No Room for Wishful Thinking in Sanctions Debate

By AUNG ZAW
The Irrawaddy News

Burma’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win has called during a recent visit to Cuba for an end to sanctions imposed on developing countries—including his own. Nyan Win’s call came as the US conducts a review of its policy on Burma.

The former army officer, whose loyalty to Than Shwe is not in doubt, may have thought that Cuba is the right place to call for lifting sanctions as President Barack Obama recently made some conciliatory gestures towards the regime in Cuba. But Cuba is not alone.

Obama has been extending an olive branch to the members of the “axis of evil” and “outposts of tyranny” so loudly condemned by his predecessor, George W Bush. They include North Korea, Iran, Belarus and Burma.

Now the Burma policy forged by the Bush administration is under review, a process that began when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Asia in February.

During her Asian tour, Clinton said neither sanctions nor engagement had succeeded in bringing about change in Burma.

A month later, Stephen Blake, director of the US State Department’s Office of Mainland Southeast Asia, visited the Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, where he met Nyan Win. Blake was the highest-ranking US official to visit Burma in recent years.

Burma’s state-run media reported that Blake and Nyan Win discussed issues of mutual interest and the promotion of bilateral relations.

Blake’s visit and Clinton’s remarks on Burma stirred speculation about a possible policy shift by the Obama administration. There has even been some talk of a relaxation of sanctions—although Richard Verma, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs who handles relations between the State Department and Congress, wrote a letter to Republican Congressman Peter King saying reports that the US would lift sanctions were “incorrect.”

According to an AFP report, Verma said: “The sanctions that the United States and other countries maintain against the regime are an important part of our efforts to support change in Burma.

“While we are currently reviewing our Burma policy, we can assure you that we remain committed to delivering a firm message on the need for real reform, including the initiation of a credible and inclusive dialogue with the democratic opposition and the release of political prisoners.”

In July 2008, the US signed into law the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act 2008. The act has three aims: to impose new financial sanctions and travel restrictions on the leaders of the junta and their associates; to tighten the economic sanctions imposed in 2003 by outlawing the importation of Burmese gems to the US; and to create a new position of “US Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma.”

Recently, the EU renewed its own economic sanctions on Burma for a further year, during a foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg.

The EU said it would continue to work to establish an open dialogue with the ruling generals. It also called for the junta to conduct a genuine dialogue with opposition and ethnic groups.

So in the foreseeable future, Burma will continue to be punished by the Western sanctions since no single tangible positive development has been detected in the country. But, on the other hand, the old debate over sanctions has returned.

Thaung Htun, representative of the exiled government of Burma, wrote in European Voice that the debate so far has tended to see sanctions as a silver bullet.

“However, it defies logic or precedent to assume sanctions can, as a lone policy tool, generate the sort of drastic reform in Burma that is needed,” Thaung Htun said.

He argued that the government in exile supported sanctions because “they have an impact on the Burmese regime and this has been admitted time and again by the generals.”

But, he added, “it has never envisaged a system of Cuba-style blanket blocks on Burmese economic activity. Any sanctions must be targeted to maximize the impact on the junta and to minimize pressure on ordinary Burmese people.”

However, Burmese opposition and critics of the regime inside and outside Burma favor US engagement in Burma but they are cautious. They want sanctions to be maintained until the regime relaxes its grip on power.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has advocated pressure and sanctions on Burma, wrote in the Washington Post recently: “America should engage Burma, but it should not engage in wishful thinking.

“Nothing in our experience suggests that offers of aid will cause Burma’s generals to change course; unlike some authoritarian regimes, this one seems to care not a bit for the economic well being of its country.”

The irony is that the regime in Burma is eager to improve its relations with the US but is not ready to offer anything tangible.

Burma still holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and there are no signs that the regime is going to free them and embark on genuine political reform.

So what is the US policy on Burma and rogue regimes like North Korea and Iran likely to be?

Jackson Diehl wrote in the Washington Post recently: “The first wake-up call has come from North Korea—a state that, according to established Democratic wisdom, would have given up its nuclear weapons years ago if it had not been labeled ‘evil’ by Bush, denied bilateral talks with Washington and punished with sanctions. Stephen Bosworth, the administration's new special envoy, duly tried to head off Pyongyang's latest illegal missile test by promising bilateral negotiations and offering ‘incentives’ for good behavior.”

How has North Korea reacted to the arrival of Obama in the White House? It has fired its missile, anyway, expelled UN inspectors and announced that it was returning to plutonium production.

What about Iran? Jackson Diehl wrote: “Obama sent a conciliatory public message to Iranians, and the United States joined in a multilateral proposal for new negotiations on its nuclear program. The regime responded by announcing another expansion of its uranium enrichment facility and placing an American journalist on trial for espionage.”
Than Shwe, for his part, is eager to normalize relations with the US but he is one sided and doesn’t understand the language of compromise.

First, the regime rejects all international appeals to release Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. Nor does Than Shwe listen to international appeals for a review of his “road map” to make it inclusive. He is not interested.

While not bothering to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, Than Shwe has arrogantly claimed at a top brass meeting that Burma has almost tripled its rice production over the past two decades, boasting a food surplus despite the destruction in the delta and reports of famine and food shortage in Chin State.

“There is no need to worry about food even when the nation's population reaches 100 million,” Than Shwe boasted.

A leader of one of the poorest countries in the world clearly doesn’t believe in wishful thinking.

READ MORE---> No Room for Wishful Thinking in Sanctions Debate...

Experts Challenge Than Shwe’s Rice Production Claims

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Claims by Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe that Burma is enjoying a rice production surplus are being greeted with skepticism by the experts.

Than Shwe made his claims—including a statement that Burma is making remarkable progress in agriculture—one day after the first anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the country’s richest rice producing region.

Farmers there are still struggling to restore their destroyed paddy fields.

A temporary shelter for survivors of the May 2008 Cyclone Nargis. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without adequate food and shelter in Burma a year after a deadly cyclone ravaged large swathes of the country. (Photo: AFP)

In a report issued in July 2008, three months after the cyclone hit Burma’s Irrawaddy delta, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said 63 percent of the paddy fields there were still under water, up to 85 percent of seed stocks had been destroyed and 75 percent of farmers lacked sufficient seed to prepare for a new harvest.

Earlier this week, as Than Shwe was delivering his disputed report to a Naypyidaw meeting, an official of the World Food Program said most households in the delta were worried about food shortages. “In fact, even some farmers who own dozens of acres of paddy are unable to feed themselves,” he said.

Reporting to the Naypyidaw meeting on Monday, Than Shwe said—according to the state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar—“due to remarkable progress in the agricultural sector, the nation had not only self-sufficiency but also surplus in food.”

The paper said Than Shwe told the meeting that when the present government came to power in 1988 paddy output was just over 600 million baskets annually (a basket is 33 kilograms). Today, Than Shwe claimed, annual output was about 1,600 million baskets, and efforts were being made to increase this to 2,000 million baskets.

