Electricity brought with student protests in Moulmein flickers out

By Rai Maraoh, IMNA

The reliable electricity that came after student protests evaporated last week, as residents of Moulmein found themselves in the dark, while government offices and homes remained unaffected.

After a 2 week power outage prompted student protests on March 6 for uninterrupted electricity during their exams, Moulmein and it residents experienced a period of relatively dependable power. However that relative degree of normalcy ended last week, when electricity was again unavailable to Moulmein residents who did not have government connections.

“We have been with out electricity for over one week. People have no choice but to use generators for their houses. Before, we had regular electricity because the university students demonstrated against the power outages.” Said one Moulmein resident, “But now we are again without power. I can sometimes get electricity, but only a short time – maybe 10 minutes. We might as well say we have no power at all, because you cannot do anything with only 10 minutes of electricity.”

“When the electricity returns, I turn on my computer; I think, ‘I will have the power for long time.’, But then while the computer is still starting up, before I can even use it, the power is cut off again.” Explained a Moulmein university student. It remains to be seen weather the recent power outage will spark similar protests from students who were decisive in bring power back to parts of Moulmein.

The outages have caused numerous problems for residents who are reliant on electricity for work, such as computer shop owners or students, leaving no other alternative but to use a generator.

“I have to use a generator to be able to get any work done at my job, since without it, I would have no electricity for the whole day. I have no options since I must work.” said resident who runs his own computer shop. The electricity has gone primarily to government offices and homes, as well as residents with government connections, according to a resident.

The resent outages have not only affected Moulmein, but also residents of Mudon township, where there were also reports of wide spread electricity shortages. Never having fully benefited from the results of the student protests, Mudon residents have been without regular power for at least six months, according to a villager there.

This has been a problem for the region since late 2008, when Mudon and the surrounding villages were subject to continuous electricity shortages. At the time residents only had electricity 3 days a month for about 2 hours each day. Despite these extreme shortages in the region, the villagers have had to continue to pay 500 kyat per household for their electric meter bill said a Mudon resident.

READ MORE---> Electricity brought with student protests in Moulmein flickers out...

US journalists question motives for deportation

(DVB)–Two American journalists deported from Burma last week after delivering workshops on photography and feature writing say reasons for their arrest may lie in their meeting with a local Burmese business owner.

Following a series of workshops organised by the American Centre in Rangoon last Wednesday, Jerry Redfern and Karen Coates were arrested by immigration authorities and deported to Bangkok.

Reasons for their arrest were never given, although the ruling State Peace and Development Council is notoriously fearful of foreign media presence in Burma.

“We had been in Burma to teach and lecture about creative non-fiction feature writing and photography,” they said in a press release issued today.

“The programs were follow-ups to similar work we did in January, all of which had been approved and acknowledged by the Scrutiny Board and the Special Branch (police).”

Police had visited Redfern’s class on its first day, and they say all subsequent lessons proceeded without incident.

Rumours surrounding reasons for the arrests include fallout from John William Yettaw’s arrest the same day after he illegally entered imprisoned opposition leader Aung Sann Suu Kyi’s compound.

Others claim the two journalists were involved in politically sensitive work, which the government have a reputation for reacting harshly to.

“The only story we had in mind was a small piece on laphet thote, (pickled tea leaf salad) explaining the flavours, history and cultural significance of the dish,” the press release said.

“In Mandalay, a colleague introduced us to the owner of a longstanding laphet thote business… [who] invited us to visit a trade centre where people buy and sell beans and pulses, key ingredients for laphet thote.

“We accepted and planned to meet on Thursday morning, – but we never had that chance. This might be all, or part, of the reason we were deported.”

The two emphasised their efforts to avoid government scrutiny, or any “journalistic” appearance.

The Burmese junta are rarely issue foreign journalists with visas, and Burmese citizens found communicating with overseas media are often imprisoned.

Reporting by Francis Wade

READ MORE---> US journalists question motives for deportation...

‘False votes and intimidation’ ratified Burma’s constitution

(DVB)–Measures taken to ensure ratification of Burma’s 2008 constitution included voter intimidation and falsification of results, claims a report released to mark the one-year anniversary of the constitution.

Last May, the ruling State Peace and Development Council announced that 92 per cent of voters had endorsed the draft constitution, revised from the 1974 version.

Critics argue that the new constitution, which allocates 25 per cent of parliament seats to the military even before voters go to the polls, and bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running for office, guarantees an entrenchment of military rule.

“The government claims perfect voter turnout in some of Burma’s most remote and sparsely populated areas,” said Borazi, director of the Institute for Political Analysis and Documentation (IPAD), a Rangoon-based independent research and training centre.

“We monitored many of these stations and know that turnout was marginal. Officials also cancelled thousands of ballots to skew the results.”

The report, entitled ‘No Real Choice: An Assessment of Burma's 2008 Referendum’, lists officials committing frauds such as handing out pre-filled voting ballots saying ‘yes’ and making people vote on behalf of absent family members or co-workers.

Research was carried out in Kachin State and northern Shan state, and included extensive interviews with voters and polling station officials, and accessing of voting statistics classified as top secret by the government.

Several voters had also claimed that officials threatened the voters in case they were planning to vote against the constitution.

Many of the polling station officials themselves admitted to being afraid of punishment if the voting results in their stations didn’t show full support for the constitution.

“The referendum was not intended to measure citizens’ consent to be governed under the constitution,” said Borazi. “It was an exercise to entrench military rule regardless of public sentiment.”

Reporting by Rosalie Smith

READ MORE---> ‘False votes and intimidation’ ratified Burma’s constitution...

Firearms stolen from military armoury used in robbery

(DVB)–An armed robbery on a gold shop in Mandalay division that left one dead and two injured was carried out using firearms stolen from a government armoury, according to Burmese military intelligence.

The robbery took place on 6 May on a shop in Mandalay’s Yamaethin town. According to the brother of the shop owner, who was shot in the shoulder, three masked men entered around 3.45pm.

“They waited until the street was clear before coming into the shop,” said Myo Thein.

“Then they fired three shots in the air and walked in but people in the shop thought they were just some kids playing around with firecrackers."

Myo Thein said that the men started shooting at the glass counter holding the jewellery.

“Our youngest sister, named Daw Cho Pyone, noticing that they were holding only one gun, jumped up and tried to wrestle the person holding it,” he said.

“He dropped the weapon but managed to grab it back and then shot her on her thigh.”

Cho Pyone, who suffered a broken thigh bone, remains in Mandalay hospital in Mandalay.

The government’s Military Affairs Security in Magwe division’s Yesagyo town confirmed that the weapon and ammunition used in the robbery were stolen from an army stockpile on 4 April.

A Yesagyo resident last week voiced suspicion that the army were involved in the break-in.

“It is impossible to do it without the participation of at least family members of the army,” he said.

“Outsiders dare not come to this kind of territory. They are afraid, as you could be shot if you are too close to the army [camp].

“It is possible that they want to smuggle weapons for sale.”

Senior police and intelligence officials in Magwe are investigating the incident.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

READ MORE---> Firearms stolen from military armoury used in robbery...

'They Are Still Sending Them' - Part Two

(RFA) -In the second installment of an interview, a Burmese migrant describes abuses suffered by himself and other Burmese at the hands of a human trafficking gang.

Ko Wunna is a 28-year-old resident of Burma's former capital, Rangoon, who was trafficked to Malaysia by gangs importing illegal workers in a constantly revolving racket in which, former participants say, the Malaysian police are also complicit.

In the second part of an in-depth interview, Ko Wunna speaks to RFA Burmese service reporter Kyaw Min Htun about his experiences over three months working for a trafficking gang in the region in and around northern Malaysia's Kedah province, which borders Songkhla and Yala provinces in Thailand.

The Malaysian government has recently pledged to investigate claims made by many other Burmese such as Ko Wunna.

RFA: In the three months that you were with the human traffickers, how many times did the Malaysian immigration authorities bring the Burmese to the traffickers' camp, and how many Burmese did you actually see being brought in to the camp?

Ko Wunna: There were a lot of them. After they were released from immigration to be deported, they were brought over to the traffickers by the immigration authorities. There would be about 60 in each group, and they would bring about three groups in a month.

Some of them asked for money from their families. If they could not get money from their homes ... they were beaten and were given meals only once a day. They were allowed to phone their families only once a day to ask for money for their release. When they called, and if there was no possibility that they would get the money, the trafficker would grab the phone and hit them across the face, making sure the person at the other end of the phone could hear it. The trafficker would then ask the person at the other end whether they had heard.

RFA: Now that the border crossing into Thailand is closed, a lot of foreigners are detained and waiting in the Malaysian immigration detention centers. There must be many Burmese detained there. Ko Wunna, are the Malaysian immigration authorities still sending those who have been released to where you were working?

