Broken Dreams

By KO HTWE
The Irrawaddy News

Nang Kham was a 14-year-old girl when she left her native town of Lashio in northern Shan state, eastern Burma.

Dreaming of a better life and a brighter future, she came to Thailand in 1996 and worked for nearly 10 years as a maid for a Thai family at a daily rate of 14 baht [US $0.40].

Nang Kham was promised 1,500 baht [$43] per month by the couple who employed her, but they told her they would not give her the money in hand each month, saying they would save it for her.

Nang Kham agreed to the arrangement, and after nearly a decade of work, the sum she was owed as wages amounted to 48,000 baht [$1,403].

“Her employers refused to let her leave the house, even for a visit to her hometown after she had been working for several years,” said Rujisanwee Pim, a coordinator for the domestic worker campaign run by the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP), a Chiang Mai-based non-governmental organization.

Unable to bear the increasing physical and mental harassment, Nang Kham appealed to friends and relatives for help, but no one dared intervene.

When her boss found out she had made contact outside, they changed phone numbers and destroyed all her phone contacts, Nam Kham told Pim.

Nang Kham finally decided to escape when her employers offered her 10,000 baht ($292) for her decade’s wages.

Through friends, Nang Kham was able to contact MAP, who helped her negotiate with her former employers and Thailand’s Department of Labor Protection and Welfare.

Nam Kham’s employers were made to pay the 48,000 baht they owed, but they were able to deduct household expenses and the cost of her work permit, said Pim.

“She [Nang Kham] was so sad at the way they deceived her,” Pim told The Irrawaddy.

“After a decade of abuse all she wanted to do was get home as quickly as possible. She was lucky she wasn’t raped as well,” she said.

According to Thailand’s Board of Investment, the minimum daily wage ranges from 148 baht to 203 baht [$4.72 to $5.79], depending on province. In Chiang Mai it is currently set at 168 baht [US $4.79], but domestic workers will seldom get this rate.

Ma Moe, a former civil servant working for the Burmese government who has been a domestic worker in Thailand for 4 years, said: “Living standards are better here than in Burma. We come here because we have little choice.

“When I started my first job, my boss agreed to pay me 800 baht [$23.35] per month, but in reality I only got 500 baht [$14.60]. My neighbors told me my employer had relatives who were in the police, and they said other people working there before hadn’t been paid at all.

“I’m lucky I got paid,” she said.

Ma Moe described how one of her sisters, who currently works at the home of a lieutenant-colonel in the Thai police, has to work at any hour demanded, is rarely able to get out of the house, and is restricted in what she can eat.

Ma Moe currently works at the home of a foreigner, who, she says, treats her well, but she said her former boss, another foreigner, was rude.

“He got angry with me when he couldn’t find something and would accuse me of taking whatever it was he had lost. It was humiliating,” she said.

Mai Mai, who works as a rights campaigner with MAP, said: “Many domestic workers in Thailand are illegal, which puts them under psychological pressure. Abuse from their employers makes things worse.”

Jackie Pollock, the director of MAP, said: “Most governments don’t consider domestic workers as labor, and they neglect their rights. Next year, the International Labor Organization will discuss the rights of domestic workers for the first time.”

MAP is marking a regional “International Day of Solidarity with Domestic Workers” on August 28 by supporting a campaign to send postcards to the Thai Ministry of Labor demanding recognition and protection of domestic workers’ labor rights and the right to a guaranteed one day of paid leave per week.

MAP is distributing 10,000 postcards and has already circulated 5,000 [More details on the campaign can be found under on the MAP website].

Ma Par Lay, a maid who has got to know Mai Mai, brightens up at mention of the campaign. With a lively voice that belies her wearisome appearance she asks everyone she meets to join the postcard campaign.

“It can help us achieve a better future,” she said.

Ma Par Lay and hundreds of domestic workers like her are trying to change things so that young girls who come to Thailand to work won’t end up like Nang Kham and go home with broken dreams.”

READ MORE---> Broken Dreams...

Total Chief: Critics Can ‘Go to Hell’

Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total. (Photo: Bullsoil.com)

By THE IRRAWADDY

The CEO of the French energy giant Total said critics of the company’s operations in Burma “can go to hell,” according to an interview published by Newsweek magazine on August 3.

“I am bringing gas to Thailand. Bangkok was the world’s most polluted city. They switched from oil fuel to gas. Bangkok is clean now. We are proud of being part of this,” Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total, told the US weekly magazine.

Thailand pipes about one billion cubic feet of gas per day from Burma’s offshore reserves in the southeastern Andaman Sea through the controversial Yadana gas pipeline, which human rights campaigners say has been a site of widespread abuses since its inception.

Total has been involved in the Yadana project since the 1990s, working in partnership with the US-based Unocal (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron), Burma’s state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Co.

Total and its partners have long been accused of turning a blind eye to serious human rights abuses committed by Burmese security forces guarding the pipeline, including forced labor, land confiscation, forced relocation, rape, torture and murder.

A brutal crackdown on monk-led protests in 2007 and the current trial of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have brought renewed pressure on investors in Burma’s gas and oil sector, the single largest source of hard currency for the ruling regime. Burmese pro-democracy activists say energy companies should think twice about their investments in Burma.

“Today, [rights campaigners] are trying to tell us you have no right to speak. They can go to hell. If you want to ask somebody, don’t ask Total. Ask the government of Thailand, which buys Burmese gas,” de Margerie said.

“Or ask the government of India why they have companies investing in Burma, when we froze investment. Why is South Korea, ally of the United States of America, investing in Burma? Why Total?” he added.

However, de Margerie’s claims that Total has been unfairly singled out ignores actions taken against other major investors in Burma’s energy industry.

Recently, US-based NGO EarthRights International (ERI) filed a 43-page complaint to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) calling for an investigation of the South Korean government’s respect for OECD guidelines.

The complaint, made on behalf of the Shwe Gas Movement and nine Korean-based organizations, is related to investments in Burma by Daewoo International and the Korea Gas Corporation.

Complaining that “Total is a punching bag while other companies invest without criticism is simply untrue,” said ERI project coordinator Matthew Smith, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

“He (de Margerie) claims that Total is proud to provide natural gas to Bangkok but at the same time he tries to deflect negative criticism to Thailand. This strategy is consistent with the way Total has handled most of the negative outcry about its presence in Burma: deny and reject any and all negative criticism.

“Total’s project has generated billions of dollars for the military regime from the peoples’ natural resources. It’s dubious at best to claim that is a positive thing for the country,” Smith said.

“Elsewhere Total has touted respect for fiscal transparency but at the same time it has not published the payments it has made to the Burmese regime—that raises serious questions,” he added.

READ MORE---> Total Chief: Critics Can ‘Go to Hell’...

US Voices Concern over Burma, N Korea Nuclear Nexus

By LALIT K JHA
The Irrawaddy News

WASHINGTON — The United States expressed concern on Monday over news reports that North Korea may be helping the Burmese military regime to achieve its nuclear ambitions.

“It is an issue of concern and it is an issue that we continue to focus on intensively,” the assistant secretary of state for public affairs, Philip J Crowley, told reporters at the State Department headquarters.

Although he refrained from making any comment on the alleged underground nuclear facility being developed by North Korea inside Burma, Crowley said the US was concerned about “the nature of cooperation between North Korea and Burma.”

“We do have concerns about the nature of cooperation between both Burma and North Korea, and North Korea and any other country. As the Secretary [of State Hillary Clinton] did during her recent trip, she argued quite forcefully that all countries have responsibilities regarding the UN sanctions and we are [working] hard at implementing them,” Crowley said.

“I think over time, we would like to clarify with Burma more precisely the nature of its military cooperation,” he said.

“The Secretary was encouraged that Burma said that it would abide by its responsibilities under the sanctions that were recently passed by the UN, and we will be looking to see them implement those sanctions,” Crowley said.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s National Security Council chief Thawil Pliensri has ordered intelligence officials to verify reports the Burmese military regime is building a nuclear reactor with a plan to make a nuclear bomb within five years, as reported in the English-language daily, The Bangkok Post.

But Thawil was quoted as saying that so far no evidence has been found that points to a Burmese nuclear program.

On Saturday, the Australian newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, reported that Burma appears to be establishing nuclear facilities with help from North Korea and Russia, possibly with the intent of producing nuclear weapons.

The newspaper, citing two Burmese defectors who were interviewed in-depth over two years by Australian strategic studies analyst Desmond Ball and Thailand-based journalist Phil Thornton, claimed that Burma has secretly constructed a nuclear reactor that would encompass reprocessing technology designed to extract weapons-grade plutonium.

READ MORE---> US Voices Concern over Burma, N Korea Nuclear Nexus...

US reiterates concern over Burma-N. Korea tie-up

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - The United States on Monday reiterated its concern over military cooperation between Burma and North Korea, but did not elaborate on the kind of cooperation the two countries had.

Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Public Affairs during a regular press briefing on Monday told reporters, “We do have concerns about the nature of cooperation between both Burma and North Korea, and North Korea and any other country.”

“I think over time, we would like to clarify with Burma more precisely the nature of its military cooperation,” said Crowley in response to questions related to Burma building an underground nuclear complex with North Korea’s help.

But Crowley refused to comment on questions relating to the underground nuclear facility reported to have been built in Burma by North Korea.

