BURMA RELATED NEWS – JULY 20, 2011
Jul 21st, 2011
Wednesday 20th July, 2011 (IANS)
Against the backdrop of China’s increased assertiveness in East Asia, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday pitched for a bigger role for India and reminded New Delhi of ‘its duty’ to speak out against rights violations in Myanmar.
Reiterating President Barack Obama’s backing for India’s inclusion in a reformed Security Council, Clinton underlined that India was poised to play an important role in solving problems like piracy in East Asia.
Clinton, visiting Chennai after wrapping up the second strategic dialogue in New Delhi Tuesday, said India and the US can collaborate with other countries in the region to promote maritime security and jointly combat piracy.
However, echoing Obama’s exhortation to India during his visit here in November last year, Clinton asked New Delhi to use its leverage to push for democracy in Myanmar.
‘As India takes on a larger role in the Asia-Pacific region, India has a duty to speak out against human rights abuses in Myanmar,’ said Clinton.
She added that the US understood India’s economic and strategic interests in developing ties with Myanmar but exhorted New Delhi to engage ‘the Burmese government’ to push democracy and help release political prisoners there.
By Zin Linn Jul 20, 2011 10:04PM UTC
A giant construction project managed by an Italian-Thai company has come across a number of major barricades in Karen State, according to Karen News on Tuesday. Villagers say they have not been compensated for the loss of their land and the Karen National Union has stopped it building a highway to Thailand.
The Thai industrial giant behind a controversial deep-sea port project in Burma (Myanmar) said that 10,000 people would have to leave their homes to make way for the development, according to the Straits Times web-news based in Singapore 8 June.
Ital-Thai Group is in charge of building and attracting investors to the Dawei Development Project, which is set to change a sleepy strip of southern coastline with a deep-sea port and 250 sq km industrial estate.
The Kachanaburi-Tavoy highway is part of the mega Tavoy (Dawei) Development Project that is estimated to be worth more than US$60 billion that was awarded by the Burmese government to the Italian-Thai Company. The project includes a deep-sea port, a giant industrial zone, roads, railways, transmission lines and oil and gas pipelines.
The company confirmed the project would displace local inhabitants, but insisted the villagers would be well provided with new settlements.
“There is a population of only a little more than 10,000 people that have to be relocated,” said Premchai Kanasuta, president of Italian-Thai Development, the subsidiary in charge of the project.
Concerns about human rights and the environment have been raised about the scale and nature of the port plans because of a lack of regulation in Burma, which remains military-dominated despite a new namesake civilian parliament.
The huge project has attracted both critics and supporters. Some business groups claim it could revitalize Burma’s economy and develop regional trade, while international humanitarian groups say Burma’s human rights record means more forced labor, forced relocation and abuses against villagers.
According to Karen News, an officer of the Italian-Thai Development Company based in Tavoy informed that the first batch of villages to make way for the construction are Nga Pi Teh, The Byay Mu Du, Htait Gyi, Le Shawn, Pra Det and Nyaw Bin Hseit will affect more than 2,000 households. However, villagers say they have not received any compensation. They were just told that they will be put somewhere else.
Construction work was stopped east of Tavoy, between Myitta village to Klo Hta village, by the Karen National Liberation Army. The Italian-Thai Development Company has begun negotiations with the Karen National Union to try to restart work on the Kanchanaburi-Tavoy Highway project after Karen soldiers stopped its construction in early July.
The KNU confirmed that they had met with representatives of the Italian-Thai company on July 16 but said it is too early to disclose details of the talks.
The KNU, general secretary, Naw Zipporah Sein told Karen News.
“The KNU’s position on foreign development projects in Karen state is to assess the impact the development will have on civilians’ livelihood, their indigenous way of life, the environment and our security. Now there is no peace in Burma, the government refuses to hold political dialogue – it makes it difficult to carry out mega development projects.”
Naw Zipporah Sein explained that Burma’s civilian government is just a proxy for the military.
“The new Burma military government uses development as a weapon to destroy and wipe out the resistance groups and to persuade ethnic groups to forget about their struggle.”
Naw Zipporah Sein said she would not reveal the KNU’s current position on the Tavoy Development Project to the media.
Karen villagers claim the Burma government has sold their lands to companies with links to senior military officers. The Italian-Thai Company has admitted to Thai media that the local people will be moved to make way for the project.
On June 8, the president of the Italian-Thai Development Company, Premchai Kanasuta, told reporters in Bangkok that, “There is a population of only a little more than 10,000 people that have to be relocated.”
In April around 50 people from 13 villages in the Ka Moe Thway area met with Italian-Thai Company representatives and demanded compensation. The company agreed to pay, but villagers say there has not been any action taken.
Millions of ethnic people have been expelled from their homes to make way for development projects such as hydropower dams, reservoirs and sea-ports. However construction and engineering companies close to the government benefit from those projects.
They receive millions of dollars for designing and building development projects. The high-ranking officials of the military-dominated Burmese government take advantage of the development plans in many ways – illegal taxes, kickbacks and inducement – during construction of a project.
On the contrary, the local inhabitants, especially ethnic people, have lost their homes and livelihoods. Consequently, their children cannot go to school, cannot enjoy healthcare and they have to live under poverty-line for life.
