US envoy warns Myanmar over NKorea arms
39 mins ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – A top U.S. official visiting Myanmar warned Monday that its military regime should abide by U.N. sanctions that prohibit buying arms from North Korea, and also said the junta's election plans lack legitimacy.
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, read a statement to the press as he prepared to leave Myanmar after holding nearly two hours of closed-door talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party was disbanded last week as a result of its refusal to register for the polls, slated for sometime this year.
He did not reveal details of their talks, but praised her nonviolent struggle for democracy.
"She has demonstrated compassion and tolerance for her captors in the face of repeated indignities," he said. "It is simply tragic that Burma's generals have rebuffed her countless appeals to work together to find a peaceable solution for a more prosperous future." Burma is another name for Myanmar.
Campbell earlier held talks with several Cabinet ministers.
The U.S. envoy issued what appeared to be Washington's strongest warning to date concerning Myanmar's arms purchases from North Korea, which some analysts suspect includes nuclear technology.
A U.N. Security Council resolution bans all North Korean arms exports, authorizes member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo and requires them to seize and destroy any goods transported in violation of the sanctions.
Campbell said that Myanmar leadership had agree to abide by the U.N. resolution, but that "recent developments" called into question its commitment. He said he sought the junta's agreement to "a transparent process to assure the international community that Burma is abiding by its international commitments."
"Without such a process, the United States maintains the right to take independent action within the relevant frameworks established by the international community," said Campbell.
He did not explain what the new developments were or what action the U.S. might take, though it has in the past threatened to stop and search ships carrying suspicious cargo from Pyongyang.
Campbell said that in talks with senior officials, the U.S. side had also outlined a proposal "for a credible dialogue" for all concerned parties to agree on how to conduct upcoming polls, the first since 1990. But the junta had instead moved forward unilaterally without consulting opposition and independent voices.
"As a direct result, what we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," he said. "We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections." The exact date for the polls has not yet been set.
Campbell's visit, his second in six months, came just days after the dissolution of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, or NLD, which won the 1990 election but was never allowed to take power.
The party considers newly enacted election laws unfair and undemocratic — as Suu Kyi and other political prisoners would be barred from taking part in the vote — and so declined to reregister as required, which meant it was automatically disbanded last week.
Suu Kyi was driven from her home in a three-car police motorcade to the nearby government guesthouse for the talks with Campbell. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been detained, mostly under house arrest, for 14 of the past 20 years. Her freedom has been a long-standing demand of the United States and much of the world community, including the United Nations.
Campbell also voiced concern about the increasing tensions between the government and ethnic minorities that have long been striving for greater autonomy, but face sometime severe repression.
"Burma cannot move forward while the government itself persists in launching attacks against its own people to force compliance with a proposal its ethnic groups cannot accept," he said. "The very stability the regime seeks will continue to be elusive until a peaceable solution can be found through dialogue."
Campbell arrived Sunday and met with senior junta officials in the remote administrative capital of Naypyitaw before flying Monday to Yangon, the biggest city. Among the officials he met were Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Information Minister Kyaw San and Science and Technology Minister U Thaung — Myanmar's former envoy in Washington — who is the point person for the U.S.-Myanmar engagement.
Relations between Myanmar, also known as Burma, and the U.S. have been strained since its military crushed pro-democracy protests in 1988, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators. Since then, Washington has been Myanmar's strongest critic, applying political and economic sanctions against the junta for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Campbell, however, said he would continue a dialogue with all sides in Myanmar as part of a new Washington policy of engagement rather than isolation of the ruling generals.
Last year President Barack Obama reversed the Bush administration's isolation of Myanmar in favor of dialogue with the junta.
39 mins ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – A top U.S. official visiting Myanmar warned Monday that its military regime should abide by U.N. sanctions that prohibit buying arms from North Korea, and also said the junta's election plans lack legitimacy.
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, read a statement to the press as he prepared to leave Myanmar after holding nearly two hours of closed-door talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party was disbanded last week as a result of its refusal to register for the polls, slated for sometime this year.
He did not reveal details of their talks, but praised her nonviolent struggle for democracy.
"She has demonstrated compassion and tolerance for her captors in the face of repeated indignities," he said. "It is simply tragic that Burma's generals have rebuffed her countless appeals to work together to find a peaceable solution for a more prosperous future." Burma is another name for Myanmar.
Campbell earlier held talks with several Cabinet ministers.
The U.S. envoy issued what appeared to be Washington's strongest warning to date concerning Myanmar's arms purchases from North Korea, which some analysts suspect includes nuclear technology.
A U.N. Security Council resolution bans all North Korean arms exports, authorizes member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo and requires them to seize and destroy any goods transported in violation of the sanctions.
Campbell said that Myanmar leadership had agree to abide by the U.N. resolution, but that "recent developments" called into question its commitment. He said he sought the junta's agreement to "a transparent process to assure the international community that Burma is abiding by its international commitments."
"Without such a process, the United States maintains the right to take independent action within the relevant frameworks established by the international community," said Campbell.
He did not explain what the new developments were or what action the U.S. might take, though it has in the past threatened to stop and search ships carrying suspicious cargo from Pyongyang.
Campbell said that in talks with senior officials, the U.S. side had also outlined a proposal "for a credible dialogue" for all concerned parties to agree on how to conduct upcoming polls, the first since 1990. But the junta had instead moved forward unilaterally without consulting opposition and independent voices.
"As a direct result, what we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," he said. "We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections." The exact date for the polls has not yet been set.
Campbell's visit, his second in six months, came just days after the dissolution of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, or NLD, which won the 1990 election but was never allowed to take power.
The party considers newly enacted election laws unfair and undemocratic — as Suu Kyi and other political prisoners would be barred from taking part in the vote — and so declined to reregister as required, which meant it was automatically disbanded last week.
Suu Kyi was driven from her home in a three-car police motorcade to the nearby government guesthouse for the talks with Campbell. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been detained, mostly under house arrest, for 14 of the past 20 years. Her freedom has been a long-standing demand of the United States and much of the world community, including the United Nations.
Campbell also voiced concern about the increasing tensions between the government and ethnic minorities that have long been striving for greater autonomy, but face sometime severe repression.
"Burma cannot move forward while the government itself persists in launching attacks against its own people to force compliance with a proposal its ethnic groups cannot accept," he said. "The very stability the regime seeks will continue to be elusive until a peaceable solution can be found through dialogue."
Campbell arrived Sunday and met with senior junta officials in the remote administrative capital of Naypyitaw before flying Monday to Yangon, the biggest city. Among the officials he met were Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Information Minister Kyaw San and Science and Technology Minister U Thaung — Myanmar's former envoy in Washington — who is the point person for the U.S.-Myanmar engagement.
Relations between Myanmar, also known as Burma, and the U.S. have been strained since its military crushed pro-democracy protests in 1988, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators. Since then, Washington has been Myanmar's strongest critic, applying political and economic sanctions against the junta for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Campbell, however, said he would continue a dialogue with all sides in Myanmar as part of a new Washington policy of engagement rather than isolation of the ruling generals.
Last year President Barack Obama reversed the Bush administration's isolation of Myanmar in favor of dialogue with the junta.
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US demands 'immediate steps' by Myanmar on elections
10 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – The United States is deeply disappointed by Myanmar's preparations for rare elections and wants "immediate steps" to address fears they will lack legitimacy, a top US diplomat said Monday.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell issued his strongly-worded statement after meeting government officials and opposition leaders including detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Campbell said of the junta's plans to stage a vote later this year that would be the first in two decades.
"We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections," he said.
US President Barack Obama's administration launched dialogue with Myanmar's military rulers last year after concluding that Western attempts to isolate the regime had produced little success.
But it has sharply criticised their preparations for the polls planned for later this year which have been condemned by critics as a sham designed to legitimise the military rulers' grip on power.
"Although we are profoundly disappointed by the response of the (Myanmar) leadership, I remain inspired by those outside the government with whom I met," Campbell added.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was forcibly dissolved last week under widely criticised laws governing the elections.
The Nobel Peace laureate, 64, held more than an hour of talks with Campbell after being driven to a state guesthouse in Yangon from the lakeside mansion where she has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest.
Campbell met her once before in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
Suu Kyi did not speak to reporters but Win Tin, a former political prisoner and senior NLD member, said other top opposition figures had called on Washington to put more pressure on the junta in separate talks with Campbell.
"We think the approach of the US is very soft in relation to this military government," Win Tin said.
"We asked for tougher political or economic action. There is no position to begin credible elections as the world asks," he told reporters. "We reiterated (our request) not to acknowledge the coming result of the election."
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Last week, top US Republican senator Mitch McConnell called for the renewal of tough sanctions targeting Myanmar junta leaders for their failure to make "real progress" on democratic reforms.
The NLD, which was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the junta that left thousands dead, won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
A faction within the NLD said last week that it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule.
The group is expected to run in the election, led by former NLD member Than Nyein.
"I respect the difficult decision Burma's political parties have taken regarding the upcoming elections," Campbell said, using Myanmar's former name.
"Some have decided to participate, some will not. It is the right of a free people to make those decisions for themselves, and the United States respects their decisions."
Years of persecution by the junta left the NLD in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, has been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
10 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – The United States is deeply disappointed by Myanmar's preparations for rare elections and wants "immediate steps" to address fears they will lack legitimacy, a top US diplomat said Monday.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell issued his strongly-worded statement after meeting government officials and opposition leaders including detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Campbell said of the junta's plans to stage a vote later this year that would be the first in two decades.
"We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections," he said.
US President Barack Obama's administration launched dialogue with Myanmar's military rulers last year after concluding that Western attempts to isolate the regime had produced little success.
But it has sharply criticised their preparations for the polls planned for later this year which have been condemned by critics as a sham designed to legitimise the military rulers' grip on power.
"Although we are profoundly disappointed by the response of the (Myanmar) leadership, I remain inspired by those outside the government with whom I met," Campbell added.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was forcibly dissolved last week under widely criticised laws governing the elections.
The Nobel Peace laureate, 64, held more than an hour of talks with Campbell after being driven to a state guesthouse in Yangon from the lakeside mansion where she has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest.
Campbell met her once before in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
Suu Kyi did not speak to reporters but Win Tin, a former political prisoner and senior NLD member, said other top opposition figures had called on Washington to put more pressure on the junta in separate talks with Campbell.
"We think the approach of the US is very soft in relation to this military government," Win Tin said.
"We asked for tougher political or economic action. There is no position to begin credible elections as the world asks," he told reporters. "We reiterated (our request) not to acknowledge the coming result of the election."
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Last week, top US Republican senator Mitch McConnell called for the renewal of tough sanctions targeting Myanmar junta leaders for their failure to make "real progress" on democratic reforms.
The NLD, which was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the junta that left thousands dead, won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
A faction within the NLD said last week that it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule.
The group is expected to run in the election, led by former NLD member Than Nyein.
"I respect the difficult decision Burma's political parties have taken regarding the upcoming elections," Campbell said, using Myanmar's former name.
"Some have decided to participate, some will not. It is the right of a free people to make those decisions for themselves, and the United States respects their decisions."
Years of persecution by the junta left the NLD in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, has been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
*******************************************************
US 'profoundly disappointed' with Myanmar: envoy
2 hrs 34 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – The United States is "profoundly disappointed" with Myanmar's preparations for its first elections in two decades, which look likely to lack legitimacy, a visiting US envoy said Monday.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said in statement.
"Although we are profoundly disappointed by the response of the (Myanmar) leadership, I remain inspired by those outside the government with whom I met," he said after talks with opposition leaders.
2 hrs 34 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – The United States is "profoundly disappointed" with Myanmar's preparations for its first elections in two decades, which look likely to lack legitimacy, a visiting US envoy said Monday.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said in statement.
"Although we are profoundly disappointed by the response of the (Myanmar) leadership, I remain inspired by those outside the government with whom I met," he said after talks with opposition leaders.
*******************************************************
Myanmar opposition urges action in talks with US
Mon May 10, 7:53 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – A top US envoy Monday met Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders, who called for tougher action against the ruling junta ahead of controversial elections.
President Barack Obama's administration has made contact with adversaries a signature policy and launched dialogue with Myanmar after concluding that longstanding Western attempts to isolate the regime had borne little fruit.
But it has since sharply criticised preparations by Myanmar's rulers for the country's first polls in two decades, condemned by critics as a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
Suu Kyi was driven to a state guesthouse in Yangon from the lakeside mansion where she has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest, for talks with US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell that lasted about one hour and 45 minutes.
It was his second meeting with Suu Kyi in six months.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was dissolved last week under widely criticised laws governing elections that are scheduled for sometime later this year.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate did not speak to reporters after the talks, but Win Tin, a former political prisoner and senior NLD member, said other top opposition figures had called on Washington to put more pressure on the junta when they had met Campbell separately earlier in the day.
"We think the approach of the US is very soft in relation to this military government," Win Tin said.
"As the military government would do whatever they want, we asked for tougher political or economic action. There is no position to begin credible elections as the world asks," he told reporters.
"So we reiterated (our request) not to acknowledge the coming result of the election, which goes against the demands of the whole the world."
Campbell met Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
On a stopover in Bangkok on Sunday, Campbell said he had "very real concerns" about election preparations in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Last week, top US Republican senator Mitch McConnell called for the renewal of tough sanctions targeting Myanmar junta leaders for their failure to make "real progress" on democratic reforms.
The measure includes a ban on importing Myanmar goods, a freeze on US assets held by junta leaders, US opposition to multilateral lending organisations helping Myanmar and a ban on junta leaders travelling to the United States.
The NLD, which was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the junta that left thousands dead, won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
A faction within the NLD said last week that it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule.
The group is expected to run in the election, led by former NLD member Than Nyein.
The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands of people dead.
Years of persecution by the junta have left the party in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, has been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
Mon May 10, 7:53 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – A top US envoy Monday met Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders, who called for tougher action against the ruling junta ahead of controversial elections.
President Barack Obama's administration has made contact with adversaries a signature policy and launched dialogue with Myanmar after concluding that longstanding Western attempts to isolate the regime had borne little fruit.
But it has since sharply criticised preparations by Myanmar's rulers for the country's first polls in two decades, condemned by critics as a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
Suu Kyi was driven to a state guesthouse in Yangon from the lakeside mansion where she has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest, for talks with US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell that lasted about one hour and 45 minutes.
It was his second meeting with Suu Kyi in six months.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was dissolved last week under widely criticised laws governing elections that are scheduled for sometime later this year.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate did not speak to reporters after the talks, but Win Tin, a former political prisoner and senior NLD member, said other top opposition figures had called on Washington to put more pressure on the junta when they had met Campbell separately earlier in the day.
"We think the approach of the US is very soft in relation to this military government," Win Tin said.
"As the military government would do whatever they want, we asked for tougher political or economic action. There is no position to begin credible elections as the world asks," he told reporters.
"So we reiterated (our request) not to acknowledge the coming result of the election, which goes against the demands of the whole the world."
Campbell met Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
On a stopover in Bangkok on Sunday, Campbell said he had "very real concerns" about election preparations in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Last week, top US Republican senator Mitch McConnell called for the renewal of tough sanctions targeting Myanmar junta leaders for their failure to make "real progress" on democratic reforms.
