Myanmar’s leader has set up a committee to review political prisoner cases “to grant them liberty”, state media said Thursday, in a rare direct acknowledgement of dissidents in the nation’s jails.

The regime, which long denied their existence, has freed hundreds of political detainees since President Thein Sein took power in March 2011, and announced a review of all “politically concerned” cases in November last year.

The latest statement referred specifically to “political prisoners” and pledged to define who is a “prisoner of conscience” among those jailed — many for several years or more — and work towards their release.

The committee members are yet to be picked, but will be made up of government representatives as well as civil society groups and other political party members, the statement in the English-language New Light of Myanmar said.

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said the issue of prisoner releases was key towards achieving “national reconciliation”.

But first, “it is important to decide who will be designated as political prisoners”, he told AFP.

The government pledged the case review last year, and promised to allow the Red Cross to resume its prison visits, in a bid to burnish its reform credentials ahead of a landmark visit by US President Barack Obama in November.

In response to the country’s political reforms, the West has begun rolling back sanctions and foreign firms are lining up to invest in the country.

Rights groups have accused Myanmar of wrongfully imprisoning some 2,000 political opponents, dissidents and journalists during decades of authoritarian junta rule.

Estimates of the number of political detainees still locked up vary but the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based campaign group, put the figure at 222 in a list posted on its website last month.

Some 17,000 Myanmar civil servants have been punished — with 380 among them jailed — following a “good governance and clean government” campaign, according to a government report.

Action was taken against 16,952 workers, including scores of police officers, between April 2011 and December 2012, said the document, which was sent by the government to parliament this week and seen by AFP on Thursday.

The country’s President Thein Sein has vowed to stamp down on graft as part of reforms that promise greater democracy and measures to establish the rule of law after decades of corrupt military rule which ended in April 2011.

None of the alleged offences are detailed in the report, but the punishments range from jail terms and dismissals, to demotion, written warnings and pay cuts.

“Due to the requirement for good governance and clean government, ministries were investigated… and action has been taken,” said the report, which was commissioned after a motion brought by an MP for the ruling USDP party.

Some 380 workers were jailed, just over 4,900 dismissed, and 80 forced to return money, while 689 police were also punished, according to the report.

In late January Myanmar opened a probe into alleged high-level corruption in its telecommunications ministry, while in a rare public move to tackle graft authorities in November ordered state loans totalling tens of millions of dollars to be clawed back from private businesses.

A new anti-graft law will enable authorities to “investigate and rigorously prosecute those involved in corruption in both the public and private sectors”, according to an official document distributed at a recent donor forum.

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre | Reuters – 17 hrs ago

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Nearly 6,000 Rohingya Muslims have arrived in Thailand since October, when sectarian violence flared in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state and displaced tens of thousands of people, a top Thai security agency said on Thursday

Entire communities of Rohingyas are languishing in makeshift camps in Myanmar, without access to healthcare or clean water, according to the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid group, while Thailand has promised humane treatment for the 5,899 who have arrived on its shores.

“Those detained will continue to be treated as illegal and given only basic care in line with humanitarian practices,” said Dittaporn Sasamit, a spokesman for Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).

“The Foreign Ministry is negotiating with other countries to take them on and is seeking (Myanmar) citizenship papers for them so they can move on,” he said.

Myanmar’s reformist government has been criticized for its treatment of Rohingyas and its poor handling of clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in June and October. The Rohingyas came off worst in a statewide spree of machete and arson attacks.

Many Rohingyas arrived in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar as laborers from what is now Bangladesh under British rule in the 19th century, grounds the government uses to deny them citizenship.

Most of the estimated 800,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar are regarded by authorities as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which does not recognize them either. The United Nations has referred to them as “virtually friendless”.

Thousands of Rohingyas flee from Myanmar each year on rickety boats seeking refuge and jobs in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, but the number has swelled since the unrest.

MSF said its relief work was being hindered by accusations of bias in favor of the Rohingyas.

“Repeated threats and intimidation by a small but vocal group within the Rakhine community have severely impacted on our ability to deliver lifesaving medical care,” MSF General Director Arjan Hehenkamp said in a statement.

