Myanmar junta official meets Aung San Suu Kyi
Sat Oct 3, 7:39 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was escorted into surprise talks with a junta official Saturday, a week after writing a letter to the military leader proposing a new era of cooperation.
The unannounced meeting between Suu Kyi and Relations Minister Aung Kyi lasted 45 minutes and took place at a government guest house near her lakeside home in Yangon, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was driven to the meeting in a police motorcade, the officials said. Details of the talks were not immediately known.
The meeting came a week after Suu Kyi sent a letter to junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe. In it, she said she is willing to cooperate with the junta in having international sanctions lifted and proposed that she meet with Western diplomats to discuss the measures, according to her National League for Democracy party.
"I don't know what they discussed, but I believe it could be related to the letter sent last week to the senior general," said Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for her opposition party.
The letter appeared to be a confidence-building gesture to the junta. Suu Kyi, 64, had previously welcomed sanctions as a way to pressure the junta to achieve political reconciliation with the pro-democracy movement.
The movement has insisted on concessions from the government if they are to work together, particularly the freeing of political prisoners and the reopening of party offices around the country.
Suu Kyi's meeting with Aung Kyi was their sixth since his post was created in October 2007 and the first since January 2008. The job of relations minister was created at the urging of U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari after the U.N. Security Council urged the junta to open talks with the country's pro-democracy movement.
Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years.
On Friday, a court rejected Suu Kyi's appeal against the extension of her widely condemned house arrest. The decision was expected and was another reminder that the military junta treads warily when considering concessions to the opposition or improving relations with the West.
The United States announced last week that it is modifying its tough policy of isolating the military regime and will instead try to engage the junta through high-level talks.
Washington said it will still maintain its political and economic sanctions against the regime. It and other Western nations apply sanctions because of Myanmar's poor human rights record and its failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi's party after it won the last elections in 1990.
Friday's court ruling against Suu Kyi upheld her August conviction for breaking the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an uninvited American at her home earlier this year. She was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest, which means she cannot participate in elections scheduled for next year, the first in Myanmar in two decades.
Suu Kyi's legal team said Friday they plan to appeal to the Supreme Court within 60 days.
Suu Kyi was barred from attending the appeal and was informed of the ruling by her physician, who visited her later Friday, Nyan Win said. He said authorities have agreed to allow her personal doctor, Tin Myo Win, to visit her once a month.
On his last visit two weeks ago, the doctor said Suu Kyi had low blood pressure, but after Friday's visit said she was well, Nyan Win said.
Sat Oct 3, 7:39 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was escorted into surprise talks with a junta official Saturday, a week after writing a letter to the military leader proposing a new era of cooperation.
The unannounced meeting between Suu Kyi and Relations Minister Aung Kyi lasted 45 minutes and took place at a government guest house near her lakeside home in Yangon, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was driven to the meeting in a police motorcade, the officials said. Details of the talks were not immediately known.
The meeting came a week after Suu Kyi sent a letter to junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe. In it, she said she is willing to cooperate with the junta in having international sanctions lifted and proposed that she meet with Western diplomats to discuss the measures, according to her National League for Democracy party.
"I don't know what they discussed, but I believe it could be related to the letter sent last week to the senior general," said Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for her opposition party.
The letter appeared to be a confidence-building gesture to the junta. Suu Kyi, 64, had previously welcomed sanctions as a way to pressure the junta to achieve political reconciliation with the pro-democracy movement.
The movement has insisted on concessions from the government if they are to work together, particularly the freeing of political prisoners and the reopening of party offices around the country.
Suu Kyi's meeting with Aung Kyi was their sixth since his post was created in October 2007 and the first since January 2008. The job of relations minister was created at the urging of U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari after the U.N. Security Council urged the junta to open talks with the country's pro-democracy movement.
Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years.
On Friday, a court rejected Suu Kyi's appeal against the extension of her widely condemned house arrest. The decision was expected and was another reminder that the military junta treads warily when considering concessions to the opposition or improving relations with the West.
The United States announced last week that it is modifying its tough policy of isolating the military regime and will instead try to engage the junta through high-level talks.
Washington said it will still maintain its political and economic sanctions against the regime. It and other Western nations apply sanctions because of Myanmar's poor human rights record and its failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi's party after it won the last elections in 1990.
Friday's court ruling against Suu Kyi upheld her August conviction for breaking the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an uninvited American at her home earlier this year. She was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest, which means she cannot participate in elections scheduled for next year, the first in Myanmar in two decades.
Suu Kyi's legal team said Friday they plan to appeal to the Supreme Court within 60 days.
Suu Kyi was barred from attending the appeal and was informed of the ruling by her physician, who visited her later Friday, Nyan Win said. He said authorities have agreed to allow her personal doctor, Tin Myo Win, to visit her once a month.
On his last visit two weeks ago, the doctor said Suu Kyi had low blood pressure, but after Friday's visit said she was well, Nyan Win said.
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A look at women who have won Nobel Prizes
By The Associated Press – Mon Oct 5, 7:59 am ET
Only 38 women have received Nobel Prizes since they were first handed out in 1901.
The latest — Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider — shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Jack W. Szostak for their work in solving the mystery of how chromosomes protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.
The first woman laureate was Marie Curie, who won Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry. Other women who have won Nobel Prizes include literature winners Toni Morrison and Doris Lessing and peace prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi, a democracy activist in Myanmar, and Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi. No woman has ever won the economics prize since it was first given out in 1969.
The 10 women who have won the medicine prize are:
• Gerty Cori, 1947
• Rosalyn Yalow, 1977
• Barbara McClintock, 1983
• Rita Levi-Montalcini, 1986
• Gertrude B. Elion, 1988
• Christiane Nuesslein-Volhard, 1995
• Linda B. Buck, 2004
• Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, 2008
• Carol W. Greider, 2009
• Elizabeth H. Blackburn, 2009
By The Associated Press – Mon Oct 5, 7:59 am ET
Only 38 women have received Nobel Prizes since they were first handed out in 1901.
The latest — Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider — shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Jack W. Szostak for their work in solving the mystery of how chromosomes protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.
The first woman laureate was Marie Curie, who won Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry. Other women who have won Nobel Prizes include literature winners Toni Morrison and Doris Lessing and peace prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi, a democracy activist in Myanmar, and Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi. No woman has ever won the economics prize since it was first given out in 1969.
The 10 women who have won the medicine prize are:
• Gerty Cori, 1947
• Rosalyn Yalow, 1977
• Barbara McClintock, 1983
• Rita Levi-Montalcini, 1986
• Gertrude B. Elion, 1988
• Christiane Nuesslein-Volhard, 1995
• Linda B. Buck, 2004
• Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, 2008
• Carol W. Greider, 2009
• Elizabeth H. Blackburn, 2009
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Myanmar minister promises 'free and fair' elections
Sat Oct 3, 1:35 pm ET
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AFP) – Myanmar's foreign minister promised Saturday his country would hold "free and fair" elections next year, despite the detention of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
"In my country free and fair elections will be held. We have already announced it," Myanmar foreign minister Nyan Win told reporters after a meeting with counterparts in Cambodia's northwestern tourist hub.
"(Whether) the elections are free and fair or not, so far no one can judge it. After the elections will be held, you can judge whether the elections are free and fair or not."
A Myanmar court Friday rejected an appeal by Suu Kyi against her conviction over an incident in which a US man swam uninvited to her home in May, earning her an extra 18 months' detention.
The sentence sidelines her from the elections promised for 2010, leading critics to say the polls are a sham.
The minister made the remarks after meeting with the foreign ministers of Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam for talks intended to foster development within the Mekong region.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and the junta refused to acknowledge the landslide win of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in the last elections in 1990.