KW: Yes, they are still sending them.

RFA: How did you manage to get away from the traffickers?

KW: I had been working with them for more than three months. So I asked them whether I would have to go on in this manner. I told them that if I had been working somewhere else I would have worked enough to pay off my debt. So they said it was okay if I wanted to go but that, if I kept on working with them, I would be paid 50 ringgit a day, with all other expenses paid plus a clothing allowance as well. But I did not dare work for them. I was afraid of them. Beating people is not in my nature.

RFA: In the group where you worked, who was the leader and where did they come from?

KW: They are all Mons [Burmese ethnic group]. They are led by the Mons. But their big boss is Thai. When they had received enough cash, their big boss would come and collect it, say 40-50-60 thousand ringgit. A list had to be sent showing how many had been released, how many had paid, and how many were still left. They would call when there was enough money to be collected, and then the big boss would come. When he came, he would threaten those who had not paid. He would say that if they did not pay they would be sold to the Indonesian fishing boats.

RFA: Have you been in touch with your parents since you were released?

KW: No. When I was first arrested, I telephoned my home. I talked to my sister. I could not speak to my mother or my other siblings. They were all away from home working somewhere else. My sister asked what would happen if they could not give the money. I told her that I would be sold off to the fishing boats under a five-year plan where I would have to work on the boats without seeing land for five years. It would be hard labor.

If I could not do the work, or if I were sick or if I disobeyed them or argued with them, I would be shot and killed. Even if I was sick, they would not give me medical treatment but would shoot me because I would be a bother for them. So I really never had a choice. My sister told me that was not good and that she would appeal to the traffickers. I told her that would not be possible because the traffickers would vehemently reject any appeals and negotiations.

RFA: Now, as you were working in Malaysian territory, what do you think is the relationship between the Malaysian authorities and the human traffickers?

KW: They are in the Alor Setar area. They say that their boss is connected to the police stations in [Alor Setar, Changlum, and Jitra], and so they could do whatever they liked in the area. They said that when they were dealing with me, they could have killed me and that, after killing me, they would not have had to run or worry about being sent to jail. They said they would just have had to make a telephone call, and that my body would have been taken away and sent down the river and the spot would then be washed so that no trace was left.

They said they could just sit and not be bothered about it. I have seen their boss with a gun in his belt, especially when he is drunk and would reach for cigarettes from his pocket. Each day when the police patrol came, they would ask for money from the traffickers and would be given about 100-150 ringgit.

RFA: Ko Wunna, if you were able to tell your experiences, your feelings, and what you have seen to the United Nations, the international organizations, and international authorities, what would you like to say to them?

KW: In our country the economic situation is bad, and because we could not make a living there we had to go to other countries to find work. If our authorities were considerate, all they would have to do is tell other countries that Burma's economic situation is bad and [ask them] to allow Burmese to work in those countries. If they did that, the leaders of the organizations in other countries would not have allowed us to be treated badly, as they have been doing now. But now, instead of helping us, our government is saying that we were not living in our country and that we are thieves, and that they can do whatever they want with us. So they treat us badly.

So we can no longer work properly. When we were living in our country, the authorities oppressed us and made our lives miserable. When we left our country and came over here, they would not help us, so our lives are difficult here as well. On top of that, we get arrested, and when we are sent to the borders to be deported, the human traffickers take advantage of us and bully us. We came here to earn some money. Instead we have to ask for money from home for our release. Trying to get hold of 2,000 ringgit is not an easy thing in Burma.

Original reporting in Burmese by Kyaw Min Htun. Burmese service director: Nancy Shwe. Translated by Soe Thinn. Edited for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie.

PART ONE:
I worked for Human Traffickers

7 May 2009

READ MORE---> 'They Are Still Sending Them' - Part Two...

Burmese junta rebuilds only damaged Buddhist pagoda

by KNG

The Burmese military junta is rebuilding only a Buddhist temple and a pagoda which were damaged by gusts of wind on May 2 at midnight in Burma's northern Kachin State, said local sources.

The authorities checked the wind-hit Aung May Thit and Aung May Hnit villages in Waingmaw Township on the Myitkyina-Bhamo highway. It gave priority to the rebuilding of damaged a Buddhist temple and a pagoda, said local eyewitnesses.

Civilian victims do not receive proper relief from the Burmese authorities. They stand on the road hoping against hope, added eyewitnesses.

According to villagers of Aung May Hnit, about 50 houses were damaged in the village alone by strong winds. The zinc roofs of the houses were blown away and several houses were flattened or collapsed.

In Aung May Thit, most houses' with zinc roof were affected. The roofs were blown off by the strong gusts of winds while roadside trees were uprooted, said eyewitnesses.

An eyewitness told KNG, “Many houses were damaged in the two villages. In Aung May Hnit, the Buddhist temple and the pagoda were damaged. Trees were uprooted on the road in Aung May Hnit. However, the Kachin Baptist Church in the village was not damaged. ”

Last month, people in Bhamo town stayed without electricity for many days because gusts of strong wind and heavy rain uprooted electric poles made of logs, said residents of Bhamo.

Unusually, from early this year, gusts of strong winds have often hit Waingmaw and Bhamo districts in Kachin State. It damaged many houses, said residents in the two districts.

The Burmese junta has been into introducing Buddhism and Burmanization in Kachin State by using its military might.

Saturday, 09 May 2009 16:26

READ MORE---> Burmese junta rebuilds only damaged Buddhist pagoda...

Soldiers take civilian motorbikes for personal use

HURFOM (Rehmonnya): Villagers are now forced to share their motorbikes with soldiers, for their daily personal use, with out any compensation.

Since January 2008 villagers from Kyauktalin, Kyaukadin and Alaesakhan, Kalein Aung Sub-township, Tenasserim Division have had to share their motorbikes with Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 282 and 273 for traveling between villages and around the township. Bike owners were instructed to give their keys their village headmen in a daily rotating shift, so that a soldier could use the bikes as needed. While no specific reason was given for the order, villagers are expected to keep the bikes full of gas, and to cover all expenses and damage while soldiers use the bike.

Kyauktalin, Kyaukadin and Alaesakhan, Kalein Aung Sub-township are in Yebyu Township which is a black area for military soldiers, because a Mon rebel group, known as Chan Dein, operates out of the area.

According to a Kyauktalin villager, all motorbike owners in the village have to share their bikes with soldiers. If a soldier breaks the bike and does not fix it then the villager will have to pay for repairs to the bike on his own.

A villager from Alaesakhan said, “Once when a soldier took my bike and drove to Ye town about 22 miles away and crashed it. They did not fix it for me. I had to fix it on my own, and it cost me more than 50,000 Kyat”.

According to a villager form Kyauktalin the commander in the area allowed young soldiers who do not know how to ride the bike, to practice on the civilian’s bikes. While training they crashed the bike, and did not have fix it. Instead the responsibility fell to the bike owners.

Shared use is set up on a rotating system, so that a villager gives up one bike every day. Soldiers from LIB No. 282 and 273 use the bikes for going to teashops, liquor stores, and to the market. In Alaesakhan, Kyauktalin and Kyaukadin, there are around 20 civilian owned bikes in all.

According to a villager from Kyaukadin, soldiers who drink and drive will drive very fast and the fall over, in these instance the bike has been abandoned and then villagers have to come and pick it up.

“I wanted to sell my bike because I hate the soldiers after they used it. Every time it makes me angry because they destroy it while driving.” Said one villager “I bought it for 140,000 Kyat and paid 400,000 kyat for the license – that is a lot of money.”

READ MORE---> Soldiers take civilian motorbikes for personal use...

Nasaka deceives people in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State (KPN): Nasaka, Burma’s border security force promises to get things done by taking money but actually they cheat the people in Maungdaw town, said a local villager on condition of anonymity.

On May 7, some businessmen from Kyauk Pun Dhu (Sitar Pawrika) of Maungdaw Township with 17 heads of cattle were arrested by Nasaka of Inn Din Nasaka camp while they were crossing the Burma-Bangladesh border. The businessmen had necessary documents from Nasaka authorities after paying it money.

But, they were arrested by another Nasaka group which said they had not given permission. So they would have to pay them. The Nasaka took away five heads of cattle. The businessmen had paid Kyat 120,000 per cattle, and the Nasaka took Kyat 1,440,000 from them, said a close relative of a businessman

Similarly, on April 27, a woman Fatema Khatun, daughter of Azar Meah from Wabek village of Maungdaw Township held a religious gathering by inviting some persons after taking verbal permission from the immigration officer of Nasaka. She paid money for this. Nasaka comprises the police, the Burmese Army, Sarapa, immigration and customs personnel.

