BURMA RELATED NEWS – MAY 19, 2011
May 19th, 2011
1 hr 16 mins ago YANGON (AFP) – A senior US diplomat met Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday for talks about the country’s new political landscape following the recent dissolution of the junta.
Joseph Yun, the deputy US assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs, described the meeting as “very good” but did not reveal details of his discussion with the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
US President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009 launched a drive to engage with Myanmar’s junta, which in March this year made way for a nominally civilian but army backed government after the first election in 20 years.
Washington has voiced disappointment with the results of the dialogue and refused to ease sanctions after the November poll, which was marred by complaints of cheating and won by the military’s political proxies.
On Wednesday Yun held talks with Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in the capital Naypyidaw in the highest-level meeting between the two nations since the handover of power to the new government.
“We have a policy of engagement,” Yun told reporters.
“But certainly I will take back what I learned from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as well as Naypyidaw,” he added. “Daw” is a term of respect in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
Suu Kyi, 65, was released in November shortly after the poll, having spent most of the past two decades in detention.
Yun’s trip comes just days after a senior UN official visited the country and said that recent signals from the new government were “very encouraging”, although the words needed to be matched by action.
It also comes after Washington on Monday renewed its economic sanctions against Myanmar and urged the authorities to release the more than 2,000 political prisoners locked up in the country.
Suu Kyi said she believed the United States had prolonged the measures “because they do not think there has been significant change in Burma.”
She added: “This is very much in line with US policy all along. The sanctions will be lifted when they think that there has been significant change.”
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press – 2 hrs 31 mins ago
GENEVA (AP) – Austerity, what austerity? Spring auctions in Switzerland have fetched nearly $200 million (euro140 million) in sales of rare jewels, watches and wine, some at world record prices, in the past week.
Christie’s said Thursday it has sold more than $108 million in three days, including record amounts of $10.9 million paid for a 56-carat heart-shaped diamond that is internally flawless and $7.1 million for a 130-carat Burmese sapphire — an amount that “stole the show.”
An antique Imperial Mughal necklace brought in more than $5 million, more than an Indian jewel has sold for at auction previously, and a rare 1928 Patek Philippe wrist watch sold for $3.6 million, the most ever paid for a simple chronograph at auction.
A 1942 steel Rolex watch went for upwards of $1 million; a bottle of 1945 Romanee-Conti red burgundy wine went for $123,889 — the most ever paid at auction for a 75-centiliter bottle.
And at a Tuesday evening auction, Sotheby’s said it brought in $89 million for luxury goods.
Buyers set record prices, paying $12.7 million for a rare emerald-and-diamond tiara that a fabulously wealthy German prince, Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, commissioned for his second, Russian-born wife around 1900. It sold for a record $12.44 million; an intensely pink 11-carat diamond from the mines of India sold for $10.8 million, the ninth highest price ever paid for a diamond at auction.
Sotheby’s also sold off jewelry that once belonged to the Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson and to a former American World War II spy who married into Spanish aristocracy and rubbed shoulders with world leaders and Hollywood celebrities.
The auction house said it sold more than $1 million of necklaces, brooches and earrings featuring emeralds, diamonds and rubies that had belonged to New York-born Marie Aline Griffith, who worked for the CIA’s predecessor OSS in Madrid during World War II before marrying a Spanish nobleman to become Countess Alina de Romanones.
The fervor for doling out cash at record-setting prices along the elegant shores of Lake Geneva contrasts sharply with the hardships being felt elsewhere in Europe due to the eurozone debt crisis and austerity measures.
“The week of May jewelry, watches and wine sales in Geneva was marked by strong bidding with moments of passionate enthusiasm,” said Francois Curiel, president of Christie’s Switzerland.
But the bidding, most of it anonymously, comes from buyers around the world, much of it done in telephone calls by professional agents on the buyer’s behalf. Christie’s called it their most successful jewelry sale ever in four decades in Geneva.
David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s European and Middle Eastern jewelry sales, called the auctions evidence of an “extraordinary appetite” among connoisseurs for rare pieces.
PTI – 2 hours 34 minutes ago
Kolkata, May 19 (PTI) The Centre today released 31 of 34 Myanmarese pro-democracy activists who spent more than 13 years in a city jail.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) granted them refugee status which they wanted and they were released, Superintendent of Presidency Correctional Home Biplab Das said.
The Indian Navy had on February 13, 1998, intercepted a steamer in the Indian maritime zone and following a heavy exchange of fire arrested 34 people who turned out to be members of the National United Party of Arakan and Karen National Union which had been fighting the Burmese junta for decades.
Six persons died in the encounter.
After keeping them in a military camp for nine years, CBI brought them to the Presidency Correctional Home in 2006 and started a case accusing them of waging war against the nation and supplying arms to the Northeast but failed to prove their “anti-national” activity.
