Myanmar's Suu Kyi supports US policy of engagement
Sat Oct 31, 8:29 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is aware of an upcoming visit by two American officials and supports the new U.S. policy of engaging with Myanmar's military rulers, her lawyer said Saturday.
Myanmar, meanwhile, has arrested about a dozen local journalists and documentary filmmakers over the past two weeks, relatives of those detained said Saturday, asking not to be identified for fear of retribution.
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and a deputy will be in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for a two-day visit beginning Tuesday and are scheduled to meet with the government and the opposition, including Suu Kyi.
The trip is part of a new U.S. policy that reverses the Bush administration's shunning of Myanmar in favor of direct, high-level talks with a country that has been ruled by the military since 1962. Campbell will be continuing talks he began in September in New York with senior Myanmar officials, the first such high-level contact in nearly a decade.
"We told Daw Aung San Suu Kyi about the visit of the U.S. officials and she is aware of the visit," said Suu Kyi's party spokesman and lawyer, Nyan Win, who met with her Thursday. "Since the U.S. diplomats are meeting both the government and opposition members, things are happening as she had wanted."
Nyan Win said the U.S. Embassy in Yangon was making arrangements with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy for the visiting U.S. officials to meet with party leaders.
Supporters of engagement argue that isolating the country has limited U.S. influence among Myanmar's citizens and allowed China to establish a strong business and diplomatic foothold. Campbell says engaging Myanmar will enable the United States to learn more about the intentions of the leaders of a country it knows even less about than North Korea.
Critics say high-level U.S. attention validates a junta that has killed and abused its people for speaking out in opposition. The country is believed to hold more than 2,200 political detainees, according to human rights groups.
Security in Myanmar has been tight since September, which marked the two-year anniversary of massive pro-democracy demonstrations crushed by the junta. Nyan Win said the government has detained scores of activists.
The latest arrests, all made in Yangon, were journalists and bloggers. Among them were documentary filmmakers Aung Ko Ko and Myo Min Khin as well as freelance journalist Paing Soe Oo and the editor of the local journal, Foreign Affairs, Thant Zin Soe, according to friends and relatives who refused to be identified.
None of those interviewed said they knew why the journalists were detained nor where they are being held.
Washington has said it will maintain its tough political and economic sanctions against the regime. The U.S. 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.
Elections are scheduled for next year, but Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, will not be able to take part. In August, she was convicted and sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest for briefly sheltering an uninvited American man at her home.
The sentence drew international condemnation.
Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention.
Sat Oct 31, 8:29 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is aware of an upcoming visit by two American officials and supports the new U.S. policy of engaging with Myanmar's military rulers, her lawyer said Saturday.
Myanmar, meanwhile, has arrested about a dozen local journalists and documentary filmmakers over the past two weeks, relatives of those detained said Saturday, asking not to be identified for fear of retribution.
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and a deputy will be in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for a two-day visit beginning Tuesday and are scheduled to meet with the government and the opposition, including Suu Kyi.
The trip is part of a new U.S. policy that reverses the Bush administration's shunning of Myanmar in favor of direct, high-level talks with a country that has been ruled by the military since 1962. Campbell will be continuing talks he began in September in New York with senior Myanmar officials, the first such high-level contact in nearly a decade.
"We told Daw Aung San Suu Kyi about the visit of the U.S. officials and she is aware of the visit," said Suu Kyi's party spokesman and lawyer, Nyan Win, who met with her Thursday. "Since the U.S. diplomats are meeting both the government and opposition members, things are happening as she had wanted."
Nyan Win said the U.S. Embassy in Yangon was making arrangements with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy for the visiting U.S. officials to meet with party leaders.
Supporters of engagement argue that isolating the country has limited U.S. influence among Myanmar's citizens and allowed China to establish a strong business and diplomatic foothold. Campbell says engaging Myanmar will enable the United States to learn more about the intentions of the leaders of a country it knows even less about than North Korea.
Critics say high-level U.S. attention validates a junta that has killed and abused its people for speaking out in opposition. The country is believed to hold more than 2,200 political detainees, according to human rights groups.
Security in Myanmar has been tight since September, which marked the two-year anniversary of massive pro-democracy demonstrations crushed by the junta. Nyan Win said the government has detained scores of activists.
The latest arrests, all made in Yangon, were journalists and bloggers. Among them were documentary filmmakers Aung Ko Ko and Myo Min Khin as well as freelance journalist Paing Soe Oo and the editor of the local journal, Foreign Affairs, Thant Zin Soe, according to friends and relatives who refused to be identified.
None of those interviewed said they knew why the journalists were detained nor where they are being held.
Washington has said it will maintain its tough political and economic sanctions against the regime. The U.S. 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.
Elections are scheduled for next year, but Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, will not be able to take part. In August, she was convicted and sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest for briefly sheltering an uninvited American man at her home.
The sentence drew international condemnation.
Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention.
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US officials hold talks in Myanmar in policy shift
AP - Wednesday, November 4
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – The United States began a new policy of engagement with Myanmar's ruling military junta on Tuesday, sending two senior diplomats for the highest-level visit in more than a decade.
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, and his deputy, Scot Marciel, held talks with junta officials and also were to meet detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, embassy spokesman Richard Mei said.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years.
The Obama administration has reversed the Bush administration's isolation of Myanmar in favor of direct, high-level talks with a country that has been ruled by the military since 1962.
"Mr. Campbell's visit is the beginning of a new U.S. engagement policy toward Myanmar. This is the first step of the engagement but we have to see what comes out of the new engagement policy," said Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
Campbell is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Myanmar since a September 1995 trip by then-U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright.
The American diplomats flew Tuesday from neighboring Thailand to Myanmar's administrative capital of Naypyitaw in a U.S. Air Force plane, Mei said. He said Campbell was continuing talks he began in September in New York with senior Myanmar officials, which were the first such high-level contact in nearly a decade.
Evening news broadcasts on Myanmar's state television did not mention the two-day visit.
Myanmar government officials said Campbell would meet Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein early Wednesday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists, said Campbell held talks with several Cabinet ministers and other officials Tuesday.
Nyan Win said Campbell would meet with Suu Kyi in Yangon on Wednesday and then hold talks with other NLD leaders at the party headquarters.
Suu Kyi was recently sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest for briefly sheltering an uninvited American, in a trial that drew global condemnation. She is one of an estimated 2,100 detained political prisoners.
The United States has long imposed tough political and economic sanctions meant to force Myanmar's generals to respect human rights, release imprisoned political activists and make democratic reforms.
Washington has said it will maintain the sanctions until talks with Myanmar's generals result in change.
Campbell said last month if Myanmar doesn't address U.S. worries, "we will reserve the option of tightening sanctions on the regime and its supporters as appropriate."
AP - Wednesday, November 4
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – The United States began a new policy of engagement with Myanmar's ruling military junta on Tuesday, sending two senior diplomats for the highest-level visit in more than a decade.
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, and his deputy, Scot Marciel, held talks with junta officials and also were to meet detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, embassy spokesman Richard Mei said.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years.
The Obama administration has reversed the Bush administration's isolation of Myanmar in favor of direct, high-level talks with a country that has been ruled by the military since 1962.
"Mr. Campbell's visit is the beginning of a new U.S. engagement policy toward Myanmar. This is the first step of the engagement but we have to see what comes out of the new engagement policy," said Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
Campbell is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Myanmar since a September 1995 trip by then-U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright.
The American diplomats flew Tuesday from neighboring Thailand to Myanmar's administrative capital of Naypyitaw in a U.S. Air Force plane, Mei said. He said Campbell was continuing talks he began in September in New York with senior Myanmar officials, which were the first such high-level contact in nearly a decade.
Evening news broadcasts on Myanmar's state television did not mention the two-day visit.
Myanmar government officials said Campbell would meet Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein early Wednesday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists, said Campbell held talks with several Cabinet ministers and other officials Tuesday.
Nyan Win said Campbell would meet with Suu Kyi in Yangon on Wednesday and then hold talks with other NLD leaders at the party headquarters.
Suu Kyi was recently sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest for briefly sheltering an uninvited American, in a trial that drew global condemnation. She is one of an estimated 2,100 detained political prisoners.
The United States has long imposed tough political and economic sanctions meant to force Myanmar's generals to respect human rights, release imprisoned political activists and make democratic reforms.
Washington has said it will maintain the sanctions until talks with Myanmar's generals result in change.
Campbell said last month if Myanmar doesn't address U.S. worries, "we will reserve the option of tightening sanctions on the regime and its supporters as appropriate."
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China oil company starts work on Myanmar pipeline
Chinese oil company says work has begun on Myanmar pipeline from Indian Ocean port
By Joe Mcdonald, AP Business Writer
On 4:36 am EST, Tuesday November 3, 2009
BEIJING (AP) -- State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday it has begun construction of a pipeline across neighboring Myanmar to speed delivery of Middle East oil shipped through the Indian Ocean.
Construction of the 771 kilometer (481 mile) pipeline comes as China boosts investment in Myanmar and tries to gain greater access to foreign oil and gas supplies to fuel its booming economy.
The pipeline will connect Myanmar's port of Maday Island on the Indian Ocean via Mandalay in central Myanmar to Ruili in China's southwestern province of Yunnan, CNPC said on its Web site. It gave no indication when the pipeline would be ready for use but said it will be capable of carrying 84 million barrels of oil per year.
The pipeline would speed delivery of Middle East oil to China and eliminate the need for tankers to pass through the crowded Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.
China is Myanmar's biggest foreign investor and the closest ally of its military regime, which is shunned by the West because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Critics complain that oil and gas projects in Myanmar are helping to keep the military in power and could harm the environment and local residents.
"Past experience has shown that pipeline construction and maintenance in Burma involves forced labor, forced relocation, land confiscations and a host of abuses by soldiers," said a group based in Thailand, the Shwe Gas Movement, in a report this year.
CNPC owns PetroChina Ltd., Asia's biggest oil and gas producer by volume.
CNPC and another Chinese state-owned oil producer, China National Offshore Oil Co., have exploration projects in Myanmar and are expected to be key customers for natural gas from a newly developed offshore field.
China also has built an oil pipeline connecting its northwest with fields in Kazakhstan in Central Asia and is constructing another pipeline to obtain crude from Russian fields in Siberia.
Chinese oil company says work has begun on Myanmar pipeline from Indian Ocean port
By Joe Mcdonald, AP Business Writer
On 4:36 am EST, Tuesday November 3, 2009
BEIJING (AP) -- State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday it has begun construction of a pipeline across neighboring Myanmar to speed delivery of Middle East oil shipped through the Indian Ocean.
Construction of the 771 kilometer (481 mile) pipeline comes as China boosts investment in Myanmar and tries to gain greater access to foreign oil and gas supplies to fuel its booming economy.
The pipeline will connect Myanmar's port of Maday Island on the Indian Ocean via Mandalay in central Myanmar to Ruili in China's southwestern province of Yunnan, CNPC said on its Web site. It gave no indication when the pipeline would be ready for use but said it will be capable of carrying 84 million barrels of oil per year.
The pipeline would speed delivery of Middle East oil to China and eliminate the need for tankers to pass through the crowded Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.
China is Myanmar's biggest foreign investor and the closest ally of its military regime, which is shunned by the West because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Critics complain that oil and gas projects in Myanmar are helping to keep the military in power and could harm the environment and local residents.
"Past experience has shown that pipeline construction and maintenance in Burma involves forced labor, forced relocation, land confiscations and a host of abuses by soldiers," said a group based in Thailand, the Shwe Gas Movement, in a report this year.
CNPC owns PetroChina Ltd., Asia's biggest oil and gas producer by volume.
CNPC and another Chinese state-owned oil producer, China National Offshore Oil Co., have exploration projects in Myanmar and are expected to be key customers for natural gas from a newly developed offshore field.
China also has built an oil pipeline connecting its northwest with fields in Kazakhstan in Central Asia and is constructing another pipeline to obtain crude from Russian fields in Siberia.
****************************************************************
US envoys arrive in Myanmar
Mon Nov 2, 11:20 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – Two senior US envoys arrived in Myanmar Tuesday for rare talks with the ruling junta and detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, a US embassy official told AFP.
The event is the most high profile American visit to the country in 14 years.
The visit by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel is the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage the military regime.
The US pair are unlikely to see the reclusive chief of the junta, Than Shwe, but will instead meet Prime Minister Thein Sein in the remote jungle capital of Naypyidaw on Tuesday, Myanmar officials said.
They are set to travel to Yangon on Wednesday to meet Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, whose plight sparked international outrage earlier this year when her house arrest was extended by 18 months, they said.
Campbell is the highest ranking US official to travel to Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- since Madeleine Albright went as US ambassador to the United Nations in 1995 under the administration of President Bill Clinton.
"We see this visit as the start of direct engagement between the US and Myanmar government," Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD), told AFP.
"But we do not expect the exact and big change from this meeting. This visit is just a first stage."
He said the NLD had been told that the US envoys would meet the party's central executive committee at their headquarters on Wednesday and would meet Suu Kyi the same day.
The Obama administration recently shifted US policy because its longstanding approach of isolating Myanmar had failed to bear fruit, but has said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
The junta extended Suu Kyi's house arrest after she was convicted in August over an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house but critics say the charges were trumped up to keep her off the scene for elections in 2010.
The visit by Campbell and Marciel is a follow-up to discussions in New York in September between US and Myanmar officials, which marked the highest-level American contact with the regime in nearly a decade.
In August, Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with visiting US senator Jim Webb, a leading advocate of engaging the junta. The visit also secured the release of John Yettaw -- the American swimmer in the Suu Kyi case.
Thein Sein told Asian leaders at a summit in Thailand last month that the junta sees a role for Suu Kyi in fostering reconciliation ahead of the promised elections but it was not clear what form this would take.
The charge d?affaires at the US embassy in Yangon, Larry Dinger, said in an interview with the semi-official Myanmar Times newspaper published this week that Washington wanted to make progress on "important issues" but would maintain sanctions "until concrete progress is made".
A foreign diplomat in Yangon said the visit was "important but at the same time without immediate consequence".
"It is necessary to be cautious. Everyone knows there is a risk of relations going cold again in two months," the diplomat said.
The NLD won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 by a landslide, which the junta refused to acknowledge, and has since faced a campaign of oppression.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention. But last month the generals granted her two rare meetings with a junta minister and allowed her to see Western diplomats.
The talks followed a letter she wrote to Than Shwe in late September, offering her co-operation in getting Western sanctions lifted after years of favoring harsh measures against the ruling generals.
Mon Nov 2, 11:20 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – Two senior US envoys arrived in Myanmar Tuesday for rare talks with the ruling junta and detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, a US embassy official told AFP.
The event is the most high profile American visit to the country in 14 years.
The visit by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel is the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage the military regime.
The US pair are unlikely to see the reclusive chief of the junta, Than Shwe, but will instead meet Prime Minister Thein Sein in the remote jungle capital of Naypyidaw on Tuesday, Myanmar officials said.
They are set to travel to Yangon on Wednesday to meet Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, whose plight sparked international outrage earlier this year when her house arrest was extended by 18 months, they said.
Campbell is the highest ranking US official to travel to Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- since Madeleine Albright went as US ambassador to the United Nations in 1995 under the administration of President Bill Clinton.
"We see this visit as the start of direct engagement between the US and Myanmar government," Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD), told AFP.
"But we do not expect the exact and big change from this meeting. This visit is just a first stage."
He said the NLD had been told that the US envoys would meet the party's central executive committee at their headquarters on Wednesday and would meet Suu Kyi the same day.
The Obama administration recently shifted US policy because its longstanding approach of isolating Myanmar had failed to bear fruit, but has said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
The junta extended Suu Kyi's house arrest after she was convicted in August over an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house but critics say the charges were trumped up to keep her off the scene for elections in 2010.
The visit by Campbell and Marciel is a follow-up to discussions in New York in September between US and Myanmar officials, which marked the highest-level American contact with the regime in nearly a decade.
In August, Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with visiting US senator Jim Webb, a leading advocate of engaging the junta. The visit also secured the release of John Yettaw -- the American swimmer in the Suu Kyi case.
Thein Sein told Asian leaders at a summit in Thailand last month that the junta sees a role for Suu Kyi in fostering reconciliation ahead of the promised elections but it was not clear what form this would take.
The charge d?affaires at the US embassy in Yangon, Larry Dinger, said in an interview with the semi-official Myanmar Times newspaper published this week that Washington wanted to make progress on "important issues" but would maintain sanctions "until concrete progress is made".
A foreign diplomat in Yangon said the visit was "important but at the same time without immediate consequence".
"It is necessary to be cautious. Everyone knows there is a risk of relations going cold again in two months," the diplomat said.
The NLD won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 by a landslide, which the junta refused to acknowledge, and has since faced a campaign of oppression.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention. But last month the generals granted her two rare meetings with a junta minister and allowed her to see Western diplomats.
The talks followed a letter she wrote to Than Shwe in late September, offering her co-operation in getting Western sanctions lifted after years of favoring harsh measures against the ruling generals.
****************************************************************
US envoys hold rare talks with Myanmar junta
by Hla Hla Htay – Tue Nov 3, 6:14 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Two top US envoys began talks with Myanmar's ruling generals Tuesday and were set to meet democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they made the highest level visit to the military-ruled nation in 14 years.
The trip by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel is the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage Myanmar's reclusive junta.
The American officials touched down in the remote administrative capital Naypyidaw on a US Air Force plane from Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand, US embassy spokesman Richard Mei said.
"They are due to meet with senior government officials today. Tomorrow they will be in Yangon and meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders," Mei told AFP.
Myanmar officials said Campbell met Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsann and local organisations including the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association on Tuesday.
The US delegation would hold talks with Prime Minister Thein Sein on Wednesday morning but was unlikely to meet junta chief Senior General Than Shwe during the two-day trip, they said.
Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi had her house arrest extended by another 18 months in August, prompting an international outcry. She has spent most of the last two decades in detention.
Campbell is the highest ranking US official to travel to Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- since Madeleine Albright went as US ambassador to the United Nations in 1995 under the administration of President Bill Clinton.
"We see this visit as the start of direct engagement between the US and Myanmar government," Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD), told AFP.
The spokesman said he was not expecting a "big change" from the talks, adding: "This visit is just a first stage."
The Obama administration recently shifted US policy because its longstanding approach of isolating Myanmar had failed to bear fruit, but Washington has said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
Suu Kyi will be discussed when Obama meets Southeast Asian leaders in Singapore later this month, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Tuesday, adding that Thein Sein was expected to attend.
Lee said the inaugural US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on November 15 was a "significant step forward" in relations between Washington and ASEAN.
The Southeast Asian bloc favours engagement but has been accused of going soft on Myanmar's generals.
The junta extended Suu Kyi's house arrest after she was convicted in August over an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house, but critics say the charges were trumped up to keep her out of elections in 2010.
The visit by Campbell and Marciel is a follow-up to discussions in New York in September between US and Myanmar officials, the highest-level US contact with the regime in nearly a decade.
In August, junta chief Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with doveish visiting US senator Jim Webb. The visit also secured the release of John Yettaw -- the American swimmer in the Suu Kyi case.
Thein Sein told Asian leaders at a summit in Thailand last month that the junta sees a role for the 64-year-old Suu Kyi in fostering reconciliation ahead of the promised elections and could ease restrictions on her.
A Western diplomat in Yangon said Campbell's visit was "important but at the same time without immediate consequence".
The NLD won Myanmar's last elections, in 1990, by a landslide, which the junta refused to acknowledge. The US toughened sanctions on Myanmar after the regime cracked down on protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007.
by Hla Hla Htay – Tue Nov 3, 6:14 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Two top US envoys began talks with Myanmar's ruling generals Tuesday and were set to meet democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they made the highest level visit to the military-ruled nation in 14 years.
The trip by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel is the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage Myanmar's reclusive junta.
The American officials touched down in the remote administrative capital Naypyidaw on a US Air Force plane from Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand, US embassy spokesman Richard Mei said.
"They are due to meet with senior government officials today. Tomorrow they will be in Yangon and meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders," Mei told AFP.
Myanmar officials said Campbell met Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsann and local organisations including the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association on Tuesday.
