Strong quake hits Andaman Islands: seismologists
Mon May 31, 5:11 pm ET
NEW DELHI (AFP) – A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit off India's Andaman Islands early Tuesday, seismologists said, but no widespread tsunami was expected.
The quake struck at a depth of 127 kilometres (80 miles), said the US Geological Survey (USGS), with the epicentre 120 kilometres from Port Blair on the Andaman Islands, which are located in the Bay of Bengal.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a very small possibility of a local tsunami near the centre but no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami.
Myanmar lies to the north of the Andaman Islands and Indonesia to the south.
New Delhi is more than 2,500 kilometres away to the northwest.
The Andamans were badly hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami, which was triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra that sent giant waves crashing into countries around the Indian Ocean.
The Andaman Sea area witnesses frequent earthquakes caused by the meeting of the Indian plate with the Burmese microplate along an area known as the Andaman trench.
Mon May 31, 5:11 pm ET
NEW DELHI (AFP) – A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit off India's Andaman Islands early Tuesday, seismologists said, but no widespread tsunami was expected.
The quake struck at a depth of 127 kilometres (80 miles), said the US Geological Survey (USGS), with the epicentre 120 kilometres from Port Blair on the Andaman Islands, which are located in the Bay of Bengal.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a very small possibility of a local tsunami near the centre but no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami.
Myanmar lies to the north of the Andaman Islands and Indonesia to the south.
New Delhi is more than 2,500 kilometres away to the northwest.
The Andamans were badly hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami, which was triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra that sent giant waves crashing into countries around the Indian Ocean.
The Andaman Sea area witnesses frequent earthquakes caused by the meeting of the Indian plate with the Burmese microplate along an area known as the Andaman trench.
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PREVIEW-China's Wen to talk energy, elections in Myanmar
01 Jun 2010 07:27:54 GMT
* China has substantial trade, energy ties with Myanmar
* Wen to press Myanmar on ensuring border stability
* China keen to discuss election plans, impact
By Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in Myanmar this week to discuss trade, security and the military-run country's upcoming elections, in Beijing's highest-level call on its neighbour for nearly a decade.
Energy-rich but diplomatically isolated Myanmar is preparing to roll out the red carpet for Beijing which has proved a staunch ally and reliable source of funds and arms. Deals including some in the oil sector will be signed, sources in both countries said.
Beijing is Myanmar's third biggest foreign investor and trade partner, and its firms are building a port and energy pipelines that will feed oil and gas into China's landlocked southwest.
Chinese diplomats have also long defended the former Burma, treated as a pariah by the West for alleged human rights abuses and the detention of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It will be another landmark visit, which will further enhance mutual political trust, expand economic and trade cooperation, and deepen the traditional friendship between the two countries," ambassador to Myanmar Ye Dabo wrote in an article published in the Beijing Review this week. The last top-level trip was by then-President Jiang Zemin in 2001.
But the relationship is more a marriage of convenience than a true friendship, analysts say. Myanmar's ruling generals remain wary of their powerful northern neighbour and Beijing is weary of being portrayed as a supporter of "rogue" states.
Wen will need to use his trip to grapple with some of the serious strains lying below the friendly surface.
They share a restless and remote border, where rebel groups control swathes of Myanmar's territory. Some are narco-states producing drugs sold into China, and when the Myanmar military over-ran one of the weakest groups last summer it sent around 37,000 refugees streaming across the border.
China is also likely to be concerned about the management of a general election set for later this year and tentative U.S. efforts to engage with a regime it shunned for years.
The poll, a date for which has not yet been set, has been widely dismissed as a move by the military to extend its five decade hold on power by creating a facade of civilian rule.
But it may lead to some leadership changes or reveal possible heirs to aging junta bosses like Senior General Than Shwe.
"China has reasons to be concerned about the post-election political landscape and stability," said Pak K Lee, a China and Myanmar expert at the University of Kent.
"The current top leaders, Than Shwe and Maung Aye, will likely step down after the elections, but will not entirely retire. China may want to have a first-hand understanding of the new 'collective' leadership and its policy platforms."
BORDER WORRIES
Wen's visit is postponed from April, when he had to stay in China to handle the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.
Border security concerns which were inflamed at the time have since cooled slightly, but remain high on both governments' priority list. Myanmar's rulers would like to bring enclaves ruled for years or decades by ethnic armies under its control.
"What China is most worried about is another new flood of refugees," said Lin Xixing, a Myanmar expert at Guangzhou's Jinan University. "China's overriding concern is stability in Myanmar, and constantly calls for ethnic reconciliation there."
The junta wants ethnic groups to take part in the election and earlier this year told local militias to disarm and join a government-run border patrol force or be wiped out, although it now appears to have backed down slightly.
"Neither side (China nor Myanmar) wishes this to become a crisis flashpoint since the most powerful groups are embedded along the China-Myanmar border," said Donald Seekins, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Meio University in Japan.
"Another issue may be the continued flow of made-in-Burma drugs across the border; apparently the drug flow has increased since the armed groups need extra cash to buy arms in the event that full-scale fighting with the central government breaks out."
China may look to help broker some kind of deal, perhaps a form of "de-facto federalism", he added.
* China has substantial trade, energy ties with Myanmar
* Wen to press Myanmar on ensuring border stability
* China keen to discuss election plans, impact
By Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in Myanmar this week to discuss trade, security and the military-run country's upcoming elections, in Beijing's highest-level call on its neighbour for nearly a decade.
Energy-rich but diplomatically isolated Myanmar is preparing to roll out the red carpet for Beijing which has proved a staunch ally and reliable source of funds and arms. Deals including some in the oil sector will be signed, sources in both countries said.
Beijing is Myanmar's third biggest foreign investor and trade partner, and its firms are building a port and energy pipelines that will feed oil and gas into China's landlocked southwest.
Chinese diplomats have also long defended the former Burma, treated as a pariah by the West for alleged human rights abuses and the detention of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It will be another landmark visit, which will further enhance mutual political trust, expand economic and trade cooperation, and deepen the traditional friendship between the two countries," ambassador to Myanmar Ye Dabo wrote in an article published in the Beijing Review this week. The last top-level trip was by then-President Jiang Zemin in 2001.
