Burma Newscasts

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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.

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.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Burmese lawyers says junta should be taken to ICC

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima)– The Burma Lawyers’ Council in exile has said it is gathering evidence and collating ideas on how to produce the Burmese military generals in the International Criminal Court (ICC), for the crimes it had committed, including crimes against humanity.

The BLC, formed with Burmese lawyers in exile, on Tuesday said, it was looking for a way to file a case against the Burmese junta, for its crimes against the country’s citizens.

“We are looking at ways to determine how we can file a case against the junta, for their brutal actions against the Burmese people,” Thein Oo, Chairman of the BLC, told Mizzima.

He said, as a step towards looking for a way to bring the junta to the ICC, the BLC along with the International Federation for Human Rights (IFDH) is bringing together international experts, Burmese activists and others to a two-day seminar in Bangkok.

“This seminar is to brainstorm on how best to get justice for the suffering people in Burma and how the international community can take action against the brutal regime,” Thein Oo said.

The campaign to bring the Burmese military junta to the ICC began about two years ago, with a vague idea by the BLC. However, today, it has gained momentum and is able to draw the attention of international experts as well as the Burmese regime.

On Friday, May 1, 2009, Burma’s military regime in its official mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, declared the Burma Lawyers’ Council and other associated organizations and persons as unlawful.

The paper said, acts of the BLC and its members were harmful for the stability of the nation and therefore, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Snr Gen Than Shwe declared the BLC and its members unlawful.

Although this gesture of the Burmese regime may seem to be a mere coincidence, sources in the military establishment told Mizzima, the junta fears that the BLC’s efforts might gain greater momentum.

According to sources, the Burmese embassy in Bangkok was diplomatically approaching Thailand, where the seminar is being held on May 4 and 5.

During the seminar, Burmese activists and international experts discussed how the regime had perpetrated human rights abuses with impunity and how they could be made accountable for the crimes they had committed.

But, as Burma has not rectified the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court in July 2002, the ICC does not have any jurisdiction over Burma.

However, a clause under the statute of Territorial Jurisdiction of the treaty allows the ICC to act on a case based on a referral by the United Nations Security Council. The clause says the court is allowed to exercise jurisdiction, “where a situation is referred to the court by the UN Security Council”.

Thein Oo said, “The case of the UN Security Council referring it to the ICC might not take place soon but we are already in the process of campaigning for it.”

He said, they would present the case to the UNSC explaining how Burma’s military regime’s actions were threatening peace and security in the region.

Rights groups have accused Burma’s military junta of systematically abusing the rights of its own citizens, causing outflow of a large number of refugees and migrants. The junta’s military actions in eastern Burma have also particularly caused thousands of people to become homeless and live in the jungles.

Police ordered not to charge politicians in political cases

Sittwe (Narinjara): The police department in Arakan state has strict orders from the military junta authorities in Naypyidaw not to sue any politician on political cases (lawsuit) even if they are arrested on political grounds, said a police official.

“This is intended to send a message to the international community by the junta that Burma has no political prisoners, only criminals. This is the reason authorities do not want to bring political lawsuits against politicians.”

The junta has been persistent in its denial that Burma has no political prisoners whenever right groups and the international community have alleged that Burma has many political prisoners detained by the military regime.

“Recently we arrested some politicians and democracy activists in Arakan state for involvement in anti-junta activities but we charged them on other grounds like immigration cases, not political ones due to the order from higher ups,” he said.

The regime authorities arrested some activists including Ko Mrat Tun and Ko San Lwin recently in Arakan but they were charged under the immigration law even though they were involved in political activities.

After charging them under the immigration law, the courts sentenced them to five years in prison each.

Many Arakanese activists were arrested after the saffron revolution but they were charged with criminal cases, not for political activity.

This is the reason, many political prisoners are not being provided with political prisoner status and therefore deprived of the living standard in prison meant for politicians.

Pa.O rebels wipe-out Junta patrol

By Khun Aung Kham

(SHAN) -A Burma Army patrol was ambushed by a joint Pa.O National Liberation Army (PNLA) – Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) force on 3 May near Wanyen (Banyen) village, Hsihseng Township, 57 miles south of Taunggyi. The following are excerpts from an interview conducted with Col Khun Thurein, Commander of PNLA.

SHAN : We heard that there was a clash near Wanyen village which Pa.O National Liberation Army (PNLA) together with Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) fought against SPDC’s troops, on Sunday. It’s that true?
Khun Thurein : Yes, the clash took place, between our troops (PNLA) led by Lieutenant Colonel Khun Kyaw Htin and Major Khun San Yu together with KNLA and the SPDC troops. It started at 10:00 and lasted about 20 minutes.

SHAN : What did casualties report say?
Khun Thurein : All 12 SPDC soldiers led by Lieutenant Colonel Myo Min Htun were killed, but as we were ambushing them from vantage points, there were no losses on our side.

SHAN : How many guns and other weapons did you capture?
Khun Thurein : We got 13 assorted weapons, 1 60 mm mortar, 1 machine gun, 1 RPG 9, 8 MA 1/ 2/ 3/ 4 rifles, 2 pistols and 3 communications equipment.

SHAN : How about the situation around the Wanyen village after the clash? Are they still continuing human rights violations such as beating and questioning villagers?
Khun Thurein : The area commander Myint Naing went and inspected the situation around Wanyen and brought 5 battalions with him in order to chase us. They were LIBs 426, 425, 424, 423 and 427 from Loikaw Township, Kayah State. And they did interrogate the villagers to make sure that there were no rebels is in the village.

SHAN : Why did KNLA decide to join with the PNLA to attack SPDC’s troops in Wanyen? Do the two sides have prior agreement with each other?
Khun Turein : We are allies, not only with KNLA but also other groups such as Shan State Army (SSA) South and Karen National Progressive Party (KNPP). We have common aim to protect our people and bring down the dictatorship. If the SPDC is still committing human rights violations we may attack them not only in the countryside but also in the cities, too.

SHAN : May I know who led the KNLA and their strength during the combat?
Khun Turein : Sorry, this question concerns our security. So we can’t tell you their names and strength.

SHAN : Do you have anything that you would like to add?
Khun Turein : We are fighting in order to bring down the military dictatorship, not against Burmese people. We will follow the aims stated in our statements. We will keep on fighting until the people in Burma achieve genuine democracy and our Pa.O people obtain their genuine rights. We will oppose the generals’ 2010 election in every way possible.

Food Insecurity Threatens Cyclone Survivors

By WAI SANN
The Irrawaddy News

OUTKWIN, Irrawaddy Delta —Whenever the time comes to cook a meal, 32-year old Than Myint feels suffocated.

With the meager income her husband and her eldest son earn, Than Myint finds it very hard to cook meals for her eight-member family.

Since December, she has not received any food aid from the humanitarian agencies and has faced severe shortage of rice. There have been times her family has had to skip a meal.

”I often have to go around the village to borrow rice," the mother of six said in the kitchen of her makeshift hut in Outkwin Village, near Pyapon Town, one of the hardest-hit areas during the cyclone last year.

"Sometimes, I have to exchange some of our clothes for rice," she said.

Beside her, a four-year-old child was crying incessantly to be fed.

Prior to the cyclone, Than Myint’s family never found it difficult to make both ends meet. While her husband worked as a fisherman, her eldest son worked as a day laborer in the paddy fields surrounding their village.

However, after the cyclone that struck Rangoon and Irrawaddy Delta last year, Than Myint's husband and eldest son could barely make enough money to buy basic food rations.

There are thousands of families like Than Myint’s in the cyclone-affected townships of Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions who still have been unable to earn enough food for their families, even though one year has already passed since the category-four cyclone destroyed their livelihoods.

The storm devastated the agricultural, fisheries and small-sale livestock sectors, which are the main livelihoods of the delta people, making most of the cyclone-affected people solely dependent on food aid for the past one year.

In a response, international and local nongovernmental organizations delivered food aid to the needy households in cooperation with the government. They also helped the landless, the poor, and female-headed households in restoring their livelihoods.

However, until now, the majority of families are still finding it hard to feed themselves.

According to a survey conducted in the worst-hit Laputta and Bogalay townships in February by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), 51 percent of households reported that they are still relying on food aid from humanitarian agencies, while only 25 percent said they could feed themselves.