The US delegation would hold talks with Prime Minister Thein Sein on Wednesday morning but was unlikely to meet junta chief Senior General Than Shwe during the two-day trip, they said.
Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi had her house arrest extended by another 18 months in August, prompting an international outcry. She has spent most of the last two decades in detention.
Campbell is the highest ranking US official to travel to Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- since Madeleine Albright went as US ambassador to the United Nations in 1995 under the administration of President Bill Clinton.
"We see this visit as the start of direct engagement between the US and Myanmar government," Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD), told AFP.
The spokesman said he was not expecting a "big change" from the talks, adding: "This visit is just a first stage."
The Obama administration recently shifted US policy because its longstanding approach of isolating Myanmar had failed to bear fruit, but Washington has said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
Suu Kyi will be discussed when Obama meets Southeast Asian leaders in Singapore later this month, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Tuesday, adding that Thein Sein was expected to attend.
Lee said the inaugural US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on November 15 was a "significant step forward" in relations between Washington and ASEAN.
The Southeast Asian bloc favours engagement but has been accused of going soft on Myanmar's generals.
The junta extended Suu Kyi's house arrest after she was convicted in August over an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house, but critics say the charges were trumped up to keep her out of elections in 2010.
The visit by Campbell and Marciel is a follow-up to discussions in New York in September between US and Myanmar officials, the highest-level US contact with the regime in nearly a decade.
In August, junta chief Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with doveish visiting US senator Jim Webb. The visit also secured the release of John Yettaw -- the American swimmer in the Suu Kyi case.
Thein Sein told Asian leaders at a summit in Thailand last month that the junta sees a role for the 64-year-old Suu Kyi in fostering reconciliation ahead of the promised elections and could ease restrictions on her.
A Western diplomat in Yangon said Campbell's visit was "important but at the same time without immediate consequence".
The NLD won Myanmar's last elections, in 1990, by a landslide, which the junta refused to acknowledge. The US toughened sanctions on Myanmar after the regime cracked down on protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007.
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US envoys in Myanmar 'unlikely to meet junta chief'
Sun Nov 1, 7:05 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Two senior US envoys travelling to military-ruled Myanmar this week will meet detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi but are unlikely to see the reclusive junta chief, an official said Sunday.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel are planning the visit in the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage the regime.
They will go to the remote administrative capital of Naypyidaw on Tuesday and meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, a Myanmar official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
This is the highest level government member the pair will meet, the official said, suggesting that they will not be granted talks with regime leader Than Shwe.
They will travel to Yangon Wednesday to meet Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) before departing the country, the official added.
The visit is a follow-up to discussions in New York in September between US and Myanmar officials, which marked the highest-level American contact with the regime in nearly a decade.
The Obama administration shifted its policy because its longstanding approach of isolating Myanmar had failed to bear fruit, but said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
In August, Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with a visiting US senator, Jim Webb, a leading advocate of engaging the junta.
But if, as the official's comments suggest, Than Shwe does not want to meet the US delegation this week, he may leave the capital during their visit, said activist and scholar Win Min in northern Thailand.
"He doesn't want to make significant concessions even though he wants to get the US to lift sanctions," Win Min said, noting that the leader avoided a request to meet UN special envoy Razali Ismail in 2003 by visiting the west coast and leaving the then premier to see the envoy.
A State Department official, Stephen Blake, quietly visited Myanmar in March to hold talks with both junta members and the opposition. It was the first trip by a US envoy to the country in more than seven years.
Campbell told a congressional panel last month that the dialogue would "supplement rather than replace" the sanctions regime.
The chief US diplomat for Asia acknowledged that the talks, which aim to press for democratic reform in Myanmar ahead of elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010, would be neither simple nor straightforward.
Thein Sein told Asian leaders at a summit in Thailand last weekend that the junta sees a role for Suu Kyi in fostering reconciliation ahead of the elections, but it was not clear what form this would take.
The 64-year-old Nobel peace laureate has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, and in August was placed under a further 18 months' house arrest, effectively barring her from taking part in the polls.
But last month the generals granted her two rare meetings with Labour Minister Aung Kyi, the official liaison between her and the junta, and a meeting with Western
diplomats.
The talks followed a letter she wrote to Than Shwe in late September, offering her co-operation in getting Western sanctions lifted, after years of favoring harsh measures against the generals.
Suu Kyi's NLD party won the last elections in 1990 by a landslide, which the junta refused to acknowledge.
Sun Nov 1, 7:05 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Two senior US envoys travelling to military-ruled Myanmar this week will meet detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi but are unlikely to see the reclusive junta chief, an official said Sunday.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel are planning the visit in the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage the regime.
They will go to the remote administrative capital of Naypyidaw on Tuesday and meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, a Myanmar official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
This is the highest level government member the pair will meet, the official said, suggesting that they will not be granted talks with regime leader Than Shwe.
They will travel to Yangon Wednesday to meet Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) before departing the country, the official added.
The visit is a follow-up to discussions in New York in September between US and Myanmar officials, which marked the highest-level American contact with the regime in nearly a decade.
The Obama administration shifted its policy because its longstanding approach of isolating Myanmar had failed to bear fruit, but said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
In August, Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with a visiting US senator, Jim Webb, a leading advocate of engaging the junta.
But if, as the official's comments suggest, Than Shwe does not want to meet the US delegation this week, he may leave the capital during their visit, said activist and scholar Win Min in northern Thailand.
"He doesn't want to make significant concessions even though he wants to get the US to lift sanctions," Win Min said, noting that the leader avoided a request to meet UN special envoy Razali Ismail in 2003 by visiting the west coast and leaving the then premier to see the envoy.
A State Department official, Stephen Blake, quietly visited Myanmar in March to hold talks with both junta members and the opposition. It was the first trip by a US envoy to the country in more than seven years.
Campbell told a congressional panel last month that the dialogue would "supplement rather than replace" the sanctions regime.
The chief US diplomat for Asia acknowledged that the talks, which aim to press for democratic reform in Myanmar ahead of elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010, would be neither simple nor straightforward.
Thein Sein told Asian leaders at a summit in Thailand last weekend that the junta sees a role for Suu Kyi in fostering reconciliation ahead of the elections, but it was not clear what form this would take.
The 64-year-old Nobel peace laureate has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, and in August was placed under a further 18 months' house arrest, effectively barring her from taking part in the polls.
But last month the generals granted her two rare meetings with Labour Minister Aung Kyi, the official liaison between her and the junta, and a meeting with Western
diplomats.
The talks followed a letter she wrote to Than Shwe in late September, offering her co-operation in getting Western sanctions lifted, after years of favoring harsh measures against the generals.
Suu Kyi's NLD party won the last elections in 1990 by a landslide, which the junta refused to acknowledge.
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Myanmar torches seized drugs: state media
Sun Nov 1, 2:57 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar's junta has burnt more than 20 million dollars worth of drugs seized during a recent campaign against ethnic rebel forces in the remote northeast by the Chinese border, state media said Sunday.
Prime Minister Thein Sein attended the torching ceremony Saturday in Kokang, a mainly ethnic Chinese region of Shan state, where clashes broke out between the regime and rebels in August, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
The report said the drugs were seized from 50 different hideouts in Laukkai, the region's main town, between August 11 and October 24, beginning with a raid by security forces on a factory owned by Kokang rebel leaders.
This sparked fighting with the Kokang group in breach of a 20-year-long ceasefire, which prompted an exodus of more than 30,000 refugees into China and earned Myanmar a rare rebuke from Beijing, usually its closest ally.
At Saturday's ceremony, Myanmar police chief Khin Yi accused ousted rebel leader Phone Kyar Shin, also known as Peng Jiasheng, and his associates of producing and trafficking drugs "freely and openly like a Mafia gang", the newspaper said.
Analysts say that while in the past the junta often tacitly assented to ethnic groups' involvement in the drugs trade, it is now using it as a pretext to put pressure on groups that do not want to join the Burmese security forces.
The regime recently stepped up its decades-long campaign against the minority groups because it wants them to come under its control ahead of the elections planned for 2010.
The junta has also vowed to make the country drug-free by 2014 by following a 15-year elimination plan drawn up in 1999, but Myanmar remains the world's second largest producer of opium after Afghanistan.
Khin Yi was quoted as saying at the burning ceremony that the authorities would make "every effort" to achieve the plan "with added momentum".
The US State Department said in September however that Myanmar, which has been military-ruled since 1962, had "failed" in its efforts to meet international anti-drug measures.
Two senior US officials will travel to Myanmar this week in the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage the reclusive regime.
Sun Nov 1, 2:57 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar's junta has burnt more than 20 million dollars worth of drugs seized during a recent campaign against ethnic rebel forces in the remote northeast by the Chinese border, state media said Sunday.
Prime Minister Thein Sein attended the torching ceremony Saturday in Kokang, a mainly ethnic Chinese region of Shan state, where clashes broke out between the regime and rebels in August, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
The report said the drugs were seized from 50 different hideouts in Laukkai, the region's main town, between August 11 and October 24, beginning with a raid by security forces on a factory owned by Kokang rebel leaders.
This sparked fighting with the Kokang group in breach of a 20-year-long ceasefire, which prompted an exodus of more than 30,000 refugees into China and earned Myanmar a rare rebuke from Beijing, usually its closest ally.
At Saturday's ceremony, Myanmar police chief Khin Yi accused ousted rebel leader Phone Kyar Shin, also known as Peng Jiasheng, and his associates of producing and trafficking drugs "freely and openly like a Mafia gang", the newspaper said.
Analysts say that while in the past the junta often tacitly assented to ethnic groups' involvement in the drugs trade, it is now using it as a pretext to put pressure on groups that do not want to join the Burmese security forces.
The regime recently stepped up its decades-long campaign against the minority groups because it wants them to come under its control ahead of the elections planned for 2010.
The junta has also vowed to make the country drug-free by 2014 by following a 15-year elimination plan drawn up in 1999, but Myanmar remains the world's second largest producer of opium after Afghanistan.
Khin Yi was quoted as saying at the burning ceremony that the authorities would make "every effort" to achieve the plan "with added momentum".
The US State Department said in September however that Myanmar, which has been military-ruled since 1962, had "failed" in its efforts to meet international anti-drug measures.
Two senior US officials will travel to Myanmar this week in the latest move by President Barack Obama's administration to engage the reclusive regime.
****************************************************************
SKorea shipbuilder wins Myanmar gas deal order
AFP - Monday, November 02
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder, said Monday it has won a 1.4 billion dollar deal to build an offshore gas platform in Myanmar.
It said it secured the order from Daewoo International, a South Korean trading company which is leading a consortium to develop the gasfield off Rakhine state near the border with Bangladesh.
Hyundai Heavy said it would build a platform capable of producing 500 million cubic feet of gas per day. Daewoo International plans to supply gas from the field by May 2013 to China.
The shipbuilder said an official contract would be signed in December after Myanmar?s approval.
Daewoo International in August announced investment of some 1.7 billion dollars to develop the gasfield as head of a consortium including state-run companies from India and South Korea.
Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, is under economic sanctions by the United States and Europe because of its human rights record and long-running detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened as neighbours such as China, India and Thailand spend billions of dollars for a share of its oil and gas reserves.
AFP - Monday, November 02
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder, said Monday it has won a 1.4 billion dollar deal to build an offshore gas platform in Myanmar.
It said it secured the order from Daewoo International, a South Korean trading company which is leading a consortium to develop the gasfield off Rakhine state near the border with Bangladesh.
Hyundai Heavy said it would build a platform capable of producing 500 million cubic feet of gas per day. Daewoo International plans to supply gas from the field by May 2013 to China.
The shipbuilder said an official contract would be signed in December after Myanmar?s approval.
Daewoo International in August announced investment of some 1.7 billion dollars to develop the gasfield as head of a consortium including state-run companies from India and South Korea.
Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, is under economic sanctions by the United States and Europe because of its human rights record and long-running detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened as neighbours such as China, India and Thailand spend billions of dollars for a share of its oil and gas reserves.
****************************************************************
Myanmar Rohingyas swap suppression for squalor
by Shafiq Alam – Mon Nov 2, 10:33 pm ET
KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh (AFP) – As one of Myanmar's ethnic Muslim Rohingya, 45-year-old Manjurul Islam endured a lifetime of oppression before he finally fled the country for a squalid refugee camp in Bangladesh.
Described by UN officials as one of the most persecuted minorities on earth, the Rohingya are not even recognised as citizens by the Myanmar junta. They have no legal right to own land and are forbidden from marrying or travelling without permission.
For Islam, decades of systematic discrimination came to a head six months ago, when he says his 18-year-old niece and another woman in his village were raped by soldiers.
Islam said he "foolishly" took the case to the chief of the local army camp.
"He listened and I thought we had made progress, but then they tied me and my friends up, beat us with leather belts and bamboo sticks and kicked our chests with their boots."
Rohingyas hail from Myanmar's Arakan state. Widespread abuse and exploitation have prompted hundreds of thousands to flee across the border to Bangladesh since the early 1990s.
Islam and his friends were released a few days later -- but only after his family paid a bribe.
Then a group of soldiers destroyed their village's shrimp farms -- their only source of income -- forcing Islam and his neighbours to make a decision they had seen so many make before them.
"In the night, we piled into a boat and crossed the river Naf into Bangladesh," he said.
According to Islam, more than 800 people fled his village over a two-week period in April, with some crossing into Bangladesh by boat and others walking across the forested, hilly border.
"My fifth child was born in the jungle under the open sky as we were fleeing," said Shamsun Nahar, 32, showing her six-month old baby. "Thanks Allah that both of us survived."
But survival brought with it fresh deprivation as Nahar and Islam joined an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas living in appalling conditions in a sprawling, refugee camp.
Only 28,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh have been granted official refugee status, allowing them access to three official camps which provide basic amenities.
The rest, like Nahar, are confined to the unofficial camp in Kutuplaong in conditions which even hardened aid workers find difficult to imagine.
"There is no water or power. Barring children and pregnant women, none have access to food or medicine. When it rains it's impossible to walk and the mud shacks became too muddy to even sleep in," said a worker with Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger, ACF).
Following EU pressure, the Bangladeshi government has since May this year allowed ACF and another French charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) limited access to the unofficial camp.
"Twenty five thousand Rohingyas are living in dire humanitarian conditions. It's extremely disturbing," said Paul Critchley, the MSF head of mission in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh says it is unable to cope with the continued influx of Rohingyas and the spread of the unofficial camp has stoked local tensions.
In July, police moved into the camp and destroyed several hundred makeshift dwellings in an operation condemned by MSF as "aggressive and abusive".
Despite the squalor and alienation, many Rohingya still feel they are better off here than back in Myanmar.
"Here at this camp there are days I don't have any food. But at least I can live freely," said Mamun Rafiq, a Rohingya farmer who migrated three years ago.
"In Myanmar if you are a Rohingya, you are entitled to a dog's life: They don't even allow us to wear clean shirts or travel outside our village."
Rights groups like the New York-based Human Rights Watch say they have gathered volumes of personal testimony to the abuses visited on the Rohingyas by the Myanmar authorities, including extra-judicial killings and forced labour.
"The Burmese government does not just deny Rohingya their basic rights, it denies they are even Burmese citizens," said Elaine Pearson, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch.
Mohammad Ali, a Rohingya and head of the Bangladesh-based Arakan Historical Society, said his community's plight began the day Myanmar, formerly Burma, gained independence.
"Our fathers fought hand in hand with the Burmese people to win freedom from Britain in 1948. But once Burma won independence, the new rulers thought it was their country not ours," Ali said.
Such was the experience of Ezhar Hossain, the son of a wealthy farmer who was elected as a lawmaker in Burma's second post-independence polls in 1956 when he was still in his early 20s.
"But my rivals alleged that I used the religion card in the elections. In February 1957, the authorities stripped me of my parliamentary membership," said Hossain, now 75.
When democratic rule ended in 1962 following a military coup by general Ne Win, Hossain, still a prominent Rohingya leader, was accused of being a foreigner and standing illegally for election.
"I did not wait for justice. I've seen how other leaders were hounded and jailed by the junta. I took a boat one night and fled," he said.
Hossain now lives in southern Bangladesh in a tin-shed shack with his son, a janitor at a college.
Hossain was lucky in one respect as he became a naturalised Bangladeshi when the country won independence in 1971.
For contemporary refugees like Islam and Nahar, the future offers a devil's alternative between life in the camp or a risky and illegal journey by boat to another Southeast Asian country.
Hundreds of Rohingya migrants were rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters between December and February after being abandoned at sea with few provisions by the Thai navy.
Scores are feared to have died as they drifted in rickety boats for weeks before reaching land.
by Shafiq Alam – Mon Nov 2, 10:33 pm ET
KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh (AFP) – As one of Myanmar's ethnic Muslim Rohingya, 45-year-old Manjurul Islam endured a lifetime of oppression before he finally fled the country for a squalid refugee camp in Bangladesh.
Described by UN officials as one of the most persecuted minorities on earth, the Rohingya are not even recognised as citizens by the Myanmar junta. They have no legal right to own land and are forbidden from marrying or travelling without permission.
For Islam, decades of systematic discrimination came to a head six months ago, when he says his 18-year-old niece and another woman in his village were raped by soldiers.
Islam said he "foolishly" took the case to the chief of the local army camp.
"He listened and I thought we had made progress, but then they tied me and my friends up, beat us with leather belts and bamboo sticks and kicked our chests with their boots."
Rohingyas hail from Myanmar's Arakan state. Widespread abuse and exploitation have prompted hundreds of thousands to flee across the border to Bangladesh since the early 1990s.
Islam and his friends were released a few days later -- but only after his family paid a bribe.
Then a group of soldiers destroyed their village's shrimp farms -- their only source of income -- forcing Islam and his neighbours to make a decision they had seen so many make before them.
"In the night, we piled into a boat and crossed the river Naf into Bangladesh," he said.
According to Islam, more than 800 people fled his village over a two-week period in April, with some crossing into Bangladesh by boat and others walking across the forested, hilly border.
"My fifth child was born in the jungle under the open sky as we were fleeing," said Shamsun Nahar, 32, showing her six-month old baby. "Thanks Allah that both of us survived."
But survival brought with it fresh deprivation as Nahar and Islam joined an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas living in appalling conditions in a sprawling, refugee camp.
Only 28,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh have been granted official refugee status, allowing them access to three official camps which provide basic amenities.
The rest, like Nahar, are confined to the unofficial camp in Kutuplaong in conditions which even hardened aid workers find difficult to imagine.
"There is no water or power. Barring children and pregnant women, none have access to food or medicine. When it rains it's impossible to walk and the mud shacks became too muddy to even sleep in," said a worker with Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger, ACF).
Following EU pressure, the Bangladeshi government has since May this year allowed ACF and another French charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) limited access to the unofficial camp.
"Twenty five thousand Rohingyas are living in dire humanitarian conditions. It's extremely disturbing," said Paul Critchley, the MSF head of mission in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh says it is unable to cope with the continued influx of Rohingyas and the spread of the unofficial camp has stoked local tensions.
In July, police moved into the camp and destroyed several hundred makeshift dwellings in an operation condemned by MSF as "aggressive and abusive".
Despite the squalor and alienation, many Rohingya still feel they are better off here than back in Myanmar.
"Here at this camp there are days I don't have any food. But at least I can live freely," said Mamun Rafiq, a Rohingya farmer who migrated three years ago.
"In Myanmar if you are a Rohingya, you are entitled to a dog's life: They don't even allow us to wear clean shirts or travel outside our village."
Rights groups like the New York-based Human Rights Watch say they have gathered volumes of personal testimony to the abuses visited on the Rohingyas by the Myanmar authorities, including extra-judicial killings and forced labour.
"The Burmese government does not just deny Rohingya their basic rights, it denies they are even Burmese citizens," said Elaine Pearson, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch.
Mohammad Ali, a Rohingya and head of the Bangladesh-based Arakan Historical Society, said his community's plight began the day Myanmar, formerly Burma, gained independence.
"Our fathers fought hand in hand with the Burmese people to win freedom from Britain in 1948. But once Burma won independence, the new rulers thought it was their country not ours," Ali said.