But the relationship is more a marriage of convenience than a true friendship, analysts say. Myanmar's ruling generals remain wary of their powerful northern neighbour and Beijing is weary of being portrayed as a supporter of "rogue" states.
Wen will need to use his trip to grapple with some of the serious strains lying below the friendly surface.
They share a restless and remote border, where rebel groups control swathes of Myanmar's territory. Some are narco-states producing drugs sold into China, and when the Myanmar military over-ran one of the weakest groups last summer it sent around 37,000 refugees streaming across the border.
China is also likely to be concerned about the management of a general election set for later this year and tentative U.S. efforts to engage with a regime it shunned for years.
The poll, a date for which has not yet been set, has been widely dismissed as a move by the military to extend its five decade hold on power by creating a facade of civilian rule.
But it may lead to some leadership changes or reveal possible heirs to aging junta bosses like Senior General Than Shwe.
"China has reasons to be concerned about the post-election political landscape and stability," said Pak K Lee, a China and Myanmar expert at the University of Kent.
"The current top leaders, Than Shwe and Maung Aye, will likely step down after the elections, but will not entirely retire. China may want to have a first-hand understanding of the new 'collective' leadership and its policy platforms."
BORDER WORRIES
Wen's visit is postponed from April, when he had to stay in China to handle the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.
Border security concerns which were inflamed at the time have since cooled slightly, but remain high on both governments' priority list. Myanmar's rulers would like to bring enclaves ruled for years or decades by ethnic armies under its control.
"What China is most worried about is another new flood of refugees," said Lin Xixing, a Myanmar expert at Guangzhou's Jinan University. "China's overriding concern is stability in Myanmar, and constantly calls for ethnic reconciliation there."
The junta wants ethnic groups to take part in the election and earlier this year told local militias to disarm and join a government-run border patrol force or be wiped out, although it now appears to have backed down slightly.
"Neither side (China nor Myanmar) wishes this to become a crisis flashpoint since the most powerful groups are embedded along the China-Myanmar border," said Donald Seekins, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Meio University in Japan.
"Another issue may be the continued flow of made-in-Burma drugs across the border; apparently the drug flow has increased since the armed groups need extra cash to buy arms in the event that full-scale fighting with the central government breaks out."
China may look to help broker some kind of deal, perhaps a form of "de-facto federalism", he added.
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FACTBOX - Five facts about China-Myanmar relations
Tue Jun 1, 2010 2:32pm IST
Tue Jun 1, 2010 2:32pm IST
REUTERS - Here are five facts about the complex relationship between China and Myanmar:
*In 1949 Burma, as Myanmar was then known, was one of the first countries to recognise the People's Republic of China. But relations soured in the 1960s following anti-Chinese riots in Rangoon (now called Yangon).
* Following a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1988, the West imposed broad sanctions on Myanmar. China stepped into the void, providing aid and weapons and ramping up trade.
Beijing has continued to provide broad diplomatic support for Myanmar's military government, although the ruling generals remain wary of their powerful northern neighbour.
* China has invested more than $1 billion in Myanmar, primarily in the mining sector, and is the country's fourth largest foreign investor, say state media. Bilateral trade grew by more than one-quarter in 2008 to about $2.63 billion. Chinese firms are heavily involved in logging in Myanmar.
* Myanmar gives China access to the Indian Ocean, not only for imports of oil and gas and exports from landlocked southwestern Chinese provinces, but also potentially for military bases or listening posts.
In October, China's state energy group CNPC started building a crude oil port in Myanmar, part of a pipeline project aimed at cutting out the long detour oil cargoes take through the congested and strategically vulnerable Malacca Strait.
* The relationship has had rocky patches of late. In August, refugees flooded across into China following fighting on the Myanmar side of the border between rebels and government troops, angering Beijing.
In 2007, China's Foreign Ministry published an unflattering account of Myanmar's new jungle capital Naypyidaw, expressing surprise that the poor country would consider such an expensive move without even first telling its supposed Chinese friends.
*In 1949 Burma, as Myanmar was then known, was one of the first countries to recognise the People's Republic of China. But relations soured in the 1960s following anti-Chinese riots in Rangoon (now called Yangon).
* Following a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1988, the West imposed broad sanctions on Myanmar. China stepped into the void, providing aid and weapons and ramping up trade.
Beijing has continued to provide broad diplomatic support for Myanmar's military government, although the ruling generals remain wary of their powerful northern neighbour.
* China has invested more than $1 billion in Myanmar, primarily in the mining sector, and is the country's fourth largest foreign investor, say state media. Bilateral trade grew by more than one-quarter in 2008 to about $2.63 billion. Chinese firms are heavily involved in logging in Myanmar.
* Myanmar gives China access to the Indian Ocean, not only for imports of oil and gas and exports from landlocked southwestern Chinese provinces, but also potentially for military bases or listening posts.
In October, China's state energy group CNPC started building a crude oil port in Myanmar, part of a pipeline project aimed at cutting out the long detour oil cargoes take through the congested and strategically vulnerable Malacca Strait.
* The relationship has had rocky patches of late. In August, refugees flooded across into China following fighting on the Myanmar side of the border between rebels and government troops, angering Beijing.
In 2007, China's Foreign Ministry published an unflattering account of Myanmar's new jungle capital Naypyidaw, expressing surprise that the poor country would consider such an expensive move without even first telling its supposed Chinese friends.
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China Guodian, Myanmar Sign Initial Hydro, Coal Power Agreement
By Bloomberg News
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- China Guodian Corp. signed an initial agreement on May 27 to build hydro and coal-fired power plants in Myanmar, the company said in a statement on its website today. This is an “important” step in Guodian’s overseas expansion strategy, the company said.
By Bloomberg News
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- China Guodian Corp. signed an initial agreement on May 27 to build hydro and coal-fired power plants in Myanmar, the company said in a statement on its website today. This is an “important” step in Guodian’s overseas expansion strategy, the company said.
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MYANMAR: Tricked by traffickers
YANGON, 31 May 2010 (IRIN) - Ko Hla* paid an agent US$800 and then started work on a Taiwanese fishing ship, thinking it was good money at $260 a month. He toiled 18 hours a day.