By Zin Linn Jul 20, 2011 3:47PM UTC
Around a hundred members and supporters of the National League for Democracy led by Vice Chairman U Tin Oo and General Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, marched to Martyrs’ Mausoleum to honor General Aung San (father of Aung San Suu Kyi) and other fallen national heroes.
The NLD-led procession hit the road from the NLD headquarters at 12.30pm by cars and responsible authorities accompanied them up to the plinth of the mausoleum. On the podium of the mausoleum they saluted the courageous martyrs of Burma. Vice Chairman U Tin Oo took the lead in order to salute the martyrs.
According to a reporter for VOA’s Burmese service, more than 2,000 people joined the procession to the Martyr’s Mausoleum, including about a hundred members of the Nobel laureate’s National League for Democracy. Police did not interfere with the march, which was Burma’s largest public demonstration in years.
Earlier Tuesday, Aung San Suu Kyi took part in a government-authorized formal procedure at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum, in honor of her father, Aung San, and other Burmese independence leaders who were assassinated on July 19, 1947. Aung San is regarded as the father of Burma’s independence – he showed the way to freedom from British colonialism. Aung San and eight freedom fighters were assassinated by political rival U Saw on July 19, 1947.
Government officials offered an invitation to Suu Kyi last week, and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate agreed to be present at the ceremony at Rangoon Martyrs’ Mausoleum on Tuesday morning.
The event was her first appearance at the once-a-year ceremony since she was put under house arrest from May 2003 to November 2010.
Burma’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate revisited the Martyrs’ Mausoleum again on Tuesday afternoon together with Central Executive Committee members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), as well as leading members of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament and the NLD’s youth network.
An NLD statement said, “The thugs and the terrorists coveting the state power assassinated Bogyoke Aung San and ohter national leaders while they were ardently striving for the independence of the country. The martyrs and leaders headed by Bogyoke Aung San while struggling for the liberation of the country from the yoke of colonialist and establishment of new a sovereign democratic state had to sacrifice their lives at the hand of the despicable stooges of the imperialist. However, as the maxim “martyrs never die” the whole nation pines for Bogyoke Aung San and the martyrs constantly ever since.”
In the statement, the NLD also called for a meaningful political dialogue towards national reconciliation and releasing unconditionally all the political prisoners.
It says, “We have repeatedly said that the NLD is ready to negotiate flexibly for the beneficial results of the people of Burma. But the dialogue should not aim for the benefit of the NLD nor the benefit of the authorities but for the benefit of the Burmese people. Therefore the authorities should create the fair political conditions by holding meaningful political meaningful political dialogue towards national reconciliation and releasing unconditionally all the political prisoners.”
Published: 20/07/2011 at 04:52 PM
Online news: Local News
The bodies of the five soldiers who were killed in the first helicopter crash on Saturday were airlifted out of Kaeng Krachan National Park, on the Border with Burma, on Wednesday.
Lt-Gen Udomdet Sitabutr, the Army Region 1 commander, and relatives of the crash victims were on hand to receive the bodies at the operational base of a special warfare unit in Kaeng Krachan district, Phetchaburi province.
At the base, the bodies were to be examined to properly establish their identities.
The bodies of the five soldiers who were killed in the first helicopter crash on Saturday have been airlifted out of Kaeng Krachan National Park on July 20, 2011. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
Earlier today, the bodies were moved from Hill 1100 to a helicopter landing pad at Hill 900 before being airlifted to the Kaeng Krachan army operation base by two helicopters of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.
Lt-Gen Udomdet said he expected the bodies would be taken home by their relatives on Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, it was reported that Burmese soldiers had identified the spot where where a army UH60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed on Tuesday while on a mission to retrieve the first five bodies, and reported it to the Thai military.
The crash site was said to be near a village named Pha Mai Daeng inside Burma, about one kilometre from the Thai border.
The Burmese soldiers did not mention the fate of the passengers on board the crashed Black Hawk, the report said.
Nine people were on board the Black Hawk when it clashed, including Maj-Gen Tawan Ruangsri, the 9th Infantry Division commander, and a TV news cameraman.
The Kanchanaburi-based 9th Infantry Division has set up 10 teams, totalling 60 soldiers, for a search and rescue operation in the forests of Kaeng Krachan National Park, along the border with Burma, where an army Black Hawk helicopter crashed.
Five teams of six soldiers each would be on standby to fly out by helicopter to examine from the air the area where the Black Hawk was thought to have crashed, when the weather permits.
The other five teams of six soldiers each had left on foot, heading for the crash site area, using mules to carry necessary equipment and supplies.
They would support a 40-strong team of rescuers of the national park service who left on foot this morning.
The team was expected to reach the crash site in about three days.
Published Date: 20 July 2011
By Ethan Mcnern
More than 3,000 democracy supporters led by Aung San Suu Kyi have marched in Burma’s biggest city in honour of her father, the nation’s independence hero.
The march from the headquarters of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy to the Martyrs’ Mausoleum was the biggest public demonstration since 2007, when the military junta launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
Ms Suu Kyi earlier attended the government’s ceremony at the mausoleum for Martyrs’ Day, which marks the anniversary of the 1947 assassination of General Aung San and colleagues during a cabinet meeting shortly after Britain agreed to grant independence to Burma.
It was the first time in nine years that Ms Suu Kyi, 66, attended the ceremony. She had been under her most recent stint of house arrest from May 2003 until last November.