Britain’s Parliament on Tuesday backed a motion calling for the U.N.-mandated observers in Rakhine state.

Rights groups have often criticized Thailand for its handling of Rohingya migrants and its deportation process, which leaves many illegal immigrants open to abuse by authorities.

Thai security forces discovered almost 1,400 Rohingyas during raids in the south of the country last month and 1,752 have been detained for unlawful entry.

More boats are expected to sail from Myanmar in the coming months, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

By Daniel Ten Kate & Kyaw Thu - Feb 7, 2013 9:30 AM PT

The Central Bank of Myanmar will undergo its biggest overhaul since the military junta set it up in 1990 as lawmakers prepare to vote on a bill that would allow it to conduct an independent monetary policy.

The proposed legislation, drafted with the help of Japan, Thailand, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Asian Development Bank, will pass with only “superficial changes” in parliament, according to Win Myint, a lawmaker who sits on the bank’s monetary affairs development committee. President Thein Sein may sign the bill next month, he said.

Previously “only military officers were appointed to the central bank,” Win Myint said in an interview in Naypyidaw on Feb. 5. “Since they came from the military, they only received military management training. Now we are looking for experts in monetary policy, the banking sector and economic development.”

Finding the right talent poses one of the central bank’s biggest challenges as it shifts from serving as the finance ministry’s money-printing arm into an autonomous authority responsible for macroeconomic stability. Thein Sein dismantled a fixed exchange rate last year and moved to clear $11 billion in bad debts as the country reconnects with the global financial system following about five decades of military rule.

“We are looking at a new law, a new institution,” Anoop Singh, who heads the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, said on Feb. 5 in Naypyidaw, where he met with government leaders. “We expect more autonomy and new staff. This is big for any country — it’s particularly big for a country that is emerging from years and years of being a closed economy.”

Student Protest

The IMF plans to open a representative office in Myanmar with as many as four technical experts based in the country to assist the central bank in its transition, Singh said. The World Bank and ADB opened offices in Yangon last year.

Myanmar’s central bank is now governed by a law signed by Senior-General Saw Maung in 1990, two years after troops quashed student-led protests for greater democracy, a crackdown that Human Rights Watch said killed an estimated 3,000 people over seven months. Thein Sein, a former general who took power after 2010 elections that ended direct military rule, has sought to reconcile with political opponents, ease media restrictions and eliminate economic distortions.

The shift prompted the U.S. and European Union to ease sanctions on Myanmar and allow development banks to re-engage in the country of 64 million people, which is among Asia’s poorest. The central bank will soon allow foreign banks to set up joint ventures in the country, attracting lenders such as Standard Chartered Plc and Japan’s Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd.

‘Not Bankers’

The central bank needs more experts to effectively implement monetary policy as foreign investors consider pouring money into the country, according to Than Lwin, a former deputy central bank governor and deputy chairman of Kanbawza Bank Ltd., one of Myanmar’s largest private lenders.

“Many officials at the central bank are not bankers,” he said in an interview. “We have to substitute. People who are not bankers should not come and work as a banker. It is not good to change careers because it’s difficult for training.”

When the new law takes effect, the central bank plans to double its staff and set up new departments, according to Khin Saw Oo, head of the Financial Institutions Regulation and Anti- Money Laundering Department. She acknowledged that many central bank officials have a military background.

Economists Needed

The law will include a requirement for all board members to have expertise in areas relevant to central banking, she said. The bank is looking to recruit lawyers, accountants, auditors and economists who have master’s degrees, said Khin Saw Oo, who has worked at the central bank since receiving a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York.

“In the near future our people can take this responsibility effectively,” she said Feb. 5 at the bank’s headquarters in Naypyidaw, where a gold-plated sign saying “Ministry of Finance and Revenue” hangs in the lobby.

“We will be separated from the finance ministry, and the central bank will be an independent body to exercise its own powers,” Khin Saw Oo said. “We will stop the direct deficit financing, but we will conduct open market operations.”

The central bank is now monetizing about 40 percent of the government’s fiscal deficits, she said. The deficit may fall to 5.25 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31, from 6 percent a year earlier, as higher revenue from state enterprises using the market-based exchange rate offsets increased spending on health, education and infrastructure, according to the IMF.

