US calls on Myanmar to free jailed American rights activist
Thu Feb 11, 9:06 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday demanded that Myanmar release an American rights activist handed a three-year prison term, with one lawmaker calling for consideration of tougher sanctions.
A court in the military-ruled nation sentenced Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung, on fraud and forgery charges. It came as the United States engages in a cautious dialogue on improving relations.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burmese authorities' decision today to convict US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin on politically motivated charges," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.
"We consider these actions unjustified. We continue to urge the Burmese regime to release him and allow him to return home to the United States," Crowley said, using the former name of the Southeast Asian nation.
The court sentenced the Myanmar-born US citizen on charges of fraud and forgery, in part for not renouncing his earlier citizenship.
His supporters say that the charges were trumped up by the regime as it seeks to consolidate rule ahead of elections later this year, which the opposition fears is an attempt to legitimize military rule.
Representative Howard Berman, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for President Barack Obama's administration to consider tightening sanctions on Myanmar.
"The sentencing of Nyi Nyi Aung is a serious impediment to improved relations with the United States at a time when our country has embarked on a new approach toward Burma," said Berman, a member of Obama's Democratic Party.
The Obama administration launched a dialogue with Myanmar last year in hopes of coaxing it out of isolation. It left wide-ranging sanctions in place but said they could eventually be lifted in return for democratic progress.
"Months after this new approach was announced, it is disappointing that the junta has failed to respond to formal diplomatic complaints regarding his reported severe mistreatment, including allegations of torture and repeated, lengthy denials of access to consular services through the US embassy," Berman said in a statement.
He was one of more than 50 US lawmakers who wrote to the junta warning of repercussions if it sentenced Kyaw Zaw Lwin.
Nyi Nyi Aung's fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, who works as a nurse just outside Washington in the eastern state of Maryland, was hopeful that the United States would push his case.
"I hope he can come home soon and we can be reunited. I can't wait," she told AFP.
"If the Burmese regime is really moving towards democratic change, this illegal imprisonment and oppression should stop. Keeping an American prisoner can only impede the US-Burma engagement policy."
She said she was not surprised by the conviction in light of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's political activities, but credited US and foreign pressure with preventing an even harsher sentence.
"It's a shame that he was here last year campaigning for the release of all Burmese political prisoners and now he has become a political prisoner himself," she said.
The junta's most famous prisoner is democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to take office. The Nobel laureate lives under house arrest.
The military regime plans to hold new elections in late 2010.
Democracy advocates and Western governments fear that the polls will lack credibility due to restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition members.
Thu Feb 11, 9:06 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday demanded that Myanmar release an American rights activist handed a three-year prison term, with one lawmaker calling for consideration of tougher sanctions.
A court in the military-ruled nation sentenced Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung, on fraud and forgery charges. It came as the United States engages in a cautious dialogue on improving relations.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burmese authorities' decision today to convict US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin on politically motivated charges," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.
"We consider these actions unjustified. We continue to urge the Burmese regime to release him and allow him to return home to the United States," Crowley said, using the former name of the Southeast Asian nation.
The court sentenced the Myanmar-born US citizen on charges of fraud and forgery, in part for not renouncing his earlier citizenship.
His supporters say that the charges were trumped up by the regime as it seeks to consolidate rule ahead of elections later this year, which the opposition fears is an attempt to legitimize military rule.
Representative Howard Berman, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for President Barack Obama's administration to consider tightening sanctions on Myanmar.
"The sentencing of Nyi Nyi Aung is a serious impediment to improved relations with the United States at a time when our country has embarked on a new approach toward Burma," said Berman, a member of Obama's Democratic Party.
The Obama administration launched a dialogue with Myanmar last year in hopes of coaxing it out of isolation. It left wide-ranging sanctions in place but said they could eventually be lifted in return for democratic progress.
"Months after this new approach was announced, it is disappointing that the junta has failed to respond to formal diplomatic complaints regarding his reported severe mistreatment, including allegations of torture and repeated, lengthy denials of access to consular services through the US embassy," Berman said in a statement.
He was one of more than 50 US lawmakers who wrote to the junta warning of repercussions if it sentenced Kyaw Zaw Lwin.
Nyi Nyi Aung's fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, who works as a nurse just outside Washington in the eastern state of Maryland, was hopeful that the United States would push his case.
"I hope he can come home soon and we can be reunited. I can't wait," she told AFP.
"If the Burmese regime is really moving towards democratic change, this illegal imprisonment and oppression should stop. Keeping an American prisoner can only impede the US-Burma engagement policy."
She said she was not surprised by the conviction in light of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's political activities, but credited US and foreign pressure with preventing an even harsher sentence.
"It's a shame that he was here last year campaigning for the release of all Burmese political prisoners and now he has become a political prisoner himself," she said.
The junta's most famous prisoner is democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to take office. The Nobel laureate lives under house arrest.
The military regime plans to hold new elections in late 2010.
Democracy advocates and Western governments fear that the polls will lack credibility due to restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition members.
*************************************************************
UN human rights envoy to visit Myanmar next week
by Claire Truscott – Thu Feb 11, 1:05 am ET
BANGKOK (AFP) – A UN human rights envoy will visit Myanmar next week, days after the regime jailed an American rights activist as it cracks down on dissent ahead of polls this year.
Tomas Ojea Quintana will start his five day trip on February 15 and expects to meet with Myanmar foreign minister Nyan Win but not with junta head Senior General Than Shwe.
"It's his regular programme, he's supposed to visit the country two times a year," UN human rights officer in Bangkok Hannah Wu told AFP on Thursday.
A Myanmar official confirmed the visit and said Quintana would visit Sittwe in Western Rakhine state, close to the country's border with Bangladesh.
It will be the envoy's third visit to the country after a previous mission last year was postponed.
"(Quintana) was supposed to come since November and the visit was constantly postponed. It will be interesting to see who he can meet," said a Western diplomat on condition of anonymity.
The diplomat said all UN officials, including secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, had been subject to strict controls during their visits to Myanmar, in contrast to that of United States assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell last year.
Campbell was allowed rare freedom to meet with opposition figures including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, as the Obama administration launched a dialogue with the junta.
But on Wednesday the US government criticised the military-ruled nation for sentencing US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin to three years in prison on fraud and forgery charges.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burmese authorities' decision today to convict US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin on politically motivated charges," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.
"We consider these actions unjustified. We continue to urge the Burmese regime to release him and allow him to return home to the United States," Crowley said, using the former name of the Southeast Asian nation.
The verdict came as the military government plans to hold polls in late 2010, though no date has yet been set.
Democracy advocates and Western governments fear that the elections will lack credibility as Suu Kyi has been imprisoned for most of the last two decades and the courts continue to lock up dissidents.
More than 2,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Myanmar, according to the UN.
As well as suppressing the pro-democracy movement, the military is accused of widespread abuses against ethnic minorities living in areas along its remote borders, including displacement, rape and forced labour.
Myanmar's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won 1990 elections by a landslide but was never allowed to take office.
Quintana was appointed to his human rights role in May 2008 in the wake of a cyclone that left an estimated 138,000 people dead.
When Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the UN and rights groups accused the regime of putting people at risk of starvation, disease and death by initially denying foreign aid workers access to the hard-hit southern delta.
by Claire Truscott – Thu Feb 11, 1:05 am ET
BANGKOK (AFP) – A UN human rights envoy will visit Myanmar next week, days after the regime jailed an American rights activist as it cracks down on dissent ahead of polls this year.
Tomas Ojea Quintana will start his five day trip on February 15 and expects to meet with Myanmar foreign minister Nyan Win but not with junta head Senior General Than Shwe.
"It's his regular programme, he's supposed to visit the country two times a year," UN human rights officer in Bangkok Hannah Wu told AFP on Thursday.
A Myanmar official confirmed the visit and said Quintana would visit Sittwe in Western Rakhine state, close to the country's border with Bangladesh.
It will be the envoy's third visit to the country after a previous mission last year was postponed.
"(Quintana) was supposed to come since November and the visit was constantly postponed. It will be interesting to see who he can meet," said a Western diplomat on condition of anonymity.
The diplomat said all UN officials, including secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, had been subject to strict controls during their visits to Myanmar, in contrast to that of United States assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell last year.
Campbell was allowed rare freedom to meet with opposition figures including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, as the Obama administration launched a dialogue with the junta.
But on Wednesday the US government criticised the military-ruled nation for sentencing US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin to three years in prison on fraud and forgery charges.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burmese authorities' decision today to convict US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin on politically motivated charges," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.
"We consider these actions unjustified. We continue to urge the Burmese regime to release him and allow him to return home to the United States," Crowley said, using the former name of the Southeast Asian nation.
The verdict came as the military government plans to hold polls in late 2010, though no date has yet been set.
Democracy advocates and Western governments fear that the elections will lack credibility as Suu Kyi has been imprisoned for most of the last two decades and the courts continue to lock up dissidents.
More than 2,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Myanmar, according to the UN.
As well as suppressing the pro-democracy movement, the military is accused of widespread abuses against ethnic minorities living in areas along its remote borders, including displacement, rape and forced labour.
Myanmar's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won 1990 elections by a landslide but was never allowed to take office.
Quintana was appointed to his human rights role in May 2008 in the wake of a cyclone that left an estimated 138,000 people dead.
When Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the UN and rights groups accused the regime of putting people at risk of starvation, disease and death by initially denying foreign aid workers access to the hard-hit southern delta.
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US lawmaker mulls Myanmar sanctions over sentence
Wed Feb 10, 4:56 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior lawmaker called Wednesday for the United States to consider toughening sanctions on Myanmar for its jailing of an American citizen whose fiancee appealed for his freedom.
A court in Myanmar handed a three-year sentence to Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung, on fraud and forgery charges. A democracy advocate, he said he had returned to his native country to see his ailing mother.
Representative Howard Berman, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for President Barack Obama's administration to consider tightening sanctions on military-ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
"The sentencing of Nyi Nyi Aung is a serious impediment to improved relations with the United States at a time when our country has embarked on a new approach toward Burma," said Berman, a member of Obama's Democratic Party.
The Obama administration launched a dialogue with Myanmar last year in hopes of coaxing it out of isolation. It left wide-ranging sanctions in place but said they could eventually be lifted in return for democratic progress.
"Months after this new approach was announced, it is disappointing that the junta has failed to respond to formal diplomatic complaints regarding his reported severe mistreatment, including allegations of torture and repeated, lengthy denials of access to consular services through the US embassy," Berman said in a statement.
He was one of more than 50 US lawmakers who wrote to the junta warning of repercussions if it sentenced Kyaw Zaw Lwin.
Nyi Nyi Aung's fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, who works as a nurse just outside Washington in the eastern state of Maryland, voiced hope that the United States would push his case.
"I hope he can come home soon and we can be reunited. I can't wait," she told AFP.
"If the Burmese regime is really moving towards democratic change, this illegal imprisonment and oppression should stop. Keeping an American prisoner can only impede the US-Burma engagement policy."
She said she was not surprised by the conviction in light of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's political activities, but credited US and foreign pressure with preventing an even harsher sentence.
"It's a shame that he was here last year campaigning for the release of all Burmese political prisoners and now he has become a political prisoner himself," she said.
The junta's most famous prisoner is democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to take office. The Nobel laureate lives under house arrest.
The military regime plans to hold new elections this year, which democracy advocates and Western governments fear will lack credibility due to restrictions on the opposition.
Wed Feb 10, 4:56 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior lawmaker called Wednesday for the United States to consider toughening sanctions on Myanmar for its jailing of an American citizen whose fiancee appealed for his freedom.