The State Department’s renewed concern came in the wake of a report, published in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ on Saturday, pointing to Burma’s nuclear ambitions and its secret efforts to produce a nuclear weapon by 2014 with the help of North Korea and Russia.

The report, which is a result of over two years of investigation into Burma’s nuclear ambitions researched by Desmond Ball, a regional security expert at the Australian National University, and Phil Thornton, an Australian journalist, based on the Thai-Burma border, said the Burmese regime has collaborated in recent years with North Korea and Russia to develop a reactor capable of producing one nuclear bomb a year by 2014.

The report, based primarily on testimonies of two Burmese defectors - an army officer and a book keeper from the junta’s business crony Htoo Trading Company – said Burma is excavating uranium in 10 locations and has two uranium plants in operation to refine uranium into “yellowcake,” the fissile material for nuclear weapons.

The army defector, who is known as Moe Jo, an alias, said Burma is planning to build a plutonium reprocessing plant in Naung Laing in central Burma, and Russian technicians have already begun “teaching plutonium reprocessing,” the report claims.

Moe Jo, according to the report, is an army officer, who graduated from the Defense Services Academy (DSA) in Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay division. Reportedly, he had been sent to Russia for a two-year training course as a preparation to be a part of the nuclear battalion.

The other defector, Tin Min, was said to be a book keeper for the powerful businessman Tay Za, who owns Htoo Trading Company and has a very close relationship with Burmese military supremo Senior General Than Shwe.

Tin Min told the investigators that his boss Tay Za had negotiated nuclear contracts with Russia and North Korea and arranged for the collection and transportation, at night by river, of containers of equipment from North Korean boats in Rangoon’s port.

Earlier, similar information on Burma’s secret nuclear programme, citing anonymous sources, had been released by Mr. Roland Watson, of the US-based “Dictator Watch.”

While testimonies of the two defectors cannot be independently verified, the report suggests that the Burmese military junta maintains military cooperation with North Korea and Russia.

Though the US and others of the international community have not been critical of Burma’s relationship with Russia including Moscow’s help in setting-up a 10 Megawatt light water nuclear reactor, Burma’s relationship with North Korea has been widely condemned.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month expressed “grave concern” over military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, saying “we take it very seriously.”

But she also said she was encouraged with Burma’s willingness to abide by its responsibilities under the sanctions that were recently passed by the UN.

READ MORE---> US reiterates concern over Burma-N. Korea tie-up...

Body count in battle zone

by Don Talenywun

Mae Sot (Mizzima) - It was just another day for the surgeons at Mae Sot General Hospital, in Thailand's north.

Overnight, on July 18, a dozen Democratic Karen Buddhist Army soldiers had arrived. They are allies of Burma's ruling military junta.

They had all stepped on landmines across the Moei River on Saturday and on Sunday morning they were in Thai hospitals.

By afternoon the amputations had begun, and doctors dressed in ankle-length rubber splash coats carried around power tools that resembled small chainsaws. Even the doctors have lost count of the mangled, discarded legs.

In little more than two weeks, from June 2 to June 19 -- 98 DKBA soldiers were wounded and 38 killed.

During the same period, just eight Karen National Liberation Army soldiers were injured.

Yet DKBA soldiers are still arriving at Mae Sot General Hospital and the private Porvor Hospital.

The DKBA has money to pay the bills and at times armed guards have been posted outside Porvor Hospital, to protect the wounded inside from potential attacks.

There is no accurate overall count of how many DKBA or Burma Army soldiers have been maimed during this year-long offensive.

This is the human consequence of the State Peace and Development Council's (SPDC) push to clear border regions of ethnic fighters before next year’s planned elections.

What is left for them, to become beggars in Thailand, or go home disabled and discarded in one of the world's least-developed countries?

The wounded DKBA soldiers were forward troopers of a 1,700-strong force that attacked the Karen National Union’s Seventh Brigade, to the north of Mae Sot.

The Burma Army brought up the rear and provided artillery support as the DKBA soldiers were forced to wage war against their brethren.

The KNU force, vastly outnumbered, withdrew from its bases and left the DKBA to wade into minefields surrounding the empty camps.

But the offensive, launched from Karen State’s capital Pa-an, has been successful in the eyes of Burma’s ruling generals.

As they made their way towards the border, the DKBA emptied 20 significant villages and sent more than 4,000 refugees fleeing into Thailand.

Video footage from the Free Burma Rangers medical outfit shows DKBA soldiers torching villages along the way.

The KNU believes the entire refugee camps along the border are under threat of attack and strict curfew has been put in place.

Internal KNU documents list as one of the main reasons the DKBA launched such a major offensive against the Seventh Brigade was to “gain a wider springboard for the export of illicit drugs and other illegal activities”.

At Well Driving Service, Mae Sot's only vehicle rental firm, the owner has felt the pinch of the “other illegal activities”.

Two months ago a Thai national and a foreigner with a UK passport rented a four-door, 4WD pickup, never to be seen again.

The passport was fake and Well's owner heard on the grapevine his vehicle, sub-let from a friend, had been floated across the Moei River, the border in these parts, on a bamboo raft and sold to the DKBA.

Now he has a million-baht bill to pay.

Such motor vehicle thefts are commonplace in and around Mae Sot.

The KNU says the border offensive also helped to divert attention, if only momentarily, from Aung San Suu Kyi's drawn-out show trial in Rangoon.

Many international observers are hailing this offensive, which began in earnest on June 2, 2008, and has so far spanned two brigade regions, as the end for the KNU.

KNU Vice President David Thackrabaw dismisses this as alarmist, or merely grist for the propaganda mill fed by Burma’s military intelligence.

“We have been [experiencing] bad times for so long that this bad time is not so very different from all the others. Some [people] have exaggerated, they are SPDC elements, even within our own ranks,” he said.

“Some of them even argue that we should cooperate, that with economic development, human rights and democracy will come naturally, we do not believe this.”

Mr Thackrabaw said Thailand had not done the KNU any great favours of late.

Earlier this year the Thai military ordered all KNU and KNLA leaders off Thai soil.

The KNU was a once favoured buffer force between Thailand and Burma.

But when a major base camp fell in April, the Thai Army ordered villagers – suspected KNLA soldiers living part-time on the Thai side of the border - to dismantle their homes and depart forthwith.

For good measure, the DKBA burned a couple down first.

Mr Thackrabaw puts the changing attitudes of the Thai military down to pressure from business interests on both sides of the border, opportunistic grabs for cash and incumbent cronies installed by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He says the Thai Army’s actions along the border do not reflect government policy.

Even Thai politicians admit the military has charted its own course since the government’s troubles began late in 2005, with mass rallies calling for Mr Thaksin to step down.

Mr Thackrabaw says Mr Thaksin’s policy prevails for now.

“That was Thaksin’s policy, to gradually snuff out the insurgency against the SPDC,” he said, to clear the way for cross-border trade.

Asked what he thought the Thai motivations were for Thailand to progressively make things harder for the KNU to operate along the border he said simply “so they can have business relations with Burma”.

He said Thailand was particularly interested in Burma's unknown, but undoubtedly plentiful, resources.

“You know they have never properly prospected, above ground of course we can make reasonable estimates [of what'[s there], but the military regimes and the SPDC have never had enough time, with the communist uprising and the ethnic uprisings to properly prospect.

“There are also some ideas that there will be contract farming on the other side of the border, but close to the border.

“It was a project and policy of the previous government . . . and I feel that that policy is still in force, because when there is a change in government, normally a change in authorities follows - of local authorities, but not immediately.

“So I think that policy still has momentum.

“According to that policy the refugees are to be repatriated to the other side of the border and employed in contract farming and the Thai businesses have agreed to buy everything that is produced -- agricultural produce.

“[This includes] sugar cane, beans, rubber, palm oil, so it is a very large project and the present government is probably not very enthusiastic about it because of the global financial crisis, they don’t want to invest in this prevailing atmosphere.”

“But the SPDC wants to make Burma a market, even some European countries want to see this happen, according to their market ideology.”

Mr Thackbrabbaw said he felt the Thai stance was somewhat cynical, in that towns such as Mae Sot consisted of wealthy micro economies practically built on the cheap labour of Burmese workers.

This cynicism was rooted in the fact that if the SPDC was able to continually strike more deals with Thai authorities while the Thais made survival harder for the ethnic armies, economic migrants would continue to flood across the border.

He estimated cheap Burmese labour contributed about five per cent to Thailand's annual growth.

“But then you must understand that the problems of economic migrants is very difficult [for Thailand] to try and stop.

“You can get a shop assistant for say, 2,000 baht a month in Mae Sot, but that translates to about 100,000 kyat in Burma, which is the equivalent of a general's wage. A mid-ranking military official would get about 60,000 kyat. A university lecturer would only get about 50,000 kyat.

Asked if people would be able to live well on that amount he said “not very well, but anyhow, you can live, perhaps you can even save – in Burma.

“Labourers [in Thailand] send about half of their earnings home to Burma, to their parents, or their brothers and their sisters to help support them.”

He said now the SPDC was looking to get its hands on a slice of that foreign income and would manage that with Thai assistance.

“Now they're trying to make it official, so workers have to pay income tax.

“They will have to get a sort of passport to be able to work in Thailand.”