Energy, Infrastructure

Myanmar’s economy may grow 6.3 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31, up from 5.5 percent a year earlier, and growth may reach about 7 percent over the next five years if reforms continue, the IMF said in a report last month. It called on Myanmar to limit non-concessional external borrowing to financing energy and infrastructure projects, and cap it at $2 billion for 2013.

The kyat traded at 856 per dollar on Feb. 5, down 4.8 percent from April, when the managed float took effect. Capital inflows will intensify over the coming year as investors seek ways to capitalize on Myanmar’s economic opening, making it more crucial for the central bank to strengthen its ability to conduct currency and exchange operations, according to Matt Davies, the IMF’s mission chief for Myanmar.

“There’s an acknowledgment among the authorities that they need expertise, and they will make use of what’s available within the country and outside,” Davies said on Feb. 5. “They are very eager for advice.”

Foreign banks may be permitted to own majority shares in joint-venture banks in Myanmar (Burma) under new legislation that could be passed by April. Officials have said foreign banks could later apply for licenses for wholly-owned subsidiaries in a country with an antiquated banking system that only recently added interlinked ATMs. Many people stash money in safes or buy gold and jade rather than trust local banks, which last suffered a run in 2003. The proposed changes are part of legislation on central bank independence, the Financial Times reports. Foreign banks would be permitted to own 80% of joint ventures. Some banks in Myanmar are owned by prominent cronies of the former military regime covered by U.S. financial sanctions, which may dim their prospects of finding a foreign partner. But it may only be a matter of time before these curbs are removed, given the thaw in relations with the U.S.

Standard Chartered has just reopened its representative office in Yangon, the commercial capital, after a gap of several years. It’s the first Western bank to take this step since the reformist government took power in 2011, though other Asian banks such as Thailand‘s Siam Commercial Bank and China‘s ICBC are already doing business there. Standard Chartered has a strong presence in Southeast Asia and its regional headquarters in Singapore been keeping a close eye on Myanmar’s reforms, so it could be first in line for any JV licenses. Its history in Myanmar, then called Burma, stretches back to 1862 when the country was under British colonial rule. Japanese banks are also likely to take part, as Japan is Myanmar’s largest bilateral lender and its companies are increasingly focused on Southeast Asia as a hedge against Chinese nationalism that impacts operations there. Expect to see Japanese banks courting local partners.

Myanmar has begun opening up to increased foreign investment and a new law passed late last year after months of debate has codified some of the rules for foreign capital. Some sectors of the economy, one of the poorest in Asia, remain off-limits to foreign ownership, including fishing and farming. Rural industries have long been starved of credit, though their needs are better met by microcredit lenders than private banks. For their part, foreign banks are more likely to finance multinationals and try to build a customer base among wealthier urbanites in Myanmar, which is decades behind countries like Indonesia and Thailand in financial services.

By Saubhadra Chatterji | Hindustan Times – 8 hours ago

New Delhi, Feb. 8 — Keeping the momentum alive in New Delhi’s efforts to improve ties with Myanmar, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will visit the neighbouring country next week along with senior parliamentarians.

The bilateral tour, coming close on the heels of Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s India tour last year, aims to strengthen cooperation between the two parliaments.

New Delhi is keen to see democracy taking its roots in Myanmar, which had for long been ruled by military dictators.

During the visit, Indian MPs will have an exclusive meeting with President Thein Sein apart from meeting Suu Kyi and other MPs of the Assembly of the Union of Myanmar.

Thein Sein is widely seen as a moderate and pro-reformist leader of Myanmar who is taking calibrated but encouraging steps towards accommodating democracy in the country.

While the BJP had earlier refused to accompany Kumar on her tour to Africa last month, forcing her to abandon the visits at the last moment, the principal opposition party has nominated Maneka Gandhi for the tour.

During her four day-long visit starting from February 12, Kumar will tour the new capital Naypyidaw and Mandalay-a sensitive area that hosts an Indian consulate.

She will also visit last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar’s mausoleum in Yangon. All Indian dignitaries including PM Manmohan Singh have paid tribute to the last Mughal emperor during their Myanmar visit.