A court in Myanmar handed a three-year sentence to Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung, on fraud and forgery charges. A democracy advocate, he said he had returned to his native country to see his ailing mother.
Representative Howard Berman, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for President Barack Obama's administration to consider tightening sanctions on military-ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
"The sentencing of Nyi Nyi Aung is a serious impediment to improved relations with the United States at a time when our country has embarked on a new approach toward Burma," said Berman, a member of Obama's Democratic Party.
The Obama administration launched a dialogue with Myanmar last year in hopes of coaxing it out of isolation. It left wide-ranging sanctions in place but said they could eventually be lifted in return for democratic progress.
"Months after this new approach was announced, it is disappointing that the junta has failed to respond to formal diplomatic complaints regarding his reported severe mistreatment, including allegations of torture and repeated, lengthy denials of access to consular services through the US embassy," Berman said in a statement.
He was one of more than 50 US lawmakers who wrote to the junta warning of repercussions if it sentenced Kyaw Zaw Lwin.
Nyi Nyi Aung's fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, who works as a nurse just outside Washington in the eastern state of Maryland, voiced hope that the United States would push his case.
"I hope he can come home soon and we can be reunited. I can't wait," she told AFP.
"If the Burmese regime is really moving towards democratic change, this illegal imprisonment and oppression should stop. Keeping an American prisoner can only impede the US-Burma engagement policy."
She said she was not surprised by the conviction in light of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's political activities, but credited US and foreign pressure with preventing an even harsher sentence.
"It's a shame that he was here last year campaigning for the release of all Burmese political prisoners and now he has become a political prisoner himself," she said.
The junta's most famous prisoner is democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to take office. The Nobel laureate lives under house arrest.
The military regime plans to hold new elections this year, which democracy advocates and Western governments fear will lack credibility due to restrictions on the opposition.
*************************************************************
Fiancee seeks help to free US activist in Myanmar
Wed Feb 10, 3:09 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The fiancee of a US citizen and activist handed a three-year sentence in Myanmar appealed Wednesday for foreign pressure on the military regime to free him.
A court in Myanmar jailed Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung, on fraud and forgery charges. A democracy advocate, he said he had returned to his native country to see his ailing mother.
"I hope he can come home soon and we can be reunited. I can't wait," said his fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, who works as a nurse in the eastern US state of Maryland.
She appealed to the administration of President Barack Obama to raise his case as it pursues engagement talks with Myanmar, which was earlier known as Burma.
"If the Burmese regime is really moving towards democratic change, this illegal imprisonment and oppression should stop. Keeping an American prisoner can only impede the US-Burma engagement policy," Wa Wa Kyaw told AFP.
She said she was not surprised by the conviction in light of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's political activities, but credited US and foreign pressure with preventing an even harsher sentence.
"It's a shame that he was here last year campaigning for the release of all Burmese political prisoners and now he has become a political prisoner himself," she said.
The junta's most famous prisoner is democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to take office. The Nobel laureate lives under house arrest.
The military regime plans to hold new elections this year, which democracy advocates and Western governments fear will lack credibility due to restrictions on the opposition.
Wed Feb 10, 3:09 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The fiancee of a US citizen and activist handed a three-year sentence in Myanmar appealed Wednesday for foreign pressure on the military regime to free him.
A court in Myanmar jailed Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung, on fraud and forgery charges. A democracy advocate, he said he had returned to his native country to see his ailing mother.
"I hope he can come home soon and we can be reunited. I can't wait," said his fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, who works as a nurse in the eastern US state of Maryland.
She appealed to the administration of President Barack Obama to raise his case as it pursues engagement talks with Myanmar, which was earlier known as Burma.
"If the Burmese regime is really moving towards democratic change, this illegal imprisonment and oppression should stop. Keeping an American prisoner can only impede the US-Burma engagement policy," Wa Wa Kyaw told AFP.
She said she was not surprised by the conviction in light of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's political activities, but credited US and foreign pressure with preventing an even harsher sentence.
"It's a shame that he was here last year campaigning for the release of all Burmese political prisoners and now he has become a political prisoner himself," she said.
The junta's most famous prisoner is democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to take office. The Nobel laureate lives under house arrest.
The military regime plans to hold new elections this year, which democracy advocates and Western governments fear will lack credibility due to restrictions on the opposition.
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U.N. rights envoy asks Myanmar to allow Suu Kyi visit
Reuters February 12, 2010, 4:00 am
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights investigator for Myanmar called on the ruling junta on Thursday to let him meet pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his third visit to the country next week.
Myanmar, once known as Burma, is preparing for its first elections in 20 years, the final step in a democratic "road map" it says will end almost half a century of unbroken army rule.
"I hope that my request to the government to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be granted this time. It would be important for me to meet with political party leaders in the context of this year's landmark elections," Tomas Ojea Quintana said in a statement.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi is one of more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar.
She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years and was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest last August for harbouring an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.
The guilty verdict sparked an international outcry, and was dismissed by critics as a way of keeping her in detention for the elections, which many observers expect in October.
The approach of elections makes this year a critical time for the people of Myanmar, according to Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.
The Argentine lawyer and human rights expert, who has served in the independent post since May 2008, is making his third visit to Myanmar from February 15-19 at government invitation. He was denied permission to visit Suu Kyi during previous visits.
Ojea Quintana plans to meet senior government officials and press his earlier recommendations, including the need to release political prisoners and revise domestic laws to comply with international human rights standards, the statement said.
He also plans to travel to Northern Rakhine state, home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group, to evaluate the human rights situation there.
He will report his findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council during its next regular session in Geneva in March.
Reuters February 12, 2010, 4:00 am
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights investigator for Myanmar called on the ruling junta on Thursday to let him meet pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his third visit to the country next week.
Myanmar, once known as Burma, is preparing for its first elections in 20 years, the final step in a democratic "road map" it says will end almost half a century of unbroken army rule.
"I hope that my request to the government to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be granted this time. It would be important for me to meet with political party leaders in the context of this year's landmark elections," Tomas Ojea Quintana said in a statement.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi is one of more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar.
She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years and was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest last August for harbouring an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.
The guilty verdict sparked an international outcry, and was dismissed by critics as a way of keeping her in detention for the elections, which many observers expect in October.
The approach of elections makes this year a critical time for the people of Myanmar, according to Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.
The Argentine lawyer and human rights expert, who has served in the independent post since May 2008, is making his third visit to Myanmar from February 15-19 at government invitation. He was denied permission to visit Suu Kyi during previous visits.
Ojea Quintana plans to meet senior government officials and press his earlier recommendations, including the need to release political prisoners and revise domestic laws to comply with international human rights standards, the statement said.
He also plans to travel to Northern Rakhine state, home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group, to evaluate the human rights situation there.
He will report his findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council during its next regular session in Geneva in March.
*************************************************************
Thailand to deport crew of NKorean weapons plane
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 11, 10:20 am ET
BANGKOK (AP) – Thai prosecutors dropped charges against the five-man crew of an aircraft accused of smuggling weapons from North Korea, saying Thursday the men might be guilty but would be deported to preserve good relations with their home countries.
The Attorney General's Office said the decision was made after the governments of Belarus and Kazakhstan contacted the Thai Foreign Ministry and requested the crew's release so they can be investigated at home.
"To charge them in Thailand could affect the good relationship between the countries," said Thanaphit Mollaphruek, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. "We have decided to drop all the charges and deport them."
"We used all diplomatic means at our disposal, and the result speaks for itself," a senior Kazakh Embassy official in Bangkok said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
But Thailand may face criticism for the decision, which could be seen as a setback to efforts to enforce U.N. sanctions against North Korea's hardline communist regime.
The weapons' ultimate destination remains a mystery, though Thailand has said it may have been Iran. Experts have also voiced concern that authorities in the former Soviet republics have turned a blind eye to illicit activities of air freight companies that use Soviet-era planes to fly anything, anywhere for a price.
Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said it is unlikely the men will be prosecuted in Kazakhstan.
The crew was arrested Dec. 12 when the Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane they were flying from the North Korean capital Pyongyang landed in Bangkok. Thai authorities, acting on a tip from the United States, found 35 tons of weapons on board — a violation of the U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
"To charge them in this case would not be a benefit to Thailand," Thanaphit told a news conference, saying the men had planned to transit the weapons through Thailand and had no intention of using them in the country. "They were only here for refueling."
The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment, spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said.
The crew — four Kazakhs and a Belarusian — left the prison where they were being held Thursday evening. They were to be turned over to immigration police who would arrange their deportation, said lawyer Somsak Saithong.
The U.N. imposed sanctions in June banning North Korea from exporting any arms after it conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
The crew has denied knowledge of arms aboard the plane, which Thai authorities say included explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and components for surface-to-air missiles. The crew says they believed they were carrying oil-drilling equipment.
"We are not saying that they're not guilty, just that we will not indict them in Thailand," Kayasit Pissawongprakan, director-general for the Attorney General's criminal litigation division, told reporters.
"I have tears in my eyes," Vera Petukhova, wife of flight engineer Mikhail Petukhov, said by phone from their hometown of Vitebsk, Belarus. "I can't wait to hug him, but I won't quite believe it until I see him in person. I always knew they were completely innocent."
Griffiths, the researcher, said there have been very few prosecutions for brokering arms or transporting arms to or from embargoed destinations, and none in Kazakhstan.
"It would be a first for the Kazakh authorities to prosecute anyone associated with those air cargo companies that are registered by their authorities, which have been documented again and again in United Nations sanctions committee reports," he said.
The crew was initially charged with five counts relating to illegal arms possession, but several weeks ago the most severe charge, possession of explosives, which carries the death penalty, was dropped.
A Thai government report to the U.N. Security Council leaked to reporters in late January said the aircraft was bound for Tehran's Mahrabad Airport.
But Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayarkorn subsequently said "to say that the weapons are going to Iran, that might be inexact."
Iran's Foreign Ministry has denied the weapons were destined for Iran, saying it has no need to import such arms because of its own sophisticated weapons production capability.
Investigations by The Associated Press in several countries showed the flight was facilitated by a web of holding companies and fake addresses from New Zealand to Spain designed to disguise the movement of the weapons.
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 11, 10:20 am ET
BANGKOK (AP) – Thai prosecutors dropped charges against the five-man crew of an aircraft accused of smuggling weapons from North Korea, saying Thursday the men might be guilty but would be deported to preserve good relations with their home countries.
The Attorney General's Office said the decision was made after the governments of Belarus and Kazakhstan contacted the Thai Foreign Ministry and requested the crew's release so they can be investigated at home.
"To charge them in Thailand could affect the good relationship between the countries," said Thanaphit Mollaphruek, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. "We have decided to drop all the charges and deport them."
"We used all diplomatic means at our disposal, and the result speaks for itself," a senior Kazakh Embassy official in Bangkok said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
But Thailand may face criticism for the decision, which could be seen as a setback to efforts to enforce U.N. sanctions against North Korea's hardline communist regime.
The weapons' ultimate destination remains a mystery, though Thailand has said it may have been Iran. Experts have also voiced concern that authorities in the former Soviet republics have turned a blind eye to illicit activities of air freight companies that use Soviet-era planes to fly anything, anywhere for a price.
Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said it is unlikely the men will be prosecuted in Kazakhstan.
The crew was arrested Dec. 12 when the Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane they were flying from the North Korean capital Pyongyang landed in Bangkok. Thai authorities, acting on a tip from the United States, found 35 tons of weapons on board — a violation of the U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
"To charge them in this case would not be a benefit to Thailand," Thanaphit told a news conference, saying the men had planned to transit the weapons through Thailand and had no intention of using them in the country. "They were only here for refueling."