Her prestige as General Aung San’s daughter has long vexed the country’s military rulers, who ceded power only early this year to an elected but army-backed government.
The state-controlled press, which used to carry lengthy tributes to the nation’s founding father, stopped such coverage years ago.
The Martyrs’ Day ceremony used to be attended by the prime minister, then later by the home minister, but now Rangoon’s mayor is the highest-ranking official to take part.
It also used to be a tradition for factories to blow their sirens and public activity to stop for a minute in memory of the martyrs. Yesterday, in the vicinity of the march, the tradition was revived, and traffic nearby stopped at 10:37am – the time of the 1947 attack – for a minute of silence.
During the Second World War, General Aung San initially sided with the Japanese, who were rolling back British forces on all fronts in Asia. However, he later became suspicious that the Japanese had no intention of granting Burma full independence and saw that the tide of war was going against them. This saw him re-establish contact with the British administration in India. Nevertheless, he was once described by Winston Churchill as a “traitor rebel leader”.
He was assassinated by men loyal to Burma’s former prime minister U Saw, a political rival. Saw was subsequently tried and hanged.
Tuesday’s official ceremony was held under tight security. At least nine truckloads of riot police carrying batons and shields were deployed near the mausoleum and roadblocks were set up along the route to the monument. Reporters entering the mausoleum were not allowed to carry phones and bags.
After the official ceremony, a private event was held at Ms Suu Kyi’s party headquarters. Veteran politicians, student activists, party members, supporters and diplomats from the US, Britain, Australia, Germany and France were among those attending.
Following that event, Ms Suu Kyi and other party leaders drove back to the mausoleum, followed by more than 3,000 supporters. Police did not interfere with them, though they were forced to leave their bags at the checkpoints.
The group issued a statement calling on the government to “hold meaningful political dialogue towards national reconciliation and to unconditionally release all the political prisoners.”
Burma’s first civilian government since 1962 took control at the end of March, after an election last November, but critics say the change is simply cosmetic and the army will continue to hold supreme political power.
Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy – which won elections in 1988 but was blocked from taking power by the military – boycotted the poll, claiming it was held under unfair conditions.
Published : Friday, June 24, 2011 00:00
Article Views : 45
Written by : Severino Frayna
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Myanmar’s opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) urged US lawmakers to push for a United Nations (UN)-backed probe into human rights in her country as she warned of a long and difficult road to democracy.
Suu Kyi, who was released in November after spending most of the past two decades under house arrest, spoke on a video in a first-ever message to the US Congress, a stronghold of support for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
She asked lawmakers to do “whatever you can” to support the work of the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and assured that a so-called commission of inquiry would not be a tribunal.
“It is simply a commission of inquiry to find out what human rights violations have taken place and what we can do to ensure that such violations do not take place in the future,” she told a House of Representatives hearing.
Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power, warned that it would take time to reform Myanmar.
“It is going to be a long road; it has already been a long road and a difficult one, and no doubt the road ahead will have its difficulties as well,” she said.
But she added, “With the help and support of true friends, I’m sure we will be able to tread the path of democracy, not easily and perhaps not as quickly as we would like, but surely and steadily.”
The United States has publicly supported a UN-led probe—a longstanding demand of activists—but it has done little to make the investigation a reality, worrying that its efforts may be wasted so long as Asian countries—particularly China—are opposed.
UN-led commissions of inquiry elsewhere in the world have led to charges and prosecution, with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir risking arrest if he travels to countries that recognize the International Criminal Court.
Human rights groups say that Myanmar has a record of severe human rights abuses, including
extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, torture and frequent rape of displaced women from minority groups.
Recent deadly clashes in far-northern Kachin State have triggered an exodus of refugees toward the border with China.
Suu Kyi has called on Myanmar’s rulers to free some 2,000 other prisoners, which rights groups say are detained for political reasons and often held in poor conditions.
“Why are they still in prison if this government is really intent on making good progress toward democracy? If it is sincere in its claims that it wishes to bring democracy to Burma, there is no need for any prisoners of conscience to exist in this country,” she said.
Written by Joao Peixe
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 02:00 The hugely controversial Myitsone dam in northern Burma, currently under construction by the China Power Investment Corporation, was the subject of a 2009 internal report by the company, which called for the project to be scrapped.
The Environmental Impact Assessment report has nevertheless been ignored, and work is proceeding on the project, the Democratic Voice of Burma Online reported.
The EIA report stated that, “If the Burmese and Chinese sides were really concerned about environmental issues and aimed at sustainable development of the country, there is no need for such a big dam to be constructed at the confluence of the Irrawaddy River,” urging instead for two smaller, but equally efficient, dams to be built above Myitsone.
Upon its completion in 2017, the $4 billion Myitsone dam will become the world’s fifteenth biggest hydropower structure.
According to the Burma Rivers Network, which closely monitors the social and environmental impacts of the various energy initiatives on Burma’s waterways, around 15,000 people will be displaced around the dam site, while the sizeable changes in the Irrawaddy river’s flow will “impact millions of people downstream who depend on the Irrawaddy for agriculture, fishing, and transportation.”
China has faced strong international criticism for its business links with Burma, whose ruling junta is subject to a number of international sanctions.