“Complete rubbish,” was the reaction of Burma expert Sean Turnell, associate professor at Australia’s Macquarie University “Burma’s rice production is routinely, ludicrously exaggerated.”

Turnell said: “Farmers are under the gun to report good production numbers to their superiors, like the pattern of the former Soviet Union and other places. Meanwhile, bribes and corruption grease the wheels along the way.”

If Burma really had tripled its rice production, said Turnell, the country would once again be one of the world’s largest rice exporters.

However, Burma exports only a small amount of rice—much of it a broken, poor quality product which finds customers in Africa.

Far from having a surplus, said Turnell, Burma faced widespread food shortages this year.

A leading Burmese economist who requested anonymity told The Irrawaddy, “Than Shwe’s speech may have been intended to counter the UN and other international organizations reports about food shortages in Burma.”

READ MORE---> Experts Challenge Than Shwe’s Rice Production Claims...

Regime Ignores Own Laws to Hold Suu Kyi: Rights Groups

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

Burma’s ruling regime is breaking its own laws and ignoring world opinion by continuing to detain opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, say members of her party and human rights groups.

On Friday, Hla Myo Myint, one of the lawyers representing Suu Kyi, traveled to the junta’s capital of Naypyidaw to receive a letter rejecting an appeal for her release, according to sources from her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Kyi Win, the main lawyer working on the case, said he was unhappy with the response from the Burmese regime, which he said was against the law and lacking in fairness.

Kyi Win submitted two appeals against Suu Kyi’s detention twice last year, arguing that under Burmese law, she could not be held without charges for more than five years.

Suu Kyi has spent about 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest. Her latest period of detention began in May 2003, after she and her supporters came under attack by junta-backed thugs while traveling upcountry.

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Debbie Stothard, coordinator of Altsean, a regional human rights group monitoring abuse in Burma, said the regime’s refusal to release Suu Kyi sent the message that it is completely indifferent to the rule of law.

“It’s pretty clear that the [regime] doesn’t even respect its own laws, let alone international law,” said Stothard.

She also said that the Burmese military regime would not move forward with democratic reforms unless it comes under concerted pressure from the international community, including China.

Stothard said the international community needs to be much more united and give the regime some reason to fear the consequences of failing to respond to demands for the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

The United Nations should also put full diplomatic pressure on the rest of the international community to form a united front against the Burmese government, she added.

Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners—Burma (AAPP), responded to the regime’s rejection of Suu Kyi’s appeal by saying that in Burma, the law serves only to further the interests of those in power.

“The law of the Burmese government is like rubber. They can bend it as they please, but we can’t use it against them because there is no rule of law in Burma. Suu Kyi’s detention and release are entirely in their hands,” he said.

The AAPP recently launched a petition for the release of all political prisoners in Burma and has so far collected more than 300,000 signatures, according to Bo Kyi.

READ MORE---> Regime Ignores Own Laws to Hold Suu Kyi: Rights Groups...

Right Group Focuses on Burmese Children

By THE IRRAWADDY

A US-based human rights advocacy group, the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, called on Wednesday for the UN Security Council to protect the tens of thousands of children "who are raped, abducted and recruited as soldiers" in Burma.

The group has released a 60-page study, “No More Denial: Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Myanmar (Burma),” to mark the first anniversary of Cyclone Nargis that hit Burma in May 2008 and "to draw urgent attention to the plight of children who have been subject to heinous violations of their rights every day since the cyclone and for decades prior."

The report documents killing and maiming of children, child soldiers, rape, abduction, forced displacement, attacks on schools, denial of humanitarian access and other violations. It also charged the UN Security Council with remaining largely silent despite evidence from UN and local sources of these violations.

According to the report, children as young as nine constantly face the threat of forced recruitment by security forces, non-state armed groups and civilians, even in public places such as bus or train stations and markets.

"Approximately one in five children in the eastern conflict areas dies before reaching the age of five, often due to denial of humanitarian assistance and medical treatment by the Myanmar authorities. This rate is comparable to some the world's deadliest conflict zones, including Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan," the report said.

The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict was formed in 2001 by a group of leading human rights and humanitarian organizations in response to the need for improved monitoring and reporting on violations against children. Today, these organizations form Watchlist's international Steering Committee.

—CARE International
—Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
—International Save the Children Alliance
—Norwegian Refugee Council
—Women's Refugee Commission
—World Vision International

Last month, the Annual Report of the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict was released. It reported that the Burmese military regime’s army and nine armed ethnic groups are still recruiting child soldiers.

The report accused both the Burmese junta and an array of armed ethnic groups, including ceasefire groups and active anti-government forces, of continuing to engage in the practice of recruiting child soldiers.

READ MORE---> Right Group Focuses on Burmese Children...

Will the Mangrove Forests be Rebuilt?

By KYI WAI
The Irrawaddy News

BOGALAY, Irrawaddy Delta — Before Cyclone Nargis struck Burma's Irrawaddy delta, the island known as Mein Ma Hla (in Burmese "pretty woman") was beautiful, the home of dense mangrove forests and bamboo.

Now, the island remains badly scarred, the mangrove forests devastated, and large fallen trees still testify to the cyclone’s wrath.

Cyclone Nargis destroyed 16,800 hectares of mangrove forest (about 30 percent) and 20,999 hectares of forest plantations in Rangoon and the Irrawaddy delta, according to the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) report.

At one time, mangrove forests formed impenetrable areas along the delta coastline. Large kanazo and beau trees towered toward the sky. One local resident recalled it was like living in a big tree house.

Traditionally, local villagers cut down trees on Pretty Woman Island and nearby Kyun Nyo Gyi for firewood and charcoal.

But more rapid changes started in 1990s, when investors began to develop the area into prawn farms. Vast stretches of mangrove forests were cleared for the farms, which reaped investors big profits.

Fortunately, much of Pretty Woman Island itself was protected by law and escaped deforestation and prawn farm development, while continuing to provide local resources to residents and offer shelter for numerous animals including crocodiles, monkeys, samburs, birds, squirrels and fish.

The one Hundred Monkeys Pagoda and other religious sites located in the area also gave many residents a feeling of sacredness and tradition, say local residents.

A forest ranger on the island recalled, "In the past, villagers who came into the forest didn't bring along meat to eat. To pay respect the spirits, they even spoke politely. They chopped a few trees for their own use, not a lot, and maintained a tradition which paid respect to the spirits." According to a local belief, a greedy tree-cutter who didn’t honor the spirits would be eaten by a crocodile.

While Cyclone Nargis destroyed most of the villages along the costal area and killed nearly 140,000 people, residents on Pretty Woman escaped unharmed.

"That night, me and my wife were illegally cutting trees on the island,” said a man from Lama village. “Those big trees in the mangrove forest saved our lives. Not only us, all the villagers who were on the island that night escaped from the storm.”

Most of the bigger trees were broken or toppled down. Smaller trees and bushes survived.

"The bushes were there even after the cyclone,” said a resident of Padaekaw village. “But many dead bodies from the villages were floating in the water and were caught up in the bushes. After about a week, the army burned the dead bodies. They used a flame-thrower. That's why many trees and bushes are also burned.”