The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment, spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said.
The crew — four Kazakhs and a Belarusian — left the prison where they were being held Thursday evening. They were to be turned over to immigration police who would arrange their deportation, said lawyer Somsak Saithong.
The U.N. imposed sanctions in June banning North Korea from exporting any arms after it conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
The crew has denied knowledge of arms aboard the plane, which Thai authorities say included explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and components for surface-to-air missiles. The crew says they believed they were carrying oil-drilling equipment.
"We are not saying that they're not guilty, just that we will not indict them in Thailand," Kayasit Pissawongprakan, director-general for the Attorney General's criminal litigation division, told reporters.
"I have tears in my eyes," Vera Petukhova, wife of flight engineer Mikhail Petukhov, said by phone from their hometown of Vitebsk, Belarus. "I can't wait to hug him, but I won't quite believe it until I see him in person. I always knew they were completely innocent."
Griffiths, the researcher, said there have been very few prosecutions for brokering arms or transporting arms to or from embargoed destinations, and none in Kazakhstan.
"It would be a first for the Kazakh authorities to prosecute anyone associated with those air cargo companies that are registered by their authorities, which have been documented again and again in United Nations sanctions committee reports," he said.
The crew was initially charged with five counts relating to illegal arms possession, but several weeks ago the most severe charge, possession of explosives, which carries the death penalty, was dropped.
A Thai government report to the U.N. Security Council leaked to reporters in late January said the aircraft was bound for Tehran's Mahrabad Airport.
But Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayarkorn subsequently said "to say that the weapons are going to Iran, that might be inexact."
Iran's Foreign Ministry has denied the weapons were destined for Iran, saying it has no need to import such arms because of its own sophisticated weapons production capability.
Investigations by The Associated Press in several countries showed the flight was facilitated by a web of holding companies and fake addresses from New Zealand to Spain designed to disguise the movement of the weapons.
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EarthTimes - Myanmar to launch new 'international' television station
Posted : Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:08:12 GMT
Yangon - Myanmar's junta plans to launch a new "international" television channel next month, media sources said Thursday. "We are planning to launch new English-language channel 'Myanmar International' on the coming Armed Forces Day on March 27," said an official from Ministry of Information who requested anonymity.
"The new channel is aimed at letting the international community know true national trends, progress, beauty, nature and prevailing conditions of Myanmar and helping Myanmar nationals abroad ease the pain of homesickness," the state-run New Light of Myanmar daily reported Thursday.
The new channel is to use foreign news anchors, according to sources.
"I think it is the very first time for Myanmar state-owned broadcast media to use foreign news anchors. I think they (the government) intend to launch Myanmar International like Channel News Asia style," a local journalist said, comparing the new Myanmar channel to the popular Singapore news station.
Singapore-based media firm The Green Orange Private is reportedly providing professional assistance for the new station.
Myanmar, which has been under a military dictatorship since 1962, has one of the world's most repressed domestic media. Foreigners are not allowed to be based in the country as journalists and journalist visas are rarely granted.
Much of the local press is government-owned and the remainder comes under heavy government censorship.
Posted : Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:08:12 GMT
Yangon - Myanmar's junta plans to launch a new "international" television channel next month, media sources said Thursday. "We are planning to launch new English-language channel 'Myanmar International' on the coming Armed Forces Day on March 27," said an official from Ministry of Information who requested anonymity.
"The new channel is aimed at letting the international community know true national trends, progress, beauty, nature and prevailing conditions of Myanmar and helping Myanmar nationals abroad ease the pain of homesickness," the state-run New Light of Myanmar daily reported Thursday.
The new channel is to use foreign news anchors, according to sources.
"I think it is the very first time for Myanmar state-owned broadcast media to use foreign news anchors. I think they (the government) intend to launch Myanmar International like Channel News Asia style," a local journalist said, comparing the new Myanmar channel to the popular Singapore news station.
Singapore-based media firm The Green Orange Private is reportedly providing professional assistance for the new station.
Myanmar, which has been under a military dictatorship since 1962, has one of the world's most repressed domestic media. Foreigners are not allowed to be based in the country as journalists and journalist visas are rarely granted.
Much of the local press is government-owned and the remainder comes under heavy government censorship.
*************************************************************
EUbusiness - EU deputies urge China, India, Russia to pressure Myanmar
11 February 2010, 19:02 CET
(STRASBOURG) - EU lawmakers urged China, India and Russia Thursday to use their might to pressure Myanmar to improve human rights and called on them to stop supplying arms to the regime.
In a resolution, the European parliamentarians urged "China, India and Russia to use their economic and political leverage with the authorities of Myanmar in order to bring about substantial improvements in the country."
They also called on the three "to stop supplying the (Myanmar) regime with weaponry and other strategic resources."
The resolution, voted through in Strasbourg, condemned "the ongoing, systematic violations of the human rights, fundamental freedoms and basic democratic rights of the people of Myanmar."
The deputies also expressed concern over the trial and sentencing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and called for her immediate release, as well as permission for her to take part in upcoming elections.
The European Union slapped a first set of sanctions on Myanmar in 1996, banning arms exports, imposing visa restrictions on junta allies and families, limiting diplomatic contacts and freezing officials' offshore accounts.
New measures were taken in 2007 after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests by Buddhist monks, banning European firms from importing wood, minerals, gems and metals from Myanmar.
Last August, the 27 nation bloc extended the measures following the trial of Suu Kyi, by slapping a visa ban and asset freeze on members of the judiciary.
11 February 2010, 19:02 CET
(STRASBOURG) - EU lawmakers urged China, India and Russia Thursday to use their might to pressure Myanmar to improve human rights and called on them to stop supplying arms to the regime.
In a resolution, the European parliamentarians urged "China, India and Russia to use their economic and political leverage with the authorities of Myanmar in order to bring about substantial improvements in the country."
They also called on the three "to stop supplying the (Myanmar) regime with weaponry and other strategic resources."
The resolution, voted through in Strasbourg, condemned "the ongoing, systematic violations of the human rights, fundamental freedoms and basic democratic rights of the people of Myanmar."
The deputies also expressed concern over the trial and sentencing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and called for her immediate release, as well as permission for her to take part in upcoming elections.
The European Union slapped a first set of sanctions on Myanmar in 1996, banning arms exports, imposing visa restrictions on junta allies and families, limiting diplomatic contacts and freezing officials' offshore accounts.
New measures were taken in 2007 after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests by Buddhist monks, banning European firms from importing wood, minerals, gems and metals from Myanmar.
Last August, the 27 nation bloc extended the measures following the trial of Suu Kyi, by slapping a visa ban and asset freeze on members of the judiciary.
*************************************************************
Vietnam Airlines to start Myanmar service in March
15:21' 11/02/2010 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam Airlines announced Wednesday it would open a direct route between Hanoi and Myanmar’s Yangon on March 2, operating four flights a week with Fokker 70 aircraft.
The national carrier said it would fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, taking off in Hanoi at 4:10 pm, arriving in Yangon at 6:10 pm and leaving Yangon at 7:10 pm.
Vietnam Airlines is offering a promotional airfare of VND4.62 US$250 for the Hanoi-Yangon direction for ticket issued from Feb. 2 to March 31, traveling in March.
The corporation has ambitious plans to becoming a major carrier in Southeast Asia. It considers Myanmar a regional potential market.
Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and China’s Yunnan Province are in the Mekong Greater Sub-region.
15:21' 11/02/2010 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam Airlines announced Wednesday it would open a direct route between Hanoi and Myanmar’s Yangon on March 2, operating four flights a week with Fokker 70 aircraft.
The national carrier said it would fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, taking off in Hanoi at 4:10 pm, arriving in Yangon at 6:10 pm and leaving Yangon at 7:10 pm.
Vietnam Airlines is offering a promotional airfare of VND4.62 US$250 for the Hanoi-Yangon direction for ticket issued from Feb. 2 to March 31, traveling in March.
The corporation has ambitious plans to becoming a major carrier in Southeast Asia. It considers Myanmar a regional potential market.
Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and China’s Yunnan Province are in the Mekong Greater Sub-region.
*************************************************************
The Economist - Jailed and tortured in Myanmar
Paying the price
The terrible fate of two brave men
Feb 11th 2010 | From The Economist print edition
IT TAKES great courage and commitment to translate for a foreign journalist in Myanmar. Two men who helped The Economist after Cyclone Nargis, which killed some 140,000 people in 2008, were rounded up last September for opposing the ruling junta.
The men are held in Insein prison in the main city, Yangon. Information about their conditions and treatment is hard to come by. But the latest reports are horrifying. Khine Kyaw Moe has reportedly been hooded, half-suffocated, savagely beaten, half-starved and then fed contaminated food. He is said to be very sick. There is no recent news of another colleague, Tun Lun Kyaw. The two men were earlier seen together at the prison. They were weeping, and looked emaciated and broken.
Both men are from the north-western state of Rakhine (formerly Arakan), which is rich in natural gas yet very poor, and home to some of Myanmar’s many oppressed ethnic minorities. Along with at least 13 other students arrested around the same time, they are accused of belonging to the All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress, which the regime calls a terrorist organisation, but professes belief in a peaceful struggle for democracy. That they had helped the foreign press will have worsened their plight.
Myanmar’s best-known political prisoner, the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is detained at home in Yangon. Besides her, more than 2,100 other political prisoners are held, all in squalid and brutal conditions. Many are serving sentences of up to 65 years for peaceful political activities. Former detainees say that torture is routine, and that medical attention is often denied even when prisoners fall gravely ill.
Under a “road-map for democracy”, Myanmar will this year vote in a “multiparty election”. Miss Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, is deciding whether to take part. It is a difficult choice. Joining in would add legitimacy to a process with a preordained outcome—army dominance. But no other sort of change is on offer. This week a court sentenced a Burmese-born American activist, Nyi Nyi Aung, to three years in prison for forging an identity card and violating immigration law. One League precondition to taking part in the election is the release of all political prisoners. The regime, however, seems intent only on adding to their number.
Paying the price
The terrible fate of two brave men
Feb 11th 2010 | From The Economist print edition
IT TAKES great courage and commitment to translate for a foreign journalist in Myanmar. Two men who helped The Economist after Cyclone Nargis, which killed some 140,000 people in 2008, were rounded up last September for opposing the ruling junta.
The men are held in Insein prison in the main city, Yangon. Information about their conditions and treatment is hard to come by. But the latest reports are horrifying. Khine Kyaw Moe has reportedly been hooded, half-suffocated, savagely beaten, half-starved and then fed contaminated food. He is said to be very sick. There is no recent news of another colleague, Tun Lun Kyaw. The two men were earlier seen together at the prison. They were weeping, and looked emaciated and broken.
Both men are from the north-western state of Rakhine (formerly Arakan), which is rich in natural gas yet very poor, and home to some of Myanmar’s many oppressed ethnic minorities. Along with at least 13 other students arrested around the same time, they are accused of belonging to the All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress, which the regime calls a terrorist organisation, but professes belief in a peaceful struggle for democracy. That they had helped the foreign press will have worsened their plight.
Myanmar’s best-known political prisoner, the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is detained at home in Yangon. Besides her, more than 2,100 other political prisoners are held, all in squalid and brutal conditions. Many are serving sentences of up to 65 years for peaceful political activities. Former detainees say that torture is routine, and that medical attention is often denied even when prisoners fall gravely ill.