Japanese foreign minister Katsuya Okada said the talks raised "Myanmar-related questions".
"We hope that Aung San Suu Kyi will be released and transparent elections will be conducted with the participation of all political parties," he told reporters.
Myanmar's foreign minister told his counterparts that "democracy can't be imposed from outside," Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said.
Japan's new government has voiced hopes of fostering ties with countries in the Mekong region.
Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the last 20 years in detention, had a rare meeting with junta minister Aung Kyi Saturday, in which her lawyer said they probably discussed how to end Western sanctions against Myanmar.
Sat Oct 3, 1:35 pm ET
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AFP) – Myanmar's foreign minister promised Saturday his country would hold "free and fair" elections next year, despite the detention of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
"In my country free and fair elections will be held. We have already announced it," Myanmar foreign minister Nyan Win told reporters after a meeting with counterparts in Cambodia's northwestern tourist hub.
"(Whether) the elections are free and fair or not, so far no one can judge it. After the elections will be held, you can judge whether the elections are free and fair or not."
A Myanmar court Friday rejected an appeal by Suu Kyi against her conviction over an incident in which a US man swam uninvited to her home in May, earning her an extra 18 months' detention.
The sentence sidelines her from the elections promised for 2010, leading critics to say the polls are a sham.
The minister made the remarks after meeting with the foreign ministers of Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam for talks intended to foster development within the Mekong region.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and the junta refused to acknowledge the landslide win of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in the last elections in 1990.
Japanese foreign minister Katsuya Okada said the talks raised "Myanmar-related questions".
"We hope that Aung San Suu Kyi will be released and transparent elections will be conducted with the participation of all political parties," he told reporters.
Myanmar's foreign minister told his counterparts that "democracy can't be imposed from outside," Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said.
Japan's new government has voiced hopes of fostering ties with countries in the Mekong region.
Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the last 20 years in detention, had a rare meeting with junta minister Aung Kyi Saturday, in which her lawyer said they probably discussed how to end Western sanctions against Myanmar.
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Myanmar says nuclear ambitions are peaceful: Japan
Sat Oct 3, 2009 10:52am EDT
By Ek Madra
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Reuters) - Japan said on Saturday it had been assured by military-ruled Myanmar that it was not developing nuclear weapons even though it was working with Russia on a nuclear energy program.
Myanmar has remained tight-lipped about its nuclear plans, despite speculation it has been receiving help from North Korea to build nuclear facilities near its remote capital with the intent of developing a weapon.
Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada that his country was seeking Russia's expertise, but only in developing a peaceful energy program for its people.
"(Nyan Win) told Japan's foreign minister that Myanmar has no intention to have a nuclear weapon," Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama told reporters on the sidelines of a Mekong-Japan ministerial meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
"Myanmar has conducted a consultation to have assistance from Russia for a peaceful use of nuclear energy."
Kazuo did not say if the issue of any nuclear links with North Korea was discussed.
Academic researchers said in August Myanmar was building a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium facility in caves tunneled into a mountain, citing intelligence from two defectors.
The defectors also said Myanmar, which has known reserves of uranium ore, had provided refined "yellowcake" processed uranium that can be used as nuclear fuel to Iran and North Korea.
The isolated country has been under Western sanctions for two decades and analysts say a nuclearized Myanmar could trigger an arms race in the region.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a security forum in Thailand in July that she was concerned about the possible transfer of nuclear technology to Myanmar from North Korea.
In reference to ties between North Korea and Myanmar, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said there were "some signs that that cooperation has extended into areas that would be prohibited.
However, many analysts have said evidence of attempts to develop nuclear weapons is scant and have questioned the reliability of the defectors' information.
Sat Oct 3, 2009 10:52am EDT
By Ek Madra
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Reuters) - Japan said on Saturday it had been assured by military-ruled Myanmar that it was not developing nuclear weapons even though it was working with Russia on a nuclear energy program.
Myanmar has remained tight-lipped about its nuclear plans, despite speculation it has been receiving help from North Korea to build nuclear facilities near its remote capital with the intent of developing a weapon.
Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada that his country was seeking Russia's expertise, but only in developing a peaceful energy program for its people.
"(Nyan Win) told Japan's foreign minister that Myanmar has no intention to have a nuclear weapon," Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama told reporters on the sidelines of a Mekong-Japan ministerial meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
"Myanmar has conducted a consultation to have assistance from Russia for a peaceful use of nuclear energy."
Kazuo did not say if the issue of any nuclear links with North Korea was discussed.
Academic researchers said in August Myanmar was building a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium facility in caves tunneled into a mountain, citing intelligence from two defectors.
The defectors also said Myanmar, which has known reserves of uranium ore, had provided refined "yellowcake" processed uranium that can be used as nuclear fuel to Iran and North Korea.
The isolated country has been under Western sanctions for two decades and analysts say a nuclearized Myanmar could trigger an arms race in the region.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a security forum in Thailand in July that she was concerned about the possible transfer of nuclear technology to Myanmar from North Korea.
In reference to ties between North Korea and Myanmar, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said there were "some signs that that cooperation has extended into areas that would be prohibited.
However, many analysts have said evidence of attempts to develop nuclear weapons is scant and have questioned the reliability of the defectors' information.
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Opposition frets 2010 Myanmar election
Published: Oct. 3, 2009 at 1:47 PM
YANGON, Myanmar, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A noted Myanmar dissident says next year's public election in his nation won't mean much if it endorses the controversial constitution passed last year.
U Win Tin, 80, told The New York Times the 2008 vote was "very undemocratic" and that while the constitution allows elected representation, the government has been arresting and harassing opposition parties.
"We have some young men, but they are followed and sent to jail all the time," Win Tin said. "Sometimes, they go to the pagoda just for praying. They are followed and charged with something and sentenced."
Win Tin, who was released from prison in September 2008 after being locked up for 19 years, is the co-founder of fellow dissident Saw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
The Times reported Friday there has been debate within the party over whether or not to participate in the 2010 election despite its flaws. Win Tin confirmed the dilemma but did not characterize it as a serious split.
Published: Oct. 3, 2009 at 1:47 PM
YANGON, Myanmar, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A noted Myanmar dissident says next year's public election in his nation won't mean much if it endorses the controversial constitution passed last year.
U Win Tin, 80, told The New York Times the 2008 vote was "very undemocratic" and that while the constitution allows elected representation, the government has been arresting and harassing opposition parties.
"We have some young men, but they are followed and sent to jail all the time," Win Tin said. "Sometimes, they go to the pagoda just for praying. They are followed and charged with something and sentenced."
Win Tin, who was released from prison in September 2008 after being locked up for 19 years, is the co-founder of fellow dissident Saw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
The Times reported Friday there has been debate within the party over whether or not to participate in the 2010 election despite its flaws. Win Tin confirmed the dilemma but did not characterize it as a serious split.
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Suu Kyi in offer to help lift sanctions
Published: Oct. 5, 2009 at 12:57 PM
YANGON, Myanmar, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a senior member of the ruling military after losing an appeal of her latest house detention.
The meeting was the first such contact with Myanmar's military dictators in nearly two years, and she is believed to have offered to help the government get international sanctions against the country lifted.
She met Aung Kyi, a retired major general who is also the regime's labor minister, for nearly an hour at a government guesthouse near her lakeside home in which she is serving another house detention.
It was the first time the two have met since January 2008, according to a report on the Irrawaddy news Web site.
"The meeting started at 1 pm and lasted about 45 minutes," said Nyan Win, Suu Kyi's lawyer and a spokesperson for her banned National League for Democracy party.
Suu Kyi sent a letter to the country's military leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, on Sept. 25 offering to cooperate with the junta to lift sanctions against the country, formerly called Burma. She also asked to meet with envoys from the United States, the European Union and Australia to learn more about the sanctions, said Win.