However, when the function began, a section of Nasaka accompanied by Sarapa (Military Intelligence) personnel went to the function and asked Fatema Khatun, to show the permit to them. She failed because the permission was verbal. She was taken to the nearby Naska camp and extorted Kyat 500,000 for her release, said a relative.

A trader from the locality said, “Nasaka is using double standards towards the Rohingya community to extort money from them.”

READ MORE---> Nasaka deceives people in Maungdaw...

Australia supports Rohingya refugees

(KPN)- Australia will provide A$ 700,000 to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar. The fund will be used to construct improved shelters for 492 Roingya families, as part of UNHCR’s on-going shelter replacement project.

Announcing the new funding pattern, the Australian High Commissioner Dr Justin Lee said, “Australia’s funding of the UNHCR will provide better living conditions including more space, privacy and protection to around 3,000 refugees, until a durable solution can be found.”

Australia also granted earlier this month A$ 3.2 million in humanitarian aid to Rohingya people living in Burma’s northern Arakan (Rakhine) State. This takes Australia’s total contribution to A$ 8 million in this financial year to assist Rohingya in both Bangladesh and Burma.

“This reflects Australia’s commitment to a permanent solution to the Rohingya issue, “Dr Lee said.

The UN refugee agency warmly welcomed the Australian donation. UNHCR representative in Bangladesh, Pia Prytz Phiri said, “Australia’s commitment to the refugee programme in Bangladesh, especially by funding new shelters has already resulted in improvement in the health and protection of the refugees.

According to insiders, the Burmese military junta will provide 30 percent and the UNHCR will provide 70 percent for the development of health, education and communication of Rohingya people in Arakan State. But, the Burmese military regime will take the 30 percent of the funds from Rohingya businessmen.

The Deputy Home Minister Brig General Phone Swe had already taken some millions of kyat from Rohingya businessmen for the development of health, education and communication in northern Arakan, said a businessman from Maungdaw Town

READ MORE---> Australia supports Rohingya refugees...

Random arrest and extortion by Nasaka in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State (KPN): Nasaka Burma’s border security force’s random arrest and extortion from the Rohingya people on false and baseless cases has put the community into severe problems in Maungaw Township, according to an elder from Maungdaw.

According to a school teacher from Maungdaw, Commander Major Kyi Hlaing of Nasaka area No.6, under the Maungdaw Township arrested some Rohingya people on the allegation of being involved in human trafficking and possesing Bangladeshi mobile phones. He is infamous for his notorious activities against the Rohingya community. The people were very unhappy when the Commander was appointed in the Nasaka area, because he resorted to brutal torture after arrest and extorted money. Some of the arrestees are as follows:

On April 25, Jaffar (22), son of Sultan, from Kyauk Pyin Seik (Naribill) of Maungdaw township was arrested by Naska personnel of Nasaka area No.6, on the allegation that he was involved in human trafficking and was released after paying kyat 500,000.

Maulana Islam (24), son of Sayed Akber, from Kyauk Pyin Seik (Naribil) east village was arrested by the Nasaka on the same accusation on April 25. He was also released after paying kyat 500,000.

Maulana Mohamed Amin (40), son of Nazir Ahmed, from Hla Poe Khuang (Sarfoddin Bill) was arrested by Nasaka on April 15, on the same accusation, and was released after paying kyat 2.5 million.

Hafez Zamil (35), son of Maulana Fazal Karim from Kyauk Pyin Seik (Naribill) village on April 10, and was released after paying kyat 250,000.

Similarly, the Nasaka Captain Bolay of Nasaka area No.7 of Maungdaw Township arrested six villagers on May 4, on the allegation that they were holding mobile phones, and came back from Malaysia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to aide of Nasaka. They are as follows:

Hashim Ullah (30), son of Mokter Ahmed,
Nur Alam (18), son of Amir Hussain,
Boshir Ullah (19), son of Amir Hussain,
Jamil (18), son of Mokter Ahmed,
Noor Mohamed (50), son of Habibur Rahaman and
Nor Hussain( 50), son of Omra Meah

were arrested on May 4 by Nasaka on allegation that they have mobiles phones and came from KSA and Malaysia. They all are from Than Da (Sanda Para) village of Maungdaw Township. However, they were released after paying kyat 150,000 to 1,000,000 each in keeping with their financial status.

A village elder said, “Recently the Nasaka authorities have increased persecution against the Rohingya people and taking money from villagers on false allegations. This is the method using by Nasaka to cripple the Rohingya economically.”

READ MORE---> Random arrest and extortion by Nasaka in Maungdaw...

Arbitrary arrest of Kachin Baptist youth leader - Hkalen Zau Nan

Written by KNG

A Kachin Baptist youth leader, Hkalen Zau Nan has been detained in a prison cell in Waingmaw town in Burma's northern Kachin State even though he has not committed any crime, said local sources.

Zau Nan is a youth secretary of the Shatapru Baptist Church, one of largest churches in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. He was arrested from his home in Shatapru on May 6 by policemen from Waingmaw, said Shatapru residents.

According to a local Baptist youth, Zau Nan was detained by Waingmaw police after the murder of a motorcycle-carry owner Maung Ming Maung or Win Bo, 28, who died of stab injuries on his back on the road towards Nawng Hkying village from Waingmaw town. He was suspected to have been stabbed by his passenger.

Sources close to Zau Nan said the police arrested Zau Nan from his home in Shatapru near Nawng Hkying divided by the Irrawaddy River because they found Zau Nan's high school student identity card four feet from Win Bo's body.

Zau Nan had lost his ID card over six years ago. Now Zau Nan is a graduate student studying his Bachelor of Art and Religious Studies (BARS) in the Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT) in Insein Township in Rangoon, said Shatapru Baptist Church's sources.

Local Baptist youths believe that the arrest of Zau Nan was made intentionally on the orders of the Burmese military authorities as part of the spiritual warfare on Kachin youths, local Baptist youths told KNG today.

Zau Nan has no criminal record and he is kind, simple and a very religious young man, said his colleagues from the Church.

The Baptist youths in Shatapru Church are seething in anger and upset about the arrest of their innocent secretary Hkalen Zau Nan by the Waingmaw police, said a local Baptist youth.

The youths in Shatapru are watched by Burmese military intelligence because the quarter is dominated by Kachins. There have been conflicts often between them in the quarter, according to a local youth.

In prison cells in police stations and government jails in Myitkyina, there are mainly Kachin youths, said people who recently visited the prison cell in No. 1 Police Station and Zion Jail in town.

READ MORE---> Arbitrary arrest of Kachin Baptist youth leader - Hkalen Zau Nan...

Political Prisoners Suffering Ill Health: AAPP

By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News

Many Burmese political prisoners who were recently sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in remote prisons around the country are suffering from physical and mental health problems, according to Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP).

According to a report issued by the AAPP on Monday titled “Burma’s Prisons and Labour Camps: Silent Killing Fields,” at least 127 political prisoners are in poor health and 19 of them require urgent medical attention, including Aung San Suu Kyi, comedian Zarganar, female labor activist Su Su Nway and 88 Generation Students group leader Min Ko Naing.

The report blamed the military government for its “cruel and inhumane practices,” which include the use of systematic torture and the denial of healthcare to political prisoners, most of whom are pro-democracy activists.

“Not only are there more political prisoners than ever before, they are facing harsher sentences,” said Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the AAPP. “Leading activists have been transferred to the most remote prisons, where there are no prison doctors, and they are more likely to contract diseases like malaria and tuberculosis.”

The report said that more than 350 activists have been sentenced since October last year, and the majority of them have been transferred to remote jails away from their families. The prison transfers make it difficult for family members to visit and provide essential medicine.

“Many political prisoners have already died in prison,” said Bo Kyi. “This has to stop. The regime must end its cruel and inhumane practices, and release all political prisoners.”

Since November 2008, at least 228 political prisoners have been transferred to remote prisons far from their families. The long-term consequences for the health of political prisoners who have been transferred will be very serious, said the report.

There are 44 prisons in Burma and at least 50 labor camps. Some of them do not have a prison hospital and at least 12 of the prisons do not even have a prison doctor.

READ MORE---> Political Prisoners Suffering Ill Health: AAPP...

Burma’s rural economy on verge of collapse: economist

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Unless Burma’s military rulers inject cash into the rural credit system, the country’s rural economy will likely collapse as farmers in rural areas face a “chronic shortage of credit”, an economist told Mizzima.

Sean Turnell, an Economics Professor at Macquarie University in Australia, said that because of a lack of a proper economic policy to uplift Burma’s rural economy, the rural credit system is “completely dried up” and in desperate need of cash assistance. [JEG's: there is an airport in nappytown wanting more attention at the moment...:-( ]

“I am getting report after report that there is a chronic shortage of credit in cash,” said Turnell, adding the rural economy is suffering despite the ruling junta having significant foreign reserves derived from the sale of natural gas.