Under a “road-map for democracy”, Myanmar will this year vote in a “multiparty election”. Miss Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, is deciding whether to take part. It is a difficult choice. Joining in would add legitimacy to a process with a preordained outcome—army dominance. But no other sort of change is on offer. This week a court sentenced a Burmese-born American activist, Nyi Nyi Aung, to three years in prison for forging an identity card and violating immigration law. One League precondition to taking part in the election is the release of all political prisoners. The regime, however, seems intent only on adding to their number.
*************************************************************
FEBRUARY 11, 2010, 11:23 A.M. ET
Myanmar's Colonial Treasures Threatened
By A Wall Street Journal reporter
YANGON—The colonial buildings of this once-grand city are scattered about like tombstones in a neglected cemetery—unnoticed, and often unwanted, relics of a lost era.
Yangon is home to one of the largest collections of undisturbed colonial architecture in the world, with some neighborhoods left almost exactly as they were when the country gained independence from Britain some 60 years ago. But the buildings, already crumbling after years of neglect under a repressive military regime, face an increasingly uncertain future.
A government decision to move Myanmar's capital from Yangon to a remote redoubt named Naypyitaw in 2005 has left several of the most important buildings almost totally abandoned, accelerating their deterioration. Meantime, resurgent investment from China and other Asian neighbors is triggering interest in development—including the possibility of building shopping malls and apartment blocks where old structures now stand.
Pansodan Street, financial and commercial center of British Rangoon, has many imposing buildings. This one (believed to date from 1906; details can be difficult to trace in Myanmar) was home to China Mutual Insurance Co.; tenants now include a small art gallery.
Trip planner
The best time to visit is November to February, when temperatures fall and the rain eases. Visas for most nationalities must be obtained in advance. Travelers should carry cash—clean, crisp U.S. dollars—because ATMs are not available and credit cards are generally accepted only by a few top hotels.
GETTING THERE
Most flights connect via Southeast Asian hubs, including Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Carriers include Thai Airways, Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines and Silk Air.
WHERE TO STAY
Prices are for one night in the high season.
The Strand (92 Strand Rd.; 95-1-243-377; www.ghmhotels.com), at $240 to $700, is a luxurious time capsule with wicker furniture and teak floors, conveniently located.
The Governor's Residence (35 Taw Win Rd.; 95-1-229-860; www.governorsresidence.com), from $200, in a restored 1920s mansion; not within walking distance of central Yangon.
Traders Hotel (223 Sule Pagoda Rd.; 95-1-242-828; www.shangri-la.com), starting at about $90, is in a charmless high-risee—but good value and location.
The Savoy hotel (129 Dhammazedi Rd.; 95-1-526-289; www.savoy-myanmar.com), from about $130, offers value, though it's a bit outside central downtown.
WHAT TO DO
Start your walk at Sule Pagoda in the center of downtown, and head east past City Hall, the former Rowe & Co. building and Yangon's High Court. A right on Pansodan Street leads into the original financial center—imposing bank and insurance buildings, including one that houses a Yangon art gallery, Lokanat. After a refreshment stop at the Strand, continue west past the old customs house and then head north to Mahabandoola Garden and back to Sule Pagoda.
The British Railway Headquarters and Secretariat, both closed to the public, require slightly more walking. For more information, pick up the map "Historical Walks in Yangon," available at www.asiabooks.com.
WHERE TO EAT
The Strand and Governor's Residence both have lavish restaurants and bars that seem plucked from a W. Somerset Maugham short story. Monsoon (85-87 Thinbyu Rd.; 951-295-224; www.monsoonmyanmar.com) offers dishes from across Southeast Asia, including Myanmar.
Buildings at risk include Secretariat, one of Southeast Asia's most important modern historical sites. It was here that Aung San, Myanmar's main independence hero, and father of famed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, was assassinated by political rivals in July 1947, setting off a series of events that culminated in a military takeover in 1962.
Although Secretariat, with its gaudy red-and-yellow exterior and turrets, was ridiculed by residents when it opened in 1905, it became a hive of government ministries and, ultimately, a regional landmark. Today, inhabited only by a few camped-out soldiers, the dilapidated structure is hidden from the public behind a forest of trees and chain-link fence. Photographing the building is prohibited. Some residents believe it is already beyond repair.
A couple of blocks away, the multistory Railway Headquarters (1896), also of bright red brick, was built with rows of ornate windows framed with filigreed railings and matching awnings. Today, the awnings are collapsing and some windows are bricked in, while others are covered in reed mats or sacks. Weeds grow from walls and spill over ledges. The grounds are littered with metal—scraps and what look like pieces of equipment—nearly hidden by brush and vines.
Preserving Yangon's historic buildings rates low among social priorities in Myanmar, which consistently ranks as one of the poorest and most-corrupt nations in the world. The government is accused of widespread human-rights abuses, including the imprisonment of political opponents such as Ms. Suu Kyi. Some foreigners refuse on principle to visit Myanmar, which is open to tourists, because of the regime's track record.
Still, historians are hopeful that at least some of Yangon's buildings will be preserved.
"It's very hard to go around what was once the British Empire and see so many buildings intact," says Ian Morley, an urban historian at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who calls the city's center possibly "the last example of a colonial core" still intact in Asia.
"I don't mean to come off as a raving colonialist," he says. But "we need to be aware of where we come from," and the threats upon Yangon's surviving buildings "are very, very great."
Myanmar's recent repressive history is one of the main reasons its colonial buildings are still standing. The military restricted access to the outside world after it came to power nearly 50 years ago, and in more recent years, U.S. and European sanctions prevented many Western companies from investing there. As a result, Yangon never went through the frenzied development that remade Bangkok, Beijing and other Asian cities.
New development is still minimal. But parts of Myanmar's economy have picked up in recent years, spurring construction. Trade between China and Myanmar quadrupled in recent years, reaching more than $2.6 billion in 2008. While much of that money is being spent in other parts of the country, a handful of new apartment blocks have popped up around Yangon or are under construction. Crews are finishing work on a tower of 20 stories or more in the center of downtown that was started, but left unfinished, years ago.
"You'll probably see a lot more apartments," says Brian Agland, Myanmar country director for the international relief agency CARE in Yangon. As for the older buildings, "you're starting to see a lot more decay" as the government spends more time in Naypyitaw.
Myanmar officials have made promises in the past to preserve Yangon's colonial remains. The regime established a list of protected "heritage" sites in the late 1990s that grew to include roughly 200 buildings, including Secretariat as well as churches, schools and residences—largely in recognition of their potential as tourist draws. Local residents, though, say the government has for the most part ignored its list, sprucing up a few buildings while leaving most others to rot.
During a recent visit, residents pointed to a block they said was supposed to be protected but now is surrounded by fences and signs promoting a future shopping mall. When asked about the site, a resident said she was told the historic buildings there were "accidentally damaged" and therefore no longer subject to protection.
Attempts to contact Myanmar authorities over several weeks to discuss their plans for Yangon's buildings were unsuccessful. The regime rarely speaks to foreign journalists.
Architectural historians who have studied the city say that lower-level government employees have expressed enthusiasm for working with outsiders to save the buildings, but calls to more senior officials typically go unanswered. Even basic information—such as when structures were built—is difficult to obtain. In some cases, records were destroyed.
Myanmar's government has "pretty much villainized the buildings as colonial eyesores, as hateful reminders of the past," says one academic who has researched Yangon's architecture and, like many experts on the country, requests anonymity when discussing the regime.
Some Yangon residents say they believe the government truly does want to renovate the buildings, preferably with help from foreign investors, turning them into hotels or other businesses. But Myanmar's tourism industry has struggled in recent years. And many of the buildings are in such disrepair that they would be far cheaper to rip down than rebuild. Some are empty, roofless shells, home to buckling staircases and sprouting trees. Open sewers feed into some courtyards.
It's also hard, if not impossible, to persuade locals to restore buildings on their own, in part because they lack financing in Myanmar's cash-starved economy. Plus, some residents view the buildings as uncomfortable eyesores and prefer the advantages of newer buildings with modern amenities.
The preservationists who do follow the buildings have focused their energies on publicizing them to foreign visitors in the hopes that international attention will spur Myanmar officials. Historians are also encouraging the many foreign institutions in Myanmar—especially international aid agencies—to take over and repair historic structures.
The group CARE, for instance, moved into a two-story, early-1900s house in Yangon's Embassy District two years ago and restored some of the interior and two damaged verandas. "I just thought it had potential," says Mr. Agland, the CARE country director. Now "we have big meetings out on the verandas."
Other buildings that have been saved include the Strand hotel, built in 1901 by Armenian brothers whose chain included the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. With teak-framed windows, tiled floors and vaulted ceilings, it was for many decades a required stop for wealthy European travelers in Asia. But by the 1970s, guests described a building filled with rats and bats, with faucets that issued murky brown water. Refurbished with the help of foreign investors in the early 1990s at a cost of several million dollars, it has since hosted the likes of Mick Jagger.
But such high-cost projects are risky. A Strand official says the hotel has barely broken even in recent years, since international sanctions were imposed. And while there's talk that Secretariat or the Railway Headquarters will be similarly restored with money from China or Singapore, few locals believe it will happen anytime soon, if ever.
Built on an early Buddhist pilgrimmage site near a hilltop shrine called Shwedagon, Yangon was little more than a small town until the mid-19th century. The British seized the area in the 1850s as Britain conquered what was known as Burma, and expanded the city—which they called Rangoon—to become a strategic river port.
Led by a superintendent who had worked on city planning in Singapore and an army engineer, Lieutenant A. Fraser, the British laid out the city on a grid and drained swampy areas. Population tripled to about 135,000 in the early 1880s, and by the early 1900s, Rangoon was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the British Empire, with streetcars, gaslights and public gardens. It boomed further over the next several decades with exports of rice, teak and other goods.
In the city's heyday, engineers added entire neighborhoods of European-style buildings, blending Victorian architecture with more exotic flourishes from West Bengal and other parts of the empire. Wealthy traders built teak mansions topped with elaborate cupolas. Along Pansodan Street downtown, businessmen created a miniature version of lower Manhattan, with banks, insurance companies and trading houses graced by thick columns, pillars and arches. Later buildings incorporated Art Deco designs.
The Rowe & Co. department store (1910), for example, became known as one of the ritziest shopping centers in Southeast Asia, with its patterns of red and yellow brick, topped with a tower reminiscent of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. Although still used today—as an immigration office—many of the windows are knocked out or covered with tarps, and dark black stains cover the exterior.
Many of the grandiose British buildings confused or annoyed local residents. A famous local joke held that Rangoon's High Court (1911), with a clock tower rising above the nearby shophouses and plenty of the city's ubiquitous bright red brick, was designed by "a convict with a grudge against the judge." The building remains in relatively good shape, as it is still used for some court proceedings, and during a recent visit workers were seen repainting parts of the exterior.
In one case—the Rangoon City Hall (1936)—a Burmese architect (with Western training) was called in to make the building more suitable to local tastes. He visited the ancient city of Bagan and other sites around the country to study pagodas and monasteries, elements of which he added to the city-hall design. The cream-colored building includes Burmese spires and mannered Asian arches, creating a unique West-meets-East mix, like a British ministry doubling as a Buddhist temple.
Myanmar entered a period of tumult after independence in the 1940s, and new development came to a virtual standstill after the military took over. There was a brief flurry of new construction—including several high-rise towers—in the 1990s, when the junta liberalized Myanmar's economy to attract more foreign capital. But the miniboom ended abruptly with the 1997 Asian financial crisis and tough economic sanctions from the U.S. and Europe.
It's still possible the recent increase in Asian investment in Myanmar could help save some of Yangon's buildings, if companies decide to make use of them. Some of the surge in foreign-aid money that followed Cyclone Nargis in 2008 went to fix up houses like the one CARE now uses.