Such was the experience of Ezhar Hossain, the son of a wealthy farmer who was elected as a lawmaker in Burma's second post-independence polls in 1956 when he was still in his early 20s.
"But my rivals alleged that I used the religion card in the elections. In February 1957, the authorities stripped me of my parliamentary membership," said Hossain, now 75.
When democratic rule ended in 1962 following a military coup by general Ne Win, Hossain, still a prominent Rohingya leader, was accused of being a foreigner and standing illegally for election.
"I did not wait for justice. I've seen how other leaders were hounded and jailed by the junta. I took a boat one night and fled," he said.
Hossain now lives in southern Bangladesh in a tin-shed shack with his son, a janitor at a college.
Hossain was lucky in one respect as he became a naturalised Bangladeshi when the country won independence in 1971.
For contemporary refugees like Islam and Nahar, the future offers a devil's alternative between life in the camp or a risky and illegal journey by boat to another Southeast Asian country.
Hundreds of Rohingya migrants were rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters between December and February after being abandoned at sea with few provisions by the Thai navy.
Scores are feared to have died as they drifted in rickety boats for weeks before reaching land.
****************************************************************
ASEAN-US summit to discuss Suu Kyi: Singapore
2009-11-03 17:46
SINGAPORE, Nov 3 (AFP) - Detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be discussed when US President Barack Obama meets Southeast Asian leaders this month, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Tuesday.
Lee, who will host the US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on November 15, described the inaugural meeting as a "significant step forward" in relations between Washington and ASEAN.
The event marks the first time a US leader will be in one room with counterparts from all 10 ASEAN states. It will follow a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, also in the city-state.
Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein is expected to attend, Lee said.
Washington's ties with ASEAN had been hobbled by its position on Myanmar, whose military regime has been accused of human rights violations, including the continued detention of Suu Kyi and other dissidents.
But in a recent policy shift, the Obama administration decided to re-engage with Myanmar, while maintaining a critical view on certain issues.
Regarding "Aung San Suu Kyi, I think ASEAN's view is clear and we've always said that we believe she ought to be released," Lee said at a news conference ahead of the APEC meeting.
"I'm sure this will be discussed in the US-ASEAN summit too and I'm sure both sides will state their views."
Lee described the ASEAN-US summit as "a good sign because the US... is now moving to engage Myanmar and I think Myanmar is engaging."
He spoke as two senior US envoys arrived in Myanmar for talks with the ruling junta and Suu Kyi, the highest level visit to the country in 14 years.
"This is all to the good because our view has always been that ostracising Myanmar and cutting it off altogether is not the constructive way forward. It is unlikely to yield any results," Lee said.
Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi had her house arrest extended in August for 18 months after she was convicted over an incident in which an American man swam to her home.
This effectively sidelines her from elections planned for next year, analysts say.
Apart from Myanmar and Singapore, ASEAN also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
2009-11-03 17:46
SINGAPORE, Nov 3 (AFP) - Detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be discussed when US President Barack Obama meets Southeast Asian leaders this month, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Tuesday.
Lee, who will host the US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on November 15, described the inaugural meeting as a "significant step forward" in relations between Washington and ASEAN.
The event marks the first time a US leader will be in one room with counterparts from all 10 ASEAN states. It will follow a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, also in the city-state.
Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein is expected to attend, Lee said.
Washington's ties with ASEAN had been hobbled by its position on Myanmar, whose military regime has been accused of human rights violations, including the continued detention of Suu Kyi and other dissidents.
But in a recent policy shift, the Obama administration decided to re-engage with Myanmar, while maintaining a critical view on certain issues.
Regarding "Aung San Suu Kyi, I think ASEAN's view is clear and we've always said that we believe she ought to be released," Lee said at a news conference ahead of the APEC meeting.
"I'm sure this will be discussed in the US-ASEAN summit too and I'm sure both sides will state their views."
Lee described the ASEAN-US summit as "a good sign because the US... is now moving to engage Myanmar and I think Myanmar is engaging."
He spoke as two senior US envoys arrived in Myanmar for talks with the ruling junta and Suu Kyi, the highest level visit to the country in 14 years.
"This is all to the good because our view has always been that ostracising Myanmar and cutting it off altogether is not the constructive way forward. It is unlikely to yield any results," Lee said.
Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi had her house arrest extended in August for 18 months after she was convicted over an incident in which an American man swam to her home.
This effectively sidelines her from elections planned for next year, analysts say.
Apart from Myanmar and Singapore, ASEAN also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
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EarthTimes - US envoy to meet Aung San Suu Kyi on Myanmar trip - Summary
Posted : Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:34:33 GMT
Yangon - US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is scheduled to hold talks with Aung San Suu Kyi during a visit to Myanmar this week, but is unlikely to meet the junta chief, sources said Monday. Campbell and US Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel are scheduled to arrive in Myanmar's former capital of Yangon Tuesday morning and fly directly on to the military's new headquarters of Naypyitaw, government sources confirmed.
In Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, Campbell is to meet with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, Chief Justice Aung Toe and representatives of the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), the political arm of the junta. There was no meeting scheduled with military supremo Than Shwe, said sources who requested anonymity.
Campbell and Marciel are scheduled to return to Yangon Wednesday, where, they would meet Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi at 2 pm at her home-cum-prison near Inya Lake, military sources confirmed.
They also plan talks with leaders of the Suu Kyi' opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the Committee Representing People's Parliament and the pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP).
Marciel is to travel on to Thailand to participate in a public forum at Chulalongkorn University Thursday on US foreign policy towards Myanmar, and also brief Thai government officials.
Suu Kyi has welcomed Campbell's visit, seen as part of US President Barack Obama's diplomatic effort to engage with the pariah regime to encourage democratic reforms.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a 1990 general election by a landslide, but has been denied power by the military for the past 19 years - of which she has spent 13 years under house arrest.
Another election is planned in 2010, but the international community is not expected to accept its outcome unless Suu Kyi and some 2,100 other political prisoners are freed beforehand and the NLD is allowed to contest the polls.
Posted : Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:34:33 GMT
Yangon - US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is scheduled to hold talks with Aung San Suu Kyi during a visit to Myanmar this week, but is unlikely to meet the junta chief, sources said Monday. Campbell and US Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel are scheduled to arrive in Myanmar's former capital of Yangon Tuesday morning and fly directly on to the military's new headquarters of Naypyitaw, government sources confirmed.
In Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, Campbell is to meet with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, Chief Justice Aung Toe and representatives of the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), the political arm of the junta. There was no meeting scheduled with military supremo Than Shwe, said sources who requested anonymity.
Campbell and Marciel are scheduled to return to Yangon Wednesday, where, they would meet Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi at 2 pm at her home-cum-prison near Inya Lake, military sources confirmed.
They also plan talks with leaders of the Suu Kyi' opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the Committee Representing People's Parliament and the pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP).
Marciel is to travel on to Thailand to participate in a public forum at Chulalongkorn University Thursday on US foreign policy towards Myanmar, and also brief Thai government officials.
Suu Kyi has welcomed Campbell's visit, seen as part of US President Barack Obama's diplomatic effort to engage with the pariah regime to encourage democratic reforms.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a 1990 general election by a landslide, but has been denied power by the military for the past 19 years - of which she has spent 13 years under house arrest.
Another election is planned in 2010, but the international community is not expected to accept its outcome unless Suu Kyi and some 2,100 other political prisoners are freed beforehand and the NLD is allowed to contest the polls.
****************************************************************
Nov 4, 2009
Asia Times Online - Drugs, guns and war in Myanmar
By Brian McCartan
BANGKOK - Mounting tensions between Myanmar's military government and ethnic groups with which it has ceasefire agreements in the country's northern regions have spurred a surge in drug trafficking. Driven by militias' growing demand for weapons to counter anticipated government offensives, a narcotics fire-sale is raising concerns of greater instability along the borders of several neighboring countries, including China.
Myanmar's military regime has demanded that the insurgent groups with which it agreed ceasefires in the late 1980s and early 1990s hand over their arms to government control. A deadline set for the end of October has been allowed to pass and discussions between the military and two main ethnic armies, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (Eastern Shan State) (NDAA), are reportedly continuing.
Neither side appears willing to back down, prompting speculation that new fighting may be imminent. Under the government's proposed Border Guard Force plan, ethnic armies would be downsized into several battalions consisting of 326 men. Each would have a contingent of Myanmar army and non-commissioned officers and operate under the central command of the Myanmar Army. The junta has said it will provide weapons, equipment, uniforms and even salaries to the proposed units.
The generals have indicated that a handover of weapons, either through the border guard scheme or through forced surrender, is key to their plan to achieve national reconciliation by holding general elections next year. The political stakes for that plan are high. The junta has demonstrated a willingness to risk the ire of ally China through an assault in August on the Kokang ceasefire group, which caused a flood of refugees to stream across the border into neighboring China.
Both the Myanmar army and the Kokang have since reinforced their troops and appear to be preparing for further hostilities that security analysts predict could spill over into other insurgent-controlled territories. It's still unclear if Myanmar will risk its relations with Beijing by attacking the remaining and better armed ceasefire groups along the Myanmar-China border, a battle plan that has the potential to significantly destabilize southern China.
Under the government's plan, the ceasefire groups' political wings will be allowed to transform into political parties to contest the general elections. Ethnic leaders, however, say that handing over their armed forces to government control would entail relinquishing their bargaining power vis-a-vis a regime that frequently uses military force to press its demands. It would also mean handing over much of the apparatus that protects, produces and transports their narcotics trafficking operations.
Since a 1989 mutiny that broke up the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and spawned several ethnic armies in the north - including the UWSA, NDAA and the Kokang group - the drug trade has steadily expanded in the region. The military government has both permitted and profited from the groups' drug production and trafficking, despite official claims to lead an internationally assisted counter narcotics campaign and disingenuous pledges by several of the insurgent groups to be drug-free.
The ceasefire groups have plowed their profits into places such as Panghsang and Mong La along the Myanmar-China border, transforming them into boom towns. They have also invested in more legitimate businesses in central Myanmar, as well as in neighboring China and Thailand. For example, the UWSA's financial controller, Wei Xuegang, who is wanted for narcotics trafficking in the United States and Thailand, has built an extensive business empire in Myanmar around his Hong Pang Group.
Without firm autonomy agreements with the Myanmar government, a substantial portion of ceasefire groups' profits have gone towards the upkeep of their armies and the procurement of new weapons. According to security analysts, the UWSA has since its 1989 ceasefire agreement grown into the largest and best armed fighting force in Myanmar outside the government's army. The narco-trafficking militia consists of between 15,000 and 20,000 heavily armed foot soldiers.
Should negotiations over the border guard plan collapse and a renewed civil war break out in northern Myanmar, ethnic insurgents risk losing access to their extensive drug-financed business operations. According to Sai Khuensai Jaiyen of the Shan Herald Agency for News, an exile-run media organization that closely tracks the drug trade in Shan State, there are reports that Wei has started to sell parts of his business holdings and has suspended some of Hong Pang Group's operations in apparent preparation for hostilities. The company is involved, among other things, in lumber, agriculture, gas stations and department stores in the towns of Lashio, Mandalay and Yangon.
Security analysts and counter-narcotics officials in Thailand believe that, without access to funds from their business interests, insurgent groups like the UWSA will be forced to step up their narcotics production and trafficking activities. As nationalist Chinese Kuomintang general Duan Xiwen said in 1967 about fighting in Shan State: " ... to fight you must have an army, and an army must have guns, and to buy guns you must have money. In these mountains the only money is opium" - and now methamphetamines.
Insurgent patron
China has been the main patron of the ceasefire groups along its border since the CPB mutiny in 1989. The relationship, from Beijing's perspective, is a pragmatic one that ensures that China has leverage against Myanmar's generals with which to protect its large and growing economic and strategic interests in the country. China has provided development and economic assistance to the ceasefire groups, as well as advanced weapons and even some training in their usage. This has included 120mm and 130mm artillery and hand-held surface-to-air missiles.
China's goodwill towards the ceasefire groups has been partly contingent on their agreement to curtail drug smuggling into and through China. Pressure from Chinese officials has been placed on ethnic insurgent leaders to prohibit the smuggling of narcotics into China. Much of the drug trade to China consists of opium and heroin, which is becoming a growing problem seen in rising addiction rates in the country.
The ability of the UWSA, NDAA and other ceasefire groups to fight will be partially dependant on whether China permits them to maintain their known cross-border businesses and investments, as well as access to weapons and ammunition. Without the ability to generate income through these operations, ethnic insurgent leaders will be faced with the choice of either surrendering once their stocks of ammunition are depleted - as happened to the Kokang in August - or stepping up narcotics production and trafficking to raise funds and purchase arms and ammunition from dealers in Thailand and China.
The insurgent groups' main market for narcotics is Thailand. While heroin is still exported to the outside world via well-established and well-protected trafficking routes in Thailand, most of the methamphetamines produced are destined for Thai consumption. China, too, could soon be faced with an upsurge in narcotics smuggling, both to its growing addict population and through well-documented routes across its southern region out to Shanghai and Hong Kong. Myanmar remains China's main source of heroin.
Thai counter-narcotics officials are already claiming that the UWSA is engaged in a fire sale by cutting prices to quickly move its stores of narcotics to buy more weapons before hostilities with government forces begin in the approaching cool season. In August, the Thai army quietly revived an elite counter-narcotics force previously known as Task Force 399 and renamed as 151st Special Warfare Company.
Task Force 399, which was tasked with interdiction at the border and supported by US Special Forces personnel, was known previously for taking a proactive approach to interdicting drug traffickers including, some analysts of the drug trade say, pursuit across the border into Myanmar territory.
Over the past five months, there have been frequent reports in the Thai media about arrests of drug traffickers, disruption of smuggling gangs and seizures of large quantities of narcotics. The New York Times in an October 1 article cited Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) figures that 1,268 kilograms of heroin had been seized between January and August this year, a huge increase on the 57 kilograms seized in the region last year.
Last week, the government announced plans for a new drug suppression force to combat trafficking in border provinces next to Myanmar. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban linked the creation of the new force to an increase in drug trafficking from Myanmar, according to media reports. The plan still needs government approval, but if enacted the new unit will by coordinated by the army's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).
Regional reach
While the bulk of the drug trafficking ceasefire armies are stationed along the Myanmar-China border, the UWSA has also built up a substantial area along the Thai border, contiguous with Thailand's northern Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, through which much of its heroin and amphetamine trade now passes. Because the Myanmar army controls territory between the main UWSA units, each is largely self-sustaining through their narcotics trafficking. Maintaining the security of this area will be key for access to the Thai market.
Another key narcotics trade point is across the Mekong River into Laos. The NDAA operates at least one major trade point jointly with the UWSA at Sop Lwe on the Myanmar side of the river near the small Lao town of Xieng Kok in the northern Luang Nam Tha province, says a researcher familiar with the trade who recently visited the site. This route, stretching across the width of UWSA and NDAA-held territory along the China-Myanmar border, avoids the necessity of sending narcotics shipments south across government-held territory to reach the Thai border.
Observers of the regional drug trade have claimed that the UWSA and NDAA have established methamphetamine laboratories in Laos, an accusation that Lao officials have consistently denied. Trafficking routes, however, are much harder to deny. Thai counter-narcotics officials claim methamphetamines and heroin are smuggled through Laos to less well-patrolled points in northeastern Thailand, including Nong Khai, Mukdahan and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
The ONCB reckons between three million and five million methamphetamine pills are smuggled into northeastern Thailand from Laos each year. In a sting operation in July, Thai police arrested two Lao men and a Thai woman in northeastern Udon Thani province with 160,000 methamphetamine tablets worth as much as US$1.4 million when sold in Bangkok. Police allege one of the Lao men was an important trafficker in Laos with direct contact to Myanmar-linked drug labs.
An increase in production and trafficking in Myanmar could have far-reaching regional implications. In Vietnam, there has been in recent years an upsurge in trafficking of methamphetamines and other synthetic drugs smuggled through Laos and traced back to northeastern Myanmar. The drugs are known to be smuggled to the northern cities of Hanoi and Haiphong and down the length of country to Ho Chi Minh City, feeding a growing addiction problem. Demand has increased in Vietnam as its large population becomes more affluent. Cambodia and Malaysia have also seen an increase in narcotics trafficked from Myanmar.
The production and trafficking of narcotics has fueled a succession of insurgent groups in Myanmar's northeastern region since the 1950's and will continue to do so should fighting with the government resume. Better communications and more efficient trafficking routes and methods, as well as more easily produced synthetic drugs in mobile laboratories, have financed the growth of certain Myanmar insurgent groups. And as they prepare for new hostilities against the government, the region's narcotics problem seems set to grow.
Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.
Asia Times Online - Drugs, guns and war in Myanmar
By Brian McCartan
BANGKOK - Mounting tensions between Myanmar's military government and ethnic groups with which it has ceasefire agreements in the country's northern regions have spurred a surge in drug trafficking. Driven by militias' growing demand for weapons to counter anticipated government offensives, a narcotics fire-sale is raising concerns of greater instability along the borders of several neighboring countries, including China.
Myanmar's military regime has demanded that the insurgent groups with which it agreed ceasefires in the late 1980s and early 1990s hand over their arms to government control. A deadline set for the end of October has been allowed to pass and discussions between the military and two main ethnic armies, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (Eastern Shan State) (NDAA), are reportedly continuing.
Neither side appears willing to back down, prompting speculation that new fighting may be imminent. Under the government's proposed Border Guard Force plan, ethnic armies would be downsized into several battalions consisting of 326 men. Each would have a contingent of Myanmar army and non-commissioned officers and operate under the central command of the Myanmar Army. The junta has said it will provide weapons, equipment, uniforms and even salaries to the proposed units.
The generals have indicated that a handover of weapons, either through the border guard scheme or through forced surrender, is key to their plan to achieve national reconciliation by holding general elections next year. The political stakes for that plan are high. The junta has demonstrated a willingness to risk the ire of ally China through an assault in August on the Kokang ceasefire group, which caused a flood of refugees to stream across the border into neighboring China.
Both the Myanmar army and the Kokang have since reinforced their troops and appear to be preparing for further hostilities that security analysts predict could spill over into other insurgent-controlled territories. It's still unclear if Myanmar will risk its relations with Beijing by attacking the remaining and better armed ceasefire groups along the Myanmar-China border, a battle plan that has the potential to significantly destabilize southern China.
Under the government's plan, the ceasefire groups' political wings will be allowed to transform into political parties to contest the general elections. Ethnic leaders, however, say that handing over their armed forces to government control would entail relinquishing their bargaining power vis-a-vis a regime that frequently uses military force to press its demands. It would also mean handing over much of the apparatus that protects, produces and transports their narcotics trafficking operations.
Since a 1989 mutiny that broke up the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and spawned several ethnic armies in the north - including the UWSA, NDAA and the Kokang group - the drug trade has steadily expanded in the region. The military government has both permitted and profited from the groups' drug production and trafficking, despite official claims to lead an internationally assisted counter narcotics campaign and disingenuous pledges by several of the insurgent groups to be drug-free.
The ceasefire groups have plowed their profits into places such as Panghsang and Mong La along the Myanmar-China border, transforming them into boom towns. They have also invested in more legitimate businesses in central Myanmar, as well as in neighboring China and Thailand. For example, the UWSA's financial controller, Wei Xuegang, who is wanted for narcotics trafficking in the United States and Thailand, has built an extensive business empire in Myanmar around his Hong Pang Group.
Without firm autonomy agreements with the Myanmar government, a substantial portion of ceasefire groups' profits have gone towards the upkeep of their armies and the procurement of new weapons. According to security analysts, the UWSA has since its 1989 ceasefire agreement grown into the largest and best armed fighting force in Myanmar outside the government's army. The narco-trafficking militia consists of between 15,000 and 20,000 heavily armed foot soldiers.
Should negotiations over the border guard plan collapse and a renewed civil war break out in northern Myanmar, ethnic insurgents risk losing access to their extensive drug-financed business operations. According to Sai Khuensai Jaiyen of the Shan Herald Agency for News, an exile-run media organization that closely tracks the drug trade in Shan State, there are reports that Wei has started to sell parts of his business holdings and has suspended some of Hong Pang Group's operations in apparent preparation for hostilities. The company is involved, among other things, in lumber, agriculture, gas stations and department stores in the towns of Lashio, Mandalay and Yangon.