Following the cyclone, many crocodiles, monkeys, samburs and squirrels were killed or have since left the area.

"The crocs are moving,” said a resident of Sitsalong village. “After Nargis, the crocs got a chance to eat dead bodies. They are now human-eating crocs. Recently, a man in our village was attacked and eaten by a croc while he was setting his fishing net. And a child from Ngethu village was taken by a croc. That time, the little boy was sitting on the back of a boat. The croc first hit the boy with its tail, then the boy fell into the water and the croc took him away. The villagers in this area are now very afraid of croc attacks."

A forest ranger estimated that there were about 1,000 crocodiles on Pretty Woman Island and in the nearby area. A crocodile farm was located on the island, and the animals were protected by law.

Conservationists have warned that deforestation plays a key role in climate change, and Burma has lost large portions of forests in the delta and throughout the country since 1990, largely due to timber cutting.

The mangrove forest in the delta at one time served as a natural barrier against storms. Environmentalists had warmed of the consequences of deforestation and the loss of animal habitat, but their pleas largely went unheeded.

An environmental conservationist in Rangoon said, “When the cyclone hit, thousand of people lost their life. It's a direct consequence of the deforestation of mangroves. Prawn farms should not be allowed in those areas. The government should consider the interest of local people and the habitat."

Initial plans call for 750 hectares of mangrove forest to be replanted in Irrawaddy Division over a five-year period, according to an officer with the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association.

Additionally, UN Development Programme plans to replant 30,000 coconut and palm trees in five townships of the Irrawaddy delta, but that represents only a small portion of the trees destroyed.

Many aid organizations and other groups are working to replant the mangrove forests, Following Nargis the attitude of local people toward the forest has changed.

"Before Nargis, I was selling firewood in Bogalay,” said a villager from Lamu. “When the cyclone hit, I was on Pretty Woman. The trees saved my life. The other thing is that some people from rescue organizations talked about the importance of the mangrove forests. I don't want to cut the trees for a living anymore. I changed my mind. Instead, I am going to work as a fisherman."

He said villagers have also reassessed the role of prawn farms in the area

"In our village, prawn farms were everywhere. We had no place to hide. If we had mangrove forests, most people would have survived. Many of us are now ready to help replant the mangrove forests"

Lamu village, where the man lives, was home to about 700 people before Cyclone Nargis. About 100 survived.

READ MORE---> Will the Mangrove Forests be Rebuilt?...

Burmese Opposition Groups Urge Increased Sanctions Pressure

By LALIT K JHA
The Irrawaddy News

WASHINGTON — Two major Burmese opposition groups have urged the US to maintain and stiffen its economic sanctions against the military junta until all political prisoners are released and the regime agrees to a meaningful dialogue with the National League of Democracy (NLD) and ethnic representatives.

The text of the letter, written by the All Burma Monks Alliance (ABMA) and the 88 Generation Students to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was released to the press on Tuesday.

Two leaders of the organizations, Ashin Aww Bar Sa of the ABMA and Tun Myint Aung of the 88 Generation Students, signed the letter from their hiding place. An acquaintance of the two told The Irrawaddy that they believed they should relay their message to Clinton during the US administration’s policy review on Burma, as their arrest could be imminent.

There was no immediate response from the US State Department. State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood told reporters last week that the administration is still reviewing its Burma policy.

“The Secretary hasn’t been happy with the way we have moved forward, the way we have dealt with this in the past,” Wood said. “We’re going to be consulting with our partners in terms of what’s the best way forward in dealing with Burma.”

In their letter, the two Burmese opposition groups urged Clinton to consider stiffening the sanctions with additional measures, including visa bans and other penalties on the regime’s crony businessmen and political surrogates. They also called for a global arms embargo by the UN Security Council if the junta refuses to implement meaningful change.

The letter calls for US diplomatic effort to organize other nations, especially Burma’s neighbors China, India and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), as well as the EU, to work together to address the situation in Burma with common interest, shared responsibility and unified action. A clear benchmark would be the best way to make sanctions and engagement effective and produce positive results, the opposition leaders argue.

The groups say they support any move for direct engagement between the US and the military junta, but add that any talks should include the junta leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

At last week’s briefing, Acting Spokesman Wood said Secretary of State Clinton remained “very concerned” about the current situation in Burma.

“She has not been happy with policies that we’ve had up until now and, as a result of the administration’s concern about what’s going on in Burma, decided to engage in a very thorough review,” Wood said.

“We’re looking to try to find a way, in working with our other partners in the international community, to address the major concerns that we have, particularly in the humanitarian sphere, with regard to Burma,” he said.

Acknowledging that the sanctions against the military junta have not brought about the desired effect that the US wanted, Wood said: “We’re looking just to see what further we can do.”

The Obama Administration would be working with other partners in the international community to try to figure out a way forward, he said. “We haven’t gotten the changes in terms of behavior that we want to see from the Burmese Government. So we’ll continue to see what we can do.”

READ MORE---> Burmese Opposition Groups Urge Increased Sanctions Pressure...

Locals Used as Army Porters on Western Border

Dhaka (Narinjara): The Burma army has been forcing people living in northern Buthidaung Township to work as porters transporting weapons and rations along the border since March, when the army started construction on a border fence.

According to a report issued by the Free Burma Arakan Ranger Team recently, the Burmese army has used many Arakanese nationals, such as Khami, Dynet, Mro, and Chakmar people as porters in the area to transport army goods and equipment along the border.

The report also stated that the army authority recently forced many people from the border villages to clear brush located in the tract of land along the border. Although the army provided some food to people who were working, it was only about half the amount of food they actually needed.

One army column led by Major Htin Nwe from Light Infantry Battalion 550 used 45 villagers from seven villages as porters when the column moved from border pillar 57 to pillar 67 to inspect the fence.

The villagers had to work for at lest ten days as army porters without any wages for their work, the report said.

After receiving the report, Narinjara contacted many local people in the area for confirmation.

One leader from the Dynet community told Narinjara on the condition of anonymity that the Burmese army used people as porters in the area regularly to transport their equipment and rations from one village to another without any payment.

The army authority ordered all villages in the areas to place two villagers everyday in standby to carry out army work. When the army needs people as porters, two villagers from each village have to go to the army outpost to work without pay.

However, the Burmese army does not allow use of the term "porter", and instead army officials refer to the workers as "correspondents".

Many tribal villages, including Wa Net Ron, Sin Pru Byin, Yaw gai, Kha Maung, Tha Phan, Poak Chaung, Tha Pru Gri, Tha Pru Chay, Athet Nahan, Aout Nahan, Maung Na Ma, Long Chaung, Pha Ra Zai, Nga Pe Yon, Atai Kyat, in northern Buthidaung Township have been facing the problem of forced labor, with people in the area being used regularly by the army.

One villager from the area said that army authorities use villagers not only as porters but also other work like construction of army barracks, clearing brush in the army compound, and constructing fences around the army camps.

Furthermore, many villages in the area will have to send bamboo, wood, and wood pillars to reconstruct the army barracks before the rainy season begins, he added.