For now, residents are skeptical. One bookshop owner in central Yangon says he doubts officials "will do their job" and protect buildings on the government's own heritage list. And without proper restoration, says another Yangon resident, "they will soon disappear."
Myanmar's Colonial Treasures Threatened
By A Wall Street Journal reporter
YANGON—The colonial buildings of this once-grand city are scattered about like tombstones in a neglected cemetery—unnoticed, and often unwanted, relics of a lost era.
Yangon is home to one of the largest collections of undisturbed colonial architecture in the world, with some neighborhoods left almost exactly as they were when the country gained independence from Britain some 60 years ago. But the buildings, already crumbling after years of neglect under a repressive military regime, face an increasingly uncertain future.
A government decision to move Myanmar's capital from Yangon to a remote redoubt named Naypyitaw in 2005 has left several of the most important buildings almost totally abandoned, accelerating their deterioration. Meantime, resurgent investment from China and other Asian neighbors is triggering interest in development—including the possibility of building shopping malls and apartment blocks where old structures now stand.
Pansodan Street, financial and commercial center of British Rangoon, has many imposing buildings. This one (believed to date from 1906; details can be difficult to trace in Myanmar) was home to China Mutual Insurance Co.; tenants now include a small art gallery.
Trip planner
The best time to visit is November to February, when temperatures fall and the rain eases. Visas for most nationalities must be obtained in advance. Travelers should carry cash—clean, crisp U.S. dollars—because ATMs are not available and credit cards are generally accepted only by a few top hotels.
GETTING THERE
Most flights connect via Southeast Asian hubs, including Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Carriers include Thai Airways, Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines and Silk Air.
WHERE TO STAY
Prices are for one night in the high season.
The Strand (92 Strand Rd.; 95-1-243-377; www.ghmhotels.com), at $240 to $700, is a luxurious time capsule with wicker furniture and teak floors, conveniently located.
The Governor's Residence (35 Taw Win Rd.; 95-1-229-860; www.governorsresidence.com), from $200, in a restored 1920s mansion; not within walking distance of central Yangon.
Traders Hotel (223 Sule Pagoda Rd.; 95-1-242-828; www.shangri-la.com), starting at about $90, is in a charmless high-risee—but good value and location.
The Savoy hotel (129 Dhammazedi Rd.; 95-1-526-289; www.savoy-myanmar.com), from about $130, offers value, though it's a bit outside central downtown.
WHAT TO DO
Start your walk at Sule Pagoda in the center of downtown, and head east past City Hall, the former Rowe & Co. building and Yangon's High Court. A right on Pansodan Street leads into the original financial center—imposing bank and insurance buildings, including one that houses a Yangon art gallery, Lokanat. After a refreshment stop at the Strand, continue west past the old customs house and then head north to Mahabandoola Garden and back to Sule Pagoda.
The British Railway Headquarters and Secretariat, both closed to the public, require slightly more walking. For more information, pick up the map "Historical Walks in Yangon," available at www.asiabooks.com.
WHERE TO EAT
The Strand and Governor's Residence both have lavish restaurants and bars that seem plucked from a W. Somerset Maugham short story. Monsoon (85-87 Thinbyu Rd.; 951-295-224; www.monsoonmyanmar.com) offers dishes from across Southeast Asia, including Myanmar.
Buildings at risk include Secretariat, one of Southeast Asia's most important modern historical sites. It was here that Aung San, Myanmar's main independence hero, and father of famed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, was assassinated by political rivals in July 1947, setting off a series of events that culminated in a military takeover in 1962.
Although Secretariat, with its gaudy red-and-yellow exterior and turrets, was ridiculed by residents when it opened in 1905, it became a hive of government ministries and, ultimately, a regional landmark. Today, inhabited only by a few camped-out soldiers, the dilapidated structure is hidden from the public behind a forest of trees and chain-link fence. Photographing the building is prohibited. Some residents believe it is already beyond repair.
A couple of blocks away, the multistory Railway Headquarters (1896), also of bright red brick, was built with rows of ornate windows framed with filigreed railings and matching awnings. Today, the awnings are collapsing and some windows are bricked in, while others are covered in reed mats or sacks. Weeds grow from walls and spill over ledges. The grounds are littered with metal—scraps and what look like pieces of equipment—nearly hidden by brush and vines.
Preserving Yangon's historic buildings rates low among social priorities in Myanmar, which consistently ranks as one of the poorest and most-corrupt nations in the world. The government is accused of widespread human-rights abuses, including the imprisonment of political opponents such as Ms. Suu Kyi. Some foreigners refuse on principle to visit Myanmar, which is open to tourists, because of the regime's track record.
Still, historians are hopeful that at least some of Yangon's buildings will be preserved.
"It's very hard to go around what was once the British Empire and see so many buildings intact," says Ian Morley, an urban historian at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who calls the city's center possibly "the last example of a colonial core" still intact in Asia.
"I don't mean to come off as a raving colonialist," he says. But "we need to be aware of where we come from," and the threats upon Yangon's surviving buildings "are very, very great."
Myanmar's recent repressive history is one of the main reasons its colonial buildings are still standing. The military restricted access to the outside world after it came to power nearly 50 years ago, and in more recent years, U.S. and European sanctions prevented many Western companies from investing there. As a result, Yangon never went through the frenzied development that remade Bangkok, Beijing and other Asian cities.
New development is still minimal. But parts of Myanmar's economy have picked up in recent years, spurring construction. Trade between China and Myanmar quadrupled in recent years, reaching more than $2.6 billion in 2008. While much of that money is being spent in other parts of the country, a handful of new apartment blocks have popped up around Yangon or are under construction. Crews are finishing work on a tower of 20 stories or more in the center of downtown that was started, but left unfinished, years ago.
"You'll probably see a lot more apartments," says Brian Agland, Myanmar country director for the international relief agency CARE in Yangon. As for the older buildings, "you're starting to see a lot more decay" as the government spends more time in Naypyitaw.
Myanmar officials have made promises in the past to preserve Yangon's colonial remains. The regime established a list of protected "heritage" sites in the late 1990s that grew to include roughly 200 buildings, including Secretariat as well as churches, schools and residences—largely in recognition of their potential as tourist draws. Local residents, though, say the government has for the most part ignored its list, sprucing up a few buildings while leaving most others to rot.
During a recent visit, residents pointed to a block they said was supposed to be protected but now is surrounded by fences and signs promoting a future shopping mall. When asked about the site, a resident said she was told the historic buildings there were "accidentally damaged" and therefore no longer subject to protection.
Attempts to contact Myanmar authorities over several weeks to discuss their plans for Yangon's buildings were unsuccessful. The regime rarely speaks to foreign journalists.
Architectural historians who have studied the city say that lower-level government employees have expressed enthusiasm for working with outsiders to save the buildings, but calls to more senior officials typically go unanswered. Even basic information—such as when structures were built—is difficult to obtain. In some cases, records were destroyed.
Myanmar's government has "pretty much villainized the buildings as colonial eyesores, as hateful reminders of the past," says one academic who has researched Yangon's architecture and, like many experts on the country, requests anonymity when discussing the regime.
Some Yangon residents say they believe the government truly does want to renovate the buildings, preferably with help from foreign investors, turning them into hotels or other businesses. But Myanmar's tourism industry has struggled in recent years. And many of the buildings are in such disrepair that they would be far cheaper to rip down than rebuild. Some are empty, roofless shells, home to buckling staircases and sprouting trees. Open sewers feed into some courtyards.
It's also hard, if not impossible, to persuade locals to restore buildings on their own, in part because they lack financing in Myanmar's cash-starved economy. Plus, some residents view the buildings as uncomfortable eyesores and prefer the advantages of newer buildings with modern amenities.
The preservationists who do follow the buildings have focused their energies on publicizing them to foreign visitors in the hopes that international attention will spur Myanmar officials. Historians are also encouraging the many foreign institutions in Myanmar—especially international aid agencies—to take over and repair historic structures.
The group CARE, for instance, moved into a two-story, early-1900s house in Yangon's Embassy District two years ago and restored some of the interior and two damaged verandas. "I just thought it had potential," says Mr. Agland, the CARE country director. Now "we have big meetings out on the verandas."
Other buildings that have been saved include the Strand hotel, built in 1901 by Armenian brothers whose chain included the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. With teak-framed windows, tiled floors and vaulted ceilings, it was for many decades a required stop for wealthy European travelers in Asia. But by the 1970s, guests described a building filled with rats and bats, with faucets that issued murky brown water. Refurbished with the help of foreign investors in the early 1990s at a cost of several million dollars, it has since hosted the likes of Mick Jagger.
But such high-cost projects are risky. A Strand official says the hotel has barely broken even in recent years, since international sanctions were imposed. And while there's talk that Secretariat or the Railway Headquarters will be similarly restored with money from China or Singapore, few locals believe it will happen anytime soon, if ever.
Built on an early Buddhist pilgrimmage site near a hilltop shrine called Shwedagon, Yangon was little more than a small town until the mid-19th century. The British seized the area in the 1850s as Britain conquered what was known as Burma, and expanded the city—which they called Rangoon—to become a strategic river port.
Led by a superintendent who had worked on city planning in Singapore and an army engineer, Lieutenant A. Fraser, the British laid out the city on a grid and drained swampy areas. Population tripled to about 135,000 in the early 1880s, and by the early 1900s, Rangoon was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the British Empire, with streetcars, gaslights and public gardens. It boomed further over the next several decades with exports of rice, teak and other goods.
In the city's heyday, engineers added entire neighborhoods of European-style buildings, blending Victorian architecture with more exotic flourishes from West Bengal and other parts of the empire. Wealthy traders built teak mansions topped with elaborate cupolas. Along Pansodan Street downtown, businessmen created a miniature version of lower Manhattan, with banks, insurance companies and trading houses graced by thick columns, pillars and arches. Later buildings incorporated Art Deco designs.
The Rowe & Co. department store (1910), for example, became known as one of the ritziest shopping centers in Southeast Asia, with its patterns of red and yellow brick, topped with a tower reminiscent of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. Although still used today—as an immigration office—many of the windows are knocked out or covered with tarps, and dark black stains cover the exterior.
Many of the grandiose British buildings confused or annoyed local residents. A famous local joke held that Rangoon's High Court (1911), with a clock tower rising above the nearby shophouses and plenty of the city's ubiquitous bright red brick, was designed by "a convict with a grudge against the judge." The building remains in relatively good shape, as it is still used for some court proceedings, and during a recent visit workers were seen repainting parts of the exterior.
In one case—the Rangoon City Hall (1936)—a Burmese architect (with Western training) was called in to make the building more suitable to local tastes. He visited the ancient city of Bagan and other sites around the country to study pagodas and monasteries, elements of which he added to the city-hall design. The cream-colored building includes Burmese spires and mannered Asian arches, creating a unique West-meets-East mix, like a British ministry doubling as a Buddhist temple.
Myanmar entered a period of tumult after independence in the 1940s, and new development came to a virtual standstill after the military took over. There was a brief flurry of new construction—including several high-rise towers—in the 1990s, when the junta liberalized Myanmar's economy to attract more foreign capital. But the miniboom ended abruptly with the 1997 Asian financial crisis and tough economic sanctions from the U.S. and Europe.
It's still possible the recent increase in Asian investment in Myanmar could help save some of Yangon's buildings, if companies decide to make use of them. Some of the surge in foreign-aid money that followed Cyclone Nargis in 2008 went to fix up houses like the one CARE now uses.
For now, residents are skeptical. One bookshop owner in central Yangon says he doubts officials "will do their job" and protect buildings on the government's own heritage list. And without proper restoration, says another Yangon resident, "they will soon disappear."