Security analysts and counter-narcotics officials in Thailand believe that, without access to funds from their business interests, insurgent groups like the UWSA will be forced to step up their narcotics production and trafficking activities. As nationalist Chinese Kuomintang general Duan Xiwen said in 1967 about fighting in Shan State: " ... to fight you must have an army, and an army must have guns, and to buy guns you must have money. In these mountains the only money is opium" - and now methamphetamines.
Insurgent patron
China has been the main patron of the ceasefire groups along its border since the CPB mutiny in 1989. The relationship, from Beijing's perspective, is a pragmatic one that ensures that China has leverage against Myanmar's generals with which to protect its large and growing economic and strategic interests in the country. China has provided development and economic assistance to the ceasefire groups, as well as advanced weapons and even some training in their usage. This has included 120mm and 130mm artillery and hand-held surface-to-air missiles.
China's goodwill towards the ceasefire groups has been partly contingent on their agreement to curtail drug smuggling into and through China. Pressure from Chinese officials has been placed on ethnic insurgent leaders to prohibit the smuggling of narcotics into China. Much of the drug trade to China consists of opium and heroin, which is becoming a growing problem seen in rising addiction rates in the country.
The ability of the UWSA, NDAA and other ceasefire groups to fight will be partially dependant on whether China permits them to maintain their known cross-border businesses and investments, as well as access to weapons and ammunition. Without the ability to generate income through these operations, ethnic insurgent leaders will be faced with the choice of either surrendering once their stocks of ammunition are depleted - as happened to the Kokang in August - or stepping up narcotics production and trafficking to raise funds and purchase arms and ammunition from dealers in Thailand and China.
The insurgent groups' main market for narcotics is Thailand. While heroin is still exported to the outside world via well-established and well-protected trafficking routes in Thailand, most of the methamphetamines produced are destined for Thai consumption. China, too, could soon be faced with an upsurge in narcotics smuggling, both to its growing addict population and through well-documented routes across its southern region out to Shanghai and Hong Kong. Myanmar remains China's main source of heroin.
Thai counter-narcotics officials are already claiming that the UWSA is engaged in a fire sale by cutting prices to quickly move its stores of narcotics to buy more weapons before hostilities with government forces begin in the approaching cool season. In August, the Thai army quietly revived an elite counter-narcotics force previously known as Task Force 399 and renamed as 151st Special Warfare Company.
Task Force 399, which was tasked with interdiction at the border and supported by US Special Forces personnel, was known previously for taking a proactive approach to interdicting drug traffickers including, some analysts of the drug trade say, pursuit across the border into Myanmar territory.
Over the past five months, there have been frequent reports in the Thai media about arrests of drug traffickers, disruption of smuggling gangs and seizures of large quantities of narcotics. The New York Times in an October 1 article cited Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) figures that 1,268 kilograms of heroin had been seized between January and August this year, a huge increase on the 57 kilograms seized in the region last year.
Last week, the government announced plans for a new drug suppression force to combat trafficking in border provinces next to Myanmar. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban linked the creation of the new force to an increase in drug trafficking from Myanmar, according to media reports. The plan still needs government approval, but if enacted the new unit will by coordinated by the army's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).
Regional reach
While the bulk of the drug trafficking ceasefire armies are stationed along the Myanmar-China border, the UWSA has also built up a substantial area along the Thai border, contiguous with Thailand's northern Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, through which much of its heroin and amphetamine trade now passes. Because the Myanmar army controls territory between the main UWSA units, each is largely self-sustaining through their narcotics trafficking. Maintaining the security of this area will be key for access to the Thai market.
Another key narcotics trade point is across the Mekong River into Laos. The NDAA operates at least one major trade point jointly with the UWSA at Sop Lwe on the Myanmar side of the river near the small Lao town of Xieng Kok in the northern Luang Nam Tha province, says a researcher familiar with the trade who recently visited the site. This route, stretching across the width of UWSA and NDAA-held territory along the China-Myanmar border, avoids the necessity of sending narcotics shipments south across government-held territory to reach the Thai border.
Observers of the regional drug trade have claimed that the UWSA and NDAA have established methamphetamine laboratories in Laos, an accusation that Lao officials have consistently denied. Trafficking routes, however, are much harder to deny. Thai counter-narcotics officials claim methamphetamines and heroin are smuggled through Laos to less well-patrolled points in northeastern Thailand, including Nong Khai, Mukdahan and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
The ONCB reckons between three million and five million methamphetamine pills are smuggled into northeastern Thailand from Laos each year. In a sting operation in July, Thai police arrested two Lao men and a Thai woman in northeastern Udon Thani province with 160,000 methamphetamine tablets worth as much as US$1.4 million when sold in Bangkok. Police allege one of the Lao men was an important trafficker in Laos with direct contact to Myanmar-linked drug labs.
An increase in production and trafficking in Myanmar could have far-reaching regional implications. In Vietnam, there has been in recent years an upsurge in trafficking of methamphetamines and other synthetic drugs smuggled through Laos and traced back to northeastern Myanmar. The drugs are known to be smuggled to the northern cities of Hanoi and Haiphong and down the length of country to Ho Chi Minh City, feeding a growing addiction problem. Demand has increased in Vietnam as its large population becomes more affluent. Cambodia and Malaysia have also seen an increase in narcotics trafficked from Myanmar.
The production and trafficking of narcotics has fueled a succession of insurgent groups in Myanmar's northeastern region since the 1950's and will continue to do so should fighting with the government resume. Better communications and more efficient trafficking routes and methods, as well as more easily produced synthetic drugs in mobile laboratories, have financed the growth of certain Myanmar insurgent groups. And as they prepare for new hostilities against the government, the region's narcotics problem seems set to grow.
Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.
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CSM - Burma's junta in a vise
Next year's elections push ruling generals to contain dissidents and quell insurgencies – without annoying China.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 1, 2009 edition
Bangkok, Thailand - The military junta of Burma (Myanmar) has been busy consolidating control ahead of 2010 elections. Last month it upheld a sentence giving opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi 18 more months of house arrest, ignoring US calls for her release and its rare offer to engage the pariah regime. But the government still struggles to quell opposition among ethnic insurgency groups – it has cease-fire agreements with 17 of them – in the country's north and east. The best-armed group is probably the United Wa State Army (UWSA), with at least 20,000 combatants and Chinese-made weapons.
The latest flare-up, in the east Burma region of Kokang, in August, sent 30,000 refugees across the border to China, prompting an unusually stern response from that powerful neighbor. Burmese soldiers captured the insurgents' base on Aug. 24.
What is Burma’s goal?
The military would like to neutralize armed threats to its authority before elections next year, its first since 1990. The so-called cease-fire groups – rebels that have signed truces but not laid down arms – are seen as potential spoilers. Ethnic leaders want more autonomy and may block the vote.
Last year, the junta said that all cease-fire groups must convert their armies into border guards under military command. This proposal has been strongly resisted by several groups, including the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the armed wing in Kokang. By attacking the MNDAA, the junta hopes to scare other groups into complying.
"I don't think the Burmese [military] will give up. They want to get these groups under their control," says Aung Zaw, the editor of Irrawaddy, a Burmese publication in Thailand.
Why does China’s response matter?
China is the closest that Burma has to an ally. It has repeatedly blocked efforts by Western powers to take tougher multilateral action on Burma. China is the regime's main supplier of weapons. Its companies have invested in Burma. Two new pipelines to carry Burmese gas and transshipped crude oil to China are starting construction and would pass through the insurgent-plagued north.
But China's backing of Burma doesn't mean it pulls the strings. Nor is the junta comfortable with growing Chinese influence, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), a think tank in Brussels.
The violence in Kokang was an irritant to bilateral relations as it spilled over the border and took the lives of ethnic Chinese. In public, China urged Burma to protect the rights of Chinese citizens. In private, Beijing was furious that it had no warning of the attack, says the ICG.
Chinese officials have longstanding ideological ties to former Communist rebels in Burma, including the MNDAA. Cultivating rebel groups along the border is a buffer against Burma's military.
What might Burma do next?
Though no fighting has been reported since Kokang fell, the big fear is that the conflict will spread to areas controlled by the UWSA or the Kachin Independence Army, two rebel groups that strongly oppose the border-guard policy. This could turn a small-scale conflict into a civil war.
Burmese troops continue to fight rebels in the eastern states of Shan and Karen that never signed cease-fires but can only mount guerrilla raids and lack the firepower to hold territory.
A wider conflict has implications for refugee protection, given their flow across the Kokang border into China, says Jim Della-Giacoma, director for Southeast Asia for the ICG, who is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. "The fighting has the potential to spread into other areas controlled by different ethnic groups in Myanmar. If this happened, some predict the impact in terms of refugees would be much greater," he says.
What is the US response, and why is it rethinking its policy on Burma?
The United States hasn't said much on Kokang, though officials recognize that ethnic unrest threatens any transition to greater civilian rule.
In September, the US announced it would start to engage Burma, but keep its sanctions in place. Ms. Suu Kyi said she supported the new policy if opposition groups were included in any dialogue.
After several years of trying to isolate and punish Burma, the US now intends to engage the regime through direct talks, though the Obama administration says it won't lift economic and political sanctions until it sees progress. Human rights activists have argued for tougher sanctions if Burma doesn't change its behavior.
How might this affect elections?
Fighting in border areas would delay the voting there. Wider conflict could lead to a postponement of the elections. Indeed, some analysts think this may be a deliberate military tactic, says editor Aung Zaw.
That said, the regime has stuck to its democracy road map so far, even holding a referendum on a new constitution soon after a devastating cyclone hit in May 2008. No date has been set, and political parties still don't know how and when they can campaign.
Next year's elections push ruling generals to contain dissidents and quell insurgencies – without annoying China.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 1, 2009 edition
Bangkok, Thailand - The military junta of Burma (Myanmar) has been busy consolidating control ahead of 2010 elections. Last month it upheld a sentence giving opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi 18 more months of house arrest, ignoring US calls for her release and its rare offer to engage the pariah regime. But the government still struggles to quell opposition among ethnic insurgency groups – it has cease-fire agreements with 17 of them – in the country's north and east. The best-armed group is probably the United Wa State Army (UWSA), with at least 20,000 combatants and Chinese-made weapons.
The latest flare-up, in the east Burma region of Kokang, in August, sent 30,000 refugees across the border to China, prompting an unusually stern response from that powerful neighbor. Burmese soldiers captured the insurgents' base on Aug. 24.
What is Burma’s goal?
The military would like to neutralize armed threats to its authority before elections next year, its first since 1990. The so-called cease-fire groups – rebels that have signed truces but not laid down arms – are seen as potential spoilers. Ethnic leaders want more autonomy and may block the vote.
Last year, the junta said that all cease-fire groups must convert their armies into border guards under military command. This proposal has been strongly resisted by several groups, including the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the armed wing in Kokang. By attacking the MNDAA, the junta hopes to scare other groups into complying.
"I don't think the Burmese [military] will give up. They want to get these groups under their control," says Aung Zaw, the editor of Irrawaddy, a Burmese publication in Thailand.
Why does China’s response matter?
China is the closest that Burma has to an ally. It has repeatedly blocked efforts by Western powers to take tougher multilateral action on Burma. China is the regime's main supplier of weapons. Its companies have invested in Burma. Two new pipelines to carry Burmese gas and transshipped crude oil to China are starting construction and would pass through the insurgent-plagued north.
But China's backing of Burma doesn't mean it pulls the strings. Nor is the junta comfortable with growing Chinese influence, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), a think tank in Brussels.
The violence in Kokang was an irritant to bilateral relations as it spilled over the border and took the lives of ethnic Chinese. In public, China urged Burma to protect the rights of Chinese citizens. In private, Beijing was furious that it had no warning of the attack, says the ICG.
Chinese officials have longstanding ideological ties to former Communist rebels in Burma, including the MNDAA. Cultivating rebel groups along the border is a buffer against Burma's military.
What might Burma do next?
Though no fighting has been reported since Kokang fell, the big fear is that the conflict will spread to areas controlled by the UWSA or the Kachin Independence Army, two rebel groups that strongly oppose the border-guard policy. This could turn a small-scale conflict into a civil war.
Burmese troops continue to fight rebels in the eastern states of Shan and Karen that never signed cease-fires but can only mount guerrilla raids and lack the firepower to hold territory.
A wider conflict has implications for refugee protection, given their flow across the Kokang border into China, says Jim Della-Giacoma, director for Southeast Asia for the ICG, who is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. "The fighting has the potential to spread into other areas controlled by different ethnic groups in Myanmar. If this happened, some predict the impact in terms of refugees would be much greater," he says.
What is the US response, and why is it rethinking its policy on Burma?
The United States hasn't said much on Kokang, though officials recognize that ethnic unrest threatens any transition to greater civilian rule.
In September, the US announced it would start to engage Burma, but keep its sanctions in place. Ms. Suu Kyi said she supported the new policy if opposition groups were included in any dialogue.
After several years of trying to isolate and punish Burma, the US now intends to engage the regime through direct talks, though the Obama administration says it won't lift economic and political sanctions until it sees progress. Human rights activists have argued for tougher sanctions if Burma doesn't change its behavior.
How might this affect elections?
Fighting in border areas would delay the voting there. Wider conflict could lead to a postponement of the elections. Indeed, some analysts think this may be a deliberate military tactic, says editor Aung Zaw.
That said, the regime has stuck to its democracy road map so far, even holding a referendum on a new constitution soon after a devastating cyclone hit in May 2008. No date has been set, and political parties still don't know how and when they can campaign.
****************************************************************
Opinions | Columnists
GulfNews - Taming Myanmar's junta
India can exploit its cultural-spiritual soft power to engage the Myanmarese people
By Gurmeet Kanwal, OpinionAsia, 2009, Special to Gulf News
Published: 00:00 November 3, 2009
Consequent to several months of back channel negotiations, Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, will lead a US delegation to Myanmar today.
This visit signifies the emerging consensus among Western democracies to review the failed economic sanctions and the arms embargo imposed on Myanmar and a desire to enter into a dialogue with the Generals before elections are held next year.
At another level, the intention is clearly to gradually reduce China's overpowering influence in the country. To discuss these issues, a seminar was held at the Brookings Institution and the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Washington, D.C., in October.
India is among the key regional players which have some leverage with Myanmar's ruling Junta. India's relations with Myanmar, a devoutly Buddhist country, have been traditionally close and friendly. Geographically, India and Myanmar share a long land and maritime boundary, including in the area of the strategically important Andaman and Nicobar islands where the two closest Indian and Myanmarese islands are barely 30km apart.
Myanmarese ports provide India the shortest approach route to several of India's north-eastern states, especially as Bangladesh does not permit India overland access through its territory.
India's national interest lies in a strong and stable Myanmar that observes strict neutrality between India and China and cooperates with India in the common fight against the insurgencies raging in the border areas of both the countries.
Myanmar is an important staging post on the land route for the implementation of India's "Look East" policy. In fact, it is a bridge between all the countries comprising the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc — Myanmar has observer status) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). It is also a member of Bangladesh India Myanmar Sri Lanka Thailand Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) and the Mekong-Ganga grouping that aims to create an enabling environment for rapid economic development.
The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed a growing engagement between India and Myanmar.
Strategic relationship
There have been several high level bilateral visits by senior Indian officials recently, including one by the vice-president of India in February 2009. In keeping with India's policy of increasing military engagement with its neighbours to counter a growing Chinese influence, the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff have also visited Myanmar in recent years. Consultations between the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Myanmar Foreign Office have also been regularly held. The Ninth Round was held in November 2008.
The key drivers of the India-Myanmar strategic relationship are cooperation in counter-insurgency operations and the need for India to ensure that Myanmar is not driven into Chinese arms through India's neglect of Myanmar's security concerns and arms requirements.
As an element of its strategy of slowing down, even preventing, India's rise as a competing regional power in Asia and in order to further its own economic and security interests, including energy security, China has for long been engaged in the strategic encirclement of India. As part of that policy, China has made rapid advances into Myanmar and established close political, military and economic relations. Myanmar provides China with the shortest land route access to the Bay of Bengal and the northern Indian Ocean.
China has signed a long-term agreement with Myanmar for the exploitation of its hydrocarbon reserves. Plans have been formalised for the transportation of oil and gas through a 1,100km overland pipeline from Kyaukryu port in Myanmar to the border city of Ruili in Yunnan province.
After the completion and activation of this oil and gas pipeline, China's dependence on the Malacca Straits will reduce considerably. China is also developing the Myanmar coastal city of Sittwe as a commercial port on the west coast. It is natural that Chinese naval activity in the Bay of Bengal will soon follow.
Reports of Myanmar's quest for the a cquisition of nuclear weapons from North Korea, though uncorroborated, are of concern to India as nuclear weapons in the hands of yet another military regime would not be conducive to long-term strategic stability in South Asia.
It is only through close engagement that India can promote leverage with the ruling regime to nudge it gently towards national reconciliation. India can exploit its cultural-spiritual soft power to engage the Myanmarese people and the ruling regime in a more pro-active manner than has been the case so far. There is an urgent requirement for India to set up a cultural centre in Yangon. There is a great deal that India can do in the areas of health and education. India must also increase its economic footprint in Myanmar, particularly in areas that are contiguous to India.
Gurmeet Kanwal is the Director of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), a New Delhi based think-tank.
GulfNews - Taming Myanmar's junta
India can exploit its cultural-spiritual soft power to engage the Myanmarese people
By Gurmeet Kanwal, OpinionAsia, 2009, Special to Gulf News
Published: 00:00 November 3, 2009
Consequent to several months of back channel negotiations, Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, will lead a US delegation to Myanmar today.
This visit signifies the emerging consensus among Western democracies to review the failed economic sanctions and the arms embargo imposed on Myanmar and a desire to enter into a dialogue with the Generals before elections are held next year.
At another level, the intention is clearly to gradually reduce China's overpowering influence in the country. To discuss these issues, a seminar was held at the Brookings Institution and the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Washington, D.C., in October.
India is among the key regional players which have some leverage with Myanmar's ruling Junta. India's relations with Myanmar, a devoutly Buddhist country, have been traditionally close and friendly. Geographically, India and Myanmar share a long land and maritime boundary, including in the area of the strategically important Andaman and Nicobar islands where the two closest Indian and Myanmarese islands are barely 30km apart.
Myanmarese ports provide India the shortest approach route to several of India's north-eastern states, especially as Bangladesh does not permit India overland access through its territory.
India's national interest lies in a strong and stable Myanmar that observes strict neutrality between India and China and cooperates with India in the common fight against the insurgencies raging in the border areas of both the countries.
Myanmar is an important staging post on the land route for the implementation of India's "Look East" policy. In fact, it is a bridge between all the countries comprising the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc — Myanmar has observer status) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). It is also a member of Bangladesh India Myanmar Sri Lanka Thailand Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) and the Mekong-Ganga grouping that aims to create an enabling environment for rapid economic development.
The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed a growing engagement between India and Myanmar.
Strategic relationship
There have been several high level bilateral visits by senior Indian officials recently, including one by the vice-president of India in February 2009. In keeping with India's policy of increasing military engagement with its neighbours to counter a growing Chinese influence, the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff have also visited Myanmar in recent years. Consultations between the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Myanmar Foreign Office have also been regularly held. The Ninth Round was held in November 2008.
The key drivers of the India-Myanmar strategic relationship are cooperation in counter-insurgency operations and the need for India to ensure that Myanmar is not driven into Chinese arms through India's neglect of Myanmar's security concerns and arms requirements.
As an element of its strategy of slowing down, even preventing, India's rise as a competing regional power in Asia and in order to further its own economic and security interests, including energy security, China has for long been engaged in the strategic encirclement of India. As part of that policy, China has made rapid advances into Myanmar and established close political, military and economic relations. Myanmar provides China with the shortest land route access to the Bay of Bengal and the northern Indian Ocean.
China has signed a long-term agreement with Myanmar for the exploitation of its hydrocarbon reserves. Plans have been formalised for the transportation of oil and gas through a 1,100km overland pipeline from Kyaukryu port in Myanmar to the border city of Ruili in Yunnan province.