Indian parliament had earlier held training programmes for Myanmar MPs. According to sources, both sides want to undertake more such training modules as the key neighbour wants to learn from India’s rich experience in parliamentary democracy.

Suzuki plans to invest about $7 million in its plant located in the Thilawa district, Yangon, to start the production of compact trucks. The automobile manufacturer plans to expand automobile production and sales in Myanmar as the country’s infrastructure development advances in line with the economic liberalization.

In 2010, the company had suspended its production at the plant. With Myanmar, Suzuki has a similar approach with India, where the company entered decades before it became one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. Suzuki is now the No. 1 carmaker in India.

Myanmar is beginning to open its markets and economy to outside investors but currently there’s almost no market for new cars. However, demand for second-hand vehicles is strong. Suzuki’s plant will make only 1,200 vehicles a year in the first phase.

Suzuki will unveil the series model of its C-segment crossover at the upcoming 2013 Geneva International Motor Show that will be held from March 5-17. The crossover model comes with 4-wheel-drive technology and will be based on the S-Cross concept car that was introduced at the Paris Motor Show in September 2012.

Apple Tree Group is targeting April 15 for the soft opening of the highly anticipated tented luxury lodge located in the heart of historic Bagan.

Located near the eastern shore of the legendary Irrawaddy River, the property offers 85 air-conditioned rooms in three classes of accommodation, ranging from 261 square meters for the Courtyard Suite, to 72 square meters for the Deluxe Tented Rooms. The hotel’s design aesthetic melds classic Burmese brick design with contemporary flourishes and tented roofs.

Its principal restaurant, the Tiffin Box, delivers a range of culinary fare from authentic Burmese to western cuisine. Afternoon tea is served in the Lobby Lounge, and the Pool Bar offers up snacks and cocktails.

Beyond the restaurant, the Lodge features a spa, a 20-meter pool and travel desk for guests to book local excursions and onward flights.

“Bagan is the hottest travel destination in Southeast Asia,” said Kurt Walter, Group General Manager at the Apple Tree Group. “Myanmar culture is on every traveler’s radar screen, and Bagan is going to emerge as the hottest attraction in the country.”

Located 700 kilometers north of Yangon, Bagan is one of the most rarified collections of temples anywhere in the world not yet designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. National Geographic has hailed the vast temple grounds as “one of Southeast Asia’s greatest archaeological heritage sites.”

“Seeing the ancient Ananda Temple and the gilded Shwezigon Paya today is what it must have been like to visit Angkor more than 20 years ago,” said Walter. “There is something very pristine and unadulterated about exploring temples that date back to the 11th and 12th centuries.”

Beyond the temples and ruins, the region is renown for its local artisans and weavers, horse-driven carts that ply the back roads, and small outdoor markets that sell everything from silver to fresh produce.

Daily flights deliver passengers into Yangon from the regional capitols of Hanoi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Doha, Taipei, Kumin, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bangkok. Once visitors arrive in Yangon, four private domestic airlines have daily direct flights to Nyaung U, the airport that serves Bagan.

Apple Tree owns and manages hotels and clubs across Vietnam and Laos, including:

• Emeraude Classic Cruises, a near-replica of a French, colonial-era steam ship that plies the waters of Halong Bay.

• La Residence Hotel &Spa, an historic hotel on the banks of the fabled Perfume River overlooking the former Imperial Citadel in Hue, Vietnam.

• Villa Maly, a classic Laotian residence originally built in 1938 in the heart of Luang Prabang by the grandson of a Lao king.

• Kamu Lodge, a rustic tented and thatched roofed eco-lodge on the shores of the legendary Mekong River, 30 kilometers upstream from Luang Prabang.

• Press Club, founded in 1997 as one of the most distinguished business and culinary addresses in Hanoi, Vietnam.

YANGON, Feb 8 (Bernama) — Myanmar has established diplomatic relations with Armenia at ambassadorial level, official media said Friday.

A joint communique was signed between Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations and his Armenian counterpart in New York on Jan 31, Xinhua news agency quoted local press reports as saying.

Armenia is the first country with which Myanmar forged links in 2013 after Malawi, Bhutan, Luxembourg, Latvia, Estonia and Iceland last year.