By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
The Nation – PTT shooting for global prowess
By Watcharapong Thongrung
The Nation, Perth
Published on July 21, 2011
National oil-gas giant aims to be in top 100 on world stage with continued focus in 3 main regions
PTT Group, the national oil and gas conglomerate, will strive to become a major business player on the world stage by investing as much as US$100 billion (Bt3 trillion) by 2020, with half going abroad, focusing on the three strategic clusters of Thailand/Burma, Australia and North America.
“We have to become one of the top 100 premier multinational companies ranked by Fortune,” Prasert Bunsumpun, president and chief executive officer of PTT, said during his visit to Australia last week.
According to Fortune magazine’s corporate survey, PTT advanced to 128th place from 155th last year.
“The management team led by Pailin Chuchottaworn, who will become the next PTT CEO, succeeding me in September, will be more challenged in doing multinational business than my generation. They have to secure energy sources outside the country, as Thailand is a net importer of energy,” Prasert said.
PTT has repositioned itself from being an “energy conglomerate”, which is producer and distributor of oil and gas, to being a “business conglomerate”, which is a provider of a wide range of energy, with strengths in the coal, petrochemical and power businesses, he said.
PTT targets revenues of $200 billion in 10 years, mostly from overseas.
“We want everyone to aim high in each business unit, so the high target challenges the organisation,” he said.
PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP), which will make more than half of the investment planned abroad, aims to increase its capacity from 300 billion barrels a day to 900 billion barrels over 10 years.
In the first quarter of this year, PTT earned Bt34 billion in net profit.
PTT’s revenue should be between Bt2.3 trillion and Bt2.4 trillion this year, up from Bt1.9 trillion last year, Prasert said.
The board meeting on Saturday will consider the group’s five-year business plan (2012-16).
Out of the Bt1 trillion capital-expenditure budget under the five-year plan, Bt300 billion will go to PTT, Bt400 billion to PTTEP and the rest to the petrochemical and oil refinery group. More than half of the budget is allocated for projects abroad.
PTT will invest in natural-gas projects, an oil depot for the second-phase liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, a gas pipeline to the North and Northeast, the fourth pipeline and expansion of the filling-station chain for motorists.
PTT also has equity exposure in the coal business in countries such as Brunei, Madagascar and Australia as well as the floating LNG project of PTTEP.
PTT’s power business will mainly look at neighbouring countries such as Laos and Burma for exporting back to the country.
PTT has budgeted Bt90 billion for acquisition deals over the next five years.
PTTEP will still focus on the Burma/Thailand cluster, Australia and North America.
Most of PTT’s investment in the petrochemical and refinery businesses is through its subsidiaries. The priorities are upgrading oil quality to meet Euro 4 standards and developing alternative-energy enterprises. Thai Oil will emphasise ethanol investment, while Bangchak Petroleum will key in on ethanol and solar power.
PTT Chemical and PTT Aromatics and Refining are in the process of merging with each other to form a firm named Global Chemical, which will primarily direct its investment towards premium plastic-pellet production.
The group sees bright prospects for the coal business, as worldwide reserves of the mineral are more abundant than those of oil and natural gas. The company plans to raise its annual coal-production capacity to between 30 million and 40 million tonnes by 2015 and 70 million tonnes by 2020. It has invested in the business through PTT Asia Pacific Mining, which operates coal mines in Indonesia and has production capacity of 10 million tonnes per year.
It is also applying for coal concessions in Brunei and Mongolia, besides its existing concession in Madagascar.
CIMB Research expects PTTEP to raise capital in six to 12 months to match its ambitious expansion plan in tripling production by 2020, which would lead to earnings dilution.
PTTEP is expected to post second-quarter earnings of Bt11 billion, as costs could rise sharply from $23.7 per barrel equivalent last year to $32 in 2012.
S&P OUTLOOK
Fluctuating crude-oil prices, a potential global economic slowdown, heavy investments, and liquidity pressures will present challenges to oil and gas companies in the Asia-Pacific region, but strong energy demand should help them weather the storms, according to a recent report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.
“Exploration and production (E&P) companies have benefited from improved prices in 2011 compared with 2010. But our credit outlook for 18 of the E&P companies is negative, largely due to the scope, scale and funding of their investment projects,” said Andrew Wong, an S&P credit analyst.
“With high investment plans and price volatility likely to continue, the criticality of adequate liquidity and access to external financing is increasing,” he said.
Nevertheless, S&P believes that most of the 18 rated companies will effectively manage their liquidity through sufficient cash balances, strong operating cash flows or solid access to external financing attributable to their strong business position or government linkage.
By WAI MOE Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The defection of two senior officials from the Burmese embassy in Washington, DC earlier this month may have been linked to a high-profile visit to Burma by US Senator John McCain in June.
Official sources in Naypyidaw said that the two defectors—Kyaw Win, the deputy chief of staff at the embassy, and Soe Aung, the first secretary and information officer—were both involved in arranging McCain’s trip and active in the embassy’s efforts to “re-engage” with Washington under the Obama administration.
Before defecting in early July, Kyaw Win, the embassy’s No. 2, handled most political affairs, including meetings with US officials, because of the limited English ability of the top-ranking diplomat, Chargé d’Affaires ex-Lt-Gen Soe Paing, the sources said.
In this capacity, Kyaw Win provided a briefing on the visiting US delegation to Naypyidaw in preparation for McCain’s visit—something that Burma’s military rulers agreed to with some reluctance.