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Televising the revolution
Fast Forward Weekly - Powerful doc shows struggle for freedom in Myanmar
Published February 11, 2010 by Peter Hemminger in Film Reviews
In September of 2007, tens of thousands of Burmese citizens, including an estimated 5,000 Buddhist monks, stood up to the nation’s oppressive military regime. It was the country’s most significant protest in almost 20 years, the first major act of resistance since a 1988 student protest that resulted in the army opening fire on thousands of civilians.
The 2007 protests — and especially the actions of the usually apolitical monks — became international news, which must have been infuriating for a government that exercises strict control over its media. The only source of information available to citizens is the regime’s propaganda.
Or, at least, that would be the case if it weren’t for the Democratic Voice of Burma, an assemblage of Burmese citizens willing to risk their lives to document what’s been happening in their country. The brief, powerful documentary Burma VJ shows the video journalists in action, relying on a mix of actual footage and staged re-creations to chronicle the September uprising.
The result is as intense as you would think, given that the majority of the documentary is comprised of on-the-ground footage. It’s also not for the squeamish — a scene where a cameraman hides mere feet away from an advancing military is bad enough, and the footage captured throughout contains more than one death, including a Japanese national shot at point-blank range.
More than the chaos of the protests, though, Burma VJ is about the power of information. As much as we in the West have debated the merits of “citizen journalism,” with the traditional media old-guard decrying a lack of rigour while bloggers and vloggers cite their lightning-fast response time and democratic nature, the whole debate becomes moot in a country where freedom of the press has long been absent. In that case, a handful of concerned citizens with video cameras and a spotty Internet connection can become a major force for social change.
The doc is hardly crowd-pleasing — the 2007 protests didn’t end well, and director Anders Østergaard has no interest in sugar-coating the proceedings. But it’s not a complete downer, either. It ends with Østergaard’s subject, the leader of the now-scattered Democratic Voice of Burma, setting out to rebuild a network of journalists. Even in the face of overwhelming repression, he’s still determined to get Burma’s message to the world. Hopefully this film — which has received a Best Documentary Feature nomination for the 2010 Academy Awards — can help.
Fast Forward Weekly - Powerful doc shows struggle for freedom in Myanmar
Published February 11, 2010 by Peter Hemminger in Film Reviews
In September of 2007, tens of thousands of Burmese citizens, including an estimated 5,000 Buddhist monks, stood up to the nation’s oppressive military regime. It was the country’s most significant protest in almost 20 years, the first major act of resistance since a 1988 student protest that resulted in the army opening fire on thousands of civilians.
The 2007 protests — and especially the actions of the usually apolitical monks — became international news, which must have been infuriating for a government that exercises strict control over its media. The only source of information available to citizens is the regime’s propaganda.
Or, at least, that would be the case if it weren’t for the Democratic Voice of Burma, an assemblage of Burmese citizens willing to risk their lives to document what’s been happening in their country. The brief, powerful documentary Burma VJ shows the video journalists in action, relying on a mix of actual footage and staged re-creations to chronicle the September uprising.
The result is as intense as you would think, given that the majority of the documentary is comprised of on-the-ground footage. It’s also not for the squeamish — a scene where a cameraman hides mere feet away from an advancing military is bad enough, and the footage captured throughout contains more than one death, including a Japanese national shot at point-blank range.
More than the chaos of the protests, though, Burma VJ is about the power of information. As much as we in the West have debated the merits of “citizen journalism,” with the traditional media old-guard decrying a lack of rigour while bloggers and vloggers cite their lightning-fast response time and democratic nature, the whole debate becomes moot in a country where freedom of the press has long been absent. In that case, a handful of concerned citizens with video cameras and a spotty Internet connection can become a major force for social change.
The doc is hardly crowd-pleasing — the 2007 protests didn’t end well, and director Anders Østergaard has no interest in sugar-coating the proceedings. But it’s not a complete downer, either. It ends with Østergaard’s subject, the leader of the now-scattered Democratic Voice of Burma, setting out to rebuild a network of journalists. Even in the face of overwhelming repression, he’s still determined to get Burma’s message to the world. Hopefully this film — which has received a Best Documentary Feature nomination for the 2010 Academy Awards — can help.
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The Age - Opinion: Burma's ethnic minorities the key to peace
NEHGINPAO KIPGEN
February 12, 2010 - 6:18AM
Today (February 12) is the 63rd anniversary of Burma's "Union Day". It was this day in 1947 when 23 representatives from the Shan states, the Kachin hills and the Chin hills, and Aung San, head of the interim Burmese government, signed an agreement in Panglong (in Shan state) to form the Union of Burma.
The State Law and Order Restoration Council, former name of the military junta, changed the country's name from Union of Burma to Union of Myanmar in 1989. However, the Burmese opposition and the Western nations still continue to use "Burma" while the Eastern nations and the UN use "Myanmar".
The Panglong agreement was a turning point in the modern history of Burma. General Aung San, father of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, played a pivotal role in bringing together leaders of the Frontier Areas (ethnic nationalities) to the negotiating table. But Aung San was assassinated on July 19, 1947 at the age of 32.
Not only was the Union Day a precursor to Burma's independence from the yoke of British colonial rule in January 1948, but also the hallmark of ethno-political conflicts in the country. The significance of forming the Union Day was that Burma became a home to multi-ethnic nationalities.
When Aung San and his delegation went to London to negotiate Burma's independence, no delegates from the Frontier Areas were present. During the meeting, Clement Attlee, then British prime minister, insisted that Burma proper should not coerce leaders of the Frontier Areas to join the Union of Burma against their will.
Aung San, however, argued that it was the British who kept the peoples of Burma apart. Aung San was quoted in The Times (London) on January 14, 1947 as saying: "We can confidently assert here that so far as our knowledge of our country goes, there should be no insuperable difficulties in the way of a unified Burma provided all races are given full freedom and the opportunity to meet together and to work without the interference of outside interests."
In an attempt to allay the doubts and lingering fears of the British government regarding unequal treatments to the Frontier Areas in the future Union of Burma, Aung San assured the Frontier peoples in his unforgettable remark: "If Burma receives one kyat (a Burmese currency), you will also get one kyat.
After receiving assurance from Aung San, leaders of the Chin hills, Kachin hills and the Shan states agreed to co-operate with the interim Burmese government. The attending Frontier leaders believed that freedom would be more speedily achieved by immediate co-operation with the interim government.
The Shans, the Kachins and the Chins agreed to the formation of the Union of Burma in return for promises of full autonomy in internal administration and an equal share in the country's wealth. The Karens still believed that the British would grant them an independent state.
One most notable agreement of the Panglong conference was granting full autonomy to ethnic nationalities, which has not materialised until today. The agreement was basically for establishing a unified country, and was not aimed at putting an end to the traditional autonomy or self-rule of the Frontier Areas.
Failing to implement this agreement has increased mistrust and misunderstanding between the majority ethnic Burman-led central government and other ethnic nationalities. Autonomy has been a core demand for minorities since 1947, and continues to remain the fundamental issue.
The ongoing ethno-political conflicts, including armed confrontations, are largely the consequences of the failure to implement the Panglong agreement. As long as the minority concerns are not addressed, the conflicts in Burma are likely to remain even if democracy is restored.
Autonomy is a political solution that can serve the interests of the erstwhile Frontier Areas. However, the military junta sees it as something that would disintegrate the Union of Burma.
Political autonomy is not tantamount to secession. In other words, Burma's ethnic minorities are neither secessionists nor separatists. They believe that autonomy or self-determination would give them an opportunity to preserve their culture, language, and tradition.
The minorities occupy roughly two-thirds of the country's total land area, and constitutes more than 30 per cent of the population. They have long advocated for tripartite talks involving the military, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic nationalities, as endorsed by the United Nations since 1994.
Had not Aung San promised political equality and autonomy to the Frontier Areas, the Union of Burma might have never been born.
The Union of Burma/Myanmar can become a cohesive and vibrant society when the rights of all ethnic nationalities, regardless of the size of population, are treated equally. Each ethnic group must be given the right to practice and promote its own culture and literature, among others.
Any deliberate attempt by the military junta to annihilate any group of the multi-ethnic nationalities, militarily or culturally, is against the spirit of the Union Day. Despite the observance of its 63rd anniversary, the essence of the Union Day is still denied to Burma's ethnic minorities.
Nehginpao Kipgen is a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma and general secretary of the US-based Kuki International Forum.
NEHGINPAO KIPGEN
February 12, 2010 - 6:18AM
Today (February 12) is the 63rd anniversary of Burma's "Union Day". It was this day in 1947 when 23 representatives from the Shan states, the Kachin hills and the Chin hills, and Aung San, head of the interim Burmese government, signed an agreement in Panglong (in Shan state) to form the Union of Burma.
The State Law and Order Restoration Council, former name of the military junta, changed the country's name from Union of Burma to Union of Myanmar in 1989. However, the Burmese opposition and the Western nations still continue to use "Burma" while the Eastern nations and the UN use "Myanmar".
The Panglong agreement was a turning point in the modern history of Burma. General Aung San, father of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, played a pivotal role in bringing together leaders of the Frontier Areas (ethnic nationalities) to the negotiating table. But Aung San was assassinated on July 19, 1947 at the age of 32.
Not only was the Union Day a precursor to Burma's independence from the yoke of British colonial rule in January 1948, but also the hallmark of ethno-political conflicts in the country. The significance of forming the Union Day was that Burma became a home to multi-ethnic nationalities.
When Aung San and his delegation went to London to negotiate Burma's independence, no delegates from the Frontier Areas were present. During the meeting, Clement Attlee, then British prime minister, insisted that Burma proper should not coerce leaders of the Frontier Areas to join the Union of Burma against their will.
Aung San, however, argued that it was the British who kept the peoples of Burma apart. Aung San was quoted in The Times (London) on January 14, 1947 as saying: "We can confidently assert here that so far as our knowledge of our country goes, there should be no insuperable difficulties in the way of a unified Burma provided all races are given full freedom and the opportunity to meet together and to work without the interference of outside interests."
In an attempt to allay the doubts and lingering fears of the British government regarding unequal treatments to the Frontier Areas in the future Union of Burma, Aung San assured the Frontier peoples in his unforgettable remark: "If Burma receives one kyat (a Burmese currency), you will also get one kyat.
After receiving assurance from Aung San, leaders of the Chin hills, Kachin hills and the Shan states agreed to co-operate with the interim Burmese government. The attending Frontier leaders believed that freedom would be more speedily achieved by immediate co-operation with the interim government.
The Shans, the Kachins and the Chins agreed to the formation of the Union of Burma in return for promises of full autonomy in internal administration and an equal share in the country's wealth. The Karens still believed that the British would grant them an independent state.
One most notable agreement of the Panglong conference was granting full autonomy to ethnic nationalities, which has not materialised until today. The agreement was basically for establishing a unified country, and was not aimed at putting an end to the traditional autonomy or self-rule of the Frontier Areas.
Failing to implement this agreement has increased mistrust and misunderstanding between the majority ethnic Burman-led central government and other ethnic nationalities. Autonomy has been a core demand for minorities since 1947, and continues to remain the fundamental issue.
The ongoing ethno-political conflicts, including armed confrontations, are largely the consequences of the failure to implement the Panglong agreement. As long as the minority concerns are not addressed, the conflicts in Burma are likely to remain even if democracy is restored.
Autonomy is a political solution that can serve the interests of the erstwhile Frontier Areas. However, the military junta sees it as something that would disintegrate the Union of Burma.