Myanmar has forged diplomatic ties with 111 countries.

by Paddy McGuffin Home Affairs Reporter

A new government strategy aiming to increase military ties with Libya, Somalia and Burma must include “comprehensive safeguards” against human rights abuses, Amnesty warned today.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond unveiled an International Defence Engagement Strategy today outlining a 20-year “non-combat” strategy with the three countries.

Mr Hammond said examples of the new strategy included establishing a defence attache and defence section in the British embassy in Burma, closer work with Libya including advice to train its military, especially its navy and air force, and plans to open a new defence section in the new British embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The minister said: “This strategy is welcome at a time of limited financial resources, providing a means to focus our assets and activities such that we can make an even greater contribution to securing a safe and prosperous future for the UK.”

But Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen pointed out that military forces in Libya, Somalia and Burma have all been linked with serious human rights abuses.

The NGO said Britain’s closeness to them must not come at the cost of turning a blind eye to potential future abuses.

“Comprehensive human rights safeguards should be built into the International Defence Engagement Strategy so that the UK does not become complicit in the wrongdoing of overseas armies,” she said.

“The UK should treat the link-ups as opportunities to help improve human rights in these countries, and not just as trading or strategic ventures.”

BANGKOK, 7 February 2013 (IRIN) – Aid workers in Myanmar’s northern Kachin State are cautious following the latest round of peace talks between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

“We’re able to work a bit easier, but we can’t say how long it will last,” La Rip, coordinator of Relief Action Network for IDPs and Refugees (RANIR), told IRIN from the Burmese border town of Laiza, the de-facto KIO capital, citing a recent lull in fighting near the 2,000km Burmese-Chinese border. “There is always the possibility fighting could erupt again.”

The network of 13 local NGOs provides assistance to more than 45,000 displaced persons in KIO-controlled areas, including food, shelter, health, water and sanitation.

There are no international UN agencies or international NGOs in KIO-controlled areas, while the UN and a handful of international NGOs are active in government-controlled areas.

“We welcome anything that will improve the lives of those people suffering on the ground. However, it’s still a very fluid situation,” said Moon Nay Li, coordinator of the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand (KWAT) in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. “There is still troop movement in the area.”

Peace talks between the two sides in the Chinese border town of Ruili on 4 February aimed to reduce tension, improve communication and establish a surveillance system with the goal of achieving a ceasefire, according to a joint statement.

Chinese officials, as well as representatives of the Shan and Karen minorities, also attended the talks.

“There is no major fighting in Kachin State,” Ye Htut, Myanmar’s presidential spokesman, said from Naypyidaw, the Burmese capital, on 6 February. “There may be some small incidents, but these are isolated events.”

“The border area near Laiza is quiet,” confirmed Khun Okker, a spokesman for the United Nationalities Federal Council, an umbrella group of 11 of Myanmar’s leading ethnic groups – including the Mon, Shan, Karenni, Chin, and Kachin people. “This shows promise. However, we need to wait at least a week to see if this holds,” he said, noting, however, that fighting was continuing in Hpakant Township, as well as parts of northern Shan State, where the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the military arm of the KIO, is also active.

Since the conflict reignited in June 2011 (ending a 17-year ceasefire between the government and KIA), there have been 12 peace talks between the two sides, including five in China. During this period some 75,000 people have been displaced.

The Burmese military ramped up its offensive in December, and began using Russian-made Mi-35 helicopters and jet fighters, says the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian group working in the area.

On 18 January, the government announced a unilateral ceasefire, but then proceeded to capture a key outpost and move its forces to within a few kilometres of Laiza.

“The situation was quite tense. Some aid workers even left the area out of concern for their security,” KWAT’s Moon Nay Li said.

“A small step”

China – the host of this week’s peace talks and a long-standing ally of Myanmar – has called for a ceasefire and remains concerned about the possible influx of refugees.

A shell landed on its territory in January, Xinhua, China’s state news agency, reported. “It’s a small step, but we’re a long way away,” said Khun Okker on the latest round of talks. “Only with further negotiations can serious political dialogue begin.”