The measure includes a ban on importing Myanmar goods, a freeze on US assets held by junta leaders, US opposition to multilateral lending organisations helping Myanmar and a ban on junta leaders travelling to the United States.
The NLD, which was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the junta that left thousands dead, won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
A faction within the NLD said last week that it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule.
The group is expected to run in the election, led by former NLD member Than Nyein.
The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands of people dead.
Years of persecution by the junta have left the party in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, has been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
*******************************************************
US envoy meets Myanmar opposition leader Suu Kyi
by Hla Hla Htay – 2 hrs 57 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – A top US diplomat met Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Monday for the second time in six months as Washington expressed concern about the ruling junta's election preparations.
President Barack Obama's administration has made contact with adversaries a signature policy and launched dialogue with Myanmar after concluding that longstanding Western attempts to isolate the regime had borne little fruit.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was forcibly dissolved last week under widely criticised laws governing elections that are scheduled for later this year.
The Nobel laureate was driven to a state guesthouse in Yangon from the lakeside mansion where she has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest to meet Kurt Campbell, the top US envoy for East Asia.
She did not speak to reporters on her way into the talks.
Campbell, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
Before his latest visit, during which he also met former NLD members, Campbell said he was worried about election preparations in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.
"We're troubled by much of what we've seen and we have very real concerns about the elections laws and the environment that's been created," Campbell told reporters in Bangkok Sunday.
Campbell arrived in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on Sunday and held discussions with officials including Information Minister Kyaw Hsan.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which critics say is a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Washington faces a tricky task dealing with Myanmar, said Aung Naing Oo, an independent Myanmar analyst.
"They know they have to engage the military and the progress is probably going to be painfully slow," he told AFP.
Last week, top US Republican senator Mitch McConnell called for the renewal of tough sanctions targeting Myanmar junta leaders for their failure to make "real progress" on democratic reforms.
The NLD, which was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the junta that left thousands dead, won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
A faction within the NLD said last week that it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule.
The group is expected to run in the election, led by former NLD member Than Nyein.
Suu Kyi's supporters have said they would urge the US envoy to push for a dialogue between the junta and the democracy campaigners.
"We will ask what the US government can do for Myanmar politics as a mediator or just watching from the sidelines," said a former senior NLD member, Khin Maung Swe.
The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands of people dead.
Years of persecution by the junta have left the party in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, has been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
by Hla Hla Htay – 2 hrs 57 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – A top US diplomat met Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Monday for the second time in six months as Washington expressed concern about the ruling junta's election preparations.
President Barack Obama's administration has made contact with adversaries a signature policy and launched dialogue with Myanmar after concluding that longstanding Western attempts to isolate the regime had borne little fruit.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was forcibly dissolved last week under widely criticised laws governing elections that are scheduled for later this year.
The Nobel laureate was driven to a state guesthouse in Yangon from the lakeside mansion where she has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest to meet Kurt Campbell, the top US envoy for East Asia.
She did not speak to reporters on her way into the talks.
Campbell, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
Before his latest visit, during which he also met former NLD members, Campbell said he was worried about election preparations in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.
"We're troubled by much of what we've seen and we have very real concerns about the elections laws and the environment that's been created," Campbell told reporters in Bangkok Sunday.
Campbell arrived in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on Sunday and held discussions with officials including Information Minister Kyaw Hsan.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which critics say is a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Washington faces a tricky task dealing with Myanmar, said Aung Naing Oo, an independent Myanmar analyst.
"They know they have to engage the military and the progress is probably going to be painfully slow," he told AFP.
Last week, top US Republican senator Mitch McConnell called for the renewal of tough sanctions targeting Myanmar junta leaders for their failure to make "real progress" on democratic reforms.
The NLD, which was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the junta that left thousands dead, won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
A faction within the NLD said last week that it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule.
The group is expected to run in the election, led by former NLD member Than Nyein.
Suu Kyi's supporters have said they would urge the US envoy to push for a dialogue between the junta and the democracy campaigners.
"We will ask what the US government can do for Myanmar politics as a mediator or just watching from the sidelines," said a former senior NLD member, Khin Maung Swe.
The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands of people dead.
Years of persecution by the junta have left the party in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, has been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
*******************************************************
US envoy in Myanmar for talks with junta, Suu Kyi
Sun May 9, 3:53 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – A top US envoy arrived in Myanmar Sunday for talks with the ruling junta and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Myanmar government official said, ahead of rare elections later this year.
Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, arrived in the capital Naypyidaw where he was due to hold talks with government officials before travelling to Yangon to meet Suu Kyi on Monday.
Suu Kyi, 64, has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years.
Campbell met her in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years, part of a new policy by President Barack Obama of engagement with the military-ruled country.
Sun May 9, 3:53 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – A top US envoy arrived in Myanmar Sunday for talks with the ruling junta and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Myanmar government official said, ahead of rare elections later this year.
Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, arrived in the capital Naypyidaw where he was due to hold talks with government officials before travelling to Yangon to meet Suu Kyi on Monday.
Suu Kyi, 64, has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years.
Campbell met her in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years, part of a new policy by President Barack Obama of engagement with the military-ruled country.
*******************************************************
Myanmar democracy campaigners to form new party
Fri May 7, 3:55 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar democracy campaigners said Friday they would form a new party after opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was abolished by the junta ahead of rare elections.
At least 25 senior figures in the disbanded NLD have signed up to the unnamed party, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule, leading member Khin Maung Swe told AFP.
"The NLD is finished but we will continue the NLD's unfinished political duty by keeping our faith with the NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," he said, using a respectful form of address for the Nobel peace laureate.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which critics say is a sham designed to legitimise the junta's half-century grip on power.
Analysts say that within Suu Kyi's party there has been friction between older, hardline members and younger more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
Khin Maung Swe, a former member of the NLD's decision-making central executive committee, said they aimed to register the party this month but had not yet decided whether to take part in the polls scheduled for this year.
Nyan Win, the NLD's longtime spokesman, urged the founders of the new democracy movement to refuse to participate in the polls.
"They should formally obey the unanimous decision of the NLD" to boycott the elections, he told AFP. "Whether they obey the decision or not is their choice."
Under the election laws handed down by the regime, which have been widely criticised by the international community, the NLD was officially abolished at midnight Thursday.
"The NLD is not a legal registered party any more according to the law. That is for sure now," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses said the doors of the NLD headquarters in Myanmar's main city Yangon had opened as usual on Friday, and that the party's signboards and its "fighting peacock" flag were still in view.
"Although the NLD party is not valid according to the law of the military government, we see ourselves as party members," said a former senior NLD member, Aung Hlaing Than.
"We will do what we can under the law and also we will wait for instructions from our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."
Along with Suu Kyi's lakeside home, where she has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, the shabby wooden building has been the focus of efforts to end nearly half a century of military rule.
Nyan Win has said that former members would continue operating from their headquarters, and that some were pursuing a new mandate to focus on social and development work.
The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands dead. Two years later the party won elections in a landslide but the results were never recognised by the regime.
Years of persecution by the junta has left the NLD in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, had been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
However, analysts said any new pro-democracy force would lack the NLD's trump card -- Suu Kyi, the charismatic 64-year-old whose campaign has captivated both Myanmar citizens and sympathisers around the world.
In Washington, a State Department official told reporters that US envoy Kurt Campbell would visit Myanmar if the junta allowed him to meet Suu Kyi and other opposition members.
"Unless the Burmese (Myanmar) government agrees to our conditions he will not go," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking American official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
Trevor Wilson, a former Australian ambassador to Myanmar, said the new party would have scant opportunity to prepare itself for elections.
"I think the consequences for political expression in Burma are quite pessimistic in the short term," he said, using the country's former name.
"At least when the NLD was active it was the focus of popular hopes and ideals," he said. "People really did put their hopes in the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi."
Fri May 7, 3:55 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar democracy campaigners said Friday they would form a new party after opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was abolished by the junta ahead of rare elections.
At least 25 senior figures in the disbanded NLD have signed up to the unnamed party, to advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule, leading member Khin Maung Swe told AFP.
"The NLD is finished but we will continue the NLD's unfinished political duty by keeping our faith with the NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," he said, using a respectful form of address for the Nobel peace laureate.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which critics say is a sham designed to legitimise the junta's half-century grip on power.
Analysts say that within Suu Kyi's party there has been friction between older, hardline members and younger more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
Khin Maung Swe, a former member of the NLD's decision-making central executive committee, said they aimed to register the party this month but had not yet decided whether to take part in the polls scheduled for this year.
Nyan Win, the NLD's longtime spokesman, urged the founders of the new democracy movement to refuse to participate in the polls.
"They should formally obey the unanimous decision of the NLD" to boycott the elections, he told AFP. "Whether they obey the decision or not is their choice."
Under the election laws handed down by the regime, which have been widely criticised by the international community, the NLD was officially abolished at midnight Thursday.
"The NLD is not a legal registered party any more according to the law. That is for sure now," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses said the doors of the NLD headquarters in Myanmar's main city Yangon had opened as usual on Friday, and that the party's signboards and its "fighting peacock" flag were still in view.
"Although the NLD party is not valid according to the law of the military government, we see ourselves as party members," said a former senior NLD member, Aung Hlaing Than.
"We will do what we can under the law and also we will wait for instructions from our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."
Along with Suu Kyi's lakeside home, where she has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, the shabby wooden building has been the focus of efforts to end nearly half a century of military rule.
Nyan Win has said that former members would continue operating from their headquarters, and that some were pursuing a new mandate to focus on social and development work.
The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands dead. Two years later the party won elections in a landslide but the results were never recognised by the regime.
Years of persecution by the junta has left the NLD in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, had been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.
However, analysts said any new pro-democracy force would lack the NLD's trump card -- Suu Kyi, the charismatic 64-year-old whose campaign has captivated both Myanmar citizens and sympathisers around the world.
In Washington, a State Department official told reporters that US envoy Kurt Campbell would visit Myanmar if the junta allowed him to meet Suu Kyi and other opposition members.
"Unless the Burmese (Myanmar) government agrees to our conditions he will not go," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking American official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
Trevor Wilson, a former Australian ambassador to Myanmar, said the new party would have scant opportunity to prepare itself for elections.
"I think the consequences for political expression in Burma are quite pessimistic in the short term," he said, using the country's former name.
"At least when the NLD was active it was the focus of popular hopes and ideals," he said. "People really did put their hopes in the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi."
*******************************************************
US Senate stands by Myanmar opposition
Fri May 7, 4:52 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate on Friday voiced solidarity with Myanmar's main opposition party, which was abolished by the military regime, and called on the Obama administration to consider tighter sanctions.
The Senate approved a resolution urging the junta to engage in dialogue with the National League for Democracy and to free its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest.
It asked the administration to maintain and consider strengthening sanctions "if the military regime continues its systematic violation of human rights and fails to embrace the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma."
The NLD swept the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over. The junta abolished the NLD ahead of new elections later this year, which the opposition considers a sham and plans to boycott.
Senator Judd Gregg, who led the resolution, said that the upcoming elections in Myanmar, also known as Burma, would be a "charade" as the junta was elbowing out key stakeholders in the country.
"Despite the regime's vicious efforts to undermine the NLD, the NLD will forever remain a political party dedicated to democratic values and the voice of freedom in Burma," said Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire.
The Obama administration last year launched a new policy of dialogue with the junta, concluding that years of Western efforts to isolate the regime had not borne fruit.
Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, is considering a trip shortly to Myanmar but a senior official said he would only go if he can see Aung San Suu Kyi.
The administration has maintained sanctions on Myanmar but dangled the possibility of easing the measures in return for progress on democracy and human rights.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday introduced a bill to renew current sanctions against Myanmar, saying that to do otherwise would offer the regime undeserved legitimacy.
The measure includes a ban on importing Myanmar goods, a freeze on US assets held by junta leaders, US opposition to multilateral lending organizations helping Myanmar and a ban on junta leaders travelling to the United States.
Fri May 7, 4:52 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate on Friday voiced solidarity with Myanmar's main opposition party, which was abolished by the military regime, and called on the Obama administration to consider tighter sanctions.
The Senate approved a resolution urging the junta to engage in dialogue with the National League for Democracy and to free its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest.
It asked the administration to maintain and consider strengthening sanctions "if the military regime continues its systematic violation of human rights and fails to embrace the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma."
The NLD swept the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over. The junta abolished the NLD ahead of new elections later this year, which the opposition considers a sham and plans to boycott.
Senator Judd Gregg, who led the resolution, said that the upcoming elections in Myanmar, also known as Burma, would be a "charade" as the junta was elbowing out key stakeholders in the country.
"Despite the regime's vicious efforts to undermine the NLD, the NLD will forever remain a political party dedicated to democratic values and the voice of freedom in Burma," said Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire.
The Obama administration last year launched a new policy of dialogue with the junta, concluding that years of Western efforts to isolate the regime had not borne fruit.
Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, is considering a trip shortly to Myanmar but a senior official said he would only go if he can see Aung San Suu Kyi.
The administration has maintained sanctions on Myanmar but dangled the possibility of easing the measures in return for progress on democracy and human rights.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday introduced a bill to renew current sanctions against Myanmar, saying that to do otherwise would offer the regime undeserved legitimacy.
The measure includes a ban on importing Myanmar goods, a freeze on US assets held by junta leaders, US opposition to multilateral lending organizations helping Myanmar and a ban on junta leaders travelling to the United States.
*******************************************************
US ups support of opposition ahead of Myanmar polls
by Lachlan Carmichael – Fri May 7, 10:00 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's administration renewed support Friday for the political opposition in Myanmar which faced a clampdown from the military junta ahead of rare national elections.
The US Senate also voiced solidarity with the National League for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party which was abolished by the junta, but called on the Obama administration to consider tighter sanctions.
Amid doubts over its policy of diplomatically engaging the junta, the administration sought to increase support for the NLD, its leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other opponents while slamming junta actions over the elections.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said it was "highly regrettable" that the junta created the circumstances in which NLD members felt they had to form a new party after the league was disbanded.
"We applaud the resolve of the NLD to continue working for the people of Burma," Crowley told reporters, using Myanmar's former name.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which critics say is a sham designed to legitimize the junta's half-century grip on power.
Khin Maung Swe, a former member of the NLD's decision-making central executive committee, said some members aimed to register the new party this month but had not yet decided whether to take part in this year's polls.
Analysts say that within Aung San Suu Kyi's party there has been friction between older, hardline members and younger more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
A senior US official said meanwhile that Kurt Campbell, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's top diplomat for Asia, will visit Myanmar if the junta allows him to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition members.
"Unless the Burmese (Myanmar) government agrees to our conditions he will not go," the State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met with Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking American official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
The Obama administration last year launched a new policy of dialogue with the junta, concluding that years of Western efforts to isolate the regime had not borne fruit.
The administration has maintained sanctions on Myanmar but dangled the possibility of easing the measures in return for progress on democracy and human rights.
The Senate on Friday approved a resolution urging the junta to engage in dialogue with the NLD and to free Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest.
It asked the administration to maintain and consider strengthening sanctions "if the military regime continues its systematic violation of human rights and fails to embrace the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma."
The NLD swept the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over.
Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma, welcomed the Senate moves.
"I applaud US Senate for demanding the US administration to strengthen existing pressure against Burma's military regime and to review its engagement policy with the regime," said Aung Din.