The two had met previously on several occasions after the regime's 2007 crackdown on Buddhist monk-led mass demonstrations, an issue that remains a flashpoint for the military rulers.
Police and armed forces in the city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, are on alert this week to prevent protests by monks demanding an apology from the junta for the September 2007 crackdown.
The All Burma Monks' Alliance wants the regime to apologize for the violent suppression of the peaceful 2007 demonstration in the city of Pakokku. The alliance also wants the release of all monks imprisoned since the so-called Saffron Revolution, the movement that has grown out of the Pakokku demonstrations.
Suu Kyi, 64, was the winner of the country's 1990 general election, which the generals refused to recognize. She has since spent 14 of the past 19 years under some form of imprisonment including house arrest.
Last week Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, lost her appeal against her 18 months of house arrest that was handed down in a surprise move by the country's highest court in early August.
She faced up to five years in jail for breaking the terms of her previous house arrest after U.S. citizen John Yettaw swam across a lake and entered her home uninvited. He stayed for two days despite efforts by Suu Kyi and her two female aids to persuade him to leave.
Suu Kyi was initially given a sentence of three years in jail with hard labor, but this was immediately commuted to another house detention. Yettaw, although sentenced to seven years hard labor, has since been released back to the United States.
Also last week, Myanmar's traditional allies China, India and Russia joined an international call for Myanmar to release all political prisoners including Suu Kyi and allow them to take part in next year's elections.
The Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council's 47 members unanimously adopted the resolution.
Suu Kyi is the leader of the League for Democracy Party. But her current house detention sentence, while appearing lenient, likely means she is not eligible to be a candidate the election that the generals plan for 2010.
Published: Oct. 5, 2009 at 12:57 PM
YANGON, Myanmar, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a senior member of the ruling military after losing an appeal of her latest house detention.
The meeting was the first such contact with Myanmar's military dictators in nearly two years, and she is believed to have offered to help the government get international sanctions against the country lifted.
She met Aung Kyi, a retired major general who is also the regime's labor minister, for nearly an hour at a government guesthouse near her lakeside home in which she is serving another house detention.
It was the first time the two have met since January 2008, according to a report on the Irrawaddy news Web site.
"The meeting started at 1 pm and lasted about 45 minutes," said Nyan Win, Suu Kyi's lawyer and a spokesperson for her banned National League for Democracy party.
Suu Kyi sent a letter to the country's military leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, on Sept. 25 offering to cooperate with the junta to lift sanctions against the country, formerly called Burma. She also asked to meet with envoys from the United States, the European Union and Australia to learn more about the sanctions, said Win.
The two had met previously on several occasions after the regime's 2007 crackdown on Buddhist monk-led mass demonstrations, an issue that remains a flashpoint for the military rulers.
Police and armed forces in the city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, are on alert this week to prevent protests by monks demanding an apology from the junta for the September 2007 crackdown.
The All Burma Monks' Alliance wants the regime to apologize for the violent suppression of the peaceful 2007 demonstration in the city of Pakokku. The alliance also wants the release of all monks imprisoned since the so-called Saffron Revolution, the movement that has grown out of the Pakokku demonstrations.
Suu Kyi, 64, was the winner of the country's 1990 general election, which the generals refused to recognize. She has since spent 14 of the past 19 years under some form of imprisonment including house arrest.
Last week Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, lost her appeal against her 18 months of house arrest that was handed down in a surprise move by the country's highest court in early August.
She faced up to five years in jail for breaking the terms of her previous house arrest after U.S. citizen John Yettaw swam across a lake and entered her home uninvited. He stayed for two days despite efforts by Suu Kyi and her two female aids to persuade him to leave.
Suu Kyi was initially given a sentence of three years in jail with hard labor, but this was immediately commuted to another house detention. Yettaw, although sentenced to seven years hard labor, has since been released back to the United States.
Also last week, Myanmar's traditional allies China, India and Russia joined an international call for Myanmar to release all political prisoners including Suu Kyi and allow them to take part in next year's elections.
The Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council's 47 members unanimously adopted the resolution.
Suu Kyi is the leader of the League for Democracy Party. But her current house detention sentence, while appearing lenient, likely means she is not eligible to be a candidate the election that the generals plan for 2010.
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China Resists UN Security Council Talks on Myanmar, Envoys Say
By Bill Varner
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- China kept Myanmar off the agenda of the United Nations Security Council this month by seeking to put the issue of civilian deaths in Afghanistan on the schedule, Chinese and French envoys said. Neither subject made it.
“It was a killing amendment,” French Ambassador Gerard Araud said of the Chinese push for discussion of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, which Britain and France opposed.
“They did it for maneuvering, for retaliation.”
China’s request for talks on civilian deaths in Afghanistan caused the U.S., Britain and France to compromise, leaving both issues off the agreed agenda to avoid a public dispute.
The U.S. and its allies wanted to keep the Security Council focused on Myanmar, even as the Obama administration overhauls its policy on the Southeast Asian nation by starting direct talks with its military junta. The U.S. is trying to promote democratic changes that years of sanctions haven’t achieved.
The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under detention for 14 of the past 20 years. Though her National League for Democracy party won the country’s last elections in 1990, the regime didn’t recognize the result.
“We are not focused on that,” China’s Deputy Ambassador Liu Zhenmin said, referring to Myanamar. Civilian casualties in Afghanistan, he said, would have been a “good subject” for the Security Council to discuss.
The issue of civilian deaths in Afghanistan is sensitive for the U.S. and its European allies because of complaints by Afghan leaders of excessive fatalities. The U.S. military must reduce the number of Afghan civilian deaths after eight years of warfare or risk alienating the population and losing the conflict, Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of American and allied troops there, said this week.
Myanmar has Asia’s seventh-largest natural gas reserves, 7.5 trillion cubic feet, according to BP Plc estimates, which China is keen to tap to help fuel economic growth. South Korea’s Daewoo International Corp. said Aug. 25 it would invest 2.1 trillion won ($1.68 billion) in a Myanmar gas project to supply China National Petroleum Corp.
By Bill Varner
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- China kept Myanmar off the agenda of the United Nations Security Council this month by seeking to put the issue of civilian deaths in Afghanistan on the schedule, Chinese and French envoys said. Neither subject made it.
“It was a killing amendment,” French Ambassador Gerard Araud said of the Chinese push for discussion of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, which Britain and France opposed.
“They did it for maneuvering, for retaliation.”
China’s request for talks on civilian deaths in Afghanistan caused the U.S., Britain and France to compromise, leaving both issues off the agreed agenda to avoid a public dispute.
The U.S. and its allies wanted to keep the Security Council focused on Myanmar, even as the Obama administration overhauls its policy on the Southeast Asian nation by starting direct talks with its military junta. The U.S. is trying to promote democratic changes that years of sanctions haven’t achieved.
The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under detention for 14 of the past 20 years. Though her National League for Democracy party won the country’s last elections in 1990, the regime didn’t recognize the result.
“We are not focused on that,” China’s Deputy Ambassador Liu Zhenmin said, referring to Myanamar. Civilian casualties in Afghanistan, he said, would have been a “good subject” for the Security Council to discuss.
The issue of civilian deaths in Afghanistan is sensitive for the U.S. and its European allies because of complaints by Afghan leaders of excessive fatalities. The U.S. military must reduce the number of Afghan civilian deaths after eight years of warfare or risk alienating the population and losing the conflict, Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of American and allied troops there, said this week.
Myanmar has Asia’s seventh-largest natural gas reserves, 7.5 trillion cubic feet, according to BP Plc estimates, which China is keen to tap to help fuel economic growth. South Korea’s Daewoo International Corp. said Aug. 25 it would invest 2.1 trillion won ($1.68 billion) in a Myanmar gas project to supply China National Petroleum Corp.