In an agreement between the 34 jailed Mayanmarese and CBI, they wished not to be deported fearing death or imprisonment for participating in the democracy movement in Myanmar and requested the court that they be allowed to stay in India as refugees, a court-appointed interpreter for the activists, Soe Myint, said.
As the persons didn”t have passports or travel documents or legal permits (such as residential permits) on them to justify their stay in India, they were not released, Myint said.
They applied to the UNHCR for refugee status and after accepting their application, the UNHCR interviewed them individually in the Presidency Correctional Home and granted them the refugee status and released them, Myint said.
The company would not issue new shares should it decide to list A-shares in China, Chairman Wang Jianzhou told reporters after a shareholders’ meeting.
The mobile carrier, which had more than 600 million users, in April posted a 5.4 percent rise in first-quarter net profit to 26.9 billion yuan ($4.1 billion).
Like peers China Unicom and China Telecom Corp Ltd , China Mobile has been trying to reverse a decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) by seeking to attract more users to its value-added mobile services.
08:53, May 19, 2011
Visiting senior United States diplomat Joseph Yun met with Myanmar foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin in Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday, state radio and television reported.
The two sides held discussions on boosting relations between the two countries and mutually beneficial cooperation.
Yun, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, also met with deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (Lower House) U Nanda Kyaw Swar at the parliament house in the new capital.
According to official sources, Yun is scheduled to fly to Yangon Thursday where he will meet with noted political figure Aung San Suu Kyi.
Yun is also expected to consult a variety of other stakeholders, including representatives of political parties, non-governmental organizations, ethnic minorities, as well as the business community.
Yun arrived Nay Pyi Taw earlier Wednesday on an official visit to Myanmar to continue engagement with the Myanmar new government.
It is Yun’s second visit to Myanmar, the first being in December last year. Source: Xinhua
May 19, 2011, 13:50 GMT
Yangon – A senior US State Department official told Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday that the United States was pushing for ’significant developments’ in military-ruled Myanmar.
‘He told me that he wanted to see significant development here,’ Suu Kyi told reporters after meeting US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Yun.
Yun earlier met Myanmar Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Nada Kyaw Zwa and the secretary of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, Htay Oo, in Naypyitaw, the new capital.
He flew back to Yangon to hold talks with Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who was released from a seven-year house detention sentence on November 13.
‘My visit is to try to find common ground between Washington and Naypyitaw,’ Yun told reporters before leaving Suu Kyi’s house. He did not respond to questions about his impression of Myanmar’s new government, which came to power after the November 7 general election.
Suu Kyi said after the meeting: ‘I don’t think there was a change attitude on sanctions.
‘They (the US) renewed sanctions because they do not think there has been sufficient change in Burma,’ she said, referring to her country by its old name, which the military changed to Myanmar two decades ago.
Regarding the recent release of more than 7,000 prisoners, Suu Kyi acknowledged that there were 55 political prisoners among them including 27 members of National League for Democracy party, which she leads.
‘This was not an amnesty,’ she said. ‘The recent release was just a commuting of sentences,’ she said. ‘I wanted the release of more political prisoners.’
There are an estimated 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar jails.
It was Yun’s first official visit since Myanmar’s new government was formed on March 30, and follows on the heels of a visit by United Nations special envoy to Myanmar Vijay Nambiar last week.
Yun last visited Myanmar in December, shortly after Suu Kyi was released. He is the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar since the country’s first election in two decades.
US President Barack Obama called the election a sham, because Suu Kyi was barred from participating and because of other restrictions intended to ensure military-backed candidates won.
Agence France-Presse
Posted at 05/19/2011 2:51 PM
YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar’s president will visit China next week, an official said, in his first bilateral trip to a foreign power since taking the helm of the country’s new nominally civilian government.
Thein Sein will travel to Myanmar’s powerful northern neighbor from May 26 to 29, but it is not yet known which senior Chinese figures he will meet.
“The president wanted to visit China first because it is important both for diplomatic and economic ties,” a Myanmar government official told AFP, adding that the two countries had been planning a meeting since Thein Sein’s inauguration earlier this year.
“He will go to other countries later,” he added.
The details of the president’s China visit were revealed soon after US envoy Joseph Yun held held talks with Myanmar’s foreign minister on Wednesday.
Yun, the deputy US assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs, is expected to meet Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday as part of a four-day trip to the country, but was not likely to see Thein Sein.
Myanmar’s president, a former general and junta prime minister, retired from the army to contest an election last November that was marred by claims of cheating and the exclusion of democracy champion Suu Kyi.
His first foray into foreign diplomacy was a visit to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia earlier this month.
This attracted controversy after Myanmar announced it wanted to chair the group in 2014 despite allegations of ongoing human rights abuses and doubts over democratic reforms.
