Burmese and DKBA Troops Block Civilians Fleeing Conflict

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

Karen villagers trying to reach the relative safety of Thailand after weeks of heavy fighting in Karen State are trapped and hiding in the jungle, as Burmese junta troops and their allies try to prevent them from joining the four thousand civilians who have already crossed the border.

Recent fighting in southern Karen State has sent a new wave of refugees fleeing for the relative safety of the Thai-Burmese border. (Photo: FBR)

Saw Hla Htun, the chairman of the Karen Youth Organization, told The Irrawaddy on Saturday that several hundred villagers from Pa-an District in southern Karen State were unable to reach the border because Burmese soldiers and troops from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) are blocking their way.

The villagers are fleeing an offensive against Brigade 7 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) that began nearly two weeks ago. Civilians are routinely targeted by Burmese troops as part of the regime’s efforts to cripple KNLA resistance.

Karen sources on the border said that refugees who have reached Thailand since the recent fighting began are now seeking shelter in Noh Bo, Oo Thu Hta and Mae Salit, in the district of Tha Song Yang in Thailand’s Tak Province.

According to the sources, Burmese troops are still shelling areas under the control of KNLA Brigade 7. They added that about six mortars have landed in Thai territory.

On Friday, a mortar landed near the village of Mae Salit in Tha Song Yang, putting local villagers on alert against the possibility of further cross-border attacks by the Burmese troops.

Schools in Mae Salit were also temporarily closed as a precaution, as villagers stand ready to evacuate, according to a Karen news organization known as Kwe Ka Lu.

Due to the ongoing attack, about five KNLA soldiers have been hospitalized in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said officials from the Karen National Union (KNU), the political wing of the KNLA.

KNU officials claimed that the fighting had killed about 20 soldiers from the combined Burmese and DKBA force, while around 50 others had been injured. Some local reports put the total number of dead and wounded at around 100.

Meanwhile, a couple of DKBA soldiers were also reportedly found in Thailand, according to KNU sources.

One DKBA soldiers from Battalion 555 was arrested on Friday after crossing the Moei River separating Thailand and Burma. He has been taken into custody and is being questioned by the Thai army, sources said.

The joint force of Burmese and DKBA troops has been attacking the area controlled by KNLA Brigade 7 since the first week of June. The combined force has launched few grounds attacks, fearing landmines planted by the KNLA, relying instead on heavy mortar shelling.

On Friday, fighting at the frontline increased in areas where KNLA Battalion 21 is based, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief group that assists civilian victims of the fighting deep inside the conflict zone.

The Burmese army also fired about 20 mortars into KNLA Brigade 7 areas on Friday, according to the KNU’s joint secretary (1), Maj Hla Ngwe. Further attacks and more refugees are also expected, he added.

Also, Burmese military sources reported that about 10 Burmese battalions under Military Operation Command 4 based in Phugyi, Rangoon Division, recently arrived in southern Karen Sate as reinforcements.

A source close to the Thai army said that the buildup is in preparation for a planned escalation of attacks on the KNLA. A major battle could take place within the next two days, he added.

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Thai Researcher: Shan rebels shifting strategy to win over Shan migrants

By Hseng Khio Fah

(Shanland) -The Shan State Army (SSA) South has been working hard to look for new recruits among the migrant population, according to a Shan case researcher Ms Amporn Jitrattikorn at a seminar held on 11 June at an undisclosed place on the Thai-Burma border.

The SSA has been recruiting from Shan State inside Burma every year, but its mission has not been much of a success as mass of migrants is crossing the border each year. Among those migrants, some are escaping from the SSA’s the recruitment drives.

Col Yawd Serk

In 1999, the SSA’s annual meeting report stated that one of its plans was to find new recruits among young Shan men inside Burma. But by 2007, the SSA command had come to terms with the fact that perhaps half of young Shan population were now residing in Thailand, Ms Amporn said.

“Recently SSA leader Col Yawd Serk issued a statement urging his people to come back to Burma to help him fight for independence,” she recalled.

In order to win the hearts and minds of migrants, to instill nationalism and to look for new recruits from them, the SSA began to build networks with an innovative approach partly through its media strategy.

