said that no one was injured in the bomb attack, but the vehicles were destroyed.
Over 100 local people from five to seven villages near Nam Paung were then forced to relocate to an area which has been controlled by Burmese army troops since the end of March.
A villager who formerly lived in Nam Hma Mauk Tong village, where SSA-North troops are also based, said that they were ordered by the No 291 Light Infantry Battalion based in Nam Paung to move to the new location. If they refused to do so, they would be arrested and their village burned, he said.
“About 50 soldiers came into the village after several gun fights occurred. Then they told every villager to get outside of the house and started looking for SSA-North soldiers inside. When they saw a picture of someone in an olive green suit like an SSA uniform, they seized the whole family without asking anything and took the electronics. After that they destroyed the rest,” said a local source who has moved to a new village.
“At that time I just prayed to the Lord Buddha to escape from such a terrible moment,” he continued. “Everything was okay when the SSA-North troops were based in our village. They even solved some problems for us.”
A source close to the SSA-North said that Col Yang, the leader of the SSA-North troops based in Nam Hma Mauk Tong, has fled but is still ordering his troops to fight back against the Tatmadaw.
Military observers said that Tatmadaw attacked the SSA-North, which has at least 3,000 troops, because it refused to transform into a border guard force under Burmese military command.
By KO HTWE Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Five farmers from the Tachilek and Kengtung townships in Shan State are planning to file a lawsuit against local authorities who confiscated their land, according to a lawyer representing the group.
Nearly 100 acres of local farmland was seized by township authorities over the past three years, much of which has been sold to Chinese businessmen who have converted the arable land into rubber plantations.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, lawyer Myint Thwin said that some of the land had been seized a long time ago, but farmers were unable to file a suit against the local government under the previous administration of the State Peace and Development Council.
“Now we can file a lawsuit by quoting articles from the new constitution,” he said. “The businessmen who took over the land have no legal documents.”
“The local authorities and businessmen have taken advantage of illiterate farmers,” he said.
Myint Thwin said he also received a letter of complaint from the farmers about land in Kachin State being confiscated due to the construction of a railway line.
Across the country, farmers have had land confiscated by Burma’s military authorities and distributed to private companies. According to lawyers, who also provided documented evidence to The Irrawaddy, some 8,500 acres of farmland was seized in Rangoon Division, nearly 5,000 acres in Irrawaddy Division, 1,338 acres in Kachin State, and 600 acres in Mon State. Farmers in each of these regions have filed complaints and lawsuits, but no action has been taken.
The head of the Burmese military junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, delivered a Peasants’ Day message on March 2 assuring the nation that the government is taking measures to improve the agricultural sector.
According to the 2008 constitution, Chapter (VIII) Act 356 states that “the Union shall protect according to law movable and immovable properties of every citizen that are lawfully acquired.”
However, 10 villages in Zayar Thiri Township in Naypyidaw are to be relocated because of a shopping center construction project for the forthcoming 2013 SEA Games, according to local residents.
“The villages must be relocated, each dispossessed villager will receive 500,000 kyat (US $500) per acre and a plot of land,” said a representative of the construction company.
The date for the relocation has not yet been fixed, but nearly 1,000 households have been forced to be relocated.
“500,000 kyat per acre won’t last long,” said a dispossessed villager from Popa Kone. “But we can maintain our standard of living with just one acre of land.”
Tuesday, 12 April 2011 09:49 Mizzima News
Bangkok (Mizzima) – A sideline talk between the foreign ministers of Thailand and Burma has led Thailand to discuss plans to close down all nine refugee camps on its border, The Bangkok Post reported on Tuesday.
No official actions or date to begin the shut-down were approved. The Thai government said plans to provide training and skills to the refugees would be part of any plan.
There are more than 140,000 refugees on the Thailand-Burma border, with some refugees living in the camps for more than 20 years.
A spokesperson for Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Tiromya said: “The Thai government will help provide training in education and human resources development as well as improve their quality of life to prepare them to return to Burma so they can play constructive roles in their country’.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and newly-appointed Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin discussed the issue during a meeting on the sidelines of the Special Informal Asean Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bangkok on Monday.
Spokesman Thani Thongpakdi quoted Kasit as saying that the Thai government would take part in running the administrative work in nine camps now managed largely by foreign non-government organisations, according to the newspaper. Thani said Burma Foreign Minister Lwin said Burma was ready to take the refugees back.
Thai National Security Council Chief Thawil Pliensri said the closure of the refugee camps was discussed at the agency’s meeting on Monday chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
‘I cannot say when we will close down the camps, but we intend to do it’, he said, according to the Bangkok Post. ‘We are now in the process of discussion with the Burmese government’.
The refugee camps, located in Tak, Mae Hong Son, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces, are filled with members of Burma’s numerous ethic groups, many of whom have been in armed conflict with successive Burmese governments for up to four decades. Living conditions in the camps, which are largely self-operated and administered by international aid groups and the Thai government, are harsh. Refugees are not allowed to work or to leave the camps in normal circumstances.
A spokesperson for the UN Relief Agency in Bangkok said it was too soon to send the refugees home, according to the newspaper.
‘We have been working very well with the Thai government and we do understand that they don’t want the refugees to stay here forever’, said Kitty McKinsey.
‘But the solution is not forcing people to go back to a country that is still dangerous. What we would really like to see is that the returns are done in safety and dignity, and they absolutely have to be voluntary’.