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Human Rights Watch
UN Human Rights Council: “Traditional Values” Vote and Gaza Overshadow Progress
Council Condemns Honduras Violations; Calls for Release of Burma’s Political Prisoners
October 2, 2009
(Geneva) - The UN Human Rights Council concluded its session with mixed results, Human Rights Watch said today. The council adopted helpful resolutions on the human rights situations in Burma, Somalia, Honduras and Cambodia and unanimously supported resolutions on freedom of expression, migrants' rights, HIV/AIDS and access to medicines.
But it took no action on Justice Richard Goldstone's report on the recent conflict in Gaza, stalling justice for the civilian victims of the conflict. It also passed a divisive and dangerous resolution on "traditional" values and human rights, and neglected a range of other abuses worthy of its attention. "The council deserves kudos for taking up Honduras and for acting on a range of situations in other countries," said Julie de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Now what about the abuses in the many other places the council ignores like Afghanistan, Russia, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka?"
The council broke ground through its resolution on Honduras, taking action for the first time on a country that was not already on its agenda. The resolution called on Honduras to end human rights violations immediately and to restore democracy and the rule of law. It also called for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to report to the UN General Assembly and the next session of the Human Rights Council on rights violations committed since the coup.
The resolution on so-called traditional values and human rights adopted by the Council is a cause for concern, though, Human Rights Watch said. The resolution presupposes that "traditional values" make an exclusively positive contribution to promoting and protecting human rights and does not acknowledge that many harmful practices such as female genital mutilation are justified by invoking "traditional values." The Mexican ambassador, speaking to that point, said that by not defining traditional values, the resolution could "erroneously introduce the concept of cultural relativism."
The resolution was adopted by 26 to 15, with 6 abstentions. South Africa voted in favor, though its own constitution explicitly requires traditional or customary practices to conform to human rights protections. "This resolution fails to recognize that many values that political and cultural leaders exalt as ‘traditional' can stand at odds with international human rights law," de Rivero said.
The Council noted that 25 million people have died of HIV/AIDS and that there were 2.7 million new infections in 2007. However, it fell short of recognizing the need to protect specific marginalized groups, such as drug users, sex workers and men having sex with men.
The Council regrettably also stopped short of creating an expert mandate on the elimination of discrimination against women. Instead, it adopted a resolution calling for the preparation of a study of women's equality before the law, a project that has already largely been carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The resolution on Burma calls not only for the unconditional release of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi but also for the release of all other political prisoners. Human Rights Watch has reported that the number of political prisoners in Burma has more than doubled in the past two years, with more than 2,100 now held. Even states such as India and China that have sometimes shielded Burma from public condemnation joined this resolution, which was adopted by consensus.
"Burma's continued detention of 2,100 political prisoners is unacceptable, and everyone seems to know it but the junta," de Rivero said. "The Council has sent a clear message that elections in Burma will be a sham next year unless the political prisoners are freed."
The Human Rights Council also rightly decided to keep Cambodia and Somalia under examination, Human Rights Watch said. The council renewed for another year the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Cambodia. On Somalia, the Council expressed its concern at the human rights and humanitarian situation in the country and alarm at the deteriorating conditions for refugees and internal displaced persons.
The Council extended the mandate of the UN expert on Somalia for a year, asking him to report back on the situation at its March and September 2010 sessions. Human Rights Watch expressed concern at the widespread unchecked and unpunished rights violations in Somalia and called on the Council to step up its work on Somalia by organizing a special briefing on the situation.
There were great expectations for the US return to the council at this session. A week before the session, the US announced it would introduce with Egypt a resolution on the right to freedom of expression, one of the more polarizing issues in the Human Rights Council. The ability of the US to work constructively across regions to achieve this text was an important step forward and could contribute to reducing politicization in the council. The freedom of expression resolution was adopted without a vote.
The Council deferred until its March 2010 session a vote on the report from the fact-finding mission chaired by Justice Goldstone that it created to investigate abuses in the Gaza conflict. The decision came after the US and the EU refused to endorse the report, with the US calling it "deeply flawed."
"The US effort to put forward a freedom of expression resolution that could be endorsed by states from all regions really paid off," de Rivero said. "But that achievement was unfortunately overshadowed by the US role in deferring consideration of the Goldstone report."
UN Human Rights Council: “Traditional Values” Vote and Gaza Overshadow Progress
Council Condemns Honduras Violations; Calls for Release of Burma’s Political Prisoners
October 2, 2009
(Geneva) - The UN Human Rights Council concluded its session with mixed results, Human Rights Watch said today. The council adopted helpful resolutions on the human rights situations in Burma, Somalia, Honduras and Cambodia and unanimously supported resolutions on freedom of expression, migrants' rights, HIV/AIDS and access to medicines.
But it took no action on Justice Richard Goldstone's report on the recent conflict in Gaza, stalling justice for the civilian victims of the conflict. It also passed a divisive and dangerous resolution on "traditional" values and human rights, and neglected a range of other abuses worthy of its attention. "The council deserves kudos for taking up Honduras and for acting on a range of situations in other countries," said Julie de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Now what about the abuses in the many other places the council ignores like Afghanistan, Russia, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka?"
The council broke ground through its resolution on Honduras, taking action for the first time on a country that was not already on its agenda. The resolution called on Honduras to end human rights violations immediately and to restore democracy and the rule of law. It also called for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to report to the UN General Assembly and the next session of the Human Rights Council on rights violations committed since the coup.
The resolution on so-called traditional values and human rights adopted by the Council is a cause for concern, though, Human Rights Watch said. The resolution presupposes that "traditional values" make an exclusively positive contribution to promoting and protecting human rights and does not acknowledge that many harmful practices such as female genital mutilation are justified by invoking "traditional values." The Mexican ambassador, speaking to that point, said that by not defining traditional values, the resolution could "erroneously introduce the concept of cultural relativism."
The resolution was adopted by 26 to 15, with 6 abstentions. South Africa voted in favor, though its own constitution explicitly requires traditional or customary practices to conform to human rights protections. "This resolution fails to recognize that many values that political and cultural leaders exalt as ‘traditional' can stand at odds with international human rights law," de Rivero said.
The Council noted that 25 million people have died of HIV/AIDS and that there were 2.7 million new infections in 2007. However, it fell short of recognizing the need to protect specific marginalized groups, such as drug users, sex workers and men having sex with men.
The Council regrettably also stopped short of creating an expert mandate on the elimination of discrimination against women. Instead, it adopted a resolution calling for the preparation of a study of women's equality before the law, a project that has already largely been carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The resolution on Burma calls not only for the unconditional release of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi but also for the release of all other political prisoners. Human Rights Watch has reported that the number of political prisoners in Burma has more than doubled in the past two years, with more than 2,100 now held. Even states such as India and China that have sometimes shielded Burma from public condemnation joined this resolution, which was adopted by consensus.
"Burma's continued detention of 2,100 political prisoners is unacceptable, and everyone seems to know it but the junta," de Rivero said. "The Council has sent a clear message that elections in Burma will be a sham next year unless the political prisoners are freed."
The Human Rights Council also rightly decided to keep Cambodia and Somalia under examination, Human Rights Watch said. The council renewed for another year the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Cambodia. On Somalia, the Council expressed its concern at the human rights and humanitarian situation in the country and alarm at the deteriorating conditions for refugees and internal displaced persons.
The Council extended the mandate of the UN expert on Somalia for a year, asking him to report back on the situation at its March and September 2010 sessions. Human Rights Watch expressed concern at the widespread unchecked and unpunished rights violations in Somalia and called on the Council to step up its work on Somalia by organizing a special briefing on the situation.