Turnell said the estimate of the junta’s foreign reserves from the sale of natural gas during fiscal year of 2007-08 is about US $5 billion. However, these reserves are not spent on developing the rural economy, which is on the verge of collapsing with the credit system “completely drying up”.

Meanwhile, a report by the Financial Times, citing a new International Monetary Fund report on Burma, said natural gas exports have swollen the country’s foreign exchange reserves to a record high of US $3.6 billion – despite investment into social welfare remaining minimal.

The as of yet unpublished IMF report, which the Financial Times cited, said unless the Burmese government makes improvements in its business climate, the future of the country is “bleak”.

The IMF argued Burma's economy was hit hard by the global economic slowdown and the devastating cyclone of May 2008, which killed 140,000 people and caused the growth in gross domestic product to slow to about 4.5 percent last year, down from 5.5 percent a year earlier.

The country’s ruling military generals, however, do not include all of its gas revenue in the annual public account, instead reporting only a portion of the foreign revenues, which are calculated at the 30-year-old official exchange rate of six kyat to a dollar, according to the report. Currently, a US dollar on the black market fetches approximately 1,050 kyat.

Turnell, agreeing with the report’s calculation, said the Burmese junta’s practice of accounting for foreign exchange revenue at the old and obsolete exchange rate in effect captures less than one per cent of the total budget revenue from the sale of gas for fiscal year 2007-08, as opposed to the 57 percent it would account for if valued at the market rate.

He estimates that Burma’s generals will earn between US $3-3.5 billion from the sale of gas for fiscal year 2008-09.

But, at the same time, farmers are facing an acute shortage of investment funds, he said. Many farmers are forced to sell their products immediately after harvest and to buy the same food that they are selling for consumption.

Turnell, who has closely followed Burma’s economy for several years, said the global economic slowdown has indirectly impacted Burma’s agriculture sector, which largely depends on exports to neighboring countries.

With the declining price of rice, farmers, particularly in the Cyclone Nargis-hit Irrawaddy delta, will find it extremely difficult to plant paddy in the upcoming monsoon, as they are heavily indebted and will try to reduce cost, he maintained.

In the absence of a rural credit system being implemented by the government, farmers will again be dependent on local money lenders, who usually demand high interest rates, up to 20 percent, leaving farmers with an insurmountable debt obligation.

Turnell said that to come out of this crisis, in the short term the Burmese government could inject some of its gas revenue into a rural credit system through the Myanmar Agriculture Development Bank (MADB) or another existing institution.

Alternatively, he said the junta could simply remove restrictions that forbid commercial banks from lending to farmers.

“It’s so bizarre. I can never understand this particular law, which actually outlaws the commercial banks from lending to the farmers,” he added.

He also warned that unless the government comes in to help the farmers in the rural areas, “food shortages could be on the card in later the year.”

READ ALSO: Farmers forced to buy seed by the Military Junta Army
Farmers live under duress of Burmese Army

READ MORE---> Burma’s rural economy on verge of collapse: economist...

Seven year old girl raped in Maungdaw

by Nyein Chan

Dhaka (Mizzima) – A seven-year old girl belonging to Kyaukle village in Maungdaw Township in Burma's western Arakan state was raped on May 7, local residents said.

Local residents said that the minor girl from Kyaukle village, about six miles from north of Maungdaw, was raped at about 7 p.m. on the way back to her house after buying medicines for her ailing father.

"She went to a nearby drug store to buy medicines for her father. When she reached the dark corner of a school, she was gagged and dragged to the nearby forest by a soldier and raped," a local resident from Shwesar block of Maungdaw told Mizzima.

A relative of the victim, talking to Mizzima, said a search was conducted after the girl failed to return home on time. She was found in the nearby forest, about 300 yards from a school, at about 2 a.m. (local time).

"When she didn't come back home on time, the girl's family informed their relatives and then began searching. We started to search for her at about 10 p.m. She was found unconscious in the nearby forest," the local said.

The girl has been admitted to a hospital and is under treatment.

"She was admitted to the hospital only on Friday [a day after the incident] and was unconscious for about a day. Now she has regained consciousness and is out of danger," a staff from Maungdaw hospital said.

The girl, after gaining consciousness, said the perpetrator might have been a soldier from the nearby garrison engineer’s unit stationed at the school, a relative told Mizzima.

Maj. Kyi Aung from Maungdaw Township, Aungbala village based No. 6 Border Inspection and Command (Na Sa Ka) visited the scene of the crime and investigated. But the culprit has not yet been identified, a source close to border security forces also known as the Na Sa Ka said.

"He [the major] visited the school in Kyaukle village where the soldiers were stationed on May 10. But he has not been able to identify the culprit yet", he said.

The garrison engineer’s unit is from Sittwe based Garrison Engineer Battalion and they have been sent to erect border fencing.

Na Sa Ka’s regional commander told the girl's parents not to report the incident to senior officials and promised to pay some money for medical expenses and as compensation, the source close to Na Sa Ka said.

Bangladesh-based, Burmese news agency 'Narinjira' reported a similar case which said an army officer raped a girl from Thri Konbaung village in Maungdaw Township last month.

Reported: 11 May 2009

READ MORE---> Seven year old girl raped in Maungdaw...

Burma and Bangladesh to Meet on Pressing Issues

By Takaloo, Dhaka (Narinajara): Burma and Bangladesh have scheduled a foreign minister level meeting from 15 - 17 May in Burma's new capital Naypyidaw to discuss emergency bilateral issues, according to local media.

The Bangladeshi diplomatic team led by Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will leave for Naypyidaw on 14 May for the three-day meeting, which will focus on the dispute over the border fence, the maritime boundary, repatriation of Rohingya refugees, and restarting the highway project, reported Zai Zai Din, a Bengali newspaper.

Starting from the dispute over the maritime boundary that was averted by diplomatic resolutions last November, Burma and Bangladesh have been locked in tensions again and again concerning territorial issues.

According to border sources, Burma's recent border fence project that was undertaken without official consultation with Bangladesh has worsened relations between the two friendly neighbors.

A meeting between the border forces of the two countries was held recently to discus the construction of fence structures along the border, but ended without any understanding between the two parties.

According to recent reports, Burma's Nasaka warned Bangladesh about making a big deal out of the border issues, and Bangladesh's BDR representatives stated that they would not tolerate Burma's further construction in contravention of international border laws.

Burma shares a border of 320 kilometers with Bangladesh, and it is mostly demarcated by the Naff River.

In addition to the border tensions, the issue of Rohingya refugees poses a longstanding burden on bilateral ties between the two countries. Bangladesh is now on alert along the border for a feared influx of refugees due to Burma's border fence construction, while repatriation of current refugees has been stalled for more than three years by Burma's refusal to take them back.

Apart from finding solutions to territorial tensions, the high level Bangladesh diplomatic team will also propose restarting the cross-border highway that was agreed upon by the two nations in 2005.

A cross-border businessman said that increasing bilateral trade between the two nations was as critical as resolving the border tension.

READ MORE---> Burma and Bangladesh to Meet on Pressing Issues...

Billionaire Branson joins hunger strike

No tucker ... Richard Branson is on a three-day hunger strike to protest the situation in Darfur / Reuters

(News.com) -BILLIONAIRE Virgin boss Richard Branson is on a hunger strike.

He began the three-day fast after actress Mia Farrow, ailing after almost two weeks without food, asked him to take over her protest to show solidarity with people in Sudan's Darfur region.

More than a dozen aid agencies have been expelled from the region.

The British entrepreneur said he was "honoured" to take up the cause.

"This is the first time I've deprived my stomach to get political change," he told Entertainment Weekly.

"I'm a great believer in doing everything once in life. So it'll be interesting to see how one can cope. She said that if they haven't found anybody else to take over after three days they might extend it, so I'm hoping they get somebody else."

On the first evening, he admitted he was feeling the effects of no food.

"... I certainly could do with a decent meal already," he said. "I just had a couple games of chess with somebody who doesn't normally beat me, and he beat me both times.

"I've been walking around and expending lots of energy - all the things I shouldn't be doing. I'm trying not to be grumpy with friends. That's the key thing. And remembering what we're doing it for: There are people starving as a result of the government's decision to expel the aid agencies. And in four-day's time, I'll have a big meal whereas people in Darfur won't.

Branson said the hunger strike would continue to be handed from person to person.

"We cannot stand and watch as 1 million people suffer. We all need to stand up and demand that international aid is restored and that the people of Darfur are protected and given the chance to live in peace," he said.

A Farrow spokesman said her health had deteriorated in the past few days and her doctor requested that she end the liquids-only fast she began 12 days ago to protest at Khartoum's expulsion of more than a dozen aid agencies from Darfur.