Published: May 18, 2011 at 2:34 PM
WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) — Despite complaints about the lack of reform, engaging leaders in Myanmar is part of a policy meant to put direct pressure on the regime, Washington said.
A decree signed by President Thein Sein was described as a general amnesty for political prisoners. Thousands of prisoners were expected to be released and the government said it was reducing the sentences for countless others.
Human Rights Watch said few of the country’s 2,200 political prisoners were among those being released. The one-year reduction in sentences for political prisoners serving 65 years was “a sick joke.”
Joseph Yun, a U.S. State Department deputy assistant secretary for East Asia, traveled to the region Wednesday to meet with the leaders of Myanmar.
Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department, said that despite the poor track record for Myanmar, Washington felt a two-track approach was the best policy choice.
“We recognize that there’s some fairly serious challenges to address in this relationship but we’re going to continue to pursue a dual-track policy that involves pressure but also principled engagement,” he said during a regular press briefing.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi was released from house arrest last year after the government had its first general election in nearly 20 years.
Published on May 19, 2011
PTTEP International Ltd, a subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP), reported the successful exploration in Burma with the finding of gas in Aung Singkha 2 well.
The exploration shows substantial gas flow. The flow tests were conducted on two zones with a natural gas maximum flow rate of approximately 25 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) with the condensate flow rate of approximately 150 barrels per day and calculated Absolute Open Flow (AOF) rate of approximately 53.5 million standard cubic feet per day.
The testing valve was recently opened jointly by U Than Htay, the minister of Energy and Kanok Intharawijitr, general manager of PTTEP International.
By Onravee Tangmeesang
Published on May 19, 2011
Students from 13 universities in Asean countries, as well as China, Japan and South Korea, recently took part in the Asean University Network (AUN)’s Young Speakers Contest 2011 near Bangkok.
Thailand’s Mahidol University played host to the 12th AUN event under the theme of “Strengthening Asean+3: Higher Education through Community Engagement”.
Winning the first prize for her speech-giving talents was Natalia Rialucky Tampubolon from the University of Indonesia. Julian Bautista, from De La Salle University of the Philippines, and Christopher Chok Ke Bin from the National University of Singapore won the second and third prizes, respectively.
Established more than a decade ago, AUN is part of the 10-country Asean grouping in which the Asean Economic Community, one of its three pillars, will be effective in 2015.
While Asean may seem like a government-to-government forum, the relations among its country’s citizens, especially youth, are seen as no less important in forging stronger links between members.
Asean groups together Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Cambodia. Besides these 10 member states, Asean also has deepened its relations with regional partners China, Japan and South Korea under the Asean+3 framework. On January 1, 2010, Asean entered into a free trade agreement with China under which most import duties were reduced to zero to facilitate a freer flow of trade. Japan and South Korea also have signed free trade agreements with Asean member countries.
In the cultural and social spheres, the Young Speakers Contest was the latest bid to promote friendship between youth in Asean and the three other Asian economic powerhouses.
According to the AUN Educational Forum, the aim of the contest was to enable youngsters to network and build solid relationships with fellow students across the region.
All participants were students currently enrolled at 26 member universities which are part of the AUN.
The week-long event, which took place from May 2-9, saw 13 institutes select their best public speakers to do battle in Thailand, according to Dr Aim-orn Wasantwisut, a vice rector of Mahidol University.
Thailand was represented by students from Mahidol University, Chulalongkorn University, Chiang Mai University, and Burapha University.
As well as friendly competition, the emphasis was placed on cooperating, as collaboration is seen as a key to helping strengthen intra-regional relationships.
In a separate but related project, the AUN is promoting the exchange of students and university staff among member countries, as Asean will shortly adopt measures to boost the mobility of skilled labour within the region.
In addition, Unesco is working on another project in which Asean students will be given the opportunity to study in Europe and America.
May 19, 2011:
The war continues in the north, between the army and various rebel groups. These include the SSA (Shan State Army) and its ally the United Wa State Army. Actually, there are two Shan State Armies (north and south) and these have joined forces against the government (despite the fact that one of them is technically a government ally). For the last decade, the government had some success in dividing the tribes with bribes and good treatment. But this effort has run into some problems.
The current fighting has been going on since the start of the year. The tribes feel they are being played, and trust the government even less. The Shan State and United Wa State can muster nearly 10,000 armed men (although not on a full time basis.) Because of the expense, and lack of roads, the government can’t get an overwhelming number of troops into the north. So a stalemate is not only possible, it has been the norm for decades. The new round of violence is also directed at government civilian workers. These have been lured north (by higher pay and other opportunities) to provide services (medical, educational and so on) that would make government rule easier to accept. The tribal rebels know that, and are increasingly killing and terrifying these bureaucrats.