After the completion and activation of this oil and gas pipeline, China's dependence on the Malacca Straits will reduce considerably. China is also developing the Myanmar coastal city of Sittwe as a commercial port on the west coast. It is natural that Chinese naval activity in the Bay of Bengal will soon follow.
Reports of Myanmar's quest for the a cquisition of nuclear weapons from North Korea, though uncorroborated, are of concern to India as nuclear weapons in the hands of yet another military regime would not be conducive to long-term strategic stability in South Asia.
It is only through close engagement that India can promote leverage with the ruling regime to nudge it gently towards national reconciliation. India can exploit its cultural-spiritual soft power to engage the Myanmarese people and the ruling regime in a more pro-active manner than has been the case so far. There is an urgent requirement for India to set up a cultural centre in Yangon. There is a great deal that India can do in the areas of health and education. India must also increase its economic footprint in Myanmar, particularly in areas that are contiguous to India.
Gurmeet Kanwal is the Director of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), a New Delhi based think-tank.
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Border clashes net thousands of pills
Published: Nov. 2, 2009 at 11:00 AM
BANGKOK, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Around 50,000 capsules of methamphetamine were among the drugs found on two smugglers shot dead by the Thai military on the border with Myanmar.
The dead were among several armed men trying to cross into Thailand on the weekend, according to a report by the Mizzima news agency. The suspected smugglers opened fire on Thai forces, and the two men were shot during a gun battle lasting just over 10 minutes, the report said.
The other gunmen fled back into Myanmar, said New Delhi-based Mizzima, an agency of pro democracy Myanmar journalists living in exile.
Officials said they believe the dead are soldiers of the United Wa State Army, a widely suspected narcotics growing and trafficking group. The UWSA includes members of the Wa ethnic group that previously supported the military when it took control of Burma in a 1962 coup. But since the early to mid 1980s the Wa and other guerrilla fighters have retreated to the northern part of Shan state.
However, the military rulers who renamed Burma as Myanmar in 1989 have over the years signed uneasy truces with the insurgents, in particular with the UWSA, whose fighters are thought to number around 20,000.
In Myanmar's 2008 constitution certain UWSA-controlled areas were given the status of an autonomous region. Analysts believe the UWSA operations are covertly sanctioned by corrupt sections of the Myanmar military, although the Myanmar generals continually deny these allegations.
A report in the Bangkok Post earlier in the week said another fatal gun battle near the Myanmar border netted 142,000 methamphetamine pills, a gun and a hand grenade.
Two smugglers were also killed and three villagers, members of the Hmong tribe, were arrested on charges of possessing illegal drugs -- 12,000 yaba pills hidden under the saddles of three motorbikes.
Yaba is a methamphetamine and caffeine pill that tastes like candy and is a favorite of young people, especially at rave parties. It has also been called Nazi speed because of its creation by German scientists during World War II to boost the endurance of soldiers.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Teuksuban said last week that military surveillance along the Myanmar border is to be increased because of more fighting between the Myanmar military and armed ethnic groups involved in smuggling. Thai authorities expect more armed groups may attempt to enter Thailand to sell drugs in order to buy weapons.
The border incidents come just before a widely expected fact-finding visit to Myanmar this week by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell and Scot Marciel, U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional organization.
The visit is part of President Barack Obama's pursuit of engagement with Myanmar's military rulers, although Campbell has said dialogue will not replace sanctions, but simply supplement them.
Published: Nov. 2, 2009 at 11:00 AM
BANGKOK, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Around 50,000 capsules of methamphetamine were among the drugs found on two smugglers shot dead by the Thai military on the border with Myanmar.
The dead were among several armed men trying to cross into Thailand on the weekend, according to a report by the Mizzima news agency. The suspected smugglers opened fire on Thai forces, and the two men were shot during a gun battle lasting just over 10 minutes, the report said.
The other gunmen fled back into Myanmar, said New Delhi-based Mizzima, an agency of pro democracy Myanmar journalists living in exile.
Officials said they believe the dead are soldiers of the United Wa State Army, a widely suspected narcotics growing and trafficking group. The UWSA includes members of the Wa ethnic group that previously supported the military when it took control of Burma in a 1962 coup. But since the early to mid 1980s the Wa and other guerrilla fighters have retreated to the northern part of Shan state.
However, the military rulers who renamed Burma as Myanmar in 1989 have over the years signed uneasy truces with the insurgents, in particular with the UWSA, whose fighters are thought to number around 20,000.
In Myanmar's 2008 constitution certain UWSA-controlled areas were given the status of an autonomous region. Analysts believe the UWSA operations are covertly sanctioned by corrupt sections of the Myanmar military, although the Myanmar generals continually deny these allegations.
A report in the Bangkok Post earlier in the week said another fatal gun battle near the Myanmar border netted 142,000 methamphetamine pills, a gun and a hand grenade.
Two smugglers were also killed and three villagers, members of the Hmong tribe, were arrested on charges of possessing illegal drugs -- 12,000 yaba pills hidden under the saddles of three motorbikes.
Yaba is a methamphetamine and caffeine pill that tastes like candy and is a favorite of young people, especially at rave parties. It has also been called Nazi speed because of its creation by German scientists during World War II to boost the endurance of soldiers.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Teuksuban said last week that military surveillance along the Myanmar border is to be increased because of more fighting between the Myanmar military and armed ethnic groups involved in smuggling. Thai authorities expect more armed groups may attempt to enter Thailand to sell drugs in order to buy weapons.
The border incidents come just before a widely expected fact-finding visit to Myanmar this week by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell and Scot Marciel, U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional organization.
The visit is part of President Barack Obama's pursuit of engagement with Myanmar's military rulers, although Campbell has said dialogue will not replace sanctions, but simply supplement them.
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Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Ceylon Daily News - Trade Minister in Myanmar
To negotiate rice, grain purchase:
A Government delegation led by Trade Marketing Development, Co-operatives and Consumer Services Minister Bandula Gunawardena reached Myanmar yesterday morning on a directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to negotiate purchase of rice and other food grains from that country, official sources said.
The decision to take steps to prevent a price hike or a shortage of rice was made at a special meeting of Ministers presided over by President Rajapaksa to review the present position of prices and stocks of rice and other food grains in the country. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization had warned of a price increase of world food grains.
This anticipated increase is expected in the coming months and the committee also considered the FAO report at its meeting. Some rice growing areas had also suffered drought that could affect the Maha season rice harvest, official sources said.
Minister Bandula Gunawardena before his departure said a stockpile of about 50,000 tons of rice would be held in the government food stores so that any adverse trends such as ad hoc increase of prices of rice by traders could be averted by releasing the buffer stocks to the market if it becomes necessary.
The official delegation held talks with the Myanmar rice trade representatives yesterday and would continue talks today to negotiate the purchases of rice and other food grains, Sri Lankan Ambassador in Myanmar Newton Gunaratne said.
Myanmar had exported rice to Sri Lanka in the past and was in a position to supply our requirements as it was an agricultural country producing rice and other food grains in sufficient quantities and the good relations between the two countries was also a significant factor, he said. The delegation led by Minister Bandula Gunawardena included the Ministry Secretary Lalith de Silva, Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga and Lak Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando.
To negotiate rice, grain purchase:
A Government delegation led by Trade Marketing Development, Co-operatives and Consumer Services Minister Bandula Gunawardena reached Myanmar yesterday morning on a directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to negotiate purchase of rice and other food grains from that country, official sources said.
The decision to take steps to prevent a price hike or a shortage of rice was made at a special meeting of Ministers presided over by President Rajapaksa to review the present position of prices and stocks of rice and other food grains in the country. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization had warned of a price increase of world food grains.
This anticipated increase is expected in the coming months and the committee also considered the FAO report at its meeting. Some rice growing areas had also suffered drought that could affect the Maha season rice harvest, official sources said.
Minister Bandula Gunawardena before his departure said a stockpile of about 50,000 tons of rice would be held in the government food stores so that any adverse trends such as ad hoc increase of prices of rice by traders could be averted by releasing the buffer stocks to the market if it becomes necessary.
The official delegation held talks with the Myanmar rice trade representatives yesterday and would continue talks today to negotiate the purchases of rice and other food grains, Sri Lankan Ambassador in Myanmar Newton Gunaratne said.
Myanmar had exported rice to Sri Lanka in the past and was in a position to supply our requirements as it was an agricultural country producing rice and other food grains in sufficient quantities and the good relations between the two countries was also a significant factor, he said. The delegation led by Minister Bandula Gunawardena included the Ministry Secretary Lalith de Silva, Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga and Lak Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando.
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NOVEMBER 2, 2009
WSJ - A Look at Myanmar's History as Emerging Energy Supplier
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
Sandwiched in between China and India, two of the world's biggest new sources of energy demand, Myanmar is believed to have significant untapped reserves of natural gas. But its tangled history of government restrictions and, more recently, allegations of human-rights violations have limited outside investment to develop its resources.
The country now known as Myanmar was one of the world's first oil producers, with some exports as early as 1853. Foreign investment followed, with sizable fields developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In 1962, the country came under the control of a military regime that nationalized the oil and gas industry. Until the late 1980s, the government kept foreign operators out. But beginning in 1988, it liberalized the oil and gas sector to begin allowing outside investment again. Western companies including Total S.A. and Unocal Corp. -- later bought by Chevron -- entered the market.
Within a few years, however, the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions against Myanmar's military regime, preventing other Western companies from staking a claim. In their absence, a host of investors from Asia and elsewhere expanded their operations, including Cnooc Ltd. of China and South Korea's Daewoo International. The process intensified after 2004, as Myanmar authorities accelerated the opening of areas for exploration.
By 2007, at least 27 companies from 13 countries, including Petronas of Malaysia and ONGC of India, were active in Myanmar's oil and gas industry, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The list included numerous companies that are wholly or partially owned by national governments in the region.
Although discoveries of oil have been limited, companies have found sizable deposits of natural gas, which now makes up the bulk of Myanmar's production. Foreign companies are particularly interested in offshore areas along Myanmar's western coast in the Bay of Bengal near Bangladesh, where a consortium including Daewoo is developing a major gas asset that will include a pipeline to China.
Human-rights advocates decry the rise in foreign investment in gas in Myanmar because they believe much of the revenue is used by Myanmar's military regime to support its rule and commit human-rights violations.
According to Human Rights Watch, Myanmar's military government earned approximately $2.16 billion in 2006 from sales of natural gas, accounting for half the country's exports and serving as its single largest source of foreign exchange. In September, a Washington, D.C.-based group called EarthRights International said Myanmar's military siphoned off at least $4.8 billion in revenues from gas in recent years, storing much of the money in foreign banks.
Critics say some of the worst human-rights abuses -- including the use of forced labor -- occurred in the construction of the country's last major pipeline project, called Yadana, in the 1990s. EarthRights has compiled reports detailing the allegations and posted them online.
Many foreign companies in Myanmar, including Total and Chevron, have said they are not involved in human-rights abuses and that their investments benefit both the Myanmar people as well as consumers of the energy in other neighboring countries, including Thailand. Total has set up a Web site detailing its operations in the country with more detailed responses to some of the allegations regarding the Yadana project.
As energy demands in the region grow, interest in Myanmar's untapped reserves -- and the debates over whether they should be developed -- will only increase.
WSJ - A Look at Myanmar's History as Emerging Energy Supplier
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
Sandwiched in between China and India, two of the world's biggest new sources of energy demand, Myanmar is believed to have significant untapped reserves of natural gas. But its tangled history of government restrictions and, more recently, allegations of human-rights violations have limited outside investment to develop its resources.
The country now known as Myanmar was one of the world's first oil producers, with some exports as early as 1853. Foreign investment followed, with sizable fields developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In 1962, the country came under the control of a military regime that nationalized the oil and gas industry. Until the late 1980s, the government kept foreign operators out. But beginning in 1988, it liberalized the oil and gas sector to begin allowing outside investment again. Western companies including Total S.A. and Unocal Corp. -- later bought by Chevron -- entered the market.
Within a few years, however, the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions against Myanmar's military regime, preventing other Western companies from staking a claim. In their absence, a host of investors from Asia and elsewhere expanded their operations, including Cnooc Ltd. of China and South Korea's Daewoo International. The process intensified after 2004, as Myanmar authorities accelerated the opening of areas for exploration.
By 2007, at least 27 companies from 13 countries, including Petronas of Malaysia and ONGC of India, were active in Myanmar's oil and gas industry, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The list included numerous companies that are wholly or partially owned by national governments in the region.
Although discoveries of oil have been limited, companies have found sizable deposits of natural gas, which now makes up the bulk of Myanmar's production. Foreign companies are particularly interested in offshore areas along Myanmar's western coast in the Bay of Bengal near Bangladesh, where a consortium including Daewoo is developing a major gas asset that will include a pipeline to China.
Human-rights advocates decry the rise in foreign investment in gas in Myanmar because they believe much of the revenue is used by Myanmar's military regime to support its rule and commit human-rights violations.
According to Human Rights Watch, Myanmar's military government earned approximately $2.16 billion in 2006 from sales of natural gas, accounting for half the country's exports and serving as its single largest source of foreign exchange. In September, a Washington, D.C.-based group called EarthRights International said Myanmar's military siphoned off at least $4.8 billion in revenues from gas in recent years, storing much of the money in foreign banks.
Critics say some of the worst human-rights abuses -- including the use of forced labor -- occurred in the construction of the country's last major pipeline project, called Yadana, in the 1990s. EarthRights has compiled reports detailing the allegations and posted them online.
Many foreign companies in Myanmar, including Total and Chevron, have said they are not involved in human-rights abuses and that their investments benefit both the Myanmar people as well as consumers of the energy in other neighboring countries, including Thailand. Total has set up a Web site detailing its operations in the country with more detailed responses to some of the allegations regarding the Yadana project.
As energy demands in the region grow, interest in Myanmar's untapped reserves -- and the debates over whether they should be developed -- will only increase.
****************************************************************
Myanmar, Japan economic cooperation committees meet in Yangon
www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-03 11:37:28
YANGON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Cooperation Committees of Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) and the Japan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) have met here to seek ways of boosting trade and investment between the two countries, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.
The 7th joint meeting of the economic cooperation committees of the UMFCCI and JCCI discussed economies of Myanmar and Japan, and further cooperation between the two business organizations.
The UMFCCI was headed by its chairman U Win Myint, while the JCCI by its president Sumitaka Fujita who is leading an economic delegation on a current visit to Myanmar.
Myanmar and Japan have been cooperating in a number of sectors and Japan traditionally stands as Myanmar's biggest donor country.
Japan's investment in Myanmar, according to figures, so far amounted to 216.76 million U.S. dollars in 23 projects since 1988.
The bilateral trade between Myanmar and Japan stood 341.8 million dollars in the 2008-09 fiscal year, of which Myanmar's export to Japan amounted to 179.6 million dollars with Japan ranking the 6th in Myanmar's exporting countries line-up. Myanmar's import from Japan took 162.2 million dollars.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-03 11:37:28
YANGON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Cooperation Committees of Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) and the Japan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) have met here to seek ways of boosting trade and investment between the two countries, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.
The 7th joint meeting of the economic cooperation committees of the UMFCCI and JCCI discussed economies of Myanmar and Japan, and further cooperation between the two business organizations.
The UMFCCI was headed by its chairman U Win Myint, while the JCCI by its president Sumitaka Fujita who is leading an economic delegation on a current visit to Myanmar.
Myanmar and Japan have been cooperating in a number of sectors and Japan traditionally stands as Myanmar's biggest donor country.
Japan's investment in Myanmar, according to figures, so far amounted to 216.76 million U.S. dollars in 23 projects since 1988.
The bilateral trade between Myanmar and Japan stood 341.8 million dollars in the 2008-09 fiscal year, of which Myanmar's export to Japan amounted to 179.6 million dollars with Japan ranking the 6th in Myanmar's exporting countries line-up. Myanmar's import from Japan took 162.2 million dollars.
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Myanmar to join world travel market show in UK
www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-03 20:23:18
YANGON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will join the World Travel Market show 2009 to be held in the United Kingdom next week as its efforts to attract more world travelers to the country, sources with the Myanmar Marketing Committee (MCC) said on Tuesday.
The four-day event in London from Nov. 9 to 12 will be attended by MMC and some local travel agencies, the sources said.
In the world travel market show, the committee will distribute brochures, maps, magazines and travel and tourism information about Myanmar, it said.
Meanwhile, the Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) and MMC also took part in Travel Mart plus 2009-TTM 2009 in Bangkok, "Leisure 2009" in Russia and "ITB Asia 2009" in Singapore in June, September and October respectively.
Myanmar's tourism business started to drop near the end of 2007and continued in 2008 during which deadly cyclone Nargis hit the country. Moreover, the global financial crisis, which sparked in late 2008, also affected Myanmar's tourism sector.
The tourism authorities are working hard to promote the country's international tourism market for the revival of its tourism industry.
According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar in 2008-09 fiscal year ended in March totaled over 255,000.
The country targets tourist arrival of 1 million in the present2009-10 fiscal year which began in April.
Myanmar, rich with natural resources, beautiful environment and ancient cultural heritage, possesses potential opportunities for further development of the country's tourism industry, observers here said.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-03 20:23:18
YANGON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will join the World Travel Market show 2009 to be held in the United Kingdom next week as its efforts to attract more world travelers to the country, sources with the Myanmar Marketing Committee (MCC) said on Tuesday.
The four-day event in London from Nov. 9 to 12 will be attended by MMC and some local travel agencies, the sources said.
In the world travel market show, the committee will distribute brochures, maps, magazines and travel and tourism information about Myanmar, it said.
Meanwhile, the Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) and MMC also took part in Travel Mart plus 2009-TTM 2009 in Bangkok, "Leisure 2009" in Russia and "ITB Asia 2009" in Singapore in June, September and October respectively.
Myanmar's tourism business started to drop near the end of 2007and continued in 2008 during which deadly cyclone Nargis hit the country. Moreover, the global financial crisis, which sparked in late 2008, also affected Myanmar's tourism sector.
The tourism authorities are working hard to promote the country's international tourism market for the revival of its tourism industry.
According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar in 2008-09 fiscal year ended in March totaled over 255,000.
The country targets tourist arrival of 1 million in the present2009-10 fiscal year which began in April.
Myanmar, rich with natural resources, beautiful environment and ancient cultural heritage, possesses potential opportunities for further development of the country's tourism industry, observers here said.
****************************************************************
Thaksin not to reside in Cambodia: Thai opposition leader
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-31 14:40:02
BANGKOK, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to permanently reside in Cambodia as he did not want to create problem to Thailand, opposition Puea Thai Party Chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyuth said Saturday.
"I asked him through people close him why he did not stay in Cambodia as it is near home and family, Thaksin said that he did not want to create problem," the INN news agency quoted Chavalit, deputy prime minister in Thaksin's administration as saying.
It was a test of Thaksin's thought, he said.
Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in September 2006 and has been in exile since then. In February 2008, Thaksin returned to Thailand to face corruption charges but later went to exile again and was convicted in absentia.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told reporters during the recent 15th ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit at Thailand's central beach resort of Hua Hin that Cambodiawould not hand over Thaksin to Thailand if Thailand sought his extradition.
Hun Sen also said that he could appoint Thaksin as his economic advisor.
The opposition party chairman said that he is planning to visit neighboring country of Malaysia in mid-November and visit Myanmar after that.
"I have known Gen Than Shwe (Myanmar top leader) for quite a long time and he can help improve relations between Thailand and Myanmar," he said.
Over the criticism that he was trying to discredit the government and to help Thaksin, Chavalit said if someone wants to do a big thing, he must be able to stand for such a negative criticism.
Also on Saturday, Thailand's Attorney-General Julasingh Wasantsingh said that Cambodia reserves the rights to refuse to extradite Thaksin if he stays in the neighboring country, but substantial grounds must be provided.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-31 14:40:02
BANGKOK, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to permanently reside in Cambodia as he did not want to create problem to Thailand, opposition Puea Thai Party Chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyuth said Saturday.
"I asked him through people close him why he did not stay in Cambodia as it is near home and family, Thaksin said that he did not want to create problem," the INN news agency quoted Chavalit, deputy prime minister in Thaksin's administration as saying.