“We weren’t allowed to complain, we weren’t allowed to contact our [families]. Often we were beaten and intimidated,” the 30-year-old said. “It wasn’t what we expected.”
He quit 16 months later and returned home to find that the agent, who was supposed to send his salary to his family, had run away without making a single payment.
Due to limited job opportunities and low incomes, tens of thousands of Burmese seek work abroad, hoping to earn a better living, but many like Ko Hla and his friends fall prey to human traffickers.
Although there is no reliable data on human trafficking in Myanmar, experts believe several thousands are trafficked annually.
Human prey
According to the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), Burmese women, children, and men are trafficked to Thailand, China, Malaysia, South Korea, and Macau for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labour.
Myanmar is also a transit country for trafficked Bangladeshis to Malaysia and Chinese to Thailand.
The Burmese government says China is the main destination, followed by Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
Women and girls are trafficked to China for forced marriage and sex work, while adults and children are sent to Thailand and Malaysia for forced labour and sexual exploitation.
“The victims of trafficking blindly believe whatever they’re told by the brokers without trying to get correct information regarding the job,” Nan Tin Tin Shwe, anti-trafficking coordinator of the international NGO World Vision, told IRIN.
The country also has internal trafficking from rural areas to the Chinese and Thai borders – known international trafficking routes.
“Children can fall prey to traffickers once they have migrated internally to these areas – or they may end up in exploitative and abusive labour in these areas,” said Lamia Rashid, director of child protection for Save the Children.
Agencies say traffickers with job offers are targeting children and young people in the Ayeyarwady Delta, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis two years ago.
“Children and young people are keen to take these risks and migrate, and there is a high possibility for them to end up in exploitative working conditions, including sexual exploitation,” Rashid said.
Coordinated fight
The government and international agencies have been working on a national plan of action to combat human trafficking, raising awareness through the media and community meetings.
In addition, the government has 23 anti-trafficking task forces to rescue survivors and stringent laws to punish the traffickers.
Experts say ongoing efforts are needed to protect victims once they have returned home and to scale up prevention efforts in vulnerable communities.
“Victims of trafficking come from source communities that are spread across the country, often living in villages that are remote and situated a long distance from services available from the Department of Social Welfare, the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation, and NGOs,” said Maciej Pieczkowski, programme manager of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Myanmar.
“Just raising awareness in the country of origin is not enough,” said Ohnmar Ei Ei Chaw, national project coordinator of UNIAP.
“The countries of destination, too, should take action effectively against the industries that use cheap labour and exploit the workers… The international community needs to put pressure on those countries of destination.”
* Not his real name
YANGON, 31 May 2010 (IRIN) - Ko Hla* paid an agent US$800 and then started work on a Taiwanese fishing ship, thinking it was good money at $260 a month. He toiled 18 hours a day.
“We weren’t allowed to complain, we weren’t allowed to contact our [families]. Often we were beaten and intimidated,” the 30-year-old said. “It wasn’t what we expected.”
He quit 16 months later and returned home to find that the agent, who was supposed to send his salary to his family, had run away without making a single payment.
Due to limited job opportunities and low incomes, tens of thousands of Burmese seek work abroad, hoping to earn a better living, but many like Ko Hla and his friends fall prey to human traffickers.
Although there is no reliable data on human trafficking in Myanmar, experts believe several thousands are trafficked annually.
Human prey
According to the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), Burmese women, children, and men are trafficked to Thailand, China, Malaysia, South Korea, and Macau for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labour.
Myanmar is also a transit country for trafficked Bangladeshis to Malaysia and Chinese to Thailand.
The Burmese government says China is the main destination, followed by Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
Women and girls are trafficked to China for forced marriage and sex work, while adults and children are sent to Thailand and Malaysia for forced labour and sexual exploitation.
“The victims of trafficking blindly believe whatever they’re told by the brokers without trying to get correct information regarding the job,” Nan Tin Tin Shwe, anti-trafficking coordinator of the international NGO World Vision, told IRIN.
The country also has internal trafficking from rural areas to the Chinese and Thai borders – known international trafficking routes.
“Children can fall prey to traffickers once they have migrated internally to these areas – or they may end up in exploitative and abusive labour in these areas,” said Lamia Rashid, director of child protection for Save the Children.
Agencies say traffickers with job offers are targeting children and young people in the Ayeyarwady Delta, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis two years ago.
“Children and young people are keen to take these risks and migrate, and there is a high possibility for them to end up in exploitative working conditions, including sexual exploitation,” Rashid said.
Coordinated fight
The government and international agencies have been working on a national plan of action to combat human trafficking, raising awareness through the media and community meetings.
In addition, the government has 23 anti-trafficking task forces to rescue survivors and stringent laws to punish the traffickers.
Experts say ongoing efforts are needed to protect victims once they have returned home and to scale up prevention efforts in vulnerable communities.
“Victims of trafficking come from source communities that are spread across the country, often living in villages that are remote and situated a long distance from services available from the Department of Social Welfare, the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation, and NGOs,” said Maciej Pieczkowski, programme manager of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Myanmar.
“Just raising awareness in the country of origin is not enough,” said Ohnmar Ei Ei Chaw, national project coordinator of UNIAP.
“The countries of destination, too, should take action effectively against the industries that use cheap labour and exploit the workers… The international community needs to put pressure on those countries of destination.”
* Not his real name
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In Brief: Myanmar eliminates neonatal tetanus
BANGKOK, 1 June 2010 (IRIN) - Myanmar has successfully eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), elimination is defined as fewer than one case of neonatal tetanus per 1,000 live births in each township. As immunity against tetanus is transmitted to the newborn through the mother, this also proves a major reduction in the incidence of maternal tetanus, Juanita Vasquez, officer-in-charge for UNICEF in Myanmar, told IRIN from Yangon on 1 June.
Elimination status was confirmed by an international team of experts from UNICEF and WHO in May, following a concerted effort by the Burmese government and its international partners to reach all pregnant women with tetanus vaccines, as well as the provision of safe and clean deliveries. Myanmar is the second country in East Asia after Vietnam to achieve elimination status.