So did that mean they would be paying tax to both Thailand and Burma?

“Yes, Thailand's will be an indirect tax and Burma's direct, like an income tax.

“But this is not Thailand's fault, any country with a large migrant workforce has the same problems, they have health problems, social problems, say they [a migrant worker] suddenly becomes unemployed, they might resort to petty crime for their survival so they [countries such as Thailand] have to prepare to that.”

But it seems change is brewing within the ranks of the DKBA.

Mr Thackrabaw says the DKBA was promised administration of Karen State when it split from the KNU in 1994, but today finds itself being used as a slave militia.

KNU intelligence agents and defectors report DKBA soldiers are constantly fed amphetamines, as many as 40 pills a day for frontline troops, possibly accounting for their massive casualties.

There are indications the DKBA leaders know they have been duped.

A letter of regret allegedly penned by a DKBA leader and distributed in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border apologised to the Karen people for the “black spot in Karen history” that the DKBA constituted.

It ended urging the KNU on to victory.

Defections in July by 70 DKBA soldiers and members of another splinter group working with the junta, known as the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, further suggests dissatisfaction within the ranks.

On July 9 and 10 the soldiers surrendered to the KNLA's Sixth Brigade, bringing with them 59 assault rifles, an M-79 grenade launcher, seven carbines, four pistols and 15 radios.

Among the defectors were two DKBA Captains, a Lieutenant-Ccolonel and a Colonel.

After debriefing and recuperation they may fight with the KNLA.

Sixth Brigade was hit hard last June at the top of the wet season and again in early January this year, forcing the withdrawal from two major base camps, that of 103 Special Battalion and 201 Battalion's Wah Lay Kee stronghold.

The weapons, probably more welcomed than the men, are helping Sixth Brigade to rebuild, said one of its commanders, Colonel Nerdah Mya.

“They said the SPDC had ordered them to fight us and they no longer want to, so they organised themselves and defected as one group over two days,” he said, taking time out from overseeing construction of a new base camp.

Mr Thackrabaw said defecting soldiers were mostly so strung out on drugs they would be no use in the field until they had weathered a detoxification and rehabilitation programme.

And even then they might not recover, he said.

One of the reasons these men have become so disillusioned is their leaders' agreement to transform from an army to a border security force.

That, argue many DKBA soldiers, means they are nothing more than a private security force for the much-loathed SPDC.

This is the SPDC's ultimatum to ethnic armies still fighting in Burma's interior: Join us before the 2010 elections and re-enter “the legal fold”, or we will obliterate you.

Despite the Thai military's pro-Thaksin hangover, there appears to be a softening in light of the Seventh Brigade offensive.

In the last week of July another 500 people landed at a temple over two days near Mae Salid, in Tha Song Yang district.

More are spilling over irregularly as the DKBA seeks to forcibly increase troop numbers.

The Thai authorities are already pulling their hair out trying to find somewhere secure to place all of the refugees, who have fled their homes since early June.

The total number of people who have desperately sought safe haven in Thailand is now more than 5,000.

International agencies are ready to care for them, but a coordinated approach is needed and having the population in one place makes that far easier.

One location, the deserted Eden Valley Academy School, offered vacant buildings with concrete slabs, roofs and walls.

Agencies felt that with some sanitation work, expansion and construction of a pedestrian bridge a focal point – a new camp – as many as 2,300 people could be cared for indefinitely at the site.

That would take the number of camps along the border to 10.

In principle Thai authorities have agreed with the concept, but finding somewhere safe from DKBA attack is proving a challenge.

Where along the border can security be guaranteed and the site can accommodate such a massive influx of refugees? That is the problem facing Thai authorities.

But the KNU's David Thackrabaw believes that the very fact Thai authorities are considering new sites suggests a softening in the formerly hard-edged attitude to distressed and dislocated Karen villagers from Burma.

“I think they are becoming more sympathetic to these refugees, they understand that it is not just because of fighting these people are leaving, that there are human rights abuses and an ethnic cleansing policy [in place across the border].

“I think Thailand is beginning to understand these people have to take refuge in Thailand for their very survival.

“It's a scorched earth policy, burning down crops, burning down houses, these are not just human rights abuses, they are crimes in anyone's terms and they are perpetrated by the SPDC and they use the DKBA to commit these crimes as well.

“So the Karen population, the civilian population cannot survive [inside Burma].

“These are crimes, crimes against humanity,” he said.

READ MORE---> Body count in battle zone...

NMSP officially rejects future role in Burmese government ‘Border Guard Force’

IMNA - On August 4th, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) announced that it decided to turn down the offer made by the Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to reform its armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) into either a Border Guard Force (BGF) or a government aligned people’s militia. Despite increased pressure from the SPDC to bring the MNLA under nominal state control as a reduced force, the NMSP statement sites the importance of ethnic identity and the will of the people in making its decision.

The statement, already available on the NMSP website, is to be officially announced on August 5th, at the 62nd Mon Revolution Day, which celebrates the beginning of the Mon armed struggle in 1948.

According to the statement, the NMSP signed the 1995 ceasefire with the Burmese regime because, like other ethnic armed groups, it wanted to solve the political turmoil in Burma through tripartite talks including the Burmese government, the ethnic communities, and the national democracy movement. It adds that its status as a political party with an armed wing has brought the NMSP and the Mon people their own rights and freedoms, as well as provided protection for Mon people and culture.

The NMSP will maintain the cease-fire with the government and will continue to call for tripartite talks to solve, not only the political problems with the current Burmese regime, but also with the future government that will form after the 2010 election.

This decision came after an emergency Central Executive Committee (CEC) and Central Committee (CC) meeting was convened on July 25th, where senior NMSP party members vowed to discuss their options until they had reached a decision regarding the future of the MNLA.

On June 7th high-ranking NMSP officials met South East Command (SEC) General That Naing Win who officially requested that the MNLA reform as a BGF. Though the NMSP was originally given until the end of July to return with a decision, it appears the deadline was extended, as the statement will officially be given to Southeast Command on August 5th.

The issue of forming BGFs has been a contentious issue for the ceasefire groups. In an attempt to resolve the long standing armed stalemate with over 15 ethnic armed groups, the SPDC requested that each group reform its armed wing into a ‘Border Guard Force’. The request comes as the SPDC purse’s its 7-step “roadmap” to a “disciplined democracy”. Seen by many as an attempt to legitimize its ruling status though an attempt at a civilian election, the SPDC has placed significant pressure on armed groups to resolve their status before the 2010 election.

The decision to reject the BGF offer came, according to one NMSP officer, after party leaders appealed to the opinions of the Mon community, prompting an influx of feedback from monks, university students, Mon youth groups inside Mon State, and Mon State residents who sent in letters. NMSP party leaders also spoke with residents of the central quarters of Thaton, Moulmein, and Tavoy districts under their control. The majority opinion held that the party should not accept the Burmese government request to form a BGF or a pro government people’s militia.

“The BGF and people’s militia are not important because orders to them would come from them [SPDC] and would have to act according to their orders,” said Nai Oukar Mon from Mon community at Mae Sot. “Such a result would in no way help the Mon people and NMSP. Because of the plans of the Burmese government, it [BGF] would not benefit our people.”

Three youth groups located inside of Mon State in Burma, released a joint statement comprising the opinions of the Mon Youth Organization, Young Monk’s Organization, and the Mon University Students Organization, which declared, “We don’t want to be a BGF or people’s militia, and don’t want to be damaged from the cease-fire. We want the party leaders make a decision themselves from their intelligence.”

“We have to think hard about the cease-fire. Before cease-fire with the SPDC, Mon people could do regular business not mixing with other ethnicities. But now we mix with other ethnicities after the cease-fire,” explained a Mon nationalist from TPP stating why he thought the Mon army should not become a BGF or people’ militia. “Before it was just the Mon and Karen ethnicities who lived at TPP. Mon depended on the Mon and Karen depend on Karen. If the cease-fire breaks apart and fighting begins again, other ethnics will administrate the area.”

A business man, also from TPP, expressed his distaste for the BGF proposition, explaining that in acquiescing to the SPDC’s demands, and submitting a reformed MNLA under nominal government control, the NMSP and Mon people would suffer a loss of dignity.

Additionally he stated that he supports the ceasefire, saying if it were to break, the Mon people would have no chance to fight for their culture. However, even the loss of that would not be significant as in his eyes the NMSP and the Mon people never received much support from the Burmese government, as had been agreed upon in the 1995 ceasefire agreement.

“The Mon army will become the Burmese army and it will be difficult for us to have any political control,” said one resident of Three Pagodas Pass [TPP] who was asked by IMNA his opinion on the political outcome if the NMSP had accepted the BGF offer. “It would be more difficult to conduct business and protect against human rights abuses because the army [including BGF and people’ militia] is led by the Burmese government. Its will be fine if Mon have to guard Mon border areas.”

READ MORE---> NMSP officially rejects future role in Burmese government ‘Border Guard Force’...

Burma Must Make Clear its Nuclear Ambitions

By AUNG ZAW
The Irrawaddy News

Reports of Burma’s shady nuclear ambitions have resurfaced to take their place alongside warnings by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of secret military ties and possible technology transfers between Burma and North Korea.

One report which aroused special interest was based on research by Desmond Ball, an Australian security analyst and author of several books on nuclear strategy and security issues in the Asia-Pacific.