The new media strategy attempts to incite patriotic feelings among the Shan migrants by delivering leaflets, books, websites, battledfield images and video clips of how people in Shan State are being repressed and tortured by the Burmese military and how the SSA is fighting for its people.

Among those methods, producing and delivering VCDs about those battlefield images is the most effective one to inspire and catch the feelings among the audience, according to her survey. Many people eagerly join the SSA after being exposed to the reality as it is being presented by the SSA inside Burma.

“During the festivals I have observed that the audience especially males always gather and form a big crowd to watch these images together in front of the television set. It can therefore be assumed that they are being captivated by the message being transmitted,” she said.

Ms Amporn Jitrattikorn is a Ph.D in anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, having received the Master’s Degree from the University of Hawaii, Amnoa.

She had documented about the Shan migrants in 2007 through the report named “Shan Noises: Transnational migrants, popular music and nation of the Shan people.”

The Shan migrant population in Chiangmai is one sixth of Chiangmai’s population, according to her report in 2007.

There are at least 2 million legal and illegal migrant workers in Thailand.

READ MORE---> Thai Researcher: Shan rebels shifting strategy to win over Shan migrants...

Forest ranger assaulted by soldiers over sharing bribe

Written by KNG

A high ranking forest ranger was severely assaulted by a group of Burmese Army soldiers over a quarrel regarding sharing bribe with their officer on the Sino-Burma border in the country's northern Kachin State, said local sources.

U Tin Shwe, a forest ranger in Bhamo district was severely beaten up in the Kai Htik army post on June 9 at night about 8:30 pm local time by soldiers even as the army post commander Major Nay Tin Latt and U Tin Shwe grappled with each other, said sources close to the army post.

The Burmese Army's Infantry Battalion (IB or Kha La Ya) No. 37 led by commander Major Nay Tin Latt is currently in the Kai Htik army post under the army’s rotational system every three or four months, added sources close to the army post.

The IB No. 37 soldiers were replaced in the rotational system from their army battalion base in Myitkyina town, the capital of Kachin State, said local sources.

The quarrel started when forest ranger U Tin Shwe hit the army officer who had been refusing to pay him a share of the bribes in cash, the sources said.

According to sources close to forest ranger, border businessmen paid the bribe in cash to the commander Major Nay Tin Latt in the evening that day which was meant to be shared with the forest ranger U Tin Shwe.

After the bribe was collected by the army commander Nay Tin Latt, the forest ranger U Tin Shwe lost his temper and started hitting the army officer with his fists, said sources.

The forest ranger was hospitalized as an inpatient in Mansi town (Manje in Kachin) with severe injuries, after the soldiers who came to help their officer, beat him up.

The army post put a lid on the incident, worried that word would spread to senior officers, said sources.

The Kai Htik army post is a good place to generate income for army battalions and soldiers. Border traders and illegal timber businessmen are fleeced there, said local people.

The Kai Htik checkpoint for the army post is on the border trade route of Nam Kham/Nong Dao-Man Win-Bhamo-Myitkyina and Nam Kham/Nong Dao-Man Win-Bhamo-Mandalay, added local traders.

Unlicensed Chinese motorcycles, oil and essential commodities are mainly imported from China through Nam Kham and Nong Dao border gates by local traders.

READ MORE---> Forest ranger assaulted by soldiers over sharing bribe...

Transforming of ethnic armed groups by Burmese junta (Opinion)

(KNG) - Isn’t the junta's pressure on the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed wing of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) to transform it to the regime’s Border Security Force seemingly a harsh violation of the principle of Federal Democracy ostensibly to be launched once again in Burma?

It is regrettable that the junta has pressurized KIA to transform to its Border Security Force seven months before the 2010 election in Burma. The KIA must do it within a very limited time as ordered by the Northern Commander Brig-Gen Soe Win in late April. It is crucial to scrutinize as citizens of Kachinland (Kachin State) and Burma whether there is truth behind such treatment. The regime might misuse the process of declaring globally that it has been initiating the resuscitation of Federal Democracy and will revitalize the country very soon. The Federal Democratic Union is the aspiration of all the citizens of the country.