READ MORE---> Locals Used as Army Porters on Western Border...

Can Burmese junta learn from Nargis !

Nava Thakuria (Narinjara): It is one year now, since the devastating tropical cyclone that struck Burma (officially known as Myanmar). The deadly cyclone hit the Burmese land in the first week of May last year and left a trail of devastation in the entire Irrawaddy and Rangoon (Yangon) divisions of the country.

Originated from the Bay of Bengal, Nargis also partially destroyed the areas under the Bago, Mon and Kayin region. With human casualties, the cyclone added to the damage of social infrastructures, killing of thousands of livestock and also causing flood, wiping out paddy fields, which were made ready for the country’s primary crops rice.

Nargis hit the country on the night of May 2 and continued its devastation till the next morning. Over 80,000 Sq Km areas with high population density were under the slam of the cyclone that claimed nearly 140,000 people. Another few hundred thousand people went on missing.

The United Nations estimated that Nargis affected 2.4 million people and rendered thousands families homeless. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated the loss of nearly 300,000 water buffalo and cows, 7,500 goats, 65,000 pigs, 1.5 million chicken and ducks. It also destroyed the fish ponds, hatcheries and shrimp farms in the localities.

Moreover, nearly 10,00,000 acres of farmland in Irrawaddy and 3,00,000 acres in Rangoon division were destroyed. Similarly Nargis damaged over 800 000 houses, including schools and hospitals.

Of course, the military government reported the final death toll as only 84,537 only. The government-run daily newspaper ‘The New Light of Myanmar’, revealed that the storm left 53,836 missing and 19,359 people injured. Burma has neither independent media nor easy internet access through out the country.

In fact, Nargis helped exposing the State Peace and DevelopmentCouncil, which rules Burma, to the world communities. The military junta not only wanted to hide the statistics of casualty, but also prevented initially the international aid workers to enter the country. International agencies and local donors were stopped from entering the affected areas and also delivering aid, which was meant for hundreds of thousands of people in jeopardy.

The military regime at its new capital Naypyidaw, which is north of Rangoon, had an apprehension that the massive flow of foreign aid workers to their country might create trouble for them in the coming days. Even the SPDC chief senior general Than Shwe got time to visit those victims only after international criticism came out in a bigger way.

The military rulers were softened only after the personal visit of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the middle of May. Slowly the communication between Naypyidaw and the international agencies got improved. Visas and travel permits were made little easier and faster for the foreign aid workers.

India, which maintains strategic relationship with Burma, was one of early supplier of aid to the cyclone victims. New Delhi launched Operation Sahayata to deliver more than 175 tonnes of relief materials including food supplies, tents and medicines. Moreover, the Indian government successfully pursued with the junta to accept the international aid. Later a team of 50 medical personnel was also sent by India to the Irrawaddy delta.

After 12 months of the disaster, the situation remained almost same. Now there are no refuges in the camps, as the military dismantled those nearly six months back. But the affected people are still living with acute shortage of pure drinking water and food, not to speak of proper shelter. More over most of the victims, who survived Nargis, are facing unending trauma.

“The humanitarian situation in Burma remains desperate even a year after Nargis,” said a young Burmese writer Zoya Phan. The author of ‘Little Daughter’, while talking to the London based Sky News, revealed that the poor Burmese were still struggling to rebuild their lives. Zoya, 28, also added, “Those who survived had their attempts to recover hindered by the country's military rulers, who obstructed the access of vital aid supplies in the aftermath of the cyclone.”

Tyaza Thuria, a Burmese exile living in Europe, claimed that nearly two million people, mostly farmers and their families, were still living in horrible situations. Talking to this writer, Tyaza expressed his anger that the military regime had done nothing for the rehabilitation for the cyclone victims.

“They are only interested in retaining the political power. So they went ahead with their plans for referendum (only to forcefully approve the pro-military constitution) and finally to install a puppet civilian regime after the 2010 polls,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, the UN has highlighted urgent needs for the cyclone affected people. Addressing a donor meeting in Rangoon during the first week of April, Bishow Parajuli, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, emphasized that there was still an imminent need for sustainable shelter and agricultural support ahead of the monsoon season.

“Whilst steadily recovering from cyclone Nargis affected areas remains high on the agenda, the UN also addresses needs for funding to other parts of the country, where immense humanitarian and development challenges exists," Parajuli added.

Organized by the UN, the meting was attended by around 70 participants, including the Heads of Diplomatic missions, UN Agenciesand National and International Non-Governmental Organizations. Speaking to this writer from Rangoon, Astrid Sehl, the communication officer of United Nations in Myanmar, admitted that the level of humanitarian assistance that currently being provided in Burma was much lower than the actual needs of the people. She also revealed that there were no cyclone affected people living in the camps at his moment, as those were dismantled last year.

The donors have so far reportedly contributed $US 310 million. The UN, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the Burmese government have already finalized a recovery plan with the budget of another $US 691 million for restoring livelihood and housing through grants and microfinance. It is understood that the initiative might take three more years.

The cyclone, as it hit Burma in the beginning of the harvesting season, made significant impact to the rice production. Primarily because of salinity in the water, poor quality seeds, lack of draught animals and also agricultural labours, production suffered.

A recent report of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme revealed that at least 10 % people (out of 50 million) in Burma were forced to live below the food poverty line. The report on the crop and food security assessment mission to Burma disclosed that over five million people were finding it difficult to access to nutritious food in Burma after the cyclone Nargis ravaged the delta region last year.

But amidst all negative aspects, there are some positive outcomes that emerged out from the post-Nargis humanitarian activities. The natural disaster had finally opened up the country to the international communities to some extent. The situation compelled the junta to join hands with the ASEAN and the UN. The international exposure to the alienated Burmese, who have been living under military rule for over four decades, seems to play the role of a catalyst for a change in the coming days.

The ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan expressed optimism that the Burmese government and the people have gained a higher degree of confidence after the Nargis relief and rehabilitation exercise, as they had the opportunity to work with the international community and donors.

In fact, Pitsuwan, who served Thailand as a Foreign Minister yearsback, is credited to break the ice in initiating for a Tripartite Core Group comprising the representatives from the ASEAN, the UN and the Burmese government. The forum was officially declared on May 31 last to pave way for continuing the mission to support the Nargis victims. Win Naing (name changed), a pro-democracy activist said that though the aid was one time effort with no political influences, it should play an important role in the changing political and diplomatic equation.

Speaking to this writer from an Indo-Burma border area, Win Naing added, “We are aware of that only aid to the Nargis survivors will not bring the change we are talking about; neither it would herald democracy for us. But the new found link between the Burmese and the world communities is expected to enhance the confidence of those poverty stricken people of our country. It has the potential to influence the military rulers in the long run for improving the human rights record in Burma.’

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The author is a Guwahati (Northeast India) based independent journalist whose focus area remains the socio-political developments taking place in Northeast as well as its neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Burma and Bangladesh.