Farrow's spokesman said last month that her doctor expected the slightly built actress could not fast for more than three weeks.

Farrow, who was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the UN children's agency UNICEF in 2000, has been campaigning for years to raise funds for children in conflict zones such as Darfur, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Chad and Nigeria.

The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March, charging him with masterminding mass killings and deportations in Darfur in western Sudan.

Since then, Sudan has expelled 13 foreign and three domestic humanitarian aid agencies, accusing them of collaborating with the Hague-based ICC.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report on the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, that the expulsions had put "over one million people at life-threatening risk" in Darfur.

UN officials say that as many as 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.7 million driven from their homes in Darfur in almost six years of ethnic and political violence.

Khartoum, however, says 10,000 people have died. Some 4.7 million people rely on humanitarian aid in Darfur.

- with Reuters

READ MORE---> Billionaire Branson joins hunger strike...

Security Council Silent on Burma’s Child Victims

By THALIF DEEN/ IPS WRITER
The Irrawaddy News

UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council, which has remained virtually paralyzed on Palestine because of strong Western support for Israel, is considered equally ineffective on Burma (Myanmar) because of Chinese and Russian backing for the military junta in that politically troubled Southeast Asian nation.

A 60-page study by the New York-based Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict released here says it is time for the Security Council to "move swiftly" to protect the tens of thousands of Burmese children who are "raped, abducted and recruited as soldiers by the country's military and non-state armed groups (NSAGs)."

Asked why the Security Council continues to remain silent on Burma, Julia Freedson, director of Watchlist, told IPS there are several possible reasons.

"Monitoring reports being sent to the Security Council, through official UN channels about violations against children, are dismal," she said.

This is in part because authorities in Burma, and other key countries such as Thailand, block access by the United Nations to important segments of the country, thereby preventing documentation, she added.

However, many reliable sources from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have produced trustworthy documentation of sexual violence, killing and maiming, forced displacement and other violations which the Security Council should give more weight to, Freedson added.

Last year, both China and Russia exercised a rare double veto against a Western-sponsored resolution critical of the military regime, officially dubbed the State Peace Development Council (SPDC).

The Chinese and Russian support has prevented any UN sanctions against the SPDC, which is battling ethnic minorities complaining of military aggression and human rights violations.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member, has opposed any political involvement in the armed conflict, which it considers an internal affair outside the purview of the Security Council.

Asked how confident she was that the Security Council will eventually take any action—in the context of the opposition from Russia and China—Freedson said: "The geopolitical factors are a concern."

However, she pointed out, the dynamic in the Council in 2009 is different than it was last year.

Following last week's open debate in the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict, she said, "The sense is that there is now a deeper commitment to moving forward on the Council's obligations to hold perpetrators of violations against children accountable."

"We hope that Myanmar will not be an exception," Freedson added.

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

Armed forces have also occupied schools, recruited teachers and students for forced labor and planted landmines close to schools or on the paths to schools.

Asked how violations by the military junta compare with other countries, Freedson said violations in Burma are certainly on par with some of those countries that the international community considers the worst in the world like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or Afghanistan, where child mortality is comparable due to denial of humanitarian assistance and medical treatment by the Burmese authorities.

"On the issue of child soldiers, we don’t have precise figures because of lack of access for this type of monitoring, but trustworthy estimates have put the numbers in the tens of thousands," Freedson said.

If this is the case, she said, it could be among the highest, if not the highest number in the world.

At the same time, there are larger geopolitical factors inside the Security Council which have hampered action on Burma, Freedson said.

For example, the Security Council's special Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict deliberated for six months on their conclusions on Burma last year.

"It is our understanding that this was largely due to stalling tactics by China and others which do not want to see human rights issues in Myanmar discussed inside the Security Council," she said.

And when the Working Group finally issued their conclusions, they were disappointing and weak, she noted.

The Watchlist report includes several policy recommendations, including targeted measures on the Burmese government and relevant non-state armed groups, particularly if no real progress is achieved in ending the recruitment and use of children within a specified time frame. These sanctions should include travel bans, asset freezes or arms embargoes.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been asked to provide information to the Security Council on all six grave violations called for under Resolution 1612, including sexual violence, attacks against schools, and denial of humanitarian assistance.

"Too much time has been wasted denying the extent of the crisis facing children in Myanmar's conflict zones," Freedson said. The United Nations must act now to protect these children and bring the perpetrators to justice, she added.

READ MORE---> Security Council Silent on Burma’s Child Victims...

Generals Call the Ceasefire Groups’ Hands

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

If the ethnic ceasefire groups agree to follow proposals by Burma’s military junta to transform their battalions into border guard forces, they will be left with no room to maneuver politically. Either way, stability across the country is under threat.

The dilemma facing several of Burma’s ethic armies comes after high-ranking officers from Naypyidaw made several visits to the ethnic groups’ bases last week to outline blueprints for the post-election period that would entail the former insurgents submitting to the command of the Burmese army, also known as the Tatmadaw.

Among the groups that sat with the junta officials last week is the largest armed ethnic group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), a 20,000-strong army based in Shan State which is closely associated with the drugs trade.

Other groups include the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a Kokang group called the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the National Democratic Alliance Army, which is based in Shan State.

According to a copy of the blueprint obtained by The Irrawaddy, none of the ethnic ceasefire groups would retain the right to manage day-to-day affairs independently and its command structure would have to share—and, in certain positions, be submissive to—the Tatmadaw’s regional commanders.

Under the plan outlined in the leaked blueprint, one Burmese officer would share command of each ethnic ceasefire group battalion alongside two ethnic commanders. Burmese military personnel would also assume several other significant posts in each battalion.

According to the junta’s guidelines, the ceasefire groups have to respond to the proposal in the coming months. Military training for the ceasefire groups has been penciled in for October.

“The ceasefire groups should think carefully about their future,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military analyst based on the Sino-Burmese border. “This is a crucial time for them.

“If the junta’s plan comes to fruition, there will be no more UWSA or KIA—only political wings, such as the UWSP [United Wa State Party] and the KIO [Kachin Independence Organization].”

Observers say that if the ceasefire groups do not accept the Tatmadaw’s border guard force proposal, the fragile ceasefire agreements between many of the ethnic groups and the junta could be broken; and the border trade zone along Burma’s eastern border could suddenly become a battleground again.

Aside from the UWSA, the other ethnic ceasefire groups are not as strong nowadays as they were before they entered into ceasefire agreements. The Tatmadaw now has several outposts positioned in the ethnic group-controlled areas.

However, according to Khuensai Jaiyen, the editor-in-chief of the Shan Herald Agency for News, ceasefire groups such as the Shan State Army (North) would still be a force to be reckoned with if they were called into action, even though they have a much smaller army than the UWSA.

According to intelligence sources, junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe has indicated to his officers that handling the ethnic ceasefire groups would be one of their biggest challenges in the coming years.

“Apart from non-violent dissidents such as Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD [National League for Democracy], the generals in Naypyidaw see this as another threat to their administration since there are no concrete political solutions to ceasefire agreements,” said a political observer in Rangoon who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said that facing down the ceasefire groups would be different from Suu Kyi and other dissidents. “If the junta wants to crack down on the non-violent opposition, they can simply open more prison doors. But the ceasefire groups—like the junta—also know how to use firepower to get their way,” he said.

The issue also encompasses geopolitical concerns for the regime. China, being Burma’s northern neighbor and one of its biggest trade and military partners, enjoys a strong influence on all the ceasefire groups based near the Sino-Burmese border, especially the UWSA and the KIA.

China is scheduled to build a strategic oil and gas pipeline stretching from western Burma to Yunnan Province, passing through much ethnic territory.

China, as former comrades-in-arms, would not ignore the UWSA and the Kokang if they were in crisis, said Aung Kyaw Zaw.

In recent years, the question of Burma’s stability, development and national reconciliation has become a main concern for Beijing.

In April, Chen Bingde, the Chief-of-Staff of the People's Liberation Army, told the visiting Burmese general Tin Aye that Beijing hoped Burma could achieve social stability, economic development and national reconciliation.

However, at last week’s meeting between junta officers and the UWSA, one of the Wa leaders reportedly rebuked the Burmese regime’s offer angrily, calling it a recipe for disunity.

Other ethnic leaders are going to have to make big decisions in the near future—decisions that could tread dangerously close to plunging the region into instability and bloodshed.

READ MORE---> Generals Call the Ceasefire Groups’ Hands...

Story of 'Suu Kyi' Swimmer Widely Questioned

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

The news reported on Thursday that a US citizen swam across Inya Lake to the home of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon, where he stayed for a three-day period, has become the talk of Burma.