Yet, history has been subverted as seen across the globe or in the nature of the dictatorship uprooting the original bond of political stance up to the present. On the one hand, an action of maneuvering could lead one's country into constant destitution and on the other hand a single submission of the victims toward their despotism could re-strengthen a certain and constant neo-slavery system in the country. Is it the right time for one and all being citizens of this soil to adjudicate why and how the junta threatens the KIA and other armed groups to surrender?

The regime's plot manifested itself towards KIA as its target and international communities in general in a way that the regime has officially declared its devoted principle of military dictatorship.

Meanwhile, certain assumptions could be possible that the regime has really informed the armed group from its heart despite positive engagement by the KIA for being constantly loyal and supportive towards the regime. Thus, it could be noteworthy to critically analyze the plot of the regime from the very angle that it could be a certain Constructive Logic of the regime's pressurizing the KIA.

Of course, the regime's pressure on ceasefire groups in particular on the KIA has not been a new chapter. Its natural or rather unwise strategy has been to disarm it since the very agreement. Yet, unfortunately, no constructive appeal or interference has been made from any democratic big brother, father and grandfather nations/communities so far from outside even though it is a very critical plot for the security and peaceful survival of tribes/minorities in Burma.

Such a norm of humanitarian jurisdiction is being adjudicated in the better implication of democratic enterprises side by side. In a way what is needed is democratic value as a safeguard/shield towards the marginalized, deprived, the oppressed, and the victims who are badly alienated from the state under the military's yoke. Having persecuted non-Burmese minorities from the time of Takhin Kodaw Hmiang, General Ne Win, U Nu and currently the regime and particularly towards KIA and Kachin people and other armed groups and minorities, it clearly reminds one of euthanasia.

The regime has been making the constitution referendum, election of 2010 and so on in its own way without the consent of the people in Burma. Even now, the plot towards the KIA has come without any prior principle engagement and any consensus as practiced by despots like General Ne Win who ordered gunning down pro-democratic innocent citizen demonstrators in 1988. Just like outdated colonizers of the past, the regime is still practicing discrimination toward the minorities of the country by its merciless military might.

As a matter of fact certain crucial assumptions would be precipitated that the regime may have engaged one way or the other with both inner alliances, its sympathizers and Chinese smugglers who are cunning parasites of the regime. This is just for the sake of business in order to extract and rob resources from the country for China that dehumanizes and re-colonizes the citizens and the land of Burma.

It seems that the Chinese would be dominating the country as long as the regime exists by supplying outdated arms, ammunitions and fighters to be used in civil war or rather to uproot and wipe out insurgencies in Burma.

On the one hand, the regime could be an interim government through the election into a full fledged Federal Democratic Union. It could be possible that the regime would initiate this since it wants KIA to be absolutely transformed into Border Security Force (BSF) which we can see only in fully democratic countries like USA, India and so on.

First, BSF seems to be formed not for civil defense but for the defense against enemies outside the country. Having the longest border with China, BSF seems to be needed for the special purpose of security against foreign enemies. Is there any hint that China could become the regime's enemy?

Second, supposing the regime seems to be in the process of wiping out KIA prior to the Kachins. Then, why are the Kachins and minorities committed towards the principles of Federal Democratic Union established with the basic policy of ethnic cleansing campaign of the Burmese regime? By no means is the regime itself on the right track as the Federal Union has been established with its norm and principle.

Third, then it could be possible that the regime has decided to maintain Buddhism as the religion and policy in the military based democratic country regardless of the negligence of the vow of democratic principle. Rather should the regime make a mutual-engagement with Chinese instead?

As result, the coming election would by no means be conducted in an undemocratic manner or under the supervision and safeguard of the Chinese government. In this process, the strong alliance of the regime with China is leading Burma to a position of one of the strongest allies of China to subvert the social-economic-political domination of the west and Europe.

As analyzed the tendency of the new state to conceive such a terrible alliance against norms of democracy, against the denial of peaceful survival of its own citizens, the regime has perpetuated an alliance with China. The regime has failed to solve the political chaos in Burma between Burmese groups and minorities on the principle of democratic value and tools. The regime has chosen and created a path of uncertainty, danger and more insecurity for future generations of the country.