He may be contacted at navathakuria@gmail.com

READ MORE---> Can Burmese junta learn from Nargis !...

Army Official Collects Bribes to Clear Records

Maungdaw (Narinjara): An army intelligence officer from Taungbro, a sub-township on the western Burmese border, has requested large sums of money from rich men in the area as a bribe to clear their names from a list of people wanted for crimes, said a Muslim religious leader.

"Army intelligence officer Kyaw Myo Latt is asking for 1.5 million kyat (one lakh taka) from each wealthy family in Thi Chaung Village to clear their name from the list of crime. Some rich men have paid the money to Kyaw Myo Latt out of fear of arrest by the authority," he said.

Last week, villagers from Thi Chaung Village clashed with some soldiers from the Burmese army when the army men were caught poaching shrimp from locally-owned shrimp farms, and four soldiers were hospitalized with critical injuries.

After the clash, some Muslim villagers were severely tortured after being arrested, but many managed to flee from the village to Bangladesh to avoid retaliation by the authority.

However, some wealthy men from the village were unable to flee the country and have been hiding in some villages nearby Thi Chaung since the incident took place.

The army authority has since charged all the male villagers with assault for beating the soldiers. Because of this, many villagers are fleeing and are in hiding. The intelligence officer has been collecting bribes from the men to remove their names from the list of wanted suspects.

"Rich men from the village have no problem paying the money asked for by the intelligence official, if the authorities remove their names from the list of those charged with the crime, because they want to continue living in their village. But poor people are facing a problem and I don't know how I can solve their problem," the religious leader said.

Many male villagers were forced to desert their families and homes after the incident and some houses in the village are now without elder men. According to a local source, about 100 elder mails are hiding from the village after the clash and many have reportedly taken shelter in Bangladesh territory.

"I think they will have no chance to return home as they have fled to Bangladesh. They will have to live in Bangladesh forever. If they return back to Burma, they will be arrested and punished with long prison terms," he said.

READ MORE---> Army Official Collects Bribes to Clear Records...

BDR pushes back 12 Rohingyas

Teknaf, Bangladesh (KPN): Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) pushed back 12 Rohingyas including women and children on April 3, at about 3 pm from Teknaf, says our correspondent from Teknaf.

Six men, two women and four children after crossing Naff River reached Teknaf on Sunday at about 2:30 pm. They were pushed back to Burma by the BDR at about 3 pm. They were not allowed to climb the embankment on the Bangladesh side.

According to sources, many Rohingyas are preparing to cross the Burma- Bangladesh border because of increasing persecution against the Rohingya community in Northern Arakan, said a local trader on condition of anonymity.

Rohingyas are forced to work in embankment construction, carrying stones and other material for fencing the Burma-Bangladesh border. They also face arbitrary arrests, torture for extortion. Besides, the army, Nasaka (Burma’s border security force) and police create problems between Rohingya villagers and the authorities to force the Rohingya community to flee them from their homes, the trader added.

After Burma started to fence the Burma-Bangladesh border, the BDR planned to push back Burmese nationals who crossed the Naff River. Earlier, the BDR also pushed back some Rohingyas to Burma. But, now, BDR has decided to push back any Burmese national crossing the border. Security has been tightened on the border.

Recently, the BDR held a meeting in Cox’s Bazaar inviting local upazila chairmen, especially from border areas and asked them to inform BDR, if any Rohingya crosses the Burma-Bangladesh border. They have decided to push back Burmese nationals immediately, according to a BDR official.

May 5, 2009

READ MORE---> BDR pushes back 12 Rohingyas...

Chinese businessman flouts KIO court’s order

A Chinese businessman has clearly ignored the decision of a court of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). The court passed its judgment in a case between a Kachin businessman, Tsinyu Zau Mung, the owner of Seng Bum Company and Chinese businessman Kyaw Myint, the owner of 'Hole in One' company. So the problem between them continues, a source said.

A disputed jade mine which was made decision by the KIO's court.

A disputed jade mine which was made decision by the KIO's court.
A source close to the Kachin businessman said, a judgment in the case was delivered by a KIO court last year too. The recent judgment was the second. Even last year’s decision was ignored. After the court judgment, the vice-chairman of KIO, Lt-Gen N'ban La Awng once again granted permission to the Chinese businessman to continue jade mining.

However, the court judged fairly once again as the two companies agreed to mine for jade in their own area. But soon after the hearing in the court, the Chinese businessman flouted the court’s order, he added.

Despite the KIO court’s judgment, the Chinese businessman approached high ranking KIO’s officers and used the same method as in the past to get permission to mine again in the Kachin businessman’s area.

According to Hpakant jade traders, the Chinese jade mine company started excavating on April 9 in the area of the Kachin businessman with the help of high ranking KIO officers.

According to a KIO insider there has many corrupt practices and taking of personal advantages among KIO’s officers and they have been unable to stand by the Kachins.

May 5, 2009

READ MORE---> Chinese businessman flouts KIO court’s order...

Lawyers accuse junta of war crimes

(DVB)–An exiled Burmese lawyers group recently ruled illegal by the Burmese government have said that the extent and severity of crimes committed by the junta warrant accusations of war crimes and genocide.

A conference yesterday convened by Thailand-based Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) and umbrella organisation, Human Rights for All (FIDH), discussed the government’s indifference to international pressure on human rights violations.

“There are crimes committed in Burma including war crimes, genocide and massacre that are untouchable by the courts inside the country due to a breakdown of judicial system,” said Thein Oo, chairman of BLC.

The judicial system in Burma is under the direct jurisdiction of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), and lawyers representing activists and opposition members are regularly intimidated.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) puts the number of lawyers currently serving prison sentences at 16.

“During the seminar, we discussed finding a way to bring the Burmese regime to the International Criminal Court,” said Thein Oo.

“There was the Depayin massacre in 2003 and protests in September 2007, followed by cyclone Nargis a year later, and so many lives were lost during these events.

“If we fail to take action on the Burmese government, such events will continue.”

The statement echoes a claim made last month by former senior legal adviser to the International Criminal Court, Morten Bergsmo, that the Burmese army’s use of child soldiers could constitute a war crime.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

READ MORE---> Lawyers accuse junta of war crimes...

Ceasefire group rejects election request

(DVB)–Burma’s largest ceasefire group has rejected requests from the government to reduce troop numbers and form a political party to contest the 2010 elections on the grounds that the junta will force them to disarm.

Senior military officials from the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) meet with leaders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in northern Shan state last week, where Wa leaders were told to reduce troops by 3,000 and set up a political party in lieu of the 2010 elections.

UWSA troops are thought to number around 30,000.

The meeting on 28 April coincided with visits by senior SPDC officials to six ceasefire groups, including the Kachin Independence Organisation and Shan State Army (North).

"Our Wa state's people government doesn't want to accept [the requests],” said a Wa army commander.

“They are trying to split [us] like the way they did to the [Karen National Union]. Our leaders will never allow that.”

The pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army split from the armed wing of the KNU, the Karen National Liberation Army, in 1994 and allied themselves with the government. They now collaborate in offensives against the KNU.