On 6 February, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the Joint Statement issued by Myanmar’s Peacemaking Committee and the KIO, calling on both parties to continue their efforts towards genuine and sustainable peace.

The two sides have agreed to another round of talks at the end of February.

Burma’s Parliament agreed this week to form a new commission to address environmental problems facing the Irrawaddy River, the country’s longest and most important waterway.

The Amyotha Hluttaw, or Upper House of Parliament, voted on Tuesday to form the new commission after the idea was proposed by Myo Myint, an Upper House MP from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party who previously served as deputy minister of agriculture and irrigation.

The new commission will include lawmakers, environmental specialists and activists, and officials from the Transport Ministry’s Department of Water Resource Utilization and Improvement of River Systems, MPs told The Irrawaddy.

Among the issues that will be addressed by the commission are the impacts of deforestation, mining and the construction of dams and bridges, the lawmakers added.

To succeed, the new commission will need inclusive collaboration and heavy capital investment, said Phone Myint Aung, and Upper House MP from the New National Democracy Party.

“It’s very late now to start preserving the Irrawaddy, as it has already suffered severe deterioration,” he said, adding that the Transport Ministry agreed to the formation of the commission because it doesn’t have enough resources to deal with issues facing the river on its own.

The decision to create a new commission comes just days ahead of a planned workshop that will be held in Rangoon to examine some of the problems facing the Irrawaddy River. The event will be attended by environmental experts and activists, leading Burmese environmentalist U Ohn told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

“This river is a symbol of our nation, so we want it to flow peacefully and without any disturbance,” said U Ohn, who is the vice president of the Forest Resource and Environment Development Association.

He added that recently passed environmental conservation laws should be strong enough to prevent further damage to the environment and loss of natural resources to unsustainable practices, but how effective they are will depend on how well they are enforced.

According to a report by the state-run newspaper Kyemon on Wednesday, Upper House MP Duwa Khet Htin Nan of the Unity and Democracy Party of Kachin State said that local governments must also do their part to preserve the river.

“Ensuring that the Irrawaddy flows forever is not just the responsibility of the Transport Ministry,” he said. “States and divisions along the river must also work together with the commission.”

Burma’s quasi-civilian government has formed a number of commissions over the past year to address issues ranging from land confiscation to communal conflicts, but most have come under criticism for failing to produce any tangible results.

U Ohn said that it is up to environmentalists to keep up pressure on the government if they want to see any real action.

“They have formed a new commission, but we will still have to keep pushing if we want them to do their job properly,” he said.

By KHIN OO THAR / THE IRRAWADDY| February 7, 2013 |

Arakan State authorities are preventing foreign tourists from visiting Mrauk-U, a major heritage site, because of ongoing inter-communal tensions in the area, according to local business owners. State officials however, deny taking the measures

“The tourist season ends next month, in March. [But] we cannot do anything as tourism business is restricted,” said Hla Myint, the owner of “Mrauk-U Princess” hotel in Mrauk-U Township.

He said authorities were curbing tourism by turning back foreign visitors upon arrival at Sittwe airport, the capital of Arakan State in west Burma.

“As the tourists are restricted to come, the tourism business in the whole of Mrauk-U town has stopped,” said another hotel owner, adding that local businesses and families had suffered from a serious loss in income as a result.

“While there are about 400,000 tourists visiting Burma [in recent years], we have received only about 8,000 tourists in our area,” said an employee at an Mrauk-U travel agency.

There are six private hotels with several hundred employees in the town, while local transport services, tour guides and other businesses also rely on foreign visitors.

Mrauk-U heritage site, located in northern Arakan, is the former capital of a 16th-century Buddhist kingdom. Hundreds of historic temples remain scattered across the hilltops and the site is a major tourist destination.

Northern Arakan has also been the site of deadly clashes between Arakanese Buddhist and Muslim communities which began in June last year. During waves of religious communal violence that swept over the state scores of people were killed, villages were burned down and some 115,000 people fled their homes.

Tourist visits to Mrauk-U Township were banned after June, but were allowed again soon after on request of local businessmen.