“The Americans are quite blunt, and Naypyidaw wasn’t thrilled about welcoming them,” a Burmese official said regarding a series of visits by American officials in recent months, including McCain’s.
“During his visit, McCain met with Vice President ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, who lived up to his reputation as an ‘angry ogre,’” the official said.
“If you disregard the blunt tones and even sarcasm, it was a good trip—better than no trip at all, anyway” he added.
The link between the recent defections and McCain’s trip is also being widely discussed among leading Burmese dissidents in the US.
“In recent years, the Burmese regime has attempted to improve relations with the international community, including the US,” said Thaung Tun, the permanent representative to the United Nations of the Washington-based Burmese government in exile, the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma.
“U Kyaw Win was a key player in this effort. In Washington, he was sort of in charge of dealing with Burmese exiles, as well as American officials,” Thaung Tun said.
During his visit in early June, McCain met with senior government officials such as Tin Aung Myint Oo, Lower House Speaker ex-Gen Shwe Mann, Upper House Speaker ex-Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint and Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in Naypyidaw, as well as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other key stakeholders in Rangoon.
Burma’s state-run media gave the visit two days of coverage and hailed it as a significant development in the two countries’ bilateral relations.
According to The New Light of Myanmar, Tin Aung Myint Oo told McCain that Burma would give serious consideration to boosting bilateral cooperation with the US.
But the newspaper did not report that on June 3, at the end of his three-day visit, McCain said in a statement that Burma could face an Arab-style revolution if the regime continued to repress dissent, and that US sanctions should remain in place until the Burmese government makes “concrete” reforms.
“The winds of change are now blowing, and they will not be confined to the Arab world. Governments that shun evolutionary reforms now will eventually face revolutionary change later,” McCain said.
Meanwhile, Linn Myaing, a former Burmese ambassador to the US whose family members are still in the US, is also reportedly involved in Burma’s efforts to re-engage with Washington alongside a US firm.
By YENI Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The fresh and fierce fighting in Burma’s Kachin and Shan states is a signal that Burma is on the verge of a civil war that may ultimately involve a large percentage of the country’s ethnic armed groups.
In Shan State, the Burmese Army—using around 1,500 troops, including artillery battalions—has launched a major offensive against the Shan State Army (SSA), which has about 1,000 troops defending its headquarters in Wan Hai, Mong Hsu Township. Injured Burmese troops were reportedly evacuated from the area to major cities using helicopters from Nam Hsan Air Force Base.
In Kachin State, the fighting is equally tough, with landmines exploding, bridges being blown up and soldiers being shot dead in ambushes. In addition, the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) claims that at least 18 female Kachins—aged between 15 and 50 years old—were gang-raped by Burmese soldiers during the recent armed conflict.
As a result of the fighting and atrocities, the resulting humanitarian crisis is fast getting worse, with some 2,000 more people recently forced to flee their homes.
The escalating ethnic strife facing Burma’s new government is threatening both internal and border security, and stands as a stark contrast to President Thein Sein’s call in April for peace and stability in the ethnic areas.
Thein Sein, it should be noted, is also the Chairman of the Central Committee for Progress of Border Areas and National Races. But despite his pledge and position of responsibility, the Alternative Asean Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma), a regional human rights group, said in a statement that Burma’s “new” government has failed to take any meaningful steps towards political, legal and economic reforms.
In a five-page brief, ALTSEAN-Burma said that Burmese troops continued “to attack, kill and rape ethnic civilians,” while over 2,000 political prisoners are still being detained under atrocious conditions.
“If this is Thein Sein in his first 100 days, one dreads to think what the rest of the year is going to be like for the people of Burma,” said ALTSEAN-Burma’s coordinator, Debbie Stothard. “His actions and policies seem to be exactly the opposite of the promises he made.”
Armed conflicts have been a permanent challenge for Burma since the country won its independence from Britain in 1948. But a series of ceasefire agreements, signed following the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in 1989, brought open conflict with ethnic militias to a halt.
Since then, the ceasefire groups, such as United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), have existed in uncomfortable peace with the Burmese army, maintaining self-administered fiefdoms in the areas under their control.
Over the past years, however, the situation has worsened following the introduction of the Burmese military leaders’ scheme to extend its control over the ceasefire ethnic groups. The so-called Border Guard Force (BGF) plan—tied to the timing of last year’s election—threatened to shake a fragile status quo in the ethnic areas, and the fighting many had predicted has now become a reality.
Some observers said that the huge investments by Burmese and Chinese businesses in both infrastructure and hydropower dams in the ethnic areas is a contributing factor—if not the root cause—of the renewed conflict.
They said that because there is no guarantee that the mega-projects will bring an improved standard of living for the average citizens of the border states—while the military and elite who rule the country will clearly benefit from the resulting foreign direct investment dollars and export earnings—the resentment of the local ethnic groups has boiled over into armed conflict to protect their turf.
In addition, the Burmese government is using the threats to their projects as an excuse to attack the ethnic armed groups and attain by military force what they could not achieve by coercion with respect to the BGF.
“By using the protection of the dams to justify military action, Naypyidaw tries to cover up its intention to eliminate the KIA and enlist Chinese support to squeeze the armed group out of its traditional territory,” noted Yun Sun, a foreign policy analyst in Washington D.C. who was a Beijing-based China analyst for the International Crisis Group from 2008-2011.
