No plan set for Myanmar's Suu Kyi to meet UN chief
AP - Friday, July 3
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Thursday she has not been informed of any plans for her to meet U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his upcoming visit.
Ban is due to arrive in Yangon on Friday morning and then fly to the new administrative capital of Naypyitaw as part of his ongoing effort to promote political reconciliation between the ruling military and the opposition. He will meet with top junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe and Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein.
He is also scheduled to meet leaders from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, other political parties and some ethnic minorities.
While some senior party members from the league have been informed that they will have an opportunity to meet Ban, a spokesman for the party, Nyan Win, told reporters there is "no indication" that he would meet Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi said that if they did speak, she did not intend to discuss her current trial for violating the terms of her house arrest, he said.
Nyan Win, who is also one of her lawyers, said that Suu Kyi told her lawyers that her trial is not her priority, adding that "she's interested only in national reconciliation."
He added: "The U.N. Secretary-General ought to meet ... Aung San Suu Kyi in order to resolve Myanmar's political problems."
Suu Kyi, who has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, is being held in Insein Prison while her trial is under way. If found guilty, she could be sentenced to five years in prison.
She was charged after an uninvited visitor, 53-year-old American John W. Yettaw, swam secretly to her lakeside house in May and stayed for two days. Final testimony in the case is expected Friday.
In Japan on Tuesday, Ban reiterated his call for the junta to free Suu Kyi and all of its estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
AP - Friday, July 3
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Thursday she has not been informed of any plans for her to meet U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his upcoming visit.
Ban is due to arrive in Yangon on Friday morning and then fly to the new administrative capital of Naypyitaw as part of his ongoing effort to promote political reconciliation between the ruling military and the opposition. He will meet with top junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe and Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein.
He is also scheduled to meet leaders from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, other political parties and some ethnic minorities.
While some senior party members from the league have been informed that they will have an opportunity to meet Ban, a spokesman for the party, Nyan Win, told reporters there is "no indication" that he would meet Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi said that if they did speak, she did not intend to discuss her current trial for violating the terms of her house arrest, he said.
Nyan Win, who is also one of her lawyers, said that Suu Kyi told her lawyers that her trial is not her priority, adding that "she's interested only in national reconciliation."
He added: "The U.N. Secretary-General ought to meet ... Aung San Suu Kyi in order to resolve Myanmar's political problems."
Suu Kyi, who has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, is being held in Insein Prison while her trial is under way. If found guilty, she could be sentenced to five years in prison.
She was charged after an uninvited visitor, 53-year-old American John W. Yettaw, swam secretly to her lakeside house in May and stayed for two days. Final testimony in the case is expected Friday.
In Japan on Tuesday, Ban reiterated his call for the junta to free Suu Kyi and all of its estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
*****************************************************
UN chief Ban warned over risky Myanmar visit
Thu Jul 2, 3:39 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon prepared Thursday for a risky visit to Myanmar amid warnings that the trip will be a "huge failure" if he fails to secure the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ban is set to arrive in the military-ruled nation on Friday for a two-day visit that the UN says will focus on pressing the junta to free all political prisoners, including the Nobel peace laureate, who is currently on trial.
He is due to meet junta leader Senior General Than Shwe and members of opposition parties including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), but there are no plans yet for him to meet her, officials said.
The 64-year-old was transferred from house arrest to prison in May to face trial on charges of breaching the terms of her detention after an American man swam to her house. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
Human Rights Watch said Ban should not accept the return of Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest, instead of imprisonment, as a sign of a successful visit.
"Time and again, the UN has politely requested Aung San Suu Kyi's release, but her 'release' back to house arrest would be a huge failure," Kenneth Roth, New York-based HRW's executive director, said in a statement.
"Ban Ki-moon has offered Burma's generals a roadmap to ending their international isolation... He should make it clear that the time for stalling and playing games is over and that real change is needed now," he added.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention or under house arrest for most of the time since the junta refused to recognise her party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.
Her trial is due to resume on Friday, alongside that of US national John Yettaw, and NLD spokesman Nyan Win said that he would see her later Thursday ahead of Ban's arrival in Myanmar.
"The authorities informed us that five central executive committee members of the NLD are to meet Mr Ban Ki-moon. We don't know details yet," Nyan Win told AFP.
He said the five did not include Aung San Suu Kyi, despite declaring earlier this week that any visit by Ban to Myanmar should include seeing the democracy icon.
Myanmar officials said Ban would meet Than Shwe in the remote administrative capital Naypyidaw on Friday, as well as with members of 10 political parties including the NLD, before flying back to Yangon on Saturday.
The visit is Ban's first to Myanmar since he came to urge the junta to accept international aid in the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which killed around 138,000 people.
Ban acknowledged this week that the latest trip was diplomatically risky as it coincides with the internationally condemned trial, but said that finding an appropriate time to come to Myanmar had been a challenge.
Speaking in Tokyo on Tuesday, he urged Myanmar to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and resume dialogue with opposition leaders.
The UN says that there are more than 2,100 political prisoners held in Myanmar. The junta handed out heavy jail terms to dozens of activists last year, many of them involved in protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007.
Critics have accused the junta of using the trial to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up for elections that the ruling generals have promised in 2010.
HRW said Ban should not accept "vague statements" from the regime about political reform ahead of the polls.
"There is a real danger that Burma's generals will try to use Ban's visit to legitimise the 2010 elections," said Roth, adding that the UN Security Council and regional blocs had so far "failed the Burmese people".
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and was formerly known as Burma.
Thu Jul 2, 3:39 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon prepared Thursday for a risky visit to Myanmar amid warnings that the trip will be a "huge failure" if he fails to secure the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ban is set to arrive in the military-ruled nation on Friday for a two-day visit that the UN says will focus on pressing the junta to free all political prisoners, including the Nobel peace laureate, who is currently on trial.
He is due to meet junta leader Senior General Than Shwe and members of opposition parties including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), but there are no plans yet for him to meet her, officials said.
The 64-year-old was transferred from house arrest to prison in May to face trial on charges of breaching the terms of her detention after an American man swam to her house. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
Human Rights Watch said Ban should not accept the return of Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest, instead of imprisonment, as a sign of a successful visit.
"Time and again, the UN has politely requested Aung San Suu Kyi's release, but her 'release' back to house arrest would be a huge failure," Kenneth Roth, New York-based HRW's executive director, said in a statement.
"Ban Ki-moon has offered Burma's generals a roadmap to ending their international isolation... He should make it clear that the time for stalling and playing games is over and that real change is needed now," he added.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention or under house arrest for most of the time since the junta refused to recognise her party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.
Her trial is due to resume on Friday, alongside that of US national John Yettaw, and NLD spokesman Nyan Win said that he would see her later Thursday ahead of Ban's arrival in Myanmar.
"The authorities informed us that five central executive committee members of the NLD are to meet Mr Ban Ki-moon. We don't know details yet," Nyan Win told AFP.
He said the five did not include Aung San Suu Kyi, despite declaring earlier this week that any visit by Ban to Myanmar should include seeing the democracy icon.
Myanmar officials said Ban would meet Than Shwe in the remote administrative capital Naypyidaw on Friday, as well as with members of 10 political parties including the NLD, before flying back to Yangon on Saturday.
The visit is Ban's first to Myanmar since he came to urge the junta to accept international aid in the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which killed around 138,000 people.
Ban acknowledged this week that the latest trip was diplomatically risky as it coincides with the internationally condemned trial, but said that finding an appropriate time to come to Myanmar had been a challenge.
Speaking in Tokyo on Tuesday, he urged Myanmar to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and resume dialogue with opposition leaders.
The UN says that there are more than 2,100 political prisoners held in Myanmar. The junta handed out heavy jail terms to dozens of activists last year, many of them involved in protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007.
Critics have accused the junta of using the trial to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up for elections that the ruling generals have promised in 2010.
HRW said Ban should not accept "vague statements" from the regime about political reform ahead of the polls.
"There is a real danger that Burma's generals will try to use Ban's visit to legitimise the 2010 elections," said Roth, adding that the UN Security Council and regional blocs had so far "failed the Burmese people".
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and was formerly known as Burma.
*****************************************************
UN's Ban to meet Suu Kyi party members: spokesman
Thu Jul 2, 1:31 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to meet senior members of the party of Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits Myanmar this week but has no plans yet to see the opposition leader, a party spokesman said.
Ban is set to arrive in the military-ruled nation on Friday for a two-day visit focused on pressing the junta to release all political prisoners including the jailed Nobel peace laureate.
"The authorities informed us that five central executive committee members of the NLD (National League for Democracy) are to meet Mr Ban Ki-moon. We don't know details yet," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.
He said the five did not include Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently being held at the notorious Insein Prison in the commercial hub Yangon where she is on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest.
Nyan Win and other members of her legal team were due to meet her at the jail on Thursday, a day before her trial resumes.
A Myanmar official speaking on condition of anonymity said that Ban would meet with members of 10 political parties including the NLD in the administrative capital Naypyidaw on Friday.
Ban is also set to meet junta leader Senior General Than Shwe in Naypyidaw on the same day and is due to fly back to Yangon on Saturday, officials said.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, faces up to five years in jail if convicted of the charges against her, which stem from a bizarre incident in May in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam uninvited to her lakeside house.
Ban acknowledged this week that the visit was diplomatically risky as it coincides with the internationally condemned trial, but said that finding an appropriate time to come to Myanmar had been a challenge.
Speaking in Tokyo on Tuesday, he urged Myanmar to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and resume dialogue with opposition leaders.
The NLD leader has been in detention or under house arrest for most of the time since the junta refused to recognise her party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.
Critics have accused the junta of using the trial to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up for elections that are due in 2010.
Thu Jul 2, 1:31 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to meet senior members of the party of Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits Myanmar this week but has no plans yet to see the opposition leader, a party spokesman said.
Ban is set to arrive in the military-ruled nation on Friday for a two-day visit focused on pressing the junta to release all political prisoners including the jailed Nobel peace laureate.
"The authorities informed us that five central executive committee members of the NLD (National League for Democracy) are to meet Mr Ban Ki-moon. We don't know details yet," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.
He said the five did not include Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently being held at the notorious Insein Prison in the commercial hub Yangon where she is on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest.
Nyan Win and other members of her legal team were due to meet her at the jail on Thursday, a day before her trial resumes.
A Myanmar official speaking on condition of anonymity said that Ban would meet with members of 10 political parties including the NLD in the administrative capital Naypyidaw on Friday.
Ban is also set to meet junta leader Senior General Than Shwe in Naypyidaw on the same day and is due to fly back to Yangon on Saturday, officials said.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, faces up to five years in jail if convicted of the charges against her, which stem from a bizarre incident in May in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam uninvited to her lakeside house.
Ban acknowledged this week that the visit was diplomatically risky as it coincides with the internationally condemned trial, but said that finding an appropriate time to come to Myanmar had been a challenge.
Speaking in Tokyo on Tuesday, he urged Myanmar to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and resume dialogue with opposition leaders.
The NLD leader has been in detention or under house arrest for most of the time since the junta refused to recognise her party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.
Critics have accused the junta of using the trial to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up for elections that are due in 2010.
*****************************************************
Somalia, Iraq most dangerous for minorities: NGO
Thu Jul 2, 1:40 am ET
LONDON' (AFP) – Somalia remains the world's most dangerous country for minority groups, followed by Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Myanmar, a leading human rights group said.
The five were in unchanged positions from last year's Minority Rights Group International's (MRG) list of countries where groups or peoples are most at risk of genocide, mass killing or other systematic violent repression.
In Somalia, the latest round of bloodletting in two decades of civil war kicked off in May when hardline Islamist groups launched a fresh offensive aimed at removing internationally-backed President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Meanwhile, the report says that despite a reduction in the violence, Iraq remained a highly dangerous place, with between 300 and 800 civilians a month still dying violently over the last year.
Since the last report, MRG says the situation has deteriorated in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Niger, Kenya, and Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
In Pakistan, the report says minorities are at particular risk from the fight against violent extremism, specifically the conflict between different Islamist groups in the northwest and tribal areas, repression of dissidents elsewhere and what it calls "growing violence in national politics".
MRG director Mark Lattimer said: "Ethnic and religious minorities across West Asia are under greater threat than ever before as a result of escalating military operations against Islamic extremists."
Half the top 20 countries in the "Peoples under Threat 2009" report are African and six are in Asia.
Completing the top 10 are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and the Palestinian territories, where the report said the war earlier this year in Gaza "leaves a continuing grave risk" to the lives of civilians.
"If the current push for peace led by the US administration and Arab states founders, there is a real risk of further radicalisation on both sides," it added.
Thu Jul 2, 1:40 am ET
LONDON' (AFP) – Somalia remains the world's most dangerous country for minority groups, followed by Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Myanmar, a leading human rights group said.
The five were in unchanged positions from last year's Minority Rights Group International's (MRG) list of countries where groups or peoples are most at risk of genocide, mass killing or other systematic violent repression.
In Somalia, the latest round of bloodletting in two decades of civil war kicked off in May when hardline Islamist groups launched a fresh offensive aimed at removing internationally-backed President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Meanwhile, the report says that despite a reduction in the violence, Iraq remained a highly dangerous place, with between 300 and 800 civilians a month still dying violently over the last year.
Since the last report, MRG says the situation has deteriorated in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Niger, Kenya, and Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
In Pakistan, the report says minorities are at particular risk from the fight against violent extremism, specifically the conflict between different Islamist groups in the northwest and tribal areas, repression of dissidents elsewhere and what it calls "growing violence in national politics".
MRG director Mark Lattimer said: "Ethnic and religious minorities across West Asia are under greater threat than ever before as a result of escalating military operations against Islamic extremists."
Half the top 20 countries in the "Peoples under Threat 2009" report are African and six are in Asia.
Completing the top 10 are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and the Palestinian territories, where the report said the war earlier this year in Gaza "leaves a continuing grave risk" to the lives of civilians.
"If the current push for peace led by the US administration and Arab states founders, there is a real risk of further radicalisation on both sides," it added.
*****************************************************
U.N.'s Ban to urge reforms in high-risk Myanmar visit
Thu Jul 2, 2009 8:21am BST
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon begins a high-risk trip to Myanmar on Friday, where he will press the military junta to release all their political prisoners and prepare for credible elections next year.
The stakes are high for Ban and the risk of failure great. Halfway through a five-year term at the helm of the United Nations, Ban has faced a wave of criticism recently from detractors who say his low-key approach to the job does not work. He is eager to prove them wrong, U.N. diplomats say.
Ban is aware that the timing of his trip to the former Burma is far from ideal, as he made clear when he spoke to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
He said he understood the concerns about the timing of his visit, which begins on the day the widely criticised trial of Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is set to resume.
"I will try to use this visit as an opportunity to raise in the strongest possible terms and convey the concerns of international community ... to the highest authorities of the Myanmar government," Ban said.
Human rights groups are watching Ban's moves closely. According to several U.N. diplomats, one influential group, New York-based Human Rights Watch, advised Ban not to accept the junta's invitation for a July 3-4 visit, warning him that it could be used for propaganda purposes.
But Ban, the diplomats said, decided to go anyway, hoping his presence and knack for closed-door, quiet diplomacy would persuade the generals to compromise, as they did last spring when Ban convinced them to lift restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis.
Analysts say Ban may have been given some indication by the generals, or by U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari after his trip last week, that his visit can bring some kind of positive result.
SUU KYI ON TRIAL
U.N. diplomats acknowledge that the probability of failure is high. But members of the U.N. Security Council are backing Ban's visit, some of them reluctantly. Given China's reluctance to back U.N. sanctions, a visit by the secretary-general is the only card they have to play in Myanmar at the moment.
Ban said he has three goals for his visit -- to demand the release of over 2,000 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition, and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections next year.
He plans to meet with Senior General Than Shwe in the country's new capital, Naypyidaw, on Friday, U.N. officials said. It was not yet clear if he would be able to meet with Suu Kyi, who has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention, mostly under house arrest at her lakeside home in Yangon.
The Nobel laureate, 64, was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest last month by allowing an American intruder to stay at her home, which prosecutors say breached a security law designed to thwart "subversive elements."
However, critics say the charges are trumped up and the trial is an attempt to keep Suu Kyi out of multi-party elections next year, which are expected to entrench nearly half a century of army rule.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement saying that Ban "should not accept the return of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest or vague statements about political reform as signs of a successful visit."
"There is a real danger that Burma's generals will try to use Ban's visit to legitimise the 2010 elections," HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said.
"If no commitments for reform are made, Ban should clearly and publicly state that a process that mocks the very idea of fundamental freedoms and democracy will have no legitimacy."
Thu Jul 2, 2009 8:21am BST
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon begins a high-risk trip to Myanmar on Friday, where he will press the military junta to release all their political prisoners and prepare for credible elections next year.
The stakes are high for Ban and the risk of failure great. Halfway through a five-year term at the helm of the United Nations, Ban has faced a wave of criticism recently from detractors who say his low-key approach to the job does not work. He is eager to prove them wrong, U.N. diplomats say.