One reason for the increased violence against southerners is the government encouragement of human trafficking. There is a demand for women in China. Not just for brothels, but as wives. China’s “one child” policy of the last few decades, and the ability to determine the sex of the child before birth, has led to more (20 percent more) boys than girls being born. There’s a growing shortage of potential brides, and desperate Chinese men are willing to buy a kidnapped tribal girl from northern Burma. The tribes do not like this, as Chinese armies have been doing this for thousands of years, and it’s something you never get used to.
In the southeast, the Karen tribes don’t have to worry as much about kidnapping and a drug trade, but the battles with Burmese troops has been a daily occurrence this year. It’s another endless war. The military dictatorship refuses to allow the kind of autonomy the Karen (or other tribal minorities) demand, so the fighting goes on. The situation with the Karen is made worse by bad weather, that is causing food shortages. More Karen are fleeing to Thailand to avoid starvation, as well as the fighting.
The government officials in the north are not always heartless foreign rulers. They can be bribed. And that is what the drug gangs are doing, so that they can grow more poppies (that yield opium, which can be refined into heroin). The northern tribes see the Afghan heroin production under increasing threat, and sense an opportunity to once more become the major source of heroin (which they were, until China organized a campaign to shut it down in the 1980s). The Chinese are still hostile to opium (as they have been for the last three centuries), but corruption and constant demand keep the drug gangs in business.
The army has a problem with rising (worldwide) food prices. Because the average pay of soldiers is about $50 a month, those with families have come to depend on government “gifts” of free rice each month. Although usually low quality stuff, if allows families to get by. But the sharp rise in food costs has caught up with the army, which is cutting the free food for families in some units. The army is large (3500,000 troops) and loyalty is obtained by providing jobs for men who would otherwise be unemployed. That loyalty is in danger if the food shortages spread.
May 18, 2011: A bomb went off on a train outside the capital, killing two people. Police believe this is the work of Karen rebels.
Wed May 18, 2011 5:26PM
Preethi Nallu, Press TV, Thai-Myanmar Border Opium – a weapon that has fueled warfare between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority armed groups over the last few decades.
These particular poppy fields are situated in Shan State where according to experts, a majority of towns are involved in opium production due to a combination of food insecurity, poverty and ongoing conflict.
Latest reports show a significant surge in opium production in the country between 2010 and 2011.
The United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has named Myanmar the second largest producer of opium in the world, next to Afghanistan. According to their report for the last season, the country has 3,200 hectares of land under opium poppy cultivation, that is an increase by 11 percent from the previous year and 50 percent more than in 2006.
Yet, the Myanmar government has insisted that they have been successful in curbing opium production.
But, not according to a 63 year old farmer from northern Shan State who has been producing poppy for many years. She explains that local authorities charges taxes on the poppy seeds that she produces.
Researchers confirm such civilian testimonials, explaining that the presence of known drug lords in the Myanmar parliament attests to the complicit involvement of the government in the flourishing drug trade.
According to UNODC, the flourishing opium trade in Shan State is largely due to production under ethnic rebel groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Kokang.
But, in recent years the active involvement of local and central government authorities has contributed to a surge in production. It is widely known that both sides are responsible for continued refinement of opium into heroin.
The impact can be felt locally, in Shan communities where opium addiction among young men increased by 85 percent in 2009 and regionally, in neighboring countries such as China where 600,000 cases of addiction were registered in Yunnan province alone.
AsiaNews.it – MYANMAR: Aung San Suu Kyi could “soon” campaign outside Yangon
After eight years, Myanmar’s opposition leader will be able to travel around Yangon province to promote her campaign in favour of democracy and human rights. The Nobel Prize winner hopes to see the United States renew its sanctions against Myanmar because there has not been “sufficient improvement” in the country.” The government’s recent release of a small number of dissidents is not an amnesty but an act of “clemency”.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Aung San Suu Kyi could soon be travelling to areas outside Yangon to campaign on behalf of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
The Nobel Prize laureate made the announcement today during a meeting with reporters. For now, she will limit her movements to areas around the former Burmese capital, and avoid the rest of the country.
Burma’s main opposition leader has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. The terms of her detention ended in November, a few days after the country’s parliamentary elections.
Right after her release, Ms Suu Kyi stressed her desire to continue her struggle for democracy and human rights in Myanmar. However, she chose not to leave the city fearing possible attacks (see “Junta to jail people who complain about election fraud, warns Aung San Suu Kyi,” in AsiaNews 17 November 2010).
In the past, Burmese authorities prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from travelling around the country fearing her popularity might spur dissent against its military rulers.
The last legal action taken against the NLD leader came in May 2003, in the wake of an attack against her motorcade in Depayin, northern Burma. She did not suffer any injuries in the incident, but dozens of NLD sympathisers lost their lives.