The report—named the Rapid Food Security Assessment (RFSA)—also said about 83 percent of households said they have been in debt through the purchase of rice.

"There are pockets of concern over food insecurity in most of the households in the delta," a UN official from WFP said.

He also said that there is a “pressing need” to assist the landless, the poor and female-headed households in terms of food aid until they can feed themselves.

In fact, even some farmers who own dozens of acres of paddy are unable to feed themselves.

There are hundreds of farmers who have had bad harvests over the last year, and have had to buy rice on credit from the fortunate farmers who maintained good harvests.

"I feel so sad whenever I think of borrowing rice from those who have very limited paddy harvests,” said U Nyo, a 52-year-old farmer.

U Nyo told The Irrawaddy he could grow 15 acres of paddy in the previous rice-planting season. However, this year he only harvested around five acres, he said. The rest failed.

"I cannot store the rice for my family,” he said. “I had to sell it to pay off the debt that I took during the rice-planting season last year.”

He added that the money he received from selling rice was not enough to cover his debt.

This year, most of the farmers dare not store too much rice, since they fear another disaster such as Nargis and most said they expect food prices to rise.

"The price of rice could be much higher than in previous years," a farmer from Asel Lay Village in Dedayal Township said. “That’s because most of the farmers do not have any rice in storage. They have to pay whatever the traders say the current price is.”

Lawyers’ group slams ruling

(DVB)–The secretary of an exiled Burmese lawyers group recently declared illegal by the Burmese government has reacted to the ruling by saying that the government is itself an illegal entity.

Last week the Thailand-based Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) was declared an illegal organisation under the Unlawful Association Act.

In April the BLC had called for the abolishment of the Unlawful Association Act, citing the malleability under which the government uses it to sentence opposition members, journalists and activists.

Aung Htoo, secretary of BLC, said that under the Unlawful Association Act, only the president, whose party is legitimately appointed to be the government, has authority to declare an organisation illegal.

“The State Peace and Development Council chairman is not the president of the country so their announcement carries no value and is completely out of the regulations appointed in the law,” he said.

The ruling State Peace and Development Council is an offshoot of the State Law and Order Restoration Council, who came to power in a military coup in 1988.

“Even for the president to approve such a declaration, he or she would need to show strong evidence regarding the concerned group’s committing of violent acts or its support of such activity by other groups or individuals.”

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma, the act has so far been used to sentence 365 political activists.

Reporting by Aye Nai

Calls for release of imprisoned cyclone aid workers

(DVB)–Calls for the release of over 20 aid workers who were arrested after assisting in cyclone Nargis relief efforts last year, have been issued by a number of Burmese groups to mark the cyclone’s one-year anniversary.

The cyclone, which made landfall on 2 May last year, killed nearly 140,000 people in Burma’s Irrawaddy delta, and is thought to have affected up to 2.4 million people.

Relief efforts were initially hampered by the ruling State Peace and Development Council, who refused offers of international aid and warned anyone against helping victims of the cyclone.

Last year, in a wave of sentencing of activists and journalists critical of the regime’s response to the cyclone, 21 aid workers were sentenced under charges ranging from sedition to the Unlawful Association Act.

“Firstly, these people were not arrested under criminal charges and also they did not do anything wrong,” said Bo Kyi, joint secretary of Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

“They were only helping the cyclone victims and it was a very graceful act according to Buddhist teachings.”

His statement was echoed by the leader of 88 Generation Students group, Htun Myint Aung.

“The government not only failed in their responsibility to take the lead in aid work for the cyclone victims, but even arrested people who were doing what they can to help,” he said.

“This was such a very ugly crime committed [by the government] and they should release these people immediately.”

Burmese comedian Zarganar was sentenced last November to 59 years (later reduced to 35) after giving interviews critical of the regime’s response to Nargis to foreign media, and for helping to coordinate relief efforts.

Six students were sentenced last month and sentenced to between two and four years each under charges of sedition for collecting and burying rotting corpses in the aftermath of the cyclone.

U Pyinyawuntha, spokesperson of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance, said the aid workers should be released given that they did nothing wrong.

“They didn’t commit any political crime and were only helping out collecting corpses,” he said.

“I want to make a request to the government to see the same view as us and release these people immediately.”

Reporting by Aye Nai

Burma rejects appeal for Suu Kyi release

(SMH) -Burma's junta has rejected an appeal to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose most recent period of detention will expire May 27, her party spokesman says.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years - including the past six - under house arrest in Rangoon despite international pressure for her release.

Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a nationwide pro-democracy uprising.

It held elections in 1990 but refused to honour the results after Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory.

National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win said the country's military authorities summoned the assistant to Suu Kyi's lawyer to the administrative capital of Naypyitaw last Friday and handed over a letter rejecting the appeal for her release.

Nyan Win said the letter stated that "grounds for her appeal were not strong enough".

"The rejection is not fair because the appeal was not given a proper and full hearing," he said.

Suu Kyi's lawyer, Kyi Win, in October last year filed an appeal with the military government against her detention based on nine reasons, including one asserting that "she was never a threat to the security of the state."

The 1975 anti-subversion law under which she has been confined without trial says detentions of up to five years at a time are permissible for those who could be a threat to public order.

Her house arrest was extended by one year in May last year, an apparent violation of a law that stipulates that no one can be held longer than five years without being released or put on trial.

However, a commentary in the state-owned New Light of Myanmar (Burma) newspaper last June said detentions were permissible for as long as six years.

The commentary said yearly extensions must be approved by the Council of Ministers and then by the Central Body, which includes the home, defence and foreign affairs ministers.

Nyan Win said he is still hopeful Suu Kyi will be freed later this month when her six-year detention expires, although there were no indications that she would be released.

Kill or be killed: 11-year-olds forced to fight for Tamil Tigers

No place for a child ... (left)
Young fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka,
and (right) a 14-year old conscript at the Kegalle district centre.
Photo: AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe/Matt Wade

By Matt Wade - (SMH)

IT IS hard to imagine Christine* in combat. But the diminutive 14-year-old with a cheeky smile and dancing eyes knows how to handle a Kalashnikov and detonate grenades.

A Tamil speaker from northern Sri Lanka, Christine says she was abducted by Tamil Tiger cadres in March and forced to undergo military training. She performed drills using dummy weapons in preparation for battle and, as with many female recruits, her hair was cut short.

"I was full of fear when they came and took me," she said. "I was crying every day."

Sri Lankan commanders on the battle front say they are encountering more and more children as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) try desperately to stave off defeat. The rebels are trapped on a 4.5-kilometre strip of land on the north-eastern coast of the island.

Major-General Jagath Dias, the commander of the Sri Lankan Army's 57th Division, said his men had been fighting girls as young as 11.

"It's very difficult [to shoot at children] but when someone has a weapon and is firing it at you, it doesn't matter what age, you have to shoot."

His colleague, Brigadier Shavendra Silva, the commander of the army's 58th division fighting on the front line, said "most of" the Tiger cadres captured since April 23 were aged between 11 and 18.

"There were many young girls aged 13 and 14. All of them had short hair," the brigadier said.

"They don't have the numbers of fighters they need so they conscript civilians forcefully."

Sri Lankan officials involved in the rehabilitation of children affected by the war say they have identified about 400 child combatants from among the tens of thousands of civilians who have fled the fighting since April 20.

Officials from UNICEF, the UN's child welfare agency, are also deeply concerned about the apparent rise in the number of child combatants being recruited by the Tigers.

A UNICEF spokesman in Sri Lanka, James Elder, said child combatants bear deep psychological scars. Even those spared from combat lost precious years that cannot be replaced.

"Child soldiers in Sri Lanka live in a theatre of violence and suffering," he said.

"Many in this current conflict may be thrown into the front line at a time of fierce fighting where they can be killed or maimed. Instead of hope, fear defines their childhood. Their recruitment is intolerable."

The Tigers have a long tradition of recruiting child soldiers. UNICEF has recorded more than 6000 cases of children recruited between 2003 and the end of last year.

Christine was saved from the front line by her mother, who managed to smuggle her out of the Tigers' camp about 17 days after she was forcibly conscripted.