As a matter of fact, being citizens of Burma it is the right time to focus on the regime’s plot on the KIA, making a new enemy of its own citizens, neglecting the humanitarian crisis of Burma prevailing among minority and armed groups created by the regime by way of mercy killing since 1962. There is need to create a country which is a friend of its own citizens and nations all over the globe.

READ MORE---> Transforming of ethnic armed groups by Burmese junta (Opinion)...

Choosing the Right Battle Strategy

By MIN ZIN
The Irrawaddy News

By picking the right battle strategy, David was able to strike down Goliath with a slingshot and use his powerful sword to slay the giant. The rule of thumb is to choose fighting strength against weakness, and not strength against strength.

The regime's weakness lies on its international flank, especially its regional neighbors. The junta is also sensitive to the opinions of military officers and rank and file. These are the targets the Lady must hit repeatedly and relentlessly.

Aung San Suu Kyi believes that political integrity (i.e. "plain honesty in politics") is one of the most important virtues. She and many others regard the political integrity she upholds persistently as her strength. Perfect armor!

However, she has to comprehend the strength of her captors, too. The Lady cannot pick or prolong the battle within the junta's institutions, including the legal system, which is one of the most corrupted instruments serving the perpetuation of the regime.

As a serial liar and rule-breaker, the junta knows well how to manipulate its institutions against Suu Kyi and other opponents. Force and fraud are their strength.

This strength must be continuously exposed internationally as well as to a domestic public, especially to the military rank and file. But it might not be the battle front the Lady wants to open.

Confronting the strength of the regime straight on, as the opposition has mostly done in past, will end up in another defeat. The asymmetrical power relationship is evidential.

Suu Kyi’s trial is another test of the opposition's strategic caliber. In fact, the trial is widely believed to be a sham. The verdict has already been reached in Snr-Gen Than Shwe's mind.

Although Suu Kyi’s latest, six-year term of house arrest ended in May, the regime's supremo is still afraid of freeing her to the embrace of her supporters and the public at large.

The 63-year-old Nobel laureate faces a maximum prison sentence of five years. She could be condemned to prison or sent home for a further term of house arrest.

Whatever the terms of her incarceration, it is clear that the regime’s aim is to confine her until it has secured victory in the 2010 general election.

This is a political battle ground. That's why the trial has drawn international condemnation, including from the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean). The group warned the regime that "the honor and credibility of the Government of the Union of Myanmar are at stake".

Even Goh Chok Tong, a staunch ally of the regime and a former prime minister of Singapore, told Than Shwe during talks in Naypyidaw earlier this month that the trial has an international dimension.

Thus, the Lady must see the trial as a political battle. Instead of prolonging the trial, she must let the sham process get done and receive the prison sentence. That will intensify political battles in the international arena, including the UN Security Council and regional players.

The regime will no doubt face domestic challenges, too. The opposition National League for Democracy must also lead the political battle, instead of waiting for the result of the show trial.

If Suu Kyi allows the trial to drag on, she will give the regime a chance to project the impression of openness and due legal process. In fact, the junta has already derived advantage from Suu Kyi's appeal for four defense witnesses to be heard.

The lower District Court earlier disqualified all but one defense witness, but the Rangoon Divisional Court later ruled that a second witness could give testimony. With this concession, the junta might be quite satisfied in projecting the impression of a fair and independent legal process, though that will not have any effect on its final script.

More importantly, the protraction of the trial could reduce interest in the international media, as well as diplomatic pressures. Momentum always amasses two important sources of capital, which strategically-minded politicians should not squander—good timing and political good will.

That is why the court’s decision on Friday to postpone the trial until June 26 in order to hear the testimony of a Suu Kyi’s defense witness is not a good sign. In fact, Suu Kyi's lawyers requested the further adjournment since the defense witness has to come to court from southern Shan State, in the northeastern part of Burma.

Suu Kyi instructed her lawyers to continue the appeals process to allow more defense witnesses to be heard in the case as she wants "to see it through to the end as the ruling is legally wrong."