It was a test of Thaksin's thought, he said.
Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in September 2006 and has been in exile since then. In February 2008, Thaksin returned to Thailand to face corruption charges but later went to exile again and was convicted in absentia.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told reporters during the recent 15th ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit at Thailand's central beach resort of Hua Hin that Cambodiawould not hand over Thaksin to Thailand if Thailand sought his extradition.
Hun Sen also said that he could appoint Thaksin as his economic advisor.
The opposition party chairman said that he is planning to visit neighboring country of Malaysia in mid-November and visit Myanmar after that.
"I have known Gen Than Shwe (Myanmar top leader) for quite a long time and he can help improve relations between Thailand and Myanmar," he said.
Over the criticism that he was trying to discredit the government and to help Thaksin, Chavalit said if someone wants to do a big thing, he must be able to stand for such a negative criticism.
Also on Saturday, Thailand's Attorney-General Julasingh Wasantsingh said that Cambodia reserves the rights to refuse to extradite Thaksin if he stays in the neighboring country, but substantial grounds must be provided.
****************************************************************
Monday November 2, 2009
Malaysia Star - Once a child bride
Stories by MICHELLE CHAN
A young girl escaped marriage to drug warlord Khun Sa, but ended up as a bride to the son of his successor. This is the story of her journey from heroin heartland to new-found freedom.
NOTHING in the demeanour of housekeeper Mai, 22, revealed her past. Doe-eyed and perky, the ex-teenage bride from a drug warlord’s empire easily blended unnoticed into the crowd at the busy market in the ancient Thai capital of Chiangmai. Her sweet smile and slim frame gave no hint of her early days in the ruthless opium-churning regime of Indochina – the Khun Sa fiefdom.
Mai was born in the eastern Myanmar border town of Tachileik, the youngest of four daughters of a Shan family. Her earliest memories revolved around the jungle playground of Khun Sa’s infamous narcotics empire in the early 1990s, where her oldest sister was given to the Opium King at 15 years old – as the latest addition to his burgeoning harem.
At almost 60, he was four times her age. That arrangement worked well economically for Mai’s family. Once elevated as relatives of the drug baron, they were not denied any luxury despite the fact they lived inaccessible lives in the jungles of the Thai-Myanmar border.
“We had houses in several cities as well as in the jungle. Our jungle community was equipped with satellite TV, schools and high-tech ammunition. Soldiers became our servants, drivers and gardeners, tending our farms where we reared ducks and fishes, and planted vegetables,” recalled the dewy-complexioned Mai.
Her family also enjoyed dual Thai-Myanmarese identification which gave them access between the porous border and property ownership in both countries.
At the height of his power in the 1980s, military separatist Khun Sa was believed to have controlled at least 70% of the heroin trade in the Golden Triangle – an area straddling the Thai-Myanmar-Laos border. This accounted for an estimated 45% of the heroin entering the United States, which led to a US$2mil bounty for his capture.
The Opium King had once offered to sell 1,000 tonnes of heroin to the US government, proposing that by doing so, the drugs will not enter the international narcotics market. He was indicted in a New York court in 1989.
Khun Sa “surrendered” to Myanmar authorities in 1996 and retired quietly in Yangon until his death in 2007 at the age of 73.
“Even though he was convicted, Khun Sa still walked around like a free man; he roamed the beach and town. He had bodyguards and his car was tinted, while others weren’t. One thing he could not do was leave the country. He was a wanted man all over the world, and he chose to stay in Myanmar because he was powerful there,” Mai explained.
Ignoring the US government’s hefty price on his head, the drug moghul lived in relative peace and luxury during his final years, surrounded by the women of his choice. Mai’s sister was not part of the chosen retinue.
Running out of favour with an ageing warlord in the twilight of his reign, Mai’s family realised their life of comfort was about to end. Khun Sa’s more senior and experienced wives were already eyeing his vast investments, while his henchmen waited for their share of his expansive opium empire.
Ranked low in seniority, Mai’s family was no match for the veteran wives who quickly carved out his fortune and left little for their juniors.
“When Khun Sa died, his other consorts and relatives took control of his estate and my teenaged sister was left with nothing,” said Mai, “even her dual Thai identification was confiscated.”
Meanwhile, another ethnic minority group, the Wa, rose to power forming the United Wa State Army (UWSA), picking up from where Khun Sa left off. However, they “did not have as much authority as Khun Sa, as they operated under the thumb of the Myanmarese authorities”, said Mai.
“After Khun Sa’s ‘surrender’, a successor took over his position. His son came and looked for me. We started a relationship,” she said.
In an effort to salvage their lot and secure their family position, Mai, then 15, was offered as a bride to the son of the new heroin honcho.
“The man’s son went to my mum and asked for me. My mum did not stop him. We hung out and slept together. At that time I was naïve; he was 10 years older. He never mentioned he had a wife in Chiangmai. One day his wife came back, and he started to avoid me. By then I had grown very attached to him.
“I cried for days and contemplated suicide,” said Mai who by then had three older sisters hooked on drugs and a mentally ill father. However, Mai’s attempted suicide came to naught when the sleeping pills she took from her father’s medication stash turned out to be expired and useless.
“My parents discovered my attempt on my life but kept quiet. Later, they sent me to Chiangmai to study. My niece and her adopted sister came along. Since I was the oldest at 16, I was appointed to handle the finances.”
It was a difficult time for the three young girls to start living on their own.
“When we were rich, we did not bother with each other, and when all three of us were forced to live in one room, we could not get along. We could not see eye to eye on when to sleep and clean up, nor did we respect each other.” Her niece returned to Myanmar, while the other girl eloped with a man.
Mai dropped out of university after one semester as she was unable to pay tutorial fees. She started to drift from one job to another. After short stints scooping ice-cream in Haagen-Dazs and sitting behind the city’s many guesthouse receptions, she found solace in Christianity and decided to take stock of her life.
As a live-in domestic helper, Mai is thankful that her employer allows her flexible hours to pursue an Economics course and run a T-shirt business.
“This is my fresh start. God willing, I will use the most of my second chance, and give back to the community,” said Mai resolutely.
Malaysia Star - Once a child bride
Stories by MICHELLE CHAN
A young girl escaped marriage to drug warlord Khun Sa, but ended up as a bride to the son of his successor. This is the story of her journey from heroin heartland to new-found freedom.
NOTHING in the demeanour of housekeeper Mai, 22, revealed her past. Doe-eyed and perky, the ex-teenage bride from a drug warlord’s empire easily blended unnoticed into the crowd at the busy market in the ancient Thai capital of Chiangmai. Her sweet smile and slim frame gave no hint of her early days in the ruthless opium-churning regime of Indochina – the Khun Sa fiefdom.
Mai was born in the eastern Myanmar border town of Tachileik, the youngest of four daughters of a Shan family. Her earliest memories revolved around the jungle playground of Khun Sa’s infamous narcotics empire in the early 1990s, where her oldest sister was given to the Opium King at 15 years old – as the latest addition to his burgeoning harem.
At almost 60, he was four times her age. That arrangement worked well economically for Mai’s family. Once elevated as relatives of the drug baron, they were not denied any luxury despite the fact they lived inaccessible lives in the jungles of the Thai-Myanmar border.
“We had houses in several cities as well as in the jungle. Our jungle community was equipped with satellite TV, schools and high-tech ammunition. Soldiers became our servants, drivers and gardeners, tending our farms where we reared ducks and fishes, and planted vegetables,” recalled the dewy-complexioned Mai.
Her family also enjoyed dual Thai-Myanmarese identification which gave them access between the porous border and property ownership in both countries.
At the height of his power in the 1980s, military separatist Khun Sa was believed to have controlled at least 70% of the heroin trade in the Golden Triangle – an area straddling the Thai-Myanmar-Laos border. This accounted for an estimated 45% of the heroin entering the United States, which led to a US$2mil bounty for his capture.
The Opium King had once offered to sell 1,000 tonnes of heroin to the US government, proposing that by doing so, the drugs will not enter the international narcotics market. He was indicted in a New York court in 1989.
Khun Sa “surrendered” to Myanmar authorities in 1996 and retired quietly in Yangon until his death in 2007 at the age of 73.
“Even though he was convicted, Khun Sa still walked around like a free man; he roamed the beach and town. He had bodyguards and his car was tinted, while others weren’t. One thing he could not do was leave the country. He was a wanted man all over the world, and he chose to stay in Myanmar because he was powerful there,” Mai explained.
Ignoring the US government’s hefty price on his head, the drug moghul lived in relative peace and luxury during his final years, surrounded by the women of his choice. Mai’s sister was not part of the chosen retinue.
Running out of favour with an ageing warlord in the twilight of his reign, Mai’s family realised their life of comfort was about to end. Khun Sa’s more senior and experienced wives were already eyeing his vast investments, while his henchmen waited for their share of his expansive opium empire.
Ranked low in seniority, Mai’s family was no match for the veteran wives who quickly carved out his fortune and left little for their juniors.
“When Khun Sa died, his other consorts and relatives took control of his estate and my teenaged sister was left with nothing,” said Mai, “even her dual Thai identification was confiscated.”
Meanwhile, another ethnic minority group, the Wa, rose to power forming the United Wa State Army (UWSA), picking up from where Khun Sa left off. However, they “did not have as much authority as Khun Sa, as they operated under the thumb of the Myanmarese authorities”, said Mai.
“After Khun Sa’s ‘surrender’, a successor took over his position. His son came and looked for me. We started a relationship,” she said.
In an effort to salvage their lot and secure their family position, Mai, then 15, was offered as a bride to the son of the new heroin honcho.
“The man’s son went to my mum and asked for me. My mum did not stop him. We hung out and slept together. At that time I was naïve; he was 10 years older. He never mentioned he had a wife in Chiangmai. One day his wife came back, and he started to avoid me. By then I had grown very attached to him.
“I cried for days and contemplated suicide,” said Mai who by then had three older sisters hooked on drugs and a mentally ill father. However, Mai’s attempted suicide came to naught when the sleeping pills she took from her father’s medication stash turned out to be expired and useless.
“My parents discovered my attempt on my life but kept quiet. Later, they sent me to Chiangmai to study. My niece and her adopted sister came along. Since I was the oldest at 16, I was appointed to handle the finances.”
It was a difficult time for the three young girls to start living on their own.
“When we were rich, we did not bother with each other, and when all three of us were forced to live in one room, we could not get along. We could not see eye to eye on when to sleep and clean up, nor did we respect each other.” Her niece returned to Myanmar, while the other girl eloped with a man.
Mai dropped out of university after one semester as she was unable to pay tutorial fees. She started to drift from one job to another. After short stints scooping ice-cream in Haagen-Dazs and sitting behind the city’s many guesthouse receptions, she found solace in Christianity and decided to take stock of her life.
As a live-in domestic helper, Mai is thankful that her employer allows her flexible hours to pursue an Economics course and run a T-shirt business.
“This is my fresh start. God willing, I will use the most of my second chance, and give back to the community,” said Mai resolutely.
****************************************************************
MassLive.com - More than 100 Burmese refugees relocated to Western Mass. to escape reported abuse in Myanmar
By Elizabeth Roman
November 01, 2009, 1:00PM
The refugees have moved with the help of Jewish Family Services of Springfield and Lutheran Social Services in West Springfield.
Sugarmoon doesn’t have a last name. No one in her tribe does, but in the United States first and last names are required, so now her name is Sugar Moon.
“It’s very strange to separate my name that way,” the 22-year-old says.
Home for Sugarmoon until just a year ago was a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand.
Sugarmoon is part of the Karen tribe, a group of Burmese people who fled their country, now called Myanmar, seeking refuge from reported abuse by the ruling government.
Many were forced to work in labor camps and were physically and sexually abused by military personnel, said Duane Binkley, an agricultural missionary who has worked extensively with Burmese refugees in the United States. Most of those who fled first went to refugee camps in Thailand and Malaysia.
Over the past year-and-a-half, more than 100 Burmese refugees have been placed in Western Massachusetts with the help of Jewish Family Services of Springfield and Lutheran Social Services in West Springfield.
Both organizations help hundreds of refugees from around the globe resettle here each year. The agencies help find housing, transportation, jobs and enroll children in schools, said Misha Gregorian, of Lutheran Social Services, who works with the Burmese refugees when they arrive.
Sugarmoon is among the lucky few who arrived here with a grasp of the English language.
“Language is the most serious barrier for Karen people,” Gregorian said, explaining how most refugees struggle for months to learn English.
Language is one of the three basic things he cites as necessary for the refugees to prosper here; the others are work and transportation. He has helped place the Karen children in schools where they are completely immersed in studies in English and also enrolls as many adults as he can in English classes.
Many of the refugees have also found a kind of home-away-from-home at Agawam’s First Baptist Church.
“It is such a blessing to have them here with us,” said the pastor, the Rev. Thomas N. Rice.
The newest members of Rice’s flock began arriving earlier this year.
“They are learning from us, but we are also learning from them, about their traditions and their way of worship,” Rice said.
Each Sunday, he encourages the refugees to read a passage of the Bible in their native language and sing a worship song to help immerse the American congregates into their culture and religious traditions.
Church member Darcy Davis finds it exciting to have the refugees in the congregation.
“It has been a learning experience for all of us,” she said. “It is wonderful to see the children running around the church and bringing a new life to it.”
Church members have also come together to provide clothing and other necessities to the refugee families, according to Edith Gottsche.
“They need shoes and warm clothes for the winter and car seats,” she said. “ We have gathered as much as we can to help them.”
Rice has an unusual connection with Burma as his parents were missionaries there in the 1940s and he was born there in 1947. “Having them here feels like a piece of my past,” he said. “It feels like the natural thing to do to help them and welcome them to our church.”
The Baptist faith has a long history with Burma. While Buddhism is still the primary belief system many Burmese have been Baptists since missionaries, including Adoniram Judson, first visited the country in the early 1800s.
“The Burmese government only accepts Buddhism as the national religion, and many of these refugees have been persecuted for their beliefs. We feel it is important for us to help them now,” Rice said.
Binkley spoke in Agawam this summer about the Karen tribe’s history in Myanmar and Thailand and the problems the refugees face today. Due to their fear of persecution many Burmese will not, in fact, admit that they are Baptist, so there is no accurate number of how many there are, Binkley said.
Binkley estimates more than 40,000 refugees have been moved to the U.S. in the past five years. Many come from separate camps in Thailand and Malaysia, he said, and their moves to the U.S. bring both opportunities and difficulties.
“They have to learn to pay utility bills and learn to speak English and learn how to use transportation all in a very short time period,” he said. “Many of the families rely on their children to learn English in school and translate for them.”
East Longmeadow High School teacher Ray Williams Jr., of Agawam, began teaching English for the refugees at the church on Sundays after the services.
“It’s really a very slow process, but they are the most hard working group of people I have ever met,” he said. “All of them have a willingness and a desire to learn even though it is incredibly difficult for them to construct even basic sentences,” he said, explaining how their language is monosyllabic, “so they have no concept of words with multiple syllables.”
Williams incorporates useful topics, like unit and sale prices and how to take a bus, into his teaching. Many of the families are still very isolated within neighborhoods of Springfield and West Springfield, he said.
“Some of them come to church on Sunday, and then they do not leave their house again until the next Sunday,” he said.
“There are many difficulties for us here,” acknowledged Ka Ba Aye, one of two Burmese ministers at the church. He is regarded as a spiritual leader for the group and conducts services in Burmese after the regular Sunday service in English.
“The biggest difference in our small service is the language,” he said through a translator, Aung Myo. “ We still worship the same God. We still read the same Bible.”
Ka Bay Ya is 59-years-old. He came to the United States less than a year ago with his wife and five children and says he’s found it a struggle to live a decent life.
“Many of our people do not have enough money to live every month,” Ya said. “We cannot find jobs, or, if we do, it is difficult to get transportation to the jobs.”
Currently only two members of the congregation have driver’s permits, Paw Htoo, a young father, and Myo, 21, who came to the U.S. a year ago and is a student at Springfield Technical Community College.
“They need to offer the permit in our language so that more of us can drive,” Myo said. “We also need a van because ours broke and it is difficult for people to get around.”
The congregation is desperately seeking a van to help transport families to and from church and work if they can find it.
“Right now several of us are taking three round-trips every Sunday to bring them to church,” Williams said. “They want to achieve some level of independence and being able to drive would be a great help.”
Rice said that while there are some problems to work out he is proud of the congregation for accepting the Karen people.
“ It has been an adjustment for all of us. The Karens have to adjust to a different climate, a different language and a different way of life. Our congregation has had to take on the challenge of helping them,” he said. “It is really our faith that has brought us all together and is transforming us into one community.”
Sugarmoon’s mother still lives in Thailand where she worked at a health clinic at the refugee camp and picked up English from British and Australian doctors and nurses. She taught English to Sugarmoon and her sister in hopes that they could move to the U.S. and attend college.
Sugarmoon is making her mother’s dream a reality. She is a student at Springfield Technical Community College, studying to be an engineer. She also works part time with Lutheran Family Services, translating for new refugees as they arrive.
“I am not an interpreter really,” she explained. “Some words I cannot translate, but I try to make them understand. The English language is very difficult especially for the older people who come because most do not have any schooling.”
At Lutheran Family Services, agriculturist Shemariah Blum-Evitts helped families start their own vegetable gardens this summer in Holyoke, West Springfield and Westfield. Most of the Karens are familiar with farming and requested certain gourds native to their home, according to Blum-Evitts.
“They are hard-working people, and they want to provide for their families. By helping them start their own gardens they can become more self sufficient,” she said.
Back home Ler Thaw owned a small market where he sold fruits and vegetables. He was also a Baptist minister. He arrived in January with two of his four children; the rest of his family remains in Thailand.
Through translation from Sugarmoon, Thaw said it has been difficult to live here without a job. “I want to work, but it is hard to find jobs here,” he said.
As for Sugarmoon, she hopes to bring her mother and sister here when she obtains citizenship, a process she said could take years. For now she is working on her English and adjusting to a new life.
“I still can’t believe that I am here in America. I sometimes wake up and I think I am back home,” she said. “But, then I remember I am here, and my mother’s dream is real for me.”
By Elizabeth Roman
November 01, 2009, 1:00PM
The refugees have moved with the help of Jewish Family Services of Springfield and Lutheran Social Services in West Springfield.
Sugarmoon doesn’t have a last name. No one in her tribe does, but in the United States first and last names are required, so now her name is Sugar Moon.
“It’s very strange to separate my name that way,” the 22-year-old says.
Home for Sugarmoon until just a year ago was a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand.
Sugarmoon is part of the Karen tribe, a group of Burmese people who fled their country, now called Myanmar, seeking refuge from reported abuse by the ruling government.
Many were forced to work in labor camps and were physically and sexually abused by military personnel, said Duane Binkley, an agricultural missionary who has worked extensively with Burmese refugees in the United States. Most of those who fled first went to refugee camps in Thailand and Malaysia.
Over the past year-and-a-half, more than 100 Burmese refugees have been placed in Western Massachusetts with the help of Jewish Family Services of Springfield and Lutheran Social Services in West Springfield.
Both organizations help hundreds of refugees from around the globe resettle here each year. The agencies help find housing, transportation, jobs and enroll children in schools, said Misha Gregorian, of Lutheran Social Services, who works with the Burmese refugees when they arrive.
Sugarmoon is among the lucky few who arrived here with a grasp of the English language.
“Language is the most serious barrier for Karen people,” Gregorian said, explaining how most refugees struggle for months to learn English.
Language is one of the three basic things he cites as necessary for the refugees to prosper here; the others are work and transportation. He has helped place the Karen children in schools where they are completely immersed in studies in English and also enrolls as many adults as he can in English classes.
Many of the refugees have also found a kind of home-away-from-home at Agawam’s First Baptist Church.
“It is such a blessing to have them here with us,” said the pastor, the Rev. Thomas N. Rice.
The newest members of Rice’s flock began arriving earlier this year.
“They are learning from us, but we are also learning from them, about their traditions and their way of worship,” Rice said.