However, to understand the present situation and Burma’s nuclear ambitions we need to look at the past. Burma’s interest in nuclear science and technology is, in fact, nothing new.

Three years ago, The Irrawaddy published a special cover story on Burma’s nuclear ambitions. A Burmese scholar, Maung Thuta, wrote: “More than five decades ago, Kyaw Nyein, the pragmatic modernist among the ruling triumvirate, with U Nu and Ba Swe, and the driving force behind Burma’s nascent industrialization, oversaw the setting up in 1953, under the Ministry of Industry, of the Union of Burma Applied Research Institute (UBAEC), in collaboration with the American Armour Research Foundation.”

In 1955, the Atomic Energy Centre and the Atomic Minerals Department were established and dozens of young scholars and technicians were sent abroad, mainly to the US, to study medical physics, nuclear physics, nuclear, metallurgical and mining engineering and technical training in nuclear applications in instrumentation, agriculture and industry. The same year Burma attended the first international conference on peaceful uses of atomic energy, which was held in Geneva. Two years later, Burma joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Maung Thuta, in an article entitled “Transparency Needed," wrote "at the dawn of the ‘Atomic Age,’ Burma’s nuclear elites centered around the UBAEC apparently had no doubts about propelling Burma into a modern industrial state through extensive research and development in the fields of power production, agriculture, medicine, industry and
education."

Indeed, Burma was well advanced in those days to develop a nuclear project, compared to neighboring countries. In the early 1960s, a site for a nuclear research reactor was designated near the Hlaing Campus in Rangoon.

“However, the first phase of nuclear ambitions faltered and stagnated within a few years when the much-vaunted ‘Pyidawthar’ industrial plan failed and UBAEC patron Kyaw Nyein fell from grace amid disputes among the ruling political elite,” Maung Thuta wrote.

Burma’s early nuclear ambitions ended there. Gen Ne Win, who staged a military coup in 1962, had little interest in nuclear projects, nor did he trust scholars. So Burma’s nuclear program fell by the wayside, although in 1984 the general admitted to university professors at a private dinner party that he had made a blunder by ending it.

One of the experts from those times, Thein Oo Po Saw, who earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois in 1950s, remains active in Burma today.

Thein Oo Po Saw played a crucial role in reviving Burma’s Atomic Energy Committee and renewing links with the IAEA. He also urged Burma’s military regime in 1995 to join the Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training in Nuclear Science and Technology in Asia and the Pacific (RCA).

The professor has taught at the Defense Services Academy in Maymyo and is currently an adviser to the Ministry of Science and Technology and adjunct professor at the Yangon [Rangoon] Technological University.

Whatever the motives involved, the regime revitalized the nuclear project. An Arakanese professor, Thein Oo Po Saw, renewed links with the IAEA. Since then, Burma has been demonstrating its intention to develop nuclear energy for “peaceful purposes.”

The regime has outwardly supported the concept of nuclear-free zones and signed the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, or Bangkok Treaty, in 1995. A year later, Burma signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Burma’s renewed interest in nuclear technology was evident, however. The Ministry of Science and Technology was created in 1997 and headed by an extreme nationalist, U Thaung, a graduate of Defense Services Academy Intake 1.

Two years later, Burma began negotiations with Russia on a nuclear reactor project, and in January 2002 the military regime confirmed plans to build a nuclear research reactor for “peaceful purposes.” The Deputy Foreign Minister at that time, Khin Maung Win, declared that Burma’s “interest in nuclear energy for peaceful purpose is longstanding.”

Thein Oo Po Saw also played a key role in the military-sponsored National Convention. During discussions of a chapter of the draft constitution relating to the defense of the Union of Burma, he and several professional colleagues made an interesting suggestion.

The chapter under discussion on March 3, 2005, covered seven key points on national defense, including chemical and biological weapons.

The professor suggested an addition to the chapter to cover the “prevention of terrorist acts and pressures” in enacting laws regarding “the defense of the Union of Myanmar and of its every part, and to prepare a defense program.”

That program would potentially include “conventional arms, ammunition and explosives, and non-conventional sophisticated strategic arms” as well as “nuclear energy, nuclear fuel and radiation, and mineral resources that produce them, highly classified materials, objects, areas, technologies, researches and information and special security issues, accidents concerning the persons whose work involves highly classified materials, objects, areas, technologies, researches and information, and compensation and insurance coverage for them in case of accidents,” according to a report in state-run The New Light of Myanmar.

Aung Toe, the chairman of the National Convention Convening Work Committee, replied by saying that such a program—particularly a nuclear one—would incur international criticism if it was included in the chapter on defense and security.

Aung Toe’s prediction was not wrong. Now some international press reports suggest that Burma is on the way to possessing a nuclear bomb.

The lack of transparency in Burma’s nuclear program and the regime’s repressive nature only increased the suspicions of international critics and dissident groups.

Aside from Thein Oo Po Saw, Burma’s nuclear project has been developed by Minister U Thaung, who signed the reactor agreement in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia’s atomic agency. U Thaung is known to be close to junta chief Snr Gen Than Shwe and his deputy, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye.

U Thaung has in-depth knowledge of Burma’s mining and uranium sectors and resigned his army post to become director general of the country’s Department of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration in the 1980s.

U Thaung visited Moscow several times in the past in pursuit of the nuclear deal. He also organized students and army officers to participate in nuclear orientation and training in Moscow. In 2006, nuclear physics departments were established in the universities of Rangoon and Mandalay, with enrolment controlled by the regime.

In 2006, Russia’s ambassador to Burma, Dr Mikhail M Mgeladze, confirmed that about 2,000 Burmese students had been admitted to 11 academic institutions in Russia, under a bilateral agreement, and about 500 had returned to Burma with bachelor, master’s or doctorate degrees.

Russian companies are also actively involved in the search for uranium in upper Burma.

In the early 2000s, the regime confirmed publicly that uranium deposits had been found in several areas: Magwe, Taungdwingyi, Kyaukphygon and Paongpyin in Mogok, and Kyauksin and in southern Tenasserim Division.

The Russian companies Zarubezneft, Itera, Kalmykia and the state-owned enterprise Tyazhpromexport have been involved in oil and gas exploration and the establishment of a plant to produce cast iron in Shan State. Tyazhpromexport’s investment alone is worth about US $150 million.

Aside from Russia, Burma’s renewed diplomatic relations and secret military ties with North Korea no doubt heightened suspicions. Washington has repeatedly warned of technology transfer between the two nations.

In April 2007, a North Korean freighter, the Kang Nam I, docked at Thilawa port, 30km south of Rangoon. Interestingly, Burmese officials said the ship, the first to visit Burma since the restoration of diplomatic relations, sought shelter from a storm. Two local reporters working for a Japanese news agency were briefly detained and turned back when they went to the port to investigate.

The Kang Nam I headed for Burma again recently, but turned back after being shadowed by a US destroyer in the harsh light of international attention.

The April 2007 incident wasn’t the first time a North Korean ship reported running into trouble in Burmese waters—by a strange coincidence, the North Korean cargo vessel M V Bong Hoafan sought shelter from a storm and anchored at a Burmese port in November 2006. The regime reported that an on-board inspection had “found no suspicious material or military equipment.”

Indeed, to skeptics, the go-ahead for the nuclear reactor project, the arrival of North Korean ships and shady military ties (The Irrawaddy exposed one particular trip made to Pyonyang by Gen Shwe Mann in November in 2008 with exclusive photos) are new developments.

It is premature, however, to conclude that Burma intends to undertake the complicated and perilous process of reprocessing uranium to get weapons-grade plutonium, although strong suspicions will continue to grow.

Although there are unofficial reports that Burma has set a goal of becoming a nuclear nation by 2025, it is still unclear whether the regime intends to develop a nuclear weapon. More solid evidence needs to emerge—and, no doubt, Thein Oo Po Saw, U Thaung and Gen Maung Aye could provide it.

It is legitimate, however, to raise the issue and to inquire into the regime’s intentions, in the interests of keeping nuclear technology out of the hands of the irresponsible regime.

August 3rd, 2009

READ MORE---> Burma Must Make Clear its Nuclear Ambitions...

‘Historic’ meeting of Burmese opposition in Indonesia

(DVB)–Burmese ethnic groups and pro-democracy parties are set to meet in Jakarta this month to draw up a national reconciliation programe for Burma, billed as “history being made”.

The alliance, the Movement for Democracy and Rights for Ethnic Nationalities (MDREN), will meet in the Indonesian capital on 12 and 13 August to formalize the ‘Proposal for National Reconciliation’.

A statement released today by MDREN said that “delegates from all groups aligned in opposition to the military regime” would be present at the meeting.

“The proposal envisages opening a process of dialogue with the junta, effectively offering a sustainable exit-strategy for the military rulers,” it said.

“Civil sector support, electoral and constitutional reforms, military demobilisation, ethnic relations and social infrastructure are among the central areas addressed in the [proposal].”

The Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Sein Win, said that the convention was “history being made”.

“The last time all major ethnic and pro-democracy organizations have forged a common position was in 1947 when all forces agreed to seek independence from the British,” he said.

“As such, this is the first time an indigenous coalition has agreed to work together against a home-grown power.”