After a meeting with US diplomat Joseph Yun, Ms Suu Kyi talked about US economic sanctions against Myanmar. She said that she hoped US President Barack Obama would renew them because there has not been “sufficient improvement” in the country.
Commenting on the recent release of about 17,000 prisoners, Suu Kyi said that she would not call it an amnesty, but rather an act of “clemency”
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Kyaw San, 79, was a political prisoner for more than 15 of the 21 years that Than Shwe’s military regime held power. Conscripted into the army in 1949, he attended the Defense Service Academy No 18 and later was promoted to colonel. After serving over 36 years in the army, he retired in 1986 and went on to participate in the 1988 uprising with Tin Oo, who is the current vice-president of the National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1990, Kyaw San was elected to be an MP in Parliament, but the election was not honored by the regime and in 1992 he was sentenced to a seven-year, seven-month prison term for praising Aung San Suu Kyi for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He was released after serving three years, but rearrested for misbehavior and forced to complete his original sentence plus two additional years. In 2005, he was once again sentenced to seven years, this time for assisting in the transportation of illegal goods. On Tuesday, Kyaw San was released from prison after serving 6-years and 2 months of his seven-year prison term.
Kyaw San is currently a member of the NLD’s central executive committee and the chairman of the Sagaing Division. The Irrawaddy reporter Ko Htwe spoke with him about the amnesty program that allowed him to be released, his life in prison and his future political intentions.
Kyaw San
Question: What is your opinion of the amnesty program?
Answer: I don’t want to argue that I was released one year early because of the great mercy of the president. The political prisoners who were released because of the amnesty were going to be free anyways within a few months. The families of the rest of the political prisoners waiting in front of the prison are continually in tears. How can I say that I’m happy?
Some are happy when they are free from prison and leave the life of a novice, but I cannot be happy when I am free from prison. My comrades are still serving 65-year sentences, so I’m not delighted even though I’m free. But I was delighted when I met with my family and 6-year old grand daughter, who was born when I was in prison. I have to keep in touch with my leaders and wish to proceed with my political work. For all of my comrades in prison who got 1-year sentence reductions, it is like throwing sesame into the mouth of an elephant. It is political nonsense. In the past, the Home Affairs minister also freed prisoners who were serving 20 and 30-year prison terms after 3-years imprisonment. One year amnesty from the president is a joke for the international community. It is undignified and has no political benefit.
The new government is not concerned with national reconciliation. If they want to have national reconciliation and establish a clean government, they need to free all political prisoners. The new government at first signaled that there will be discussions with all ethnic minority, opposition and underground groups, including exiled groups. But this first action on amnesty makes their dignity so small.
Q: Will you proceed with your political career?
A: I spoke with our leaders on the telephone. Our leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of General Aung San, who was the leader of our nation and the father of the army. So I believe I’ll never be a person who abandons leaders and comrades in this tight corner. So I’ll be with them while I’m healthy. I will never ignore the affairs of democracy. I have a duty to put the sovereignty in the hands of the real public. I cannot do it alone. Unity can bring success, so I have to discuss and negotiate with the leader and my comrades. To sum up, I decided not to split with my comrades and will cooperate with them.
Q: What is your opinion of Aung San Suu Kyi?
A: She is like my sister. We have the same essential political view. Our hearts are connected. As a citizen of Burma, I also have the duty to protect and surround her because she is the daughter of our national leader Aung San. I have a commitment to join hands with her, whatever I have to face.
Q: How do you view the opposition movement? Have they become stronger or weaker?
A: I don’t know exactly what they are doing outside. They are doing the best they can. Exiles are also effective in some ways, but inside we have to capitalize on our life. There is much evidence that many political prisoners ruin their life, divorce and leave their infants. I think we need to try to live in accordance with love and wisdom. If we act with anger we will blunder. We need to hold the democratic principles. We must have unity, avoid terrorism and respect discipline. We need to organize the public forces. The other side is not the enemy because we are of the same nationality. Whatever they say, we need to try to act with love.
Q: What is your expectation for change?
A: The words of the president were delightful. But although the speech is professional, the actions are still at the primary level. The words are marvelous, but now the actions speak louder than the words. We need to wait and see. After a half-year their graph will take shape. But we don’t need to wait just for chance or circumstances, we have to do what we must. If the public and political parties are united and our actions are not selfish and are based on good strategy, we will achieve our goal.
Q: What is your opinion of the new government?
A: The speech of the president is respectful and welcomed. He ideologically said the right thing but needs time for him to shape the outcome. It is very early to say. But the situation is not so good at the starting point.
Q: How was your experience in jail?
A: The authorities violated the law of human rights and need to repair a lot. On the facade, they pretended to repair the damage, but it was very ugly inside. Authorities from the prison neglected living standards, communication and health care by transferring duties to deputy jailers who could do whatever they wished. There are many weaknesses in the administration and health care system. I never ate food from the jail the entire 6-years. Human rights violation are still ongoing. Although I’m retired from the army and older than the jailer, he threatened us by saying: “If you don’t obey, my hand will speak.”