In an article published by CSIS Pacific Forum, she also said, “The KIA sees China’s desire for border stability and dam safety, and is using the conflict to force China into mediating a settlement.”
However, the military approach is risky for both sides, she argued.
By jeopardizing China’s border stability and vested interests, Naypyidaw may invite pressure from and intervention by China in its ethnic affairs, which may not work in Naypyidaw’s interest.
And Yun Sun pointed out that KIA has even more at stake, because China has accused Kachin groups of harassing and blackmailing Chinese hydropower companies. Unlike the UWSA, which has refrained from colliding with the Burmese military, the KIA is openly challenging China’s bottom-line interests, and as a result is being seen as deliberately breaking the status quo and rejecting Naypyidaw’s offer of a ceasefire.
This may already have backfired on the KIA, because while the KIA had reached an agreement in April 2010 with other Sino-Burmese border-based groups such as the UWSA, Shan State Army (SSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) to support each other if attacked by the Burmese Army, heavy pressure from China prevented the UWSA from helping in the Kachin and Shan state fighting.
Thus, KIA and SSA have formed an alliance with the ethnic Chin, Karen, Karenni and Mon armed groups that are based on the Thai-Burmese border, forming an umbrella alliance called the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).
“Amidst our differences and diversities over the past five or six decades, we have managed to establish an alliance through creating a common platform on which we all can come together and share as a family. We all agree to work together towards bringing democracy and federalism into Burma,” said Colonel Solomon of the Chin National Front (CNF), a member of the UNFC, according to the Chinland Guardian, an ethnic Chin news agency.
In a statement issued on February 17, the UNFC said that its basic principles and aims include working for better recognition of the ethnic armed groups, for ethnic equality, rights and self-determination, and for a genuine democratic federal Union of Burma.
Recently, ethnic leaders meeting with EU officials in Bangkok called for the EU to broker political dialogue between Burma’s government and its ethnic groups.
“All the government troops will have to retreat to their former bases if there is a ceasefire,” said Nai Hang Thar, the secretary of the New Mon State Party. “Also, the government must declare ceasefires with all the ethnic armed groups in the country, not only in Kachin State.”
Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the Karen National Union, said, “We always welcome dialogue. But the dialogue must involve all ethnic groups, not on a case by case basis. Our aim is to establish a federal state.”
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is on high alert with rumors abound that Burmese government forces are planning a major assault against its headquarters in Laiza within the next three days.
Col. Zau Raw, the commander of KIA Battalion 4, which operates in northern Shan State, told The Irrawaddy that he had been told by his military sources that the Burmese army has been reinforcing its units in the area since July 16 and has positioned three military ships on the Irrawaddy River at Bhamo in southern Kachin State.
Zau Raw said he was told that government troops planned to attack the KIA headquarters within the next three days.
He said the KIA was busy making preparations to protect Laiza, which is located on the Sino-Burmese border and has a settled population of approximately 6,000 people, mostly ethnic Kachins. The town has seen an influx of more than 10,000 refugees since June 9 due to an outbreak of hostilities between the KIA and government troops.
An additional 6,000 Kachin refugees are currently taking shelter at makeshift camps along the China-Burma border.
Maj. Kareng Naw Awng, the administrative chief of Laiza, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that he too had heard that the government forces would attack Laiza, but could not provide any further information.
He said that some 300 villagers fled to the border three days ago to escape arrest by government troops who routinely detain anyone they find living on farms and force them to work as porters for the army—a job that very often involves walking ahead of army battalions as “minesweepers.”
As fears circulate that a major assault is imminent, the number of refugees seeking temporary shelter at the border is increasing. Local NGOs have called for urgent international aid.
Denied refuge in China, terrified villagers are sheltering in camps set up in areas by the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). Those cut off or otherwise unable to travel to the border camps have fled to towns deeper inside Kachin State.
Cases of sexual violence have also been reported, according to the aid groups.
Shirley Seng, a spokesperson for the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT), said, “Our people are trapped. They have no way out. Kachin networks and local churches have been helping, but it is not enough. International aid is urgently required.”
She said that KWAT is concerned not only for the immediate food and medical needs of the refugees, but also for their long-term survival, as many have been forced to abandon their rice fields.
“A humanitarian crisis is looming in Kachin State,” she said.
“We need concerted international pressure, particularly from China, to force the regime to implement a nationwide ceasefire before it is too late,” she added.
KIO representatives met EU officials in Bangkok earlier this month to discuss the crisis. At the meeting, the KIO said their representatives urged the EU to help alleviate the suffering of the Kachin refugees and called for the European bloc to mediate in the conflict.
KIA officials claimed 28 government troops were killed during skirmishes over the weekend in south of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, while one KIA soldier was killed and four others were wounded.
The KIA also captured 11 government troops including two officers—a captain and a lieutenant— in the skirmishes, along with some weapons and ammunition.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011 16:51 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Fighting between Burmese government troops and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) has sent hundreds of war refugees into hiding in the jungles.
Since July 11, fighting has broken out around Wanhai in Kyethi Township where SSA-North headquarters is located. War refugees from more than 20 villages located between Kyethi and Mong Yai have been displaced from their homes.
“The villages are far from NGOs and charitable organizations, so they can not get help. They have to stay in the jungle. Most of the refugees are women and children,” Sein Kyi, an editor of the Thailand- based Shan Herald News Agency, told Mizzima.