There were great expectations for the US return to the council at this session. A week before the session, the US announced it would introduce with Egypt a resolution on the right to freedom of expression, one of the more polarizing issues in the Human Rights Council. The ability of the US to work constructively across regions to achieve this text was an important step forward and could contribute to reducing politicization in the council. The freedom of expression resolution was adopted without a vote.
The Council deferred until its March 2010 session a vote on the report from the fact-finding mission chaired by Justice Goldstone that it created to investigate abuses in the Gaza conflict. The decision came after the US and the EU refused to endorse the report, with the US calling it "deeply flawed."
"The US effort to put forward a freedom of expression resolution that could be endorsed by states from all regions really paid off," de Rivero said. "But that achievement was unfortunately overshadowed by the US role in deferring consideration of the Goldstone report."
****************************************************************
The New York Times - Burmese Dissident Is Tested Anew as Party Agonizes Over Elections
Published: October 2, 2009
YANGON, Myanmar — U Win Tin, Myanmar’s longest-serving political prisoner, was tormented, tortured and beaten by his captors in the notorious Insein Prison for nearly two decades. Now, at 80, he faces a new kind of torment: watching colleagues from his political party decide whether to play by the rules of the junta that put him behind bars.
U Win Tin, who spent 19 years in prison, is upbeat about attaining democracy in Myanmar, though maybe not in his lifetime.
Released in September 2008 after more than 19 years in prison, Mr. Win Tin remains remarkably upbeat and politically engaged. A co-founder of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, he is a vocal opponent of participation in the national elections planned for next year. The vote, along with the enactment of a new Constitution, would introduce a shared civilian and military government after four and a half decades of military rule.
But while the Constitution, passed in a disputed referendum held amid the widespread devastation from Cyclone Nargis in 2008, allows elected representation, it accords special powers to the military in what the junta calls “disciplined democracy.” Many critics call it a sham.
“The election can mean nothing as long as it activates the 2008 Constitution, which is very undemocratic,” Mr. Win Tin said in an interview.
His party, however, is split over whether to boycott the election. Some members say participating would mean losing a moral claim to the party’s landslide victory in the 1990 general election, which the junta ignored. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the period since then under house arrest and was sentenced to a new term of 18 months in August, has not made her views on the issue public.
Still, the Constitution offers some protections. In August, the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization based in Brussels that seeks to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts, issued a report recommending that opposition groups take part in the election. It said that although the new Constitution “entrenches military power,” the changes at least established “shared political spaces — the legislatures and perhaps the cabinet — where cooperation could be fostered.”
And internationally, some policies toward Myanmar, formerly Burma, are shifting.
Last week, the Obama administration announced that it would engage the junta directly, while keeping sanctions in place. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for the unconditional release of political prisoners, including Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, and “credible, democratic reform.”
Mr. Win Tin said, “If the direct engagement of the U.S. will result in the release of all political prisoners and in a revision of the 2008 Constitution, then dialogue could begin between us and the junta, and we would consider running in the election.”
Mr. Win Tin — warm, razor-sharp and clearly determined — said the reason the junta released him, shortly before his prison sentence was completed, might have been to split the party. He admitted that “we are having some arguments about whether we are going to participate in the elections or not,” but insisted that there was “no conflict within the party now.”
Mr. Win Tin worked as a journalist and became secretary of the newly formed National League for Democracy before being jailed for three years in 1989. In 1991, he was given 10 more years for his involvement in popular uprisings in 1988 that were crushed by the military. In 1996, he was given seven more years for sending the United Nations a petition about abuses in Myanmar’s prisons. Much of the time, he was in solitary confinement.
“I could not bow down to them,” he said. “No, I could not do it. I wrote poems to keep myself from going crazy. I did mathematics with chalk on the floor.”
He added: “From time to time, they ask you to sign a statement that you are not going to do politics and that you will abide by the law and so on and so forth. I refused.”
When all his upper teeth were bashed out, he was 61. The guards refused to let him get dentures for eight years, leaving him to gum his food.
Last month, Mr. Win Tin was briefly detained after he wrote an opinion article that appeared in The Washington Post, criticizing the military junta and its plans for the election next year.
“I think they are trying to intimidate me, to stop me from appearing in the foreign media,” he said.
During the interview, on a cousin’s leafy porch in suburban Yangon, formerly Rangoon, government spies openly watched and took photographs from outside the gate.
Never married, Mr. Win Tin talks fondly of his adopted daughter, who lives in Sydney, Australia, after gaining political asylum 15 years ago. He has not seen her since.
Accustomed to a spare prison diet, he has one meal early in the day and a bit of fruit in the evening.
“I don’t want to be a burden on anyone,” he said.
Since his release, Mr. Win Tin has tried to reinvigorate the leadership of the National League for Democracy by stepping up the frequency of meetings and lobbying overseas governments. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi remains popular, despite her long years of detention, but the party has been crippled by the arrests of hundreds of younger members, Mr. Win Tin said.
“We have some young men, but they are followed and sent to jail all the time,” he said. “Sometimes, they go to the pagoda just for praying. They are followed and charged with something and sentenced.” Many are tortured, he said.
In one kind of torture, called “riding the motorcycle,” the subject is made to bend the knees, stand on tiptoe with sharp nails under the heels and make the sound of a revving engine. When the subject can no longer maintain the tiptoe stance, the nails penetrate the foot.
All but one of Mr. Win Tin’s eight colleagues on the party’s central executive committee are older than he is. The committee president and chairman, U Aung Shwe, is 92, and so infirm that he has not visited party headquarters for months. The party secretary, U Lwin, 87, is bedridden and paralyzed. The youngster in the group, U Khin Maung Swe, is in his mid-60s.
Despite the challenges his party faces, Mr. Win Tin remains optimistic.
“We expect democracy can happen anytime,” he said, recalling the country’s postcolonial democracy period from 1948 to 1962. “But sometimes, you have to sacrifice everything for a long, long time. It might extend for more than your life span.”
Published: October 2, 2009
YANGON, Myanmar — U Win Tin, Myanmar’s longest-serving political prisoner, was tormented, tortured and beaten by his captors in the notorious Insein Prison for nearly two decades. Now, at 80, he faces a new kind of torment: watching colleagues from his political party decide whether to play by the rules of the junta that put him behind bars.
U Win Tin, who spent 19 years in prison, is upbeat about attaining democracy in Myanmar, though maybe not in his lifetime.
Released in September 2008 after more than 19 years in prison, Mr. Win Tin remains remarkably upbeat and politically engaged. A co-founder of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, he is a vocal opponent of participation in the national elections planned for next year. The vote, along with the enactment of a new Constitution, would introduce a shared civilian and military government after four and a half decades of military rule.
But while the Constitution, passed in a disputed referendum held amid the widespread devastation from Cyclone Nargis in 2008, allows elected representation, it accords special powers to the military in what the junta calls “disciplined democracy.” Many critics call it a sham.
“The election can mean nothing as long as it activates the 2008 Constitution, which is very undemocratic,” Mr. Win Tin said in an interview.
His party, however, is split over whether to boycott the election. Some members say participating would mean losing a moral claim to the party’s landslide victory in the 1990 general election, which the junta ignored. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the period since then under house arrest and was sentenced to a new term of 18 months in August, has not made her views on the issue public.
Still, the Constitution offers some protections. In August, the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization based in Brussels that seeks to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts, issued a report recommending that opposition groups take part in the election. It said that although the new Constitution “entrenches military power,” the changes at least established “shared political spaces — the legislatures and perhaps the cabinet — where cooperation could be fostered.”
And internationally, some policies toward Myanmar, formerly Burma, are shifting.
Last week, the Obama administration announced that it would engage the junta directly, while keeping sanctions in place. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for the unconditional release of political prisoners, including Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, and “credible, democratic reform.”