MNT is preventable through appropriate immunization of women of child-bearing age, and through simple and basic precautionary measures in child delivery, WHO says. MNT remains a major public health concern in 41 countries and continues to account for a considerable proportion of maternal and neonatal deaths, UNICEF said.
BANGKOK, 1 June 2010 (IRIN) - Myanmar has successfully eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), elimination is defined as fewer than one case of neonatal tetanus per 1,000 live births in each township. As immunity against tetanus is transmitted to the newborn through the mother, this also proves a major reduction in the incidence of maternal tetanus, Juanita Vasquez, officer-in-charge for UNICEF in Myanmar, told IRIN from Yangon on 1 June.
Elimination status was confirmed by an international team of experts from UNICEF and WHO in May, following a concerted effort by the Burmese government and its international partners to reach all pregnant women with tetanus vaccines, as well as the provision of safe and clean deliveries. Myanmar is the second country in East Asia after Vietnam to achieve elimination status.
MNT is preventable through appropriate immunization of women of child-bearing age, and through simple and basic precautionary measures in child delivery, WHO says. MNT remains a major public health concern in 41 countries and continues to account for a considerable proportion of maternal and neonatal deaths, UNICEF said.
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In Brief: Investment needed to combat hunger in Asia
BANGKOK, 1 June 2010 (IRIN) - Chronic hunger has worsened in recent years, and Asia – home to two-thirds of those suffering – must invest strongly in agriculture to avert this crisis, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). More than one billion people in the world, including 642 million in Asia, live in chronic hunger, up from 840 million in the mid-1990s.
“Maybe you think hunger and poverty are problems in Africa, but the reality is different,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO chief for Asia and the Pacific. “The hunger problem is not only in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Asia Pacific, and specifically in South Asia.”
Globally, the situation has deteriorated in the past four years with the fuel, food price and financial crises. “Every six seconds, one child dies from hunger... Every year, five million children die from hunger. This is unacceptable,” Konuma said.
Decades of poor agricultural investment have resulted in low productivity in many Asian developing countries, the agency said. This trend must be reversed to double food production in the region – and in South Asia in particular – by 2050. FAO estimates US$209 billion in gross annual investments in agriculture would help developing countries meet global food needs by 2050.
BANGKOK, 1 June 2010 (IRIN) - Chronic hunger has worsened in recent years, and Asia – home to two-thirds of those suffering – must invest strongly in agriculture to avert this crisis, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). More than one billion people in the world, including 642 million in Asia, live in chronic hunger, up from 840 million in the mid-1990s.
“Maybe you think hunger and poverty are problems in Africa, but the reality is different,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO chief for Asia and the Pacific. “The hunger problem is not only in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Asia Pacific, and specifically in South Asia.”
Globally, the situation has deteriorated in the past four years with the fuel, food price and financial crises. “Every six seconds, one child dies from hunger... Every year, five million children die from hunger. This is unacceptable,” Konuma said.
Decades of poor agricultural investment have resulted in low productivity in many Asian developing countries, the agency said. This trend must be reversed to double food production in the region – and in South Asia in particular – by 2050. FAO estimates US$209 billion in gross annual investments in agriculture would help developing countries meet global food needs by 2050.
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Thailandnews.net - Thai, Myanmar Ambassadors meet Handique, discuss trade, tourism
New Delhi, May 31 : Ambassadors of Thailand and Myanmar, Krit Kraichitti and U Kyi Thein have meet Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) B K Handique and discussed issues of mutual interests, including trade and Tourism.
According to an official statement issued today, it was decided that the Ambassadors of the ASEAN countries will visit the Northeastern region to explore possibility of tourism and trade.
The visit will be organized in two phases and will be coordinated by the DoNER Ministry. In the first phase, the Ambassadors will visit Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura and in the second phase, they will visit Sikkim, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Ambassador of Myanmar apprised Mr Handique regarding the progress of the road linking Zokhta in Mizoram and Setpytpin in Myanmar, during the recent meeting. The Ambassador mentioned that the request by India for expediting the development of the road is being acted upon by the Myanmar Government.
This road forms the route under the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project which envisages connectivity between Indian Ports on the Eastern seaboard, Sittwe Port in Myanmar and then through riverine transport and then by road to Mizoram thereby providing an alternate route for transport of goods to Northeast India.
New Delhi, May 31 : Ambassadors of Thailand and Myanmar, Krit Kraichitti and U Kyi Thein have meet Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) B K Handique and discussed issues of mutual interests, including trade and Tourism.
According to an official statement issued today, it was decided that the Ambassadors of the ASEAN countries will visit the Northeastern region to explore possibility of tourism and trade.
The visit will be organized in two phases and will be coordinated by the DoNER Ministry. In the first phase, the Ambassadors will visit Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura and in the second phase, they will visit Sikkim, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Ambassador of Myanmar apprised Mr Handique regarding the progress of the road linking Zokhta in Mizoram and Setpytpin in Myanmar, during the recent meeting. The Ambassador mentioned that the request by India for expediting the development of the road is being acted upon by the Myanmar Government.
This road forms the route under the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project which envisages connectivity between Indian Ports on the Eastern seaboard, Sittwe Port in Myanmar and then through riverine transport and then by road to Mizoram thereby providing an alternate route for transport of goods to Northeast India.
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Myanmar to launch cafe flight service using destroyed aircraft
English.news.cn 2010-06-01 21:01:22
YANGON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will launch cafe flight service in Nay Pyi Taw hotel zone for the first time later this month using a destroyed aircraft, the local Yangon Times reported Tuesday.
Transported from Sittway, a coast capital city of Rakhine state, the parts of the wreckage of an accidentally-destroyed aircraft has been reinstalled without changing its face and the renovated aircraft is resting on the project site of the Sky Blue Hotel.
The spoiled aircraft will be used to run as cafe flight and restaurant where European, Thai and Chinese food will be available, the report said.
The XY-ADW jet of the state-owned Myanma Airways, with 80 passengers on board from Yangon landed out of the runway in Sittway on June 6, 2009, injuring two passengers and one pilot.
However, the landing gear and one wing of the jet were severely damaged.