The man, identified by the government as John Willian [sic] Yeattaw, was reportedly arrested on Wednesday morning as he was swimming away from Suu Kyi’s home.

The lakeside home of Aung San Suu Kyi on Inya Lake in Rangoon, with four policemen in a boat in the foreground. (Photo:AP)

Because of the unexplained sequence of events, many Rangoon residents discount the truth of the government account, which appeared in state-backed media. No other details or motives were provided.

The alleged intrusion into her private compound comes as Suu Kyi’s house arrest is set to expire this month.

“Security personnel found a suspicious looking foreigner swimming with the help of a 5-litre drinking water bottle in Inya Lake” at 5.30 a.m. On Wednesday, the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported. The report was not accompanied by a photograph of the intruder.

The report said “he secretly entered the house and stayed there” on Sunday night and remained there through Tuesday night.

The US Embassy in Rangoon said it has made repeated requests to see the man, which have been denied.

“We would like to confirm the information ourselves and to speak with the man directly,” said embassy spokesman Richard Mei.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s home (see circle) on the south side of Inya Lake in Rangoon and the location of the arrest of a US citizen (see box) near Prome Road.

According to Rangoon residents and journalists contacted by The Irrawaddy, many citizens in the former capital do not believe the story as it has been reported.

“The news of an American guy swimming to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house is now the talk of the town here,” said a Rangoon journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said many people think the story was fabricated by the government as propaganda, intended to discredit Suu Kyi and provide an excuse not to release her from house arrest.

A Burmese social worker in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy that the story is confusing.

“Yes, it is the hottest news in the town,” she said. “But people are saying that nobody knows if it is really true. Only Daw Aung San Suu Kyi can tell the truth. And nobody can ask her directly.”

For some members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and other dissidents at home and abroad, the news raised concern about the Nobel laureate’s security.

“We cannot confirm yet that the news is true or not. However, this is a very dangerous situation for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi if the event really happened,” said Han Thar Myint, an NLD spokesman. “As we know, security forces are supposed to be on the bank of the lake at her compound.”

An exiled dissident group, the Democratic Party for New Society, announced on Thursday that the incident showed that Suu Kyi’s life was at risk.

Recently the junta rejected an appeal by Suu Kyi’s lawyer for her release, saying the “grounds for her appeal were not strong enough.”

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of past 19 years. In 2008, the junta extended her detention for one more year. Her attorney and the government differ on the date when her detention is scheduled to end. According to NLD spokesman Han Thar Myint, the detention is set to expire in May, but authorities said it will be in November.

Authorities allow only her doctor and two caretakers access inside Suu Kyi’s home. Her family doctor, Tin Myo Win, regularly visits her every first Thursday each month, NLD sources said. Tin Myo Win was scheduled to visit her on Thursday, but he was not available when The Irrawaddy tried to contact him.

If elements of the story are true, the tantalizing questions are what were the man’s motives and did he have any connection with a government, a political group, or was the incident the act of one individual working alone?

In the past, foreigners who entered Burma and who tried to engage in political work or activities have been arrested and threatened with imprisonment. Usually, they are deported.

The US Campaign for Burma, a leading Burma campaign group in the United States, denied any connection with the American who was named in the newspaper report. Other exiled pro-democracy groups have also denied involvement.

Following the incident, US citizens in Burma are reportedly under increased surveillance by Burmese authorities, according to sources in Rangoon.

Two US journalists were reportedly deported from the country on Thursday after authorities learned that they gave a journalism training course in Mandalay.

Suu Kyi’s neighbors said on Friday that authorities had changed security guard personnel at her compound.

Recently, increased personal attacks on Suu Kyi have appeared on Internet blogs and some observers say they are the work of pro-junta elements.

“Last month, I told the chairman of the NLD that we should expect that there could be some unusual news and attacks on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of the expiration of her detention date,” said Thein Nyunt, a senior NLD member.

READ MORE---> Story of 'Suu Kyi' Swimmer Widely Questioned...

British MPs urge UN to invoke R2P in Burma

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima)- Over 60 British Members of Parliament have called on the United Nations to form a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity committed by Burma’s ruling junta and to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in relation to the crisis in Burma.

The MPs including the Former Foreign Office Ministers, Ian McCartney and Keith Vaz have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM), which was tabled by MP John Bercow, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma, expressing concern at the deteriorating human rights situation in Burma.

The MPs, in the EDM, urged the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in relation to the Burmese junta’s appalling human rights records particularly a military campaign against its ethnic nationalities.

The EMD “urges Her Majesty's Government, along with other governments, to propose the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma; and urges the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect in relation to the crisis in Burma.”

Rights groups and activists accused Burma’s military government of using policies to terrorize its citizens, more severely in remote areas of the country, where ethnic minorities live, in order to maintain its stranglehold on power.

The Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a campaign group that has been lobbying for democratic change in Burma, in a statement on Thursday said the Burmese junta’s policies include the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers, and child soldiers.

The junta’s army has also destroyed over 3,300 villages in eastern Burma since 1996, and launched attacks on civilians resulting in displacement of about a million people, the group said.

John Bercow, who had visited the Thailand-Burma border and the India-Burma border, where Burmese ethnics live in precarious states, said he had heard horrific stories from victims of human rights violations.

“I have sat face to face with victims of unspeakable torture, including women and children who have seen their loved ones murdered. They have looked me in the eye and pleaded for the world to hear their cry,” Bercow said in the statement.

“It is time their cries were answered and the junta's crimes investigated. The people of Burma urgently need the freedom and justice they have been denied for so long," he added.

The Early Day Motions are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons in the British Parliament. While very few EDMs are actually debated, they highlight the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause or view point.

Alexa Papadouris, CSW's Advocacy Director said their group calls on “the British Government and other Governments to take this call seriously and to initiate a commission of inquiry into the junta's crimes against humanity.”

The concept of R2P was adopted in 2005 World Summit, where governments and world leaders agreed that they have a responsibility to protect when a government is unable or unwilling to protect its civilians from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.

In implementing R2P, first peaceful measures can be adopted through the use of economic, political, diplomatic, and legal tools but if this fails the International community can use collective force through the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, only as a last resort.

READ MORE---> British MPs urge UN to invoke R2P in Burma...

Aung San Suu Kyi says swimming visitor stayed downstairs Read more: "Aung San Suu Kyi says swimming visitor stayed downstairs - Monsters and Critics"

Yangon (M&C)- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has told authorities that a US citizen who swam to her house on Inya Lake and stayed three nights had entered illegally and was kept downstairs, authorities said Friday.

John William Yeattaw, 53, was arrested at 5:30 am Wednesday at Inya Lake, which rims Suu Kyi's family home, where she has been kept under house arrest for the past six years.

Yeattaw reportedly arrived in Yangon Saturday and managed to enter Suu Kyi's compound by swimming there Sunday night. He secretly stayed at Suu Kyi's house until swimming away early Wednesday, state media reported.

Myanmar authorities questioned Suu Kyi about the incident on Thursday, and were informed that the she deemed her visitor's entry 'illegal' and 'unacceptable,' and had kept him downstairs in her home-cum-jail for the entire time, security sources who asked to remain anonymous said.

Suu Kyi's helper, Khin Win, and Khin Win's daughter, Ma Win Pa Pa, also live in the downstairs portion of the two-storey Aung San family home.

Authorities found in Yeattaw's bag a flashlight, a camera, pliers and 100 dollars in cash plus kyat currency notes.

Suu Kyi's compound is under heavy guard and constant surveillance. She was last arrested on May 27, 2003, and has been kept under house arrest in near-complete isolation.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent 13 of the past 19 years under detention in her family's Yangon compound.

Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San, an independence hero who was assassinated in 1948. She returned to Myanmar in 1988 to tend to her ailing mother and became caught up in the country's nascent pro-democracy movement, of which she swiftly became a leading figure.

READ MORE---> Aung San Suu Kyi says swimming visitor stayed downstairs Read more: "Aung San Suu Kyi says swimming visitor stayed downstairs - Monsters and Critics"...

British MP’s accuse junta of crimes against humanity

(DVB)–Over 60 British Members of Parliament, including two former Foreign Office ministers, have called for a United Nations commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma.

The Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by John Bercow MP, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma, urges the UN to act on the campaign of ethnic cleansing that the ruling State Peace and Development Council is carrying out against ethnic nationalities.

The EDM was supported by human rights campaign group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), and comes just two weeks before imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is due for release from house arrest.

“CSW strongly urges the British government and other governments to take this call seriously and to initiate a commission of inquiry into the junta's crimes against humanity,” said Alexa Papadouris, advocacy director of CSW.

Human rights violations highlighted in the EDM include use of rape as a weapon of war, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers, child soldiers, and the imprisonment of over 2,100 political prisoners.