"I am hoping that the Obama administration will support the establishment of a UN commission of enquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma and call the regime's election a sham."
by Lachlan Carmichael – Fri May 7, 10:00 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's administration renewed support Friday for the political opposition in Myanmar which faced a clampdown from the military junta ahead of rare national elections.
The US Senate also voiced solidarity with the National League for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party which was abolished by the junta, but called on the Obama administration to consider tighter sanctions.
Amid doubts over its policy of diplomatically engaging the junta, the administration sought to increase support for the NLD, its leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other opponents while slamming junta actions over the elections.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said it was "highly regrettable" that the junta created the circumstances in which NLD members felt they had to form a new party after the league was disbanded.
"We applaud the resolve of the NLD to continue working for the people of Burma," Crowley told reporters, using Myanmar's former name.
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which critics say is a sham designed to legitimize the junta's half-century grip on power.
Khin Maung Swe, a former member of the NLD's decision-making central executive committee, said some members aimed to register the new party this month but had not yet decided whether to take part in this year's polls.
Analysts say that within Aung San Suu Kyi's party there has been friction between older, hardline members and younger more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
A senior US official said meanwhile that Kurt Campbell, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's top diplomat for Asia, will visit Myanmar if the junta allows him to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition members.
"Unless the Burmese (Myanmar) government agrees to our conditions he will not go," the State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met with Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking American official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.
The Obama administration last year launched a new policy of dialogue with the junta, concluding that years of Western efforts to isolate the regime had not borne fruit.
The administration has maintained sanctions on Myanmar but dangled the possibility of easing the measures in return for progress on democracy and human rights.
The Senate on Friday approved a resolution urging the junta to engage in dialogue with the NLD and to free Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest.
It asked the administration to maintain and consider strengthening sanctions "if the military regime continues its systematic violation of human rights and fails to embrace the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma."
The NLD swept the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over.
Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma, welcomed the Senate moves.
"I applaud US Senate for demanding the US administration to strengthen existing pressure against Burma's military regime and to review its engagement policy with the regime," said Aung Din.
"I am hoping that the Obama administration will support the establishment of a UN commission of enquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma and call the regime's election a sham."
*******************************************************
Posted on Mon. May. 10, 2010 - 12:01 am
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel - Burmese immigrant uses education to give back
By Ellie Bogue of The News-Sentinel
In 1988, Rangoon University student Kyaw Soe was running for his life.
Wednesday night, he will graduate from IPFW with a master’s degree in education.
Soe was a political leader during the 1988 student uprising against the Burmese government. Warned by monks of his impending arrest, Soe was forced to flee the country, leaving behind friends and family.
“My father wanted me to stay; he said, ‘We will fight together,’” said Soe. But he left, knowing his presence would put his family in danger. He fled to Thailand to a refugee camp where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees helped him get into a resettlement program that brought Soe to Fort Wayne in 1993.
He went to college, earning first an associate’s degree, then a bachelor’s degree, and now a Master of Education at IPFW. He will walk with the hundreds of graduating IPFW students on Wednesday, and in the audience, 40 young Burmese children and their parents will be watching. They are Soe’s students at the New Immigrant Literacy Program; a free program Soe founded to help promote literacy and cultural understanding for newly arrived Burmese. He is now the director of the New Immigrant Literacy Program.
Soe originally worked with the students in makeshift quarters at Centlivre Village Apartments in 2003. For the past several years the program has been using space at IPFW’s Neff Hall on Saturday mornings, free of charge.
The IPFW literacy program, formerly known as the Burmese literacy program, is integrated into the IPFW School of Education and is a requirement to complete many classes. While the children receive lessons and tutoring, so do the parents.
“This is so much better; my teaching volunteers were sometimes afraid to come to the apartment complex, and sometimes the room would flood, or the air conditioning wouldn’t work,” said Soe.
It was his role as a teacher and mentor in the literacy program that made him decide to pursue his master’s degree.
Dr. Joe Nichols, department chair of educational studies at IPFW, remembers how Soe talked him into visiting the program he was running at the apartment complex. The visit led Nichols to get more education students involved, and eventually the collaboration led to the program’s move to the IPFW campus.
“Soe speaks two or three different languages and he has been instrumental in getting parents and children involved,” said Nichols.
The former student political leader is serious about his role model status; he wants refugee children and parents to succeed in their new environment. He sees education as being the key to make that happen. After graduation, Soe plans to continue with the program and reach out to other new immigrant families in the community. He will also recruit new volunteers this fall to help with the literacy program and draw in more students.
He is hoping his efforts will promote more cultural understanding between the newcomers in the community and those who have lived here all their lives.
“The people of Fort Wayne need to be more patient; it takes time for new people to adjust to the American culture,” said Soe.
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel - Burmese immigrant uses education to give back
By Ellie Bogue of The News-Sentinel
In 1988, Rangoon University student Kyaw Soe was running for his life.
Wednesday night, he will graduate from IPFW with a master’s degree in education.
Soe was a political leader during the 1988 student uprising against the Burmese government. Warned by monks of his impending arrest, Soe was forced to flee the country, leaving behind friends and family.
“My father wanted me to stay; he said, ‘We will fight together,’” said Soe. But he left, knowing his presence would put his family in danger. He fled to Thailand to a refugee camp where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees helped him get into a resettlement program that brought Soe to Fort Wayne in 1993.
He went to college, earning first an associate’s degree, then a bachelor’s degree, and now a Master of Education at IPFW. He will walk with the hundreds of graduating IPFW students on Wednesday, and in the audience, 40 young Burmese children and their parents will be watching. They are Soe’s students at the New Immigrant Literacy Program; a free program Soe founded to help promote literacy and cultural understanding for newly arrived Burmese. He is now the director of the New Immigrant Literacy Program.
Soe originally worked with the students in makeshift quarters at Centlivre Village Apartments in 2003. For the past several years the program has been using space at IPFW’s Neff Hall on Saturday mornings, free of charge.
The IPFW literacy program, formerly known as the Burmese literacy program, is integrated into the IPFW School of Education and is a requirement to complete many classes. While the children receive lessons and tutoring, so do the parents.
“This is so much better; my teaching volunteers were sometimes afraid to come to the apartment complex, and sometimes the room would flood, or the air conditioning wouldn’t work,” said Soe.
It was his role as a teacher and mentor in the literacy program that made him decide to pursue his master’s degree.
Dr. Joe Nichols, department chair of educational studies at IPFW, remembers how Soe talked him into visiting the program he was running at the apartment complex. The visit led Nichols to get more education students involved, and eventually the collaboration led to the program’s move to the IPFW campus.
“Soe speaks two or three different languages and he has been instrumental in getting parents and children involved,” said Nichols.
The former student political leader is serious about his role model status; he wants refugee children and parents to succeed in their new environment. He sees education as being the key to make that happen. After graduation, Soe plans to continue with the program and reach out to other new immigrant families in the community. He will also recruit new volunteers this fall to help with the literacy program and draw in more students.
He is hoping his efforts will promote more cultural understanding between the newcomers in the community and those who have lived here all their lives.
“The people of Fort Wayne need to be more patient; it takes time for new people to adjust to the American culture,” said Soe.
*******************************************************
May 10, 2010 19:20 PM
Extreme Hot Weather Grills Myanmar
YANGON, May 10 (Bernama) -- Myanmar people have been suffering from the impact of extreme hot weather this summer in terms of diseases, business and water shortage in various part of the country, reports China's Xinhua news agency on Monday.
As a rare phenomena in several decades, this year is experiencing excessive heat strike, with the day temperatures in central Myanmar reaching a record high of between 43 and 45 degree Celsius, 5 to 6 degree Celsius above April average maximum temperature.
According to Xinhua's report, the summer season in Myanmar lasts from March to May, and April represents the hottest month.
Due to this extreme hot weather, the Myanmar authorities have stopped traders in the country from exporting rice in order to reserve for domestic demand due to less production.
Meanwhile, thousands of fish bred in ponds in the country's southwestern Ayeyawaddy division, died of heat during the current summer season.
Some 100,000 fishes died in a single day in Twantay township, Yangon division, and fish breeders feared that such cases would continue since there is no rainfall.
Furthermore, the excessively high temperature also led to water shortage in many villages in the country, and as an alternative, the villagers are digging up wells near the dry ponds to get water.
On disease, the heat wave has also spred flu and skin allergy and the lack of electricity and water intensified the suffering.
Officials said that a taxi driver died due to heat wave, while he was in his taxi.
As precautions, the authorities have advised people to remain indoor in the day time to prevent from exposure to excessive heat.
Extreme Hot Weather Grills Myanmar
YANGON, May 10 (Bernama) -- Myanmar people have been suffering from the impact of extreme hot weather this summer in terms of diseases, business and water shortage in various part of the country, reports China's Xinhua news agency on Monday.
As a rare phenomena in several decades, this year is experiencing excessive heat strike, with the day temperatures in central Myanmar reaching a record high of between 43 and 45 degree Celsius, 5 to 6 degree Celsius above April average maximum temperature.
According to Xinhua's report, the summer season in Myanmar lasts from March to May, and April represents the hottest month.
Due to this extreme hot weather, the Myanmar authorities have stopped traders in the country from exporting rice in order to reserve for domestic demand due to less production.
Meanwhile, thousands of fish bred in ponds in the country's southwestern Ayeyawaddy division, died of heat during the current summer season.
Some 100,000 fishes died in a single day in Twantay township, Yangon division, and fish breeders feared that such cases would continue since there is no rainfall.
Furthermore, the excessively high temperature also led to water shortage in many villages in the country, and as an alternative, the villagers are digging up wells near the dry ponds to get water.
On disease, the heat wave has also spred flu and skin allergy and the lack of electricity and water intensified the suffering.
Officials said that a taxi driver died due to heat wave, while he was in his taxi.
As precautions, the authorities have advised people to remain indoor in the day time to prevent from exposure to excessive heat.
*******************************************************
10 Mei, 2010 15:26 PM
Myanmar Upgrades Labs In Anti-Tuberculosis Efforts
YANGON, May 10 (Bernama) -- Myanmar has introduced two modern biosafety level-3 laboratories respectively in Yangon and Mandalay, as part of its efforts in combating tuberculosis, a local media reported.
The introduction of the modern labs was made in cooperation with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnosis, Myanmar Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint was quoted by China's Xinhua news agency as saying.
According to the report, Myanmar has been applying DOTS treatment against tuberculosis at national level since 1997, receiving aid of anti-tuberculosis medicine under GDF programme from 2002 to 2009.
It disclosed that up to one million patients have been treated with GDF medicine.
Myanmar is seeking new means to fight tuberculosis, one of Myanmar's three disease of priority concern, tasking to discover new drugs, diagnosis and vaccine through research to combat the deadly disease that is on the rise again.
The new means also covers the task of exposing persons suffering from tuberculosis, providing therapies with greater potency, promoting the anti-tuberculosis campaign with the cooperation of partners, fighting tuberculosis through primary healthcare and disseminating public health knowledge.
An annual report of the health ministry said the exposure rate of tuberculosis patients reached 94 percent and treatment success rate 85 percent.
However, the discovery rate has not met the target in southern Shan state, Chin state and some other townships, the ministry revealed, pointing out the need to step up hunting for tuberculosis patients in those regions and remote border and rural areas.
Myanmar Upgrades Labs In Anti-Tuberculosis Efforts
YANGON, May 10 (Bernama) -- Myanmar has introduced two modern biosafety level-3 laboratories respectively in Yangon and Mandalay, as part of its efforts in combating tuberculosis, a local media reported.
The introduction of the modern labs was made in cooperation with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnosis, Myanmar Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint was quoted by China's Xinhua news agency as saying.
According to the report, Myanmar has been applying DOTS treatment against tuberculosis at national level since 1997, receiving aid of anti-tuberculosis medicine under GDF programme from 2002 to 2009.
It disclosed that up to one million patients have been treated with GDF medicine.
Myanmar is seeking new means to fight tuberculosis, one of Myanmar's three disease of priority concern, tasking to discover new drugs, diagnosis and vaccine through research to combat the deadly disease that is on the rise again.
The new means also covers the task of exposing persons suffering from tuberculosis, providing therapies with greater potency, promoting the anti-tuberculosis campaign with the cooperation of partners, fighting tuberculosis through primary healthcare and disseminating public health knowledge.
An annual report of the health ministry said the exposure rate of tuberculosis patients reached 94 percent and treatment success rate 85 percent.
However, the discovery rate has not met the target in southern Shan state, Chin state and some other townships, the ministry revealed, pointing out the need to step up hunting for tuberculosis patients in those regions and remote border and rural areas.
*******************************************************
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Japan Times - Dutchman hopes 'VJ' documentary empowers Myanmar
By TAKAKI TOMINAGA, Kyodo News
Jan Krogsgaard was making a documentary on undercover video journalists working in Myanmar in 2007 when a major uprising against the military government broke out.
Instead of the psychological portrait he had envisioned, the 51-year-old Danish video artist scrambled to change the film into one focused on the antigovernment protests they had been covering in Yangon that fall.
Now all of the hard work put in by he and his colleagues appears to have paid off.
The Oscar-nominated film "Burma VJ" has won more than 40 international awards and will be screened at the Theatre Image Forum in Tokyo next Saturday, and later in Osaka, Nagoya and other cities.
"We knew it was important to create something powerful as a movie which could touch people," Krogsgaard said during a recent interview in Tokyo. "I hope lots of people around the world will focus energy and attention on Burma after watching this humble little film, which could help change the situation."
The 85-minute film portrays the work of a group of video journalists, or VJs, who succeeded in capturing the 2007 uprisings of monks and civilians, including the shooting death of Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, using smuggled camcorders.
Krogsgaard and "Joshua," a leading member of the VJs and the film's main character, compiled and mapped the times and locations of all the fragmented images and stories collected by the VJs at a safe house in Thailand.
They also wove in images taken afterward to reconstruct "true stories" that weren't recorded, Krogsgaard said.
Krogsgaard said his interest in Myanmar stems from seeing his father suffer from the aftershocks of living in Nazi-controlled Germany during World War II, as well as TV images of the Vietnam War, which inspired him to settle in Vietnam after growing up.
Before his latest film, Krogsgaard produced and directed "Burma Manipulated" from 2002 to 2004, and interviewed people seeking asylum, ex-political prisoners and a former high-ranking junta officer along the Thailand-Myanmar border for six months.
He approached the VJs after learning about the Oslo-based media organization Democratic Voice of Burma, which uses their footage in its broadcasts to Myanmar.
He was fascinated with them and their work because they have chosen to risk their lives and the safety of their families as they "can end up in jail for 20 years, 30 to 40 years if they are caught by military intelligence," Krogsgaard said.
The documentary shows scenes of the VJs fleeing government authorities or being captured and taken away while performing their craft.
Thousands of people, including journalists, were arrested during and just after September 2007 in connection with political issues, according to Krogsgaard.
To avoid arrest or detention, the VJs usually bring their video clips out of the country because communications links in Myanmar aren't safe, he said.
Ordinary people are not allowed to access the Internet in their homes, and the few Internet cafes are tightly monitored with surveillance cameras recording images of users and the content on computer screens, Krogsgaard said, adding soldiers and military intelligence also conduct random raids on the cafes.
The VJs "usually take out materials they shot to Thailand first, pre-edit them in Thailand and post or upload them to Norway," he said. The footage is made ready for broadcast in Norway and sent to another European or Middle Eastern city from which it is broadcast by satellite link back to Myanmar.