English.news.cn 2010-06-01 21:01:22
YANGON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will launch cafe flight service in Nay Pyi Taw hotel zone for the first time later this month using a destroyed aircraft, the local Yangon Times reported Tuesday.
Transported from Sittway, a coast capital city of Rakhine state, the parts of the wreckage of an accidentally-destroyed aircraft has been reinstalled without changing its face and the renovated aircraft is resting on the project site of the Sky Blue Hotel.
The spoiled aircraft will be used to run as cafe flight and restaurant where European, Thai and Chinese food will be available, the report said.
The XY-ADW jet of the state-owned Myanma Airways, with 80 passengers on board from Yangon landed out of the runway in Sittway on June 6, 2009, injuring two passengers and one pilot.
However, the landing gear and one wing of the jet were severely damaged.
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Myanmar to issue new stamp to mark Sino-Myanmar relations anniversary
English.news.cn 2010-06-01 10:10:44
YANGON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will issue a 100-Kyat new stamp to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar, according to the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications Tuesday.
The stamps will be distributed in cross-country post offices as of June 8 on which the 60th anniversary falls.
As a special program, a special mark will be stamped on the stamps sold out on that day at the Nay Pyi Taw General Post Office, Yangon Post Office and Mandalay Post Office, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is due to arrive Yangon this week on an official visit to Myanmar to mark the diplomatic relations anniversary.
English.news.cn 2010-06-01 10:10:44
YANGON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will issue a 100-Kyat new stamp to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar, according to the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications Tuesday.
The stamps will be distributed in cross-country post offices as of June 8 on which the 60th anniversary falls.
As a special program, a special mark will be stamped on the stamps sold out on that day at the Nay Pyi Taw General Post Office, Yangon Post Office and Mandalay Post Office, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is due to arrive Yangon this week on an official visit to Myanmar to mark the diplomatic relations anniversary.
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Global Update
New York Times - Poisoned Wells: In Asia, Cutting Arsenic Risk in Water Through Well-Drilling Techniques
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: May 31, 2010
Arsenic is so common in groundwater in Bangladesh, Nepal, western India, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam — all heavily populated countries in the flood plains draining the Himalayas — that their drinking water has been called “the largest poisoning of a population in history.”
But a recent study in Science magazine suggests simple well-drilling techniques that could lower the risk. The arsenic comes from eroding Himalayan coal seams and rocks containing sulfides; it is released into the groundwater only under certain chemical conditions deep underground. Some of those are affected by human activities, including pumping out huge volumes of water for irrigation. Different-colored sands may indicate how likely an aquifer is to be dangerous: rusty orange sands full of iron oxides often have less dissolved arsenic in the water around them than gray-colored sands do. Any village may have many orange and gray layers at different depths underneath it, and villagers may unknowingly live near both safe and dangerous wells. But testing is usually inadequate.
Therefore, the authors — geologists from Stanford, Columbia and the University of Delaware — suggest that wells for drinking water should be drilled in deep orange sands and connected to low-pressure hand pumps, while wells connected to high-pressure pumps for crop irrigation should be kept out of those deep aquifers so they do not empty them of safe water, which would cause arsenic-laden water to migrate downward into them.
A version of this article appeared in print on June 1, 2010, on page D6 of the New York edition.
New York Times - Poisoned Wells: In Asia, Cutting Arsenic Risk in Water Through Well-Drilling Techniques
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: May 31, 2010
Arsenic is so common in groundwater in Bangladesh, Nepal, western India, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam — all heavily populated countries in the flood plains draining the Himalayas — that their drinking water has been called “the largest poisoning of a population in history.”
But a recent study in Science magazine suggests simple well-drilling techniques that could lower the risk. The arsenic comes from eroding Himalayan coal seams and rocks containing sulfides; it is released into the groundwater only under certain chemical conditions deep underground. Some of those are affected by human activities, including pumping out huge volumes of water for irrigation. Different-colored sands may indicate how likely an aquifer is to be dangerous: rusty orange sands full of iron oxides often have less dissolved arsenic in the water around them than gray-colored sands do. Any village may have many orange and gray layers at different depths underneath it, and villagers may unknowingly live near both safe and dangerous wells. But testing is usually inadequate.
Therefore, the authors — geologists from Stanford, Columbia and the University of Delaware — suggest that wells for drinking water should be drilled in deep orange sands and connected to low-pressure hand pumps, while wells connected to high-pressure pumps for crop irrigation should be kept out of those deep aquifers so they do not empty them of safe water, which would cause arsenic-laden water to migrate downward into them.
A version of this article appeared in print on June 1, 2010, on page D6 of the New York edition.
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Last updated: June 1, 2010 12:36 p.m.
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Burmese protest country’s military despots
Devon Haynie | The Journal Gazette
About 35 Burmese activists gathered downtown Monday to protest Myanmar’s military regime and demand the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Carrying flags and banners in front of the Allen County Courthouse, the group also sought to bring attention to the seventh anniversary of the Depayin massacre, in which it believes hundreds of pro-democracy activists were killed.
In a statement, members of Fort Wayne’s Burmese American Society also urged global leaders to recognize the National League for Democracy, Suu Kyi’s party, and to push for its inclusion in Myanmar’s elections.
“Burma is about to have an election, and many Burmese and the people protesting today are not going to accept it,” local Burmese leader Aung Myint Htun said through a translator. “We don’t approve of an election because we know the military is still going to be in charge of Burma.”
On May 30, 2003, a pro-democracy group led by Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was attacked by a mob allegedly hired by the military regime near the city of Depayin in north-central Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Opposition groups said hundreds of pro-democracy activists were killed, although the government said the death toll was four and denied any involvement.
The Myanmar military junta accused Suu Kyi of being responsible for the massacre and arrested her.
Later she was moved to her residence in Yangon, Myanmar’s capital, and has remained under house arrest ever since.
The government accuses Suu Kyi of violating her house arrest – which had been scheduled to end soon – when an American swam across a lake and sneaked into her home.
Fort Wayne is home to about 5,500 Burmese refugees who fled the country to escape the 60-year civil war.