“I have visited the ethnic peoples on both the Thailand-Burma border and the India-Burma border with CSW, and have been shocked by the horrific stories I have heard from victims of this barbaric regime,“ said John Bercow.

The EDM coincides with a statement released on Wednesday by Thailand-based Burma Lawyers’ Council that said the extent and severity of crimes committed by the junta are enough to warrant accusations of war crimes and genocide.

Similarly, last month, former senior legal adviser to the International Criminal Court, Morten Bergsmo, stated that the Burmese army’s use of child soldiers could constitute a war crime.

Reporting by Rosalie Smith

READ MORE---> British MP’s accuse junta of crimes against humanity...

Than Shwe's Genocide Children

READ MORE---> Than Shwe's Genocide Children...

Ban Ki-moon: Buddha's Teaching Can Help Global Peace

(Narinjara) -By Takaloo, Dhaka UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his message delivered to the world communities on Wednesday that the Buddha's teaching could help the world become peaceful.

"All of us can learn from the Buddha's spirit of compassion. His timeless teachings can help us to navigate the many global problems we face today," said Ban Ki-moon in his message.

His message came ahead of the Buddha's birthday, traditionally known as Vesak or Visakah, a full-moon which this year fell on 9 May, 2009.

Vesak is the name of the month of the Buddha's birth in the Indian lunar calendar. Buddhist communities around the world celebrate the full-moon day with great reverence and piety as the day synchronized the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha.

"The need for global solidarity may seem like a modern concept, but it is not. More than 2,500 years ago, the Buddha taught that nothing exists in isolation, and that all phenomena are interdependent. Just as profoundly, he taught that we cannot be happy as long as others suffer, and that when we do reach out, we discover the best in ourselves," he added.

He also urged every individual to resolve to help people who are suffering, in order to secure a better future for all, in his message marking Vesak.

READ MORE---> Ban Ki-moon: Buddha's Teaching Can Help Global Peace...

Rights violations along 180-mile gas pipeline shocking, ongoing, says new report

Mon Son and Blai Mon - IMNA

“Pervasive human rights abuses” are occurring along an extensive overland pipeline in southern Burma, says a report released by a rights group yesterday. Rape, summary execution, forced labor and other abuses are the deliberate, predictable result of the pipeline, says the group, as is the confiscation of almost 15,000 acres of land.

The report, released by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), deals with the government-owned Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay pipeline, which branches off the Yadana gas project in Tenasserim Division. The Yadana project has received intense international criticism for its role in rights abuses; the consortium of international energy companies who control it have been sued in 3 countries, with one investor pulling out.

According to HURFOM, abuses along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay pipeline are comparable in type, though not in scale, to those documented in relation to the Yadana project; at 183-miles, the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay pipeline is more than four times longer than the 40-mile Yadana project.

HURFOM organizes abuses documented in the report into two broad categories. In the first, the group argues that a threefold increase in Burmese army deployments to the area since is “fundamentally due” to the pipeline.

“The predictable result of deploying large numbers of soldiers and encouraging them to extract what they can from the countryside, without oversight,” says the group, is a “raft of abuses.” According to the group, these include: 12,000 acres of land confiscation for barracks and army agriculture projects, forced labor, 62 incidents of rape and the commandeering of food and property.

In the second category, abuses along the pipeline are also a “deliberate, calculated part of the pipeline security effort” in which “battalions seeking to protect the pipeline from insurgents do so largely by targeting civilians.” According to HURFOM, this has entailed travel restrictions, forced relocation, and 68 incidents of torture and summary execution involving more than 600 victims.

Also related to pipeline security, HURFOM says it has confirmed that residents of more than 40 villages – including children as young as 12 – are required to work as forced laborers maintaining and guarding the pipeline. More than 2,400 acres of land, meanwhile, have been confiscated to ensure the pipeline’s route can be easily patrolled.

Making clear just how “ongoing” the abuses really are, a press release distributed to mark the report’s publication notes that, in just the last week, HURFOM has documented the summary execution of one villager and the burning of 36 homes. “In both cases,” says the release, “the army committed the abuses less than a mile from the pipeline.”

On the other side of Burma, meanwhile, construction of another pipeline is just beginning: in late March, Burma and China agreed to transport gas from the Shwe gas fields 1,200 miles overland to southwestern China.

Win Aung, coordinator of the Shwe Gas Movement, which opposes the project, says abuses like those documented by HURFOM have already begun. “The number of army battalions have already increased in the area,” Win Aung told IMNA today. “Human rights violations happened when the government started this project – and they are still happening.”

“They have not started building the pipeline yet. But they have to make the way clear for the pipeline – so villagers have to work as forced laborers clearing brush and digging.” These abuses are just the beginning, says Win Aung.

“According to what I see in the HURFOM report, these kinds of human rights violations – forced labor, torture, etc. – will happen in the Shwe Gas area. And the Shwe Gas pipeline is much longer than the pipeline to Kanbauk.”

READ MORE---> Rights violations along 180-mile gas pipeline shocking, ongoing, says new report...

Than Shwe's Genocide Children

READ MORE---> Than Shwe's Genocide Children...

The Futility of Western Sanctions against Burma

by Roger Mitton - Asia Sentinel

The righteous western powers and their damage to the long-suffering Burmese people

Last week, the European Union committed an irrational and counter-productive act. It renewed economic sanctions against Burma. The EU foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, also extended an arms embargo and a travel ban on top Burmese officials, as well as a freeze on Burma’s assets in Europe.

It is indisputable that Burma is ruled by an odious military junta that represses the citizens of that country in every facet of their lives. The junta ruthlessly persecutes the National League for Democracy, which won the 1990 elections in a landslide, yet has been prevented from taking power. And it continues to wrongfully detain the league’s leader, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

But despite all this, Burma-watchers across the entire spectrum of opinion increasingly now agree that in seeking to change that awful situation, there is little point in continuing a policy of economic containment. That policy, driven by Western governments, has not only failed miserably to alter the political dynamic in any way, but instead – and this is what is criminally despicable – it has greatly exacerbated the impoverishment of the Burmese people.

Even the long-suffering Suu Kyi has begun to ameliorate her original robust support for sanctions. Now, when asked if they should be continued, she says that the question should be put to the countries imposing the sanctions.

As her fellow Nobel laureate, East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta, said recently in Washington: "When you use sanctions to punish a country like Myanmar (Burma) for the perceived sins of the regime, it is the people who suffer the collateral damage."

Precisely. And almost everyone, including now the administration of US President Barack Obama, agrees that the sanctions policy has not worked.

Last month, on April 24, the International Crisis Group, a respected global institution headed by former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, issued a report entitled "Missing the Boat on Myanmar."

Regarding the imposition of sanctions, it stated boldly, unequivocally and rightly: "The EU should abandon a policy maintained by those with an eye on noble points rather than on new opportunities to promote change."

The noble-minded European politicians seem to forget that poverty levels in Burma are extreme, and that in contrast to their massive verbal expressions of outrage at the actions of the military junta, they provide minimal humanitarian aid to the citizens of that nation.

In neighboring Laos, for example, which is ruled by an authoritarian communist party which brooks no opposition whatsoever, the amount of external assistance per capita is around US$30 a year. In Cambodia, where corruption levels are among the highest in the world, it is $50. In poor destitute Burma, it is a shocking $2.70 a year – a figure roughly comparable to what each European cow is worth per day in subsidies.

The rightly condemnatory ICG report also reflects the changing views in Washington, where, following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s public admission that sanctions are not working, a serious reassessment of America’s Burma policy is underway.

Already Stephen Blake, director of the State Dept’s Office for Mainland Southeast Asia, has paid an unprecedented visit to Burma’s new capital of Naypidaw, where he met Foreign Minister U Nyan Win and other government officials – the very people who should be drawn into a dialogue, but who continue to be banned from visiting the West.

The New Light of Myanmar, the regime’s appalling mouthpiece of a newspaper, reported that Blake held "cordial discussions on issues of mutual interest and the promotion of bilateral relations." That, at least, is a positive assessment than can serve as a building block.

And thankfully things are now being said in public that were only whispered in private before. As every journalist who has ever visited Rangoon knows, all the Western ambassadors based there always concede – off the record, of course – that sanctions are not working and are counter-productive.

Indeed, President George W. Bush’s first Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, the highly respected James A. Kelly, believed and often privately said that the US had a failed policy on Burma.

He was right. It is still a failed policy, but at least it is starting to change. As well as Blake’s dialogue, there have been talks in Washington, New York and Rangoon involving American diplomats and former Burma ambassadors to the US.

Certainly, it is an open secret that the Burma regime craves better relations with the US in order to balance its increasingly nervy economic and strategic dependence on China, and to a lesser extent on India and Russia.