While his documentary probably won't be screened in Myanmar, he said the DVD version has been spreading underground.
"It is giving people in Burma a lot of hope and many of them have found a new role model in the VJs. And it has also encouraged people inside the military system, who have now started to leak information," said Krogsgaard, adding some local people have joined the team of VJs after seeing the film.
"Today, more than 100 people are working in the team . . . while there were only about 40 in 2007. So it is building up," he said.
On Myanmar's coming elections, expected for later this year, Krogsgaard said they are a "joke" because of the absence of Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders. Regardless, he added, the VJs are preparing for the national event.
"(VJs) know it is time to expose what is happening inside Burma as much as possible up to this election, but the regime is also really trying to tighten the grip at the same time and arresting many people," Krogsgaard said.
The Japan Times - Dutchman hopes 'VJ' documentary empowers Myanmar
By TAKAKI TOMINAGA, Kyodo News
Jan Krogsgaard was making a documentary on undercover video journalists working in Myanmar in 2007 when a major uprising against the military government broke out.
Instead of the psychological portrait he had envisioned, the 51-year-old Danish video artist scrambled to change the film into one focused on the antigovernment protests they had been covering in Yangon that fall.
Now all of the hard work put in by he and his colleagues appears to have paid off.
The Oscar-nominated film "Burma VJ" has won more than 40 international awards and will be screened at the Theatre Image Forum in Tokyo next Saturday, and later in Osaka, Nagoya and other cities.
"We knew it was important to create something powerful as a movie which could touch people," Krogsgaard said during a recent interview in Tokyo. "I hope lots of people around the world will focus energy and attention on Burma after watching this humble little film, which could help change the situation."
The 85-minute film portrays the work of a group of video journalists, or VJs, who succeeded in capturing the 2007 uprisings of monks and civilians, including the shooting death of Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, using smuggled camcorders.
Krogsgaard and "Joshua," a leading member of the VJs and the film's main character, compiled and mapped the times and locations of all the fragmented images and stories collected by the VJs at a safe house in Thailand.
They also wove in images taken afterward to reconstruct "true stories" that weren't recorded, Krogsgaard said.
Krogsgaard said his interest in Myanmar stems from seeing his father suffer from the aftershocks of living in Nazi-controlled Germany during World War II, as well as TV images of the Vietnam War, which inspired him to settle in Vietnam after growing up.
Before his latest film, Krogsgaard produced and directed "Burma Manipulated" from 2002 to 2004, and interviewed people seeking asylum, ex-political prisoners and a former high-ranking junta officer along the Thailand-Myanmar border for six months.
He approached the VJs after learning about the Oslo-based media organization Democratic Voice of Burma, which uses their footage in its broadcasts to Myanmar.
He was fascinated with them and their work because they have chosen to risk their lives and the safety of their families as they "can end up in jail for 20 years, 30 to 40 years if they are caught by military intelligence," Krogsgaard said.
The documentary shows scenes of the VJs fleeing government authorities or being captured and taken away while performing their craft.
Thousands of people, including journalists, were arrested during and just after September 2007 in connection with political issues, according to Krogsgaard.
To avoid arrest or detention, the VJs usually bring their video clips out of the country because communications links in Myanmar aren't safe, he said.
Ordinary people are not allowed to access the Internet in their homes, and the few Internet cafes are tightly monitored with surveillance cameras recording images of users and the content on computer screens, Krogsgaard said, adding soldiers and military intelligence also conduct random raids on the cafes.
The VJs "usually take out materials they shot to Thailand first, pre-edit them in Thailand and post or upload them to Norway," he said. The footage is made ready for broadcast in Norway and sent to another European or Middle Eastern city from which it is broadcast by satellite link back to Myanmar.
While his documentary probably won't be screened in Myanmar, he said the DVD version has been spreading underground.
"It is giving people in Burma a lot of hope and many of them have found a new role model in the VJs. And it has also encouraged people inside the military system, who have now started to leak information," said Krogsgaard, adding some local people have joined the team of VJs after seeing the film.
"Today, more than 100 people are working in the team . . . while there were only about 40 in 2007. So it is building up," he said.
On Myanmar's coming elections, expected for later this year, Krogsgaard said they are a "joke" because of the absence of Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders. Regardless, he added, the VJs are preparing for the national event.
"(VJs) know it is time to expose what is happening inside Burma as much as possible up to this election, but the regime is also really trying to tighten the grip at the same time and arresting many people," Krogsgaard said.
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Monday, May 10, 2010
The Japan Times - Path of engagement with Burma
By WESLEY K. CLARK, HENRIETTA H. FORE and SUZANNE DIMAGGIO
NEW YORK — The Obama administration's decision to seek a new way forward in U.S.-Burma relations recognizes that decades of trying to isolate Burma (aka Myanmar) in order to change the behavior of its government have achieved little. As Burma's ruling generals prepare to hold elections later this year — for the first time since 1990 — it is time to try something different.
Attempting to engage one of the world's most authoritarian governments will not be easy. There is no evidence to indicate that Burma's leaders will respond positively to the Obama administration's central message, which calls for releasing the estimated 2,100 political prisoners (including Aung San Suu Kyi), engaging in genuine dialogue with the opposition, and allowing fair and inclusive elections.
In fact, the recently enacted electoral laws, which have been met with international condemnation, already point to a process that lacks credibility.
This past fall we convened a task force under the auspices of the Asia Society to consider how the United States can best pursue a path of engagement with Burma. We concluded that the U.S. must ensure that its policies do not inadvertently support or encourage authoritarian and corrupt elements in Burmese society.
At the same time, if the U.S. sets the bar too high at the outset, it will deny itself an effective role in helping to move Burma away from authoritarian rule and into the world community.
During this period of uncertainty, we recommend framing U.S. policy toward Burma on the basis of changes taking place in the country, using both engagement and sanctions to encourage reform. The Obama administration's decision to maintain trade and investment sanctions on Burma in the absence of meaningful change, particularly with regard to the Burmese government's intolerance of political opposition, is correct.
Yet there are other measures that should be pursued now. The U.S. should engage not only with Burma's leaders, but also with a wide range of groups inside the country to encourage the dialogue necessary to bring about national reconciliation of the military, democracy groups, and non-Burmese nationalities.
Removal of some noneconomic sanctions that restrict official bilateral interaction is welcome, and an even greater relaxation in communications, through both official and unofficial channels, should be implemented. Expanding such channels, especially during a period of potential political change, will strengthen U.S. leverage.
To reach the Burmese people directly, the U.S. should continue to develop and scale up assistance programs, while preserving cross-border assistance. Assistance to nongovernmental organizations should be expanded, and U.S. assistance also should be targeted toward small farmers and small- and medium-size businesses.
Educational exchanges under the Fulbright and Humphrey Scholar programs and cultural outreach activities should be increased. These programs produce powerful agents for community development in Burma, and can significantly improve the prospects for better governance.
U.S. policy should shift to a more robust phase if Burmese leaders begin to relax political restrictions, institute economic reforms and advance human rights. If there is no movement on these fronts, there will likely be pressure in the U.S. for tightening sanctions.
If there is no recourse but to pursue stronger sanctions, the U.S. should coordinate with others, including the European Union and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to impose targeted financial and banking measures to ensure that military leaders and their associates cannot evade the impact of what otherwise would be less-effective unilateral sanctions.
If a different scenario emerges, it should open the way for a much more active U.S. role in assisting with capacity building, governance training and international efforts to encourage economic reforms.
One priority should be to develop an appropriate mechanism for ensuring that revenues from the sale of natural gas are properly accounted for, repatriated and allocated to meet urgent national needs.
In adjusting its policy toward Burma, the U.S. must face reality with a clear vision of what its foreign policy can achieve. U.S. influence in Burma is unlikely to outweigh that of increasingly powerful Asian neighbors. Therefore, the U.S. should make collaboration with other key stakeholders, particularly ASEAN, the United Nations and Burma's neighbors — including China, India and Japan — the centerpiece of its policy.
In every respect, conditions in Burma are among the direst of any country in the world, and it will take decades, if not generations, to reverse current downward trends and create a foundation for a sustainable and viable democratic government and a prosperous society.
The U.S. needs to position itself to respond effectively and flexibly to the twists and turns that a potential transition in Burma may take over time, with an eye toward pressing the Burmese leadership to move in positive directions.
Wesley K. Clark, a former NATO supreme commander, is a senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations. Henrietta H. Fore is a former administrator of USAID. Both are cochairs of the Asia Society-sponsored Task Force on U.S. Policy toward Burma/Myanmar. Suzanne DiMaggio, director of Policy Studies at the Asia Society, is project director.
The Japan Times - Path of engagement with Burma
By WESLEY K. CLARK, HENRIETTA H. FORE and SUZANNE DIMAGGIO
NEW YORK — The Obama administration's decision to seek a new way forward in U.S.-Burma relations recognizes that decades of trying to isolate Burma (aka Myanmar) in order to change the behavior of its government have achieved little. As Burma's ruling generals prepare to hold elections later this year — for the first time since 1990 — it is time to try something different.
Attempting to engage one of the world's most authoritarian governments will not be easy. There is no evidence to indicate that Burma's leaders will respond positively to the Obama administration's central message, which calls for releasing the estimated 2,100 political prisoners (including Aung San Suu Kyi), engaging in genuine dialogue with the opposition, and allowing fair and inclusive elections.
In fact, the recently enacted electoral laws, which have been met with international condemnation, already point to a process that lacks credibility.
This past fall we convened a task force under the auspices of the Asia Society to consider how the United States can best pursue a path of engagement with Burma. We concluded that the U.S. must ensure that its policies do not inadvertently support or encourage authoritarian and corrupt elements in Burmese society.
At the same time, if the U.S. sets the bar too high at the outset, it will deny itself an effective role in helping to move Burma away from authoritarian rule and into the world community.
During this period of uncertainty, we recommend framing U.S. policy toward Burma on the basis of changes taking place in the country, using both engagement and sanctions to encourage reform. The Obama administration's decision to maintain trade and investment sanctions on Burma in the absence of meaningful change, particularly with regard to the Burmese government's intolerance of political opposition, is correct.
Yet there are other measures that should be pursued now. The U.S. should engage not only with Burma's leaders, but also with a wide range of groups inside the country to encourage the dialogue necessary to bring about national reconciliation of the military, democracy groups, and non-Burmese nationalities.
Removal of some noneconomic sanctions that restrict official bilateral interaction is welcome, and an even greater relaxation in communications, through both official and unofficial channels, should be implemented. Expanding such channels, especially during a period of potential political change, will strengthen U.S. leverage.
To reach the Burmese people directly, the U.S. should continue to develop and scale up assistance programs, while preserving cross-border assistance. Assistance to nongovernmental organizations should be expanded, and U.S. assistance also should be targeted toward small farmers and small- and medium-size businesses.
Educational exchanges under the Fulbright and Humphrey Scholar programs and cultural outreach activities should be increased. These programs produce powerful agents for community development in Burma, and can significantly improve the prospects for better governance.
U.S. policy should shift to a more robust phase if Burmese leaders begin to relax political restrictions, institute economic reforms and advance human rights. If there is no movement on these fronts, there will likely be pressure in the U.S. for tightening sanctions.
If there is no recourse but to pursue stronger sanctions, the U.S. should coordinate with others, including the European Union and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to impose targeted financial and banking measures to ensure that military leaders and their associates cannot evade the impact of what otherwise would be less-effective unilateral sanctions.
If a different scenario emerges, it should open the way for a much more active U.S. role in assisting with capacity building, governance training and international efforts to encourage economic reforms.
One priority should be to develop an appropriate mechanism for ensuring that revenues from the sale of natural gas are properly accounted for, repatriated and allocated to meet urgent national needs.
In adjusting its policy toward Burma, the U.S. must face reality with a clear vision of what its foreign policy can achieve. U.S. influence in Burma is unlikely to outweigh that of increasingly powerful Asian neighbors. Therefore, the U.S. should make collaboration with other key stakeholders, particularly ASEAN, the United Nations and Burma's neighbors — including China, India and Japan — the centerpiece of its policy.
In every respect, conditions in Burma are among the direst of any country in the world, and it will take decades, if not generations, to reverse current downward trends and create a foundation for a sustainable and viable democratic government and a prosperous society.
The U.S. needs to position itself to respond effectively and flexibly to the twists and turns that a potential transition in Burma may take over time, with an eye toward pressing the Burmese leadership to move in positive directions.
Wesley K. Clark, a former NATO supreme commander, is a senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations. Henrietta H. Fore is a former administrator of USAID. Both are cochairs of the Asia Society-sponsored Task Force on U.S. Policy toward Burma/Myanmar. Suzanne DiMaggio, director of Policy Studies at the Asia Society, is project director.
*******************************************************
Bangkok Post - Shan State Army spurns Burma govt's call to disarm
Published: 9/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
CHIANG MAI : The Shan State Army has vowed not to bow to the Burmese government which is trying to put armed ethnic groups under its control ahead of general elections later this year.
In an interview with the Bangkok Post Sunday, SSA leader Col Yodsuek insisted his group had never thought of surrendering to the junta. "I will not disarm before the Burmese government no matter what happens. It is impossible for our army to disarm and come under the Burmese army," he said.
The SSA is one of a number of ethnic minorities who have fought against Burma for autonomous homelands, many of which are situated near the Thai-Burmese border.
The situation has led to prolonged conflicts in the country which have shown no sign of easing.
The latest strategic move by the junta is to persuade ethnic groups into a border force under its control.
This includes the SSA ally, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which has been under increasing pressure from the government to end its military activities against the junta by joining the Border Guard Force controlled by the Burmese military.
The UWSA, with approximately 10,000 militants under the leadership of Bao Yuu Zhiang, has been contacted by Burmese army "representatives" to negotiate for disarmament but it has refused to do so.
Col Yodsuek said he had also been contacted by four Burmese officers for similar negotiations, but he said this reflects the insincerity of the Burmese government.
"Why didn't they send somebody on regular duty to come and see me? This is just a tactic to create mistrust among our alliances," he said.
A highly placed border source said the Wa want to keep their alliance with the SSA because they know they cannot fight alone.
The SSA can act as a barrier against the Burmese government and both forces need one another to survive the pressure, the source said.
Kuensai Jaiyen, editor of the Shan Herald News Agency, said it was possible that the two anti-government forces would keep their alliance intact as they had a common enemy in the Burmese forces.
But if the SSA cannot stand against the Burmese government, then it was more likely that they would disarm to the Thai government, he said.
Col Yodsuek claimed that so far more than 1 million Shan people had fled to Thailand because they could no longer live peacefully in Burma.
Published: 9/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
CHIANG MAI : The Shan State Army has vowed not to bow to the Burmese government which is trying to put armed ethnic groups under its control ahead of general elections later this year.
In an interview with the Bangkok Post Sunday, SSA leader Col Yodsuek insisted his group had never thought of surrendering to the junta. "I will not disarm before the Burmese government no matter what happens. It is impossible for our army to disarm and come under the Burmese army," he said.
The SSA is one of a number of ethnic minorities who have fought against Burma for autonomous homelands, many of which are situated near the Thai-Burmese border.
The situation has led to prolonged conflicts in the country which have shown no sign of easing.