Each Sunday, he encourages the refugees to read a passage of the Bible in their native language and sing a worship song to help immerse the American congregates into their culture and religious traditions.
Church member Darcy Davis finds it exciting to have the refugees in the congregation.
“It has been a learning experience for all of us,” she said. “It is wonderful to see the children running around the church and bringing a new life to it.”
Church members have also come together to provide clothing and other necessities to the refugee families, according to Edith Gottsche.
“They need shoes and warm clothes for the winter and car seats,” she said. “ We have gathered as much as we can to help them.”
Rice has an unusual connection with Burma as his parents were missionaries there in the 1940s and he was born there in 1947. “Having them here feels like a piece of my past,” he said. “It feels like the natural thing to do to help them and welcome them to our church.”
The Baptist faith has a long history with Burma. While Buddhism is still the primary belief system many Burmese have been Baptists since missionaries, including Adoniram Judson, first visited the country in the early 1800s.
“The Burmese government only accepts Buddhism as the national religion, and many of these refugees have been persecuted for their beliefs. We feel it is important for us to help them now,” Rice said.
Binkley spoke in Agawam this summer about the Karen tribe’s history in Myanmar and Thailand and the problems the refugees face today. Due to their fear of persecution many Burmese will not, in fact, admit that they are Baptist, so there is no accurate number of how many there are, Binkley said.
Binkley estimates more than 40,000 refugees have been moved to the U.S. in the past five years. Many come from separate camps in Thailand and Malaysia, he said, and their moves to the U.S. bring both opportunities and difficulties.
“They have to learn to pay utility bills and learn to speak English and learn how to use transportation all in a very short time period,” he said. “Many of the families rely on their children to learn English in school and translate for them.”
East Longmeadow High School teacher Ray Williams Jr., of Agawam, began teaching English for the refugees at the church on Sundays after the services.
“It’s really a very slow process, but they are the most hard working group of people I have ever met,” he said. “All of them have a willingness and a desire to learn even though it is incredibly difficult for them to construct even basic sentences,” he said, explaining how their language is monosyllabic, “so they have no concept of words with multiple syllables.”
Williams incorporates useful topics, like unit and sale prices and how to take a bus, into his teaching. Many of the families are still very isolated within neighborhoods of Springfield and West Springfield, he said.
“Some of them come to church on Sunday, and then they do not leave their house again until the next Sunday,” he said.
“There are many difficulties for us here,” acknowledged Ka Ba Aye, one of two Burmese ministers at the church. He is regarded as a spiritual leader for the group and conducts services in Burmese after the regular Sunday service in English.
“The biggest difference in our small service is the language,” he said through a translator, Aung Myo. “ We still worship the same God. We still read the same Bible.”
Ka Bay Ya is 59-years-old. He came to the United States less than a year ago with his wife and five children and says he’s found it a struggle to live a decent life.
“Many of our people do not have enough money to live every month,” Ya said. “We cannot find jobs, or, if we do, it is difficult to get transportation to the jobs.”
Currently only two members of the congregation have driver’s permits, Paw Htoo, a young father, and Myo, 21, who came to the U.S. a year ago and is a student at Springfield Technical Community College.
“They need to offer the permit in our language so that more of us can drive,” Myo said. “We also need a van because ours broke and it is difficult for people to get around.”
The congregation is desperately seeking a van to help transport families to and from church and work if they can find it.
“Right now several of us are taking three round-trips every Sunday to bring them to church,” Williams said. “They want to achieve some level of independence and being able to drive would be a great help.”
Rice said that while there are some problems to work out he is proud of the congregation for accepting the Karen people.
“ It has been an adjustment for all of us. The Karens have to adjust to a different climate, a different language and a different way of life. Our congregation has had to take on the challenge of helping them,” he said. “It is really our faith that has brought us all together and is transforming us into one community.”
Sugarmoon’s mother still lives in Thailand where she worked at a health clinic at the refugee camp and picked up English from British and Australian doctors and nurses. She taught English to Sugarmoon and her sister in hopes that they could move to the U.S. and attend college.
Sugarmoon is making her mother’s dream a reality. She is a student at Springfield Technical Community College, studying to be an engineer. She also works part time with Lutheran Family Services, translating for new refugees as they arrive.
“I am not an interpreter really,” she explained. “Some words I cannot translate, but I try to make them understand. The English language is very difficult especially for the older people who come because most do not have any schooling.”
At Lutheran Family Services, agriculturist Shemariah Blum-Evitts helped families start their own vegetable gardens this summer in Holyoke, West Springfield and Westfield. Most of the Karens are familiar with farming and requested certain gourds native to their home, according to Blum-Evitts.
“They are hard-working people, and they want to provide for their families. By helping them start their own gardens they can become more self sufficient,” she said.
Back home Ler Thaw owned a small market where he sold fruits and vegetables. He was also a Baptist minister. He arrived in January with two of his four children; the rest of his family remains in Thailand.
Through translation from Sugarmoon, Thaw said it has been difficult to live here without a job. “I want to work, but it is hard to find jobs here,” he said.
As for Sugarmoon, she hopes to bring her mother and sister here when she obtains citizenship, a process she said could take years. For now she is working on her English and adjusting to a new life.
“I still can’t believe that I am here in America. I sometimes wake up and I think I am back home,” she said. “But, then I remember I am here, and my mother’s dream is real for me.”
****************************************************************
Channel News Asia - One killed, 15 injured in Thai festival explosion
Posted: 01 November 2009 1610 hrs
BANGKOK : One man was killed and 15 people were injured when a hydrogen tank for filling balloons exploded at a water lantern festival in western Thailand, local police said on Sunday.
A 38-year-old Myanmar man died in the accident in Tak province on Saturday night and two people were seriously injured with burns on their faces, the police said. A 13-year-old girl was among the other 13 hurt.
They had gathered for the colourful Loy Krathong festival, celebrated annually across Thailand.
The festival's name refers to handmade rafts, often made from banana leaves, which are filled with flowers, candles and incense sticks and floated in rivers to give thanks for water and apologise for wrongdoing.
Posted: 01 November 2009 1610 hrs
BANGKOK : One man was killed and 15 people were injured when a hydrogen tank for filling balloons exploded at a water lantern festival in western Thailand, local police said on Sunday.
A 38-year-old Myanmar man died in the accident in Tak province on Saturday night and two people were seriously injured with burns on their faces, the police said. A 13-year-old girl was among the other 13 hurt.
They had gathered for the colourful Loy Krathong festival, celebrated annually across Thailand.
The festival's name refers to handmade rafts, often made from banana leaves, which are filled with flowers, candles and incense sticks and floated in rivers to give thanks for water and apologise for wrongdoing.
****************************************************************
Mizzima News - Optimism over reopening of NLD-Rangoon branch
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 20:32
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Members of the Rangoon division National League for Democracy, Burma’s main opposition party, are optimistic about their office reopening after the 1990 Election Commission on Monday called them for a meeting over it, following a request.
Dr. Than Nyein, Chairman of the Rangoon Division NLD, on Tuesday told Mizzima that he along with several of his colleagues were called to the divisional commission office, near the Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon, and asked to submit the list of currently active committee members.
“They [the Commission] told us to submit a fresh list of committee members of the NLD-Rangoon division and said that further discussions would be held after the submission,” Dr. Tha Nyein said.
He said, the Rangoon Division NLD in early October submitted an appeal, requesting the Commission to allow them to reopen their office, which was closed in 2003.
“What is significant here is that the Commission said they would like to have the list of the current divisional committee members of the NLD and did not ask for the names of old members,” he added.
Formed in 1988, several members including branch office committee members of the NLD have gone missing. While some have died, several others are in exile and scores of them are still incarcerated.
Dr. Than Nyein, who was imprisoned for 11 years and released on September 2008 said, in earlier years the Commission would question them about NLD branch offices not having the required number of committee members to be allowed to open their offices.
“But this time they did not ask us that, instead they told us to immediately send the list of those that are currently active,” he added.
He said, the NLD - Rangoon division, submitted a request to the Commission in early October as the office in Rangoon’s Tamwe Township needs to be repaired and as a legal political party, it needs the office to carry out its activities.
Burma’s military junta, which had promised to return to the barracks after conducting a general election in 1990, refused to hand over power to the NLD, which recorded a landslide victory.
Instead the junta disbanded all political parties and closed their offices, except the NLD’s headquarters in Rangoon’s West Shwegondine Street.
“Whatever the reasons, I believe that if we are allowed to reopen our office, it would be beneficial for both the government and for us,” he added.
In recent months, the Burmese junta has granted rare permission to detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet western diplomats on her request and also allowed her party to meet several visiting foreign diplomats including those from the US, UK and Australia.
On Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell and US Undersecretary Scott Marciel began a two-day visit to Burma. The two diplomats are expected to meet several junta officials including Minister for Information, Kyaw San in Naypyitaw.
On Wednesday, before concluding their trip, the two diplomats will also be meeting Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years under some form of detention.
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 20:32
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Members of the Rangoon division National League for Democracy, Burma’s main opposition party, are optimistic about their office reopening after the 1990 Election Commission on Monday called them for a meeting over it, following a request.
Dr. Than Nyein, Chairman of the Rangoon Division NLD, on Tuesday told Mizzima that he along with several of his colleagues were called to the divisional commission office, near the Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon, and asked to submit the list of currently active committee members.
“They [the Commission] told us to submit a fresh list of committee members of the NLD-Rangoon division and said that further discussions would be held after the submission,” Dr. Tha Nyein said.
He said, the Rangoon Division NLD in early October submitted an appeal, requesting the Commission to allow them to reopen their office, which was closed in 2003.
“What is significant here is that the Commission said they would like to have the list of the current divisional committee members of the NLD and did not ask for the names of old members,” he added.
Formed in 1988, several members including branch office committee members of the NLD have gone missing. While some have died, several others are in exile and scores of them are still incarcerated.
Dr. Than Nyein, who was imprisoned for 11 years and released on September 2008 said, in earlier years the Commission would question them about NLD branch offices not having the required number of committee members to be allowed to open their offices.
“But this time they did not ask us that, instead they told us to immediately send the list of those that are currently active,” he added.
He said, the NLD - Rangoon division, submitted a request to the Commission in early October as the office in Rangoon’s Tamwe Township needs to be repaired and as a legal political party, it needs the office to carry out its activities.
Burma’s military junta, which had promised to return to the barracks after conducting a general election in 1990, refused to hand over power to the NLD, which recorded a landslide victory.
Instead the junta disbanded all political parties and closed their offices, except the NLD’s headquarters in Rangoon’s West Shwegondine Street.
“Whatever the reasons, I believe that if we are allowed to reopen our office, it would be beneficial for both the government and for us,” he added.
In recent months, the Burmese junta has granted rare permission to detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet western diplomats on her request and also allowed her party to meet several visiting foreign diplomats including those from the US, UK and Australia.
On Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell and US Undersecretary Scott Marciel began a two-day visit to Burma. The two diplomats are expected to meet several junta officials including Minister for Information, Kyaw San in Naypyitaw.
On Wednesday, before concluding their trip, the two diplomats will also be meeting Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years under some form of detention.
****************************************************************
Mizzima News - Junta chief visits cyclone devastated delta twice in a row
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 14:43
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese junta supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe is making yet another trip to Laputta and Mawlamyinekyun towns in cyclone devastated Irrawaddy delta on Tuesday.
Sources in the military establishment said, during the trip, the Than Shwe led team will spend a night in Bassein (Pathein) town, capital of the Irrawaddy division, and will return to Rangoon on Wednesday.
Colonel Thein Nyunt, who is also a senior member of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), is reportedly planning a grand reception for the Than Shwe led team.
On Monday a 32-member team led by Than Shwe paid a day’s visit to Bogale and Pyapone towns in the Irrawaddy delta in three helicopters but returned to Rangoon in the evening. Than Shwe’s delta trip has been planned since early October but was later cancelled and re-scheduled.
The members of the team were informed of the trip at the eleventh hour on October 30, the source said.
Than Shwe’s visit to the delta, coincides with the visit of United States’ Assistant Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell and US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Scot Marciel to Burma.
The four-member US delegation, which on Tuesday morning arrived in Naypyitaw, will be meeting several junta officials including Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw San and will spend the night in Burma’s new jungle capital.
According to the US embassy in Rangoon, the US delegation will arrive in Rangoon and meet the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday morning. It will also have a press interaction including a photo session before departing from the country later in the evening.
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 14:43
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese junta supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe is making yet another trip to Laputta and Mawlamyinekyun towns in cyclone devastated Irrawaddy delta on Tuesday.
Sources in the military establishment said, during the trip, the Than Shwe led team will spend a night in Bassein (Pathein) town, capital of the Irrawaddy division, and will return to Rangoon on Wednesday.
Colonel Thein Nyunt, who is also a senior member of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), is reportedly planning a grand reception for the Than Shwe led team.
On Monday a 32-member team led by Than Shwe paid a day’s visit to Bogale and Pyapone towns in the Irrawaddy delta in three helicopters but returned to Rangoon in the evening. Than Shwe’s delta trip has been planned since early October but was later cancelled and re-scheduled.
The members of the team were informed of the trip at the eleventh hour on October 30, the source said.
Than Shwe’s visit to the delta, coincides with the visit of United States’ Assistant Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell and US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Scot Marciel to Burma.
The four-member US delegation, which on Tuesday morning arrived in Naypyitaw, will be meeting several junta officials including Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw San and will spend the night in Burma’s new jungle capital.
According to the US embassy in Rangoon, the US delegation will arrive in Rangoon and meet the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday morning. It will also have a press interaction including a photo session before departing from the country later in the evening.
****************************************************************
NLD to discuss 2008 constitution with US delegation
by Phanida
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 13:26
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The National League for Democracy (NLD) would stress on revising the 2008 constitution during discussions with the high level US delegation visiting Burma.
A four-member US delegation, including US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific, Mr. Kurt Campbell and Undersecretary Scott Marciel are to meet NLD and ethnic leaders on November 4.
“We shall discuss on the three issues of humanitarian aid, dialogue and sanctions with them. We would like to urge them to have a similar meeting between the government and us. Only dialogue can resolve the political crisis. We will not consider contesting the elections if the junta does not revise the constitution,” NLD CEC member Win Tin told Mizzima.
The NLD was informed on October 30 that the US delegation led by Mr. Kurt Campbell would meet them. On the same day, Mr. Campbell will meet detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The venue is yet to be announced. The US delegation will meet six NLD CEC members at the party head office.
“They will meet the CEC on November 4 at our party head office. The time is yet be finalized. Maybe it will be between 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. CEC members Nyunt Wei, Than Tun, Hla Pe, Win Tin, Thakin Soe Myint and Khin Maung Swe will receive the US delegation.
The Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP) Secretary Aye Thar Aung (Secretary of Arakan League for Democracy-ALD) said that they would present their view that there would be no political stability if the junta goes ahead with its election without reviewing and revising the 2008 constitution. CRPP is constituted of parties, which won the 1990 general election.
“The 2008 constitution needs to be revised. There will be no peace in Burma if the regime holds elections under this constitution. So there will be no prospect of progress in our country. We will communicate these things to them,” he said.
Mr. Campbell will also meet ALD, the Zomi National Congress (ZNC), Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and leaders of banned parties and 10 legal political parties.
US President Obama announced a new US foreign policy on Burma, where it will engage with the military regime directly while maintaining sanctions.
The opposition leader sent a letter dated 25 September offering to help find a way to lift sanctions on Burma. After that, she met junta’s Liasion Minister Aung Kyi twice.
Mr. Campbell’s visit will be the highest level visit by any US official in over 10 years after former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright paid a visit to Burma in 1995. Ms. Albright met Suu Kyi during her visit.
by Phanida
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 13:26
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The National League for Democracy (NLD) would stress on revising the 2008 constitution during discussions with the high level US delegation visiting Burma.
A four-member US delegation, including US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific, Mr. Kurt Campbell and Undersecretary Scott Marciel are to meet NLD and ethnic leaders on November 4.
“We shall discuss on the three issues of humanitarian aid, dialogue and sanctions with them. We would like to urge them to have a similar meeting between the government and us. Only dialogue can resolve the political crisis. We will not consider contesting the elections if the junta does not revise the constitution,” NLD CEC member Win Tin told Mizzima.
The NLD was informed on October 30 that the US delegation led by Mr. Kurt Campbell would meet them. On the same day, Mr. Campbell will meet detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The venue is yet to be announced. The US delegation will meet six NLD CEC members at the party head office.
“They will meet the CEC on November 4 at our party head office. The time is yet be finalized. Maybe it will be between 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. CEC members Nyunt Wei, Than Tun, Hla Pe, Win Tin, Thakin Soe Myint and Khin Maung Swe will receive the US delegation.
The Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP) Secretary Aye Thar Aung (Secretary of Arakan League for Democracy-ALD) said that they would present their view that there would be no political stability if the junta goes ahead with its election without reviewing and revising the 2008 constitution. CRPP is constituted of parties, which won the 1990 general election.
“The 2008 constitution needs to be revised. There will be no peace in Burma if the regime holds elections under this constitution. So there will be no prospect of progress in our country. We will communicate these things to them,” he said.
Mr. Campbell will also meet ALD, the Zomi National Congress (ZNC), Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and leaders of banned parties and 10 legal political parties.
US President Obama announced a new US foreign policy on Burma, where it will engage with the military regime directly while maintaining sanctions.
The opposition leader sent a letter dated 25 September offering to help find a way to lift sanctions on Burma. After that, she met junta’s Liasion Minister Aung Kyi twice.
Mr. Campbell’s visit will be the highest level visit by any US official in over 10 years after former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright paid a visit to Burma in 1995. Ms. Albright met Suu Kyi during her visit.
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The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi to Meet Campbell in Rangoon Hotel
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is scheduled to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Rangoon’s Inya Lake Hotel on Wednesday morning.
The meeting was confirmed by an official with the US embassy in Rangoon. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity said the embassy had been responsible for arranging the meeting at the hotel.
Following the meeting with Suu Kyi, Campbell will hold talks with opposition and ethnic leaders, the official said.
Campbell will hold a press conference on Wednesday at Rangoon International Airport before leaving Burma, the official announced. The State Department official will also report to the press on his Tuesday talks with senior regime officials in Naypyidaw.
Journalists in Rangoon report that Burma’s Ministry of Information is allowing photographers access to the US delegation and Suu Kyi when they meet on Wednesday.
“We are permitted by the authorities to take photos of the meeting between the US officials and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but only a photo opportunity,” said one Rangoon journalist. “The authorities told us ‘no questions’.”
Ahead of Campbell’s trip to Burma, Suu Kyi told her lawyer last week that she is “keenly monitoring” the State Department officials’ two-day visit to Burma.
Some observers remain skeptical about the visit and its chances of success. “We are not that excited,” said a senior Rangoon correspondent, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We have seen this kind of cosmetic [by the junta] in the past.”
“The real question is whether they [the military regime] have genuine political will,” the journalist said. “People have given them the benefit of a doubt, but whatever they do we treat it with a pinch of salt.”
A week before Campbell’s visit, the junta arrested more a dozen relief workers who helped Cyclone Nargis victims, including eight journalists, according to human rights groups.
Campbell’s visit follows the launch of a new Burma policy by the Obama administration in Washington. US officials led by Campbell met with a Burmese delegation headed by
U Thaung, the Minister of Science and Technology who is a former Burmese ambassador to the US, in New York on Sept. 29.
On Oct. 9, the Burmese junta acceded to a request by Suu Kyi for a meeting with diplomats from the US, Britain and Australia to talk about the effectiveness of sanctions.
The meeting prompted speculation that Suu Kyi had shifted her stance on sanctions.
“I think most outside observers are misjudging Suu Kyi’s stance,” said Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist who is author of many books on Burma. “She has not changed her minds about sanctions as such. Sanctions are not an end in themselves but they are there to achieve a goal.”
Lintner told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that if the regime is not willing to compromise, then, of course, she would like to see sanctions remain in force until those goals are met.
“By making that statement, Suu Kyi has once again become an active player in the Burmese imbroglio,” he added. “Now, no one can ignore her. She has showed that she is flexible and reasonable.”
Along with the US efforts for democratization in Burma, a key issue in US-Burma relations is cooperation in the fight to defeat the drug trade.