There are 20 to 100 houses in each of the affected villages, where residents have abandoned their farms because of the war.
The main crops of the villagers are peanuts and soya bean.
“Some grow crops and some have cows and buffaloes. Sometimes mortar shells landed on the villages so they fled,” Sein Kyi said. Some of the refugees are moving toward Thailand or China to seek refuge there.
“The current government continues to choose military ways instead of a political way,” said Major Sai Lao Hseng, the spokesman of the Shan State Army-South, which recently recombined with the SSA-N.
Sein Kyi said, “We cannot afford to build refugee camps. The area is full of tension with the possibility of more fighting. The only thing the Shan Army can do is to add a word of caution about more possible fighting.”
Meanwhile, fighting has broken out between government troops and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) between Momauk Township and Waimaw Township in Kachin State.
On Sunday and Monday, more than 1,000 war refugees left their villages in the area to seek refuge in KIO camps in Laiza, where the KIO headquarters is located, according to the Kachin Refugees Relief Committee chairman Dwe P Sar.
“Fighting has continued,” he said. “They come here because of the danger in their areas.”
In Kachin State, fighting began on June 9. The KIO has set up rescue camps in Laiza, Waimaw and Momauk for more than 9,000 refugees.
Religious organizations and Kachin social organizations provide additional help to refugees in the camps, Dwe P Sar said. The number of war refugees who are taking refuge in China is unknown, sources said.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 20:03 Te Te
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The lawyer for SCC hospital in Rangoon said he has not received word to withdraw the suit against the Hot News journal and the case could go to trial on Friday.
SCC lawyer Ye Myint said he has no instructions to settle out of court, in spite of a meeting between the two parties.
“I know about the meeting but I don’t know about the content of the meeting. I continue with all legal proceedings. We will consider withdrawing the case if they apologize to us,” Ye Myint said.
The court proceeding will start on Friday if the Bahan Township court receives the police report, he said.
An article in Hot News about the services provided by SCC hospital appeared in the first week of June. SCC placed ad notices in state-run daily papers and news journals saying the content of the article was in error and the journal must apologize to SCC.
SCC filed a suit for defamation and damages at Bahan court on June 6. The hospital claimed 20 billion kyat (US$ 2.5 million) in damages. Despite the Hot News journal article, the functions and business of SCC have not been affected, Ye Myint said.
The lawyer for Hot News, Thein Nyunt, who is also a member of Parliament, said, “I have not received a summon sent by the court.” He said that he would uphold the freedom of expression granted in the 2008 Constitution when he represents his client in court. Thein Nyunt said that the case between SSC and Hot News journal was about media freedom and business tycoons.
When Mizzima tried to contact the editor of Hot News, the journal replied that editor-in-chief Ma Ma was not in Rangoon. Ma Ma a.k.a. Hay Mar is the daughter of former Lieutenant General Khin Maung Than. She is also the chief editor of Pay Phu Hlwar magazine.
The Tourism Board also sent a notice to Hot News journal on June 14 and filed a suit. The journal replied to the board but has not yet received a response, said Thein Nyunt.
The article under the title of “For Development or For Profit?” was written by Maung Lin Thu (St. John) and was based on articles that appeared in Pyi Myanmar Journal and Seven Days journal, the journal said.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 22:08 Myo Thant
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Thai Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in bad weather in a forest in Burma near the Thai border on Tuesday afternoon has been found near Myeik in Burma.
The Thairath news agency said the helicopter was found near Burmese battalion No. 101 near Myeik, which is one mile from the Thai-Burmese border.
Thai authorities are waiting for permission to recover the bodies of the nine people killed in the crash.
The Black Hawk was carrying nine people including a major general who commanded the elite 9th Infantry Division, two captains and a video journalist. It was flying in connection with the retrieval of the bodies of five soldiers who were killed in an earlier crash of a Huey helicopter in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Ratchaburi Province in Thailand on Saturday.
The crash occurred about 12:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The commander of Thailand’s Brigade No.1 said that the crash was caused by bad weather.
On Wednesday, a plane carried the bodies of the five army personnel killed in the Saturday crash to Ratchburi in Thailand, according to Thai newspapers.
Early Wednesday, Thai newspapers reported that 60 Thai soldiers went to the Myeik District on the Burmese side of the border to search for the bodies in the Tuesday crash.
The Black Hawk helicopter had been in service for seven years and according to a recent inspection was in perfect condition said Thai newspapers.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 20 July 2011
Acquaintances of a Burmese man in Australia who last week outed himself as being responsible for the execution of 24 people whilst working as an undercover agent during the 1988 uprising in Burma say there is reason to doubt his claims.
Htoo Htoo Han’s declaration, first reported by Australian press on 18 July, has grabbed news headlines across the Asia-Pacific. The 44-year-old, who fled to Australia in 1996 and now lives in Brisbane, says he was also complicit in the murder of around 100 others during the brutal crackdown on student protestors 23 years ago.
“I did it, I am a war criminal,” he told reporters. He has also claimed that other perpetrators of severe human rights abuses in Burma during the uprising are living in Australia.
But those claims must be closely scrutinised, according to Zeya Oo, who lives in Melbourne and describes himself as a “long-time friend” of Htoo Htoo Han, now an Australian citizen.