Ban is aware that the timing of his trip to the former Burma is far from ideal, as he made clear when he spoke to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
He said he understood the concerns about the timing of his visit, which begins on the day the widely criticised trial of Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is set to resume.
"I will try to use this visit as an opportunity to raise in the strongest possible terms and convey the concerns of international community ... to the highest authorities of the Myanmar government," Ban said.
Human rights groups are watching Ban's moves closely. According to several U.N. diplomats, one influential group, New York-based Human Rights Watch, advised Ban not to accept the junta's invitation for a July 3-4 visit, warning him that it could be used for propaganda purposes.
But Ban, the diplomats said, decided to go anyway, hoping his presence and knack for closed-door, quiet diplomacy would persuade the generals to compromise, as they did last spring when Ban convinced them to lift restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis.
Analysts say Ban may have been given some indication by the generals, or by U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari after his trip last week, that his visit can bring some kind of positive result.
SUU KYI ON TRIAL
U.N. diplomats acknowledge that the probability of failure is high. But members of the U.N. Security Council are backing Ban's visit, some of them reluctantly. Given China's reluctance to back U.N. sanctions, a visit by the secretary-general is the only card they have to play in Myanmar at the moment.
Ban said he has three goals for his visit -- to demand the release of over 2,000 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition, and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections next year.
He plans to meet with Senior General Than Shwe in the country's new capital, Naypyidaw, on Friday, U.N. officials said. It was not yet clear if he would be able to meet with Suu Kyi, who has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention, mostly under house arrest at her lakeside home in Yangon.
The Nobel laureate, 64, was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest last month by allowing an American intruder to stay at her home, which prosecutors say breached a security law designed to thwart "subversive elements."
However, critics say the charges are trumped up and the trial is an attempt to keep Suu Kyi out of multi-party elections next year, which are expected to entrench nearly half a century of army rule.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement saying that Ban "should not accept the return of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest or vague statements about political reform as signs of a successful visit."
"There is a real danger that Burma's generals will try to use Ban's visit to legitimise the 2010 elections," HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said.
"If no commitments for reform are made, Ban should clearly and publicly state that a process that mocks the very idea of fundamental freedoms and democracy will have no legitimacy."
*****************************************************
Myanmar fossil may shed light on evolution
By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer – 2 hrs 4 mins ago
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) – Fossils recently discovered in Myanmar could prove that the common ancestors of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, rather than Africa, researchers contend in a study released Wednesday.
However, other scientists said that the finding, while significant, won't end the debate over the origin of anthropoids — the primate grouping that includes ancient species as well as modern humans.
The pieces of 38 million-year-old jawbones and teeth found near Bagan in central Myanmar in 2005 show typical characteristics of primates, said Dr. Chris Beard, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and a member of the team that found the fossils.
"When we found it, we knew we had a new type of primate and basically what kind of primate it was," Beard said in a telephone interview from Pittsburgh. "It turns out that jaws and teeth are very diagnostic. ... They are almost like fingerprints for fossils like this."
The findings were published in the Proceedings of The Royal Society B, a London-based peer-reviewed journal.
Beard and his team from France, Thailand and Myanmar concluded that the fossils — which they dubbed Ganlea megacanina — came from 10 to 15 individuals of a new species that belonged to an extinct family of Asian anthropoid primates known as Amphipithecidae.
Wear and tear found on the canine teeth suggest the tree-dwelling, monkey-like creatures with long tails used their teeth to crack open tropical fruit to get to the pulp and seeds — behavior similar to modern South American saki monkeys that inhabit the Amazon basin, Beard said.
"Not only does Ganlea look like an anthropoid, but it was acting like an anthropoid 38 million years ago by having this feeding ecology that was quite specialized," Beard said.
His team determined that the fossil was 38 million years old, making it several million years older than any anthropoid found in Africa and the second-oldest discovered in Asia.
In 1994, Beard and his Chinese colleagues found fossilized foot bones of the anthropoid Eosimias — one of the worlds smallest primates — which lived between 40 million and 45 million years ago and roamed ancient rain forest on the eastern coast of China.
Beard said the age of both fossils was the evidence he needed to challenge contentions that anthropoid primates had evolved in Africa, where Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old fossil, was discovered in 1974.
"This new fossil Ganlea definitely helps us argue — and we think the argument is pretty close to settled now — that when you go back this far in time, the common ancestor of monkeys, apes and humans was definitely in Asia, not in Africa," Beard said.
In May, researchers unveiled a nearly intact skeleton of a 47 million-year-old primate — found in Germany and dubbed "Ida" — that they said provides a glimpse into how our distant ancestors may have looked.
"We wouldn't claim Ganlea is missing link, but we know Ganlea is much more closely related to our ancestors than Ida ever was — even though, unfortunately, we don't have complete skeleton like they did for Ida," he said.
Jorn Hurum, who brought Ida to the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, said that it was too early to draw conclusions from the Myanmar fossils because only jawbones and teeth were found.
"These fragments are still too few and far between," Hurum said. "This is the kind of scientific debate that will continue until more complete skeletons like Ida has been found, and this may take several hundred years."
Stony Brook University Prof. John G. Fleagle, a paleontologist, said the discovery of Ganlea is important because it shows how several different primates found in Myanmar are related and provides interesting suggestions about a unique dietary specialization.
But he said the Myanmar fossils do little to prove whether anthropoids evolved in Asia or Africa — or even whether Ganlea was an anthropoid or an early relative of lemurs.
"This doesn't add anything new about whether anthropoids came from Africa or Asia or the broader evolutionary relationships of these particular primates ," Fleagle said.
"The definitive features that would resolve it in people's mind would be in the skull," he said. "Without a skull to demonstrate the distinctive anthropoid features of the eye and ear regions, scientists will still continue to debate whether the dental similarities just indicate similar diets or are the result of a common heritage."
Beard isn't letting the criticism slow him down. He and his team expect to return in November to Myanmar to continue searching for more fossils and exploring how anthropoids evolved in Asia and then migrated to Africa.
"The question is when and how did this big evolutionary shift occur from Asia to Africa," Beard said. "That is something we are trying to establish. We have a team working in Myanmar which has ideas of places to go in Africa to try and pick up thread there."
By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer – 2 hrs 4 mins ago
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) – Fossils recently discovered in Myanmar could prove that the common ancestors of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, rather than Africa, researchers contend in a study released Wednesday.
However, other scientists said that the finding, while significant, won't end the debate over the origin of anthropoids — the primate grouping that includes ancient species as well as modern humans.
The pieces of 38 million-year-old jawbones and teeth found near Bagan in central Myanmar in 2005 show typical characteristics of primates, said Dr. Chris Beard, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and a member of the team that found the fossils.
"When we found it, we knew we had a new type of primate and basically what kind of primate it was," Beard said in a telephone interview from Pittsburgh. "It turns out that jaws and teeth are very diagnostic. ... They are almost like fingerprints for fossils like this."
The findings were published in the Proceedings of The Royal Society B, a London-based peer-reviewed journal.
Beard and his team from France, Thailand and Myanmar concluded that the fossils — which they dubbed Ganlea megacanina — came from 10 to 15 individuals of a new species that belonged to an extinct family of Asian anthropoid primates known as Amphipithecidae.
Wear and tear found on the canine teeth suggest the tree-dwelling, monkey-like creatures with long tails used their teeth to crack open tropical fruit to get to the pulp and seeds — behavior similar to modern South American saki monkeys that inhabit the Amazon basin, Beard said.
"Not only does Ganlea look like an anthropoid, but it was acting like an anthropoid 38 million years ago by having this feeding ecology that was quite specialized," Beard said.
His team determined that the fossil was 38 million years old, making it several million years older than any anthropoid found in Africa and the second-oldest discovered in Asia.
In 1994, Beard and his Chinese colleagues found fossilized foot bones of the anthropoid Eosimias — one of the worlds smallest primates — which lived between 40 million and 45 million years ago and roamed ancient rain forest on the eastern coast of China.
Beard said the age of both fossils was the evidence he needed to challenge contentions that anthropoid primates had evolved in Africa, where Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old fossil, was discovered in 1974.
"This new fossil Ganlea definitely helps us argue — and we think the argument is pretty close to settled now — that when you go back this far in time, the common ancestor of monkeys, apes and humans was definitely in Asia, not in Africa," Beard said.
In May, researchers unveiled a nearly intact skeleton of a 47 million-year-old primate — found in Germany and dubbed "Ida" — that they said provides a glimpse into how our distant ancestors may have looked.
"We wouldn't claim Ganlea is missing link, but we know Ganlea is much more closely related to our ancestors than Ida ever was — even though, unfortunately, we don't have complete skeleton like they did for Ida," he said.
Jorn Hurum, who brought Ida to the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, said that it was too early to draw conclusions from the Myanmar fossils because only jawbones and teeth were found.
"These fragments are still too few and far between," Hurum said. "This is the kind of scientific debate that will continue until more complete skeletons like Ida has been found, and this may take several hundred years."
Stony Brook University Prof. John G. Fleagle, a paleontologist, said the discovery of Ganlea is important because it shows how several different primates found in Myanmar are related and provides interesting suggestions about a unique dietary specialization.
But he said the Myanmar fossils do little to prove whether anthropoids evolved in Asia or Africa — or even whether Ganlea was an anthropoid or an early relative of lemurs.
"This doesn't add anything new about whether anthropoids came from Africa or Asia or the broader evolutionary relationships of these particular primates ," Fleagle said.
"The definitive features that would resolve it in people's mind would be in the skull," he said. "Without a skull to demonstrate the distinctive anthropoid features of the eye and ear regions, scientists will still continue to debate whether the dental similarities just indicate similar diets or are the result of a common heritage."
Beard isn't letting the criticism slow him down. He and his team expect to return in November to Myanmar to continue searching for more fossils and exploring how anthropoids evolved in Asia and then migrated to Africa.
"The question is when and how did this big evolutionary shift occur from Asia to Africa," Beard said. "That is something we are trying to establish. We have a team working in Myanmar which has ideas of places to go in Africa to try and pick up thread there."
*****************************************************
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Japan Times - Probe of Korean-led firm in arms trade widens
YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) A trading company linked to attempts to export high-tech equipment with arms applications to Myanmar is suspected of shipping several other devices with potential for making weapons of mass destruction to the country as well, police said Wednesday.
Tokyo-based Toko Boeki has been exporting to Myanmar instruments that can be converted for use in producing missiles without permission since 2006, investigators alleged. Such exports must be approved by the minister of economy, trade and industry.
The 41-year-old Korean president of the firm, known as Keiko Ri in Japanese, was arrested Monday on suspicion of attempting to ship a magnetic measuring instrument from Yokohama port to Myanmar via Malaysia on Jan. 23. The device can potentially be used to produce weapons of mass destruction.
The head of the trading house has been handed over to prosecutors over the alleged transactions, which violate the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law.
Investigators have confiscated documents related to Toko Boeki's transactions and suspect the company shipped the instruments at the request of New East International Trading Ltd., a Chinese trading house with an office in Pyongyang.
METI has placed the Pyongyang entity on its list of foreign companies suspected of involvement in developing biological, chemical or nuclear weapons and missiles.
Myanmar is considered a major importer of North Korean weapons technology.
The Japan Times - Probe of Korean-led firm in arms trade widens
YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) A trading company linked to attempts to export high-tech equipment with arms applications to Myanmar is suspected of shipping several other devices with potential for making weapons of mass destruction to the country as well, police said Wednesday.
Tokyo-based Toko Boeki has been exporting to Myanmar instruments that can be converted for use in producing missiles without permission since 2006, investigators alleged. Such exports must be approved by the minister of economy, trade and industry.
The 41-year-old Korean president of the firm, known as Keiko Ri in Japanese, was arrested Monday on suspicion of attempting to ship a magnetic measuring instrument from Yokohama port to Myanmar via Malaysia on Jan. 23. The device can potentially be used to produce weapons of mass destruction.
The head of the trading house has been handed over to prosecutors over the alleged transactions, which violate the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law.
Investigators have confiscated documents related to Toko Boeki's transactions and suspect the company shipped the instruments at the request of New East International Trading Ltd., a Chinese trading house with an office in Pyongyang.
METI has placed the Pyongyang entity on its list of foreign companies suspected of involvement in developing biological, chemical or nuclear weapons and missiles.
Myanmar is considered a major importer of North Korean weapons technology.
*****************************************************
The Huffington Post - UN Chief Visits Burma: A Political Gamble
Evelyn Leopold, Veteran reporter at the United Nations
Posted: July 1, 2009 11:56 PM
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon goes to Myanmar (Burma) for the July 3-4 weekend in what both friends and detractors view as a political gamble. With an agenda that asks the ruling military junta to open its doors to national "reconciliation" (which would end their solitary rule), Ban is convinced he can persuade the country's recalcitrant leaders that reforms are for their own good.
The deck is stacked against him. He arrives on the day the show trial resumes against opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 64. She was jailed after John Yettaw, an American Mormon, swam to her home, saying he had a vision that she would be assassinated by terrorists. She had never met him and is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest.
Suu Kyi was transferred from house arrest to prison after spending more than 13 of the past 19 years secluded in her home after her party, the National League for Democracy, won a huge victory in 1990 elections but the military refused to budge. Without any relief for Suu Kyi - and only the reclusive junta leader Senior General Than Shwe can grant that - Ban's visit may disappoint.
For Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, Myanmar is a challenge. He points with pride at convincing Than Shwe to allow UN agencies to deliver relief after Cyclone Nargis devastated coastal areas last May after everyone else had failed. He says the international workers helped save half a million people from ruin. Sadly, they arrived only after some 140,000 people had died, countless others lost their homes and at least 21 Burmese aid workers who sought to help survivors were jailed.
This time Ban's goals are politically more ambitious and he listed three in several news conferences:
First, the release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition as a necessary part of any reconciliation process; and third, the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections next year.
Asked about the timing, he said, he was very conscious that it coincided with Suu Kyi's trial but said finding an appropriate time had been a challenge. The UN chief said he intended to make a public speech and invite all civil society leaders to attend.
Ban will probably meet Than Shwe in the newly-built remote administrative capital of Naypyidaw, reachable by air or by bumpy roads. (When annoyed at the world body, Ibrahim Gambari, a Nigerian diplomat who has traveled to Myanmar on behalf of the secretary-general several times, was forced to go by road, although last week he flew by air, diplomatic sources said).
The United States has been steadfast in opposing the military and its planned restricted election next year, meant to legitimize the junta by keeping Suu Kyi and her followers away from campaigns and polls. In the last two years, the number of political prisoners has doubled to 2,100 according to Human Rights Watch.
Rape as a Weapon of War
Laura Bush, the former first lady who made Burma a personal project, wrote recently in the Washington Post that it was crucial Ban press the regime to take immediate steps to end human rights abuses, particularly in ethnic minority areas where rape was common. She said the youngest victim was 8, the oldest 80.
Inside Burma, more than 3,000 villages have been forcibly displaced -- a number exceeding the mass relocations in genocide-racked Darfur. The military junta has forced tens of thousands of child soldiers into its army and routinely uses civilians as mine-sweepers and slave laborers...Human trafficking, where women and children are snatched and sold, is pervasive. Summary executions pass for justice, while lawyers are arrested for the 'crime' of defending the persecuted.
Although sanctions have been imposed by the United States and many European nations, Burma's neighbors, including India and China, trade liberally in timber and other natural resources. And the giant French-based oil company Total does a thriving business, arguing that if it left, another oil company would take its place and pay less attention to the plight of its employees.
Various U.N. bodies have adopted some 38 resolutions against Myanmar without results. The 15-nation U.N. Security Council, whose resolutions are binding, was thwarted by a double veto from China and Russia (and a negative vote by South Africa) in January 2007. But the Council in May did agree on a statement calling for the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
However, Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist who has written several books on Burma, says Ban's visit is bound to fail. Authoritarian regimes "never negotiate away their hold on power" and usually crumble when someone inside the establishment, mainly troops, refuse to carry out orders, he told the Wall Street Asia.
Western diplomats are divided on Ban's trip. They welcome the U.N. chief bringing Burma to the world's attention again. (The junta renamed the country Myanmar, which the U.N. but not the United States and other nations recognize). On the other hand, they fear that if he does not come away with substantial progress, his visit would serve to give the generals legitimacy. And that progress centers on Suu Kyi.
Evelyn Leopold, Veteran reporter at the United Nations
Posted: July 1, 2009 11:56 PM
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon goes to Myanmar (Burma) for the July 3-4 weekend in what both friends and detractors view as a political gamble. With an agenda that asks the ruling military junta to open its doors to national "reconciliation" (which would end their solitary rule), Ban is convinced he can persuade the country's recalcitrant leaders that reforms are for their own good.
The deck is stacked against him. He arrives on the day the show trial resumes against opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 64. She was jailed after John Yettaw, an American Mormon, swam to her home, saying he had a vision that she would be assassinated by terrorists. She had never met him and is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest.