Political autonomy is not tantamount to secession. In other words, Burma's ethnic minorities are neither secessionists nor separatists. They believe that autonomy or self-determination would give them an opportunity to preserve their culture, language, and tradition.
The minorities occupy roughly two-thirds of the country's total land area, and constitutes more than 30 per cent of the population. They have long advocated for tripartite talks involving the military, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic nationalities, as endorsed by the United Nations since 1994.
Had not Aung San promised political equality and autonomy to the Frontier Areas, the Union of Burma might have never been born.
The Union of Burma/Myanmar can become a cohesive and vibrant society when the rights of all ethnic nationalities, regardless of the size of population, are treated equally. Each ethnic group must be given the right to practice and promote its own culture and literature, among others.
Any deliberate attempt by the military junta to annihilate any group of the multi-ethnic nationalities, militarily or culturally, is against the spirit of the Union Day. Despite the observance of its 63rd anniversary, the essence of the Union Day is still denied to Burma's ethnic minorities.
Nehginpao Kipgen is a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma and general secretary of the US-based Kuki International Forum.
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European Parliament News Report
Human rights: Venezuela, Madagascar, Burma
Human rights - 11-02-2010 - 16:34
Three human rights resolutions, on the media in Venezuela, the political crisis in Madagascar and the situation in Burma, were approved by Parliament on Thursday.
Venezuela
In a resolution tabled by the EPP, ALDE and ECR groups, MEPs voice concern at the drift towards authoritarianism shown by the government of President Hugo Chávez. In January 2010, RCTV International (RCTVI) and five other cable and satellite TV channels (TV Chile, Ritmo Son, Momentum, America TV and American Network) were ordered off the air.
These channels were criticised for failing to broadcast the presidential speech delivered on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of the overthrow of Perez Jimenez.
MEPs call on the Venezuelan authorities to review this decision and the obligation to broadcast fully all speeches made by the Head of State. This new shut-down triggered a further wave of student protests, which were harshly suppressed by the police.
The 'National Telecommunications Commission' should show itself to be independent of the political and economic authorities and ensure equitable pluralism, says the European Parliament.
Madagascar
MEPs condemn Mr Rajoelina's seizure of power in Madagascar, "in flagrant violation of the provisions of the Madagascan Constitution", which they describe as "an outright coup d'état". They call for implementation of the accords signed in Maputo and Addis Ababa, which provided for power-sharing between the main political movements in the country.
Parliament also condemns Mr Rajoelina's plan to hold legislative elections in 2010, in violation of the accords signed under the auspices of the African Union.
The African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have suspended Madagascar from their leading bodies. The European Union has decided to suspend funding from its various development programmes for Madagascar, with the exception of humanitarian aid.
The EP strongly condemns the decision by Mr Rajoelina to cancel the appointment of Eugene Mangalaza as Prime Minister, installed after a power-sharing deal between all political parties in October 2009. They also strongly condemn the decision by Mr Rajoelina to withdraw from power-sharing talks on 18 December 2009. The Maputo Agreement and the Addis Ababa Additional Act on Madagascar constitute "the only possible framework" for a solution to the political crisis in Madagascar, says the resolution.
Parliament expresses deep concern at the disappearance of several hundred people, including around 100 children and adolescents, and condemns the systematic repression of the opposition, censorship of the media and the intimidation and systematic arrest of journalists. It also calls for the disarmament and dissolution of the militias with a view to restoring a republican army.
Burma
Parliament calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and criticises the ban which prevents her standing at the next election, whose date has yet to be officially announced but is due to be held some time in 2010.
MEPs urge the Burmese authorities to ensure a free, fair, transparent and inclusive electoral process consistent with international standards. These are the first since the 1990 elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
The resolution also urges the ruling junta to put an immediate end to the recruitment of child soldiers. MEPs condemn the ethnic cleansing campaigns against minorities, in particular those seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. They also call on the Thai Government to continue providing shelter and protection to Karen refugees fleeing abuses.
The governments of China, India and Russia are asked to use their leverage with Rangoon to bring about substantial improvements in the country and to stop supplying the Burmese regime with weaponry. Lastly, Parliament calls on the Council to maintain the restrictive measures targeted against the Burmese regime until there is "tangible progress" on democratisation. At the same time, the Council is asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the restrictive measures.
Human rights: Venezuela, Madagascar, Burma
Human rights - 11-02-2010 - 16:34
Three human rights resolutions, on the media in Venezuela, the political crisis in Madagascar and the situation in Burma, were approved by Parliament on Thursday.
Venezuela
In a resolution tabled by the EPP, ALDE and ECR groups, MEPs voice concern at the drift towards authoritarianism shown by the government of President Hugo Chávez. In January 2010, RCTV International (RCTVI) and five other cable and satellite TV channels (TV Chile, Ritmo Son, Momentum, America TV and American Network) were ordered off the air.
These channels were criticised for failing to broadcast the presidential speech delivered on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of the overthrow of Perez Jimenez.
MEPs call on the Venezuelan authorities to review this decision and the obligation to broadcast fully all speeches made by the Head of State. This new shut-down triggered a further wave of student protests, which were harshly suppressed by the police.
The 'National Telecommunications Commission' should show itself to be independent of the political and economic authorities and ensure equitable pluralism, says the European Parliament.
Madagascar
MEPs condemn Mr Rajoelina's seizure of power in Madagascar, "in flagrant violation of the provisions of the Madagascan Constitution", which they describe as "an outright coup d'état". They call for implementation of the accords signed in Maputo and Addis Ababa, which provided for power-sharing between the main political movements in the country.
Parliament also condemns Mr Rajoelina's plan to hold legislative elections in 2010, in violation of the accords signed under the auspices of the African Union.
The African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have suspended Madagascar from their leading bodies. The European Union has decided to suspend funding from its various development programmes for Madagascar, with the exception of humanitarian aid.
The EP strongly condemns the decision by Mr Rajoelina to cancel the appointment of Eugene Mangalaza as Prime Minister, installed after a power-sharing deal between all political parties in October 2009. They also strongly condemn the decision by Mr Rajoelina to withdraw from power-sharing talks on 18 December 2009. The Maputo Agreement and the Addis Ababa Additional Act on Madagascar constitute "the only possible framework" for a solution to the political crisis in Madagascar, says the resolution.
Parliament expresses deep concern at the disappearance of several hundred people, including around 100 children and adolescents, and condemns the systematic repression of the opposition, censorship of the media and the intimidation and systematic arrest of journalists. It also calls for the disarmament and dissolution of the militias with a view to restoring a republican army.
Burma
Parliament calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and criticises the ban which prevents her standing at the next election, whose date has yet to be officially announced but is due to be held some time in 2010.
MEPs urge the Burmese authorities to ensure a free, fair, transparent and inclusive electoral process consistent with international standards. These are the first since the 1990 elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
The resolution also urges the ruling junta to put an immediate end to the recruitment of child soldiers. MEPs condemn the ethnic cleansing campaigns against minorities, in particular those seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. They also call on the Thai Government to continue providing shelter and protection to Karen refugees fleeing abuses.
The governments of China, India and Russia are asked to use their leverage with Rangoon to bring about substantial improvements in the country and to stop supplying the Burmese regime with weaponry. Lastly, Parliament calls on the Council to maintain the restrictive measures targeted against the Burmese regime until there is "tangible progress" on democratisation. At the same time, the Council is asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the restrictive measures.
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The Irrawaddy - Ethnic Leaders Dismiss Union Day
By LAWI WENG - Thursday, February 11, 2010
Several of Burma's ethnic leaders have dismissed the ruling junta's plans to mark the 63rd anniversary of Union Day on Friday, saying that the celebration lacks essence and any meaningful spirit.
During the 1970s and 80s, the Burmese military government held held a military parade on Union Day and drove through the streets of Rangoon in jeeps bearing the Union flag. Offices and schools are usually coerced into bring their staff and schoolchildren out to line the streets and wave flags as the regime chiefs pass by.
However, nowadays, the national holiday is largely ignored by the general public and is derided by ethnic people for commemorating a broken agreement, the Panglong Agreement, which was signed on Feb. 12, 1947, between Burmese independence hero Gen Aung San and leaders of the Chin, Kachin and Shan ethnic groups.
The agreement essentially guaranteed government support for the ethnic minorities' self-determination and offered a large degree of autonomy, including independent legislative, judiciary and administrative authorities.
However, the dream of equality and a federal union is far from realized some six decades after the declaration and many ethnic groups are still engaged in a conflict with the centralized government army that erupted around the time Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948––one of the longest running civil wars in modern times.
Zau Awng, a member of Kachin National Congress for Democracy, based in Kachin State capital Myitkyina, told The Irrawaddy: “We don't have equal rights. We feel we don't belong to the Union. The military owns this union. The Union we wanted is as far from coming together as the sky and the earth.
“In 1947, our Kachin leaders trusted Gen Aung San when he said: 'Burmans one kyat, Kachins one kyat.' [signifying equality]” he said. “However, after he was assassinated, the Panglong Agreement was not honored.”
Lao Seng, a spokesperson for the Shan State Army-South concurred. “There are no rights in the Union for ethnic people. The union has disappeared under the barrel of a gun.”
He said that if the Panglong Agreement had been honored, “our Shan people would not need to fight for their freedom today.”
"Our situation is worse now than it ever was before,” said Pu Cin Sian Thang, the chairman of the Zomi National Congress who is currently the spokesman for the United Nationalities Alliance. “There are absolutely no advantages for the people of Chin State.”
In January, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the No 2 ranking general in Naypyidaw, said that Burma would “disintegrate” if the demands of the ethnic groups for a federal system of government were granted.
The chairman of the Mon National Democratic Front, Nai Ngwe Thein, disagreed. “We can live altogether in peace if we have a genuine federal union,” he said.
On Thursday, Burma's state-run newspapers carried a statement from junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe on their front pages urging the people of Burma to commemorate Union Day.
“The entire national people are duty-bound to preserve the already achieved national solidarity with Union Spirit so that the Union of Myanmar will be able to stand tall as long as the world exists,” the statement read in the New Light of Myanmar, which then mistakenly refered to Friday as the 60th anniversary of Union Day.
Several ethnic leaders said that they don't have faith in the new constitution and said it will not produce a genuine union in the future because the Burmese military will take 25 percent of all seats in parliament as per the 2008 Constitution.
Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Arakan National League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy the future Union of Burma under the current constitution will not provide rights for the ethnic people of the country.
By LAWI WENG - Thursday, February 11, 2010
Several of Burma's ethnic leaders have dismissed the ruling junta's plans to mark the 63rd anniversary of Union Day on Friday, saying that the celebration lacks essence and any meaningful spirit.
During the 1970s and 80s, the Burmese military government held held a military parade on Union Day and drove through the streets of Rangoon in jeeps bearing the Union flag. Offices and schools are usually coerced into bring their staff and schoolchildren out to line the streets and wave flags as the regime chiefs pass by.
However, nowadays, the national holiday is largely ignored by the general public and is derided by ethnic people for commemorating a broken agreement, the Panglong Agreement, which was signed on Feb. 12, 1947, between Burmese independence hero Gen Aung San and leaders of the Chin, Kachin and Shan ethnic groups.
The agreement essentially guaranteed government support for the ethnic minorities' self-determination and offered a large degree of autonomy, including independent legislative, judiciary and administrative authorities.
However, the dream of equality and a federal union is far from realized some six decades after the declaration and many ethnic groups are still engaged in a conflict with the centralized government army that erupted around the time Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948––one of the longest running civil wars in modern times.