Mr. Win Tin said, “If the direct engagement of the U.S. will result in the release of all political prisoners and in a revision of the 2008 Constitution, then dialogue could begin between us and the junta, and we would consider running in the election.”
Mr. Win Tin — warm, razor-sharp and clearly determined — said the reason the junta released him, shortly before his prison sentence was completed, might have been to split the party. He admitted that “we are having some arguments about whether we are going to participate in the elections or not,” but insisted that there was “no conflict within the party now.”
Mr. Win Tin worked as a journalist and became secretary of the newly formed National League for Democracy before being jailed for three years in 1989. In 1991, he was given 10 more years for his involvement in popular uprisings in 1988 that were crushed by the military. In 1996, he was given seven more years for sending the United Nations a petition about abuses in Myanmar’s prisons. Much of the time, he was in solitary confinement.
“I could not bow down to them,” he said. “No, I could not do it. I wrote poems to keep myself from going crazy. I did mathematics with chalk on the floor.”
He added: “From time to time, they ask you to sign a statement that you are not going to do politics and that you will abide by the law and so on and so forth. I refused.”
When all his upper teeth were bashed out, he was 61. The guards refused to let him get dentures for eight years, leaving him to gum his food.
Last month, Mr. Win Tin was briefly detained after he wrote an opinion article that appeared in The Washington Post, criticizing the military junta and its plans for the election next year.
“I think they are trying to intimidate me, to stop me from appearing in the foreign media,” he said.
During the interview, on a cousin’s leafy porch in suburban Yangon, formerly Rangoon, government spies openly watched and took photographs from outside the gate.
Never married, Mr. Win Tin talks fondly of his adopted daughter, who lives in Sydney, Australia, after gaining political asylum 15 years ago. He has not seen her since.
Accustomed to a spare prison diet, he has one meal early in the day and a bit of fruit in the evening.
“I don’t want to be a burden on anyone,” he said.
Since his release, Mr. Win Tin has tried to reinvigorate the leadership of the National League for Democracy by stepping up the frequency of meetings and lobbying overseas governments. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi remains popular, despite her long years of detention, but the party has been crippled by the arrests of hundreds of younger members, Mr. Win Tin said.
“We have some young men, but they are followed and sent to jail all the time,” he said. “Sometimes, they go to the pagoda just for praying. They are followed and charged with something and sentenced.” Many are tortured, he said.
In one kind of torture, called “riding the motorcycle,” the subject is made to bend the knees, stand on tiptoe with sharp nails under the heels and make the sound of a revving engine. When the subject can no longer maintain the tiptoe stance, the nails penetrate the foot.
All but one of Mr. Win Tin’s eight colleagues on the party’s central executive committee are older than he is. The committee president and chairman, U Aung Shwe, is 92, and so infirm that he has not visited party headquarters for months. The party secretary, U Lwin, 87, is bedridden and paralyzed. The youngster in the group, U Khin Maung Swe, is in his mid-60s.
Despite the challenges his party faces, Mr. Win Tin remains optimistic.
“We expect democracy can happen anytime,” he said, recalling the country’s postcolonial democracy period from 1948 to 1962. “But sometimes, you have to sacrifice everything for a long, long time. It might extend for more than your life span.”
****************************************************************
The Kalamazoo Gazette - Foster homes sought for Burmese youth
By Aaron Dome | Special to the Kalamazoo Ga...
October 05, 2009, 11:04AM
GRAND RAPIDS — Area foster homes are needed immediately for Burmese youths, who escaped violence in their home country.
In Thailand and Malaysia, thousands wait in refugee camps to be placed in foster homes.
Diane Baird, foster-care program manager for Lutheran Social Services — a social-service agency working to place the refugees — said that the youths’ lives were in danger in their home country from a military dictatorship that violates human rights. The country also is known as Myanmar, however some entities do not recognize the new name because they do want to grant legitimacy to the ruling military government.
“Most of those who fled were Christians, ethnic minorities, and those who wanted a democratic government,” Baird said. “The youths fled to refugee camps where they wait without parents, waiting for a country to take them in, to give them a chance at growing up in freedom and safety.”
Baird said that the case is somewhat similar to the “lost boys” of Sudan, who walked across large stretches of Africa after being separated from their families during the second Sudanese civil war.
Large Burmese communities exist in Lansing and Battle Creek, where immigrants sponsored by churches arrived years ago and family members as well as Burmese from the same villages followed.
Most of the refugees are high-school age. Those wishing to bring a refugee into their home do not have to go through the lengthy licensing process that traditional foster parents do. The care and housing that the refugees receive is not considered “foster care” in the traditional sense, but rather supervised independent living somewhat similar to an exchange student. The youths typically stay until they graduate from high school and become self-sufficient.
The youths arrive almost straight from the refugee camps to the United States and know little English. They attend seminars with other refugees and attend local high schools. The refugees stay in the United States with the hopes of eventually getting green cards.
Battle Creek residents Gary and Beth Seifert are currently hosting four teens from Burma as well as a teenager of their own. They said that those considering hosting a refugee should start with one, although they have had an extremely positive experience.
“You have to be open-minded, accepting of the different ways of thought and life, not just food — a whole way of thinking,” Gary Seifert said. “We didn’t recognize that Americans are more direct, you have to be sensitive. We’re not here to make them ‘American.’ We’re here to help them become self-sufficient in America.”
Each refugee youth has a caseworker to assist them in paperwork matters and other activities. The government provides a stipend every 28 days.
Beth Seifert said that Lutheran Social Services offers a lot of local support and shared transportation is available to and from Lansing, where refugees attend counseling sessions.
By Aaron Dome | Special to the Kalamazoo Ga...
October 05, 2009, 11:04AM
GRAND RAPIDS — Area foster homes are needed immediately for Burmese youths, who escaped violence in their home country.
In Thailand and Malaysia, thousands wait in refugee camps to be placed in foster homes.
Diane Baird, foster-care program manager for Lutheran Social Services — a social-service agency working to place the refugees — said that the youths’ lives were in danger in their home country from a military dictatorship that violates human rights. The country also is known as Myanmar, however some entities do not recognize the new name because they do want to grant legitimacy to the ruling military government.
“Most of those who fled were Christians, ethnic minorities, and those who wanted a democratic government,” Baird said. “The youths fled to refugee camps where they wait without parents, waiting for a country to take them in, to give them a chance at growing up in freedom and safety.”
Baird said that the case is somewhat similar to the “lost boys” of Sudan, who walked across large stretches of Africa after being separated from their families during the second Sudanese civil war.
Large Burmese communities exist in Lansing and Battle Creek, where immigrants sponsored by churches arrived years ago and family members as well as Burmese from the same villages followed.
Most of the refugees are high-school age. Those wishing to bring a refugee into their home do not have to go through the lengthy licensing process that traditional foster parents do. The care and housing that the refugees receive is not considered “foster care” in the traditional sense, but rather supervised independent living somewhat similar to an exchange student. The youths typically stay until they graduate from high school and become self-sufficient.
The youths arrive almost straight from the refugee camps to the United States and know little English. They attend seminars with other refugees and attend local high schools. The refugees stay in the United States with the hopes of eventually getting green cards.
Battle Creek residents Gary and Beth Seifert are currently hosting four teens from Burma as well as a teenager of their own. They said that those considering hosting a refugee should start with one, although they have had an extremely positive experience.
“You have to be open-minded, accepting of the different ways of thought and life, not just food — a whole way of thinking,” Gary Seifert said. “We didn’t recognize that Americans are more direct, you have to be sensitive. We’re not here to make them ‘American.’ We’re here to help them become self-sufficient in America.”
Each refugee youth has a caseworker to assist them in paperwork matters and other activities. The government provides a stipend every 28 days.