Other reports surfaced yesterday of the Burmese government encouraging ceasefire groups to become border guards.

A military observer based on the China-Burma border, Aung Kyaw Zaw, said the move would create gains only for the SPDC.

"It means that [the UWSA] have to hand over both their weapons and troops,” he said.

“After handing over the weapons and troops, there would be no related governmental organizations; there would be no Wa state government.

“By contesting the election, [the UWSA would be helping] the SPDC consolidate the credibility of its election.”

Reporting by Maung Too

READ MORE---> Ceasefire group rejects election request...

Lessons for Burma from Thailand Crisis

By PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN
The Irrawaddy News

What does Thailand’s protracted political crisis tell its neighboring countries? What are the lessons to be learned from the Thai experiences? And what is the most vital message for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Thailand is a member, as the organisation moves toward a greater regional integration?

The current political stalemate in Thailand is the work of two competing networks; one that supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the other the old establishment.

Thaksin is represented by the red-shirt movement which comprises the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the poor in far-flung regions and underprivileged Thais. The old establishment is supported by Bangkok elite, part of the military and big business. Its notable agent is the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose members choose to wear yellow shirts that symbolise the king’s color.

The battle between the two political networks has been ferocious. The Pattaya incident and the Bangkok inferno signalled that at least one side of the network was willing to engage in a warlike fight to undermine its opponent. In the process, leaders of both networks claimed to act for democracy. But their brands of democracy have so far failed to untie the political deadlock.

The deep turmoil in Thailand reveals certain realities which have long existed in the region. Yet, leaders in the region have pretended not to see them. This time, as Thailand found itself on the brink of becoming a failed state, a few lessons could be learned by its neighboring countries.

First, continued crisis and escalating violence imply that democracy has remained a fragile commodity. A decade ago, Thailand was praised for its rapid economic development and progressive democratisation. Today, its political domain is transformed into a battlefield between two powerful forces possessing two different ideologies.

The Thai case shows that an elected government with excessive power, living on corruption and lack of respect for human rights, can be vulnerable; that traditional power-holders must face up to modern-day reality whereby the voice of the majority is the true voice of democracy; that the military has to be depoliticised for the sake of democracy; and that violent means employed to serve political purposes only further alienate democracy.

The rise of the red-shirt movement has the potential to lead a new opinion in certain Southeast Asian states where democratic rights have been taken away from the people. Not every member of the red shirts supports Thaksin. Some have participated in the rallies genuinely for the return of real democracy to the majority of Thais.

Second, although the power struggle is a part of Thailand’s democratic evolution and this proves that the country has come a long way since the political transition in 1932, its political drama does not necessarily encourage positive changes in certain parts of the region. It could send out the wrong message.

The message, for example, that anti-government activities must not be tolerated. The message that stability is more precious than changes, or even more than democratic rights, and that challenge in all forms to the ruling regime must not be allowed. And that Western democracy is not really compatible with Asian societies, as defended by Asian leaders for generations.

In other words, the Thai conflict could have compelled illegitimate regimes elsewhere, including Burma, to tighten their grip of power for fear of public disobedience and uncontrollable situations.

Third, Asean has been led to believe that the sole major obstacle to regional integration stems from the widening gap between the more and the less economically developed members. Unless Asean closes this economic gap, regional integration will remain largely elusive.

Yet, Asean leaders have overlooked the fact that a widening political gap, in terms of different levels of democratic development, has also affected the process of regionalism. The Thai political unrest has already delayed Asean gatherings. The political storm has held back the Thai leadership in Asean. The organisation has been operating on autopilot since last year. The slow response to the global financial crisis proved this point.

However, this is not Thailand’s problem alone. The gap in the levels of democratisation in the region has so far tarnished the good works Asean has achieved in other areas.

This existing political gap has produced different mentalities and attitudes among Asean leaders as they look ahead into the future. Some are enthusiastic about Asean’s newborn regionalism. Some are using Asean as merely a symbol of their pretentious embrace of international norms and practices.

Both Thailand and Asean have a long way to go until they meet their needed objectives. Crisis in Thailand can be used to remind its neighbours that true democratisation is an extremely arduous process. But its postponement would only make this exercise even more excruciating and troublesome.

The author is a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. This commentary is his personal view.

READ MORE---> Lessons for Burma from Thailand Crisis...

Junta sets deadline for ceasefire groups to transform

by Solomon

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta has told ethnic ceasefire groups they have till September this year to transform their groups, an ethnic Wa rebel group told Mizzima.

A top official of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of the largest rebel groups in Burma which has a ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta, said the regime wants them to transform or at least reduce the number of armed men.

“They [junta] set September as the deadline for reforming our army,” the UWSA official, who wished not to be named, said.

The message was conveyed to the group, during a meeting with the junta’s Chief Military Affairs Security (MAS), Maj-Gen Ye Myint on April 28, in Tang Yang town in North eastern Shan state.

The official said the junta wants a reduction in the size of the rebel’s army and to include Burmese soldiers in the group. The regime will also have controlling command of the rebel’s army, the official said.

For a battalion, the junta wants the size reduced to 326 soldiers and to include about 30 soldiers from the Burmese Army. (JEG's: spies?? aha)

The junta’s demand is the latest in a series of efforts that it has been making to control the armed rebel groups. In late April, the junta met several ceasefire groups including the UWSA, Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO).

The official said, the junta wants to have control over the rebel group’s army and manage them and is willing to take responsibility even by way of payment of salaries for the troops.

The demands were made during a meeting between the Burmese delegates led by Maj-Gen Ye Myint and Wa leaders led by vice Chairman Xiao Minliang at Tang Yang, the official said.

“Maj-Gen Ye Myint told us that we should set age limits for our new recruits at between 18 to 50. Everybody who is over the age of 50 should be retired,” he added.

The UWSA, a group that broke off from the former Communist Party of Burma (CPB), said they have not decided on the junta’s proposals but will soon come up with a decision after consulting and having meetings.

“We have not decided anything yet. Now we are planning to have discussions with all of our soldiers and our people. We need to take their opinion and note their desires,” the official said.

Like the UWSA, the Kachin Independent Organization/Army (KIO/A), said they are also preparing for a public meeting to garner opinion on the junta’s proposals put forward by the Northern Command Commander Maj. Gen. Soe Win, who met the KIO leaders at Myitkyina, Capital of Kachin State, on April 28.

A Major from the KIO, who wished not to be named, told Mizzima, “We will be holding public meetings with our people after May 10.”

The Major said he believes that the people and the KIO members are likely to disagree with the junta’s proposals, when they have the meeting in KIO controlled area of Laiza on the Sino-Burma border.

“If we give into whatever the junta demands, what is the point of being into an armed struggle? It would also make no sense of our over 40 years of resistance,” the Major said.

However, he declined to mention what the KIO as a group might decide.

Similarly, the junta held separate meeting with leaders of the Shan State Army -North (SSA-N), Myanmar National Democratic Allied Army (MNDAA), New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and National Democratic Allied Army (NDAA).