If the High Court upholds the lower courts' decision, the special court in Insein Prison may set a date sometime in July in which to deliver the verdict. The regime could still delay the verdict in order to ride out international pressure. But the cause of any delay should not rest with the Lady.

If Suu Kyi and the NLD fail to distinguish between a political battle and a legal fight, and unless they focus more on the former, they will lose the momentum. Engaging in a lengthy legal battle will not yield any political outcome except the exhaustion of strategic capital.

In a clever move, Suu Kyi told diplomats who attended one session of her trial: "There could be many opportunities for national reconciliation if all parties so wished," according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, whose ambassador was among those who met her on May 20.

The statement said that she also "expressed the view that it was not too late for something good to come out of this unfortunate incident," referring to her trial. "She did not wish to use the intrusion into her home as a way to get at the Burma authorities," read the statement.

The statement represented a political offensive and displayed her strength, something the NLD should exploit. The NLD party should, for instance, have released an official statement supporting Goh's recent comments and Asean's "grave concern," and citing Suu Kyi's words to demonstrate the opposition's readiness for national reconciliation.

The goal must be to amass international and domestic public support and materialize it in the UN Security Council, Asean, China, and on the streets of Burma.

Suu Kyi can, of course, continue her legal battle, even after she is sentenced. But the focus must be to reap political advantage. The momentum should not be diminished.

The political battle must be renewed and the regime’s Achilles' heel must be located and attacked.

Min Zin is a Burmese journalist in exile and a teaching fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Journalism.

READ MORE---> Choosing the Right Battle Strategy...

RI woos India, China over Suu Kyi

By Lilian Budianto
The Jakarta Post

Indonesia has sought support from Asian giants India and China to push reforms in military-ruled Myanmar, following the latest twist in the trial against its opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Both communist China and democratic India have kept backing Myanmar's notorious junta with close economic ties in a time when the Western countries and international organizations have considered imposing more economic sanctions on Yangon, following a fresh round of trumped-up charges against the Nobel laureate.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Friday Jakarta made the request to China and India to push Myanmar for reforms in a UN forum, which convened envoys from India, China, Myanmar and Japan, as well as a representative from the multilateral body.

"Those countries play a key role to find a settlement in Myanmar's issue... and we very much would like to see them urge Myanmar to embrace the value of human rights."

Faizasyah revealed, however, there had been reluctance from India to act tough on Myanmar as "it might hurt its national interests".

London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) reported Myanmar has become China's closest ally in Southeast Asia. Yangon has been a major recipient of Chinese military hardware and a potential springboard for projecting Chinese military power in the region since 1988.

The report says India has also cemented ties with the junta by shifting its strategy away from supporting Myanmar's opposition movement. New Delhi has offered Myanmar favorable trade relations and cooperation against ethnic insurgents along the Indo-Myanmarese frontier.

"To exert more *pressure* on Myanmar, we want to bring the UN forum into a ministerial level forum but the idea has not been welcomed by India, citing concerns of its national interests," Faizasyah said.

The international world has exhausted unsuccessful efforts to push reform in the country ruled by the military junta since 1962.

The regional body of ASEAN, in which Myanmar is a member, has failed to hold Yangon to its commitment to enforcing human rights and democracy despite its ratification of the ASEAN Charter last year.

Indonesia came under international spotlight to further support Suu Kyi's plight, as the third-largest democracy in the world has boasted leverage to spearhead rights reforms among the ten member states, which have varying degrees of political maturity.

During an official visit to the US on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia stood firm in pushing Myanmar to hold democracy but saying there should be more "engagement" methods instead of economic sanctions that might hurt locals.

The economic sanctions by the EU and United States have barred Myanmar from trade relations with themselves.

Suu Kyi has been charged with violating her terms of arrests by allowing an uninvited American man, who swam secretly to her closely-guarded lake side house, to stay two nights.

The 63-year-old has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years after the party won a landslide victory in the 1990 election.

She faces up to five years imprisonment if convicted guilty.

READ MORE---> RI woos India, China over Suu Kyi...