Zau Awng, a member of Kachin National Congress for Democracy, based in Kachin State capital Myitkyina, told The Irrawaddy: “We don't have equal rights. We feel we don't belong to the Union. The military owns this union. The Union we wanted is as far from coming together as the sky and the earth.
“In 1947, our Kachin leaders trusted Gen Aung San when he said: 'Burmans one kyat, Kachins one kyat.' [signifying equality]” he said. “However, after he was assassinated, the Panglong Agreement was not honored.”
Lao Seng, a spokesperson for the Shan State Army-South concurred. “There are no rights in the Union for ethnic people. The union has disappeared under the barrel of a gun.”
He said that if the Panglong Agreement had been honored, “our Shan people would not need to fight for their freedom today.”
"Our situation is worse now than it ever was before,” said Pu Cin Sian Thang, the chairman of the Zomi National Congress who is currently the spokesman for the United Nationalities Alliance. “There are absolutely no advantages for the people of Chin State.”
In January, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the No 2 ranking general in Naypyidaw, said that Burma would “disintegrate” if the demands of the ethnic groups for a federal system of government were granted.
The chairman of the Mon National Democratic Front, Nai Ngwe Thein, disagreed. “We can live altogether in peace if we have a genuine federal union,” he said.
On Thursday, Burma's state-run newspapers carried a statement from junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe on their front pages urging the people of Burma to commemorate Union Day.
“The entire national people are duty-bound to preserve the already achieved national solidarity with Union Spirit so that the Union of Myanmar will be able to stand tall as long as the world exists,” the statement read in the New Light of Myanmar, which then mistakenly refered to Friday as the 60th anniversary of Union Day.
Several ethnic leaders said that they don't have faith in the new constitution and said it will not produce a genuine union in the future because the Burmese military will take 25 percent of all seats in parliament as per the 2008 Constitution.
Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Arakan National League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy the future Union of Burma under the current constitution will not provide rights for the ethnic people of the country.
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The Irrawaddy - Karen Villagers Flee as Burma Army Escalates Attacks
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, February 11, 2010
Burmese government troops have stepped up their attacks on Karen civilians, burning down dozens of houses and a clinic and forcing schools to close and around 2,000 Karen villagers to flee into the jungle, according to Karen relief groups.
The troops burnt down more than 70 houses in several villages in Kyaukkyi Township in Nyaunglebin District, Pegu Division, as well as one mobile clinic, said the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP).
Eleven schools—four nursery schools, four primary schools and three middle schools—were forced to close and children are hiding in the jungle due to the military activities, said the relief group.
Saw Steve, a CIDKP team leader, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: “The villagers cannot return home as long as the government troops are active in the area.”
Troops from Light Infantry Battalions 362 and 367 and Tactical Operation Command 3, under control of Military Operation Command 10, are still patrolling in the affected areas, he added.
The troops separately entered six villages from Feb. 3 -7, burning down 46 houses in the Toe Hta area and 28 houses in the Ka Di Mu Der area, according to the CIDKP. On Feb. 5, a villager, Saw Law Ray Htoo, was shot on the Salween River and later died at a hospital in the Mae La Oo refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border.
The attacks are the latest in a series of raids targeting civilians in the region. In January, government army troops raided ten villages in Nyaunglebin District, killing four villagers and forcing about 2,000 into hiding in the jungle, according to Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.
“These attacks are further evidence of the urgent need for the United Nations to take effective action to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, perpetrated by the regime with impunity,” said Aung Din in a press release on Wednesday.
He said that mobile health clinics are always targeted by the Burmese government troops because they provide life-saving services to Karen and other ethnic minority villagers.
“This is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and the principal of medical neutrality, further evidence of the regime's crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said Aung Din.
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, February 11, 2010
Burmese government troops have stepped up their attacks on Karen civilians, burning down dozens of houses and a clinic and forcing schools to close and around 2,000 Karen villagers to flee into the jungle, according to Karen relief groups.
The troops burnt down more than 70 houses in several villages in Kyaukkyi Township in Nyaunglebin District, Pegu Division, as well as one mobile clinic, said the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP).
Eleven schools—four nursery schools, four primary schools and three middle schools—were forced to close and children are hiding in the jungle due to the military activities, said the relief group.
Saw Steve, a CIDKP team leader, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: “The villagers cannot return home as long as the government troops are active in the area.”
Troops from Light Infantry Battalions 362 and 367 and Tactical Operation Command 3, under control of Military Operation Command 10, are still patrolling in the affected areas, he added.
The troops separately entered six villages from Feb. 3 -7, burning down 46 houses in the Toe Hta area and 28 houses in the Ka Di Mu Der area, according to the CIDKP. On Feb. 5, a villager, Saw Law Ray Htoo, was shot on the Salween River and later died at a hospital in the Mae La Oo refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border.
The attacks are the latest in a series of raids targeting civilians in the region. In January, government army troops raided ten villages in Nyaunglebin District, killing four villagers and forcing about 2,000 into hiding in the jungle, according to Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.
“These attacks are further evidence of the urgent need for the United Nations to take effective action to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, perpetrated by the regime with impunity,” said Aung Din in a press release on Wednesday.
He said that mobile health clinics are always targeted by the Burmese government troops because they provide life-saving services to Karen and other ethnic minority villagers.
“This is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and the principal of medical neutrality, further evidence of the regime's crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said Aung Din.
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Landmine death in Karen ‘safe zone’
Feb 11, 2010 (DVB)–A man has been killed after stepping on a landmine in an area of Burma’s eastern Karen state flogged to foreign observers last week as a ‘safe haven’ to return thousands of Karen refugees to.
Medical assistance was sent on 9 February to escort the man, reportedly from the pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), across the Moei river to Thailand but he died en route.
The incident is believed to have occurred very close to a site on Friday shown to aid workers by the Thai army as a possible point of return for the thousands of Karen refugees currently enmeshed in a dispute over whether they should be forced back into Burma.
Human rights groups, including the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), who documented the incident, have argued that the area is still littered with landmines, and returnees run the risk of being forcibly recruited into the DKBA and Burmese army.
According to KHRG observers in the area, the explosion happened 500 meters from the Ler Per Har camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), from which many of the refugees had fled last June, and to which they were due to be repatriated last week.
The repatriation has however been suspended by Thai authorities following widespread international condemnation, and talks are underway to determine whether they will be moved to an official camp in Thailand, or whether they will indeed return to Burma.
Thailand’s interior ministry convened a meeting yesterday in Bangkok to discuss with the UN refugee agency, as well as Thailand-based NGO’s, the situation surrounding the refugees, although no concrete decisions have been made.
Thailand maintains however that the area of return is safe and that any repatriation would be purely “voluntary”.
Rights groups have said on several occasions that Thai military personnel manning the temporary shelters in Thailand’s northwestern Ta Song Yang district have attempted to coerce the refugees into returning, whilst warning them that they could be arrested if they speak to media.
Around 4000 refugees had fled fighting in Karen state last June between the Burmese army, supported by the DKBA, and the opposition Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). A large group of those who arrived in Thailand took temporary shelter in a cave.
IDP numbers continue to rise in eastern Burma, particularly in Karen state where low-intensity conflict has steadily gnawed away at the Karen population for more than 60 years. It is estimated that more than half a million people are internally displaced in eastern Burma, whilst millions more have fled across the border into Thailand.
Reporting by Francis Wade
Feb 11, 2010 (DVB)–A man has been killed after stepping on a landmine in an area of Burma’s eastern Karen state flogged to foreign observers last week as a ‘safe haven’ to return thousands of Karen refugees to.
Medical assistance was sent on 9 February to escort the man, reportedly from the pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), across the Moei river to Thailand but he died en route.
The incident is believed to have occurred very close to a site on Friday shown to aid workers by the Thai army as a possible point of return for the thousands of Karen refugees currently enmeshed in a dispute over whether they should be forced back into Burma.
Human rights groups, including the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), who documented the incident, have argued that the area is still littered with landmines, and returnees run the risk of being forcibly recruited into the DKBA and Burmese army.
According to KHRG observers in the area, the explosion happened 500 meters from the Ler Per Har camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), from which many of the refugees had fled last June, and to which they were due to be repatriated last week.
The repatriation has however been suspended by Thai authorities following widespread international condemnation, and talks are underway to determine whether they will be moved to an official camp in Thailand, or whether they will indeed return to Burma.
Thailand’s interior ministry convened a meeting yesterday in Bangkok to discuss with the UN refugee agency, as well as Thailand-based NGO’s, the situation surrounding the refugees, although no concrete decisions have been made.
Thailand maintains however that the area of return is safe and that any repatriation would be purely “voluntary”.
Rights groups have said on several occasions that Thai military personnel manning the temporary shelters in Thailand’s northwestern Ta Song Yang district have attempted to coerce the refugees into returning, whilst warning them that they could be arrested if they speak to media.
Around 4000 refugees had fled fighting in Karen state last June between the Burmese army, supported by the DKBA, and the opposition Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). A large group of those who arrived in Thailand took temporary shelter in a cave.
IDP numbers continue to rise in eastern Burma, particularly in Karen state where low-intensity conflict has steadily gnawed away at the Karen population for more than 60 years. It is estimated that more than half a million people are internally displaced in eastern Burma, whilst millions more have fled across the border into Thailand.
Reporting by Francis Wade
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Burma on alert as A/H1N1 cases mount
Feb 11, 2010 (DVB)–The Burmese government has said 16 people have been newly confirmed as carrying the A/H1N1 virus, although Rangoon residents say the number could be as high as 27.
A further eight high school students were today added to the list of eight people already infected with the virus in Rangoon since the beginning of this month. Five other people in Burma’s northwestern Chin state have also been diagnosed.
The students are from three separate schools in north Rangoon’s New Dagon township, and are currently being treated in hospital. A bulletin in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that all are in good condition.
But a Rangoon resident who was at one of the hospitals where the students were taken has told DVB that he saw 27 people infected with the virus on the hospital’s ground floor.
Another added that despite health warnings issued by the government, Rangoon residents are not taking preventative measures such as covering their nose and mouth.
“This time the disease has been found in people who come from abroad but among people living in the country no one is really paying attention [to warnings],” he said.
Officials at both the government’s health administration department and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Rangoon were not available for comment.
Last week more than 2500 chickens were culled in a Rangoon division township following an outbreak of the A/H5N1, or ‘bird flu’ virus.
An official at the Food and Agricultural Office (FAO) in Rangoon told DVB that the situation “was well under control” and that it had been kept to a small area.
Reporting by Maung Too and Nay Htoo
Feb 11, 2010 (DVB)–The Burmese government has said 16 people have been newly confirmed as carrying the A/H1N1 virus, although Rangoon residents say the number could be as high as 27.
A further eight high school students were today added to the list of eight people already infected with the virus in Rangoon since the beginning of this month. Five other people in Burma’s northwestern Chin state have also been diagnosed.
The students are from three separate schools in north Rangoon’s New Dagon township, and are currently being treated in hospital. A bulletin in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that all are in good condition.
But a Rangoon resident who was at one of the hospitals where the students were taken has told DVB that he saw 27 people infected with the virus on the hospital’s ground floor.
Another added that despite health warnings issued by the government, Rangoon residents are not taking preventative measures such as covering their nose and mouth.
“This time the disease has been found in people who come from abroad but among people living in the country no one is really paying attention [to warnings],” he said.
Officials at both the government’s health administration department and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Rangoon were not available for comment.
Last week more than 2500 chickens were culled in a Rangoon division township following an outbreak of the A/H5N1, or ‘bird flu’ virus.
An official at the Food and Agricultural Office (FAO) in Rangoon told DVB that the situation “was well under control” and that it had been kept to a small area.
Reporting by Maung Too and Nay Htoo
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