Pyepye Aung, 12, accompanied her father, Aung Myint Htun, to the protest Monday.
“I’m interested in this stuff,” she said. “We protest so that more Americans might try to help.
“When the regime is out of power, then we’ll get our rights and freedom.”
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Burmese protest country’s military despots
Devon Haynie | The Journal Gazette
About 35 Burmese activists gathered downtown Monday to protest Myanmar’s military regime and demand the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Carrying flags and banners in front of the Allen County Courthouse, the group also sought to bring attention to the seventh anniversary of the Depayin massacre, in which it believes hundreds of pro-democracy activists were killed.
In a statement, members of Fort Wayne’s Burmese American Society also urged global leaders to recognize the National League for Democracy, Suu Kyi’s party, and to push for its inclusion in Myanmar’s elections.
“Burma is about to have an election, and many Burmese and the people protesting today are not going to accept it,” local Burmese leader Aung Myint Htun said through a translator. “We don’t approve of an election because we know the military is still going to be in charge of Burma.”
On May 30, 2003, a pro-democracy group led by Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was attacked by a mob allegedly hired by the military regime near the city of Depayin in north-central Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Opposition groups said hundreds of pro-democracy activists were killed, although the government said the death toll was four and denied any involvement.
The Myanmar military junta accused Suu Kyi of being responsible for the massacre and arrested her.
Later she was moved to her residence in Yangon, Myanmar’s capital, and has remained under house arrest ever since.
The government accuses Suu Kyi of violating her house arrest – which had been scheduled to end soon – when an American swam across a lake and sneaked into her home.
Fort Wayne is home to about 5,500 Burmese refugees who fled the country to escape the 60-year civil war.
Pyepye Aung, 12, accompanied her father, Aung Myint Htun, to the protest Monday.
“I’m interested in this stuff,” she said. “We protest so that more Americans might try to help.
“When the regime is out of power, then we’ll get our rights and freedom.”
***************************************************************
India implements FTA with Vietnam, Myanmar
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, June 01, 2010
Last Updated: 17:08 IST(1/6/2010)
India on Tuesday implemented the Free Trade Agreement with two more Asean countries -- Vietnam and Myanmar -- by slashing duties on hundreds of products, including seafood, chemicals, apparel and tyres.
The agreement, signed with 10 Southeast Asian nations in August 2009, is already functional with three ASEAN members --Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
The notification putting the Free Trade Agreement with Vietnam and Myanmar into effect from June 1 was issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).
In turn, these countries would also slash import duties on hundreds of Indian goods.
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, June 01, 2010
Last Updated: 17:08 IST(1/6/2010)
India on Tuesday implemented the Free Trade Agreement with two more Asean countries -- Vietnam and Myanmar -- by slashing duties on hundreds of products, including seafood, chemicals, apparel and tyres.
The agreement, signed with 10 Southeast Asian nations in August 2009, is already functional with three ASEAN members --Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
The notification putting the Free Trade Agreement with Vietnam and Myanmar into effect from June 1 was issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).
In turn, these countries would also slash import duties on hundreds of Indian goods.
***************************************************************
Asian Tribune - Myanmar gas reserves behind India’s soft line on junta acts
Mon, 2010-05-31 01:21 — editor
India
From R. Vasudevan---Reporting from New Delhi
New Delhi, 31 May (asiantribune.com):
If India has not been too critical of the junta rule in Myanmar or the long detention of Suu Suu Kyi or human rights violations, there is a reason -- the possibility of exploring avenues in gas-rich Myanmar.
Upstream oil majors — Oil India, GAIL and ONGC — are again scouting for opportunities in gas-rich Myanmar to meet the country’s increasing energy demand.
While Oil India is looking at Myanmar gasfields that are operational, exploration firm ONGC and gas transporter GAIL (India) Ltd have secured stakes in gas field development and onshore pipeline projects there. Indian firms had earlier bagged blocks in Myanmar but failed to get the gas to India partly because of the absence of a pipeline.
The reason for the focus on Myanmar is that it has proven gas reserves of 19 trillion cubic feet (tcf) with vast areas yet unexplored.
“We are looking at acquiring stakes in Myanmar … we are in an advanced stage and would be able to share the details once finalised,” N.M. Borah, chairman and managing director of Oil India, has said. He said the company would look at acquiring overseas energy assets, which were already producing hydrocarbon, rather than those in the exploration stage.
“Looking at global opportunities is part of the company’s strategy for energy security. The government chips in through its diplomatic efforts,” he said. “We want to grow inorganically. It is a conscious decision to accelerate efforts for opportunities abroad. We are continuously on the job ... 35 per cent of our time is spent evaluating overseas proposals,” T.K. Ananth Kumar, director finance of Oil India, said. He said the firm had kept a war chest of about Rs 4,000 crore ready for such opportunities arising this fiscal.
The government has decided to help state-owned firms secure assets or participatory interest in oil and gas blocks across the globe by asking its diplomats to help them wherever need be.
It had recently approved investments of $1.33 billion by ONGC and GAIL in gasfield development projects in Myanmar. The gas will be shipped to China. ONGC Videsh and GAIL will invest in the pipeline being constructed by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to transport gas found in block A-1 and A-3 off the Myanmar coast.
Oil ministry sources said discussions were being held with the finance ministry for the creation of a sovereign fund to help the state-owned firms compete with China in acquiring global oil and gas assets and ensure energy security. “We have proposed a $20-billion sovereign fund, but it is up to the finance ministry to work out the numbers and the model. There is unanimity of view in the government that such a fund should be set up as the country’s energy demands are expected to increase and acquisitions abroad are the only way to ensure energy security,” an official said.
China has set up a $300-billion sovereign fund to help its energy firms scout for assets abroad.
Given the fact that the country’s crude imports for meeting energy requirement is expected to rise to 90 per cent by the year 2030 from 78 per cent at present, as the domestic production of crude oil stagnates for want of new major discoveries, there is a need for India to have a fresh look at the energy strategy.
Mon, 2010-05-31 01:21 — editor
India
From R. Vasudevan---Reporting from New Delhi
New Delhi, 31 May (asiantribune.com):
If India has not been too critical of the junta rule in Myanmar or the long detention of Suu Suu Kyi or human rights violations, there is a reason -- the possibility of exploring avenues in gas-rich Myanmar.