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, May 19, 2011
Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi told reporters on Thursday evening that she will soon travel to areas outside Rangoon to campaign on behalf of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
In the past, she has been prevented from travelling outside of Rangoon for fear her popularity could encourage dissent against the ruling junta. Suu Kyi’s last detention began in May 2003 after her motorcade was ambushed in Depayin in northern Burma by a government-backed mob.
Her comments came after a meeting with senior US diplomat Joseph Yun who arrived in Rangoon on Thursday and met the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and members of the NLD central executive committee.
At a press briefing after the meeting with Yun, Suu Kyi said that she believes President Obama will renew US economic sanctions against Burma because there has not been “sufficient improvement” in the country, and that only when the Burmese government takes positive steps will the US lift sanctions.
Commenting on the new government’s recent amnesty for about 17,000 prisoners, Suu Kyi said that she doesn’t think it can be called an amnesty, but “clemency.”
She said she told Yun that there are 27 NLD members out of the 50 political prisoners that were freed.
Before leaving Burmese capital Naypyidaw earlier that day, the deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Joseph Y. Yun, held talks with several leaders of the new government, including Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Myo Myint, and Lower House Deputy Speaker Nanda Kyaw Swar, according to a report by state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar on Thursday.
Yun was also accompanied by Larry Dinger, the chargé d’affaires in Rangoon, during his meeting in the new capital where they discussed matters related to the promotion of bilateral relations and mutual interests, said the report.
The four-day visit by Yun comes as the US and other countries consider their policies after Burma’s recent transition from military rule.
Burma dissolved the junta on March 30, following a general election in November, but critics charge the change is simply cosmetic and the army continues to wield supreme political power.
In December, Suu Kyi met with Yun in Rangoon and discussed economic sanctions against Burma.
In January, Yun said that the US will not consider lifting economic sanctions against Burma unless the Burmese government recognizes opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party and releases political prisoners.
At a panel discussion on Burma in Washington DC in April, Yun told the audience that the Obama administration is trying its best to engage with the Burmese junta, but without any success.
In late April at a school-opening ceremony in Irrawaddy Division, Htay Oo, the general secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which was formed by ex-army officials, welcomed the nomination of a proposed US special envoy to Burma, Derek Mitchell. Htay Oo said that Mitchell could act as a “direct channel” between Burma and the US government, according to a report by Rangoon-based The Myanmar Times.
By SAI ZOM HSENG Thursday, May 19, 2011
Burmese government troops launched a number of mortar shells at an outpost of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Mohnyin Township, some 150 km southwest of the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, on Wednesday morning.
According to a KIO official who spoke with The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, the shells were fired from 81mm mortars. No casualties were reported, although the KIA has since raised its level of alert.
The mortar attack was the first overt sign of violence between the KIA and the Tatmadaw (Burmese army) since Xu Caihou, the vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, visited Burma last week.
Naw Din, the editor of the Kachin News Group (KNG), told The Irrawaddy that tensions have been high in recent weeks, and that Wednesday’s unilateral attack should be seen as a warning to the KIA, which is the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
“The government’s troops fired the shells as a warning. They were ordering KIA Battalion 5 to move its base. As far as we know, nobody was injured,” he said.
According to Naw Din, on the same day, Burmese troops fired artillery shells toward the military base of KIA Battalion 25 at Bahmo in northern Kachin State near the Sino-Burmese border. The KNG editor estimated that the action was another warning shot, and should not be taken to assume that hostilities had resumed.
“Three shells exploded near Battalion 25,” he said. “This was in response to the KIA’s arrest of six government soldiers who had sneaked into KIA-controlled territory a few weeks ago.
“Officers from Burma’s Northern Regional Command are currently in discussion with China’s regional authorities to assure them that they can resolve these problems successfully,” he added.
The KIO signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government in 1994. But tensions have spilled over in recent months after the KIO refused the Burmese junta’s order in September to transform its military wing into a Border Guard Force.
On Sept. 23, KIA troops fired warning shots at a government helicopter flying near Laiza, close to the KIO headquarters.
Then in February, a skirmish flared between KIA troops and government forces. Several Burmese soldiers were killed, according to the KIA, including a lieutenant-colonel and a commanding officer.
In recent months, Burma’s state-run media has stepped up its rhetoric against the Kachin army, referring to them as “rebels.”
Meanwhile, in political developments, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of anti-government ethnic groups, concluded a conference last week.
At the conference, the UNFC appointed as its chairman the KIA’s Vice-Commander-in-Chief Lt-Gen N’Ban La Awng.