But her ordeal wasn't over. She ended up in a refugee camp in the town of Vavuniya where her short hair raised suspicions that she had been with the Tigers. She confessed about her rebel training and was again separated from her family, this time by Sri Lankan authorities.

Christine is one of 58 child combatants who arrived at the protective accommodation and rehabilitation centre in the Kegalle district in the early hours of Friday morning. Here children and young women forced into combat by the Tigers undertake a rehabilitation program.

The arrival of this big group at the camp run by the Sri Lankan Government and UNICEF supports the accounts that the Tigers have committed more children to the front line in recent months.

Soon after arriving at the centre 20 girls, aged between 14 and 18, sat around a large table speaking to a UNICEF social worker about their experience. Some said they were given just seven days training before being sent into combat against well-equipped and battle-hardened Sri Lankan troops.

Many asked if they could be put in touch with their parents, now in crowded refugee camps across northern Sri Lanka. Deepa, dressed in a frayed olive shirt and skirt, had a heavy limp thanks to a leg injury sustained as she fled. Like Christine, she was also vetted because of her short hair.

"Please let my father know I am safe here," she asked the social worker.

Kala, 28, has been at the rehabilitation centre for three months. In 2007 Tiger cadres came to her home near Kilinochchi and demanded that her brother become a fighter. Kala said she would go instead so he could finish his schooling.

"If I didn't join, my family would have been punished," she said.

Kala was taught to use an AK47 and handle explosives during a month of combat training. The trainees were shown motivational videos and were instructed to commit suicide rather than face capture.

Last November Kala was sent into battle. She wore a blue checked shirt commonly worn by junior Tiger cadres and was given a machine-gun and grenades.

The inexperienced groups of fighters she was with were drawn into a fire fight with Sri Lankan soldiers. "They surrounded us," she said.

Kala sustained a serious shrapnel injury to her arm after a grenade exploded in her bunker. Two girls with Kala obeyed instructions and blew themselves up with grenades rather than be captured. But Kala decided to surrender. "I wanted to live," she said.

*Names have been changed

Monday, May 4, 2009

Five years in prison for ex-police officer - U Mrat Tun

Mauangdaw (Narinjara): A retired police officer was sentenced to five years in prison by the Maungdaw District Court on Friday, as he was in contact with a Bangladesh-based media group in exile, a colleague of his said.

U Mrat Tun, age 60 , who is a retired police officer from Pauktaw Township, was arrested by Military Intelligence at a check point on the Buthidaung-Maungdaw motor road earlier last month, while he was returning home from Maungdaw.

“He was charged by the police under the immigration law. He was accused of entering Bangladesh illegally, and networking with the media in exile. On Friday, the Maungdaw District Court sentenced him to five years in prison,” his colleague said.

According to lawyers, the judge sentenced him to a long term in prison, charging him under a Section of Act 13 (1) of the Burmese Immigration Law.

A lawyer from Maungdaw on condition of anonymity said, “We did not get a chance to advocate his case and the judge’s verdict was one-sided because there were no witnesses and lawyers to defend him. Senior Military Intelligence officials pressurized the judge to sentence him to five years in prison.”

A relative said, the family members of U Mrat Tun had no chance to attend the court proceedings to hear the case before the verdict of the court.

Burmese military authorities have ordered the local police force not to sue any person with political lawsuit dispatches, if he/she were arrested for being involved in politics. Due to that, the police force sued him under an immigration case, the lawyer said.

According to a local source, Ko Mrat Tun was the fourth person sentenced to a long term in prison in Arakan State, this year, for having contacts with the media in exile.

In the past, three people have been sentenced from one to five years respectively, under the immigration law, as they allegedly had contacts with the media in exile.

Among them, Ko Tha Tun from Buthidaung was sentenced to five years in prison and currently he is in Buthidaung Prison, Ko San Lwin from Taungup, was sentenced to five years in prison and he is now in Thandwe Prison, while Ko Nyint Maung from Maungdaw was sentenced to one year in prison and is lodged in Buthidaung Prison.

Mass Burmese migrant arrest 'due to high crime rate'

(DVB)–The high crime rate amongst Burmese migrants in Thailand could be the reason behind the mass arrest of over 300 migrants last week, said the chairman of a organisation dealing with migrant issues.

Around 340 Burmese migrants were arrested on Thursday during a police crackdown in Bangkok and Thai-Burma border town, Mae Sot.

The chairman of the Joint Action Committee for Burma Affairs (JACBA), Moe Gyo, said that Thai police raided workers’ quarters and restaurants in Mae Sot and arrested about 300 people.

“They drove in cars around town and arrested everyone in sight, including garbage collectors and vendors,” he said.

A Burmese migrant worker in Mahachai, Bangkok, which has a high concentrarion of Burmese migrants, said the police used six lockup trucks during the raid in the industrial district.

The motive behind the increasing frequency of crackdowns on illegal workers could be due to higher rate of crime attributable to Burmese migrants.

“There has been an increasing rate of crime among the Burmese migrant community, including robbery, murder and rape, as well as child trafficking,” he said.

“I think the Thai authorities are sending a message to the Burmese living in the country of their intention to clear up such crimes as a part of national security.”

He added that the rising crime rate among Burmese migrants was due to the hardships they faced trying to survive in Thailand, rather than lack of education. Moe Swe, general secretary of the JACBA said that non-governmental organisations in Thailand working on migrant issues should emphasise education on workers’ rights, labour laws and criminal laws in Thailand.

Meanwhile, four Thailand-based groups, including migrant worker group Yaung Ni Oo, the Federation of Trade Unions and the Joint Action Committee for Burmese Affairs, gathered in Mae Sot on 1 May to mark International Labour Day.

Some of those present talked about workers opposing the Burmese government’s 2008 approved constitution, which included no regulation to protect labour rights in the country, and the upcoming 2010 elections.

San San, a 1990-elected people’s parliament representative, who previously worked for the government’s Labour Administration office as a deputy-director, said:

“There used to be a law in Burma which gave labours a right to sit in a tripartite discussion with their employers and representatives from government labour organisations to raise their issues but that law was abolished by the military government in 1988,” she said.

“The workers should be given an opportunity to campaign before the 2010 elections so that they will be able to structure a peaceful and independent workers community.”

Reporting by Khin Min Zaw and Ahunt Phone Myat

A media behind bars: press freedom after the cyclone

By Francis Wade

(DVB)–Yesterday, international media watchdogs and analysts were united in their criticism of the deteriorating state of the world’s media.

To mark World Press Freedom Day, US-based Freedom House announced that the state of the world’s media had declined for a seventh straight year, while Reporters Without Borders (RSF) spoke of press freedom being “taken hostage”. And, unsurprisingly, Burma spent the day languishing in the bottom four of nearly every press freedom index and report published, it’s sadistic knee-jerk sentencing of dissenters making it, as RSF put it, one of the world’s “largest prison[s] for journalists and bloggers.”

As if the occasion demanded an accompanying case study, yesterday was also the one-year anniversary of Burma’s cyclone Nargis, likely one of the most underreported natural disasters of modern times. That the two occur on the same day is both poignant and ironic. As news of the cyclone began to seep out of the Irrawaddy delta last May, Burmese authorities locked all borders, denying journalists access to affected areas whilst spewing out propaganda about the “over-exaggerated” situation being under control. A week after the cyclone, Burma’s leading state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper led with a story on the “despicable” reporting of the cyclone by foreign media, under the title ‘The enemy who is more destructive than Nargis’.

So bent was the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on maintaining it’s isolationist tendencies that the plight of 2.4 million affected Burmese was almost silenced, save for the few foreign reporters who managed to stow into the region, and the Burmese ‘citizen journalists’ who risk life imprisonment to keep international eyes focused on the regime.

Yet the retributions for doing so are astonishing: well-known comedian and activist Maung Thura, known by his stage name Zarganar, was sentenced last November to 59 years (later reduced to 35) after giving interviews critical of the regime’s response to Nargis to foreign media, including the BBC. He is serving his sentence in the remote Myitkyina prison near the Burma-China border. Six students were also sentenced last month to between two and four years each under charges of sedition for collecting and burying rotting corpses in the aftermath of the cyclone.