The MDREN is made up of opposition groups both within Burma and in exile, and includes the Ethnic Nationalities Council, the Women’s League of Burma and the Forum for Democracy in Burma.

International diplomats and non-governmental organizations will also attend the meeting.

Indonesia is hailed as a Southeast Asian success story after successful democratic transition from military rule in 1998, and is often cited as a potential model for Burma’s transition.

Reporting by Francis Wade

READ MORE---> ‘Historic’ meeting of Burmese opposition in Indonesia...

Junta Troops Prepare for Battle against UWSA

By LAWI WENG
The Irrawaddy News

Junta troops and members of a private militia have joined forces in preparation for an attack against the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Shan State in northern Burma, according to UWSA sources.

The militia, called the Wanpang group, number about 500 soldiers in Tang Yan Township in eastern Shan State. Led by Bo Mon, it is a remnant of group formed by late drug lord Khun Sa.

“The militia has been ordered to obey the command of the government troops,” said Mai Aik Phone, who is close to the UWSA.

Saengjuen, a news editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said the military government plans to use the militia as a proxy army, in a way similar to its relationship with the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which wages war against the Karen National Union (KNU).

The UWSA is the most powerful ethnic armed ceasefire group, and it has rejected the government’s offer to serve as a border guard force.

The government troops have been reinforced in UWSA-controlled areas in Shan State in recent months. Most UWSA troops are now on 24-hour alert.

According to Burma’s new constitution, all ceasefire groups must operate under the command of the military government.

Most ceasefire groups have reject the offer to serve under the command of the government army, and say they will maintain their current role as an army to protect their own people.

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has proposed to transform its troops into the Kachin Regional Guard Force, but it has rejected the offer to serve as a border guard force. The junta has not responded to their proposal yet.

In July, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) also rejected the offer to serve as a border guard force.

Hongzar Bang Kyine, a NMSP spokesperson, said that the party will officially announce its rejection of the offer on Mon Revolution Day on Aug. 5.

The party’s leaders have been told by the junta’s regional commander to consider serving as a local militia, if they reject the border guard proposal.

Meanwhile, in recent operations along the Thai-Burmese border, combined forces of the government army and the DKBA attacked military units of the KNU. The DKBA has agreed to serve as a border guard force and has waged fierce battles with their fellow Karen in the past several months, claiming many lives and injured on both sides.

READ MORE---> Junta Troops Prepare for Battle against UWSA...

Activists Skeptical on Asean Human Rights Body

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Burmese human rights activists have expressed skepticism over the role of the Asean Human Rights Body, claiming for now at least that it is a paper tiger.

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are set to approve the draft Terms of Reference (TOR) for the human rights body in July.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said at the 42nd Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phuket last month that the body failed meet everyone’s expectations, and that it should work to become a credible, realistic and evolutionary body.

Aung Myo Min, the director of Human Rights Education Institute of Burma in Thailand, told The Irrawaddy that the body is only a “paper tiger” and was not an organization that could protect people effectively.

He urged Asean to commit to the protection of human rights, form a commission with authority to investigate and report on rights violations and establish a court empowered to take action against violators.

Asean has proposed to name the human rights body the Asean Inter-Governmental Commission of Human Rights, which is expected to be endorsed by the group’s leaders at a summit in Thailand in October.

Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Altsean), said, “Actually, the Asean Human Rights Body can not protect its people effectively.”

“They say their Asean Human Rights Charter has an international standard. But, they do not accept international norms about human rights.”

Some observers say that Asean’s initiative to establish a human rights mechanism is itself a positive sign.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in July that the TOR is a beginning of an evolving process. It is a living document that will provide an evolutionary framework, he said, and a platform to further Asean’s efforts in the promotion and protection of human rights.

The draft terms of reference state the body's purpose is “to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedom” of Asean citizens.

As it now exists, the body continues the tradition of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states and, as such, is not expected to present immediate problems to countries such as Burma, Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia, which are generally ranked low on human rights rankings.

Aung Myo Min said all Asean member states and civil society groups must work together to make the body more effective and have real impact.

READ MORE---> Activists Skeptical on Asean Human Rights Body...

Suu Kyi Questions Burma’s Judiciary, Constitution

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said at her recent trial that the charges against her bring into question Burma’s judiciary and constitution, according a statement by her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), on Monday.

Suu Kyi reportedly said at the trial on July 24 that unless Burmese courts did something about her current period of detention, the current charge against her—harboring American intruder John W Yettaw—could not be examined "correctly and completely."

“Equally critical is the principle that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done, clearly and unequivocally,” she said in the statement before the court.

She said that in Burma, there is misuse of the definition of the word “constitution,” which calls into question “the credibility of the government’s dignity.”

In her statement, Suu Kyi said that Yettaw entered her compound that she acted carefully so as not to endanger the intruder and the security guards who were responsible for preventing people from entering her compound.

On Friday, the Rangoon Northern District Court postponed the verdict on Suu Kyi until August 11. The court said it had postponed the date of the verdict because the judges needed to review the law.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, who has been detained for nearly 14 of the past 20 years, could face up to five years’ imprisonment if the court finds her guilty of illegally harboring the American.

READ MORE---> Suu Kyi Questions Burma’s Judiciary, Constitution...

Singapore Foreign Minister Challenged Over Burma Remarks

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Remarks about Burma by Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo have raised eyebrows in Burmese exile circles.

In an interview with Singapore’s Online Citizen, Yeo made several incorrect statements about Burma, leading to questions about the depth of his knowledge of the country.

In the most blatant of the errors, Yeo said Burma had been ruled by the military since independence. In fact, post-independence Burma enjoyed democratic government until 1962, when Gen Ne Win’s coup introduced military rule.

Yeo was also incorrect in telling the Online Citizen that independence hero Aung San had created the law that a Burmese citizen who married a foreigner could not take political office.

The law could be used to bar his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi from ever becoming Burma’s president.

In fact, Aung San did not introduce the law. According to Burma’s first constitution of 1947, the president of Burma has to be at least second generation Burmese.

“No person shall be eligible for election to the office of President unless he is a citizen of the Union who was, or both of whose parents were, born in any of the territories included within the Union,” according to the 1947 constitution.

And to be a qualified member of parliament, the constitution noted that, “Any person who is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or citizen or entitled to the rights and privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power shall be disqualified for being chosen as and for being member of either Chamber.”

An application by Suu Kyi to be accepted as a candidate in the 1990 election was rejected on the grounds she had married a British scholar, Michael Aris.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was accused three things, one of them being that she was not qualified because she married a foreigner,” said Moe Zaw Oo, a leader of the National League for Democracy (Youth) in the 1990s who closely worked with Suu Kyi before she was put under house arrest in 1989.

In the Online Citizen interview, Yeo also said that the problems of Burma must not be oversimplified. They were very complex because of ethnic diversity, he said.

READ MORE---> Singapore Foreign Minister Challenged Over Burma Remarks...

Nuclear Fallout

By SIMON ROUGHNEEN
The Irrawaddy News

Although Burma signed an energy agreement with its Southeast Asian neighbors last week—and despite a stern warning from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—there are clear danger signs that the Burmese military government has embarked on a policy of close nuclear and military cooperation with North Korea.

The issue of military cooperation between the two rogue states has been documented for months by The Irrawaddy, including a cover story in the August issue titled “An Open Secret,” which examines the clandestine deals and negotiations between the two regimes.

It was echoed loudly in an article this weekend that quoted two Burmese defectors as claiming that the junta was preparing underground tunnels and trading uranium extracts—known as “yellowcake”—for North Korean military hardware and/ or technical expertise.

The article, based on research conducted by Professor Desmond Ball and journalist Phil Thornton, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bangkok Post on Saturday. Reporting on interviews with the defectors, the article claims that there are more than five North Koreans working at the Thabeik Kyin uranium processing plant in Burma, and that locally refined uranium from Burma was being traded to North Korea.

The junta has been browsing the nuclear bazaar since at least 2000, when science and technology minister U Thaung visited Moscow. A resulting agreement to build a low-grade research reactor, under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), initially fell through when questions arose about how the Burmese would pay for Russian assistance.

In recent years, several Burmese officials (both civilian and military) have claimed to have direct knowledge, or even first-hand experience, of a secret nuclear weapons program.

According to the defectors in this recent report, Burma’s military government began building a reactor near Maymyo in 2002 with the aim of developing a nuclear device by 2020. The reactor and some related nuclear fuel processing plants were said to be hidden underground. The expertise for this project reportedly came from North Korea, with help from Iran and possibly Pakistan.

The report adds to common fears that Burma is “going nuclear.”

In an article titled “A New Start for Non-Proliferation” published in July, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El-Baradei, said:

“A number of countries with nuclear energy programs have the capability, if they choose, to manufacture nuclear weapons within a matter of months if their security perceptions change, because they have mastered the critical technology—uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing. If more countries take this path, it could prove to be the Achilles’ heel of non-proliferation.”

In other words, even civilian nuclear technology cooperation between well-intentioned states, who are signatories to the non-proliferation treaties (which includes Burma), has the potential to be misused, if countries can access the technology.

“We worry about the transfer of nuclear technology and other dangerous weapons,” Hillary Clinton told the Asean representatives in Phuket last month in reference to North Korea and Burma.