The UNFC includes the KIO, the Karenni National Progressive Party, the Chin National Front, the Karen National Union, the New Mon State Party and the Shan State Army-South.
Thursday, 19 May 2011 18:09 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese Northern Command was warned by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on Thursday to withdraw its troops before May 26 from the area controlled by KIO Battalion No.5, according to a KIO official.
A warning letter was sent by the KIO to withdraw the troops of Infantry Unit No. 142 that is positioned 0.2 kilometers from the base of KIO Battalion No. 5 in the eastern part of Mohnyin Township in Kachin State.
‘The warning letter says if the Northern Command fails to withdraw its troops and something bad happens, the KIO would not shoulder the blame’, Hla Nang, a KIO official, told Mizzima.
The letter was sent to the Northern Command on May 19, and a copy to the Chief Minister of Kachin State Lajawn Ngan Seng.
‘We can say that there are growing tensions between government troops and the KIO. If the Northern Command heeds our warning and withdraws its troops, the tensions will ease’, Hla Nang said.
Recently, a government soldier from Infantory Unit No. 121 under the Northern Command stepped on a KIO landmine and government troops fired their guns into the air, La Nang said.
After that incident, the Northern Command warned the liaison office of the KIO in Myitkyina on Wednesday about the use of landmines.
A KIO officer told Mizzima that recently four people were injured by landmines planted by the KIO.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning government Light Infantry Unit No. 320 based in Daw Pone Yan Township fired three 75-mm shells at KIO Battalion No. 25 based on the west bank of Taping River.
‘A Chinese company is building a dam near Taping River. Both the government and KIO posted armed guards around the site. That’s why they tried to threaten us. But, their shells failed to hit our base’, the KIO official said.
Earlier, the government posted armed security guards around the site of a project working on Katha-Bhamo road. The site is in the area controlled by KIO Battalion No. 5. Currently, the project is suspended.
The Thailand-based Kachin News Group reported on Wednesday that fresh Burmese troops had been deployed in areas near KIO Battalion No. 1, which is under Brigade 3 in Mansi Township.
In February, fighting took place between government Infantry Unit No. 15 and KIO Battalion 27 in Mansi Township. The government’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Yin Htwe, died in the fighting.
The KIO was formed in 1961 to fight for equality and self determination ?for the Kachin people. It is also a member of the United Nationalities Federal Council, an alliance of 12 ethnic armed groups formed in February.
After the visit of China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman General Xu ?Caihou to Burma last week, tension has increased between government troops and KIO troops based along the Sino-Burmese border.
Thursday, 19 May 2011 16:06 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A bomb exploded at the entrance gate to the Myawaddy telephone exchange about 8 a.m. on Thursday. No one was injured.
The office is located about 100 feet from the township police station in No. 4 Ward. The town, located on the border with Thailand, has experienced a string of bombings recently.
‘People living in the compound ran for cover as soon as they heard the explosion’, a local resident who lives near the office told Mizzima.
No communication equipment was damaged, and police sealed off the area.
On Wednesday, a bomb exploded on a Rangoon to Mandalay express train near Naypyitaw, the capital, which left two people dead and nine injured, according to the state-run New Light of Myanmar. The bomb exploded in the third coach in ordinary class behind the engine at about 3:55 p.m., ripping off the roof of the coach.
On Tuesday, a bomb exploded at a telephone exchange in Mudon, killing one policeman and injuring one man.
In March, a bomb went off in Myawaddy near a police station and a Christian church; no one was injured.
On February 9, two people were killed when a bomb exploded at a teashop.
On November 8, heavy urban fighting broke out in Myawaddy between a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and government troops.
Thursday, 19 May 2011 18:19 Mizzima News
Rangoon (Mizzima) – The newly released political prisoner hip hop singer Zay Yar Thaw says he is trying to meet with Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
‘I deeply respect her. I fully expect her help the country. Her stand and actions can bring many benefits to our people. That’s why I want to meet her’, Zay Yar Thaw said.
The 31-year-old entertainer, a leader of an opposition group called Generation Wave, was released on Tuesday from Kawthoung Prison.
In 2008, he was charged under section 6/88 of the Unlawful Association Act and section 24/1 of the Foreign Currency Act and sentenced to six years in prison. Later, his sentenced was commuted to four years. On Tuesday, he was among those released from prison under a commutation ordered by President Thein Sein.
Singers Zay Yar Thaw, Anaggha, Hein Zaw and Yan Yan Chan organized Burma’s first hip hop group, Acid, in late 2000.
In late 1990s, Acid started introducing old school hip hop in the night clubs of Yangon, and became popular among Yangon youth. Acid, widely considered to be the pioneers of Burmese hip-hop, made their debut in 2000 with Sa-Tin-Gyin (Beginning) which became an instant hit, according to Wikipedia.