“The attitude of the government [following the cyclone] is in some way directly linked to what happened in the September 2007 protests,” said Vincent Brossel, head of the Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based media wachdog.

“They were very afraid of strong images and testimonies about their incapacity to deal with the situation and that’s why they banned foreign press from getting visas for the delta.”

Reporters Without Borders last year ranked Burma 170 out of 173 countries in their Press Freedom Index, saved only from the “infernal trio” category by the authoritarian regimes of North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea. The report was published amid a wave of sentencing of Burmese journalists and activists following the 2007 monk-led protests and cyclone Nargis.

“The Burmese government never feels comfortable about telling the public the truth,” said San Moe Wei, secretary of Thailand-based Burma Media Association.

“As they grow more panicky with the media providing an increased flow of information to the public, they start to put pressure on people who work in the field.”

Twenty-eight year old Nay Phone Latt, who recorded footage and tracked the 2007 protests on his blog, is one such victim, charged last November along with Zarganar under the Video Act and Electronics Act and sentenced to 22 years in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison. One former political prisoner there reported the comparatively harsh treatment dished out to political prisoners, including three months spent in solitary confinement, permanently forced to stand with hands tied above the head.

Courts sentenced over 100 journalists and activists that same month following trials that were often held inside closed prison courts, with defence lawyers regularly reporting intimidation. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), 16 lawyers are now serving prison sentences themselves, among the 2,137 political prisoners being held in Burma.

Of the 6,313 prisoners released in the amnesty in February, only 23 were of this ilk. Accusations circulate that the ‘goodwill’ move by the government was in fact merely a practical maneuver, freeing up precious prison space for those planning on contesting (or protesting) the elections, tentatively set for next March.

“My concern is that, now with the junta preparing the 2010 elections, they are increasingly using more sophisticated propaganda, with new licenses for new media,” said Vincent Brossel.

“At the same time they are keeping very a close eye on independent journalists and people who are related to the opposition who are in the media field. So that’s quite scary for what can happen in 2009 and 2010.”

Thus, those marking World Press Freedom day next year will once again have to grapple with the shadow cast by the Burmese government. Last November’s wave of sentencing proves that work is underway to ensure no destabilising events, whether man-made or natural, take place – indeed, are seen to have taken place - that threaten an extension to the SPDC’s rule. Furthermore, with pro-government campaigners now freely airing election propaganda through state television and newspapers, the media has become a powerful weapon to ensure the military retains its grip on power.

‘Worst country to be a blogger’

Ironically, prior to the 1962 military coup that heralded the start of a nationalized media industry, Burma had championed free press in Southeast Asia. As many as 35 newspapers existed between 1948 and 1962, and the government kept regular contact with domestic and foreign journalists.

As the junta’s rule progressed, however, the clamp was tightened. Now only three print newspapers exist, and all published material has to be verified by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) of the Ministry of Information, who censor out anything deemed critical of the government. Material has to be sent to them a week before publishing date, rendering news archival by the time it is released. Furthermore, the added cost for publishers to print and reprint pages for checking by the PSRD means that many publications tend to self-censor rather than spend money where it can be avoided. As a result, newspapers and journals are thought to lose up to a third of their content prior to publication.

Yet by annexing all media to the government’s control, a vacuum for non-state media has been filled by underground bloggers and exile-based media organisations. Life for a blogger in Burma is precarious, however: authorities demand internet café owners take screen shots of their computers every five minutes, which are then copied to CD and sent to government regulators, while intelligence officials closely monitor all email and telephone lines. Just last week, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists published a report labeling Burma the ‘worst country to be a blogger’, citing the Orwellian system of surveillance the government uses to track and sentence underground journalists.

The other key pillar of non-state media is the exiled news organizations, which both transmit radio and television broadcasts via European satellites into Burma, and allow foreign audiences a window into developments inside the country. Freelance journalist and Burma expert, Larry Jagan, says the government is only too aware of their potential influence.

“What they worry about is that at least 80 per cent of the population is watching or listening or reading stories in Burmese produced by the exiled media,” he said.

“They certainly want to know what the Burmese people are being told by them.”

And with a population now tuning in to increasingly sophisticated news mediums, the government’s concerns will grow.

“No matter how much the government is putting pressure on the people, they will still find a loophole, via television, radio and the internet, to gain access to the information they want,” said San Moe Wei.

“I think the role of the outside media and citizen journalists in Burma is reaching its most important level.”

The importance of their work will once again be thrown into the spotlight next year, with the 2010 elections providing perhaps the ultimate litmus test to prove how effectively press censorship can cripple democratic reform.

"The press is democracy's first defense,” said Freedom House’s executive director Jennifer Windsor, “and its vulnerability has enormous implications for democracy if journalists are not able to carry out their traditional watchdog role.”

Thus, if the government remains indifferent to international condemnation of its media environment, and continues to imprison journalists and wield absolute authority over every publication and broadcast, then it is likely the elections will go exactly the way the government intends.

“The international community is making a mistake in trying to make positive the fact that there are elections,” said Vincent Brossel.

“Without press freedom, without freedom of expression, without freedom of assembly there is no fair elections. That’s obvious.”

Intelligence chief meets with ceasefire groups

(DVB)–Senior Burmese intelligence officials last week met with six ceasefire groups to discuss their participation in next year’s elections and the possibility that the groups will disarm, say observers.

Although no concrete information has been given about the talks, a member of the Kachin Independence Organisation, Major Gun Maw, who met with a commander from the government’s Northern Military Command on 28 April, said discussions centered on the elections, and paved the way for further dialogue with the government.

"The main thing is that in 2010 there will be elections, and a new government will emerge,” he said.

“As for the military government, it will have to hand over power…and have the responsibility to explain to the upcoming civilian government about the [ceasefire] groups.”

Six groups in total, the Kachin Independence Organisation, New Democratic Army (Kachin), United Wa State Army, Shan State Army (North), Kokang group, and Mong La groups, met individually with the State Peace and Development Council’s intelligence chief, Major General Ye Myint.

Gun Maw said that further talks will take place in the last week of May, although he refused to comment both on whether the KIO will be participating in the elections and whether they have plans to disarm.

“We will…discuss what we will do with our armed forces,” he said.

“I hope that we will start to talk about this when the two sides meet at the end of May.”

The KIO, who were established in 1961, declared a ceasefire with the government in 1994, although their relationship remains tense.

The government has stated that all ceasefire groups must disarm and form political parties if they are to contest the elections.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

A Mature Response

By YENI
The Irrawaddy News

At its special two-day national party meeting last week, Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), indicated that it would take part in elections next year if the ruling junta responds positively to a set of three basic requirements:

1) the unconditional release of all political prisoners;

2) amendment of any provisions in the 2008 constitution “not in accord with the democratic principles”; and

3) an all-inclusive, free and fair poll under international supervision.

In a policy statement dubbed the “Shwegondaing Declaration,” the NLD made it clear that it would not stand on principle and insist that the regime allow the party to form a government based upon the results of the last election in 1990. It would, however, expect the junta to acknowledge that the outcome of the election favored the NLD, even though it has never been allowed to take power.

Although the NLD has not made any unconditional commitment to participating in the election, its newly declared willingness to consider such a move marks a significant shift. In fact, it could be considered a sign that the party still has what it takes to continue playing a major role in the country’s political process.

Critics of the NLD have long accused the party of having an unhealthy obsession with its stolen victory. In the Shwegondaing Declaration, however, the party states that elections should not be regarded as obstacles, but rather as “landmarks to be passed in the journey to democracy.”

Why, at this juncture, has the NLD decided to lend some of its legitimacy to the regime by agreeing, in principle, to participate in an election designed by the generals in Naypyidaw to entrench military rule behind a facade of civilian government?

One reason, of course, is that it has little choice but to make a move that can at least keep open the possibility of a future political dialogue. But more than that, it is responding with a renewed sense of urgency to the senseless suffering that two decades of political stalemate and economic stagnation have imposed on the country.

Khin Maung Swe, a leading member of the NLD, emphasized this point when he told The Irrawaddy: “We appeal to the military leaders for the sake of the families of the political prisoners and for the rest of the people, who have suffered socially and economically for decades in the political conflicts.”