Said Ramos-Horta: "I know that the military in Myanmar are desperate for change and so this is a unique opportunity for the US to engage them. The situation there is not intractable. It can be resolved."

Of course, it can. All it needs is a bit of bravery from both sides and a willingness to cut free from the shackles of past bankrupt policies – the kind of bravery that President Obama has shown in changing US policy on Cuba and Iran.

Jaw jaw is better than war war, as Winston Churchill said; and dialogue and engagement are always better than containment and shackling. Now, at last, it appears that the Obama administration in Washington is preparing to seize the opportunity. Humanitarian aid has already been stepped up. A few weeks ago, Washington donated 16,000 tons of rice to Burma to help feed victims of last year’s cyclone Nargis, which devastated parts of the Irrawaddy Delta.

And there are reports that the Geneva-based, but largely US-controlled Global Fund, which fights diseases like AIDS and malaria, may resume its activities in Burma.

It is not enough, but it is a good start. And it has been intimated that the Obama administration, with Secretary Clinton’s approval, may restore the status of the head of the huge new US Embassy in Rangoon from mere charge d’affaires to full ambassadorial rank. And the quality of the US head of mission will be upgraded from the recent lackluster series that has included the likes of Priscilla Clapp and Carmen Martinez.

Clapp was perhaps best known for her cats, Batman and Robin, while the doubly blessed Martinez was noted more for her tennis than her diplomacy – and for wearing deliberately provocative attire in conservative Burma. Said one top State Dept official: "When you appear before Than Shwe to be accredited in stiletto heels and a miniskirt you cannot expect to be taken too seriously."

For most of the past decade, no one has taken the US mission in Rangoon seriously. And that is hardly surprising when you factor in that the US, while imposing strict economic sanctions, managed to give some $16 million to help resistance groups.

And in another shortsighted move, Washington also withdrew the highly effective officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration who were based in Rangoon. Unfortunately, the upfront DEA guys always spoke glowingly of their cooperation with their Burma counterparts in drug eradication in Shan state – and that did not sit well with the 'noble aims' of legislators back in Washington.

But make no mistake, the currently mooted changes in American policy towards Burma are profound. That is evident when it is recalled that Clinton’s predecessor as Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, adopted a strategy that deliberately precluded any negotiated settlement in Burma – a country she infamously referred to as one of six ‘outposts of tyranny’ in the world.

Nothing illustrated that previously hard-line stance more graphically than when senior State Dept officials urged Rice, soon after she took over the top post on the 7th floor at Foggy Bottom, to seize the chance for a new initiative on Burma. They counseled her to ask China, which has close ties with the regime, to facilitate a meeting between the generals and Ms Suu Kyi’s NLD to try to broker a deal that might lead to a more acceptable form of government.

Rice brusquely shot down the proposal, saying that a deal of any sort was not what the United States sought. In her view, the US wanted the NLD installed in power and the generals removed and put on trial. Anything less was unacceptable.

It would be hard to downplay the impact that sentiment would have when relayed back to the generals who have always suspected that the West has no intention of dealing with them, despite many promises to the contrary.

Certainly, Rice’s comment would have irked Suu Kyi, who has always stressed that the advent of a democratic government in Burma, at least one in which she has any say, will have no interest in putting the generals on trial.

Asked specifically about this in 1999, Suu Kyi told me personally: "We have always said that we are not interested in vengeance. That’s our official policy."

And that’s as it should be. And we should applaud the US reassessment and the moves of others who are also adopting a new stance, led by the business community which has long realized that sanctions are simply not working in practice.

Said Luc de Waegh, managing partner of Singapore-based West IndoChina Consulting, which promotes business links with Burma: "In Yangon, you can get French cosmetics, British toiletries, Australian wines, Dutch beers, American mobile phones. And no one has ever been prosecuted for breaking sanctions."

Over the past couple of months, there have been several seminars, breakfast workshops and dinner talks held in Bangkok and Singapore about the prospect of doing business in Burma. They have all drawn a better than expected audience, including a senior diplomat from the US Embassy.

And there have been inquiries from Washington, where the American Chamber of Commerce and the US-ASEAN Business Council have always voiced opposition to the policy of sanctions.

As the invitation description to one of the recent dinner talks put it: ‘For decades, European companies have been discouraged from doing business in Burma. Some countries have even imposed sanctions on Burma. And what has been achieved? Nothing.’

Like many others, De Waegh said he believes that everyone has a right to economic development and that prosperity is an important catalyst for social development. That is precisely the point made by the ICG report, which recommends that the West’s restrictions on humanitarian and development aid should stop.

This does not mean, as some short-sighted souls seem to think, that Western governments would be rewarding the regime. Rather, it means they would be attending to the terrible impoverishment of the Burma citizenry which should not have to wait for possible political change before receiving aid.

Clearly, the international financial institutions like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the IMF should be allowed to set up operations in Burma, not so much to provide macro-credit as to facilitate technical assistance and capacity building, and to support economic reform.

That this seems blindingly obvious is one of the reasons why the EU’s recent reimposition of sanctions is so reprehensible and so shallow and hypocritical.

Indeed, as a final coda confirming the mind-boggling hypocrisy of the Europeans, try to get your head around this: North Korea is run by a mad dictator who has brought mass starvation to his people in order to develop rockets and nuclear weapons.

Yet our noble European friends – who cannot even say the word Myanmar, yet happily refer to the "Democratic" People’s Republic of Korea – have an official website at www.dprkguidebook.org which provides helpful and detailed advice for European investors in the kingdom of Kim Jong Il.

So, mes amis, go ahead and invest in North Korea, but don’t you dare go near Burma.

READ MORE---> The Futility of Western Sanctions against Burma...

Dagon Taya, Burma's Most Respected Writer Turns 90

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

The 90th birthday of Dagon Taya, Burma's greatest living literary figure, will be celebrated on May 10 in the mountain city of Aung Pan in southern Shan State.

Dagon Taya, a creative writer who continues to compose beautiful poems, short stories, novels and commentaries, is the recognized leader of the post-World War II writers who promoted literary realism and art for the people’s sake under the banner of Sar Pe Thit (New Literature).

Dagon Taya (Photo: Moemaka)

Many young Burmese writers who emerged after World War II were deeply affected by their struggle against imperialism and fascism and by the left-wing political ideology of the post-war period.

"I greatly admire him because his ideas and his literature which influenced me in my youth," Win Tin, a celebrated pro-democracy leader and former journalist, told The Irrawaddy. "I like his philosophy, 'Literature can solve social problems and record the people’s struggle for freedom and peace.”

Dagon Taya is not only a leading literary figure. He was also an influential peace activist who made a significant contribution to both domestic and international peace efforts.

He was subjected to political persecution when the military staged a coup in 1962, when he was arrested and imprisoned for four years on suspicion of being a Communist.

Dagon Taya is known for his reserved, calm and flexible personality, and for his firm convictions. He was a close friend of Burma’s independence hero, Gen Aung San, who in 1943 offered him a high-ranking position in the Japanese occupation government—an offer he refused. Before Aung San's assassination in 1947, Dagon Taya wrote an important critical essay about his friend’s personality, titled "Aung San the Untamed."

Many Burmese were shocked by the criticism of the revered father of independence, but Dagon Taya, and Aung San himself, merely smiled in response to the controversy generated when the essay appeared in Taya magazine.

Dagon Taya wrote, “History is unforgettable. Criticism is intended to benefit the country. I believe if there is criticism, there can be progress.”

He refused a State Honorary Award by late dictator Gen Ne Win. After his refusal to accept the award, he went into self-imposed exile from Rangoon, from which he composed one of his best-know poems, "Sending Myself to the Mae Za." Mae Za is a place where critics of the king were sent into exile.

He called himself “the Liberator,” but he never assumed an active role in any political party or regime.

Following the 1988 uprising, many Burmese writers began using a variety of highly abstract styles and techniques to express their political dissatisfaction and hopes for a democratic society. Dagon Taya wrote an important poem titled “The Thaw,” addressing the changes in the international political climate.

In the mid 1990s, Dagon Taya briefly came under critical attack from some groups made up of ex-Communists and former members of Ne Win’s Burma Socialist Program Party. In reply, he reaffirmed his view that writers should not lose touch with the people and their social environment. He wrote, “You cannot separate the arts from the socio-political setting.”

In 2004, he said that the only way to resolve the country’s political deadlock in the best interest of all parties was through peaceful means, adding he was ready to play a role in peace talks between the military government and oppositions groups at any time.

“I have no foes, only friends,” he once said. “I have no hatred for any person. To me, politics means making friends of foes."

READ MORE---> Dagon Taya, Burma's Most Respected Writer Turns 90...