Their success attracted other hip-hop artists and groups, now known as the ‘first generation’ of Burmese hip-hop. Most of the first generation artists used old school hip-hop. Still, hip hop is new to the Burmese and not widely accepted yet by the public at large.
By AYE NAI
Published: 19 May 2011
The Kachin Independence Army has put its troops on high alert as Burmese government plans to build a road close to its territory threaten to spark fighting.
The KIA yesterday issued the alert to its battalions after Chief of Staff General Gam Shwang sent a letter to the Burmese army’s Northern Regional Military Command (NRMC).
Military analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw, who is based on the China-Burma border, said it was the highest alert the KIA has released.
“The group’s leaders sat in a meeting on 14 May and sent a warning to the NRMC that one gunshot and it will be regarded as a declaration of war against the KIA,” he said.
Yesterday afternoon a number of artillery shells landed in valleys close to the KIA’s Brigade 5 outpost. Aung Kyaw Zaw said “it was obviously meant to be a threat”. The government is yet to comment on the situation.
Nawdin Lahpai, editor of the Kachin News Group, said that tension had been on the rise since Saturday last week when the KIA’s repeated attempts to stop the road construction were ignored by the government.
Naypyidaw has already told the KIA’s Brigade 4 to leave their base in northern Shan state’s Loikang where thousands of ethnic Kachin live, but they refused. The Kachin News Group say the Burmese army has recently deployed additional troops to Mansi township in southern Kachin state.
It added that the planned road construction was a disguise for the reinforcement of Burmese army positions close to areas controlled by the KIA, whose 17-year ceasefire deal with the regime appears close to collapse.
Estimates of the number of KIA troops, whose patchwork territory stretches across Kachin to northern Shan state, vary between 4,000 and 10,000.
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 19 May 2011
Freedom remains at a stretch for hundreds of inmates released on Tuesday from Burma’s remote border prisons, with many left stranded hundreds of miles from their homes.
Three political prisoners in the northernmost Putao prison, close to Burma’s frontier with China, were taken by bus on 16 May to Putao town and left there penniless. Nyan Win, spokesperson for the National League for Democracy (NLD), said he had been contacted by the families of Tin Win, Ye Myint and San, to ask for help.
“They were taken to Putao town after being released from the prison,” he said. “They don’t have a penny on them and air travel costs about 90,000 kyat ($US105) for each so they were unable to come home.”
The Burmese government, who billed the controversial amnesty as a “goodwill gesture” to prisoners and their families, appears to have not accommodated the needs of those who saw out their jail terms in far-flung regions.
“It was them [the government] who sent those people to remote places like Putao in the first place so they have a responsibility to at least provide their travel expenses,” Nyan Win said. “But just leaving them like this is not a very nice thing to do.”
The practice of transferring prisoners to remote areas has been widely criticised by rights groups, who claim it amounts to psychological, and indeed physical, torture. The vast distances needed for families to visit their jailed relatives (Putao is more than 1,100 kilometres from Rangoon) means that a prisoner’s main source of medicine and outside contact is largely denied.
Weather conditions in the mountainous regions close to the China border also fluctuate wildly, with temperatures sometimes dropping below freezing in winter and soar to hot and humid heights in the summer, spurring on the spread of malaria.
The reaction to Tuesday’s amnesty has been largely one of anger. Only 51 political prisoners were among the nearly 17,000 released, meaning that more than 2000 activists, MPs, lawyers and journalists remain behind bars.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 19 May 2011
A time-bomb that exploded on a train close to Burma’s capital was not the work of the opposition Karen National Liberation Army, its general secretary said today in response to accusations by the Burmese government.
Two died and a further seven were injured yesterday evening as the train passed through Tatkone township, close to Naypyidaw in central Burma, the city built in 2006 to house the hermetic government.
A Burmese government official said shortly afterwards that “we assume KNU insurgents plotted it,” referring to the political wing of the KNLA, the Karen National Union.
The general secretary of the KNU, Zipporah Sein, told DVB today that its personnel had no involvement in the attack.
“It is not the KNLA – our troops cannot go near Naypyidaw, they just stay in the Karen state border area,” she said, adding that it was hard to tell who would have planted the bomb given the escalating tensions between the Burmese government and a number of ethnic armed groups.
The KNU has in the past accused the Burmese government of being behind such attacks aimed at stirring up public animosity against the opposition army, which has been fighting the regime for more than six decades.
Zipporah Sein said that the group has “a clear policy that we do not target civilians, only the Burmese army”.
Relations between the central government and border-based armed insurgent groups appear to be worsening. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) warned yesterday that it would retaliate with force to any signs of conflict from the Burmese army, which is looking to rout the country’s armed resistance.
Both the KIA and the KNU belong to the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a umbrella alliance of 15 ethnic armies formed in February this year.