Burma desperately needs to rebuild its ruined economy and social infrastructure, which lag far behind those in other developing countries in the region. Around 30 percent of Burma’s estimated 50 million people survive on less than $1 a day. Public investment in education and healthcare is amongst the lowest in the world. One child in ten dies before the age of five.

In an Armed Forces Day speech to the nation on March 27, the regime’s supreme leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe said that political parties that carry out “mature party organizing work will receive the blessing of the government” in next year’s election.

With its latest statement, the NLD has demonstrated that it is mature enough to set aside its own claims to legitimacy for the sake of the country’s future. The only question that remains is whether Than Shwe, the enfant terrible of Burmese politics, can do the same.

EU-Japan Calls for Progressive Changes in Burma

By THE IRRAWADDY

Leaders of the European Union (EU) and Japan called for an inclusive political process in Burma and the release of political prisoners ahead of the 2010 election, during the EU-Japan Summit in Prague on Monday.

According to a joint press statement from the summit, leaders of the EU and Japan pointed out that the elections in 2010 “could be welcomed by the international community if they were based on an inclusive dialogue among all stakeholders in Myanmar [Burma].”

The EU and Japan called on the Burmese junta to release political prisoners and detainees, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as to lift all restrictions imposed on political parties immediately.

President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, chaired the summit. European Commission President José Barroso and Secretary General of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana attended the summit on behalf of the EU. Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso led the Japanese delegation.

“Summit leaders expressed their hope that the Government of Myanmar tackles the country’s severe political, structural and economic problems and fosters a peaceful transition to a legitimate, democratic and civilian government without delay,” leaders noted in the press release.

The EU- Japan also expressed their readiness to respond positively to substantive political progress and steps toward respect for human rights undertaken by the Burmese regime.

The leaders at the summit said they were determined to “help the government and the people of Burma achieve stability and prosperity in democratic freedom.”

They also repeated their support for the UN secretary-general’s Mission of Good Offices and the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma and called on the regime to cooperate fully with them.

Junta Censors Nargis Anniversary Reports

By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News

NARGIS ANNIVERSARY

Burma’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) has severely restricted Rangoon weekly journals publishing reports marking the anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the southwest of the country on May 2-3 last year, leaving about 140,000 people dead in its wake.

According to several editors and reporters, the notoriously draconian censorship board did not allow reports to carry any criticism of the Nargis recovery effort by the military government, United Nations’ organizations, International NGOs and local NGOs.

“More than a third of Nargis stories were prohibited from being published,” said a Rangoon-based journalist. “Burmese reporters have no right to investigate a story freely.”

He claimed that, currently, the PSRD will only allow journals to publish articles that portray positive aspects of the Burmese military authorities, even if the stories are untrue.

In the weeks after the deadly cyclone struck Burma last year, 21 volunteer aid workers, including journalists, were arrested for assisting victims of the cyclone.

More recently, two journalists—Myat Tun and Ko Khin Maung—of the exiled media group Narinjara Independent Arakan News Agency, were arrested in Arakan State, according to Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP). At least 50 Burmese journalists currently languish in Burmese prisons, according to AAPP.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a press release on April 30 that Burma is the worst place in the world to be a blogger because the military authorities severely restricts Internet access and imposes harsh prison sentences on persons who post material critical of the government.

Meanwhile, in Washington on Sunday, US President Barack Obama said that, each year, hundreds of journalists around the world face intimidation, censorship and arbitrary arrest, although they “are guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth and a tenacious belief that a free society depends on an informed citizenry.

“In every corner of the globe, there are journalists in jail or being actively harassed: from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Burma to Uzbekistan, Cuba to Eritrea,” he said.

Armed Ceasefire Groups to be ‘Border Guard Force’

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

The Burmese military plans to incorporate armed ethnic ceasefire troops into the Tatmadaw (armed forces) to provide security along the border after the 2010 general election.

The plan would give greater control of the armed ceasefire groups to the Burmese military, according to observers.

Armed ethnic ceasefire groups first heard details of the plan during meetings with Burmese military officers on April 28.

Under the plan, one border guard battalion would have 326 troops including 18 officers. There would be three commanders with the rank of major. Each battalion would have two majors drawn from ceasefire groups and one major drawn from the Tatmadaw in charge of administration.

Each battalion would have a general staff officer and quartermaster officer with the rank of captain drawn from the Tatmadaw. Company commanders in each battalion would be drawn from ceasefire groups.

Twenty-seven soldiers in other ranks, such as company sergeant majors, sergeant clerks, nurses, etc., would be drawn from Tatmadaw forces.

Representatives of the Burmese junta told ceasefire group officials at various meetings that discussions on troop mobilization will be held at a later date. Salary and benefits for troops in the border forces would be the same as soldiers in the Tatmadaw.

In the plan’s outline, it was noted that border guard troops could only be mobilized in areas within their own territory.

The Tatmadaw will command border guard forces during the “beginning period,” according to the plan.

Ceasefire groups, including the United Wa State Army with an estimated 200,000 troops, have made no official statements in regard to the plan of incorporation.

Sources said that the military plans to form three committees to coordinate the transition of the ceasefire groups.

The Transition Policy Committee will be chaired by the commander-in-chief and the deputy commander-in-chief will be vice-chairman, and committee members will include the coordinator of special operations for the army, navy and air force, the prime minister, secretary 1, members of the junta, the State Peace and Development Council; the secretary of the committee will be the chief of Military Affairs Security and the joint-secretary will be the director of the Office of Public Relations and Border Troops.

The Transitional Working Committee will be chaired by the chief of Military Affairs Security; and made up of commanders of the Tatmadaw’s regional commands along with the deputy chief of Military Training, the vice-adjutant general and the vice-quartermaster general, the director of the People’s Militias and Psychological Warfare, the director-general of Central Military Accounts, and general staff officer 1 of the Burmese army. The director of the Public Relations and Border Troops will be the secretary of the working committee, and the general staff officer 1 from the Military Affairs Security will be joint-secretary.

Various Regional Level Transition Working Committees will be chaired by Tatmadaw regional commanders.

The current policy is related to the 2008 Constitution, which was created by the junta.

The constitution provides that in ceasefire group controlled areas, referred to as self-administered divisions or self-administered zones, the local administrative bodies can legislate for civil issues such as urban and rural projects; construction and maintenance of roads and bridges; public health; developmental affairs; prevention of fire hazards; maintenance of pastures; conservation and preservation of forests; preservation of the natural environment; water and electricity issues; and market matters relating to towns and villages.

Under the constitution, the military, dominated by the commander-in-chief, can assign duties relating to security and border affairs in self-administered zones (ceasefire areas).

One-quarter of the administrators of self-administered zones (ceasefire areas) will be made up of military officers appointed by the commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw. (JEG's: "self-administed" under orders of the SPDC aha?)

Asia Urged to Rethink Growth Policies amid Crisis

By STEPHEN WRIGHT / AP WRITER
The Irrawaddy News

BALI, Indonesia — Asia's governments must spend more on social safety nets and reduce their reliance on export-driven growth as they grapple with an economic meltdown that will keep tens of millions trapped in poverty, finance officials said.

Japan, meanwhile, said it will make 6 trillion yen ($60.5 billion) available for currency swaps, giving nations with weaker currencies access to yen in a funding crisis. And finance ministers from Southeast Asia along with Japan, China and South Korea agreed to set up a $120 billion pool of emergency funds.

Faced with the worst global slump since World War II, many of Asia's economies are in free fall as demand for their exports—long the engine of the region's growth—evaporates in big Western markets.

The Asian Development Bank, holding its annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia, has warned that 61 million people will remain trapped in extreme poverty this year because of the global slump. That figure could increase to nearly 160 million if slow growth continues next year, it said.

The bank's president, Haruhiko Kuroda, said the collapse in global trade has "gathered momentum" as export markets suffer a massive contraction.

"This grave situation needs more vigorous and concerted efforts by all concerned to bring growth in the region back," he said.

Some governments in Asia—Japan and China among them—are already blasting their economies with hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending. But it is too early to say whether this pump-priming is working, while many other governments in the region are too poor to fund such largesse.

"Asian countries must restructure their economies and focus more on domestic demand," Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano told the annual meeting.