Suu Kyi was transferred from house arrest to prison after spending more than 13 of the past 19 years secluded in her home after her party, the National League for Democracy, won a huge victory in 1990 elections but the military refused to budge. Without any relief for Suu Kyi - and only the reclusive junta leader Senior General Than Shwe can grant that - Ban's visit may disappoint.
For Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, Myanmar is a challenge. He points with pride at convincing Than Shwe to allow UN agencies to deliver relief after Cyclone Nargis devastated coastal areas last May after everyone else had failed. He says the international workers helped save half a million people from ruin. Sadly, they arrived only after some 140,000 people had died, countless others lost their homes and at least 21 Burmese aid workers who sought to help survivors were jailed.
This time Ban's goals are politically more ambitious and he listed three in several news conferences:
First, the release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition as a necessary part of any reconciliation process; and third, the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections next year.
Asked about the timing, he said, he was very conscious that it coincided with Suu Kyi's trial but said finding an appropriate time had been a challenge. The UN chief said he intended to make a public speech and invite all civil society leaders to attend.
Ban will probably meet Than Shwe in the newly-built remote administrative capital of Naypyidaw, reachable by air or by bumpy roads. (When annoyed at the world body, Ibrahim Gambari, a Nigerian diplomat who has traveled to Myanmar on behalf of the secretary-general several times, was forced to go by road, although last week he flew by air, diplomatic sources said).
The United States has been steadfast in opposing the military and its planned restricted election next year, meant to legitimize the junta by keeping Suu Kyi and her followers away from campaigns and polls. In the last two years, the number of political prisoners has doubled to 2,100 according to Human Rights Watch.
Rape as a Weapon of War
Laura Bush, the former first lady who made Burma a personal project, wrote recently in the Washington Post that it was crucial Ban press the regime to take immediate steps to end human rights abuses, particularly in ethnic minority areas where rape was common. She said the youngest victim was 8, the oldest 80.
Inside Burma, more than 3,000 villages have been forcibly displaced -- a number exceeding the mass relocations in genocide-racked Darfur. The military junta has forced tens of thousands of child soldiers into its army and routinely uses civilians as mine-sweepers and slave laborers...Human trafficking, where women and children are snatched and sold, is pervasive. Summary executions pass for justice, while lawyers are arrested for the 'crime' of defending the persecuted.
Although sanctions have been imposed by the United States and many European nations, Burma's neighbors, including India and China, trade liberally in timber and other natural resources. And the giant French-based oil company Total does a thriving business, arguing that if it left, another oil company would take its place and pay less attention to the plight of its employees.
Various U.N. bodies have adopted some 38 resolutions against Myanmar without results. The 15-nation U.N. Security Council, whose resolutions are binding, was thwarted by a double veto from China and Russia (and a negative vote by South Africa) in January 2007. But the Council in May did agree on a statement calling for the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
However, Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist who has written several books on Burma, says Ban's visit is bound to fail. Authoritarian regimes "never negotiate away their hold on power" and usually crumble when someone inside the establishment, mainly troops, refuse to carry out orders, he told the Wall Street Asia.
Western diplomats are divided on Ban's trip. They welcome the U.N. chief bringing Burma to the world's attention again. (The junta renamed the country Myanmar, which the U.N. but not the United States and other nations recognize). On the other hand, they fear that if he does not come away with substantial progress, his visit would serve to give the generals legitimacy. And that progress centers on Suu Kyi.
*****************************************************
Latest Update: Wednesday1/7/2009July, 2009, 10:25 PM
The Gulf Times - Russia must speak out for human rights in Myanmar
By Nehginpao Kipgen /Washington
Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation’s bilateral relation with the Union of Burma (Myanmar) is unambiguously lopsided toward the ruling military junta. Though the two countries neither share a similar culture nor the same political system, they have teamed up as good darlings.
While the United States and the European Union are largely sufficed with sanctions, Russia grasped the opportunity to find a friend in Southeast Asia in the aftermath of Cold War. Russia’s engagement with the Myanmar military regime is primarily based on economic interest and a lingering rivalry with members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).
“Russia seeks to expand its participation in the Asia-Pacific region. Thus, Russian-Myanmar relations have good and promising prospects. We want and we’re ready to expand co-operation with Myanmar in all directions,” said Mikhail Fradkov, the then Russian prime minister, in April 2006. The announcement was followed by a number of investments.
In September 2006, JSC Zarubezhneft Itera Oil and Gas Company of Russian Federation and Sun Group of India agreed with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) to explore oil and gas in offshore Block M-8 in the Mottama gulf off the Tanintharyi coast.
In March 2007, Russia ‘s Silver Wave Sputnik Petroleum signed a deal with MOGE to explore and produce oil and gas in onshore B-2 block in Kachin state.
Rosatum, the Russian Federal Nuclear Agency, reported in 2007 that it had signed a deal with the military junta to build a nuclear research reactor in Burma. The agreement also provided training for hundreds of the military people to work at the future research centre.
The aforesaid points explicate why Russia chooses engagement over sanctions. This strengthened bilateral relationship has prevented Russia from speaking out for human rights and democracy in Burma .
In January 2007, Russia, joined by China and South Africa, vetoed the UN Security resolution on Burma. The resolution called for the military junta: to release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners; to cease attacks on the country’s ethnic minorities, and to begin a democratic transition.
The resolution also called for a halt in the widespread use of rape by the armed forces and to support efforts by the International Labour Organisation to end forced labour. The Burmese Ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe, praised the two veto-wielding powers and South Africa for opposing the resolution.
“We find attempts aimed at using the Security Council to discuss issues outside its purview are unacceptable,” said Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to the United Nations. The defeat of the resolution dashed the hope of getting the UN Security Council’s intervention in Burma. Had Russia and China approved the resolution, the picture of Burmese democratic movement could have been different.
The unsuccessful attempt of the Security Council emboldened the Burmese military junta’s intransigence nature. Subsequently a few months later, the world watched the brutality of the military on its own people during the September 2007 democracy uprising.
Russia, along with China, does not like the idea of internationalising Burma’s political problem with the assertion that it is Burma’s internal matter and does not pose a threat to international peace and security. The two countries pursue engagement to establish a strong presence economically and militarily. This entails Moscow’s discreet relations with Burma.
Though the international community urges Russia to use its friendship with Burma to put pressure on the military generals, no substantive action has been taken. Moscow occasionally justified its policy by citing the engagement example of Burma ’s neighbouring countries, which have not yielded any democratic change.
The ongoing trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate and general secretary of the National League for Democracy, has prompted Russia to make somewhat intriguing message on June 20.
Russia hopes that the trial of “Myanmar Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be unbiased, strictly comply with national laws and humanitarian standards, and take into account the international opinion,” said the Russian foreign ministry.
Russia should not only speak out on the trial of Suu Kyi, but also on other human rights abuses and the urgent need for a democratic transition. It will be very effective if Russia, as a veto power at the UN Security Council, can set aside its differences with the United States and its allies for a co-ordinated international strategy on Burma .
As long as the rift remains within the UN Security Council members, and between the Western nations and the Eastern nations, the world will continue to watch the suffering of the Burmese commoners in the hands of the military generals.
It is now time for Russia to be on the right side of history by listening to the vast majority of the Burmese people, and not too complacent with the military junta.
*** Nehginpao Kipgen is general secretary of the US-based Kuki International Forum (www.kukiforum.com) and a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma (1947-2004).
The Gulf Times - Russia must speak out for human rights in Myanmar
By Nehginpao Kipgen /Washington
Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation’s bilateral relation with the Union of Burma (Myanmar) is unambiguously lopsided toward the ruling military junta. Though the two countries neither share a similar culture nor the same political system, they have teamed up as good darlings.
While the United States and the European Union are largely sufficed with sanctions, Russia grasped the opportunity to find a friend in Southeast Asia in the aftermath of Cold War. Russia’s engagement with the Myanmar military regime is primarily based on economic interest and a lingering rivalry with members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).
“Russia seeks to expand its participation in the Asia-Pacific region. Thus, Russian-Myanmar relations have good and promising prospects. We want and we’re ready to expand co-operation with Myanmar in all directions,” said Mikhail Fradkov, the then Russian prime minister, in April 2006. The announcement was followed by a number of investments.
In September 2006, JSC Zarubezhneft Itera Oil and Gas Company of Russian Federation and Sun Group of India agreed with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) to explore oil and gas in offshore Block M-8 in the Mottama gulf off the Tanintharyi coast.
In March 2007, Russia ‘s Silver Wave Sputnik Petroleum signed a deal with MOGE to explore and produce oil and gas in onshore B-2 block in Kachin state.
Rosatum, the Russian Federal Nuclear Agency, reported in 2007 that it had signed a deal with the military junta to build a nuclear research reactor in Burma. The agreement also provided training for hundreds of the military people to work at the future research centre.
The aforesaid points explicate why Russia chooses engagement over sanctions. This strengthened bilateral relationship has prevented Russia from speaking out for human rights and democracy in Burma .
In January 2007, Russia, joined by China and South Africa, vetoed the UN Security resolution on Burma. The resolution called for the military junta: to release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners; to cease attacks on the country’s ethnic minorities, and to begin a democratic transition.
The resolution also called for a halt in the widespread use of rape by the armed forces and to support efforts by the International Labour Organisation to end forced labour. The Burmese Ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe, praised the two veto-wielding powers and South Africa for opposing the resolution.
“We find attempts aimed at using the Security Council to discuss issues outside its purview are unacceptable,” said Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to the United Nations. The defeat of the resolution dashed the hope of getting the UN Security Council’s intervention in Burma. Had Russia and China approved the resolution, the picture of Burmese democratic movement could have been different.
The unsuccessful attempt of the Security Council emboldened the Burmese military junta’s intransigence nature. Subsequently a few months later, the world watched the brutality of the military on its own people during the September 2007 democracy uprising.
Russia, along with China, does not like the idea of internationalising Burma’s political problem with the assertion that it is Burma’s internal matter and does not pose a threat to international peace and security. The two countries pursue engagement to establish a strong presence economically and militarily. This entails Moscow’s discreet relations with Burma.
Though the international community urges Russia to use its friendship with Burma to put pressure on the military generals, no substantive action has been taken. Moscow occasionally justified its policy by citing the engagement example of Burma ’s neighbouring countries, which have not yielded any democratic change.
The ongoing trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate and general secretary of the National League for Democracy, has prompted Russia to make somewhat intriguing message on June 20.
Russia hopes that the trial of “Myanmar Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be unbiased, strictly comply with national laws and humanitarian standards, and take into account the international opinion,” said the Russian foreign ministry.
Russia should not only speak out on the trial of Suu Kyi, but also on other human rights abuses and the urgent need for a democratic transition. It will be very effective if Russia, as a veto power at the UN Security Council, can set aside its differences with the United States and its allies for a co-ordinated international strategy on Burma .
As long as the rift remains within the UN Security Council members, and between the Western nations and the Eastern nations, the world will continue to watch the suffering of the Burmese commoners in the hands of the military generals.
It is now time for Russia to be on the right side of history by listening to the vast majority of the Burmese people, and not too complacent with the military junta.
*** Nehginpao Kipgen is general secretary of the US-based Kuki International Forum (www.kukiforum.com) and a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma (1947-2004).
*****************************************************
The National - Ban expects Myanmar concessions
James Reinl, United Nations Correspondent
Last Updated: July 02. 2009 12:12AM UAE / July 1. 2009 8:12PM GMT
NEW YORK // As Ban Ki-moon travels to Myanmar tomorrow in a bid to have its military rulers embrace political reforms, the UN secretary general is under mounting pressure to clinch a much-needed diplomatic success.
Halfway through his first term, the UN leader is being criticised because of his lack of progress with regimes, such as the junta in Myanmar.
The expectation is that Mr Ban’s trip will yield concessions from Myanmar’s military rulers, though it is possible the junta will use the visit to legitimise the trial of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Speaking in Japan on Tuesday, the secretary general outlined “three of the most important benchmarks” he hopes to achieve during two days of talks with the junta leaders.
“They should release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, they should immediately resume the dialogue between the government and opposition leaders and they should also create an atmosphere, political as well as a legal framework, conducive to the credible election which needs to be taken next year in a most objective, transparent and democratic manner,” he said.
The UN leader has been seeking to return to Myanmar since his first visit in May 2008 after Cyclone Nargis, which left almost 150,000 dead. His special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, has travelled there eight times since being appointed in 2006 but has achieved little in terms of democratic reforms.
The junta violently quashed a peaceful uprising by monks and students in 2007 and the number of political prisoners is reported to have doubled to more than 2,000.
Mr Gambari’s most recent visit, last week, was shrouded in secrecy. The UN envoy was believed to be negotiating a deal that would enable Mr Ban to secure a concrete outcome from his visit. It is not yet known whether it will include the release of political prisoners or relate directly to Ms Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate whose trial for breaking the terms of her house arrest was to resume tomorrow.
She has been in prison or under house arrest for much of the past two decades and was put on trial again recently on charges that she allowed an unauthorised guest to stay at her home on May 4.
Western governments have dismissed Ms Suu Kyi’s prosecution as a “show trial” intended to keep her out of multi-party elections planned for next year. Critics say they will entrench almost half a century of army rule in the country, formerly known as Burma.
Mr Ban acknowledged “concerns about the timing” of his visit coinciding with the trial, but pledged to “raise in the strongest possible terms … the concerns of the international community”.
With diplomats at the UN assessing whether he has enough support to run for a second term as secretary general, Mr Ban is under some pressure to score a diplomatic triumph.
Mr Ban has been accused of having not condemned Sri Lanka’s government during its recent offensive against the Tamil Tigers, which left thousands of civilians dead this year during the endgame of its 26-year ethnic civil war.
During a press conference this month he blamed any perception of stalled progress on world powers for failing to support his endeavours. He said his job is “just impossible”.
Suzanne DiMaggio, a policy analyst from the New York-based Asia Society, said Mr Ban cannot “come back empty-handed”.
But Ms DiMaggio is concerned that the junta has little interest in reform and Mr Ban’s visit will probably not change anything if such regional powers as India and China do not provide political leverage.
Steve Crawshaw, a UN expert from the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said Mr Ban needed to secure real concessions from the junta, including the release of Ms Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
“Ban Ki-moon is very well meaning and has an extraordinarily difficult task. In the past, and that includes in Sri Lanka, he has seemed so eager to be courteous to his hosts that this has reduced the possible pressure for change,” he said.
“I hope that he will be mindful of that and will do everything possible to ensure that the Burmese junta is not able to trumpet this visit as some kind of success without granting any real concessions.”
James Reinl, United Nations Correspondent
Last Updated: July 02. 2009 12:12AM UAE / July 1. 2009 8:12PM GMT
NEW YORK // As Ban Ki-moon travels to Myanmar tomorrow in a bid to have its military rulers embrace political reforms, the UN secretary general is under mounting pressure to clinch a much-needed diplomatic success.
Halfway through his first term, the UN leader is being criticised because of his lack of progress with regimes, such as the junta in Myanmar.
The expectation is that Mr Ban’s trip will yield concessions from Myanmar’s military rulers, though it is possible the junta will use the visit to legitimise the trial of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Speaking in Japan on Tuesday, the secretary general outlined “three of the most important benchmarks” he hopes to achieve during two days of talks with the junta leaders.
“They should release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, they should immediately resume the dialogue between the government and opposition leaders and they should also create an atmosphere, political as well as a legal framework, conducive to the credible election which needs to be taken next year in a most objective, transparent and democratic manner,” he said.
The UN leader has been seeking to return to Myanmar since his first visit in May 2008 after Cyclone Nargis, which left almost 150,000 dead. His special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, has travelled there eight times since being appointed in 2006 but has achieved little in terms of democratic reforms.
The junta violently quashed a peaceful uprising by monks and students in 2007 and the number of political prisoners is reported to have doubled to more than 2,000.
Mr Gambari’s most recent visit, last week, was shrouded in secrecy. The UN envoy was believed to be negotiating a deal that would enable Mr Ban to secure a concrete outcome from his visit. It is not yet known whether it will include the release of political prisoners or relate directly to Ms Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate whose trial for breaking the terms of her house arrest was to resume tomorrow.
She has been in prison or under house arrest for much of the past two decades and was put on trial again recently on charges that she allowed an unauthorised guest to stay at her home on May 4.
Western governments have dismissed Ms Suu Kyi’s prosecution as a “show trial” intended to keep her out of multi-party elections planned for next year. Critics say they will entrench almost half a century of army rule in the country, formerly known as Burma.
Mr Ban acknowledged “concerns about the timing” of his visit coinciding with the trial, but pledged to “raise in the strongest possible terms … the concerns of the international community”.
With diplomats at the UN assessing whether he has enough support to run for a second term as secretary general, Mr Ban is under some pressure to score a diplomatic triumph.
Mr Ban has been accused of having not condemned Sri Lanka’s government during its recent offensive against the Tamil Tigers, which left thousands of civilians dead this year during the endgame of its 26-year ethnic civil war.
During a press conference this month he blamed any perception of stalled progress on world powers for failing to support his endeavours. He said his job is “just impossible”.