The latest strategic move by the junta is to persuade ethnic groups into a border force under its control.
This includes the SSA ally, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which has been under increasing pressure from the government to end its military activities against the junta by joining the Border Guard Force controlled by the Burmese military.
The UWSA, with approximately 10,000 militants under the leadership of Bao Yuu Zhiang, has been contacted by Burmese army "representatives" to negotiate for disarmament but it has refused to do so.
Col Yodsuek said he had also been contacted by four Burmese officers for similar negotiations, but he said this reflects the insincerity of the Burmese government.
"Why didn't they send somebody on regular duty to come and see me? This is just a tactic to create mistrust among our alliances," he said.
A highly placed border source said the Wa want to keep their alliance with the SSA because they know they cannot fight alone.
The SSA can act as a barrier against the Burmese government and both forces need one another to survive the pressure, the source said.
Kuensai Jaiyen, editor of the Shan Herald News Agency, said it was possible that the two anti-government forces would keep their alliance intact as they had a common enemy in the Burmese forces.
But if the SSA cannot stand against the Burmese government, then it was more likely that they would disarm to the Thai government, he said.
Col Yodsuek claimed that so far more than 1 million Shan people had fled to Thailand because they could no longer live peacefully in Burma.
*******************************************************
Investigative Report
Bangkok Post - Clinic in crisis
Dr Cynthia Maung has won 14 international awards for her humanitarian work at the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Burma border. In 1989, its founding year, her clinic treated 2,000 patients - by 2010, that figure surged to a massive 140,000
Published: 9/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Spectrum
Most of the Burmese people coming to Dr Cynthia Maung's clinic are in dire need of medical care not available to them in their home country. Their plight puts a spotlight on the health and humanitarian crisis created in Burma by the ruling military regime and its military focused policies.
Dr Cynthia, in spite of all the awards and kind words showered on her and the clinic, warns that the statistics are not to be misread as an achievement.
"It's not a success story, but a story of failure, the failure of the Burma military regime to care for its people," she said.
A report, Chronic Emergency, by the Back Pack Health Worker Team, an organisation that delivers medical assistance to displaced people in eastern Burma, backs up Dr Cynthia's position.
The report states that one in 10 children will die before the age of one, and more than one in five before their fifth birthday, and one in 12 women will lose their lives from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Malaria, HIV/Aids and tuberculosis rates in Burma are considered epidemics by international health organisations.
Dr Cynthia says each year the clinic sees up to 20% more patients, due to the ever-worsening humanitarian and economic crisis in Burma. The clinic offers free medical care to Burmese migrant workers, refugees and to villagers displaced by the Burmese army.
"Every year we need more and more money just to catch up. We desperately need long-term donors. Our donors are usually for only a year at a time. This creates a lot of stress for us, as we don't know if we can continue our services."
Dr Cynthia warns the situation in Burma is not going to get better anytime soon.
"It's not just a health crisis, it's now become more complex. It's orphaned children at risk. It's the elderly, a lack of access to education, mental trauma, chronic poverty and food security. Burma has no health system, no social priorities, no welfare planning, there's no level of minimum care."
Dr Cynthia says many isolated communities are without basic necessities such as running water and electricity.
''The people's welfare is not the regime's priority. Citizens are not considered as human beings, but as something to be controlled.''
The Mae Tao Clinic is wedged between two worlds _ the hustle and bustle of Mae Sot's product-packed shops and markets, and the drabness of poverty-stricken Myawaddy on the Burmese side of the Moei River.
Belting back and forth between the two towns are fleets of old, rusting, over-used and exhaust-belching Burmese registered mini-vans. In co-ordinated moves, the vans drop off and pick up mobs of Burmese people at shops, clinics, pharmacies and markets. These people are not shopping for big-name brands or luxury goods. Most are picking up toothpaste, shampoo, headache tablets, cough syrups, soap, detergents, fish sauce, oil, tinned fish, cordial, MSG, instant noodles, salt and sugar.
Everyday taken-for-granted items on this side of the border, but in product-deprived Burma, hard-to-find or to buy.
From early morning to late afternoon, overloaded convoys of pick-up trucks disgorge people outside Dr Cynthia's clinic, as many as 500 nervous looking Burmese men, women and children in need of health care. Some, like 72-year-old Uncle Min, have travelled a long way to get help. His daughter says they spent 10 days travelling by bus to get to the clinic from far-away Arakan State. The old man sits rock solid without comment as he absorbs the hurt.
''He has eye problems. His left eye is dead, but we came here to try to save the other one. He had treatment in Burma, but it wasn't any good. We heard about the clinic and decided we had to make the trip,'' his daughter says.
Both Uncle Min's son and daughter, like many Burmese people, are scared of the camera and refuse to be photographed _ and for good reason.
''I worry and she worries. We fear authorities knowing we came here. We might lose our jobs and our children won't be allowed to continue their studies.''
Uncle Min has just had eye surgery and is without sight in his good eye until the dressing is removed.
''He's not a happy man, but in two or three days the doctor said his sight will be good, then he'll be happy,'' says his daughter.
The daily hand-to-mouth struggle and grinding fear Burmese people like Uncle Min and his family have to endure highlight the disastrous living conditions the military regime has created for its citizens.
Dr Cynthia explains that the global recession, her existing donors receiving less funds, donor fatigue and rising costs _ medicines, food, electricity, building, clothing and water _ have all played a part in reducing the clinic's ability to generate enough funds to cover their ever increasing patient load.
''This year we estimate a shortfall of about US$650,000 (about 21 million baht). To offset this, our staff volunteered to take a wage cut and have canvassed their friends and relatives to donate what they can in the way of rice and funds, but it won't be enough. We could have cut medicine, patient food or some of our other services, but we all agreed we didn't want that to happen.''
Asuko Fitzgerald, the finance manager at the clinic, says there's international money available, but the clinic is having trouble getting access to it.
''There's a move by international governments to fund more humanitarian projects inside Burma and reduce funding for those on the Thai border, because of what we are, a small community-based organisation and where we are [in Thailand], we're considered not suitable for that money.
''We're not a big INGO (international non government organisation) and we can't compete with them or their resources for government funds. They're big players and we're just a grassroots organisation supporting the most vulnerable people on the border.''
Ms Asuko explains the clinic's accountability is to the Burmese people who seek health care at the clinic, but she fears their needs may get ignored by international governments in their rush to work inside Burma.
''We can't just leave them. A big INGO operating out of New York, London or Brussels can remotely cut services, we can't, but if we don't get extra funding we will have to reduce what we do.''
Ms Asuko is right _ there is international money earmarked for Burma. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) compiled a list of ''funding, commitments, contributions and pledges'' to Burma, and it totals just over $200 million. Burma also earns billions from its natural resources, but the regime moves it offshore for their own use, Sean Turnell, an economist from Macquarie University in Sydney says.
Burma receives between $1 billion and $2 billon a year from its sales of natural gas to Thailand alone.
In spite of the well-documented difficulties of working with Burma's military regime, the international aid industry has fixed Burma firmly in its sights as a place in need of urgent assistance.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) described Burma's humanitarian crisis as ''one of the worst in the world'', and says one third of its citizens lives beneath the poverty line on about a $1 a day. Human Rights Watch have identified 13 United Nations agencies, funds and programmes operating in Burma and another ''54 registered and operational INGOs working there''.
David Mathieson, Human Rights Watch's, Burma researcher, stresses that humanitarian aid should not be a competition between government controlled areas and border conflict zones.
''Many donors feel nervous about sending aid 'cross border', but not sending aid will render already desperate populations even more vulnerable.''
Mr Mathieson blames the military regime's economic incompetence and mismanagement for Burma's crisis.
''The humanitarian and development mess that is modern Burma is the direct result of the regime's misrule, greed, incompetence and complete lack of concern for the welfare of its people,'' he said.
Mr Mathieson says accusations of mismanagement against the regime are well founded as the regime spends most of its money on military hardware, or ''symbolic modernisation projects like bridges, roads and the new capital city in Naypyidaw''.
A John Hopkins School Of Public Health report, The Gathering Storm, estimates that the Burmese regime spends as little as ''3% of national expenditure on health, while the military, with a standing army of over 400,000 troops, consumes 40%''.
HRW's Mr Mathieson says the regime's fiscal irresponsibility has created a disaster.
''It will take at least a generation to repair. Burma is a rich country where people should not be poor, but the natural wealth of the country is being sold off to foreigners and the profits hoarded by the regime's elites,'' he said.
And those revenues are substantial, explains economist Mr Turnell, speaking by phone from Sydney, Australia.
''In 2008/9 the regime spent around $US85 million on post-Nargis relief and construction compared with over $600 million committed in funds by the international community. This $85 million is less than two weeks of gas export earnings for the regime.''
HEALTH WARNING: BURMA'S HOSPITALS
Dr Aung, who has worked for nearly a decade in Burma's hospitals, says the health system has been neglected for years and is in need of a massive overhaul.
''It is soul destroying being a doctor. They [the regime] treat doctors and sickness as security problems and not as health issues. If we report health problems we're told it's not our business,'' he said.
Dr Aung, in his mid-thirties, says he wants to use his training and skills to help sick Burmese people, but admits trying to do that in Burma is a nightmare. Dr Aung cites a recent incident at Insein Hospital that ended a doctor's career.
''A student bitten by a cobra was admitted. She wanted to treat him, but there was no serum. She transferred him and he died. His family complained and the Ministry of Health lied and said all hospitals had serum. They punished the doctor by taking away her medical licence and forcing her to retire. All she wanted to do was treat her patient, but now her career is over.''
Dr Aung says doctors in Burma are frustrated by the lack of equipment and medicine needed to do their job.
''We want to help people. Most of the medicine is out of date _ it's worse than useless _ it's dangerous, causing some diseases to be drug resistant. We live in a crazy world; we can't report ill health or disease outbreaks. Talking to you can cause problems for me. I would not be allowed to go back, my family would be harassed and I would not be allowed to work as a doctor.''
Dr Aung reveals that the government does not provide fund for doctors or hospitals, but they also lie about it.
''They take no responsibility. I was sent to a remote hospital. We didn't have enough nurses, doctors or staff. We had no equipment and no medicine to treat people. We had to buy it ourselves. The government say they supply hospitals, but it's a lie, they always lie. Hospitals have nothing.''
Dr Aung says even getting access to basic but essential items such as running water and electricity are a problem.
''We have the buildings, that's about it. We plan our operations between 6pm and 10pm as electricity use is restricted. In one hospital, the medical supervisor wouldn't let us operate as he feared there would be no electricity for lighting, suction tubes, oxygen or ventilation.
''We treated a six-month-old baby admitted with pneumonia with antibiotics, but we couldn't give oxygen. The baby recovered, but suffered brain damage. In some areas if patients want electricity they have to buy the fuel for the generator.''
Dr Aung says not all Burmese people are equal or need to rely on the under resourced and run-down local hospitals.
''If government officials and their families are sick they get treatment abroad, they go to Singapore or Thailand and they use state money to pay their bills. It's not justifiable. I have many horror stories and none good about working in [Burmese] hospitals. Our patients just wait to die.''
Dr Aung says the number of women who die from abortion complications haunts him.
''Colleagues estimate as many as 10,000 women die each year. The Ministry of Health disputes their findings and refuses to help, and this figure is just for Rangoon.''
A World Health Organisation health fact sheet on Burma supports Dr Aung's estimation that many Burmese women are at risk from unsafe abortions, and says: ''Abortion is illegal in Burma and is considered the leading cause of maternal mortality, with at least 50% of maternal deaths and 20% of all admissions resulting from unsafe abortions.''
DISEASES DON'T RECOGNISE BORDERS
The numbers of Burmese people coming to Dr Cynthia's clinic is staggering. The clinic is not flash. It might have started out as a clinic, but it has grown to resemble a small village. Its cluster of rambling concrete sheds is connected by a dusty track that churns to mud when it rains. Most of the wards are simple breeze-block constructions on bare concrete slabs, but inside the wards medics treat patients with care.
Mae Tao Clinic's report for 2009 documents that 29,874 cases turned up at out-patients, 3,918 people were admitted as inpatients, another 7,074 cases received surgery, 13,438 children were seen at the child health department, 9,782 people came for eye care, 1.545 people received eye surgery, 221 new cases needed artificial limbs fitted and 4,741 people required dental treatment.
One medical man who sees the value in the work done by the Mae Tao Clinic is the Deputy Director of Mae Sot General Hospital, Dr Ronnatrai Rueangweerayut.
Dr Ronnatrai has worked in public health for 32 years _ 30 of those in Mae Sot _ and speaks highly of the clinic.
''Very few people can achieve what Dr Cynthia has done. Her medics help us control and prevent the spread of disease. We both apply good public health measures and we work on vaccinations programmes together. Diseases don't recognise borders and humanitarian care doesn't either.
''You have to vaccinate children travelling back and forth on both sides of the border _ it's a pointless exercise just targeting one group. The clinic trains people from Burmese villages to administer vaccines. This is important to help stop the spread of infections.''
On May 6, a news item in the Bangkok Post confirmed Dr Ronnatrai's treatment of communicable diseases was government policy. It stated that the Thai Ministry of Public Health ''provides polio vaccinations for migrant workers' children under the age of 15. The programme is in its second year and coincides with the schedule for inoculation of Thai children''.
Dr Ronnatrai doesn't say it, but a close look at the figures show that as well as Dr Cynthia's Clinic, Mae Sot Hospital is absorbing much of the costs of treating Burma's ill health _ as many as 25% of its in-patients are Burmese. Dr Ronnatrai says the hospital treats all legally registered workers and spends about 50 million baht a year on people who have no means to pay.
''It's a struggle for our hospital to find the budget to look after these people, but we do, we have to take preventative measures as we try to prevent the spread of deadly diseases and MTC co-operates with us to achieve this.''
Dr Ronnatrai says Thailand is again starting to see diseases, sourced to Burma, that they thought had been controlled, such as filariasis, a mosquito borne disease that can result in elephantiasis.
The John Hopkins School Of Public Health report, The Gathering Storm, says: ''Burmese migrant workers are more likely to be infected with filariasis than any other population group in Thailand.''
Considering all the reports and credible evidence that points to Burma's public health system being non-existent, it is highly unlikely that in Burma people are being treated in any systematic way by public health professionals for filariasis or any other infectious diseases. The Burmese regime is content to leave that to its neighbours.
The Bangkok Post article indicates that the Thai government recognises the risks if it doesn't take preventative measures, and the costs associated with treating cross border infections by allocating 472 million baht for Thai border hospitals to provide medical services to stateless people. The news item said many of the border hospitals incurred debt as a result of treating patients who did not have a registered nationality papers.
Dr Ronnatrai says Dr Cynthia's clinic performs an effective public health role in stopping the spread of infections and disease. ''It's the first barrier in identifying potential problems. This is crucial in us being able to respond quickly to infections and disease outbreaks.''
The failure of the Burmese regime to help and care for its own people has placed a massive burden on its neighbours and the Mae Tao Clinic. Dr Cynthia admits she is doing it tough. Her clinic is cash strapped and in the present economic climate she is having difficulty knowing where to source new funds.
Dr Decha Tangseepa, who teaches political science at Thammasat University in Bangkok and who specialises in forced displacement on the Thai Burma border, says the work the clinic does is essential.