UN widens sanctions on North Korea, China joins in

By Louis Charbonneau and Claudia Parsons

(News.com-Reuters) - The UN Security Council unanimously approved wider sanctions against North Korea overnight over its May 25 nuclear test, a move close ally China said showed firm opposition to Pyongyang's atomic ambitions.

The sanctions resolution banned all weapons exports from North Korea and most arms imports into the reclusive communist state. It authorized UN member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo, requiring them to seize and destroy any goods transported in violation of the sanctions.

Both China and Russia, which had been reluctant to approve punitive measures against North Korea in the past, backed the US-drafted resolution, which is binding under international law.

China's UN ambassador, Zhang Yesui, said the resolution showed the "firm opposition" of the international community to North Korea's nuclear ambitions, but he urged countries to exercise caution when inspecting North Korean cargo.

"Under no circumstances should there be use or threat of the use of force," Mr Zhang said.

US Ambassador Susan Rice said Washington would press for full implementation of the sanctions and would not get into a "tit-for-tat reaction" to every provocation from Pyongyang.

"It would not be a surprise if North Korea reacted to this very tough sanctions regime in a fashion that would be further provocation and further destabilizing," she said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's press office issued a statement welcoming the 15-nation council's move.

"Acting unanimously and agreeing on credible measures, the members of the Security Council have sent today a clear and strong message to (North Korea)," the statement said, adding the South Korean UN chief would "spare no effort in facilitating the implementation of the resolution."

Two senior diplomats involved in the negotiations on the resolution said on condition of anonymity the Chinese had never really clarified whether they intended to implement the new sanctions resolution in contrast to earlier sanctions against North Korea that they ignored.

"The effectiveness of this resolution will depend on its enforcement," one of the diplomats said.

READ MORE---> UN widens sanctions on North Korea, China joins in...

Junta No 2 Expected to Ask China for Border Help

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

The Burmese junta’s number 2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, is to travel to China soon on a visit analysts say will include talks focusing on the regime’s uneasy relationship with ethnic ceasefire groups based along Sino-Burmese border.

The visit was announced on Friday in the state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar, which said Maung Aye and his wife would travel to China “soon.”

Htay Aung, a military researcher with the Network for Democracy and Development based in exile, said that talks between Maung Aye and Chinese government representatives would concentrate on ethnic ceasefire groups who have rejected a regime proposal to be reassigned as border guards.

Several ethnic ceasefire groups, including the powerful United Wa State Army, the Kokang group known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Kachin Independence Organization, have rejected the proposal.

Maung Aye is expected to urge China to use its influence on the ceasefire groups based along the Sino-Burma border to get them to agree the regime’s plan. (JEG's: how will that happen? boom boom talk? dictator's way?)

Analysts say the regime may have no option but to launch military action against ceasefire groups which refuse to reassign their troops as border guards.

Military analyst Htay Aung believes that the patience of Burmese military commanders is wearing thin because of the stand by ceasefire groups.

China is a major supplier of arms to Burma and provides the regime with much-needed political support at a time when it is coming under intense international pressure over the Aung San Suu Kyi trial.

Chinese foreign ministry officials voiced rare criticism of the trial at a recent meeting in Hanoi with Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and Maung Aye is expected to plead for the continued use of the Chinese veto to block any resolution unfavorable to the Naypyidaw regime.

Some Burma watchers believe that China may employ quiet diplomacy to influence regime policy.

Maung Aye, who is Burma’s army commander in chief, is likely to convey the regime’s concern about black market deliveries of Chinese arms to Burma’s ethnic groups along the Sino-Burmese border.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former member of communist party of Burma based on the China border, said Burma usually approaches its big neighbor China whenever facing a crisis.

China’s main concern is to maintain stability and it would like to see the Burmese regime and the ceasefire groups negotiate the sensitive issue peacefully.

China relies on the cooperation of the ceasefire groups along the Sino-Burmese border in order to operate trade. A proposed gas pipeline will also pass through areas controlled by the Burmese ceasefire groups. (JEG's: I did not know this... time to use our OWN INFLUENCE with China then...)

READ MORE---> Junta No 2 Expected to Ask China for Border Help...