Notwithstanding Burma’s alleged role in nuclear trafficking, the junta followed on the heels of Phuket by chairing the Asean Energy Ministers meeting in Mandalay.

According to the statement released after the meeting on July 29: “Ministers adopted the Asean Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2010-2015, which will serve as a guideline for the Asean energy cooperation to support the realization of the Asean Economic Community toward 2010 and beyond.”

The statement went on to outline a seven-point energy plan of action for 2010-15, which consists of “seven program areas,” namely: (i) Asean Power Grid; (ii) Trans-Asean Gas Pipeline; (iii) Coal and Clean Coal Technology; (iv) Renewable Energy; (v) Energy Efficiency and Conservation; (vi) Regional Energy Policy and Planning; and (viii) Civilian Nuclear Energy.”

It would appear Asean does not share the rest of the world’s fears that Burma is a danger to the region. Indeed, Burma’s neighbors—in particular Thailand, China and India—seem prepared to condone the junta’s military expansion while they can still plunder the resource-rich country at bargain-basement prices.

Wong Aung, a representative of an environmental organization, the Shwe Gas Movement, said that electricity consumption rates per capita in Burma are less than 5 percent that of Thailand. Nonetheless, the military junta still aims to export more energy resources to its neighbors.

“These include plans for over 20 large hydroelectric dams to power Thailand, China and Asean power grids, and trans-Burma oil and gas pipelines to China set to begin in September this year,” he said. “The revenue from the energy sector is the main source of income for the Burmese generals.”

Despite ample natural resources, ordinary Burmese do not benefit in any way, with some of the lowest health and education spending in the world.

“In a few years time, if you look down on Asia at night, there will be a dark spot where Burma is. The people of Burma sit in the dark while their natural resources are sold off to provide energy for their neighbors, and money for the generals who oppress them,” said Mark Farmaner, executive director of the Burma Campaign UK.

Like his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il, Burmese junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe is probably not losing sleep over whether his citizens are going without basic commodities and electricity while he pursues his self-interests in the military hardware store.

However, the US and the EU may not be prepared to turn a blind eye to the regime’s recent moves.

"If it was just the Russian reactor, under full International Energy supervision, then the likelihood of them being able to do something with it in terms of a bomb would be zero," Professor Ball said. "It's the North Korean element which adds danger to it.”

READ MORE---> Nuclear Fallout...

China Detains 319 More in Uighur Unrest

By VOA News

China says it has detained another 319 people in connection with last month's deadly ethnic violence in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region of northwestern China.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday that the suspects were detained in the regional capital, Urumqi, and other parts of Xinjiang based on information from the public and a police investigation.

It did not specify the charges facing the 319 people, or the more than 1,000 others detained after the July 5 riots.

Nearly 200 people died in clashes between Xinjiang's ethnic Uighurs, Chinese security forces and majority Han civilians.

Beijing blamed the violence on outside forces stirring up separatist sentiments among the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.

But Uighurs blame the police for provoking the violence, which they say was partly a response to what they feel is China's repressive policies.

The leader of an extremist group called the Turkistan Islamic Party is urging Muslims worldwide to attack Chinese interests in retaliation for what he calls the oppression of the Uighurs.

An audio message posted on the Internet Sunday in the name of Abdul Haq al-Turkistani calls for attacks on Chinese embassies, consulates and people inside and outside of the country.

His group, which refers to Xinjiang as East Turkistan, has been blamed for violence in the past.

02 August 2009

READ MORE---> China Detains 319 More in Uighur Unrest...

Rising china dents thai markets in the region

By Achara Pongvutitham
The Nation

As it has around the world, the "Rising China" phenomenon has been felt strongly in the Asean region, affecting Thailand's market-leader status in a number of the bloc's member states.

The emergence of China has caused jitters in every region of the globe, with both traditional and emerging markets fearing negative impacts. For its part, Thailand is losing competitiveness in terms of both market share and leadership in three emerging Asean markets: Laos, Cambodia and Burma.

As one of the world's major economic powerhouses, the expansion of China has been felt strongly not only in terms of resources but also in the markets for almost all goods. China is currently engaged in its third move since 1980 to link with networks of overseas Chinese through trade and investment expansion, after acceding to the World Trade Organisation in 2001.

Speaking at the Thailand Research Fund's recent roundtable, "Impact of Emerging China Through Asean-China Free Trade Agreement", experts on China shared the view that it is an important goal of China, which has huge foreign reserves of US$2.13 trillion (Bt418.6 trillion) to sweep up assets globally, as well as taking stakes in banks around the world.

In addition, Beijing has learned from its previous problems with food safety, chemical residues in products and poor production quality, the experts said. China has improved its manufacturing controls to produce standard-quality goods to serve not only domestic demand but also the export market.

Roundtable participants pointed out that China's domestic market now demands high-quality products in line with their increased purchasing power, while the international market needs quality goods at a reasonable price due to a drop in purchasing power brought on by the global financial crisis.

Participants agreed that Thailand should think about how to get the most benefit from China through trade partnerships, both at the regional level and at world forums.

Sompop Manarungsan, an expert on China and a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at Chulalongkorn University, said the Chinese government has a clear policy to support investors in exploring opportunities overseas. This is aimed at exploiting the country's huge foreign reserves as well as balancing its economic growth and export competitiveness in the long run, Sompop said.

As a result, Chinese investors have diversified their investment from US bonds into real sectors everywhere.

"It is very clear that China has turned from an inward trade and investment outlook to that of an outward investor," Sompop said.

This has key implications for Thailand, particularly in its trade and investment relationships with Laos, Cambodia and Burma.

China now has strong influence in those markets, turning what was once seen as a potential "baht zone" into a likely "yuan zone" market, the lecturer said. Markets along those three countries' borders with Thailand have long accepted baht, but are now also accepting Chinese yuan.

China has also launched an Overseas Development Assistance policy, which offers not only financial assistance but also infrastructure development to potential markets, Sompop said.

"This assistance will allow China to become a big player not only in Asia but also in countries in other regions," he said.

An official from the Thai Foreign Trade Department who concentrates on Laos said Thai goods traded at Bo Keaw had dropped from 90 per cent to 40 per cent of the market total due to increasing imports of Chinese products.

"It is an important sign that Chinese goods will replace Thai goods in the future," the official said.

Pisanu Rienmahasarn, vice president of Huachiew Chalermprakiat University, said cheap goods from China are not the main threat to Thailand's competitiveness. Rather, he said, the threat came from improvements in China's manufacturing sector, which now had the ability to produce high-quality goods.

"The government should concentrate on how to establish close relations with China, as we [Thailand and China] have many areas that can be synergised," Pisanu said.

Thailand should focus more on a Cross Border Trade Agreement to boost trade between the two countries, the academic said. In particular, the development of infrastructure in the North of Thailand linking Burma, China, Laos and Vietnam would create huge trade and investment possibilities, Pisanu said.

READ MORE---> Rising china dents thai markets in the region...

Heightened security measures in Arakan

Sittwe (Narinjara): The Burmese military junta authorities went into a huddle in meetings on Friday in several towns in Arakan state to tighten security in major towns, apprehending trouble in the wake of the verdict in the trial of democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), said sources close to the authorities.

The authorities held the meetings on Friday, when the verdict was meant to be pronounced. The verdict was, however, postponed to August 11. The regime aims to prevent any untoward incidents if Daw Suu is sentenced to a prison term, the source said.

The meetings were held in several towns of Arakan on the directives of the junta brass in Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma.

The military authorities are concerned about people’s protests against the regime throughout Burma if Daw Suu is sentenced to a prison term by the court. Naypyidaw instructed Arakan state authorities to beef up security.

Arakan state played an active role in the anti government demonstrations in September in 2007 and 2008. So the authorities are closely monitoring the state, according to the source.

In Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, the authorities held the meetings on security matters at two places - one in the district office and another in the office of the Military Supervisor Command.

The Western Command Commander General Thaung Aye attended the meeting, which was held in the office of the Military Supervisor Command in Sittwe. Many other army officials attended the meet.

A source close to military authorities in Buthidaung cantonment said that in Buthidaung, 80 miles north of Sittwe, the army authorities held the meeting at the Saka Kha hall of the Military Operation Bureau in English, at 7 am on the day.

Many army officers including Lt. Colonel Aung Naing, Commander of Saka Kha and Commander of Military Planning Bureau, the district chairman and local administrative officers, including the township chairmen of Buthidaung and Maungdaw attended the meeting.

Similar meetings were held in Kyauk Pru, Taungup and Thandwe, Minby and Rambree.

The authorities are likely to beef up security in Arakan state, especially before the 8888 annual uprising day on 8 August 2009 till the end of September.

READ MORE---> Heightened security measures in Arakan...

Prayer ceremony for release of political prisoners in Burma

(Narinjara) -Cox’sbazar: Arakanese living in exile in Bangladesh held a prayer ceremony in the border town of Cox’s Bazaar for the immediate release of political prisoners in Burma, including democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ko Naing Naing, one of the organisers of the programme, said the prayer was held for the immediate and unconditional release from custody of all political prisoners including Daw Suu. The prayer ceremony was held in keeping with Buddhist religious rights.

The prayer ceremony was held at a monastery in the town at 2 pm. It concluded at 4 pm.