"The Asian region needs to prop up domestic demand to avoid economic meltdown," said Yosano, also a governor of the ADB, to which Japan is a major donor.

Boosting Asia's spending on social protection—currently the lowest of any region as a percentage of gross domestic product—is a crucial step to take for boosting confidence and reducing the human cost of an economic downturn, he said.

In addition to 6 trillion yen for currency swaps, Yosano said Japan will help developing nations to borrow money by guaranteeing $5 billion of yen-denominated bonds issued by such countries.

For the $120 billion emergency funding pool, 80 percent will be contributed by China, South Korea and Japan. Governments would be able to borrow from the fund to cope with a short-term funding crunch.

The venue for the May 2-5 meeting, an international convention center nestled amid plush five-star resorts, provides a stark contrast to one of its main talking points: tackling Asia's endemic poverty.

Some hotels hosting conference delegates have nightly rates that are more than a poor family in Asia earns in one year. More than 900 million in Asia live on $1.25 or less a day.

"The accommodation is indicative of the bank's efforts in meeting the financial crisis," said Red Constantino, executive director of NGO Forum on ADB—an umbrella group pushing the bank to become more accountable. "There's a wide gap between their rhetoric and what they do in reality."

Activists also faulted the bank for pressing ahead with plans to hold next year's annual meeting in Uzbekistan, an authoritarian central Asian nation.

Human rights advocates and journalists critical of Uzbek President Islam Karimov's government have been subjected to arbitrary arrest, politically motivated prosecution, forced psychiatric treatment and physical attack, according to a 2008 US Department of State report.

ADB Managing Director-General Rajat Nag said he was "delighted" that Uzbekistan had offered to host the 2010 meeting. The bank wants activist groups to participate but the host nation has the final say, he said.

The ADB announced Saturday that it will boost lending to the region's poorest nations by more than $10 billion over two years, though it is widely acknowledged this is not enough to make up for the shortfall created by the freezing up of private investment.

The announcement came just days after the bank's 67 member countries approved a tripling of the ADB's capital to $165 billion, expanding its ability to finance infrastructure and other projects aimed at reducing poverty in partnership with the private sector.

"We expect the bank to rapidly and significantly step up lending in key areas," said Indian economic affairs secretary Ashok Chawla.

But activist organizations have not welcomed the bank's bigger firepower, saying ADB-funded projects often harm the very people they aim to help.

Activists highlighted an ADB-backed dam and hydroelectric power scheme in the West Seti region of Nepal, saying it could displace 20,000 people and lead to conflict in resettlement areas that are already heavily populated.

The ADB estimates about 12,000 people would be resettled.

Nyan Win Calls in Cuba for End to Sanctions

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win has called in Cuba for an end to sanctions on developing countries. Some industrialized countries were taking advantage of the global financial crisis to exert political pressure on third world nations by imposing sanctions on them, he charged at a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana.

Burma’s state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported on Nyan Win’s speech on Monday, saying he spoke last week to a ministerial meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the 119-member Non-Aligned Movement.

Nyan Win said unilateral sanctions offended international law and were counter-productive to the promotion of democracy and human rights in targeted countries. He defined democracy as “a universal value based on the will of the people to determine their own future.”

And he declared: “There is no single model of democracy.”

Sanctions have been imposed against Burma by the US and several developed countries, including Canada and member nations of the European Union. The sanctions are intended to pressure the Burmese regime to end its human rights abuses and move towards democracy.

Nyan Win made a similar appeal for an end to sanctions in a speech last year before the UN General Assembly. He also charged then that sanctions were against international law, as well as being unfair and immoral.

The Havana meeting was attended by more than 700 representatives from the 119 member countries. Forty observer states, 29 invited countries and six international organizations were also invited.

During his stay in Havana, Nyan Win met Cuba’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcos Rodriguez Costa, and the two exchanged views on strengthening bilateral relations and mutual cooperation, the New Light of Myanmar reported.

Nasaka metamorphosing into gangsters in Northern Arakan

Maungdaw, Arakan (KPN): A Rohingya man was beaten and critically injured by the Burmese border security force, Nasaka, yesterday afternoon, a school teacher from Bawli Bazaar (Kyein Chaung) said.

Sergeant Kyaw Win, from Kyein Chaung camp arrested and beat up Rohingya villager, Mohamed Safi Alam (49), without any reason, until he fell unconscious, a local villager, who was an eyewitness, said.

The local villagers rushed to the spot and tried to save Safi Alam and took him to the local village clinic for treatment, the eyewitness said.

Some villagers and relatives of Safi went to the Nasaka camp and complained and reported to the officer about the incident. The officer said the camp will take care of his treatment and will take action against Sergeant Kyaw Win, said a close aide from the camp.

However, no help had been forthcoming till now.

On April 29, Htint Sein, a Nasaka officer from Nasaka camp of 14, without uniform and Zaw Shwe, of the Rakhine community, who is a collaborator of the Nasaka, asked for a permission paper, while Bashar (Baydu) son of Kaseim (62), who hails from Khayoung Chang Village, under the Shweza Village Tract, was building a roof for his house on the lower part. They had an argument and the situation rapidly became tense, while the Nasaka officer attacked him with a sword and seriously injured him, according to sources.

Seeing the injuries of their father, his two sons attacked the officers and collaborator, while the officer was wounded on his shoulder and attacked with the sword. The Nasaka arrested more than twenty Rohingya villagers, in connection with the incident, but the villagers were innocent, the sources said.

Nasaka, from Aung Mangala Nasaka out post, has been looting goods from Amina Bazaar (market) of Maungdaw Township, on every market day (on Tuesdays and Saturdays) from the Rohingya community. No action has been taken, when the villagers complained to the concerned authorities. So, the Nasaka continues to loot goods from the market regularly on market days.

The Nasaka also injured 32 Bangladeshi fishermen, and looted goods worth Taka 2 million from them on April 12, while they were fishing in the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh’s territorial waters, near Saint Martin island of Bangladesh, Abdul Zalil, one of the boat owners said.

The Nasaka also troubled the fishermen in the Naff River, some time ago, when they fired on the fishing boats of Bangladeshi fishermen when they were fishing in Bangladeshi territorial waters. One fisherman was killed and two others were injured on April 8, by Nasaka firing, said Nazir Ahmed, who was injured by Nasaka.

Some time earlier, Nasaka also abducted Bangladeshi fishing boatpeople for money. In the last week of March 2009, a fishing boat owned by Kasim, Mohamed and Nur Hussain of Shapuri Dip was abducted by Nasaka from Bangladeshi territorial waters, while fishing in the Naff River. However, it was released after taking money from the owners.

They (Nasaka) are not security personnel from Burma, but they are robbers and gangsters from Burma, said the cattle trader Committee Chairman, Rashid Ahmed.

The authorities such as the police, Nasaka and Sarapa (Military Intelligence) extort money from the Rohingya community on charges that they are involved in drugs smuggling, cross the Burma-Bangladesh border without permission, have relatives abroad, are linked with human trafficking, and are in possession of mobile phones, are involved in money exchange, receive money from their relatives abroad, among other accusations, according to a local trader.

The Nasaka, which was established in 1992, to control the border area, has become the most powerful group in the area. They do not care for any one and they rule their duties area ruthlessly. Especially in Northern Arakan (Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung),where mostly people from the Rohingya community live and the Nasaka continue to behave like dreaded gangsters in the area, according to a political group.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

As Cyclone Season Nears, Few Signs of Shelters

By AUNG THET WINE
The Irrawaddy News

A plan by Burma’s military government to build disaster shelters in the Irrawaddy delta has apparently made little progress as another cyclone season approaches, leaving many residents wondering why?

Hundreds of shelters would be needed to offer minimum protection from another cyclone of the magnitude of Cyclone Nargis which claimed almost 140,000 lives one year ago.

Burmese children look on as officials gather relief supplies for the village of Twantay,
south of Rangoon. (Photo: AP/Khin Maung Win)

However, the government plan calls for 20 shelters to be constructed.

Local residents say a minimum of one shelter, which can hold about 500 people, should be built for each village tract, which usually has at least three villages.

The government has apparently awarded contracts to numerous companies, but residents say only a few projects are starting while others appear to be in the early planning stages.