Suzanne DiMaggio, a policy analyst from the New York-based Asia Society, said Mr Ban cannot “come back empty-handed”.
But Ms DiMaggio is concerned that the junta has little interest in reform and Mr Ban’s visit will probably not change anything if such regional powers as India and China do not provide political leverage.
Steve Crawshaw, a UN expert from the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said Mr Ban needed to secure real concessions from the junta, including the release of Ms Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
“Ban Ki-moon is very well meaning and has an extraordinarily difficult task. In the past, and that includes in Sri Lanka, he has seemed so eager to be courteous to his hosts that this has reduced the possible pressure for change,” he said.
“I hope that he will be mindful of that and will do everything possible to ensure that the Burmese junta is not able to trumpet this visit as some kind of success without granting any real concessions.”
*****************************************************
The Dawn - UN chief to visit Suu Kyi in Myanmar
Tuesday, 30 Jun, 2009 | 11:34 AM PST |
YANGON: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon announced that he would visit Myanmar and said that he must meet the democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for the trip to be effective. This news was welcomed by the leader’s political party.
A spokeswoman for Ban announced late Monday that the UN secretary general would travel to the military-ruled nation later this week for talks with the junta on the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
Ban is due to arrive Friday, the same day as a Myanmar court is due to resume the trial of the Nobel laureate on charges of violation of her house arrest after an American man swam to her lakeside home.
‘We welcome Mr Ban Ki-moon's visit,’ Nyan Win, the spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and a member of her legal team, told AFP.
‘His visit will focus on three main things: to release all political prisoners, to start dialogue and also to ensure free and fair elections in 2010,’ he said.
‘Regarding these three things, he needs to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.’ The 64-year-old opposition icon is currently being held at Insein prison in Yangon where the internationally condemned trial is being held. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
The UN chief decided to go ahead with his trip after being briefed Sunday by his special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, who paid a short preparatory visit to the country last week.
Ban will address ‘the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition as a necessary part of any national reconciliation process, and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections,’ his spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said.
The ruling junta has promised to hold elections in 2010, but critics say they are ‘a sham designed to entrench the generals' hold on power’ and that the trial is designed to keep Aung San Suu Kyi behind bars during the polls.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in jail since the junta refused to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.
Tuesday, 30 Jun, 2009 | 11:34 AM PST |
YANGON: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon announced that he would visit Myanmar and said that he must meet the democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for the trip to be effective. This news was welcomed by the leader’s political party.
A spokeswoman for Ban announced late Monday that the UN secretary general would travel to the military-ruled nation later this week for talks with the junta on the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
Ban is due to arrive Friday, the same day as a Myanmar court is due to resume the trial of the Nobel laureate on charges of violation of her house arrest after an American man swam to her lakeside home.
‘We welcome Mr Ban Ki-moon's visit,’ Nyan Win, the spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and a member of her legal team, told AFP.
‘His visit will focus on three main things: to release all political prisoners, to start dialogue and also to ensure free and fair elections in 2010,’ he said.
‘Regarding these three things, he needs to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.’ The 64-year-old opposition icon is currently being held at Insein prison in Yangon where the internationally condemned trial is being held. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
The UN chief decided to go ahead with his trip after being briefed Sunday by his special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, who paid a short preparatory visit to the country last week.
Ban will address ‘the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition as a necessary part of any national reconciliation process, and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections,’ his spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said.
The ruling junta has promised to hold elections in 2010, but critics say they are ‘a sham designed to entrench the generals' hold on power’ and that the trial is designed to keep Aung San Suu Kyi behind bars during the polls.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in jail since the junta refused to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.
*****************************************************
Asia News Network - Burma visit a test of credibility for UN Sec-Gen
Nirmal Ghosh, The Straits Times
Publication Date: 02-07-2009
When United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon arrives in Burma on July 3, he will be challenged to show results for the sake of his credibility and that of the UN, as well as for the regional and international community.
The main challenge for him is to go beyond the process and protocol of meetings and come up with real options to end the stalemate over the regime's detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
For most of the time since the junta refused to recognise her party's victory in Burma's last elections, held in 1990, Ms Suu Kyi has been in detention. She is now on trial on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest after an American man swam uninvited to her house in May.
All is not necessarily going the way of Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council. For one thing, the global criticism of her trial may have taken it by surprise. Also, unqualified support from fellow Asean members is not guaranteed.
And Burma's army, which is battling the Karen National Union, may soon find itself at war with other ethnic groups which are unwilling to submit their armed cadres to the regime's authority.
Meanwhile, international sanctions continue to take a toll on an economy that remains in the doldrums.
Three key issues will figure in Ban's talks with the regime's supremo, Senior General Than Shwe: the release of political prisoners, including Suu Kyi; the resumption of dialogue between the government and the political opposition; and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections next year.
The humanitarian effort in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis will also be discussed.
There is no word on whether Ban will meet Suu Kyi. He told Reuters in Japan on June 30: "It may be the case that (her) trial happens during my visit to Burma. I am very much conscious of that."
It seems likely her trial will be dragged out until General Than Shwe has considered what Ban has to say.
The mission is not without risk for Ban. If it comes across as a public relations show for the regime, he is likely to be savaged by the strong pro-democracy lobby outside Burma.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is pessimistic that the visit will produce results, even as Ban is under pressure to display his skills as a mediator.
"The Secretary-General needs to push the reset button," said Burma historian Thant Myint U, a visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"He needs to start from where Burma is today - one of the poorest countries in the world, emerging only now from half a century of armed conflict, a country which has only had army rule since 1962 - and identify clear and realistic options going forward.
"Without a meaningful end to the civil war and steps to lessen the country's extreme poverty, there can be no sustainable transition to democracy. The Secretary-General should articulate clearly how these three pieces of the puzzle need to progress together."
Nirmal Ghosh, The Straits Times
Publication Date: 02-07-2009
When United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon arrives in Burma on July 3, he will be challenged to show results for the sake of his credibility and that of the UN, as well as for the regional and international community.
The main challenge for him is to go beyond the process and protocol of meetings and come up with real options to end the stalemate over the regime's detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
For most of the time since the junta refused to recognise her party's victory in Burma's last elections, held in 1990, Ms Suu Kyi has been in detention. She is now on trial on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest after an American man swam uninvited to her house in May.
All is not necessarily going the way of Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council. For one thing, the global criticism of her trial may have taken it by surprise. Also, unqualified support from fellow Asean members is not guaranteed.
And Burma's army, which is battling the Karen National Union, may soon find itself at war with other ethnic groups which are unwilling to submit their armed cadres to the regime's authority.
Meanwhile, international sanctions continue to take a toll on an economy that remains in the doldrums.
Three key issues will figure in Ban's talks with the regime's supremo, Senior General Than Shwe: the release of political prisoners, including Suu Kyi; the resumption of dialogue between the government and the political opposition; and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections next year.
The humanitarian effort in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis will also be discussed.
There is no word on whether Ban will meet Suu Kyi. He told Reuters in Japan on June 30: "It may be the case that (her) trial happens during my visit to Burma. I am very much conscious of that."
It seems likely her trial will be dragged out until General Than Shwe has considered what Ban has to say.
The mission is not without risk for Ban. If it comes across as a public relations show for the regime, he is likely to be savaged by the strong pro-democracy lobby outside Burma.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is pessimistic that the visit will produce results, even as Ban is under pressure to display his skills as a mediator.
"The Secretary-General needs to push the reset button," said Burma historian Thant Myint U, a visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"He needs to start from where Burma is today - one of the poorest countries in the world, emerging only now from half a century of armed conflict, a country which has only had army rule since 1962 - and identify clear and realistic options going forward.
"Without a meaningful end to the civil war and steps to lessen the country's extreme poverty, there can be no sustainable transition to democracy. The Secretary-General should articulate clearly how these three pieces of the puzzle need to progress together."
*****************************************************
The Jakarta Post - UK embassy to display giant Suu Kyi image
Ary Hermawan , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 07/02/2009 3:20 PM | National
The British embassy in Jakarta will display a giant image of jailed Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to call for her release and that of other political prisoners in the military-ruled country.
The image will be projected onto a banner installed at the perimeter of Bundaran HI traffic circle in Central Jakarta from Thursday until Saturday, the embassy said in a statement released Thursday.
The projection will start at sunset.
The initiative is being launched as Suu Kyi’s trial resumes in Myanmar on Friday; United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to visit the country also on Friday.
“The UK Government believes it is essential that progress is made during the Secretary-General's visit in laying the groundwork for free and fair elections in Burma in 2010,” the statement said.
“The visit will offer an opportunity for the Burmese regime to respond to the many calls for the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi; and to allow the start of a genuinely inclusive political dialogue involving the opposition and minority groups.”
British chargé d'Affaires in Jakarta Matthew Rous said Myanmar’s neighbors had a duty to call loudly for Suu Kyi’s release.
“I am greatly encouraged by the fact that Indonesia's voice is being heard so loudly and clearly. I hope the British Embassy's initiative will help us all to keep Aung Sang Suu Kyi's image in front of our eyes during this hugely important visit," he said.
Ary Hermawan , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 07/02/2009 3:20 PM | National
The British embassy in Jakarta will display a giant image of jailed Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to call for her release and that of other political prisoners in the military-ruled country.
The image will be projected onto a banner installed at the perimeter of Bundaran HI traffic circle in Central Jakarta from Thursday until Saturday, the embassy said in a statement released Thursday.
The projection will start at sunset.
The initiative is being launched as Suu Kyi’s trial resumes in Myanmar on Friday; United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to visit the country also on Friday.
“The UK Government believes it is essential that progress is made during the Secretary-General's visit in laying the groundwork for free and fair elections in Burma in 2010,” the statement said.
“The visit will offer an opportunity for the Burmese regime to respond to the many calls for the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi; and to allow the start of a genuinely inclusive political dialogue involving the opposition and minority groups.”
British chargé d'Affaires in Jakarta Matthew Rous said Myanmar’s neighbors had a duty to call loudly for Suu Kyi’s release.
“I am greatly encouraged by the fact that Indonesia's voice is being heard so loudly and clearly. I hope the British Embassy's initiative will help us all to keep Aung Sang Suu Kyi's image in front of our eyes during this hugely important visit," he said.
*****************************************************
Jul 3, 2009
Asia Times Online - China's rogue regimes play up
By Brian McCartan
BANGKOK - Arms shipments, cooperation on underground tunneling and a budding nuclear relationship between North Korea and Myanmar threatens to destabilize Southeast Asia's security balance and raise the ire of China, both countries' powerful neighbor and ally.
The global spotlight has focused on North Korean-Myanmar ties ever since a freighter, the Kang Nam 1, was reported to be steaming towards Myanmar with a suspected cargo of weapons in violation of a recent United Nations Security Council ban. The ban came in the wake of North Korea's ballistic missile test in April and an underground test the following month of a nuclear device. North Korea has promised to launch another ballistic missile test on July 4.
Myanmar severed diplomatic ties with Pyongyang in 1983 after three North Korean agents bombed the mausoleum of Myanmar's revered independence leader Aung San and killed 18 visiting South Korean officials, including then-deputy prime minister So Suk-chan and three other cabinet ministers. However, trade continued between the two isolated authoritarian regimes and clandestine military ties are known to have been re-established in 1999. Diplomatic relations were publicly restored in 2007.
The nature of those military-to-military ties is now a matter of growing international conjecture and concern. Several unexplained visits to Myanmar by North Korean freighters have also been reported in recent years, and the secrecy and heavy security surrounding the ships has led many analysts to believe that they consisted of weapons shipments.
The slow voyage of the Kang Nam 1 since leaving Wimpo on North Korea's western coast has sparked speculation that it may be packed with parts for short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) or even the missiles themselves. Opposition sources claim that Myanmar's military government, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), may have already acquired Scud-type missiles or is testing its own designs with technical help from North Korean advisors.
Asia Times Online was not able to independently corroborate those claims at the time of publication. But Myanmar's interest in the weapons seems to be partially confirmed by recent photos published in The Irrawaddy news magazine of chief of staff and SPDC Number 3 General Thura Shwe Mann and his entourage inspecting a Scud production facility during a November visit to North Korea.
Further evidence may have emerged on Monday when three Japanese executives were arrested in Tokyo for allegedly trying to sell a magnetic measuring device to Myanmar. The device, which can be used in the production of ballistic missiles, was reported by the Yomiuri Shimbun as being ordered by the Hong Kong-based New East International Trading Ltd, which it said was linked to the North Korean Second Economic Committee of the Pyongyang Workers' Party. The same company reportedly tried and failed last year to export to Myanmar a similar measuring device when it was found to have failed to obtain a proper export application for the sale.
A major purchase by Myanmar of North Korean-made 130mm M46 field guns was made in 1999. North Korean C-801 "Eagle Strike" anti-ship cruise missiles were obtained before July 2006, intended for mounting on several of Myanmar's patrol vessels. Insurgent military commanders say Myanmar also acquired last year truck-mounted 107mm or 122mm multiple rocket launcher systems from North Korea through Singapore.
North Korean involvement in the construction of large-scale underground tunnel and bunker networks across Myanmar was confirmed earlier this month when Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner published exclusive photos of the tunnels, including what are believed to be North Korean technicians and advisors on the site. The Irrawaddy later published additional photos of the tunnel complexes last week. The tunnels are believed to be defenses for a possible US-led invasion.
Nuclear nexus
More worrying to regional governments is mounting evidence of Pyongyang's involvement in Myanmar's revitalized nuclear program. Myanmar's government restarted its program in May 2007 through an agreement with Russia to provide assistance and build a nuclear research center and 10 megawatt reactor. Although the planned reactor will use non-weapons grade uranium, training associated with the facility could eventually be turned to develop nuclear weapons, experts say. They note that North Korea developed its runaway nuclear program from a similar reactor at Yongbyon.
Opposition groups claim that North Korean technicians are either involved in the Russian reactor program or building a separate reactor. Asia Times Online could not independently confirm either claim. But Pyongyang's duplicity in its own nuclear program and its recent show of contempt for world opinion by conducting ballistic missile and nuclear tests, combined with past efforts to export nuclear technology to Syria and Iran, have raised widespread concerns.
So, too, does Myanmar's past record of allegedly using weapons of mass destruction. Myanmar has been widely accused by international human rights groups and ethnic insurgents of carrying out clandestine chemical weapons production in the 1980s and of using those weapons, and possibly biological weapons, in the early 1990s against ethnic insurgent groups.
While experts agree that Myanmar, even with established nuclear facilities, would not be able to produce a nuclear-grade weapon for years, Pyongyang's willingness to export technology and know-how to other reclusive, anti-Western regimes will raise substantially the regional security temperature and has the potential to spark a new Southeast Asian arms race.
It's not clear that that's a case scenario China, Myanmar's main international patron, would favor. China has spent considerable effort in developing Myanmar as a source of cheap natural resources to supply its growing industrial base, as a trade gateway to its remote and landlocked southwestern region and as a soon-to-be strategic conduit for oil and gas shipments from the Middle East.
Work is slated to begin in September on an oil and gas pipeline that will carry 20 million tons of crude oil and 12 billion cubic meters of gas every year across Myanmar to the southwestern city of Kunming. The proposed pipeline will allow Chinese oil rigs to bypass the narrow Malacca Straits, where over 80% of its current fuel imports pass and viewed as a potential strategic chokepoint in any conflict with the US.
The last thing China would want, say experts, is to see these new commercial arteries compromised by US concerns over a nuclear Myanmar. After withdrawing support for the Burmese Communist Party in the late 1980s, China has in varying degrees propped up Myanmar's military regime. Beijing's support has included massive arms shipments that allowed the generals to rapidly expand their military to an estimated 500,000 standing soldiers in the decade after crushing pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988.
China's influence has also been instrumental in deflecting criticism of Myanmar in international fora, including at the United Nation's Security Council. It has also since the 1980s spent considerable effort and money making economic inroads and securing lucrative concessions over Myanmar's rich natural resources, including timber, gold, copper and agribusiness interests for Chinese companies.
Even before the Kang Nam 1 controversy, there were subtle signs of China's mounting annoyance with North Korea's and Myanmar's brinksmanship towards the West. Australian Myanmar expert Andrew Selth wrote in a 2007 paper, "Beijing has also demonstrated a degree of nervousness over Pyongyang's own rather erratic and aggressive policies."
"Despite some suggestions to the contrary, a closer relationship between two pariah states [North Korea and Myanmar] on China's borders would not be seen as a strategic asset. China may even resent Pyongyang's interference in what until now has been considered by some a Chinese sphere of interest," Selth wrote.
That assumed concern would no doubt grow if Myanmar were to acquire SRBM's or a nuclear-grade weapon. According to Selth, "Beijing is unlikely to be happy about the prospect of the SPDC acquiring a nuclear weapon, given [Myanmar's] proximity to China, its internal instability and the unpredictable behavior of its leaders."