“There are a number of areas in which we might be able improve cooperation to our mutual benefit, such as counter-narcotics, health, environmental protection, and the recovery of the remains of World War II-era missing Americans,” Campbell told the US Congress on Oct.21.
Shortly before Campbell’s arrival in Burma, Prime Minter Gen Thein Sein travelled to the Kokang town of Laogai in northeastern Burma on Saturday to attend the incineration of seized narcotic drugs and precursor chemicals.
“This is a kind of signal by the junta to the US,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former communist fighter who observes the Burma situation from China’s Yunnan Province. “But an open secret here is that the ruling generals have been involved in and ignored drug trading in the country for at least two decades,”
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is scheduled to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Rangoon’s Inya Lake Hotel on Wednesday morning.
The meeting was confirmed by an official with the US embassy in Rangoon. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity said the embassy had been responsible for arranging the meeting at the hotel.
Following the meeting with Suu Kyi, Campbell will hold talks with opposition and ethnic leaders, the official said.
Campbell will hold a press conference on Wednesday at Rangoon International Airport before leaving Burma, the official announced. The State Department official will also report to the press on his Tuesday talks with senior regime officials in Naypyidaw.
Journalists in Rangoon report that Burma’s Ministry of Information is allowing photographers access to the US delegation and Suu Kyi when they meet on Wednesday.
“We are permitted by the authorities to take photos of the meeting between the US officials and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but only a photo opportunity,” said one Rangoon journalist. “The authorities told us ‘no questions’.”
Ahead of Campbell’s trip to Burma, Suu Kyi told her lawyer last week that she is “keenly monitoring” the State Department officials’ two-day visit to Burma.
Some observers remain skeptical about the visit and its chances of success. “We are not that excited,” said a senior Rangoon correspondent, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We have seen this kind of cosmetic [by the junta] in the past.”
“The real question is whether they [the military regime] have genuine political will,” the journalist said. “People have given them the benefit of a doubt, but whatever they do we treat it with a pinch of salt.”
A week before Campbell’s visit, the junta arrested more a dozen relief workers who helped Cyclone Nargis victims, including eight journalists, according to human rights groups.
Campbell’s visit follows the launch of a new Burma policy by the Obama administration in Washington. US officials led by Campbell met with a Burmese delegation headed by
U Thaung, the Minister of Science and Technology who is a former Burmese ambassador to the US, in New York on Sept. 29.
On Oct. 9, the Burmese junta acceded to a request by Suu Kyi for a meeting with diplomats from the US, Britain and Australia to talk about the effectiveness of sanctions.
The meeting prompted speculation that Suu Kyi had shifted her stance on sanctions.
“I think most outside observers are misjudging Suu Kyi’s stance,” said Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist who is author of many books on Burma. “She has not changed her minds about sanctions as such. Sanctions are not an end in themselves but they are there to achieve a goal.”
Lintner told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that if the regime is not willing to compromise, then, of course, she would like to see sanctions remain in force until those goals are met.
“By making that statement, Suu Kyi has once again become an active player in the Burmese imbroglio,” he added. “Now, no one can ignore her. She has showed that she is flexible and reasonable.”
Along with the US efforts for democratization in Burma, a key issue in US-Burma relations is cooperation in the fight to defeat the drug trade.
“There are a number of areas in which we might be able improve cooperation to our mutual benefit, such as counter-narcotics, health, environmental protection, and the recovery of the remains of World War II-era missing Americans,” Campbell told the US Congress on Oct.21.
Shortly before Campbell’s arrival in Burma, Prime Minter Gen Thein Sein travelled to the Kokang town of Laogai in northeastern Burma on Saturday to attend the incineration of seized narcotic drugs and precursor chemicals.
“This is a kind of signal by the junta to the US,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former communist fighter who observes the Burma situation from China’s Yunnan Province. “But an open secret here is that the ruling generals have been involved in and ignored drug trading in the country for at least two decades,”
****************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - EDITORIAL: Engagement? It's Asean’s Shame
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
During the recent summit meeting in Thailand of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) we witnessed the usual handshakes and smiles on the summit podium.
However, behind this front of unity, some civil society groups in the region were shunned, while cronies of the Asean governments, Burma’s repressive regime in Burma, were invited to attend an interface meeting between government officials and other civil society groups.
Despite this shocking compromise, some officials claimed the summit was a success.
The sad fact is that Asean remains a club where bureaucrats, politicians and generals who commit crimes against humanity have little respect for their own citizens. To be blunt, Asean leaders remain ignorant about Burma, if not ill-informed.
Recently, we heard a wishful and naïve comment from Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, who was dubbed a shining star when he became Thai foreign minister in 1997.
Surin told the Voice of America that Washington's willingness to talk with the Burmese junta opened a “new ball game” for the region. Countries in Southeast Asia were looking forward to seeing adjustments from both sides, he said.
“This is a new opportunity. And, all of us in Asean, every member state, recognizes this new opportunity," Surin said. "I think Myanmar [Burma] itself recognizes that this is a golden opportunity for engagement, for interaction, for dialogue, which is well and good. And, I think it's going to be good for the region.”
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Asean was pleased that the United States, which maintains strict sanctions against Burma, was now following its lead in trying to engage the junta.
“The one thing we all agreed on is that we welcome signs of further engagement in response to some developments in Burma. Asean has always argued that engagement is the right approach,” Abhisit said.
We all cautiously welcomed the Washington’s new approach to Burma. However, many remained skeptical whether the regime will make any major concession.
In reality, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, who is now in Burma meeting regime officials and opposition leaders, cautioned that it will be a step-by-step process and that engagement with Burma will be long and painful.
Let’s make it crystal clear once and for all that Asean’s past and present engagement policy with the brutal regime in Burma has gone nowhere. So it is not worth taking credit. Instead, Asean should look at itself in the mirror.
Asean’s engagement policy with Burma is rather one of appeasement and economic engagement, exploiting Burma’s natural resources.
In return, the regime leaders, who have killed thousands of innocent people and Buddhist monks and keep politicians and activists in jails, conveniently hide behind the Asean shield.
At last month’s Asean summit, many media observers and journalists thought that the grouping has allowed the regime to walk away scot-free.
Abhisit denied that the group had softened its stance on Burma, having previously issued direct appeals for the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
“It is not true,” he said. “It was discussed. Everybody agrees that we should help Burma move forward in completing their roadmap so that it will lead to democracy.”
Abhisit’s statement again showed Asean’s wishful thinking on the regime’s intentions and its “road map.” It is the constitution that Asean leaders and US leaders should question, because the document only prolongs military rule in Burma. It is a death sentence for many Burmese and ethnic nationalities.
In order to keep its credibility and stance, Asean should spell out its own stand on Burma.
It is important that Asean should make clear to Burmese leaders that it will join the US’s financial and targeted sanctions against the regime leaders and their cronies if they fail to take meaningful steps.
Surin Pitsuwan and Asean have a golden opportunity in view of the approaching summit meeting in Singapore between Asean and the US, to be attended by US President Barack Obama.
Asean must take a stand and be firm on Burma, demonstrating that the regional grouping’s credibility and reputation are at stake because of the brutal nature of the Burmese regime.
Surin and Asean leaders should come out and challenge the regime to free political prisoners and Suu Kyi and make meaningful political progress towards national reconciliation. The Burmese junta should be told that the new ball game is based on reward and punishment.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
During the recent summit meeting in Thailand of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) we witnessed the usual handshakes and smiles on the summit podium.
However, behind this front of unity, some civil society groups in the region were shunned, while cronies of the Asean governments, Burma’s repressive regime in Burma, were invited to attend an interface meeting between government officials and other civil society groups.
Despite this shocking compromise, some officials claimed the summit was a success.
The sad fact is that Asean remains a club where bureaucrats, politicians and generals who commit crimes against humanity have little respect for their own citizens. To be blunt, Asean leaders remain ignorant about Burma, if not ill-informed.
Recently, we heard a wishful and naïve comment from Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, who was dubbed a shining star when he became Thai foreign minister in 1997.
Surin told the Voice of America that Washington's willingness to talk with the Burmese junta opened a “new ball game” for the region. Countries in Southeast Asia were looking forward to seeing adjustments from both sides, he said.
“This is a new opportunity. And, all of us in Asean, every member state, recognizes this new opportunity," Surin said. "I think Myanmar [Burma] itself recognizes that this is a golden opportunity for engagement, for interaction, for dialogue, which is well and good. And, I think it's going to be good for the region.”
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Asean was pleased that the United States, which maintains strict sanctions against Burma, was now following its lead in trying to engage the junta.
“The one thing we all agreed on is that we welcome signs of further engagement in response to some developments in Burma. Asean has always argued that engagement is the right approach,” Abhisit said.
We all cautiously welcomed the Washington’s new approach to Burma. However, many remained skeptical whether the regime will make any major concession.
In reality, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, who is now in Burma meeting regime officials and opposition leaders, cautioned that it will be a step-by-step process and that engagement with Burma will be long and painful.
Let’s make it crystal clear once and for all that Asean’s past and present engagement policy with the brutal regime in Burma has gone nowhere. So it is not worth taking credit. Instead, Asean should look at itself in the mirror.
Asean’s engagement policy with Burma is rather one of appeasement and economic engagement, exploiting Burma’s natural resources.
In return, the regime leaders, who have killed thousands of innocent people and Buddhist monks and keep politicians and activists in jails, conveniently hide behind the Asean shield.
At last month’s Asean summit, many media observers and journalists thought that the grouping has allowed the regime to walk away scot-free.
Abhisit denied that the group had softened its stance on Burma, having previously issued direct appeals for the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
“It is not true,” he said. “It was discussed. Everybody agrees that we should help Burma move forward in completing their roadmap so that it will lead to democracy.”
Abhisit’s statement again showed Asean’s wishful thinking on the regime’s intentions and its “road map.” It is the constitution that Asean leaders and US leaders should question, because the document only prolongs military rule in Burma. It is a death sentence for many Burmese and ethnic nationalities.
In order to keep its credibility and stance, Asean should spell out its own stand on Burma.
It is important that Asean should make clear to Burmese leaders that it will join the US’s financial and targeted sanctions against the regime leaders and their cronies if they fail to take meaningful steps.
Surin Pitsuwan and Asean have a golden opportunity in view of the approaching summit meeting in Singapore between Asean and the US, to be attended by US President Barack Obama.
Asean must take a stand and be firm on Burma, demonstrating that the regional grouping’s credibility and reputation are at stake because of the brutal nature of the Burmese regime.
Surin and Asean leaders should come out and challenge the regime to free political prisoners and Suu Kyi and make meaningful political progress towards national reconciliation. The Burmese junta should be told that the new ball game is based on reward and punishment.
****************************************************************
Drugs burned during ceremony ‘were fake’
Nov 3, 2009 (DVB)–Around 15 police officers in northeastern Burma have been arrested after allegedly substituting seized drugs, thought to be worth $US20 million, for fake ones prior to them being destroyed.
The officers, who belonged to the Taunggyi Special Police Narcotics Unit in Shan state, were arrested following a ‘ceremony’ to mark Drug Eradication Day last week, according to a source close to the unit.
“A lot of fake drugs were allegedly substituted before burning but the amount of substitution is not yet known exactly,” said the source under condition of anonymity.
Locals from Taunggyi told DVB that similar incidents had occurred before but that no official had been arrested or questioned.
The former head of the Taunggyi Special Police Narcotics Unit, police chief Khin Maung Lwin, is reportedly under investigation for the incident.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Monday that the event took place in the Kokang region of Shan state, which in August and September was the site of heavy fighting between Burmese troops and an ethnic Kokang army.
Thailand-based Burma expert Bertil Lintner said however that the ceremony may have been a “public relations exercise” to tarnish the image of the Kokang army.
Shan state is the world’s second largest heroin producer after Afghanistan. Recently however it has seen a huge growth in methamphetamine, or ‘yaba’, production, much of which arrives in Thailand.
It is believed that the United States’ delegation currently in Burma will bring up the issue of the country’s drugs trade during talks with government officials.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
Nov 3, 2009 (DVB)–Around 15 police officers in northeastern Burma have been arrested after allegedly substituting seized drugs, thought to be worth $US20 million, for fake ones prior to them being destroyed.
The officers, who belonged to the Taunggyi Special Police Narcotics Unit in Shan state, were arrested following a ‘ceremony’ to mark Drug Eradication Day last week, according to a source close to the unit.
“A lot of fake drugs were allegedly substituted before burning but the amount of substitution is not yet known exactly,” said the source under condition of anonymity.
Locals from Taunggyi told DVB that similar incidents had occurred before but that no official had been arrested or questioned.
The former head of the Taunggyi Special Police Narcotics Unit, police chief Khin Maung Lwin, is reportedly under investigation for the incident.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Monday that the event took place in the Kokang region of Shan state, which in August and September was the site of heavy fighting between Burmese troops and an ethnic Kokang army.
Thailand-based Burma expert Bertil Lintner said however that the ceremony may have been a “public relations exercise” to tarnish the image of the Kokang army.
Shan state is the world’s second largest heroin producer after Afghanistan. Recently however it has seen a huge growth in methamphetamine, or ‘yaba’, production, much of which arrives in Thailand.
It is believed that the United States’ delegation currently in Burma will bring up the issue of the country’s drugs trade during talks with government officials.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
****************************************************************
‘They forced me to kneel like a dog’
Nov 2, 2009 (DVB)–The Obama administration has a mountain to climb in order to secure the release of political prisoners in Burma, with a military government aggressively preparing for the country’s first elections in 20 years.
In recent weeks the number of political prisoners in Burma has risen following a crackdown on opposition groups. DVB interviewed former political prisoner Myo Yan Naung Thein, who was released in September after two years in prison. He spoke about life behind bars and the ongoing struggle that opposition groups in Burma face.
“On the afternoon of 15 December 2007, while I was on the phone to my mum at a shop in Rangoon, two men grabbed me by the hands. They were very strong. They had tattoos and looked like criminals. I shouted out because I thought that they had kidnapped me by mistake. Then one of them grabbed me by the throat, put his hand over my mouth, and pushed me into a taxi. They hooded me, and I was forced to lie down in the taxi. One of them sat on top of me.
“I don’t know where they took me because I was hooded, but as soon as I got there, they started to kick and punch me. They forced me to kneel on all fours like a dog, and one of them sat on my back. Those men were really violent and rude to me.
“Later I found out that the people who took me were from Military Affairs Security. They asked me about Min Ko Naing [88 Generation Students’ leader], and other activists. Finally I realized I was in the Interrogation Center. They tortured me very brutally. My hands were tied behind my back, they kicked and punched me. They locked me in a dark, wet room with no windows. I didn’t know whether it was day or night.
“I was sent to Insein annex prison [in Rangoon] and put in a cell. One of my legs was deteriorating day by day. I had already suffered from a neurological condition once in 1991, so I informed prison authorities that I couldn’t move because of nerve damage, but they didn’t care.
“A prison medic came and saw me but he was a normal doctor, not a neuro-specialist, so I requested to see a neuro-specialist but they ignored me. Then the nerve damage got so bad I couldn’t move my legs at all. My mother sent request letters to the prison director many times, and the exile media also reported my case. Finally I got a chance to see a neuro-pecialist, and he told me my hands were also affected.
“I was transferred to Sandoway prison [in Burma’s western Arakan state] after sentencing. I actually had an appointment with a doctor at Rangoon hospital at the time, but they sent me to Thandwe prison anyway. They transferred me there because it is really far away from home and very cold, and because they thought it would help my health!
“Four of us were transferred to Sandoway prison. We were all handcuffed. They put everyone in iron shackles except me; they carried me because I couldn’t walk. They didn’t allow me to urinate during the journey to the prison, which took the whole night. It was so hard on me. There are 10 political prisoners in Sandoway prison. Now two were released, and the others were not. If they are honest, they will have to release all political prisoners because they are talking about national reconciliation. Ko Win Maw, the guitarist from the band Shwe Thansin, is in bad health and suffers from asthma. At night, sometimes he can’t breathe properly and then he almost falls unconscious. There are no medics, no doctors, and no proper medical care.
“When we were released [on 19 September] we were released under section 401, which means we will have go back to prison and serve the remainder of our sentences if we are arrested again for political activities. I feel nothing [positive about the release] because I was close to completing my sentence. And now I can’t stand up or walk. I can only walk if I have a person on either side to help me.
“We [activists] sacrificed a lot, but I will have to carry on until we get democracy in Burma. As a student, I didn’t really know about politics. I only knew that the military government is wrong. So I rebelled and demonstrated against the military government. Their rule is totally wrong for Burma.
“After we were imprisoned, we learned more and more about the injustices carried out by the military government, and that strengthened my beliefs even more. So who will keep fighting if we don’t? We have to carry on.”
Nov 2, 2009 (DVB)–The Obama administration has a mountain to climb in order to secure the release of political prisoners in Burma, with a military government aggressively preparing for the country’s first elections in 20 years.
In recent weeks the number of political prisoners in Burma has risen following a crackdown on opposition groups. DVB interviewed former political prisoner Myo Yan Naung Thein, who was released in September after two years in prison. He spoke about life behind bars and the ongoing struggle that opposition groups in Burma face.
“On the afternoon of 15 December 2007, while I was on the phone to my mum at a shop in Rangoon, two men grabbed me by the hands. They were very strong. They had tattoos and looked like criminals. I shouted out because I thought that they had kidnapped me by mistake. Then one of them grabbed me by the throat, put his hand over my mouth, and pushed me into a taxi. They hooded me, and I was forced to lie down in the taxi. One of them sat on top of me.
“I don’t know where they took me because I was hooded, but as soon as I got there, they started to kick and punch me. They forced me to kneel on all fours like a dog, and one of them sat on my back. Those men were really violent and rude to me.
“Later I found out that the people who took me were from Military Affairs Security. They asked me about Min Ko Naing [88 Generation Students’ leader], and other activists. Finally I realized I was in the Interrogation Center. They tortured me very brutally. My hands were tied behind my back, they kicked and punched me. They locked me in a dark, wet room with no windows. I didn’t know whether it was day or night.
“I was sent to Insein annex prison [in Rangoon] and put in a cell. One of my legs was deteriorating day by day. I had already suffered from a neurological condition once in 1991, so I informed prison authorities that I couldn’t move because of nerve damage, but they didn’t care.
“A prison medic came and saw me but he was a normal doctor, not a neuro-specialist, so I requested to see a neuro-specialist but they ignored me. Then the nerve damage got so bad I couldn’t move my legs at all. My mother sent request letters to the prison director many times, and the exile media also reported my case. Finally I got a chance to see a neuro-pecialist, and he told me my hands were also affected.
“I was transferred to Sandoway prison [in Burma’s western Arakan state] after sentencing. I actually had an appointment with a doctor at Rangoon hospital at the time, but they sent me to Thandwe prison anyway. They transferred me there because it is really far away from home and very cold, and because they thought it would help my health!
“Four of us were transferred to Sandoway prison. We were all handcuffed. They put everyone in iron shackles except me; they carried me because I couldn’t walk. They didn’t allow me to urinate during the journey to the prison, which took the whole night. It was so hard on me. There are 10 political prisoners in Sandoway prison. Now two were released, and the others were not. If they are honest, they will have to release all political prisoners because they are talking about national reconciliation. Ko Win Maw, the guitarist from the band Shwe Thansin, is in bad health and suffers from asthma. At night, sometimes he can’t breathe properly and then he almost falls unconscious. There are no medics, no doctors, and no proper medical care.
“When we were released [on 19 September] we were released under section 401, which means we will have go back to prison and serve the remainder of our sentences if we are arrested again for political activities. I feel nothing [positive about the release] because I was close to completing my sentence. And now I can’t stand up or walk. I can only walk if I have a person on either side to help me.
“We [activists] sacrificed a lot, but I will have to carry on until we get democracy in Burma. As a student, I didn’t really know about politics. I only knew that the military government is wrong. So I rebelled and demonstrated against the military government. Their rule is totally wrong for Burma.
“After we were imprisoned, we learned more and more about the injustices carried out by the military government, and that strengthened my beliefs even more. So who will keep fighting if we don’t? We have to carry on.”
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