Last October however, violence broke out again and the Muslim village of Yan Thei — located just south of Mrauk-U town — was completely burned down during bloody clashes between Buddhist Arakanese and Muslim Rohingya mobs, according to satellite images analyzed by Human Rights Watch.

Since then, authorities have restricted further tourist visits to Mrauk-U town.

Nu Nu Phyu said her company Khaing Pyi Soe Transport Services for Foreigners had arranged a tourist trip recently, but authorities at Sittwe airport stopped the foreign visitors. “We had to send back four tourists to Rangoon immediately on January 9,” she said.

State authorities have not officially announced the measures but have failed to respond to requests to lift the restrictions, according to local businessmen. The business owners claim that foreign tourists should be allowed to visit as Mrauk-U town itself is free from inter-communal unrest.

Arakan State officials denied however, that the restrictions were in place.

“As far as I can tell, we do not limit going to Mrauk-U or Sittwe. The foreigners working in NGOs are travelling [in the area] every day,” said Htay Win, who heads the Arakan State Tourism Team.

“Such restrictions or banning orders can only be made at the ministerial level,” he said, adding that other tourists spots like Ngapail beach in Thandwe Township in southern Arakan State, received about 800 tourists every day.

Staff answering the telephone at Burma Tourism Industry office in Mrauk-U Township said nonetheless, that they were under instructions from Arakan state officials to curb tourist visits.

“The township level staffs do not have power to restrict, but we act in accordance with the State Tourism Team leader’s instructions,” said an official, who spoke under condition of anonymity.

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| February 7, 2013 |

In its first public use of the term “political prisoner,” Burma’s state-run media on Thursday announced that a new committee has been formed by the President’s Office to identify the country’s remaining prisoners of conscience “so as to grant them liberty.”

“Committee to be formed to grant liberty to remaining political prisoners,” reads the headline of a short article that appears on the final page of today’s New Light of Myanmar, signaling the government’s belated recognition of a problem that has drawn condemnation for decades.

The new committee, to be headed by President’s Office Minister Soe Thane, will include government officials and representatives from civil society groups and some political parties, according to the report.

Burma’s government has long denied the existence of political prisoners in the country, preferring to treat them as ordinary convicts when releasing them as part of previous amnesties. Since taking power nearly two years ago, President Thein Sein has ordered the release of thousands of prisoners, with political detainees making up just a fraction of the total number.

Today’s announcement was welcomed by activists who have long called for the release of all political prisoners.

“We must acknowledge that this announcement is the first formal use of the term ‘prisoner of conscience’ [by the government],” Tate Naing, the secretary of the Thailand-base Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), said on Thursday.

Senior members of the AAPP, including Tate Naing and joint-secretary Bo Kyi, have been in Burma since early January to meet with government officials and activists for discussions aimed at determining the number of political prisoners still behind bars.

According to Tate Naing, the total now stands at 236.

“That is how many we have on a draft list after meeting with former political prisoners, the National League for Democracy and the 88 Generation Students group,” he said, adding that the AAPP also has a longer list that includes residents of Kachin State who have been detained for their alleged connections to Kachin rebels.

The AAPP, which also supports efforts to rehabilitate former political prisoners, is expected to hold further talks with government officials to urge them to guarantee the civil rights of ex-prisoners, including their right to access to education, vocational training and employment.

According to Tate Naing, the AAPP, the 88 Generation Students groups and other former political prisoners have been invited to join the new government committee, which “will define the meaning of prisoners of conscience” and establish a “framework for releasing and scrutinizing the remaining political prisoners,” according to The New Light of Myanmar.

Thursday, 07 February 2013 16:53 Kun Chan

There have been severe rice shortages in Htantlang Township, Chin State due to bad weather and pest attacks, according to MPs from the Chin National Party (CNP).

A field survey was carried out at the beginning of 2013 in 14 villages across the township.

“Among the villages, six have serious food shortages—they have no rice. Another two villages only have a little bit of rice, which will be enough for two months,” Pu Lal Maung Cung, a Chin State MP for Htantlang Township told Mizzima.

He added that the field survey results were different from reports that the Chin State Agriculture Department and Land Records Department submitted to the Chin State Parliament.