Upstream oil majors — Oil India, GAIL and ONGC — are again scouting for opportunities in gas-rich Myanmar to meet the country’s increasing energy demand.
While Oil India is looking at Myanmar gasfields that are operational, exploration firm ONGC and gas transporter GAIL (India) Ltd have secured stakes in gas field development and onshore pipeline projects there. Indian firms had earlier bagged blocks in Myanmar but failed to get the gas to India partly because of the absence of a pipeline.
The reason for the focus on Myanmar is that it has proven gas reserves of 19 trillion cubic feet (tcf) with vast areas yet unexplored.
“We are looking at acquiring stakes in Myanmar … we are in an advanced stage and would be able to share the details once finalised,” N.M. Borah, chairman and managing director of Oil India, has said. He said the company would look at acquiring overseas energy assets, which were already producing hydrocarbon, rather than those in the exploration stage.
“Looking at global opportunities is part of the company’s strategy for energy security. The government chips in through its diplomatic efforts,” he said. “We want to grow inorganically. It is a conscious decision to accelerate efforts for opportunities abroad. We are continuously on the job ... 35 per cent of our time is spent evaluating overseas proposals,” T.K. Ananth Kumar, director finance of Oil India, said. He said the firm had kept a war chest of about Rs 4,000 crore ready for such opportunities arising this fiscal.
The government has decided to help state-owned firms secure assets or participatory interest in oil and gas blocks across the globe by asking its diplomats to help them wherever need be.
It had recently approved investments of $1.33 billion by ONGC and GAIL in gasfield development projects in Myanmar. The gas will be shipped to China. ONGC Videsh and GAIL will invest in the pipeline being constructed by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to transport gas found in block A-1 and A-3 off the Myanmar coast.
Oil ministry sources said discussions were being held with the finance ministry for the creation of a sovereign fund to help the state-owned firms compete with China in acquiring global oil and gas assets and ensure energy security. “We have proposed a $20-billion sovereign fund, but it is up to the finance ministry to work out the numbers and the model. There is unanimity of view in the government that such a fund should be set up as the country’s energy demands are expected to increase and acquisitions abroad are the only way to ensure energy security,” an official said.
China has set up a $300-billion sovereign fund to help its energy firms scout for assets abroad.
Given the fact that the country’s crude imports for meeting energy requirement is expected to rise to 90 per cent by the year 2030 from 78 per cent at present, as the domestic production of crude oil stagnates for want of new major discoveries, there is a need for India to have a fresh look at the energy strategy.
***************************************************************
The Nation - ASEAN'S NEW DILEMMA: Burma's nuclear ambitions
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
Published on May 31, 2010
THE US ACTION was swift following confirmation of a North Korean ship with suspicious arms cargoes docking in Burma last month in violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1874. A few days later, in the third week of April, the US State Department dispatched an urgent message to the Asean capitals recommending the scheduled Asean-US Economic Ministers' roadshow in Seattle and Washington DC, from May 3-5, proceed without the Burmese representation at "all levels." The drastic move surprised the Asean leaders.
The American ultimatum was not a bluff but a genuine show of frustration. This time Washington wanted to send a strong signal to Burma and the rest of Asean that unless something was done about Burma's compliance with the relevant UN resolutions on North Korean sanctions, there would be dire consequences. Political issues aside, Burma's nuclear ambition can further dampen Asean-US relations in the future. Already, there was the first casualty when the US downgraded the high-powered economic roadshow which was meticulously planned months ahead between the Office of US Trade Representatives and Asean economic ministers through the US-Asean Business Council.
Since nearly all Asean countries, except Singapore, decided to dispatch their trade or industry ministers to join the campaign, they agreed the roadshow should continue without the Burmese delegation as requested by the US. After some bargaining, the US softened its position agreeing to accept a representation at the charge d'affaires level from the Burmese Embassy in Washington DC. But Rangoon chose to opt out as it wanted diplomats directly dispatched from Rangoon. Without a consensus in Asean, a new name - absurd as it seemed - was in place, as the Southeast Asia Economic Community Road Show. It would be a one-time only designation.
When Kurt Campbell, Assistant State Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs returned to Burma for the second time recently, he was blunt telling the junta leaders to abide and fully comply with the UN Security Council Resolution 1874. That has been Washington's serious concern due to the growing link between North Korea and Burma and their existing transfer of nuclear-related technology. Last June, a North Korean ship, Kang Nam, was diverted from going to Burma after being trailed by the US navy.
Since 2000, Western intelligence sources have been gathering evidence of North Korea providing assistance to Burma to build a nuclear reactor that can produce graded plutonium used in assembling future weapons of mass destruction. Last year, reports were released using data collected from two defecting Burmese military officers, intercepted calls and messages as well as human intelligence along Thai-Burmese border, all finger-pointing to Burma's nuclear ambitions.
When they came out last fall, scepticism was high among military experts and strategists on the junta's nuclear intentions. Most said there was insufficient evidence. Some viewed them as attempts to further discredit the regime's international standing. As additional interviews were conducted, especially with a former major in the Burmese Army, Sai Thein Win, who was directly involved with the recent secret nuclear programme, it has become clearer that Burma is investigating nuclear technology. This week, a special report on a huge new body of information, with expert comment from a former official working for the International Atomic Energy Agency, will be released.
As such, it will have far-reaching implications on Asean and its members, who signed the 1995 Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) and Non-proliferation Treaty. Asean is currently working hard to persuade all major nuclear powers to sign the protocol to the SEANWFZ. The grouping has even delayed China's eagerness to accede to the protocol.
Further complicating the issue, Asean has not reached a consensus on how its members would move forward with a common approach on nuclear energy and security. In general, Asean backs nuclear disarmament, which the Philippines has played a leading role as chair of the just concluded Review Conference of State Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation on Nuclear Weapons. Asean also backs the ongoing efforts of US and Russia over non-proliferation.