''It's [the clinic] a gift to the suffering people of Burma. I've spent 11 years on the border doing field work. People come here [Mae Sot] without legal status, they have no choice, but they still come. Without the clinic local health services would explode. Dr Cynthia has shown her commitment for more than 20 years and the dedication of her staff speaks for itself.''
Inside one of the small, windowless concrete rooms, a small fan ineffectively pushes hot air around, and Dr Cynthia stares deep, as she considers her clinic's future funding and the future of Burma.
''Burmese people are getting poorer. We are not only treating migrants and refugees, but people from the cities and from the other side of Burma need help. In my time here I have never seen the patient caseload decrease, and it won't until there's years and years of stability and security.
''The people of Burma will never give up. They love their country and their children. And our clinic will never stop caring for them.''
Bangkok Post - Clinic in crisis
Dr Cynthia Maung has won 14 international awards for her humanitarian work at the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Burma border. In 1989, its founding year, her clinic treated 2,000 patients - by 2010, that figure surged to a massive 140,000
Published: 9/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Spectrum
Most of the Burmese people coming to Dr Cynthia Maung's clinic are in dire need of medical care not available to them in their home country. Their plight puts a spotlight on the health and humanitarian crisis created in Burma by the ruling military regime and its military focused policies.
Dr Cynthia, in spite of all the awards and kind words showered on her and the clinic, warns that the statistics are not to be misread as an achievement.
"It's not a success story, but a story of failure, the failure of the Burma military regime to care for its people," she said.
A report, Chronic Emergency, by the Back Pack Health Worker Team, an organisation that delivers medical assistance to displaced people in eastern Burma, backs up Dr Cynthia's position.
The report states that one in 10 children will die before the age of one, and more than one in five before their fifth birthday, and one in 12 women will lose their lives from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Malaria, HIV/Aids and tuberculosis rates in Burma are considered epidemics by international health organisations.
Dr Cynthia says each year the clinic sees up to 20% more patients, due to the ever-worsening humanitarian and economic crisis in Burma. The clinic offers free medical care to Burmese migrant workers, refugees and to villagers displaced by the Burmese army.
"Every year we need more and more money just to catch up. We desperately need long-term donors. Our donors are usually for only a year at a time. This creates a lot of stress for us, as we don't know if we can continue our services."
Dr Cynthia warns the situation in Burma is not going to get better anytime soon.
"It's not just a health crisis, it's now become more complex. It's orphaned children at risk. It's the elderly, a lack of access to education, mental trauma, chronic poverty and food security. Burma has no health system, no social priorities, no welfare planning, there's no level of minimum care."
Dr Cynthia says many isolated communities are without basic necessities such as running water and electricity.
''The people's welfare is not the regime's priority. Citizens are not considered as human beings, but as something to be controlled.''
The Mae Tao Clinic is wedged between two worlds _ the hustle and bustle of Mae Sot's product-packed shops and markets, and the drabness of poverty-stricken Myawaddy on the Burmese side of the Moei River.
Belting back and forth between the two towns are fleets of old, rusting, over-used and exhaust-belching Burmese registered mini-vans. In co-ordinated moves, the vans drop off and pick up mobs of Burmese people at shops, clinics, pharmacies and markets. These people are not shopping for big-name brands or luxury goods. Most are picking up toothpaste, shampoo, headache tablets, cough syrups, soap, detergents, fish sauce, oil, tinned fish, cordial, MSG, instant noodles, salt and sugar.
Everyday taken-for-granted items on this side of the border, but in product-deprived Burma, hard-to-find or to buy.
From early morning to late afternoon, overloaded convoys of pick-up trucks disgorge people outside Dr Cynthia's clinic, as many as 500 nervous looking Burmese men, women and children in need of health care. Some, like 72-year-old Uncle Min, have travelled a long way to get help. His daughter says they spent 10 days travelling by bus to get to the clinic from far-away Arakan State. The old man sits rock solid without comment as he absorbs the hurt.
''He has eye problems. His left eye is dead, but we came here to try to save the other one. He had treatment in Burma, but it wasn't any good. We heard about the clinic and decided we had to make the trip,'' his daughter says.
Both Uncle Min's son and daughter, like many Burmese people, are scared of the camera and refuse to be photographed _ and for good reason.
''I worry and she worries. We fear authorities knowing we came here. We might lose our jobs and our children won't be allowed to continue their studies.''
Uncle Min has just had eye surgery and is without sight in his good eye until the dressing is removed.
''He's not a happy man, but in two or three days the doctor said his sight will be good, then he'll be happy,'' says his daughter.
The daily hand-to-mouth struggle and grinding fear Burmese people like Uncle Min and his family have to endure highlight the disastrous living conditions the military regime has created for its citizens.
Dr Cynthia explains that the global recession, her existing donors receiving less funds, donor fatigue and rising costs _ medicines, food, electricity, building, clothing and water _ have all played a part in reducing the clinic's ability to generate enough funds to cover their ever increasing patient load.
''This year we estimate a shortfall of about US$650,000 (about 21 million baht). To offset this, our staff volunteered to take a wage cut and have canvassed their friends and relatives to donate what they can in the way of rice and funds, but it won't be enough. We could have cut medicine, patient food or some of our other services, but we all agreed we didn't want that to happen.''
Asuko Fitzgerald, the finance manager at the clinic, says there's international money available, but the clinic is having trouble getting access to it.
''There's a move by international governments to fund more humanitarian projects inside Burma and reduce funding for those on the Thai border, because of what we are, a small community-based organisation and where we are [in Thailand], we're considered not suitable for that money.
''We're not a big INGO (international non government organisation) and we can't compete with them or their resources for government funds. They're big players and we're just a grassroots organisation supporting the most vulnerable people on the border.''
Ms Asuko explains the clinic's accountability is to the Burmese people who seek health care at the clinic, but she fears their needs may get ignored by international governments in their rush to work inside Burma.
''We can't just leave them. A big INGO operating out of New York, London or Brussels can remotely cut services, we can't, but if we don't get extra funding we will have to reduce what we do.''
Ms Asuko is right _ there is international money earmarked for Burma. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) compiled a list of ''funding, commitments, contributions and pledges'' to Burma, and it totals just over $200 million. Burma also earns billions from its natural resources, but the regime moves it offshore for their own use, Sean Turnell, an economist from Macquarie University in Sydney says.
Burma receives between $1 billion and $2 billon a year from its sales of natural gas to Thailand alone.
In spite of the well-documented difficulties of working with Burma's military regime, the international aid industry has fixed Burma firmly in its sights as a place in need of urgent assistance.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) described Burma's humanitarian crisis as ''one of the worst in the world'', and says one third of its citizens lives beneath the poverty line on about a $1 a day. Human Rights Watch have identified 13 United Nations agencies, funds and programmes operating in Burma and another ''54 registered and operational INGOs working there''.
David Mathieson, Human Rights Watch's, Burma researcher, stresses that humanitarian aid should not be a competition between government controlled areas and border conflict zones.
''Many donors feel nervous about sending aid 'cross border', but not sending aid will render already desperate populations even more vulnerable.''
Mr Mathieson blames the military regime's economic incompetence and mismanagement for Burma's crisis.
''The humanitarian and development mess that is modern Burma is the direct result of the regime's misrule, greed, incompetence and complete lack of concern for the welfare of its people,'' he said.
Mr Mathieson says accusations of mismanagement against the regime are well founded as the regime spends most of its money on military hardware, or ''symbolic modernisation projects like bridges, roads and the new capital city in Naypyidaw''.
A John Hopkins School Of Public Health report, The Gathering Storm, estimates that the Burmese regime spends as little as ''3% of national expenditure on health, while the military, with a standing army of over 400,000 troops, consumes 40%''.
HRW's Mr Mathieson says the regime's fiscal irresponsibility has created a disaster.
''It will take at least a generation to repair. Burma is a rich country where people should not be poor, but the natural wealth of the country is being sold off to foreigners and the profits hoarded by the regime's elites,'' he said.
And those revenues are substantial, explains economist Mr Turnell, speaking by phone from Sydney, Australia.
''In 2008/9 the regime spent around $US85 million on post-Nargis relief and construction compared with over $600 million committed in funds by the international community. This $85 million is less than two weeks of gas export earnings for the regime.''
HEALTH WARNING: BURMA'S HOSPITALS
Dr Aung, who has worked for nearly a decade in Burma's hospitals, says the health system has been neglected for years and is in need of a massive overhaul.
''It is soul destroying being a doctor. They [the regime] treat doctors and sickness as security problems and not as health issues. If we report health problems we're told it's not our business,'' he said.
Dr Aung, in his mid-thirties, says he wants to use his training and skills to help sick Burmese people, but admits trying to do that in Burma is a nightmare. Dr Aung cites a recent incident at Insein Hospital that ended a doctor's career.
''A student bitten by a cobra was admitted. She wanted to treat him, but there was no serum. She transferred him and he died. His family complained and the Ministry of Health lied and said all hospitals had serum. They punished the doctor by taking away her medical licence and forcing her to retire. All she wanted to do was treat her patient, but now her career is over.''
Dr Aung says doctors in Burma are frustrated by the lack of equipment and medicine needed to do their job.
''We want to help people. Most of the medicine is out of date _ it's worse than useless _ it's dangerous, causing some diseases to be drug resistant. We live in a crazy world; we can't report ill health or disease outbreaks. Talking to you can cause problems for me. I would not be allowed to go back, my family would be harassed and I would not be allowed to work as a doctor.''
Dr Aung reveals that the government does not provide fund for doctors or hospitals, but they also lie about it.
''They take no responsibility. I was sent to a remote hospital. We didn't have enough nurses, doctors or staff. We had no equipment and no medicine to treat people. We had to buy it ourselves. The government say they supply hospitals, but it's a lie, they always lie. Hospitals have nothing.''
Dr Aung says even getting access to basic but essential items such as running water and electricity are a problem.
''We have the buildings, that's about it. We plan our operations between 6pm and 10pm as electricity use is restricted. In one hospital, the medical supervisor wouldn't let us operate as he feared there would be no electricity for lighting, suction tubes, oxygen or ventilation.
''We treated a six-month-old baby admitted with pneumonia with antibiotics, but we couldn't give oxygen. The baby recovered, but suffered brain damage. In some areas if patients want electricity they have to buy the fuel for the generator.''
Dr Aung says not all Burmese people are equal or need to rely on the under resourced and run-down local hospitals.
''If government officials and their families are sick they get treatment abroad, they go to Singapore or Thailand and they use state money to pay their bills. It's not justifiable. I have many horror stories and none good about working in [Burmese] hospitals. Our patients just wait to die.''
Dr Aung says the number of women who die from abortion complications haunts him.
''Colleagues estimate as many as 10,000 women die each year. The Ministry of Health disputes their findings and refuses to help, and this figure is just for Rangoon.''
A World Health Organisation health fact sheet on Burma supports Dr Aung's estimation that many Burmese women are at risk from unsafe abortions, and says: ''Abortion is illegal in Burma and is considered the leading cause of maternal mortality, with at least 50% of maternal deaths and 20% of all admissions resulting from unsafe abortions.''
DISEASES DON'T RECOGNISE BORDERS
The numbers of Burmese people coming to Dr Cynthia's clinic is staggering. The clinic is not flash. It might have started out as a clinic, but it has grown to resemble a small village. Its cluster of rambling concrete sheds is connected by a dusty track that churns to mud when it rains. Most of the wards are simple breeze-block constructions on bare concrete slabs, but inside the wards medics treat patients with care.
Mae Tao Clinic's report for 2009 documents that 29,874 cases turned up at out-patients, 3,918 people were admitted as inpatients, another 7,074 cases received surgery, 13,438 children were seen at the child health department, 9,782 people came for eye care, 1.545 people received eye surgery, 221 new cases needed artificial limbs fitted and 4,741 people required dental treatment.
One medical man who sees the value in the work done by the Mae Tao Clinic is the Deputy Director of Mae Sot General Hospital, Dr Ronnatrai Rueangweerayut.
Dr Ronnatrai has worked in public health for 32 years _ 30 of those in Mae Sot _ and speaks highly of the clinic.
''Very few people can achieve what Dr Cynthia has done. Her medics help us control and prevent the spread of disease. We both apply good public health measures and we work on vaccinations programmes together. Diseases don't recognise borders and humanitarian care doesn't either.
''You have to vaccinate children travelling back and forth on both sides of the border _ it's a pointless exercise just targeting one group. The clinic trains people from Burmese villages to administer vaccines. This is important to help stop the spread of infections.''
On May 6, a news item in the Bangkok Post confirmed Dr Ronnatrai's treatment of communicable diseases was government policy. It stated that the Thai Ministry of Public Health ''provides polio vaccinations for migrant workers' children under the age of 15. The programme is in its second year and coincides with the schedule for inoculation of Thai children''.
Dr Ronnatrai doesn't say it, but a close look at the figures show that as well as Dr Cynthia's Clinic, Mae Sot Hospital is absorbing much of the costs of treating Burma's ill health _ as many as 25% of its in-patients are Burmese. Dr Ronnatrai says the hospital treats all legally registered workers and spends about 50 million baht a year on people who have no means to pay.
''It's a struggle for our hospital to find the budget to look after these people, but we do, we have to take preventative measures as we try to prevent the spread of deadly diseases and MTC co-operates with us to achieve this.''
Dr Ronnatrai says Thailand is again starting to see diseases, sourced to Burma, that they thought had been controlled, such as filariasis, a mosquito borne disease that can result in elephantiasis.
The John Hopkins School Of Public Health report, The Gathering Storm, says: ''Burmese migrant workers are more likely to be infected with filariasis than any other population group in Thailand.''
Considering all the reports and credible evidence that points to Burma's public health system being non-existent, it is highly unlikely that in Burma people are being treated in any systematic way by public health professionals for filariasis or any other infectious diseases. The Burmese regime is content to leave that to its neighbours.
The Bangkok Post article indicates that the Thai government recognises the risks if it doesn't take preventative measures, and the costs associated with treating cross border infections by allocating 472 million baht for Thai border hospitals to provide medical services to stateless people. The news item said many of the border hospitals incurred debt as a result of treating patients who did not have a registered nationality papers.
Dr Ronnatrai says Dr Cynthia's clinic performs an effective public health role in stopping the spread of infections and disease. ''It's the first barrier in identifying potential problems. This is crucial in us being able to respond quickly to infections and disease outbreaks.''
The failure of the Burmese regime to help and care for its own people has placed a massive burden on its neighbours and the Mae Tao Clinic. Dr Cynthia admits she is doing it tough. Her clinic is cash strapped and in the present economic climate she is having difficulty knowing where to source new funds.
Dr Decha Tangseepa, who teaches political science at Thammasat University in Bangkok and who specialises in forced displacement on the Thai Burma border, says the work the clinic does is essential.
''It's [the clinic] a gift to the suffering people of Burma. I've spent 11 years on the border doing field work. People come here [Mae Sot] without legal status, they have no choice, but they still come. Without the clinic local health services would explode. Dr Cynthia has shown her commitment for more than 20 years and the dedication of her staff speaks for itself.''
Inside one of the small, windowless concrete rooms, a small fan ineffectively pushes hot air around, and Dr Cynthia stares deep, as she considers her clinic's future funding and the future of Burma.