Beth Seifert said that Lutheran Social Services offers a lot of local support and shared transportation is available to and from Lansing, where refugees attend counseling sessions.
****************************************************************
FOX 11 Tucson - Landslides in Myanmar kill 3
Posted on October 4, 2009 at 8:30 PM
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A state newspaper has reported that landslides triggered by heavy rains in southern Myanmar have killed three Buddhist monks and damaged monasteries and homes.
Myanma Ahlin said the fatalities occurred Saturday in the southernmost town of Kawthaung, which borders Thailand.
The report published Monday said two young monks and a boy were also slightly injured, and authorities were working with residents to provide aid and relief.
The landslides occurred in a low-lying area just east of the Tanintharyi mountain range.
State media in Myanmar typically report news of disasters several days late.
Posted on October 4, 2009 at 8:30 PM
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A state newspaper has reported that landslides triggered by heavy rains in southern Myanmar have killed three Buddhist monks and damaged monasteries and homes.
Myanma Ahlin said the fatalities occurred Saturday in the southernmost town of Kawthaung, which borders Thailand.
The report published Monday said two young monks and a boy were also slightly injured, and authorities were working with residents to provide aid and relief.
The landslides occurred in a low-lying area just east of the Tanintharyi mountain range.
State media in Myanmar typically report news of disasters several days late.
****************************************************************
Midland Reporter-Telegram - Burmese children's art exhibit coming to Midland
By Ruth Campbell, Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, October 4, 2009 1:10 AM CDT
An exhibit of paintings and drawings showing evidence of the impact of Myanmar's dictatorship on children around the country opens with a reception from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13 at ClayDesta Atrium.
Presented by Champions for Burma, a ministry of First Presbyterian Church, the display of 25 works is titled "Hope Behind the Red Bamboo."
It will be at ClayDesta through Oct. 15 with hours from 8
a.m.-5 p.m. It then moves to First Presbyterian Church, 800 W. Texas
Ave., where it will hang through November. Framed works include photos of artists and their stories and single paintings and drawings.
First Presbyterian has been working with nonprofit groups Free Burma
Rangers and Partners Relief and Development for more than a year to
help people displaced by the military dictatorship now ruling the
country formerly known as Burma.
Karen Winkler, curator of the Children's Museum at Museum of the Southwest, was invited by Partners Relief and Development to conduct an art therapy workshop with a team inside Burma's war zone, said Spencer Kerrigan, executive director of Partners' office in Redlands, Calif. She was sponsored by the church.
Kerrigan said part of the mission was also to evaluate the health care situation in the war zone.
He and Sara Lapa, who works for the Partners office in Thailand, are expected to attend the Oct. 13 reception. Exhibit preparations began in November 2008 and several hundred of the 700 kids in the internally displaced persons camp took part in the art therapy program.
"We will have a formal art exhibit and interactive exhibit," Winkler said. "As you walk through, vignettes are set up illustrating the struggles and challenges (the children) faced at (the camp)." Kerrigan said he expects the exhibit's impact to be "tremendous."
"My experience with people in West Texas is that they're very passionate about the right issues. They'll see these kids are amazing and deserve help and prayers," Kerrigan said.
Charred bamboo -- some of which Winkler has charred herself in her backyard -- will represent a burned village and videos will be shown of a burned village as well. People attending will be able to write messages to the Burmese people, Winkler said.
A military dictatorship now controls the country and a civil war has been ongoing for more than 50 years, according to the Free Burma Rangers Web site.
Winkler said the military destroyed Karen and Shan schools, but they set one up in the camp. Some 700 children -- mainly from the Shan state -- there are separated from their parents, orphaned or sent there by their parents for safety.
Forty to 50 children live in each barrack side by side on pallets. When she did art therapy with them, the only instruction was to paint a picture of the past.
"The majority started with mountain scenes with the village and rice paddies. As they continue their work, it would get darker and start changing. They started adding the fire and the soldiers," Winkler said. Kerrigan noted tales told in the artwork are real -- "not fictional, made-up stories."
For some of the paintings, Winkler asked to take the artist's photo and interview them about their paintings. "I made a promise I would do this and go back and visit and bring the messages," she said.
By Ruth Campbell, Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, October 4, 2009 1:10 AM CDT
An exhibit of paintings and drawings showing evidence of the impact of Myanmar's dictatorship on children around the country opens with a reception from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13 at ClayDesta Atrium.
Presented by Champions for Burma, a ministry of First Presbyterian Church, the display of 25 works is titled "Hope Behind the Red Bamboo."
It will be at ClayDesta through Oct. 15 with hours from 8
a.m.-5 p.m. It then moves to First Presbyterian Church, 800 W. Texas
Ave., where it will hang through November. Framed works include photos of artists and their stories and single paintings and drawings.
First Presbyterian has been working with nonprofit groups Free Burma
Rangers and Partners Relief and Development for more than a year to
help people displaced by the military dictatorship now ruling the
country formerly known as Burma.
Karen Winkler, curator of the Children's Museum at Museum of the Southwest, was invited by Partners Relief and Development to conduct an art therapy workshop with a team inside Burma's war zone, said Spencer Kerrigan, executive director of Partners' office in Redlands, Calif. She was sponsored by the church.
Kerrigan said part of the mission was also to evaluate the health care situation in the war zone.
He and Sara Lapa, who works for the Partners office in Thailand, are expected to attend the Oct. 13 reception. Exhibit preparations began in November 2008 and several hundred of the 700 kids in the internally displaced persons camp took part in the art therapy program.
"We will have a formal art exhibit and interactive exhibit," Winkler said. "As you walk through, vignettes are set up illustrating the struggles and challenges (the children) faced at (the camp)." Kerrigan said he expects the exhibit's impact to be "tremendous."
"My experience with people in West Texas is that they're very passionate about the right issues. They'll see these kids are amazing and deserve help and prayers," Kerrigan said.
Charred bamboo -- some of which Winkler has charred herself in her backyard -- will represent a burned village and videos will be shown of a burned village as well. People attending will be able to write messages to the Burmese people, Winkler said.
A military dictatorship now controls the country and a civil war has been ongoing for more than 50 years, according to the Free Burma Rangers Web site.
Winkler said the military destroyed Karen and Shan schools, but they set one up in the camp. Some 700 children -- mainly from the Shan state -- there are separated from their parents, orphaned or sent there by their parents for safety.
Forty to 50 children live in each barrack side by side on pallets. When she did art therapy with them, the only instruction was to paint a picture of the past.
"The majority started with mountain scenes with the village and rice paddies. As they continue their work, it would get darker and start changing. They started adding the fire and the soldiers," Winkler said. Kerrigan noted tales told in the artwork are real -- "not fictional, made-up stories."
For some of the paintings, Winkler asked to take the artist's photo and interview them about their paintings. "I made a promise I would do this and go back and visit and bring the messages," she said.
****************************************************************
Bangladesh, Myanmar Start Talks On Trade Expansion
October 5, 2009 11:06 a.m. EST
Siddique Islam - AHN Correspondent
Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Two-day-long expert-level talks on expansion of bilateral trade by establishing direct banking arrangements between Bangladesh and Myanmar began in the capital here on Monday, officials told AHN Media.
During the meeting, a four-member team headed by Manng Manng, a director with the central bank of Myanmar, met with officials of five local commercial banks to discuss establishing direct banking relations between the two countries.
Strengthening bilateral banking transactions under the existing Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism also was discussed, the officials and bankers said.
Khandakar Muzharul Haque,�senior executive director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), inaugurated the meeting at the conference room of the central bank.
The final round of talks will be held on Tuesday with BB officials.