Tacit tolerance
China has so far tolerated North Korean conventional weapons shipments and links to supplying ballistic missile and nuclear technology to Syria and Iran, regimes considered unsavory by the wider international community. That tacit support has included the transit of Chinese airspace by North Korean aircraft carrying suspicious cargos. For instance, a North Korean Illyushin-62 cargo aircraft was stopped last year from proceeding to Iran from the northern Myanmar city of Mandalay with an unidentified cargo when Indian authorities declined to grant it over-flight rights. The North Korean aircraft could only have reached Myanmar through Chinese airspace, experts say.
Chinese goodwill, however, may be stretched by having that same technology shared with its nearby neighbors, particularly if it sours ties with greater Southeast Asia, where it has recently dedicated considerable diplomatic and commercial energies in a so-called "soft power" campaign. Selth speculates in his paper that China would unlikely grant North Korea permission to use its airspace to send SRBMs or nuclear components to Myanmar.
Beijing's resistance to international attempts to censure both North Korea and Myanmar are based on its own perceptions of national interest and security that often run counter to Western views. Beijing has opposed international sanctions against North Korea exactly because if they succeeded in toppling the regime it would cause an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees and a possible presence of US troops allied to South Korea stationed on its border.
Chinese support for sanctions against Myanmar would potentially have a similar destabilizing effect, as competing political factions and ethnic insurgent groups battled in a power vacuum for territory and autonomy. Beijing is already involved in mediating between the SPDC and ethnic insurgent armies on the China-Myanmar border, in a bid to stop hostilities from spiraling into all-out war along its southern border.
Maintaining regional stability is also a paramount Chinese concern. Myanmar's possession of ballistic missiles or a nuclear capability would risk the spread of weapons of mass destruction technologies in a region where no state has acquired nuclear weapons. A regional arms race would likely ensue as Myanmar's neighbors sought deterrence options.
As Selth wrote, "In this atmosphere of fear and suspicion, the security stakes in the region would go up, raising the prospect of other countries feeling obliged to expand their own inventories of strategic weapons. Beijing would also worry about the possible response of the US to closer [Myanmar]-North Korea ties."
The US has maintained economic sanctions against Myanmar's rights-abusing regime since 1997, measures which to date have hurt the broad population more than the ruling generals. If Myanmar were to acquire ballistic missiles and launch a secretive nuclear program, Washington would likely be forced to re-evaluate its Myanmar policy towards more direct engagement, as it has adopted with North Korea.
China has so far carefully chosen its words in official statements voicing concern about North Korea's recent actions. Beijing only agreed to the recent UN resolution against Pyongyang after signatories agreed to remove provisions which allowed for the use of force to enforce inspections. Despite that even-handed diplomatic stance, criticism of North Korea's actions has surged in China's state-controlled media and government-approved journals.
Terms that were previously unknown in state-sanctioned Chinese writing on North Korea, including "reckless", "ungrateful" and "security threat", have recently appeared in several news journals. The China Daily, regarded as the English-language mouthpiece of the government, last week wrote, "Compared with this sense of failure [of the six-party talks], many Chinese experts and advisors are more concerned with the threat of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons pose to China's security ... Such an attitude on the part of Pyongyang is a warning that China should reconsider its national interest."
Whether China is contemplating a substantive rethink of its North Korea policy is still a matter of conjecture. But North Korea's provocative move to send a ship known for transporting arms to Myanmar immediately after a nuclear test and in violation of a UN Security Council resolution could soon force China to take a harder look at both regional relationships.
China has become increasingly, if very subtly, critical of Myanmar's regime in recent years. The September 2007 armed crackdown on peaceful protestors caused even China to join a strongly worded statement by the UN Human Rights Council condemning the incident.
On several occasions, Myanmar's leadership has been told by senior Chinese government officials that Beijing would like to see increased efforts at national reconciliation. Myanmar expert Lintner told Asia Times Online that China had recently taken the unusual step of reproducing his reports that exposed North Korean assistance for tunneling in Myanmar in various Chinese language publications.
The Kang Nam 1 was reported on Thursday to have reversed course and headed back to North Korea, putting off for now the difficult question of how the international community intends to enforce the UN's weapons ban. The reason behind the course shift is unclear, but behind-the-scenes Chinese pressure cannot be ruled out.
Whatever the reason, the scrapped voyage has put global attention on Myanmar's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions, to a degree that China perhaps can no longer ignore.
Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.
Asia Times Online - China's rogue regimes play up
By Brian McCartan
BANGKOK - Arms shipments, cooperation on underground tunneling and a budding nuclear relationship between North Korea and Myanmar threatens to destabilize Southeast Asia's security balance and raise the ire of China, both countries' powerful neighbor and ally.
The global spotlight has focused on North Korean-Myanmar ties ever since a freighter, the Kang Nam 1, was reported to be steaming towards Myanmar with a suspected cargo of weapons in violation of a recent United Nations Security Council ban. The ban came in the wake of North Korea's ballistic missile test in April and an underground test the following month of a nuclear device. North Korea has promised to launch another ballistic missile test on July 4.
Myanmar severed diplomatic ties with Pyongyang in 1983 after three North Korean agents bombed the mausoleum of Myanmar's revered independence leader Aung San and killed 18 visiting South Korean officials, including then-deputy prime minister So Suk-chan and three other cabinet ministers. However, trade continued between the two isolated authoritarian regimes and clandestine military ties are known to have been re-established in 1999. Diplomatic relations were publicly restored in 2007.
The nature of those military-to-military ties is now a matter of growing international conjecture and concern. Several unexplained visits to Myanmar by North Korean freighters have also been reported in recent years, and the secrecy and heavy security surrounding the ships has led many analysts to believe that they consisted of weapons shipments.
The slow voyage of the Kang Nam 1 since leaving Wimpo on North Korea's western coast has sparked speculation that it may be packed with parts for short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) or even the missiles themselves. Opposition sources claim that Myanmar's military government, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), may have already acquired Scud-type missiles or is testing its own designs with technical help from North Korean advisors.
Asia Times Online was not able to independently corroborate those claims at the time of publication. But Myanmar's interest in the weapons seems to be partially confirmed by recent photos published in The Irrawaddy news magazine of chief of staff and SPDC Number 3 General Thura Shwe Mann and his entourage inspecting a Scud production facility during a November visit to North Korea.
Further evidence may have emerged on Monday when three Japanese executives were arrested in Tokyo for allegedly trying to sell a magnetic measuring device to Myanmar. The device, which can be used in the production of ballistic missiles, was reported by the Yomiuri Shimbun as being ordered by the Hong Kong-based New East International Trading Ltd, which it said was linked to the North Korean Second Economic Committee of the Pyongyang Workers' Party. The same company reportedly tried and failed last year to export to Myanmar a similar measuring device when it was found to have failed to obtain a proper export application for the sale.
A major purchase by Myanmar of North Korean-made 130mm M46 field guns was made in 1999. North Korean C-801 "Eagle Strike" anti-ship cruise missiles were obtained before July 2006, intended for mounting on several of Myanmar's patrol vessels. Insurgent military commanders say Myanmar also acquired last year truck-mounted 107mm or 122mm multiple rocket launcher systems from North Korea through Singapore.
North Korean involvement in the construction of large-scale underground tunnel and bunker networks across Myanmar was confirmed earlier this month when Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner published exclusive photos of the tunnels, including what are believed to be North Korean technicians and advisors on the site. The Irrawaddy later published additional photos of the tunnel complexes last week. The tunnels are believed to be defenses for a possible US-led invasion.
Nuclear nexus
More worrying to regional governments is mounting evidence of Pyongyang's involvement in Myanmar's revitalized nuclear program. Myanmar's government restarted its program in May 2007 through an agreement with Russia to provide assistance and build a nuclear research center and 10 megawatt reactor. Although the planned reactor will use non-weapons grade uranium, training associated with the facility could eventually be turned to develop nuclear weapons, experts say. They note that North Korea developed its runaway nuclear program from a similar reactor at Yongbyon.
Opposition groups claim that North Korean technicians are either involved in the Russian reactor program or building a separate reactor. Asia Times Online could not independently confirm either claim. But Pyongyang's duplicity in its own nuclear program and its recent show of contempt for world opinion by conducting ballistic missile and nuclear tests, combined with past efforts to export nuclear technology to Syria and Iran, have raised widespread concerns.
So, too, does Myanmar's past record of allegedly using weapons of mass destruction. Myanmar has been widely accused by international human rights groups and ethnic insurgents of carrying out clandestine chemical weapons production in the 1980s and of using those weapons, and possibly biological weapons, in the early 1990s against ethnic insurgent groups.
While experts agree that Myanmar, even with established nuclear facilities, would not be able to produce a nuclear-grade weapon for years, Pyongyang's willingness to export technology and know-how to other reclusive, anti-Western regimes will raise substantially the regional security temperature and has the potential to spark a new Southeast Asian arms race.
It's not clear that that's a case scenario China, Myanmar's main international patron, would favor. China has spent considerable effort in developing Myanmar as a source of cheap natural resources to supply its growing industrial base, as a trade gateway to its remote and landlocked southwestern region and as a soon-to-be strategic conduit for oil and gas shipments from the Middle East.
Work is slated to begin in September on an oil and gas pipeline that will carry 20 million tons of crude oil and 12 billion cubic meters of gas every year across Myanmar to the southwestern city of Kunming. The proposed pipeline will allow Chinese oil rigs to bypass the narrow Malacca Straits, where over 80% of its current fuel imports pass and viewed as a potential strategic chokepoint in any conflict with the US.
The last thing China would want, say experts, is to see these new commercial arteries compromised by US concerns over a nuclear Myanmar. After withdrawing support for the Burmese Communist Party in the late 1980s, China has in varying degrees propped up Myanmar's military regime. Beijing's support has included massive arms shipments that allowed the generals to rapidly expand their military to an estimated 500,000 standing soldiers in the decade after crushing pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988.
China's influence has also been instrumental in deflecting criticism of Myanmar in international fora, including at the United Nation's Security Council. It has also since the 1980s spent considerable effort and money making economic inroads and securing lucrative concessions over Myanmar's rich natural resources, including timber, gold, copper and agribusiness interests for Chinese companies.
Even before the Kang Nam 1 controversy, there were subtle signs of China's mounting annoyance with North Korea's and Myanmar's brinksmanship towards the West. Australian Myanmar expert Andrew Selth wrote in a 2007 paper, "Beijing has also demonstrated a degree of nervousness over Pyongyang's own rather erratic and aggressive policies."
"Despite some suggestions to the contrary, a closer relationship between two pariah states [North Korea and Myanmar] on China's borders would not be seen as a strategic asset. China may even resent Pyongyang's interference in what until now has been considered by some a Chinese sphere of interest," Selth wrote.
That assumed concern would no doubt grow if Myanmar were to acquire SRBM's or a nuclear-grade weapon. According to Selth, "Beijing is unlikely to be happy about the prospect of the SPDC acquiring a nuclear weapon, given [Myanmar's] proximity to China, its internal instability and the unpredictable behavior of its leaders."
Tacit tolerance
China has so far tolerated North Korean conventional weapons shipments and links to supplying ballistic missile and nuclear technology to Syria and Iran, regimes considered unsavory by the wider international community. That tacit support has included the transit of Chinese airspace by North Korean aircraft carrying suspicious cargos. For instance, a North Korean Illyushin-62 cargo aircraft was stopped last year from proceeding to Iran from the northern Myanmar city of Mandalay with an unidentified cargo when Indian authorities declined to grant it over-flight rights. The North Korean aircraft could only have reached Myanmar through Chinese airspace, experts say.
Chinese goodwill, however, may be stretched by having that same technology shared with its nearby neighbors, particularly if it sours ties with greater Southeast Asia, where it has recently dedicated considerable diplomatic and commercial energies in a so-called "soft power" campaign. Selth speculates in his paper that China would unlikely grant North Korea permission to use its airspace to send SRBMs or nuclear components to Myanmar.
Beijing's resistance to international attempts to censure both North Korea and Myanmar are based on its own perceptions of national interest and security that often run counter to Western views. Beijing has opposed international sanctions against North Korea exactly because if they succeeded in toppling the regime it would cause an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees and a possible presence of US troops allied to South Korea stationed on its border.
Chinese support for sanctions against Myanmar would potentially have a similar destabilizing effect, as competing political factions and ethnic insurgent groups battled in a power vacuum for territory and autonomy. Beijing is already involved in mediating between the SPDC and ethnic insurgent armies on the China-Myanmar border, in a bid to stop hostilities from spiraling into all-out war along its southern border.
Maintaining regional stability is also a paramount Chinese concern. Myanmar's possession of ballistic missiles or a nuclear capability would risk the spread of weapons of mass destruction technologies in a region where no state has acquired nuclear weapons. A regional arms race would likely ensue as Myanmar's neighbors sought deterrence options.
As Selth wrote, "In this atmosphere of fear and suspicion, the security stakes in the region would go up, raising the prospect of other countries feeling obliged to expand their own inventories of strategic weapons. Beijing would also worry about the possible response of the US to closer [Myanmar]-North Korea ties."
The US has maintained economic sanctions against Myanmar's rights-abusing regime since 1997, measures which to date have hurt the broad population more than the ruling generals. If Myanmar were to acquire ballistic missiles and launch a secretive nuclear program, Washington would likely be forced to re-evaluate its Myanmar policy towards more direct engagement, as it has adopted with North Korea.
China has so far carefully chosen its words in official statements voicing concern about North Korea's recent actions. Beijing only agreed to the recent UN resolution against Pyongyang after signatories agreed to remove provisions which allowed for the use of force to enforce inspections. Despite that even-handed diplomatic stance, criticism of North Korea's actions has surged in China's state-controlled media and government-approved journals.
Terms that were previously unknown in state-sanctioned Chinese writing on North Korea, including "reckless", "ungrateful" and "security threat", have recently appeared in several news journals. The China Daily, regarded as the English-language mouthpiece of the government, last week wrote, "Compared with this sense of failure [of the six-party talks], many Chinese experts and advisors are more concerned with the threat of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons pose to China's security ... Such an attitude on the part of Pyongyang is a warning that China should reconsider its national interest."
Whether China is contemplating a substantive rethink of its North Korea policy is still a matter of conjecture. But North Korea's provocative move to send a ship known for transporting arms to Myanmar immediately after a nuclear test and in violation of a UN Security Council resolution could soon force China to take a harder look at both regional relationships.
China has become increasingly, if very subtly, critical of Myanmar's regime in recent years. The September 2007 armed crackdown on peaceful protestors caused even China to join a strongly worded statement by the UN Human Rights Council condemning the incident.
On several occasions, Myanmar's leadership has been told by senior Chinese government officials that Beijing would like to see increased efforts at national reconciliation. Myanmar expert Lintner told Asia Times Online that China had recently taken the unusual step of reproducing his reports that exposed North Korean assistance for tunneling in Myanmar in various Chinese language publications.
The Kang Nam 1 was reported on Thursday to have reversed course and headed back to North Korea, putting off for now the difficult question of how the international community intends to enforce the UN's weapons ban. The reason behind the course shift is unclear, but behind-the-scenes Chinese pressure cannot be ruled out.
Whatever the reason, the scrapped voyage has put global attention on Myanmar's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions, to a degree that China perhaps can no longer ignore.
Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.
*****************************************************
Myanmar, Indonesian entrepreneurs to boost cooperation in trade, tourism
www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-02 20:52:15
YANGON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Entrepreneurs from Myanmar and Indonesia have met in Yangon recently to seek cooperation in boosting trade and tourism, the local Popular News reported Thursday.
"It is time to promote bilateral trade and tourism, but the two countries have no direct banking link as well as air link which play an important role in the success of boosting the sectors," the report quoted Indonesian Ambassador Sebastranus Sumarsono as saying.
Besides, there exists weak tourism operation between Myanmar and Indonesia, the ambassador said, citing that the number of Myanmar, who visited Indonesia, stood only 2,500 in 2008.
To promote tourism between the two countries, Myanmar and Indonesian tour operators will exchange visits with Myanmar delegation programming to travel to Indonesia this month, while Indonesian's to come to Myanmar in September and October, he disclosed.
Meanwhile, Myanmar-Indonesia bilateral trade hit 238.69 million U.S. dollars in 2008-09, of which, Myanmar's export amounted to 28.35 million dollars, while its import took 210.34 million dollars.
Indonesia is Myanmar's fourth largest trading partner among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
Indonesia exported to Myanmar palm oil, vegetable oil, newsprint paper, chemical products, machinery and spare parts, materials in producing medicines, plastics, copper and steel, tyre and water pipe, while importing from Myanmar beans and pulses, onions and marine products.
Indonesia's beans and pulses import from Myanmar amounted to 20,000 tons annually, according to traders.
In the absence of direct air links, the two countries have to trade through Malaysia, carrying out banking transaction through Singapore.
Indonesia stood the 9th among the Myanmar's foreign investors, taking over 241 million dollars or 1.5 percent of the country's foreign investment.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-02 20:52:15
YANGON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Entrepreneurs from Myanmar and Indonesia have met in Yangon recently to seek cooperation in boosting trade and tourism, the local Popular News reported Thursday.