“During the prayer, monks recited a Moera Sutta, a serial of Buddha’s discourses constituting the Sutta Pitaka for the release of political prisoners. We also prayed for those into the Burmese democracy movement to free the country from the stranglehold of military rule,” Ko Naing said.

After the prayer ceremony, those who attended lighted candles in front of the image of Buddha.

At least 30 people attended the ceremony. Among the participants, were members of the Burmese International Monks Organization (Bangladesh branch), Free Burma Federation and All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress.

READ MORE---> Prayer ceremony for release of political prisoners in Burma...

Army on Four cuts campaign again

Shanland News

Following a series of attacks staged by the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’ that had inflicted heavy casualties on junta patrols roving the countryside, the Burma Army is launching a major retaliation campaign against the populace, according to reports coming to Thailand.

Several villages have been burned down, their occupants forcibly relocated and some beaten and detained by units under the command of Mongnawng – based Military Operations Command #2 since 27 July. So far, units involved in the latest “4 cuts” drive (cutting food, funds, intelligence and recruits to the armed resistance by local populace) include at least the following infantry battalions (IBs) and light infantry battalions (LIBs):

• IB 9 - Loilem
• IB 12 - Loilem
• IB 64 - Laikha
• IB 248 - Mongnai
• LIB 515 - Laikha

Villages affected include:

• Hokhai - Lahu - Mongkeung township
• Tard Mawk - Shan - Laikha township
• Holom - Shan - Laikha township
• Kunhoong - Shan - Laikha township
• Mongyai - Shan - Laikha township
• Nawngtao - Lahu - Kehsi township
• Mongleum - Lahu - Kehsi township
• Zizaw - Shan - Kehsi township
• Pakang - Shan - Kehsi township

The Lahu villages were relocated from northern Shan State to the south following a 3-year massive 4 cuts campaign (1996-98) that destroyed 1,500 villages and displaced more than 300,000 people.

“The officer that came to our village was polite and did not look happy,” a woman that fled with her family to Laikha was quoted as saying. “He told us that he had been ordered to burn the village. ‘As a soldier, I cannot disobey. If you have anything you want to take with you, please collect them and leave.’”

For most other villages, they had not time to take much. “The soldiers came in, drove us out of our houses and started burning after spraying them with liquid fuel that smelled like kerosene.”

At least 200 houses were razed to the ground in Tardmawk, Holom and Kunhoong alone.

Long Ti, Tard Mawk tract headman was reportedly beaten while under interrogation and taken to Laikha.

“This is what we call am pay maw, paw kark (You can’t do anything to the pot, so you smash the cooking spoon) behavior,” a survivor said. “Why do they treat us like this if they want our support?”

The SSA South had launched attacks against isolated outposts and patrols beginning 21 May, the 51st anniversary of the Shan resistance. During the last engagement on 15 July, the Burma Army’s LIB 515 suffered 11 killed, 1 captured and 5 assorted weapons loss.

Latest report 1/8/09 21:00

Burma Army “Burning” columns withdrew following a visit to Laikha by a senior officer from the regional command today, according to the SSA South. “Some 400 families have lost their houses,” said Col Yawdserk, SSA leader. “This is a case for the Asean human rights body.”

August 1st, 2009

READ MORE---> Army on Four cuts campaign again...

Father fined for son sleeping in shop

Buthidaung, Arakan State (KPN): A father was fined by Burma’s border security force, Nasaka because his son slept in his shop instead of at home. He was penalized when the authorities were checking the family list on July 20, according to a friend of father.

The victim was identified as Abul Boshor (60), of Ward. No. 6 of Krinthama village of Buthidaung Township.

His son Shabbir Rahman (35) has a shop in Ward No. 4, though he is living in Ward No. 6. On that night, his son was sleeping in the shop when the Nasaka came to his house to check the family list. The Nasaka did not find Shabbbir Rahaman in his house. His father had already told them that his son was not present.

However, the Nasaka wanted to extort money from Abul Boshor and fined him kyat 100,000 and another 100,000 kyat for his son, said a local elder.

Nasaka and other concerned authorities barged into the Rohingya villages for extortion from the community by making false and fabricated allegations, said a schoolteacher on condition of anonymity.

“Though there is no activity of any rebellion group in Arakan, the concerned authorities create harassment for the Rohingya community and extort money by making allegations, which are not relevant,” said a local youth on condition of anonymity.

August 1st, 2009

READ MORE---> Father fined for son sleeping in shop...

Defectors outline Burma’s nuclear ambitions

(DVB)–Burma and North Korea may be collaborating on the development of a nuclear reactor in northern Burma, according to experts who carried out extensive interviews with two Burmese defectors.

One of the two defectors, who are both now based in Thailand, is a former army officer, while the other was an executive at Htoo Trading, a company with close ties to the military junta.

During interviews carried out over the course of two years with Phil Thornton, a Thailand-based journalist, and Desmond Ball of the Australian National University, the two men detailed North Korea’s assistance in helping Burma acquire a nuclear weapon.

The report, published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 1 August, said that the junta was building a nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction plant in northern Burma, much of it hidden in a network of tunnels dug into a mountain at Nuang Laing.

The report will add weight to a body of evidence that has emerged over the past two months that points to North Korea’s assistance in helping Burma develop a nuclear weapon.

In June DVB published a report on Burma’s secret network of tunnels, dug with North Korea’s assistance, with leaked intelligence documents saying the tunnels could accommodate heavy weaponry.

And in June a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam 1, that was being tracked by the US navy on suspicion that it was carrying arms in violation of a UN resolution on North Korea, appeared to be headed towards Burma before turning around.

At the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional forum last month, US Secreatry of State Hillary Clinton spoke of concern over Burma’s nuclear ambitions.

Htay Aung, a Burmese military analyst at the Network for Democracy and Development, said that Burma’s acquisition of nuclear technology would add a new dynamic to Asia’s regional security threat.

“If the junta has nuclear arms then there will be problem for everyone, including countries like China and India who have always been saying Burma is not a regional threat,” he said.

“We still can’t tell if countries like North Korea and Iran, those who already are in a hold of nuclear arms, are not going to sell their weapons to Burma.

“There is a chance that they will consider Burma, who is also facing against the US just like them, as a friend and sell nuclear weapons to the junta,” he said.

Reporting by Ahunt Phone Myat

READ MORE---> Defectors outline Burma’s nuclear ambitions...

Junta fails to respond to global financial crisis

by Moe Thu

Mizzima News - Myanmar’s military leadership is yet to become fully aware of the consequences of the current global financial meltdown, and thus has been unable to position the country to respond properly to the crisis, which has hit the poorest of the developing world like Burma.

Unlike regional neighbours such as Thailand and Malaysia, which have been making significant economic progress over a few decades, Burma is falling behind and probably falling apart as well, as it has not moved.

And the military leadership continues to pursue a concept that the over-50-million-poplulated country is immune to the global crisis.

The ruling generals think the country is in an isolation ward, which does not deal much with the outside world – especially the United States, the origin of the financial disease.

With their reasoning, the country’s economy is underdeveloped, referring to such things as no stock market, no multinational companies working, the fact that its banking sector is in a kindergarten stage, and another that the country need not worry about reserve currency as it does not have much. Official statistics show that Burma has reserve currencies valued at US$ 4.7 billion as of 2008.

The military leadership’s reasoning is good. A low level economy like Burma is staying on the ground floor unit of a multi-storied building, so it does not get hurt when falling out of a window. It can be much more painful, when staying on the 10th floor and falling out. It could be better if and when staying in the basement where there is no window to fall out. Indeed, the junta has put the country into the basement -- below the bottom of a community structure.

What has the junta done to keep out of the financial disease? The generals apply “administrative measures” such as closure of border trade, cancel licenses for imports and exports, and rounding up foreign exchange dealers.

To prove its immunity, the military government refers to official statistics. Due to the financial crisis, many of its neighbours suffer negative GDP growth rates, while the ruling elite continue to claim that the country is growing at a high rate. That’s the leadership’s own no-problem assumption.

No problem? There is a lot of it. The isolated, underdeveloped economy could not set up an isolation ward in this increasingly globalised world. That’s because of its underground or informal or non-official economy, being linked to the outside world.

For instance, the country imports Japanese made vehicles across the border.

Meanwhile, the illustrated basement is the last place upon and around which other buildings are tumbling down, when the world is in a crisis like a catastrophic earthquake.

Suppose trying to seal the border. In the mountainous land with forests and rough terrain, it requires resources, including thousands of special forces and hundreds of guard outposts. They must be provided with sufficient funds and equipment to close the border. However, no one guarantees they are honest in performing their duties.

Also look at the sea border, to patrol the coast costs ten times more than the value of goods kept out or in.

For official statistics, it deals with the formal or official economy. It is possible to have a high growth in this economy, while the global disease brings disaster to the country’s already-impoverished population. That’s because the majority of Burmese people live in a non-official economy, which is – in design or not – linked to the outside world, a primary reason why Burma gets devastated by the global crisis.

A significant result is that large human costs that the country’s young people and poor families have to bear in neighbouring countries and border areas – such as human trafficking and unprotected migrations. Whenever a crunch comes, the burden falls fatally on the poor and the masses at the lowest rung of society in a country like Burma. How can it be quantified? No monetary value could be placed on them and it can never be reflected in the official statistics.