Asia World Co. reportedly has started work on a cyclone shelter in Let-Kok-Kone village in Kun Chan Kone Township.

A cyclone shelter is estimated to cost 1,400 million kyat (approximately US $140,000) with companies paid in four installments based upon the finished work.

Local residents in Laputta and Bokalay townships say shelters are urgently needed.

"A year has passed since the cyclone,” said a resident of Laputta Township. “I see no signs of work on a shelter in our village of Chaung Wa, which the Shwe Than Lwin Company is supposed to build. We don't know which direction to run if there is another storm.”

Local residents said that when there were news reports that Cyclone Bijli would pass through Burma, many villagers experienced fear and anxiety.

Dr. Tun Lwin, the director of the government’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH), said in a paper presented at a seminar last month that six cyclones could strike Burma this year.

In the hardest hit area of Cyclone Nargis, in Bokalay Township there are 71 village tracts with 589 villages, and in Laputta Township, there are 50 village tracts with almost 500 villages.

In Laputta Township, a total of 13 cyclone shelters reportedly will be built.

According to reports which could not be verified, the government has assigned the Shwe Than Lwin Company to build two cyclone shelters in Chaung Wa village and Pyin Kha-Yine village; First Myanmar Investment (FMI) Co. to build a shelter in Thin Gan Kone village; Tat Lan Co. to build a shelter in Thet Kae Thaung village; TZTM Co. to build a shelter in Thin Gan Kyi village; Ayar Shwe War Co. to build a shelter in Zin Ywae Gyi village; Moe Kyal Sin Co. to build a shelter in Salu Seik village; Max Myanmar Co. to build a shelter in Pyin Salu village; A-One Co. to build a shelter in Pyin Sa Lu; War War Win to build a shelter in Po Laung; and Myat Noe Thu Co. to build a shelter in Thit Poke village.

In Bokalay Township, the Htoo Trading Co. will build a shelter in Kadon Kani village; and Diamond Mercury Co. will build two shelters in Aya village.

In Pya Pon Township, the Original Co. will build a shelter in Daw Nyein village;Yuzana Co. will build a shelter in Da-Min-Seik village; and Dagon International Co. will build a shelter in Amar village.

In Dedaye Township, Mya Nandar Co. will build a shelter in Thauk-Kya village; Aden Co. will build a shelter in Kyone Da village; and Shwe Taung Co. will build a shelter in Toe Ywa village.

Survivors remember Cyclone Nargis

From correspondents in THA KYAR HIN O, Burma

(News.Com-Agence France-Presse)- EMOTIONAL survivors gathered in Burma to remember the 138,000 people left dead or missing by Cyclone Nargis, despite authorities largely ignoring the storm's first anniversary.

No official ceremonies were planned and state media made no mention of the deadly storm which lay waste to large swathes of the country on May 2-3 last year, and drew worldwide criticism for Burma's military rulers.

Only the Burma language daily newspaper Myanma (Myanma) Ahlin showed any reference to the 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone, with photographs of the new houses authorities have built for some of the survivors. (???)

Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 2 and 3 with wind speeds reaching 240 kilometres an hour and storm surges up to four metres high.

Thousands of homes were swept away, rice fields were flooded with saltwater and schools and hospitals were ravaged in the storm.

A year later aid agencies say half a million people remain without adequate homes, while at least 250,000 people will require food handouts until the end of 2009 at the earliest.

But many survivors were more concerned with the dead as they marked the cyclone's anniversary Sunday, with those who could afford to paying about $A140 dollars in donations for a monk-led ceremony at home.

Win Khaing, 22, from Tha Kyar Hin O, hosted his own family memorial before visiting the unveiling a new cyclone shelter in his village.

"We did a memorial for my mum and two-year-old niece by donating to Buddhist monks this morning. I think they are in peace now,'' he said.

Burma's military government faced international criticism for its immediate response to the storm, accused of stymieing emergency aid and initially refusing to grant access to humanitarian workers and supplies.

In late May UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon brokered a deal that allowed a group of officials from the UN, Burma's government and regional bloc ASEAN to coordinate aid deliveries to the delta.

But long-term shelter, cash to replenish lost assets and further food supplies are all still critically needed, aid workers said, as they sought

Burma's Revolution of the Spirit

A Nation's Non-violent Struggle for Freedom

World Dharma's - Burma Project International

Founded in 1990, the Burma Project is a human rights and media advocacy organization dedicated to increasing global awareness about the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's imprisoned Nobel peace laureate and her country's ongoing struggle for freedom from dictatorship.

Fၤၤၤor Burma Project accomplishments read a Letter of Support by fellow activists.

By Alan Clements - The World of Dharma
Produced by Jeffrey Karl Hellman

Check YouTube for more credits please...

Cutting off communications to welcome PM Thein Sein

By Khun Aung Kham

(Shanland] -Local authorities in Nakawngmu village, Pong Pa Khem Sub-Township, Mong Ton Township, Eastern Shan State, have ordered local people to bring down their mobile antennas, citing planned visit by Prime Minister Thein Sein, according to source from the Thai-Burma border.

Thein Sein is currently travelling in Eastern Shan State to canvass support for 2010 elections.
He used to be Commander of Triangle Region Command and Chairman of Shan State East from 1996 – 2001.

A young woman from Nakawngmu said “We were told to bring down our mobile antenna. They would allow us to use after the Prime Minister leaves. But even then, we would have to apply for permission from the Communication office. If we use it without permission, action would be taken on us.”

The border has caused consideration difficulties for the local people, especially treaders, she added.

Despite unclear reasons surrounding the Prime Ministers coming visit, it would be the same as the 25 April visit to Mong Yang, according to observer. In the other hand, people in Mong Ton, Nakawngmu and Pongpakhem have already chosen civil servant to work as polling state on officials, said a civil servant.

Some Townships on the Thai-Burma border are able to use Thai-based mobile phone without erecting antennas, not in Pongpakhem.

A Nation in Need

The Irrawaddy News

A year ago, when deadly Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma, the country was ill-prepared. The official death toll was at least 140,000, but some observers now say that it was even higher. We may never know the true figure, however, because the reclusive regime that at first refused to allow aid to flow freely into the cyclone-affected Irrawaddy delta has no desire for a full account of the consequences of their incompetence and callousness.

The junta eventually gave a green light to something approaching a full-scale relief effort, but it continued to assert its control in a heavy-handed manner. Military authorities hampered the delivery of aid to the delta, and local relief workers faced harassment and arrest if they failed to play by the regime’s rules. Traumatized villagers whose homes had been destroyed were told to leave temporary shelters and get back to work in their ruined fields. And foreign warships carrying aid materials were forced to withdraw because the repressive rulers in Naypyidaw feared not only an invasion, but also the very real danger that the presence of a force stronger than the Burmese military could inspire a massive uprising.

To add insult to injury, junta-controlled newspapers carried editorials reprimanding the international community for being tightfisted with its aid. They then claimed that Burma did not need help from the rest of the world, because people in the delta could easily survive on fish and frogs from nearby rivers.

The survivors of Cyclone Nargis have indeed been extremely resilient in the face of their tribulations. But it would be unspeakably cruel to use this as an excuse to deny them the assistance they so desperately need. They have lost family members, homes and livelihoods. The recovery process has been achingly slow, with recent data showing that some 500,000 people still have no permanent place to live, 200,000 have no access to fresh water and 350,000 are receiving food aid from the World Food Program.

Infrastructure—everything from schools, monasteries and churches to clinics, bridges and jetties—remains in ruins because there is not enough money to cover rebuilding costs.

The aid money is not forthcoming because of reports of extortion, misappropriation of aid and corruption in the initial stages of the relief effort and because of the regime’s horrific human rights record. The lack of accountability and transparency continues to plague pleas for more aid. According to a new recovery plan, the delta will need US $690 million in aid over the next three years, although aid groups say that it is unlikely they will be able to raise that much money.

One problem, say NGOs working inside Burma, is that some exiled Burmese groups have been lobbying against further funding for the delta. But the exiled groups deny that they are opposed to more aid; what they want, they say, are greater transparency and guarantees of accountability to ensure that aid is being used effectively and appropriately.