"It is time to promote bilateral trade and tourism, but the two countries have no direct banking link as well as air link which play an important role in the success of boosting the sectors," the report quoted Indonesian Ambassador Sebastranus Sumarsono as saying.
Besides, there exists weak tourism operation between Myanmar and Indonesia, the ambassador said, citing that the number of Myanmar, who visited Indonesia, stood only 2,500 in 2008.
To promote tourism between the two countries, Myanmar and Indonesian tour operators will exchange visits with Myanmar delegation programming to travel to Indonesia this month, while Indonesian's to come to Myanmar in September and October, he disclosed.
Meanwhile, Myanmar-Indonesia bilateral trade hit 238.69 million U.S. dollars in 2008-09, of which, Myanmar's export amounted to 28.35 million dollars, while its import took 210.34 million dollars.
Indonesia is Myanmar's fourth largest trading partner among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
Indonesia exported to Myanmar palm oil, vegetable oil, newsprint paper, chemical products, machinery and spare parts, materials in producing medicines, plastics, copper and steel, tyre and water pipe, while importing from Myanmar beans and pulses, onions and marine products.
Indonesia's beans and pulses import from Myanmar amounted to 20,000 tons annually, according to traders.
In the absence of direct air links, the two countries have to trade through Malaysia, carrying out banking transaction through Singapore.
Indonesia stood the 9th among the Myanmar's foreign investors, taking over 241 million dollars or 1.5 percent of the country's foreign investment.
*****************************************************
UN chief in Singapore for working visit
www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-02 23:16:11
SINGAPORE, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in Singapore for a two-day working visit starting July 2.
According to a statement by the Singapore Foreign Ministry on Thursday night, Ban Ki-moon met with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and both sides reaffirmed the long-standing ties and strong cooperation between the city state and the United Nations and exchanged views on various challenges facing the international community, including the economic crisis.
Both Lee and the UN chief also discussed the latter's forthcoming visit to Myanmar.
Lee stressed the importance of the continued engagement of the international community through the United Nations and reiterated the city state's support for the Good Offices of the UN Secretary-General and his Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari's work on Myanmar.
Later in the day, the UN chief was also hosted to dinner by Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who emphasized the important role that the United Nations could play to help bring about national reconciliation in Myanmar by engaging all the stakeholders.
In this regard, the UN chief's visit to Myanmar presents a good opportunity to help move the national reconciliation process forward, the ministry said.
The UN chief is expected to leave Singapore for Myanmar earlier on Friday.
This is the UN chief's first visit to Singapore since taking office in 2007.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-02 23:16:11
SINGAPORE, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in Singapore for a two-day working visit starting July 2.
According to a statement by the Singapore Foreign Ministry on Thursday night, Ban Ki-moon met with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and both sides reaffirmed the long-standing ties and strong cooperation between the city state and the United Nations and exchanged views on various challenges facing the international community, including the economic crisis.
Both Lee and the UN chief also discussed the latter's forthcoming visit to Myanmar.
Lee stressed the importance of the continued engagement of the international community through the United Nations and reiterated the city state's support for the Good Offices of the UN Secretary-General and his Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari's work on Myanmar.
Later in the day, the UN chief was also hosted to dinner by Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who emphasized the important role that the United Nations could play to help bring about national reconciliation in Myanmar by engaging all the stakeholders.
In this regard, the UN chief's visit to Myanmar presents a good opportunity to help move the national reconciliation process forward, the ministry said.
The UN chief is expected to leave Singapore for Myanmar earlier on Friday.
This is the UN chief's first visit to Singapore since taking office in 2007.
*****************************************************
Anchorage Daily News - Migrant fishermen fall through cracks in Thailand trafficking laws
By JOEL BRINKLEY / McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Published: July 2nd, 2009 09:51 AM
PAILIN, Cambodia - Don't ever accept an invitation to go fishing in Thailand. You might not come back.
Almost daily, bodies are washing ashore along the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Cambodia. These are unfortunate migrants, most of them from here in Cambodia. These people were sold to Thai fishermen who took them out to sea, worked them until they starved to death and then threw them overboard. It happens all the time.
The problem got so bad that the United States Senate's Foreign Relations Committee and the United Nations both but put out reports in recent weeks excoriating Thai and Malaysian authorities for selling Cambodian and Burmese migrants to Thai boat captains, sending them to a near-certain death. "If they are unable to pay for their release," the Senate report said, "the refugees are sold into forced labor, most commonly on fishing boats."
Once on the boat, "they don't come back," said Maj. Gen Visut Vanichbut of the Thai police. "All they get to eat is the fish that get left over in the net. They aren't paid. If they get sick, they're thrown overboard."
When they die, from overwork or starvation, their bodies are thrown to the sharks. In most cases, no one knew the victim was on the boat, and so no one claims the body if it washes ashore.
The general told me about this last year. But the United Nations report shows that the hideous problem continues at full force even now. It quotes several Cambodians who watched fishermen decapitate captives or throw them overboard. Several governments, not just Thailand's, are at fault. And by all accounts, the economic crisis is exacerbating the problem.
Until just now, the Cambodian law governing trafficking did not even recognize men as potential victims. The laws were written to protect women and children drawn into sexual slavery. But in June, the government in Phnom Penh announced that it was revising the statute.
"Today we change our strategy also to focus on men," Kong Chhan, a deputy director in the Ministry of Social Affairs, told the Phnom Penh Post.
Now we can only wait for Thailand to change its strategy.
Most of the news you hear from Thailand these days involves the riots and demonstrations to overturn whatever government happens to be in power. No one talks about the fishing-boat problem. The fishermen pay off the police. The police then cover up the crimes, and so hundreds of victims continue to die month after month.
If a victim manages to survive, then Thailand is well-equipped to care for him and then use international agencies to help send him home. The Thai government has shelters and administrators whose jobs are to help human-trafficking victims. I have seen them. The shelters are quite nice. And that serves as a stark illustration of a noxious paradox that afflicts human-trafficking enforcement in Thailand, Cambodia and much of the world.
When human trafficking first came into focus for law-enforcement a decade ago, legal and political officials everywhere put primary emphasis on protecting the victims the people who were lured into slavery and abused. Stories a decade ago of police and immigration agents jailing and then deporting the trafficking victims along with their captors horrified human-rights advocates, and their complaints were quite influential when the first human-trafficking laws were drafted.
That victim-oriented approach has held firm all these years, and "it has proved to work perfectly for the Thai," said Lance Bonneau head of the International Organization of Migration office in Bangkok, his tone oozing disgust. His organization works with the Thai government to send trafficking victims back home to Cambodia, Burma just as other IOM officers do all over the world.
"If you 'save' the victim," Bonneau told me, "there's no pressure to go after the traffickers" who are paying off the police. "It doesn't upset any of the arrangements the police have" with the fishing boat captains, the brothel and dance-club owners or others who enslave hapless victims. The traffickers can pursue their unconscionable work; the police can continue taking their kickbacks.
When the State Department researches its annual Trafficking in Persons report each year and asks Thailand what it is doing to fight trafficking, the Thai can point to their anti-trafficking laws and to those lovely shelters for victims. Usually, that's enough to save Thailand from a poor rating.
Thailand officials responded to the Senate and United Nations allegations with angry denials. Maybe in Washington's next report, it will look a little deeper at Thailand.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Joel Brinkley is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University. Readers may send him e-mail at: brinkley@foreign-matters.com
By JOEL BRINKLEY / McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Published: July 2nd, 2009 09:51 AM
PAILIN, Cambodia - Don't ever accept an invitation to go fishing in Thailand. You might not come back.
Almost daily, bodies are washing ashore along the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Cambodia. These are unfortunate migrants, most of them from here in Cambodia. These people were sold to Thai fishermen who took them out to sea, worked them until they starved to death and then threw them overboard. It happens all the time.
The problem got so bad that the United States Senate's Foreign Relations Committee and the United Nations both but put out reports in recent weeks excoriating Thai and Malaysian authorities for selling Cambodian and Burmese migrants to Thai boat captains, sending them to a near-certain death. "If they are unable to pay for their release," the Senate report said, "the refugees are sold into forced labor, most commonly on fishing boats."
Once on the boat, "they don't come back," said Maj. Gen Visut Vanichbut of the Thai police. "All they get to eat is the fish that get left over in the net. They aren't paid. If they get sick, they're thrown overboard."
When they die, from overwork or starvation, their bodies are thrown to the sharks. In most cases, no one knew the victim was on the boat, and so no one claims the body if it washes ashore.
The general told me about this last year. But the United Nations report shows that the hideous problem continues at full force even now. It quotes several Cambodians who watched fishermen decapitate captives or throw them overboard. Several governments, not just Thailand's, are at fault. And by all accounts, the economic crisis is exacerbating the problem.
Until just now, the Cambodian law governing trafficking did not even recognize men as potential victims. The laws were written to protect women and children drawn into sexual slavery. But in June, the government in Phnom Penh announced that it was revising the statute.
"Today we change our strategy also to focus on men," Kong Chhan, a deputy director in the Ministry of Social Affairs, told the Phnom Penh Post.
Now we can only wait for Thailand to change its strategy.
Most of the news you hear from Thailand these days involves the riots and demonstrations to overturn whatever government happens to be in power. No one talks about the fishing-boat problem. The fishermen pay off the police. The police then cover up the crimes, and so hundreds of victims continue to die month after month.
If a victim manages to survive, then Thailand is well-equipped to care for him and then use international agencies to help send him home. The Thai government has shelters and administrators whose jobs are to help human-trafficking victims. I have seen them. The shelters are quite nice. And that serves as a stark illustration of a noxious paradox that afflicts human-trafficking enforcement in Thailand, Cambodia and much of the world.
When human trafficking first came into focus for law-enforcement a decade ago, legal and political officials everywhere put primary emphasis on protecting the victims the people who were lured into slavery and abused. Stories a decade ago of police and immigration agents jailing and then deporting the trafficking victims along with their captors horrified human-rights advocates, and their complaints were quite influential when the first human-trafficking laws were drafted.
That victim-oriented approach has held firm all these years, and "it has proved to work perfectly for the Thai," said Lance Bonneau head of the International Organization of Migration office in Bangkok, his tone oozing disgust. His organization works with the Thai government to send trafficking victims back home to Cambodia, Burma just as other IOM officers do all over the world.
"If you 'save' the victim," Bonneau told me, "there's no pressure to go after the traffickers" who are paying off the police. "It doesn't upset any of the arrangements the police have" with the fishing boat captains, the brothel and dance-club owners or others who enslave hapless victims. The traffickers can pursue their unconscionable work; the police can continue taking their kickbacks.
When the State Department researches its annual Trafficking in Persons report each year and asks Thailand what it is doing to fight trafficking, the Thai can point to their anti-trafficking laws and to those lovely shelters for victims. Usually, that's enough to save Thailand from a poor rating.
Thailand officials responded to the Senate and United Nations allegations with angry denials. Maybe in Washington's next report, it will look a little deeper at Thailand.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Joel Brinkley is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University. Readers may send him e-mail at: brinkley@foreign-matters.com
*****************************************************
ReliefWeb - Free clinics and school supplies benefit nearly 2000 students in Myanmar
Source: Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation
Date: 03 Jul 2009
Following the several recovery projects in Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis, Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia arranged a special mission on June 1, 2009, the first day of the Myanmar school year. Working together with local Myanmarese volunteers, free medical services and school supplies were provided to 19 schools in need. In five days, this team of volunteers organized a total of 33 medical shifts for 1,850 students from 17 schools.
Transported by a truck, Tzu Chi volunteers, some of whom are medical personnel brought medicines and a lot of love. The truck driver is Nyi Nyi Lwin, the owner of a tourist agency, who had volunteered to personally drive these Buddhisavas. He Said "It is my pleasure to come to help with the volunteer service".
Just like Nyi Nyi Lwin has embraced this opportunity to serve, other Myanmar volunteers joined in this mission too. The medical professionals examined each child carefully, patiently listening to the patients describe their ailments. With kind smiles, the medical professionals assuaged the children's fears while at the same time explaining to them how they must be more careful with their hygiene. Nearly all the children who came had sickness of some sort - whether skin disease, internal parasites, or severe malnutrition, health problems are common here. The volunteers prepared their medicines, and fed the children supplements which would boost their appetite.
However, volunteers also perceived that without changes in the daily habits and the environment, these children will never fully recover; so they gave these children lessons in tooth-brushing, sanitation and health care.
In addition to the free clinics, there was another 5 days of distribution of school supplies afoot. The children of 19 Myanmarese schools received brand new school supplies for the coming school year.
Source: Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation
Date: 03 Jul 2009
Following the several recovery projects in Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis, Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia arranged a special mission on June 1, 2009, the first day of the Myanmar school year. Working together with local Myanmarese volunteers, free medical services and school supplies were provided to 19 schools in need. In five days, this team of volunteers organized a total of 33 medical shifts for 1,850 students from 17 schools.
Transported by a truck, Tzu Chi volunteers, some of whom are medical personnel brought medicines and a lot of love. The truck driver is Nyi Nyi Lwin, the owner of a tourist agency, who had volunteered to personally drive these Buddhisavas. He Said "It is my pleasure to come to help with the volunteer service".
Just like Nyi Nyi Lwin has embraced this opportunity to serve, other Myanmar volunteers joined in this mission too. The medical professionals examined each child carefully, patiently listening to the patients describe their ailments. With kind smiles, the medical professionals assuaged the children's fears while at the same time explaining to them how they must be more careful with their hygiene. Nearly all the children who came had sickness of some sort - whether skin disease, internal parasites, or severe malnutrition, health problems are common here. The volunteers prepared their medicines, and fed the children supplements which would boost their appetite.
However, volunteers also perceived that without changes in the daily habits and the environment, these children will never fully recover; so they gave these children lessons in tooth-brushing, sanitation and health care.
In addition to the free clinics, there was another 5 days of distribution of school supplies afoot. The children of 19 Myanmarese schools received brand new school supplies for the coming school year.
*****************************************************
San Diego Union Tribune - North Korea test-fires 4 short-range missiles
By JAE-SOON CHANG, The Associated Press
6:42 a.m. July 2, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, a move that aggravates already high tensions following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and U.N. sanctions imposed as punishment.
Two ground-to-ship missiles were fired from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan on Thursday afternoon, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity citing department policy.
The North also fired a third missile later from the east coast, but the exact site and the type of a rocket was not immediately known, the official said. Another ministry official – also speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy – said the North later fired a fourth missile, though she provided no details.
Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed military official, reported all four missiles flew about 60 miles (100 kilometers) and identified them as KN-01 missiles with a range of up to 100 miles (160 kilometers).
North Korea had earlier called for a no-sail zone in waters off its east coast through July 10 for military drills. That designation was viewed as a prelude to such missile tests.
The launches came as North Korea's relations with the United States, South Korea and other countries were already severely strained after its May 25 underground nuclear test and a series of missile firings. The U.N. Security Council adopted a tough sanctions resolution last month to punish the communist regime.
"We had expected that they will fire short-range missiles at any time," South Korea's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told The Associated Press at a reception held at the U.S. ambassador's residence to mark Independence Day on July 4, which falls this weekend. "It's not a good sign because they are demonstrating their military power."
In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso called the missile launches "provocative acts" and urged the North to refrain.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko also expressed concern over the North's missile launches, saying, "We have always asked North Koreans to abstain from actions that may exacerbate the situation."
The first launch came just before the U.S. ambassador's reception started in the late afternoon, while the second and third came as it was under way, based on times provided by the Defense Ministry. The timing for the fourth launch was not immediately available.
While it was not clear if the firings were meant to coincide with the event, the North did launch a long-range missile in 2006 in the early morning hours of July 5, which coincided with the July 4 holiday in the United States.
The United States is seeking Chinese support to enforce U.N. sanctions imposed on the North to punish it over the nuclear test. Philip Goldberg, in charge of coordinating the implementation of sanctions against the North, told reporters in Beijing that he had "very good conversations" with Chinese officials Thursday, though not give details of the talks .
Separately, China's top nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, left Thursday for Russia as part of diplomatic efforts to push North Korea back to the stalled nuclear disarmament talks, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The trip will also take Wu to the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, the ministry said. The five nations have engaged in the talks since 2003 in an effort to persuade the North abandon its nuclear programs in return for economic aid and other concessions.
"The purpose of Wu Dawei's visit is to exchange views with relevant parties on the nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a regular press briefing.
Earlier in the day, Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported that North Korea could fire a barrage of missiles in coming days, including ballistic Scud or Rodong rockets that the North is banned from testing under U.N. resolutions.
North Korea has also threatened to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile. Last month, a Japanese newspaper reported that the North could test-fire a long-range missile toward Hawaii as early as July 4. The U.S. has increased defenses around the island state.
But Seoul's YTN television news network said Thursday that there are no signs of an imminent long-range missile launch.
The reported missile moves came after a North Korean ship – suspected of possibly carrying illicit weapons – changed course and was heading back the way it came after remaining under U.S. surveillance for more than a week.