''Burmese people are getting poorer. We are not only treating migrants and refugees, but people from the cities and from the other side of Burma need help. In my time here I have never seen the patient caseload decrease, and it won't until there's years and years of stability and security.
''The people of Burma will never give up. They love their country and their children. And our clinic will never stop caring for them.''
*******************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Arms Imported Over New Year?
By WAI MOE - Monday, May 10, 2010
Secrecy normally shrouds military relations between Burma and its strategic allies such as China and North Korea, but intelligence sources suggest ongoing military ties with these two countries are helping the Burmese generals’ to achieve their military ambitions, including that of becoming a nuclear power.
Intelligence sources said top junta generals have held late-night meetings in Naypyidaw in the last two months, discussing military modernization, foreign relations, tension with ethnic groups and suppressing dissidents in urban areas.
They said the junta bought weapons from China and North Korea including mid-range missiles and rocket launchers in April, and suggested the war office in Naypyidaw chose the month when the Burmese celebrate new year in order to avoid public scrutiny.
Equipment necessary to build a nuclear capability was reportedly among imported military supplies from North Korea that arrived at the beginning of the holidays.
A report from Rangoon in April also referred to an undisclosed vessel believed to be connected with North Korea that was seen at Thilawar Port, near Rangoon. Burmese officials at the time said the vessel was there to load Burmese rice destined for North Korea.
Military relations between Naypyidaw and Pyongyang have been attracting attention from analysts, diplomats and journalists in recent years. In August 2009, an article in Sydney Morning Herald alleged the Burmese junta aims to get an atomic bomb in five years using Burmese enriched uranium and North Korean nuclear technology.
Apart from nuclear know-how and equipment, Pyongyang has also provided the Burmese junta's armed forces with truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles and technology for underground warfare since the early 2000s, according to experts on Burma's military like Andrew Selth.
“Pyongyang needs Burmese primary products, which Naypyidaw can in turn use to barter for North Korea arms, expertise and technology,” wrote Andrew Selth in the Australian Journal of International Affairs in March.
Sources based on the Sino-Burmese border said a military convoy traveled from China’s Yunnan Province to central Burma in April. However, they did not report seeing any heavy weapons on military trucks crossing the border.
“In the last 20 years, the Burmese junta have only used the border route to import smaller military equipment and military vehicles, not heavy weapons including missiles and tanks,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military observer based on the Sino-Burmese border. “Most of the heavy weapons from China or other countries arrive in Burma by sea and air.”
Following the 1988 coup, China has become the closest strategic ally for the Burmese junta, who have depended on Chinese weaponry for modernizing their armed forces.
Writing in an academic paper in 2009, China experts Li Chenyang and Lye Liang Fook, said China has actively pursued military and security cooperation with the junta since 1988.
They said military ties are foremost in the sale of weapons and military training. Military equipment includes missiles, fighter planes, warships, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and radar.
Although China opposes Burma developing chemical, biological, nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, it has not objected to Burma buying such material from other countries, they said.
But some observers think Beijing is the key for North Korean-Burmese ties as it is the only country which has good relations with both states.
“The Chinese are like brokers in Naypyidaw’s relationship with Pyongyang. We should remember that recent trips by Burmese generals to North Korea have been via China,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw. “Since 1988, China has been the junta’s main strategic partner.”
To balance their dependency on China in recent years, the Burmese junta also purchased weapons and military equipment from other countries such as India, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia.
A state-run-newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Monday that Chief of Military Ordnance, Lt-Gen Tin Aye, attended a reception at the Russian Embassy in Rangoon on Sunday, marking the 65th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War over Nazi Germany.
Tin Aye is familiar with officials from China, North Korea and Russia as he has traveled to these countries to purchase weapons.
The US government is taking a keen interest in Burma’s secretive relations with North Korea, meanwhile. US officials such as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, have voiced concern, saying the US is closely watching ties between Burma and North Korea.
Campbell is in Burma on Sunday and Monday for his second trip to the country.
The Burma-North Korea relationship is expected to be on his agenda. Speaking in Hong Kong at the end of April, Campbell said he will focus on a “strategic dialogue.”
Human rights groups, however, are suggesting this could undermine human rights issues in Burma.
By WAI MOE - Monday, May 10, 2010
Secrecy normally shrouds military relations between Burma and its strategic allies such as China and North Korea, but intelligence sources suggest ongoing military ties with these two countries are helping the Burmese generals’ to achieve their military ambitions, including that of becoming a nuclear power.
Intelligence sources said top junta generals have held late-night meetings in Naypyidaw in the last two months, discussing military modernization, foreign relations, tension with ethnic groups and suppressing dissidents in urban areas.
They said the junta bought weapons from China and North Korea including mid-range missiles and rocket launchers in April, and suggested the war office in Naypyidaw chose the month when the Burmese celebrate new year in order to avoid public scrutiny.
Equipment necessary to build a nuclear capability was reportedly among imported military supplies from North Korea that arrived at the beginning of the holidays.
A report from Rangoon in April also referred to an undisclosed vessel believed to be connected with North Korea that was seen at Thilawar Port, near Rangoon. Burmese officials at the time said the vessel was there to load Burmese rice destined for North Korea.
Military relations between Naypyidaw and Pyongyang have been attracting attention from analysts, diplomats and journalists in recent years. In August 2009, an article in Sydney Morning Herald alleged the Burmese junta aims to get an atomic bomb in five years using Burmese enriched uranium and North Korean nuclear technology.
Apart from nuclear know-how and equipment, Pyongyang has also provided the Burmese junta's armed forces with truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles and technology for underground warfare since the early 2000s, according to experts on Burma's military like Andrew Selth.
“Pyongyang needs Burmese primary products, which Naypyidaw can in turn use to barter for North Korea arms, expertise and technology,” wrote Andrew Selth in the Australian Journal of International Affairs in March.
Sources based on the Sino-Burmese border said a military convoy traveled from China’s Yunnan Province to central Burma in April. However, they did not report seeing any heavy weapons on military trucks crossing the border.
“In the last 20 years, the Burmese junta have only used the border route to import smaller military equipment and military vehicles, not heavy weapons including missiles and tanks,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military observer based on the Sino-Burmese border. “Most of the heavy weapons from China or other countries arrive in Burma by sea and air.”
Following the 1988 coup, China has become the closest strategic ally for the Burmese junta, who have depended on Chinese weaponry for modernizing their armed forces.
Writing in an academic paper in 2009, China experts Li Chenyang and Lye Liang Fook, said China has actively pursued military and security cooperation with the junta since 1988.
They said military ties are foremost in the sale of weapons and military training. Military equipment includes missiles, fighter planes, warships, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and radar.
Although China opposes Burma developing chemical, biological, nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, it has not objected to Burma buying such material from other countries, they said.
But some observers think Beijing is the key for North Korean-Burmese ties as it is the only country which has good relations with both states.
“The Chinese are like brokers in Naypyidaw’s relationship with Pyongyang. We should remember that recent trips by Burmese generals to North Korea have been via China,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw. “Since 1988, China has been the junta’s main strategic partner.”
To balance their dependency on China in recent years, the Burmese junta also purchased weapons and military equipment from other countries such as India, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia.
A state-run-newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Monday that Chief of Military Ordnance, Lt-Gen Tin Aye, attended a reception at the Russian Embassy in Rangoon on Sunday, marking the 65th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War over Nazi Germany.
Tin Aye is familiar with officials from China, North Korea and Russia as he has traveled to these countries to purchase weapons.
The US government is taking a keen interest in Burma’s secretive relations with North Korea, meanwhile. US officials such as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, have voiced concern, saying the US is closely watching ties between Burma and North Korea.
Campbell is in Burma on Sunday and Monday for his second trip to the country.
The Burma-North Korea relationship is expected to be on his agenda. Speaking in Hong Kong at the end of April, Campbell said he will focus on a “strategic dialogue.”
Human rights groups, however, are suggesting this could undermine human rights issues in Burma.
*******************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Wife Says Husband Had No Role in Bombings
By ZARNI MANN - Monday, May 10, 2010
The wife of Phyo Wai Aung, who was arrested on April 23 after the bomb explosions at the Thingyan water festival, said her husband had no connection to the blasts.
In a press conference on May 6, the military regime accused Phyo Wai Aung of being involved in the April 15 explosions that killed 10 people and injured 170 at a crowded festival pavilion in Rangoon.
“None of the facts mentioned in the press conference with regard to my husband were correct,” Hyay Htay told The Irrawaddy. “He was at his work site in Yankin Center during the whole Thingyan holiday because he needed to finish his work. The accusations that he had rented a house was also not true.”
She said that another man, Thuya Zaw, who was named in the press conference, is someone who used to work with her husband, an engineer, on a contract job. She said that the allegations about her husband, including his use of a code name, “Thet Khaing,” were groundless.
“My husband doesn't have any connection to this incident,” she said. “I wasn't worried much when he was taken away from home since he had been questioned about a bomb that was found in Cherry Garden House before. Now I am. But if he was involved, he would have run or gone into hiding.”
She said that on April 23 the authorities came to their home on 55th street in Pazun Daung Township, saying they were checking on the presence of guests staying overnight.
“They arrived at our house around 1 a.m.,“ she said. “My husband showed them the official permit for the guests and tried to go back to sleep, but they asked him to sit down. They woke us all up and had us sit together with my husband.”
The authorities searched the house and confiscated a laptop computer, a cell phone, a camera and some documents, she said.
“Before they took my husband, they warned us not to let anyone know about this and threatened us that we would be put in jail if we told others,” Htay Htay said.
She said that she has been unable to communicate with her husband since he was arrested and authorities have not told her where he is being held.
“I am so worried about him,” she said. “I can't bear to think what will happen to him. I just want him back whether he is physically broken or has eyes.”
She said local administrative officials told her that her husband was under temporary detention on suspicion.
Burma's police chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi told reporters at a May 6 press conference in Naypyidaw that the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW), an exiled group, was responsible for the bombings and that a person who was involved in the bombing of the X20 pavilion on Rangoon's Kandawgyi Bell Road had been arrested. He identified the person as Phyo Wai Aung, and he said the authorities were looking for others involved in the blasts.
Khin Yi said that the codename for Phyo Wai Aung was “Thet Khaing.” He said three suspects had fled to the Burma-Thailand border area.
By ZARNI MANN - Monday, May 10, 2010
The wife of Phyo Wai Aung, who was arrested on April 23 after the bomb explosions at the Thingyan water festival, said her husband had no connection to the blasts.
In a press conference on May 6, the military regime accused Phyo Wai Aung of being involved in the April 15 explosions that killed 10 people and injured 170 at a crowded festival pavilion in Rangoon.
“None of the facts mentioned in the press conference with regard to my husband were correct,” Hyay Htay told The Irrawaddy. “He was at his work site in Yankin Center during the whole Thingyan holiday because he needed to finish his work. The accusations that he had rented a house was also not true.”
She said that another man, Thuya Zaw, who was named in the press conference, is someone who used to work with her husband, an engineer, on a contract job. She said that the allegations about her husband, including his use of a code name, “Thet Khaing,” were groundless.
“My husband doesn't have any connection to this incident,” she said. “I wasn't worried much when he was taken away from home since he had been questioned about a bomb that was found in Cherry Garden House before. Now I am. But if he was involved, he would have run or gone into hiding.”
She said that on April 23 the authorities came to their home on 55th street in Pazun Daung Township, saying they were checking on the presence of guests staying overnight.
“They arrived at our house around 1 a.m.,“ she said. “My husband showed them the official permit for the guests and tried to go back to sleep, but they asked him to sit down. They woke us all up and had us sit together with my husband.”
The authorities searched the house and confiscated a laptop computer, a cell phone, a camera and some documents, she said.
“Before they took my husband, they warned us not to let anyone know about this and threatened us that we would be put in jail if we told others,” Htay Htay said.
She said that she has been unable to communicate with her husband since he was arrested and authorities have not told her where he is being held.
“I am so worried about him,” she said. “I can't bear to think what will happen to him. I just want him back whether he is physically broken or has eyes.”
She said local administrative officials told her that her husband was under temporary detention on suspicion.
Burma's police chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi told reporters at a May 6 press conference in Naypyidaw that the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW), an exiled group, was responsible for the bombings and that a person who was involved in the bombing of the X20 pavilion on Rangoon's Kandawgyi Bell Road had been arrested. He identified the person as Phyo Wai Aung, and he said the authorities were looking for others involved in the blasts.
Khin Yi said that the codename for Phyo Wai Aung was “Thet Khaing.” He said three suspects had fled to the Burma-Thailand border area.
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The Irrawaddy - EDITORIAL: State Violence is Allowed to Win in Burma
Monday, May 10, 2010
The demise of Burma's National League for Democracy (NLD) as a legal entity marks the end of a non-violent democratic struggle consistently waged by the party over the past 22 years.
It is also a sign that state violence in Burma has won its battle over the non-violent movements for democracy.
This ironic reality is not only a great loss for the Burmese people, but also a challenge to a world that is now unequivocally manifesting its intolerance of any violence toward human society.
Over the past 20 years, the Burmese military regime has proved itself guilty of everything that any civilized society normally accepts as crimes: extra-judiciary mass killings, torture in military and police detention centers, the use of human beings to locate mines, the destruction of livelihoods and forced relocation, particularly in ethnic areas, and the use of rape as a weapon against ethnic nationalities.
Although these crimes have been well documented by international organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, the regime has used its own justice system to defend its claim that they are all in accord with Burmese laws.
The international community has failed to prevent the regime's continuing state-sponsored violence against its own people, including non-violent political activists.
Three mass killings in the past 20 years were particularly shocking. The first and most brutal of these was the suppression of popular pro-democratic uprisings in 1988, in which 3,000 protesters died.
Foreign embassies in Rangoon witnessed the bloody events and one incident occurred directly in front of the US embassy building.
The second mass killing is known as the Depayin massacre, in which Aung San Suu Kyi narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when her motorcade in upper Burma was attacked by members of the pro-regime Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and its militia, the Swan Arr Shin group. At least 100 of her supporters were killed in the attack.
The third mass killing was the brutal crackdown on the Buddhist monk-led demonstrations in 2007, when dozens of peaceful demonstrators died and hundreds were arrested and later imprisoned.
Unlike public demonstrations in other countries, including neighboring Thailand, the 2007 demonstrations in Burma, which became known as the “Saffron Revolution,” were peaceful and totally non-violent.
None of these violent actions by the Burmese regime has resulted in legal action against the perpetrators, either domestically or internationally.
Internationally, reactions to the state-violence in Burma are too politically motivated, leading to actions such as restrictions on the movements of the regime's senior members outside the country, arms embargoes and economic sanctions, which all have been proved to be failures.
No effort has been made to employ any international legal mechanism to punish those guilty of the extra-judiciary killings and massive human rights violations.
Instead, excusing the failure of their strategies, the western countries, particularly the US, are searching for ways of engagement with the regime while maintaining the sanctions. Again, the new approach has been ignored by the regime.
Currently, a US delegation led by Kurt Campbell, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, is meeting the regime in Naypyidaw to discuss this new approach.
Ironically, the only recent “progress” that can be reported by the regime is the demise of Suu Kyi's NLD because of the unjust election laws.
Efforts by the UN to broker national reconciliation and the restoration of democracy in Burma have been effectively crippled.
In view of the setbacks for the non-violent movement in Burma, the US and the international community should review their policies on Burma and seek this time how legal action can be taken against the regime through international justice frameworks.