Foreign aid workers insist that the regime has not unduly interfered in their mission of helping the people of the delta to rebuild their lives. However, while we can readily acknowledge the value of the contributions that many NGOs inside Burma have made, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the junta remains intent on limiting their influence. International NGOs can and should continue to provide assistance; but they must also seek to expand the country’s exceedingly narrow humanitarian space, rather than merely working within the confines of what the junta considers acceptable.

Ultimately, it will be up to donor countries to decide how much they want to help the people of Burma, and how far they can trust the country’s rulers. We can only urge them to provide as much aid as possible for those in need, while advising an equal abundance of caution in dealing with the regime.

Finally, we should add that while the immediate humanitarian requirements of people in the delta are of the utmost importance, the debate over aid should not obscure the need to address Burma’s longstanding human rights issues and political impasse. After all, the regime’s disastrous response to Cyclone Nargis was not just an unfortunate mishap, but a manifestation of what happens when rulers are allowed to ride roughshod over the lives and rights of citizens for decades.

May 2, 2009

Battalion set fire to 36 homes in Yebyu Township

HURFOM, Yebyu Township (Rehmonnya): - A fifty strong column of soldiers from LIB No. 107, led by Major Khin Mg Chin entered Paukpinkwin village, Yebyu Township on April 17th and set fire to 36 homes. Villagers believe this act was in retaliation for perceived insurgent group support and follows the recent killings of four village officials on April 2nd and 3rd, victims of a power struggle between the battalion and the armed Mon rebel group, Chan Dein.

A young man from Paukpinkwin who witnessed the events said, “ The soldiers separated into two groups of 25. One group entered the village from the north and the other from the south. Then they started to burn the 36 houses near the Ball Ta Moi Monastery. After that they fired their guns and ordered the people inside to get out their houses. People took anything they could and ran way.”

A local monk commented, “ I think this has happened because of the murders on April 2nd and 3rd and the ongoing power struggle between the army and Chan Dein group. Major Khin Mg Chin ordered the villagers to inform the army if the rebel group were in the village. The burnings are a punishment because they know that there is communication between the villagers and the rebels.”

“The battalion knew that Chan Dein and his members entered our village for the water festival. So they punished people by burning the houses,” said a Paukpinkwin villager.

Of the 36 houses that were burnt, 17 were almost destroyed and the remaining 19 houses were badly damaged. The residents who were left homeless had to live in the Monastery for two days before moving elsewhere.

“ Now, the situation is very bad. All the villagers are terrified and they are afraid to do anything”, said the monk. “ The village quarter which was burnt by the army is near the monastery, so the monks no longer receive food from the people there. Now we have to cook for ourselves.”

On the 2nd and 3rd of April, the headman of the Paukpinkwin Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) and 3 other members of the council were executed in separate incidents by Battalion No. 107 and the Chan Dein group. All four officials are yet to be replaced and many villagers have left to move to safer locations.

May 2, 2009

Saturday, May 2, 2009

21 Nargis volunteers still detain in Burma

Dhaka (Narinjara): Twenty one Nargis volunteer have been serving their jail term from 2 to 35 years several prison in Burma as they were working for Nargis victim and its rehabilitation after of the Nargis cyclone in Burma, said a press release of AAPP.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), AAPP, released a report one day before annual Nargis tragedy day and said in the report that 21 volunteers who are currently facing between 2 and 35 years in prison for their efforts to assist in the aftermath of the cyclone, including gathering dead bodies and burying them.

"The report released today to mark the anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma a year ago," said AAPP.

In the report, five of the volunteers are former political prisoners, who have already spent many years in jail, are also facing the punishment of authority for the involving in the volunteer.

AAPP Secretary Tate Naing said, “Their punishment is completely unacceptable. Their ‘crimes’ were to help people and tell the truth about the situation. We call on ASEAN and UN to press the military regime to release the Cyclone Nargis volunteers – and all political prisoners – immediately.”

The organization renewed its calls for support for its campaign petition Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now! The campaign is conducted by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) and Forum for Democracy in Burma.

199 organizations worldwide have endorsed the campaign.

“Political prisoners – including Cyclone Nargis volunteers - must not be forgotten. Ordinary people everywhere can sign the petition,” added Tate Naing. (Click to Sign Petition here ...)

The campaign aims to collect 888,888 petition signatures before 24 May. This is the date that the military junta claims that Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be released from house arrest, despite the fact that the United Nations has recently declared that this consecutive sixth year of house arrest contravenes the regime’s own laws.

May/1/2009

Learning the Hard Way

By AUNG THET WINE
The Irrawaddy News

LAPUTTA, Irrawaddy Delta — A year after Cyclone Nargis, many children in the Irrawaddy delta are still facing difficulties in getting a decent education due to high tuition fees and extreme shortages of schools, teachers and learning materials.

Orphans gather on Thursday at a monastery during a private ceremony
to mark anniversary of Cyclone Nargis at the village of Thongwa, Dedaye Township,
Irrawaddy Delta. (Photo: AP)

According to one construction company manager who has been overseeing the rebuilding of schools in the cyclone-affected area, only 1,500 primary schools have been constructed since last May, out of more than 4,000 that were destroyed by the storm.

“The government constructed around 600 schools during the 2008-09 fiscal year and has budgeted for 700 more this year. So far, a total of about 1,500 schools have been rebuilt by the government, private donors and other organizations,” he said.

One reason for the slow pace of reconstruction is that many companies are unable to finance their work, which is paid for in installments by the government.

“The government does not pay for construction costs in advance,” said an engineer from the Wah Wah Win Construction Company. “We receive payments in four installments upon completion of different stages of the construction work. This makes it difficult for financially weak companies to complete their projects on time.”

While many villages are waiting for their new schools to be completed, hundreds of others have no immediate prospect of having any school at all. In Shaw Chaung, a village tract in Laputta Township, for instance, there are just ten schools for 24 villages, according to a local official.

“This makes it very difficult for children to have access to a school, especially in the rainy season,” said the official.

The shortage of government-appointed teachers has also been a serious problem, forcing many villages to hire teachers privately—an expense that few can afford.

“If you want to hire a private primary school teacher, you have to pay them an advance of 100 or 150 bu of rice [worth around US $300-500; 1 bu=approximately 350 ml]. It’s not easy to pay that much, but we have no guarantees the government will send a teacher, so we have no choice,” said the head of a village in Bogalay Township.

Even children who do have access to primary schools have little hope of continuing their education beyond that level. Very few villages have secondary schools, and only well-off parents can send their children to middle or high schools in towns.

This lack of availability, combined with economic necessity, forces many children to drop out of school and begin working for a living in local industries such as fishing or farming.

“The children of farmers or fishermen usually just end up doing the same jobs as their parents before they even grow up,” said a villager from Saluu Chaung, in Laputta Township.

According to Education Ministry statistics, there are only 432 middle schools and 257 high schools out of a total of 6,324 schools in the Irrawaddy delta.

THE MONEY IS NEEDED FOR THIS AND THE AID MONEY AS WELL GOES INTO THIS:...

JEG's BURMA NEWS

WHO is WHO in BURMA, Translations into English

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

Blogging LIVE

There Live Blogging

JOTMAN

MIZZIMA News

KALADAN Press - Dedicated for Rohingya Media

SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS

DANIEL PEDERSEN

INNER CITY PRESS - UN

RADIO FREE ASIA NEWS

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Monday, May 4, 2009

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Recent Posts from Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy

Recent posts from WHO is WHO in Burma

THE NUKE LIGHT OF MYANMAR

LABELS Select

ADOPT A PEN-PAL

BURMESE PRISONERS ABROAD

BURMA NEWS LINKS

Korea Dictator a Nuclear threat

BDC: Burma's Radio

GENERATION WAVE - Free Them All

URGENT Call to ALL BLOGGERS to show Solidarity for:

FREE THEM ALL NOW

BLOGGERS FOR BURMA

DOCUMENTS TO READ - SCRIBD

QUOTE on Justice

Arakan Refugee Relief Committee

FREE BURMA RANGERS- OK

SEELAN PALAY's Blog

SINGAPORE DEMOCRATS' NEWS

Status of Chinese People

About Me

Followers

Blog Archive

TINY URL

U R

Network