"We expect that establishing direct letter of credit (LC) relationships between the two countries would be possible," Shamsul Alam, deputy managing director of the National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank, said after the meeting.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier selected five commercial banks, including a foreign bank, to meet the technical team to find ways to strengthen bilateral banking transactions between the two countries, officials said.
Selected five banks Sonali Bank Limited, Janata Bank Limited, AB Bank Limited, NCC Bank Limited and Standard Chartered Bank
Currently, payments for foreign trade are settled between the two countries through a third country such as Singapore.
Bangladeshi importers now settle payments for bulk exports through bank drafts issued by foreign banks in a third country. An importer is entitled to get bank draft against import worth $10,000 to $20,000 at a time under the existing border trade arrangement.
October 5, 2009 11:06 a.m. EST
Siddique Islam - AHN Correspondent
Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Two-day-long expert-level talks on expansion of bilateral trade by establishing direct banking arrangements between Bangladesh and Myanmar began in the capital here on Monday, officials told AHN Media.
During the meeting, a four-member team headed by Manng Manng, a director with the central bank of Myanmar, met with officials of five local commercial banks to discuss establishing direct banking relations between the two countries.
Strengthening bilateral banking transactions under the existing Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism also was discussed, the officials and bankers said.
Khandakar Muzharul Haque,�senior executive director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), inaugurated the meeting at the conference room of the central bank.
The final round of talks will be held on Tuesday with BB officials.
"We expect that establishing direct letter of credit (LC) relationships between the two countries would be possible," Shamsul Alam, deputy managing director of the National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank, said after the meeting.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier selected five commercial banks, including a foreign bank, to meet the technical team to find ways to strengthen bilateral banking transactions between the two countries, officials said.
Selected five banks Sonali Bank Limited, Janata Bank Limited, AB Bank Limited, NCC Bank Limited and Standard Chartered Bank
Currently, payments for foreign trade are settled between the two countries through a third country such as Singapore.
Bangladeshi importers now settle payments for bulk exports through bank drafts issued by foreign banks in a third country. An importer is entitled to get bank draft against import worth $10,000 to $20,000 at a time under the existing border trade arrangement.
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Global Security Newswire Myanmar Claims No Nuclear Ill-Intent
Monday, Oct. 5, 2009
Myanmar on Saturday again addressed concerns that it is attempting to join the cadre of nuclear-armed nations, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 24).
The country, still widely known as Burma, has already signed a deal with Russia for construction of a civilian research reactor, and hopes to continue receiving Moscow's support for nuclear-energy operations.
However, U.S. officials and others have also expressed worries that North Korea is aiding Myanmar's effort to build underground nuclear facilities that could be intended to produce weapons materials. Claims from two defectors have added to those fears, though a number of analysts have expressed skepticism about the assertions and said there is little proof that Myanmar wants to develop nuclear weapons.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win "told Japan's foreign minister that Myanmar has no intention to have a nuclear weapon," Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said Saturday.
"Myanmar has conducted a consultation to have assistance from Russia for a peaceful use of nuclear energy," he added.
There was no immediate word on whether the two top diplomats talked about reports of Myanmar's reported nuclear collaboration with Pyongyang, Reuters reported (Ek Madra, Reuters, Oct. 3).
Monday, Oct. 5, 2009
Myanmar on Saturday again addressed concerns that it is attempting to join the cadre of nuclear-armed nations, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 24).
The country, still widely known as Burma, has already signed a deal with Russia for construction of a civilian research reactor, and hopes to continue receiving Moscow's support for nuclear-energy operations.
However, U.S. officials and others have also expressed worries that North Korea is aiding Myanmar's effort to build underground nuclear facilities that could be intended to produce weapons materials. Claims from two defectors have added to those fears, though a number of analysts have expressed skepticism about the assertions and said there is little proof that Myanmar wants to develop nuclear weapons.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win "told Japan's foreign minister that Myanmar has no intention to have a nuclear weapon," Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said Saturday.
"Myanmar has conducted a consultation to have assistance from Russia for a peaceful use of nuclear energy," he added.
There was no immediate word on whether the two top diplomats talked about reports of Myanmar's reported nuclear collaboration with Pyongyang, Reuters reported (Ek Madra, Reuters, Oct. 3).
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Washington Post - Myanmar-American to get Suu Kyi lawyers
The Associated Press
Saturday, October 3, 2009; 8:45 AM
YANGON, Myanmar -- Two lawyers for detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have agreed to defend a Myanmar-born American jailed for allegedly planning to incite unrest in the military-run country, the lawyers said Saturday.
Attorney Nyan Win said he and fellow lawyer Kyi Win were approached by the U.S. Embassy to represent Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who has been in prison since being arrested Sept. 3 on arrival at Yangon airport.
"We have accepted the offer," said Nyan Win, adding that the Foreign Ministry needed to confirm their appointment.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Mei said he was unable to comment.
Dissident groups reported Kyaw Zaw Lwin's disappearance, but his whereabouts were unknown until he was allowed a U.S. consular visit Sept. 20 at Myanmar's Insein Prison.
According to dissident groups, Kyaw Zaw Lwin is a resident of Maryland in the U.S.
Several days after the consular visit, the embassy said it had made a formal complaint to Myanmar's military government based on claims by Kyaw Zaw Lwin that he was mistreated in prison.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International has said that "trusted sources" reported he had suffered torture that included beatings and kicking and that he was deprived of food for seven days.
Myanmar authorities accuse Kyaw Zaw Lwin of entering Myanmar to stir up protests by Buddhist monks, who earlier spearheaded pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 that were brutally suppressed by the junta. State radio and television say he confessed to plotting with dissident groups outside the country, and accused him of links to several activists inside Myanmar who planned to set off bombs.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin's mother is serving a five-year jail term for political activities and his sister was sentenced to 65 years in prison for her role in the 2007 pro-democracy protests, activist groups and family members said.
Lawyers Nyan Win and Kyi Win led the legal team that defended Suu Kyi in a recent high-profile trial that resulted in an extension of her house arrest. She is currently serving an 18-month sentence after previously spending 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
The Associated Press
Saturday, October 3, 2009; 8:45 AM
YANGON, Myanmar -- Two lawyers for detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have agreed to defend a Myanmar-born American jailed for allegedly planning to incite unrest in the military-run country, the lawyers said Saturday.
Attorney Nyan Win said he and fellow lawyer Kyi Win were approached by the U.S. Embassy to represent Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who has been in prison since being arrested Sept. 3 on arrival at Yangon airport.
"We have accepted the offer," said Nyan Win, adding that the Foreign Ministry needed to confirm their appointment.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Mei said he was unable to comment.
Dissident groups reported Kyaw Zaw Lwin's disappearance, but his whereabouts were unknown until he was allowed a U.S. consular visit Sept. 20 at Myanmar's Insein Prison.
According to dissident groups, Kyaw Zaw Lwin is a resident of Maryland in the U.S.
Several days after the consular visit, the embassy said it had made a formal complaint to Myanmar's military government based on claims by Kyaw Zaw Lwin that he was mistreated in prison.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International has said that "trusted sources" reported he had suffered torture that included beatings and kicking and that he was deprived of food for seven days.
Myanmar authorities accuse Kyaw Zaw Lwin of entering Myanmar to stir up protests by Buddhist monks, who earlier spearheaded pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 that were brutally suppressed by the junta. State radio and television say he confessed to plotting with dissident groups outside the country, and accused him of links to several activists inside Myanmar who planned to set off bombs.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin's mother is serving a five-year jail term for political activities and his sister was sentenced to 65 years in prison for her role in the 2007 pro-democracy protests, activist groups and family members said.
Lawyers Nyan Win and Kyi Win led the legal team that defended Suu Kyi in a recent high-profile trial that resulted in an extension of her house arrest. She is currently serving an 18-month sentence after previously spending 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
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