He said that while Htoo Htoo Han was known to have had connections with Burmese intelligence in Bangkok, and was an active participant in student movements, his claims to have executed people are “completely impossible”.
“He has always been occupied by [conspiratorial] ideas. He had been telling other Burmese people about this idea [to claim himself a war criminal] in order to focus media attention on Burma,” said Zeya Oo. “He thought this could lead [former Burmese dictator] Than Shwe to be indicted by the International Criminal Court.”
As in the case of Htoo Htoo Han, Zeya Oo’s claims cannot be independently verified. But a number of Burmese community and activist groups in Australia are believed to have distanced themselves from Htoo Htoo Han, while rumours have circulated about a gambling addiction and mental health problems.
“As far as I know, he has a certificate from a psychiatric hospital [certifying that he has mental health problems] and he’s being monitored and is surviving on disability benefits from the government,” said Zeya Oo.
Several people have also said that he spent time in prison in Burma, likely in the early 1990s. He had lived in Bangkok, where Zeya Oo says the two of them joined the exiled All Burma Basic Education Students’ Union, of which Htoo Htoo Han later became a leader.
The BBC’s Burmese website carried a report yesterday quoting an unnamed source in Brisbane who said that he was in prison at the same time as Htoo Htoo Han, and who also doubted his claims, although did not expand on why.
Aung Linn Htut, a former senior-ranking Burmese intelligence officer who defected in 2005 and now lives in the US, was also quoted by the BBC as saying that it was not customary for the Burmese army to assign individuals to carry out executions of civilians, likely alluding to the impression Htoo Htoo Han gave that he was operating alone.
The Australian government has so far not commented on the matter, but police are said to be considering how to investigating his claims.
It comes at a time when calls are mounting for the UN to initiate a probe into whether war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Burma.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 20 July 2011
Indonesia said on Tuesday that it was giving “positive consideration” to Burma’s bid for the ASEAN chair for 2014, despite months of warnings from rights groups that having one of Southeast Asia’s most maligned governments in the top position would tarnish the bloc’s reputation and do little to bring political stability to the region.
The comments came from Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa at the end of the 44th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting yesterday. Indonesia holds the revolving chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and has oscillated somewhat over its opinion on whether Burma is fit to take over in 2014.
Human Rights Watch said shortly after the bid was made public in May that, if eventually successful, it would be an “embarrassment to the region”. It had been due to take the chair in 2005 but was blocked by Malaysia, which deemed it to be unfit.
Since the elections in November last year that ushered in a nominally civilian government, the Thein Sein administration has embarked on a public relations drive aimed at shedding a reputation synonymous with human rights abuse.
Ironically for the sizeable number of observers that claim little has changed in the country since the polls, Natalegawa said in a statement after yesterday’s summit that “ASEAN’s role in the global community of nations requires a strong ASEAN Secretariat”.
Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan continued that a stronger leadership was needed to garner international support for units like the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), something it may struggle to do if Burma takes the chair.
As an emerging economic region with a long history of political instability, ASEAN governments have increasingly spoken of their desire for a leadership that can tackle the manifold social, political and economic problems they collectively face – a call that gains pertinence as borders become more porous, trade grows and an ASEAN ‘community’ blossoms.
Behind the scenes, however, some ministers have expressed scepticism about Burma’s presence in the bloc, with Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya saying in May that it was “unfit” for the chair.
His comments marked a break from the recent past when Thailand, as chair of ASEAN, was reluctant to criticise the regime. Surin Pitsuwan, a veteran Thai politician, however is believed to be supportive of Burma’s bid.
Despite assertions from Naypyidaw that Burma is progressing in the right direction, it remains Southeast Asia’s least developed countries, and ranks 132 out of 169 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index. Various assessments brand it a top source country for refugees, drugs and human trafficking, all of which have become a sensitive blot on the region’s reputation.
By NAY THWIN
Published: 20 July 2011 Nearly two dozen Burmese sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates off the coast of Tanzania last year may be freed in the next month, according to a source in the Myanmar Overseas Seafarers Association (MOSA).
The men have been held since December when their ship, the MV-MSC Panama, was boarded by pirates as it navigated the east African coastline. Twenty-three Burmese sailors were among the crew taken hostage.
Rumours had circulated that they would be freed back in April, but nothing materialised. Then at the end of April, a Singaporean ship, M.T Gemini, was kidnapped by pirates with three Burmese nationals on board.
The MOSA source told DVB that a leadership change within that particular Somali gang had scuppered the April release date for the 23, but that hopes were high they would be let go within a month.
To date four ships carrying Burmese sailors have been hijacked, although no casualities have been reported: in March last year a Norwegian chemical tanker was hijacked with 21 Burmese sailors on board, and then released after a ransom was paid.
Details of the amount of money handed over were not disclosed, but the demands from pirates operating in the region are rarely meagre: in January last year the owners of a hijacked Greek-flagged oil tanker dropped a payment of $US7 million onto the deck of the ship.
The MOSA source said that a ransom was being negotiated, but did not give any details.
Hundreds of pirating rackets are thought to operate off the precarious eastern coast of Africa, mainly in the Gulf of Aden close to Somalia, which fell into anarchy nearly two decades ago and has since been governed only by a flimsy transitional government, which has given rise to lawlessness both in the country and in its waters.