The junta’s demand that the ceasefire armed groups transform their armies and hand over the management to the junta, is a step below its original plan of disarming the ceasefire armed groups before the planned general election in 2010.

A Sino-Burma border based analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw said, ceasefire groups will now have meetings among themselves, and it is very much unlikely for the majority of them to comply with the junta’s demand.

But those groups that are weaker militarily might as well consider the junta’s demand as it could be viewed as a way out for them.

“I don’t think it will be possible for stronger groups to comply with the demand but some like the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army [DKBA] are likely to comply as they are already been on the side of the junta,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw.

“It is impossible for the ceasefire groups to comply with the junta’s demand. Now all the groups are planning to stand as one and raise just one voice,” he added.

READ MORE---> Junta sets deadline for ceasefire groups to transform...

40,000 flee Swat region before Taliban fight

Fleeing ... evacuees from Buner walk near a camp on the outskirts of Peshawar / Reuters

THE WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS PEACE AS THERE IS HARDLY ANY ROOM LEFT FOR ALL THE DISPLACED PEOPLE RUNNING IN FEAR AND SEEKING A BETTER LIFE. BUT WHERE TO TURN TO WHEN CHAOS IS RULING OUR LIVES? IT IS TIME FOR THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL TO PLACE SOME ORDER...
PEACE IS DESPERATELY NEEDED NOW... NOT NEXT YEAR OR NEXT... AS IN NOW... --Jeg

From correspondents in Peshawar - News.com

MORE than 40,000 civilians have fled a key town in northwest Pakistan's Swat region as fears grow of a fresh military offensive against Taliban fighters, officials said.

Clashes have flared in the last few days in Mingora, the main town in the one-time ski resort devastated by a nearly two-year Taliban insurgency, as a peace deal with the hardliners appeared close to collapse.

"More than 40,000 have migrated from Mingora since Tuesday afternoon," said Khushhal Khan, the chief administration officer in Swat.

An intelligence official confirmed the mass movement of people, telling AFP that hundreds of cars were streaming out of the area.

"An exodus of more than 40,000 people is the minimum number - it should actually be more than 50,000," he said.

Pakistan's military has been locked in a fierce offensive in neighbouring districts of Swat in the northwest, where armed militants advanced despite a February deal that the government had hoped would end a Taliban uprising.

Panic and confusion spread through Mingora yesterday after the military issued - but then swiftly withdrew - an evacuation order, and clashes between security forces and the militants broke out throughout Swat.

Khushhal Khan said the Taliban overnight tightened their grip on Mingora taking over several buildings, while four civilians were killed in the town - three in a mortar attack and one shot dead by security forces.

"They are patrolling in the streets in Mingora and occupying many official buildings, including a police station and a commissioner's office, which houses offices of top police and administration officials in Saidu Sharif," he said.

Local police said the militants had vacated the buildings and dispersed into nearby mountains, similar to rugged terrain across the northwest where they have fought a guerrilla-style campaign against security forces.

The administration of President Asif Ali Zardari came under fierce criticism for the February agreement with an Islamist cleric to put three million people in the northwest under sharia law in a bid to end a Taliban uprising.

Instead of disarming as required under the deal, the Taliban pushed further south toward the capital Islamabad, taking over large swathes of the districts of Lower Dir and Buner and prompting the latest army offensive.

READ MORE---> 40,000 flee Swat region before Taliban fight...

Down and out parents are driven to sell children, but concerns about trafficking arise.

WCRP (Rehmonnya): In April 2009, Ma Mi Aye, who has been struggling economically after a series of family tragedies, had to sell her daughter to another family for 30,000 kyat (28 USD) in, Pa-An Township, Karen State,

According to a source who spoke with Ma Mi Aye, age 21, “My husband was killed by strangers and my mother was in the hospital. My family is very poor and we couldn’t afford to pay her medical bills. So I had no options until I sold my 1 year and 3 month old daughter for what I hoped would be 50,000 kyat.”

Ma Mi Aye (whose name and town have been changed for security purposes) from Kyaikto Township, Mon State lost her husband when strangers killed him during the 2009 water festival for an unknown reason.

“It was very long journey to get to Pa-An Township and I have walked the whole day and night to get here” a source quoted her as saying, “I would be very happy if someone could adopt my daughter in exchange for 50,000 kyat, and take care for her as if she were their own since I do not have any money to feed her.” Ma Mi Aye came to Pa-An because it would be too painful to see the girl every day with another family in her own village.

Upon hearing Ma Mi Aye’s story a family from Pa-An Township felt sorry for her and adopted the girl, however only for the price of 30,000 kyat. Additionally they required her to sign an agreement stating that in exchange for that money she would relinquish all her rights and familial connection to the child.

While being forced to sell her daughter has brought a great deal of sympathy to Ma Mi Aye’s plight, some villagers suspect that if she were to sell her own child, she could conceivably steal another person’s child and try to sell that too, to make additional money.

This instance of selling a child because of financial hardship is not singular. Over the past several years instances of families trying to sell their children so they can survive has been on the rise. Recently its been reported several women from Kyaikto Township have been coming to another near by village to sell their children in this year alone. However no witness could confirm they were in-fact from Kyaikto Township, or that the children being sold were their real children.

Some villagers in the area suspect these sales come from a group of women working together selling children that are not theirs. While there have been no reports of missing or kidnapped children, sales have been on rise and will occur between 3 months to sometimes half a year.

According to the villager from Pa-An Township, Mi Khaing Khaing, said to the WCRP, “My father has been trying to adopted a 3 year old child, but he been rethinking this plan after he became afraid that the children who are being sold might have been kidnapped form their legitimate families.”

READ MORE---> Down and out parents are driven to sell children, but concerns about trafficking arise....

Farmers live under duress of Burmese Army

(KNG) -Farmers in Burma's northern Kachin State are being meted out ill treatment in the name of growing summer paddy by local Burmese Army battalions, said local farmers.

Farmers, who are mainly into cultivation of monsoon paddy in Kachin State, are being forced to grow summer paddy. Some of their buffalos and oxen are being slaughtered for beef or sold for money in the market, while some are being used in the paddy fields for ploughing by Burmese Army troops, complained local farmers.

In Burma, summer paddy is grown in March and harvested in late May before the onset of the monsoons in June.

Last March, the Burmese Army's Infantry Battalion (IB or Kha La Ya) No. 142 based in Dawhpumyang in Bhamo district deliberately drove seven heads of cattle into their summer paddy fields. Three cows were slaughtered while the rest received gun-shot wounds, said local farmers.

The current price of a cow is between 500,000 Kyat (US $490) and 600,000 Kyat (US $588) in Kachin State, said local farmers.

The cattle are owned by Kachin villagers in Dingga village in Dawhpumyang sub-township. They also grow summer paddy in the fields which are temporarily seized from Dingga farmers, according to farmers of the village.

Again on April 26, Burmese soldiers of IB No. 142 drove a herd of cattle belonging to Dingga farmers to the seized paddy fields and the cattle owners were threatened with imprisonment. The soldiers also demanded fines ranging between 30,000 Kyat (US $29) and 80,000 Kyat (US $78) per cow because the cattle ate their summer paddy, added local farmers.