So the idea that Burma need not worry about external economic shocks is alarmingly wrong. Other reasons to worry include undiversified economic structure, poor infrastructure, insufficient foreign reserves and limited administrative capacity that do not have effective shock-absorbers, resilient measures and safety nets to counter or cope with any kind of economic disturbance.

In fact, the vulnerability of Burma to get hurt by economic disturbances, especially those outside the border is the primary reason why the international community has recommended that it be given special treatment in aid, trade, debt relief and technology flows.

Given the fact that financial crises keep coming again and again in history in different parts of the world, the best thing a poor country like Burma can do is to join its neighbours and the international community in order to set up a better international financial system and its institutions.

It is not true Burma is not affected by the global crisis. Actually, it is helpless and does not have the capacity and means to protect itself, and it would be more devastating for Burma, which is, in turn, expected to take keen interest in the global financial crisis – its causes, consequences and remedies by undertaking economic reforms to become a modern, developed nation.

READ MORE---> Junta fails to respond to global financial crisis...

Ban reiterates appeal to release Aung San Suu Kyi

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) – In yet another impassioned appeal, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reiterated to the military rulers of Burma to address the concerns of the international community by ensuring the immediate release of detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

At a meeting with the Burmese Ambassador to the UN Than Swe on Thursday, Ban repeated the international community’s expectation that the Burmese regime “will give careful consideration to the implications of any verdict in the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and exercise its responsibility to ensure her immediate release,” his spokesperson told reporters on Friday.

Farhan Haq, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson said “The Secretary-General also reiterated the international community’s high expectations that the Government of Myanmar [Burma] will act in Myanmar’s [Burma’s] interest by taking timely and positive steps in following-up the specific proposals, which he made, during his recent visit to Myanmar[Burma], starting with the release of all political prisoners.”

The meeting between the Burmese Ambassador and the UN chief took place a day before the special court in Insein prison was scheduled to pronounce the verdict on the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She has been charged with violating her terms of detention and could face up to five years in prison, if the court holds her guilty.

However, following the meeting, the Burmese Ambassador Than Swe informed the UN that his government had postponed the pronouncement of the verdict to August 11, Haq said.

On Friday, the court in Insein prison in Rangoon postponed delivering the verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi and other defendants charged along with her over the incident in early May when an uninvited American man swam across a lake and intruded into the Burmese democracy icon’s lakeside home.

Observers, who have alleged that the trial is trumped up for a fresh sentence of the opposition leader to another prison term, believe that the court postponed the verdict on Friday as it wants to divert attention and ease pressure building up over the trial.

The UN chief in early July paid a second visit to Burma to persuade the military rulers to release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners languishing in jails across the country. However, he left Burma deeply disappointed as the military supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe refused him a meeting with the detained opposition leader.

Saturday 1st August, 2009

READ MORE---> Ban reiterates appeal to release Aung San Suu Kyi...

Suu Kyi’s Trial Gives Rare Glimpse into Burma’s Judicial System

By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR / IPS WRITER
The Irrawaddy News

BANGKOK — A political trial in Burma that could prolong its pro-democracy icon’s isolation by five more years has opened a rare window for the international community to judge the quality of justice in the military-ruled country.

Many foreign envoys based in Rangoon, the former capital, have eagerly grabbed this chance. They have shown up in numbers when given access to the largely secret trial of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, being held in a decrepit courtroom inside the notorious Insein Prison in northern Rangoon.

Last Friday marked the latest in this diplomatic show of force, when foreign envoys packed the rear of the court to mirror the unprecedented international attention this bizarre trial has drawn since it began in early May.

"There were about 20 to 25 diplomats in the court. They were Europe, the US, China, South Korea and other Asian countries," a European diplomat who attended the trial on July 31 said in a telephone interview from Rangoon. "They were mostly of the ambassadorial rank."

It was a number as large as that present on the third day of the trial in late May. At the time, some 30 diplomats were given the nod by the junta, otherwise known to be secretive and paranoid, to get a rare glimpse of Suu Kyi’s battle with Burma’s justice system.

And this time, too, the 64-year-old Suu Kyi used the occasion to openly engage with the diplomatic corps, a practice that has been denied to her during the 14 years she has been kept under house arrest in her lakeside home in Rangoon.

"She appeared relaxed, confident and dignified when she thanked the diplomats for coming and showing interest in the trial," the diplomat revealed. "There was also a surreal moment when she was laughing and joking with her legal team as they waited for the judges to enter."

When they did, the two judges presiding over this case had a brief announcement: the verdict, due that day, will not be given. Judgment day was postponed until August 11, since the judges "needed more time to explore the details of the case."

Suu Kyi appeared relaxed in court that day, wearing a pale pink blouse and a dark purple traditional Burmese longyi. "Sorry for the inconvenience," she reportedly told some diplomats after the judges delayed their verdict. "You may want to come back on August 11."

Yet, Suu Kyi’s lawyers do not expect this delay in the verdict to change the outcome in the trial, where the widely popular opposition leader has been charged for violating the terms of her house arrest when a U.S. citizen showed up as an uninvited guest in her house and spent two nights in early May.

"She was not optimistic from the beginning. She is ready to face the worst," Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, told IPS from Rangoon.

Such pessimism stems from the manner in which the trial was conducted. "This trial was not a free and fair one; not a public hearing," Nyan Win noted. "That was our main worry, this lack of openness, which is practiced in our country for all political cases."

Closed trials have been common under the current military regime, indicative of its oppressive rule. The victims have been pro-democracy activists, who make up the majority of the over 2,100 political prisoners presently languishing in Burmese jails. And verdicts have been severely harsh, with some sentenced to over 100 years in prison.

These trials follow a familiar pattern aimed at trampling any hint of "fairness" and "justice" in the courtroom. "In all politically motivated cases, military intelligence people usually sit in the trial and monitor the court process, actions of judges, lawyers and other judicial staff openly," says Aung Htoo, general secretary of the Burma Lawyers’ Council, a network of Burmese lawyers operating from the Thai-Burmese border.

"By holding trials in the compound of the prisons, the authorities (implicitly) threaten all relevant persons in a proceeding," Aung Htoo wrote in an e-mail interview. "They (military intelligence) even intercept private meetings held between the defence lawyers and the accused."

"Many times, they (military intelligence) send judgments, already written prematurely, to the judges only to read," he revealed. "The judiciary has been used as an instrument to crush down the political opponents and human rights activists."

This court culture is now under scrutiny after the junta slapped Suu Kyi with a legal case—the first political trial she has been subjected to since being placed under house arrest for the first time in July 1989.

"There has never been a [more] high-profile case than this one. It has drawn so much international attention and international pressure," says Soe Aung, the spokesman for the Forum for Democracy in Burma, a network of Burmese political activists living in exile. "It is not usual for diplomats to attend such cases."

"The Burmese regime is feeling the heat both inside and outside the country due to all the attention on this trial," Soe Aung added. "Prolonging the trial process by postponing the verdict till mid-August is one of the signs that they (the regime) are worried about growing international pressure."

As the world wait for the judgment, the speculation among the diplomatic community about Suu Kyi’s fate, indicates that she may be declared guilty by court.

"Western diplomats say she will get a three year sentence out of the maximum five years," an informed source in Rangoon told IPS. "They say she will be first kept in Insein Prison and then moved back to her house."

Asian diplomats, particularly from Southeast Asia, have another view, the diplomatic source added.

"They say her sentence will be commuted to house arrest without much delay because the (Burmese government) wants to look good ahead of the UN General Assembly coming up in late September."

READ MORE---> Suu Kyi’s Trial Gives Rare Glimpse into Burma’s Judicial System...

Nasaka orders shooting Rohingy youth in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State (KPN): On July 15, the Commander Burma’s border security force Nasaka of area No. 9 in Buthidaung Township ordered his armed forces to shoot a Rohingya youth wherever and whenever they find him as he did not comply with the order of Nasaka, said a close relative of the victim preferring not to be named.

The victim was identified as Md. Yasin (20), son of former village chairman Saber, from Paungdaw Pyin vllage of Buthidaung Township.

The victim Md. Yasin fell in love with Arafat Begum (18), daughter of Noor Mohamed, from the same village. But, this information reached the Nasaka camp through their secret agent. As a result, he was summoned to the camp, but he did not appear. The Nasaka also tried to arrest him, but failed.

The Nasaka called his father Saber to the Nasaka camp and asked him to bring his son to the camp or to pay kyat 500,000. So, the father agreed and was released after he had fulfilled their demand, said a friend of Saber.

However, after getting the money, the Nasaka again demanded extra kyat 2 million from his son. The son fled. The Nasaka Commander was very angry with him and ordered his armed forces to shoot him wherever they seem him.

Recently, the Nasaka authorities have increased their activities against the Rohingya youths whether they are involved in love affairs with girls or not and extort money,, said a local youth who declined to be named.

Nasaka has imposed marriage restrictions on the Rohingya community for a long time and the Rohingya youths and girls are facing many difficulties. Rohingya youths and girls who are able to give a huge bribe to the concerned authorities are able to tie the knot. There are many poor youths and girls who are not able to marry because of money to get marriage permission. The authorities deliberately do not give permission in time, said a local businessman requesting not to be named.

READ MORE---> Nasaka orders shooting Rohingy youth in Maungdaw...