The North Korean ship is the first vessel monitored under the new U.N. sanctions that seek to clamp down on Pyongyang's trading of banned arms and weapons-related material by requiring U.N. member states to request inspections of ships suspected of carrying prohibited cargo.
The North has said it would consider the interception of its ships a declaration of war.
–––
Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim, Hyung-jin Kim and Kelly Olsen in Seoul, Alexa Olesen in Beijing, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Mike Eckel in Moscow contributed to this report.
By JAE-SOON CHANG, The Associated Press
6:42 a.m. July 2, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, a move that aggravates already high tensions following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and U.N. sanctions imposed as punishment.
Two ground-to-ship missiles were fired from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan on Thursday afternoon, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity citing department policy.
The North also fired a third missile later from the east coast, but the exact site and the type of a rocket was not immediately known, the official said. Another ministry official – also speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy – said the North later fired a fourth missile, though she provided no details.
Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed military official, reported all four missiles flew about 60 miles (100 kilometers) and identified them as KN-01 missiles with a range of up to 100 miles (160 kilometers).
North Korea had earlier called for a no-sail zone in waters off its east coast through July 10 for military drills. That designation was viewed as a prelude to such missile tests.
The launches came as North Korea's relations with the United States, South Korea and other countries were already severely strained after its May 25 underground nuclear test and a series of missile firings. The U.N. Security Council adopted a tough sanctions resolution last month to punish the communist regime.
"We had expected that they will fire short-range missiles at any time," South Korea's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told The Associated Press at a reception held at the U.S. ambassador's residence to mark Independence Day on July 4, which falls this weekend. "It's not a good sign because they are demonstrating their military power."
In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso called the missile launches "provocative acts" and urged the North to refrain.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko also expressed concern over the North's missile launches, saying, "We have always asked North Koreans to abstain from actions that may exacerbate the situation."
The first launch came just before the U.S. ambassador's reception started in the late afternoon, while the second and third came as it was under way, based on times provided by the Defense Ministry. The timing for the fourth launch was not immediately available.
While it was not clear if the firings were meant to coincide with the event, the North did launch a long-range missile in 2006 in the early morning hours of July 5, which coincided with the July 4 holiday in the United States.
The United States is seeking Chinese support to enforce U.N. sanctions imposed on the North to punish it over the nuclear test. Philip Goldberg, in charge of coordinating the implementation of sanctions against the North, told reporters in Beijing that he had "very good conversations" with Chinese officials Thursday, though not give details of the talks .
Separately, China's top nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, left Thursday for Russia as part of diplomatic efforts to push North Korea back to the stalled nuclear disarmament talks, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The trip will also take Wu to the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, the ministry said. The five nations have engaged in the talks since 2003 in an effort to persuade the North abandon its nuclear programs in return for economic aid and other concessions.
"The purpose of Wu Dawei's visit is to exchange views with relevant parties on the nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a regular press briefing.
Earlier in the day, Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported that North Korea could fire a barrage of missiles in coming days, including ballistic Scud or Rodong rockets that the North is banned from testing under U.N. resolutions.
North Korea has also threatened to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile. Last month, a Japanese newspaper reported that the North could test-fire a long-range missile toward Hawaii as early as July 4. The U.S. has increased defenses around the island state.
But Seoul's YTN television news network said Thursday that there are no signs of an imminent long-range missile launch.
The reported missile moves came after a North Korean ship – suspected of possibly carrying illicit weapons – changed course and was heading back the way it came after remaining under U.S. surveillance for more than a week.
The North Korean ship is the first vessel monitored under the new U.N. sanctions that seek to clamp down on Pyongyang's trading of banned arms and weapons-related material by requiring U.N. member states to request inspections of ships suspected of carrying prohibited cargo.
The North has said it would consider the interception of its ships a declaration of war.
–––
Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim, Hyung-jin Kim and Kelly Olsen in Seoul, Alexa Olesen in Beijing, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Mike Eckel in Moscow contributed to this report.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - US Ban Related to N Korea-Burma Arms Deal
By ARKAR MOE, Thursday, July 2, 2009
The United States took steps on Tuesday to curtail what it sees as North Korea's ability to trade in missiles and nuclear materials, with the Treasury and State Department announcing actions against two North Korean companies, one of which is allegedly connected to the Burmese arms industry.
The US imposed sanctions and froze the US assets of Namchongang Trading Corp and Iran-based Hong Kong Electronics in an apparent attempt to choke off the firms’ funds.
The two companies are charged with being at the center of Pyongyang's attempts to export its nuclear and long-range missile technologies, according to US officials.
The US sanctions bar any US firms from conducting business with Namchongang and Hong Kong Electronics.
Accordingly to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, US officials said Namchongang Trading Corp has aided the Burmese arms industry and was importing centrifuge equipment that North Korea is using to develop a uranium enrichment capability. Uranium, when enriched to a weapons grade, can be used to build atomic weapons.
Namchongang is headed by Yun Ho Jin, a former senior North Korean diplomat who served at Pyongyang's mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's atomic watchdog. He is also believed to be closely aligned with senior members of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's government.
US officials alleged Hong Kong Electronics was playing a key role in facilitating the weapons trade between North Korea and Iran.
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey as saying, “North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true nature of its financial dealings.”
Meanwhile, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Thursday that the Toko Boeki trading company was linked by Japanese police with attempts to export high-tech equipment with arms applications to Burma, and is suspected of shipping several other devices with potential for making weapons of mass destruction to the junta as well..
Kanagawa prefectural police said North Korean Lee Kyoung Ho, the president of the Toko Boeki firm, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of attempting to ship a magnetic measuring instrument from Yokohama port to Burma via Malaysia on January 23, a device that could potentially be used to produce weapons of mass destruction, said the Yomiuri Shimbun.
The Japanese newspaper said Tokyo-based Toko Boeki has allegedly been exporting instruments that can be used to produce missiles to Burma without government permission since 2006, one year before the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.
By ARKAR MOE, Thursday, July 2, 2009
The United States took steps on Tuesday to curtail what it sees as North Korea's ability to trade in missiles and nuclear materials, with the Treasury and State Department announcing actions against two North Korean companies, one of which is allegedly connected to the Burmese arms industry.
The US imposed sanctions and froze the US assets of Namchongang Trading Corp and Iran-based Hong Kong Electronics in an apparent attempt to choke off the firms’ funds.
The two companies are charged with being at the center of Pyongyang's attempts to export its nuclear and long-range missile technologies, according to US officials.
The US sanctions bar any US firms from conducting business with Namchongang and Hong Kong Electronics.
Accordingly to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, US officials said Namchongang Trading Corp has aided the Burmese arms industry and was importing centrifuge equipment that North Korea is using to develop a uranium enrichment capability. Uranium, when enriched to a weapons grade, can be used to build atomic weapons.
Namchongang is headed by Yun Ho Jin, a former senior North Korean diplomat who served at Pyongyang's mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's atomic watchdog. He is also believed to be closely aligned with senior members of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's government.
US officials alleged Hong Kong Electronics was playing a key role in facilitating the weapons trade between North Korea and Iran.
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey as saying, “North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true nature of its financial dealings.”
Meanwhile, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Thursday that the Toko Boeki trading company was linked by Japanese police with attempts to export high-tech equipment with arms applications to Burma, and is suspected of shipping several other devices with potential for making weapons of mass destruction to the junta as well..
Kanagawa prefectural police said North Korean Lee Kyoung Ho, the president of the Toko Boeki firm, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of attempting to ship a magnetic measuring instrument from Yokohama port to Burma via Malaysia on January 23, a device that could potentially be used to produce weapons of mass destruction, said the Yomiuri Shimbun.
The Japanese newspaper said Tokyo-based Toko Boeki has allegedly been exporting instruments that can be used to produce missiles to Burma without government permission since 2006, one year before the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Looking in a Broken Mirror
By SAW YAN NAING, Thursday, July 2, 2009
MAE SOT—Moo Say lay lethargically on the bed, his face hollow and pale. His arms and body were woefully skinny and he was missing one leg, amputated below the knee.
“I’ll never give up,” he croaked.
Moo Say is—or was until recently—a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier who was injured while clearing landmines on a road where Karen villagers were fleeing to escape military assaults by the Burmese army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) ceasefire group.
He was carried for three weeks in a hammock from the KNLA Brigade 7 area to the Thai border, put in a truck and finally driven to Mae Sot General Hospital.
Twenty-year-old Moo Say is one of about 4,000 Karens who have crossed into Thailand since the DKBA and Burmese army launched a successful assault on KNLA Brigade 7 early last month.
Caught in the crossfire or forced to flee their villages in fear of marauding soldiers, the displaced villagers headed across the Thai-Burmese border to Tha Song Yang District in Thailand’s Tak Province.
Most were from the Brigade 7 area, but many had traveled from areas as far as Pa’an District, some four days’ walk.
“I must return to the fight as soon as I get out of hospital,” said Moo Say. “I have to avenge my sacrifice.”
Despite his pledges of revenge, he appears quite calm and smiles at anyone who passes by. He is tattooed on his thighs and his hands in both English and Karen, sporting mantras such as “Born to Fight” and “Give the land back to the Karen people now!”
Moo Say said he has lost 14 kg in weight since he arrived at the hospital. Minus a leg and painfully thin, he is down to just 43 kg.
Moo Say estimated that he had received six bottles of blood since he arrived at Mae Sot General Hospital.
While in hospital, Moo Say he has had a unique opportunity to speak to injured soldiers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which has been fighting the KNLA since 1995.
He spoke to a 17-year-old DKBA soldier who was also injured by a landmine and lost a leg. He told Moo Say he was injured when he returned home after cutting bamboo in the forest.
Moo Say said the DKBA soldier told him that he was fed up of being a soldier and would not serve the DKBA when he leaves the hospital. He said he was involved in the recent attack on Brigade 7 because he was forced to and was paid by the DKBA leaders.
Karen sources say DKBA soldiers were given 100 baht per day to join the attack on KNLA Brigade 7.
Moo Say left Mae Sot hospital on June 28, but eight DKBA soldiers and five KNLA soldiers are still being kept there. One DKBA soldier died in hospital. Almost of them were injured by landmines, not by gunfire.
In the hospital, relatives of the DKBA soldiers also go around and chat with the KNLA soldiers. Likewise, friends and family of the KNLA soldiers chat and share food with hospitalized DKBA soldiers.
Karen sources in Mae Sot have claimed the DKBA soldiers were given more favor by Mae Sot General Hospital. There is one injured Burmese soldier in the hospital and he is guarded by two Thai policemen.
Karen sources around the border also said that DKBA spies are all over Mae Sot these days and that they may even be in the hospital.
The same sources estimate that while the DKBA remains the dominant influence on the border, the relationship between Thai businessmen, the Thai police and the DKBA members will be much more cooperative than in the past.
Leaders of the DKBA also own thriving businesses in the Mae Sot area and are known to have smooth relations with the Thai authorities.
Sources said that a few days after the fall of the KNLA Brigade 7 headquarters, members of the DKBA crossed into the Thai village of Mae Salit in Tha Song Yang District where Karen refugees were being housed and made a loud and public statement of eating and drinking in the local restaurants.
Some of the DKBA soldiers also lobbied the newly arrived Karen refugees to return home. They told the refugees that the situation in the fighting zone is now stable, said Karen relief sources.
However, Karen sources said there are disagreements between DKBA soldiers and their commanders.
There is a common perception that the leaders have only sided with the Burmese regime in order to expand and protect their business interests.
The commander of the DKBA Battalion 999, Col Chit Thu, is now believed to be the most influential man in both the DKBA administration and its military wing. The recent attacks on KNLA Brigade 7 were planned by Col Chit Thu with the aim of operating an economic zone after the battle was won, said the Karen sources.
DKBA sources reported that Col Chit Thu owns several large businesses, including logging, drug trafficking and a trade in motor vehicles from overseas. He regularly flies to countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong to facilitate his car importing business, the sources said.
One DKBA business source said that the DKBA leaders were aiming to increase their business activities in the region, with a view to constructing a road connecting DKBA headquarters Myaing Gyi Ngu and the Thai border, as well as expanding ventures in logging, mining natural resources such as zinc and tin, and building an infrastructure of factories and business enterprises.
Trade will be controlled directly by Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the businessman.
However, he noted that not all was plain sailing with the DKBA leadership.
“The DKBA leaders have been fed by the Burmese regime, so now they have to serve the regime,” he said. “They have become servants of the junta.”
KNU General-Secretary Zipporah Sein said the DKBA is being used as a tool of the Burmese regime to oppress Karen people, and she urged the DKBA to reconsider its military activities against Karen civilians.
“The DKBA soldiers are clearly being used by the Burmese army. During fighting, the DKBA soldiers must stay in the front line and serve as minesweepers while the Burmese soldiers stay back and fire mortars,” said Zipporah Sein.
If the influence of the DKBA continues to grow in the border areas, the riskier it will be for the KNU, Burmese opposition groups in Mae Sot and refugees, said Burmese observers and Karen sources.
After the DKBA split from the KNU in 1995, the splinter group staged daring attacks on several Karen refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border with the help of Burmese troops.
In 1997-98, Huay Kaloke refugee camp, about 10 km (6 miles) from Mae Sot, was attacked and burned down by DKBA soldiers.
After the breakaway of the DKBA and another splinter group, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council led by Maj Gen Htain Maung, assassinations between the splinter groups and KNU occurred frequently.
The most significant assassination was that of former general-secretary of the KNU, Mahn Sha, who was gunned down in his home in Mae Sot on February 14, 2008.
In an interview last year, the commander of KNLA Brigade 7, Brig-Gen Johnny, told The Irrawaddy: “All this fighting between Karens is enough to make the Burmese government very happy. We Karen people should be united.
“If we are divided, we will never achieve self-determination and the rights we demand,” said Johnny.
In Tha Song Yang, the 4,000 newcomers to the world of refuge sit around listlessly, looking confused and anxious.
Hsa Moo, a young Karen volunteer who is helping process the new refugees, said, “I don’t want Karen people to fight each other any more. All we want is peace. We are hungry for peace.”
By SAW YAN NAING, Thursday, July 2, 2009
MAE SOT—Moo Say lay lethargically on the bed, his face hollow and pale. His arms and body were woefully skinny and he was missing one leg, amputated below the knee.
“I’ll never give up,” he croaked.
Moo Say is—or was until recently—a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier who was injured while clearing landmines on a road where Karen villagers were fleeing to escape military assaults by the Burmese army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) ceasefire group.
He was carried for three weeks in a hammock from the KNLA Brigade 7 area to the Thai border, put in a truck and finally driven to Mae Sot General Hospital.
Twenty-year-old Moo Say is one of about 4,000 Karens who have crossed into Thailand since the DKBA and Burmese army launched a successful assault on KNLA Brigade 7 early last month.
Caught in the crossfire or forced to flee their villages in fear of marauding soldiers, the displaced villagers headed across the Thai-Burmese border to Tha Song Yang District in Thailand’s Tak Province.
Most were from the Brigade 7 area, but many had traveled from areas as far as Pa’an District, some four days’ walk.
“I must return to the fight as soon as I get out of hospital,” said Moo Say. “I have to avenge my sacrifice.”
Despite his pledges of revenge, he appears quite calm and smiles at anyone who passes by. He is tattooed on his thighs and his hands in both English and Karen, sporting mantras such as “Born to Fight” and “Give the land back to the Karen people now!”
Moo Say said he has lost 14 kg in weight since he arrived at the hospital. Minus a leg and painfully thin, he is down to just 43 kg.
Moo Say estimated that he had received six bottles of blood since he arrived at Mae Sot General Hospital.
While in hospital, Moo Say he has had a unique opportunity to speak to injured soldiers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which has been fighting the KNLA since 1995.
He spoke to a 17-year-old DKBA soldier who was also injured by a landmine and lost a leg. He told Moo Say he was injured when he returned home after cutting bamboo in the forest.
Moo Say said the DKBA soldier told him that he was fed up of being a soldier and would not serve the DKBA when he leaves the hospital. He said he was involved in the recent attack on Brigade 7 because he was forced to and was paid by the DKBA leaders.
Karen sources say DKBA soldiers were given 100 baht per day to join the attack on KNLA Brigade 7.
Moo Say left Mae Sot hospital on June 28, but eight DKBA soldiers and five KNLA soldiers are still being kept there. One DKBA soldier died in hospital. Almost of them were injured by landmines, not by gunfire.
In the hospital, relatives of the DKBA soldiers also go around and chat with the KNLA soldiers. Likewise, friends and family of the KNLA soldiers chat and share food with hospitalized DKBA soldiers.
Karen sources in Mae Sot have claimed the DKBA soldiers were given more favor by Mae Sot General Hospital. There is one injured Burmese soldier in the hospital and he is guarded by two Thai policemen.
Karen sources around the border also said that DKBA spies are all over Mae Sot these days and that they may even be in the hospital.