Local farmers said the soldiers fence their summer paddy fields only on one side and the cattle enter the fields from the sides without fences.

At the moment, farmers in Dingga village are spending their days in nightmarish conditions because they may be fined or imprisoned when they check for their cattle in the summer paddy fields where soldiers deliberately drive cattle, the farmers said.

Similarly, another Burmese Army battalion, IB No. 58, based in Waingmaw town is also treating local farmers shabbily in the name of growing summer paddy, said farmers in Waingmaw.

Farmers who grow paddy in monsoon by using water from Washong Dam, the government’s irrigation project, have been ordered to grow summer paddy with their own money by the IB No. 58, said farmers.

Some farmers' paddy fields have been temporarily seized by soldiers. Again the local people's cattle entering the summer paddy fields are also slaughtered by soldiers, according to sources close to cattle owners.

Most farmers in Kachin State are reluctant to grow summer paddy because the farmers cannot start ploughing monsoon paddy in time. They have to skip cultivating monsoon paddy because of the summer paddy, said local farmers.

Usually, farmers in Kachin State rely on monsoon paddy which starts to grow from June and they do not need to put much effort to grow it, said local farmers.

Meanwhile, the Burmese military junta is forcibly selling a new variety of paddy seed to farmers in Kahcin State for 7,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 6.8 per Tin (1 Tin = 40.9 Litre) and claiming that Kachin State will be the fourth largest rice producing state in the country. This is being proclaimed by pasting posters around Kachin State.

READ MORE---> Farmers live under duress of Burmese Army...

Child soldiers a reality in Burma: Rights Group

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) –- The United Nations Security Council has been urged by a United States-based Human Rights group on Wednesday to protect tens of thousands of children who are brutally abducted and recruited as soldiers in Burma.

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict in its new report titled “No More Denial: Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Myanmar (Burma)” urged the United Nations Security Council to pressure Burma’s military junta as well as ethnic armed rebel groups to stop all recruitment of children into their armed forces.

The 60-page report, released on Wednesday, documents children being killed, raped, forcibly displaced, abducted and recruited as soldiers by the Burmese Army, who, the group said also attacked schools and denied access to humanitarian assistance.

The condition of children is worse in parts of the country, where the Burmese Army and ethnic insurgents are engaged in decades’ long war, the report said.

Children as young as nine are recruited as soldiers by the Burmese Army and non-state armed groups even from public places such as bus and train stations, the report said.

The group said, “The SPDC must no longer deny these children access to sufficient and life saving humanitarian assistance,” and calls on the United Nations as well as the international community to protect children from violence, maltreatment and abuses in Burma’s ongoing armed conflict.

While the group charged the Burmese military junta, officially known as State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), for its continuous violation of human and child rights, it also said non-state armed groups (NSAG) are no exception in recruiting children into their armies.

“Most NSAGs have reportedly recruited and used children in their armed groups, albeit on a much lower scale than the Myanmar Armed Forces,” the report said.

The group in its recommendations, called on the UN Security Council to break its silence and to call on the SPDC and other NSAGs to immediately release all children from their armies and to set a deadline for them to comply with international standards.

“If tangible progress is not achieved within the specified time frame the Security Council should impose targeted measures, in line with Resolutions 1539 and 1612,” the report urged.

The report also urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member, to make the promotion and protection of the rights of the child a priority in its policy and to take effective measures to ensure that all members protect children from the effects of armed conflict, to end the use of children in armies and armed groups.

The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict was formed in 2001 in response to the need for improved monitoring and reporting on violations against children.

In April, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in his annual report to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict said the Burmese junta’s army and nine other armed ethnic groups are still recruiting child soldiers.

Ban said, both the Burmese junta and a list of armed ethnic groups, including ceasefire groups and active anti-government forces, are continuing to recruit children into their armies.

Both the junta and armed ethnic groups have denied the allegations.

READ MORE---> Child soldiers a reality in Burma: Rights Group...

Farmers live under duress of Burmese Army

Written by KNG

Farmers in Burma's northern Kachin State are being meted out ill treatment in the name of growing summer paddy by local Burmese Army battalions, said local farmers.

Farmers, who are mainly into cultivation of monsoon paddy in Kachin State, are being forced to grow summer paddy. Some of their buffalos and oxen are being slaughtered for beef or sold for money in the market, while some are being used in the paddy fields for ploughing by Burmese Army troops, complained local farmers.

In Burma, summer paddy is grown in March and harvested in late May before the onset of the monsoons in June.

Last March, the Burmese Army's Infantry Battalion (IB or Kha La Ya) No. 142 based in Dawhpumyang in Bhamo district deliberately drove seven heads of cattle into their summer paddy fields. Three cows were slaughtered while the rest received gun-shot wounds, said local farmers.

The current price of a cow is between 500,000 Kyat (US $490) and 600,000 Kyat (US $588) in Kachin State, said local farmers.

The cattle are owned by Kachin villagers in Dingga village in Dawhpumyang sub-township. They also grow summer paddy in the fields which are temporarily seized from Dingga farmers, according to farmers of the village.

Again on April 26, Burmese soldiers of IB No. 142 drove a herd of cattle belonging to Dingga farmers to the seized paddy fields and the cattle owners were threatened with imprisonment. The soldiers also demanded fines ranging between 30,000 Kyat (US $29) and 80,000 Kyat (US $78) per cow because the cattle ate their summer paddy, added local farmers.

Local farmers said the soldiers fence their summer paddy fields only on one side and the cattle enter the fields from the sides without fences.

At the moment, farmers in Dingga village are spending their days in nightmarish conditions because they may be fined or imprisoned when they check for their cattle in the summer paddy fields where soldiers deliberately drive cattle, the farmers said.

Similarly, another Burmese Army battalion, IB No. 58, based in Waingmaw town is also treating local farmers shabbily in the name of growing summer paddy, said farmers in Waingmaw.

Farmers who grow paddy in monsoon by using water from Washong Dam, the government’s irrigation project, have been ordered to grow summer paddy with their own money by the IB No. 58, said farmers.

Some farmers' paddy fields have been temporarily seized by soldiers. Again the local people's cattle entering the summer paddy fields are also slaughtered by soldiers, according to sources close to cattle owners.

Most farmers in Kachin State are reluctant to grow summer paddy because the farmers cannot start ploughing monsoon paddy in time. They have to skip cultivating monsoon paddy because of the summer paddy, said local farmers.

Usually, farmers in Kachin State rely on monsoon paddy which starts to grow from June and they do not need to put much effort to grow it, said local farmers.

Meanwhile, the Burmese military junta is forcibly selling a new variety of paddy seed to farmers in Kahcin State for 7,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 6.8 per Tin (1 Tin = 40.9 Litre) and claiming that Kachin State will be the fourth largest rice producing state in the country. This is being proclaimed by pasting posters around Kachin State.

READ MORE---> Farmers live under duress of Burmese Army...