“I said in the parliamentary session that food shortages have occurred, but the Agriculture Department and the Land Records Department negotiated with each other and reported that there were enough foods. Their compiled data is baseless, so it is different to ours. The fact is that there is nothing to eat,” said Pu Lal Maung Cung.

The villages with rice shortages have borrowed rice from religious groups in downtown Htantlang to supplement their supply.

In the third week of January 2013, the Chin State Chief Minister, Pu Hung Ngai, along with Chin State Ministers, visited Htantlang, Hakha and Falam Townships to supervise a poverty alleviation program. They gave six tractors for Htantlang Township and four tractors and some rice and maize seeds to the Hakha Township

However, the Chin people cannot rely on this poverty alleviation program, said the CNP.

“Their process is very slow. [The program] will be effective only if they can work together with many ‘civil society organizations’. But they are reluctant to let other new organizations get involved [in the poverty alleviation program]. We think that the program will be successful only if they let many social organizations take part,” said Salai Nhgepi, CNP Secretary-1.

The Chin State is the least developed state in Myanmar. The population have limited livelihoods, poor education, lack of health care and infrastructure.

“All of the nine townships lack basic needs in every sector. Many have moved overseas to make a living, leaving only elderly people and children,” said Salai Nhgepi.

This is not the first time a food crisis has hit the region—from 2007 to 2009, food shortages occurred in the Chin State due to a rat infestation.

Thursday, 07 February 2013 14:11 Xiao Ting Shirley

It didn’t take much to have the grapevine buzzing with concern. A rumor, said to originate in Myanmar, quickly spread to China. The gist of it was that there was an official message from the Nayptitaw government about plans to ban the export of raw jade stone starting sometime this year. It was part of an alleged scheme to have the country’s new capital become the go-to place for stone-cutting and polishing, giving a desired value-added element to a very important export commodity.

Murmurs traveling back and forth along the bamboo telegraph suggest the Myanmar government will enact preferential policies to encourage Chinese jade merchants and jade cutters to enter the country, giving the former discounted land use permits and the latter two-year visas.

If true, the chatter goes, all this is being done as a means towards an end – to put Myanmar on the map as a jade processing and trade hub and therefore cripple China’s longstanding advantage.

Gao Mingbo, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar told reporters, “This is possible”, though there has been no official confirmation yet.

“If you once noticed the Myanmar president’s speech, he has mentioned a series of measures that include a reduction of the export of primary products, in order develop secondary processing or deep processing projects,” continued Mr. Gao, who was also aware of the online gossip. “[The Myanmar government] hope to enhance local industry.”

Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders warned Thursday February 7 of a “humanitarian emergency” in strife-hit western Myanmar with tens of thousands of people unable to access urgently needed medical care.

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) said its teams on the ground in Rakhine State faced threats, hostility and accusations of a bias towards the Rohingya Muslim minority group.

Displaced people living in makeshift camps in Rakhine are cut off from healthcare, clean water and basic provisions, according to the humanitarian group, which has worked in the area for two decades.

“It is among people living in makeshift camps in rice fields or other crowded strips of land that Médecins Sans Frontières is seeing the most acute medical needs,” MSF general director Arjan Hehenkamp said in a statement.

“Ongoing insecurity and repeated threats and intimidation by a small but vocal group within the Rakhine community have severely impacted on our ability to deliver lifesaving medical care.”

More than 100,000 people — mostly Rohingya — have been displaced and dozens killed since June 2012 in Rakhine in two major eruptions of violence between Buddhists and Muslims, mainly from the Rohingya minority.

Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship.

Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar in recent months on rickety boats, mostly believed to be heading for Malaysia.

MSF said some pregnant women faced giving birth in muddy camps without a doctor, while surveys have revealed alarming numbers of acutely malnourished children. Some of the displaced lack access to clean water.

“The only drinking water pond we have is the one which we have to share with the cattle of the nearby village. Five minutes from here is a pond with crystal clear water. We don’t dare to go,” MSF quoted one displaced man as saying.

Skin infections, worms, chronic coughing and diarrohea are also common ailments.

MSF urged the Myanmar government and community leaders “to ensure that all people of Rakhine can live without fear of violence, abuse and harassment, and that humanitarian organisztions can assist those most in need”.