The same sources estimate that while the DKBA remains the dominant influence on the border, the relationship between Thai businessmen, the Thai police and the DKBA members will be much more cooperative than in the past.
Leaders of the DKBA also own thriving businesses in the Mae Sot area and are known to have smooth relations with the Thai authorities.
Sources said that a few days after the fall of the KNLA Brigade 7 headquarters, members of the DKBA crossed into the Thai village of Mae Salit in Tha Song Yang District where Karen refugees were being housed and made a loud and public statement of eating and drinking in the local restaurants.
Some of the DKBA soldiers also lobbied the newly arrived Karen refugees to return home. They told the refugees that the situation in the fighting zone is now stable, said Karen relief sources.
However, Karen sources said there are disagreements between DKBA soldiers and their commanders.
There is a common perception that the leaders have only sided with the Burmese regime in order to expand and protect their business interests.
The commander of the DKBA Battalion 999, Col Chit Thu, is now believed to be the most influential man in both the DKBA administration and its military wing. The recent attacks on KNLA Brigade 7 were planned by Col Chit Thu with the aim of operating an economic zone after the battle was won, said the Karen sources.
DKBA sources reported that Col Chit Thu owns several large businesses, including logging, drug trafficking and a trade in motor vehicles from overseas. He regularly flies to countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong to facilitate his car importing business, the sources said.
One DKBA business source said that the DKBA leaders were aiming to increase their business activities in the region, with a view to constructing a road connecting DKBA headquarters Myaing Gyi Ngu and the Thai border, as well as expanding ventures in logging, mining natural resources such as zinc and tin, and building an infrastructure of factories and business enterprises.
Trade will be controlled directly by Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the businessman.
However, he noted that not all was plain sailing with the DKBA leadership.
“The DKBA leaders have been fed by the Burmese regime, so now they have to serve the regime,” he said. “They have become servants of the junta.”
KNU General-Secretary Zipporah Sein said the DKBA is being used as a tool of the Burmese regime to oppress Karen people, and she urged the DKBA to reconsider its military activities against Karen civilians.
“The DKBA soldiers are clearly being used by the Burmese army. During fighting, the DKBA soldiers must stay in the front line and serve as minesweepers while the Burmese soldiers stay back and fire mortars,” said Zipporah Sein.
If the influence of the DKBA continues to grow in the border areas, the riskier it will be for the KNU, Burmese opposition groups in Mae Sot and refugees, said Burmese observers and Karen sources.
After the DKBA split from the KNU in 1995, the splinter group staged daring attacks on several Karen refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border with the help of Burmese troops.
In 1997-98, Huay Kaloke refugee camp, about 10 km (6 miles) from Mae Sot, was attacked and burned down by DKBA soldiers.
After the breakaway of the DKBA and another splinter group, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council led by Maj Gen Htain Maung, assassinations between the splinter groups and KNU occurred frequently.
The most significant assassination was that of former general-secretary of the KNU, Mahn Sha, who was gunned down in his home in Mae Sot on February 14, 2008.
In an interview last year, the commander of KNLA Brigade 7, Brig-Gen Johnny, told The Irrawaddy: “All this fighting between Karens is enough to make the Burmese government very happy. We Karen people should be united.
“If we are divided, we will never achieve self-determination and the rights we demand,” said Johnny.
In Tha Song Yang, the 4,000 newcomers to the world of refuge sit around listlessly, looking confused and anxious.
Hsa Moo, a young Karen volunteer who is helping process the new refugees, said, “I don’t want Karen people to fight each other any more. All we want is peace. We are hungry for peace.”
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Burmese Injured in Malaysian Camp Riots
By LAWI WENG, Thursday, July 2, 2009
Eight Burmese detainees were wounded after a small riot broke out at the Semenyih Immigration camp near Kajang Township, in Malaysia on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aung Lwin Oo, one of the detainees involved in the riot at the camp, said the trouble started at 8pm after camp authorities beat 30 detainees who were refusing to board a truck that was to take them to another camp.
The detainees began breaking up the walls of their rooms and throwing plates at security officers, demanding prison authorities release the 30 people who had been loaded onto the truck.
The police used tear gas to break up the riot.
“We are very angry after we heard they had beaten and forced fellow prisoners to get on a truck and be moved another camp. When they came for them they said it was only to meet officials from the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees],” he said.
Aung Lwin Oo was in hiding as he talked to The Irrawaddy by phone from the camp. Camp authorities ban the use of mobile phones.
“On Tuesday, two Burmese detainees were also seriously beaten when they went to the clinic to ask for medicine. One detainee was beaten around the eyes,” Lwin Oo reported.
“We don’t know if he will regain his vision because his eyes are filled with blood. At the moment he can’t see,” he said. “The other detainee suffered cigarette burns on his body and is in serious condition now.”
Yante Ismail, a spokesperson for the UNHCR based in Kuala Lumpur told The Irrawaddy, Thursday, that a group from UNHCR left for the camp that morning to investigate the riot.
She said that she was unable to provide any further details on what happened at the camp.
The Malaysian National News Agency announced on their Bernama website that no one was injured during the riot and that the situation was under control.
According to Burmese rights groups in Malaysia, there are about 700 Burmese detainees at the Semenyih Immigration camp. They are accusing camp authorities of keeping people who have already served sentences in detention.
Roi Mon, a member of the Mon Refugees Organization based in Malaysia, said that inmates do not have enough food and water, and the camp is crowded because the authorities have refused to release detainees.
Meanwhile, in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 released in June, the US State Department put Malaysia back on the Tier 3 blacklist for its record of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers. Malaysia joins 16 other countries including Burma, North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe on the blacklist.
The report accused Malaysia authorities of deporting Burmese detainees to the Thai-Malaysia border and selling them to human traffickers, who then demanded ransoms for their release.
If payments were not made, the victims would be forced to work as slave labor on fishing boats in Thailand and Indonesia, and women could be forced to work as prostitutes in brothels.
Malaysian authorities have disputed the report’s conclusions.
According to the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee, about 500,000 Burmese migrants work in Malaysia, legally and illegally.
By LAWI WENG, Thursday, July 2, 2009
Eight Burmese detainees were wounded after a small riot broke out at the Semenyih Immigration camp near Kajang Township, in Malaysia on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aung Lwin Oo, one of the detainees involved in the riot at the camp, said the trouble started at 8pm after camp authorities beat 30 detainees who were refusing to board a truck that was to take them to another camp.
The detainees began breaking up the walls of their rooms and throwing plates at security officers, demanding prison authorities release the 30 people who had been loaded onto the truck.
The police used tear gas to break up the riot.
“We are very angry after we heard they had beaten and forced fellow prisoners to get on a truck and be moved another camp. When they came for them they said it was only to meet officials from the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees],” he said.
Aung Lwin Oo was in hiding as he talked to The Irrawaddy by phone from the camp. Camp authorities ban the use of mobile phones.
“On Tuesday, two Burmese detainees were also seriously beaten when they went to the clinic to ask for medicine. One detainee was beaten around the eyes,” Lwin Oo reported.
“We don’t know if he will regain his vision because his eyes are filled with blood. At the moment he can’t see,” he said. “The other detainee suffered cigarette burns on his body and is in serious condition now.”
Yante Ismail, a spokesperson for the UNHCR based in Kuala Lumpur told The Irrawaddy, Thursday, that a group from UNHCR left for the camp that morning to investigate the riot.
She said that she was unable to provide any further details on what happened at the camp.
The Malaysian National News Agency announced on their Bernama website that no one was injured during the riot and that the situation was under control.
According to Burmese rights groups in Malaysia, there are about 700 Burmese detainees at the Semenyih Immigration camp. They are accusing camp authorities of keeping people who have already served sentences in detention.
Roi Mon, a member of the Mon Refugees Organization based in Malaysia, said that inmates do not have enough food and water, and the camp is crowded because the authorities have refused to release detainees.
Meanwhile, in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 released in June, the US State Department put Malaysia back on the Tier 3 blacklist for its record of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers. Malaysia joins 16 other countries including Burma, North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe on the blacklist.
The report accused Malaysia authorities of deporting Burmese detainees to the Thai-Malaysia border and selling them to human traffickers, who then demanded ransoms for their release.
If payments were not made, the victims would be forced to work as slave labor on fishing boats in Thailand and Indonesia, and women could be forced to work as prostitutes in brothels.
Malaysian authorities have disputed the report’s conclusions.
According to the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee, about 500,000 Burmese migrants work in Malaysia, legally and illegally.
*****************************************************
Mizzima News - Thai police arrest Burmese forging registration documents
by Usa Pichai
Thursday, 02 July 2009 12:03
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Thai authorities arrested a Rohingya hailing from Burma on Monday for allegedly forging documents for over 7,000 people to work in Thailand.
Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) spokesperson Pol. Colonel Narat Sawettanant said the 63-year-old suspect Kareem Kasem, a Rohingya living in Thailand for many years, was arrested while registering four Rohingya in Chumphon's Tha Sae district.
Kasem was charged for working as an agent handling immigrant workers ID cards for Rohingya people and other migrant workers. He was produced in the Criminal Court pending trial.
Pol. Colonel Narat said that Kasem had arranged for workers’ registration by producing fake immigrant worker ID cards for over 7,000 Rohingya people before sending them to work in the fishery sector and as maids.
“The suspect has a nexus with local officials and received money to the tune of 22,000-23,000 baht (660-690 US$) per person for arranging the documents. Part of the money went to greasing the palms of officials. Since 2005, the suspect had made documents for 7,089 people in three districts - Thabsakae, Bangsapan, Bangsapan Noi of Prachoub Kirikhan Province and Chumphon province's Tha Sae district, south of Thailand,” he added.
Pol Colonel Songsak Raksaksakul, Commander of Foreign Affairs and International Crime Office of the DSI said that the cabinet resolution in 2005 allows migrants, who come to Thailand, to live legally for a temporary period after being approved by local leaders.
But this has also led to headmen of villages and administrative officials at the local level to become corrupt. Some of them helped create the fake documents.
“This process led to human trafficking in several areas across the country particularly in border provinces such as Prachoub Kirikhan, Ranong and Trad,” he said.
The official also said the suspect is normally paid by the migrants but often employers also pay for them. The migrants are employed mainly in the fishery sector and as domestic workers.
Prachoub Kirikhan, Ranong and Trad are close to Kawthong Township in Burma, where more than 100,000 people are from Burma. Besides, it is the gateway for migrants who want to work south of Thailand.
Meanwhile, many more migrants from Burma have crossed the border illegally seeking work in Thailand, particularly after the Thai government’s recent announcement that it would open migrant registration this year for work in establishments where there is labour shortage.
Rights group are worried because they say it is dangerous for workers for they could be cheated by human traffickers and sent to work in dangerous jobs such as in the fishing sector without wages.
by Usa Pichai
Thursday, 02 July 2009 12:03
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Thai authorities arrested a Rohingya hailing from Burma on Monday for allegedly forging documents for over 7,000 people to work in Thailand.
Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) spokesperson Pol. Colonel Narat Sawettanant said the 63-year-old suspect Kareem Kasem, a Rohingya living in Thailand for many years, was arrested while registering four Rohingya in Chumphon's Tha Sae district.
Kasem was charged for working as an agent handling immigrant workers ID cards for Rohingya people and other migrant workers. He was produced in the Criminal Court pending trial.
Pol. Colonel Narat said that Kasem had arranged for workers’ registration by producing fake immigrant worker ID cards for over 7,000 Rohingya people before sending them to work in the fishery sector and as maids.
“The suspect has a nexus with local officials and received money to the tune of 22,000-23,000 baht (660-690 US$) per person for arranging the documents. Part of the money went to greasing the palms of officials. Since 2005, the suspect had made documents for 7,089 people in three districts - Thabsakae, Bangsapan, Bangsapan Noi of Prachoub Kirikhan Province and Chumphon province's Tha Sae district, south of Thailand,” he added.
Pol Colonel Songsak Raksaksakul, Commander of Foreign Affairs and International Crime Office of the DSI said that the cabinet resolution in 2005 allows migrants, who come to Thailand, to live legally for a temporary period after being approved by local leaders.
But this has also led to headmen of villages and administrative officials at the local level to become corrupt. Some of them helped create the fake documents.
“This process led to human trafficking in several areas across the country particularly in border provinces such as Prachoub Kirikhan, Ranong and Trad,” he said.
The official also said the suspect is normally paid by the migrants but often employers also pay for them. The migrants are employed mainly in the fishery sector and as domestic workers.
Prachoub Kirikhan, Ranong and Trad are close to Kawthong Township in Burma, where more than 100,000 people are from Burma. Besides, it is the gateway for migrants who want to work south of Thailand.
Meanwhile, many more migrants from Burma have crossed the border illegally seeking work in Thailand, particularly after the Thai government’s recent announcement that it would open migrant registration this year for work in establishments where there is labour shortage.
Rights group are worried because they say it is dangerous for workers for they could be cheated by human traffickers and sent to work in dangerous jobs such as in the fishing sector without wages.
*****************************************************
North Korea exporting weapons overland to Burma
July 2, 2009 (DVB)–North Korea is suspected to have illegally exported weapons to Burma via overland routes through China to avoid naval detection or interception, a South Korean newspaper said yesterday.
The news follows reports that the North Korean ship, the Kang Nam 1, being tracked by the US navy on suspicion that it is carrying weapons in breach of new UN sanctions on Pyongyang has turned around.
North Korea, like many countries, has traditionally used sea routes to carry exports to other parts of the world.
Following a series of sanctions on the regime that, since 2006, have increasingly targeted weapons exports, the government is alleged to have used overland routes that are harder to detect, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.
Using this method, Pyongyang has exported weaponry to Iran, Syria, Laos and Burma totaling $US800 million since 2000, the Chosun Ilbo quoting US intelligence agencies.
“It also exported weapons by building assembly factories in importing countries,” the report said.
“To circumvent an entry ban on its ships in ports, North Korean chartered ships under the names of foreigners, falsified the country of origin, or did business through a third country. That is mostly how it was able to export to Iran, Syria, Burma and Laos.”
According to North Korea expert Dr Leonid Petrov, this method has been used in the past to export sensitive material.
“Not every [North Korean] ship is government owned or government managed - North Korean crews sometimes operate under foreign companies,” he said.
“There are plenty of cooperative companies, not really private and not really government-run, that operate on a market basis and commercial basis, so they can go wherever they want and pick up any cargo.”
Burma reportedly refused to accept the Kang Nam ship, although it is unclear what its reason was.
Earlier this week US officials said the ship was still being tracked by US navy about 250 miles south of Hong Kong, heading north, although did not comment on possible destinations.
The new UN resolution on North Korea allows countries to request searches of North Korean suspected of carrying weapons or suspicious material, although the US is yet to board the Kang Nam.
“It’s simply impossible to monitor the majority of routes, either inland or air, and probably only maritime cargo can be stopped and possibly searched but there is a high chance of provoking a skirmish or battle, so I don’t think [the UN resolution] is going to work anyway,” said Petrov.
Reporting by Francis Wade
******************************************
July 2, 2009 (DVB)–North Korea is suspected to have illegally exported weapons to Burma via overland routes through China to avoid naval detection or interception, a South Korean newspaper said yesterday.
The news follows reports that the North Korean ship, the Kang Nam 1, being tracked by the US navy on suspicion that it is carrying weapons in breach of new UN sanctions on Pyongyang has turned around.
North Korea, like many countries, has traditionally used sea routes to carry exports to other parts of the world.
Following a series of sanctions on the regime that, since 2006, have increasingly targeted weapons exports, the government is alleged to have used overland routes that are harder to detect, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.
Using this method, Pyongyang has exported weaponry to Iran, Syria, Laos and Burma totaling $US800 million since 2000, the Chosun Ilbo quoting US intelligence agencies.
“It also exported weapons by building assembly factories in importing countries,” the report said.
“To circumvent an entry ban on its ships in ports, North Korean chartered ships under the names of foreigners, falsified the country of origin, or did business through a third country. That is mostly how it was able to export to Iran, Syria, Burma and Laos.”
According to North Korea expert Dr Leonid Petrov, this method has been used in the past to export sensitive material.
“Not every [North Korean] ship is government owned or government managed - North Korean crews sometimes operate under foreign companies,” he said.
“There are plenty of cooperative companies, not really private and not really government-run, that operate on a market basis and commercial basis, so they can go wherever they want and pick up any cargo.”
Burma reportedly refused to accept the Kang Nam ship, although it is unclear what its reason was.
Earlier this week US officials said the ship was still being tracked by US navy about 250 miles south of Hong Kong, heading north, although did not comment on possible destinations.
The new UN resolution on North Korea allows countries to request searches of North Korean suspected of carrying weapons or suspicious material, although the US is yet to board the Kang Nam.
“It’s simply impossible to monitor the majority of routes, either inland or air, and probably only maritime cargo can be stopped and possibly searched but there is a high chance of provoking a skirmish or battle, so I don’t think [the UN resolution] is going to work anyway,” said Petrov.
Reporting by Francis Wade
No comments:
Post a Comment