Monday, May 10, 2010
The demise of Burma's National League for Democracy (NLD) as a legal entity marks the end of a non-violent democratic struggle consistently waged by the party over the past 22 years.
It is also a sign that state violence in Burma has won its battle over the non-violent movements for democracy.
This ironic reality is not only a great loss for the Burmese people, but also a challenge to a world that is now unequivocally manifesting its intolerance of any violence toward human society.
Over the past 20 years, the Burmese military regime has proved itself guilty of everything that any civilized society normally accepts as crimes: extra-judiciary mass killings, torture in military and police detention centers, the use of human beings to locate mines, the destruction of livelihoods and forced relocation, particularly in ethnic areas, and the use of rape as a weapon against ethnic nationalities.
Although these crimes have been well documented by international organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, the regime has used its own justice system to defend its claim that they are all in accord with Burmese laws.
The international community has failed to prevent the regime's continuing state-sponsored violence against its own people, including non-violent political activists.
Three mass killings in the past 20 years were particularly shocking. The first and most brutal of these was the suppression of popular pro-democratic uprisings in 1988, in which 3,000 protesters died.
Foreign embassies in Rangoon witnessed the bloody events and one incident occurred directly in front of the US embassy building.
The second mass killing is known as the Depayin massacre, in which Aung San Suu Kyi narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when her motorcade in upper Burma was attacked by members of the pro-regime Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and its militia, the Swan Arr Shin group. At least 100 of her supporters were killed in the attack.
The third mass killing was the brutal crackdown on the Buddhist monk-led demonstrations in 2007, when dozens of peaceful demonstrators died and hundreds were arrested and later imprisoned.
Unlike public demonstrations in other countries, including neighboring Thailand, the 2007 demonstrations in Burma, which became known as the “Saffron Revolution,” were peaceful and totally non-violent.
None of these violent actions by the Burmese regime has resulted in legal action against the perpetrators, either domestically or internationally.
Internationally, reactions to the state-violence in Burma are too politically motivated, leading to actions such as restrictions on the movements of the regime's senior members outside the country, arms embargoes and economic sanctions, which all have been proved to be failures.
No effort has been made to employ any international legal mechanism to punish those guilty of the extra-judiciary killings and massive human rights violations.
Instead, excusing the failure of their strategies, the western countries, particularly the US, are searching for ways of engagement with the regime while maintaining the sanctions. Again, the new approach has been ignored by the regime.
Currently, a US delegation led by Kurt Campbell, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, is meeting the regime in Naypyidaw to discuss this new approach.
Ironically, the only recent “progress” that can be reported by the regime is the demise of Suu Kyi's NLD because of the unjust election laws.
Efforts by the UN to broker national reconciliation and the restoration of democracy in Burma have been effectively crippled.
In view of the setbacks for the non-violent movement in Burma, the US and the international community should review their policies on Burma and seek this time how legal action can be taken against the regime through international justice frameworks.
*******************************************************
2,000 ‘disaffected’ DKBA troops defect to KNU
Saturday, 08 May 2010 21:00 Daniel Pedersen
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – More than 2,000 Democratic Karen Buddhist Army soldiers are said to have defected to the Karen National Union, after military field reports early this week had hundreds of the defectors fighting Burmese Army units as they made their towards the Thai border.
DKBA and KNU representative met on Friday morning to discuss this burgeoning alliance of foot soldiers. Present was Lahu Democratic Front chairman Aik Long Kham Mwe, who said more would join the more than 2,000 DKBA soldiers who had defected to the KNU in recent weeks.
But Chit Thu, the hard-line commander of the DKBA’s Brigade 999, who has made peace with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and become very rich in the process, still had a hard core of troops around him, Mr Long said. He said Brigade 999 was the militia’s only unit still attacking the KNU.
But for the DKBA rank and file, Chit Thu’s recent three-day public unveiling of his 10-bedroom villa that resembles a Las Vegas hotel might have represented the end of the road for many of them, Mr Long suggested.
There is little doubt Chit Thu is much better off financially than when he fought with the KNU. While his fleet of luxury vehicles grows, DKBA troops live in rudimentary bamboo shelters and eat bamboo shoots with chillies, rice and fish paste. Most of them do not own a single vehicle.
“For years the SPDC has had the Karen killing each other, now it looks like things might swing around,” Mr Long said. “Both the DKBA and KNU were at the meeting I attended this morning (Friday) and they all have the same idea now – to separate from the SPDC.”
“The KNU wants all Karen united, they don’t want to see the SPDC using the DKBA as human shields by pushing them into the front line by themselves,” he said. “Now is the time we must unite,” he said.
Brigade 999 reaps tax revenue from border crossings near Mae Sot, which it shares with KNU/KNLA Peace Council commander Tay Lay Mya, the youngest son of the late KNU powerbroker General Bo Mya.
Revenue from the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge across the Moei River is said to contribute about one billion baht a month to the Thai GDP. Bangkok has already approved a second bridge to be built to join Kokko on the Thai side and Shwe Kokko on the Burmese side and it is only a matter of time before construction begins.
The Tak chamber of commerce has for years lobbied to have such a link and new four-lane highways lead to the sleepy farming outpost of Kokko, cutting their way through the middle of Mae Sot. It is no wonder some locals no longer refer to Kokko by its original Thai name. Some just call it “Chit Thu”.
Saturday, 08 May 2010 21:00 Daniel Pedersen
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – More than 2,000 Democratic Karen Buddhist Army soldiers are said to have defected to the Karen National Union, after military field reports early this week had hundreds of the defectors fighting Burmese Army units as they made their towards the Thai border.
DKBA and KNU representative met on Friday morning to discuss this burgeoning alliance of foot soldiers. Present was Lahu Democratic Front chairman Aik Long Kham Mwe, who said more would join the more than 2,000 DKBA soldiers who had defected to the KNU in recent weeks.
But Chit Thu, the hard-line commander of the DKBA’s Brigade 999, who has made peace with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and become very rich in the process, still had a hard core of troops around him, Mr Long said. He said Brigade 999 was the militia’s only unit still attacking the KNU.
But for the DKBA rank and file, Chit Thu’s recent three-day public unveiling of his 10-bedroom villa that resembles a Las Vegas hotel might have represented the end of the road for many of them, Mr Long suggested.
There is little doubt Chit Thu is much better off financially than when he fought with the KNU. While his fleet of luxury vehicles grows, DKBA troops live in rudimentary bamboo shelters and eat bamboo shoots with chillies, rice and fish paste. Most of them do not own a single vehicle.
“For years the SPDC has had the Karen killing each other, now it looks like things might swing around,” Mr Long said. “Both the DKBA and KNU were at the meeting I attended this morning (Friday) and they all have the same idea now – to separate from the SPDC.”
“The KNU wants all Karen united, they don’t want to see the SPDC using the DKBA as human shields by pushing them into the front line by themselves,” he said. “Now is the time we must unite,” he said.
Brigade 999 reaps tax revenue from border crossings near Mae Sot, which it shares with KNU/KNLA Peace Council commander Tay Lay Mya, the youngest son of the late KNU powerbroker General Bo Mya.
Revenue from the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge across the Moei River is said to contribute about one billion baht a month to the Thai GDP. Bangkok has already approved a second bridge to be built to join Kokko on the Thai side and Shwe Kokko on the Burmese side and it is only a matter of time before construction begins.
The Tak chamber of commerce has for years lobbied to have such a link and new four-lane highways lead to the sleepy farming outpost of Kokko, cutting their way through the middle of Mae Sot. It is no wonder some locals no longer refer to Kokko by its original Thai name. Some just call it “Chit Thu”.
*******************************************************
DVB News - Water shortages sweeping Burma
By MIN LWIN
Published: 10 May 2010
Lakes and freshwater wells in central Burma are drying up, fuelled by hot weather and abnormal river flows resulting from hydropower projects.
A local in Sagaing division’s capital, Monywa, said that wells were drying up in every ward of the city. “The well in our ward dried up and now everyone is out of water,” he said.
Water levels on the Irrawaddy river and its largest tributary, the Chindwin river, which flows through Sagaing division, are low, and sand banks are appearing with increasing frequency.
The Mekong river, which supports millions of people from China to Cambodia, is at its lowest level in nearly half a century, largely as a resulting of heavy damming by the Chinese.
Residents of Pyin Oo Lwin, in central Burma’s Mandalay division, said that villages located south of Myit Nge river were also suffering water shortages because a hydropower dam recently built upstream had blocked the channel.
In Monywa, locals are being forced to travel three miles to collect water from the Chindwin river; until recently the water had been pumped to the village, but ongoing electricity cuts have made this impossible.
Despite Burma’s aggressive expansion of its hydropower sector, much of the electricity is sold to neighbouring Thailand and China, despite the country being plagued by electricity shortages.
Around 60 villages in Bago division are also reportedly facing severe water shortages, which has been fuelling stomach illnesses as people revert to drinking untreated water.
A former member of the now disbanded opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party who has been coordinating water relief efforts in Bago said that bottling factories had been donating water while “we haven’t seen any work from local government administrations yet”.
In Irrawaddy division’s Laputta township, residents said that even government troops were being affected by the shortage, while lakes “aren’t even holding enough water for animals such as buffalos to drink”.
In nearby Ngaputaw, villagers are being forced to stand in queues into the night to collect water from wells “where they spend a lot of time skimming shallow water from bottom of the wells”, a local said.
Additional reporting by Naw Noreen
By MIN LWIN
Published: 10 May 2010
Lakes and freshwater wells in central Burma are drying up, fuelled by hot weather and abnormal river flows resulting from hydropower projects.
A local in Sagaing division’s capital, Monywa, said that wells were drying up in every ward of the city. “The well in our ward dried up and now everyone is out of water,” he said.
Water levels on the Irrawaddy river and its largest tributary, the Chindwin river, which flows through Sagaing division, are low, and sand banks are appearing with increasing frequency.
The Mekong river, which supports millions of people from China to Cambodia, is at its lowest level in nearly half a century, largely as a resulting of heavy damming by the Chinese.
Residents of Pyin Oo Lwin, in central Burma’s Mandalay division, said that villages located south of Myit Nge river were also suffering water shortages because a hydropower dam recently built upstream had blocked the channel.
In Monywa, locals are being forced to travel three miles to collect water from the Chindwin river; until recently the water had been pumped to the village, but ongoing electricity cuts have made this impossible.
Despite Burma’s aggressive expansion of its hydropower sector, much of the electricity is sold to neighbouring Thailand and China, despite the country being plagued by electricity shortages.
Around 60 villages in Bago division are also reportedly facing severe water shortages, which has been fuelling stomach illnesses as people revert to drinking untreated water.
A former member of the now disbanded opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party who has been coordinating water relief efforts in Bago said that bottling factories had been donating water while “we haven’t seen any work from local government administrations yet”.
In Irrawaddy division’s Laputta township, residents said that even government troops were being affected by the shortage, while lakes “aren’t even holding enough water for animals such as buffalos to drink”.
In nearby Ngaputaw, villagers are being forced to stand in queues into the night to collect water from wells “where they spend a lot of time skimming shallow water from bottom of the wells”, a local said.
Additional reporting by Naw Noreen
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DVB News - Privatised petrol stations to open
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 10 May 2010
Some 250 petrol stations in Burma earmarked for privatisation in January as part of a grand economic reshuffle by the government are to open next weekend.
The stations are scattered throughout the country, with around 50 in Rangoon division, 40 in Mandalay division, 37 in Bago division, 27 in Irrawaddy division and 25 in Shan state.
“It is a two-sided story: one side is that the government has monopolised the sector for a long time, since the military coup in 1962, so it is the government losing its monopoly,” said Burmese economic analyst, Aung Thu Nyein. “But at the same time the assets were only transferred to the cronies.”
“I think there are less than ten companies who got licenses to run gas stations; some were transferred to agri-businesses and construction companies,” he added.
The likely owners of the stations are suspected to be the Htoo Group, Asia World and the Eden Group, all of whom have close ties to the ruling junta.
Burma is heavily reliant upon imported fuel as a result of a lack of refining capabilities in the country.
The current privatisation initiative is part of a move towards free trade of petroleum products, which has been overseen by the newly formed Fuel Oil Importers and Distributors Association (FOIDA).
There is hope that private enterprise will be able to run the energy sector more efficiently than the government monopoly. However given Burma’s reliance upon imported refined petroleum products, the private sector may be unable to control retail prices or not have the incentive to do so.
Burma imports around 18,500 barrels of refined petroleum per day, worth some $US586.6 million per year.
The implications are that gas prices could become more volatile in the long term as the government is less able to control supply and demand and distribution of fuel and therefore shield the economy from major fluctuations in international prices. “The economy is reliant upon international prices and could be liable to crises of supply internationally,” said Aung Thu Nyein.
Another potential concern is the relationship that these newly privatised assets, originally nationalised in 1962 and 1963, have with the military government.
Prior to 1962, the assets belonged to individuals who received no compensation upon their nationalisation and were offered no chance to retrieve them on privatisation. To maintain ownership, given a potentially more open legal system of property rights, the new owners will rely on the military for protection from civilian court claims.
As a result or not the military may also demand fuel from the private sector, Aung Thu Nyein suspects, with such impositions threatening a rise in prices.
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 10 May 2010
Some 250 petrol stations in Burma earmarked for privatisation in January as part of a grand economic reshuffle by the government are to open next weekend.
The stations are scattered throughout the country, with around 50 in Rangoon division, 40 in Mandalay division, 37 in Bago division, 27 in Irrawaddy division and 25 in Shan state.
“It is a two-sided story: one side is that the government has monopolised the sector for a long time, since the military coup in 1962, so it is the government losing its monopoly,” said Burmese economic analyst, Aung Thu Nyein. “But at the same time the assets were only transferred to the cronies.”
“I think there are less than ten companies who got licenses to run gas stations; some were transferred to agri-businesses and construction companies,” he added.
The likely owners of the stations are suspected to be the Htoo Group, Asia World and the Eden Group, all of whom have close ties to the ruling junta.
Burma is heavily reliant upon imported fuel as a result of a lack of refining capabilities in the country.
The current privatisation initiative is part of a move towards free trade of petroleum products, which has been overseen by the newly formed Fuel Oil Importers and Distributors Association (FOIDA).
There is hope that private enterprise will be able to run the energy sector more efficiently than the government monopoly. However given Burma’s reliance upon imported refined petroleum products, the private sector may be unable to control retail prices or not have the incentive to do so.
Burma imports around 18,500 barrels of refined petroleum per day, worth some $US586.6 million per year.
The implications are that gas prices could become more volatile in the long term as the government is less able to control supply and demand and distribution of fuel and therefore shield the economy from major fluctuations in international prices. “The economy is reliant upon international prices and could be liable to crises of supply internationally,” said Aung Thu Nyein.
Another potential concern is the relationship that these newly privatised assets, originally nationalised in 1962 and 1963, have with the military government.
Prior to 1962, the assets belonged to individuals who received no compensation upon their nationalisation and were offered no chance to retrieve them on privatisation. To maintain ownership, given a potentially more open legal system of property rights, the new owners will rely on the military for protection from civilian court claims.
As a result or not the military may also demand fuel from the private sector, Aung Thu Nyein suspects, with such impositions threatening a rise in prices.
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