One sticky problem is that Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Burma, and Indonesia have yet to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In the case of Indonesia, it is on the Annex 2 list of the treaty which, to enter into force, must be reatified by all 44 states on this list. At the upcoming Asean summit in Hanoi (October), Asean leaders will study a matrix of common positions that have been or could be taken up by Asean. It remains to be seen how Asean would approach some of the sensitive issues such as the South China Sea, climate change and issues related to nuclear technology.
At the recent Nuclear Summit in Washington DC, leaders from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were invited by US President Barack Obama to share their views on non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy. They supported the summit's plan of action to prevent nuclear terrorism. All these Asean members have long-term plans to build nuclear power plants for peaceful use as energy sources. Vietnam has long decided on building two, while Thailand is planning one in the next ten years. Indonesia has serious parliamentary support to explore a nuclear option. Even the Singapore Economic Strategies Committee has recommended nuclear energy should be considered as a possible long-term solution to the island's energy security. Obama will certainly raise the issue again when he visits Indonesia in the second week of this month.
What is most intriguing has been the lack of serious attention from the Thai security apparatus regarding the nuclearisation of Burma. Apart from the two informal meetings convened by the Defence Council at the end of last year, the topic has been discussed only among a handful of military intelligence officials who have worked closely with their Australian counterparts. The National Security Council still does not believe Burma has that kind of ambition, not to mention the overall nuclear capacity to embark on the controversial programme. Concerned officials argued that domestic problems still have precedence.
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
Published on May 31, 2010
THE US ACTION was swift following confirmation of a North Korean ship with suspicious arms cargoes docking in Burma last month in violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1874. A few days later, in the third week of April, the US State Department dispatched an urgent message to the Asean capitals recommending the scheduled Asean-US Economic Ministers' roadshow in Seattle and Washington DC, from May 3-5, proceed without the Burmese representation at "all levels." The drastic move surprised the Asean leaders.
The American ultimatum was not a bluff but a genuine show of frustration. This time Washington wanted to send a strong signal to Burma and the rest of Asean that unless something was done about Burma's compliance with the relevant UN resolutions on North Korean sanctions, there would be dire consequences. Political issues aside, Burma's nuclear ambition can further dampen Asean-US relations in the future. Already, there was the first casualty when the US downgraded the high-powered economic roadshow which was meticulously planned months ahead between the Office of US Trade Representatives and Asean economic ministers through the US-Asean Business Council.
Since nearly all Asean countries, except Singapore, decided to dispatch their trade or industry ministers to join the campaign, they agreed the roadshow should continue without the Burmese delegation as requested by the US. After some bargaining, the US softened its position agreeing to accept a representation at the charge d'affaires level from the Burmese Embassy in Washington DC. But Rangoon chose to opt out as it wanted diplomats directly dispatched from Rangoon. Without a consensus in Asean, a new name - absurd as it seemed - was in place, as the Southeast Asia Economic Community Road Show. It would be a one-time only designation.
When Kurt Campbell, Assistant State Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs returned to Burma for the second time recently, he was blunt telling the junta leaders to abide and fully comply with the UN Security Council Resolution 1874. That has been Washington's serious concern due to the growing link between North Korea and Burma and their existing transfer of nuclear-related technology. Last June, a North Korean ship, Kang Nam, was diverted from going to Burma after being trailed by the US navy.
Since 2000, Western intelligence sources have been gathering evidence of North Korea providing assistance to Burma to build a nuclear reactor that can produce graded plutonium used in assembling future weapons of mass destruction. Last year, reports were released using data collected from two defecting Burmese military officers, intercepted calls and messages as well as human intelligence along Thai-Burmese border, all finger-pointing to Burma's nuclear ambitions.
When they came out last fall, scepticism was high among military experts and strategists on the junta's nuclear intentions. Most said there was insufficient evidence. Some viewed them as attempts to further discredit the regime's international standing. As additional interviews were conducted, especially with a former major in the Burmese Army, Sai Thein Win, who was directly involved with the recent secret nuclear programme, it has become clearer that Burma is investigating nuclear technology. This week, a special report on a huge new body of information, with expert comment from a former official working for the International Atomic Energy Agency, will be released.
As such, it will have far-reaching implications on Asean and its members, who signed the 1995 Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) and Non-proliferation Treaty. Asean is currently working hard to persuade all major nuclear powers to sign the protocol to the SEANWFZ. The grouping has even delayed China's eagerness to accede to the protocol.
Further complicating the issue, Asean has not reached a consensus on how its members would move forward with a common approach on nuclear energy and security. In general, Asean backs nuclear disarmament, which the Philippines has played a leading role as chair of the just concluded Review Conference of State Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation on Nuclear Weapons. Asean also backs the ongoing efforts of US and Russia over non-proliferation.
One sticky problem is that Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Burma, and Indonesia have yet to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In the case of Indonesia, it is on the Annex 2 list of the treaty which, to enter into force, must be reatified by all 44 states on this list. At the upcoming Asean summit in Hanoi (October), Asean leaders will study a matrix of common positions that have been or could be taken up by Asean. It remains to be seen how Asean would approach some of the sensitive issues such as the South China Sea, climate change and issues related to nuclear technology.
At the recent Nuclear Summit in Washington DC, leaders from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were invited by US President Barack Obama to share their views on non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy. They supported the summit's plan of action to prevent nuclear terrorism. All these Asean members have long-term plans to build nuclear power plants for peaceful use as energy sources. Vietnam has long decided on building two, while Thailand is planning one in the next ten years. Indonesia has serious parliamentary support to explore a nuclear option. Even the Singapore Economic Strategies Committee has recommended nuclear energy should be considered as a possible long-term solution to the island's energy security. Obama will certainly raise the issue again when he visits Indonesia in the second week of this month.
What is most intriguing has been the lack of serious attention from the Thai security apparatus regarding the nuclearisation of Burma. Apart from the two informal meetings convened by the Defence Council at the end of last year, the topic has been discussed only among a handful of military intelligence officials who have worked closely with their Australian counterparts. The National Security Council still does not believe Burma has that kind of ambition, not to mention the overall nuclear capacity to embark on the controversial programme. Concerned officials argued that domestic problems still have precedence.
***************************************************************
Scoop - Burma Junta Deserves A Universal Arms-Embargo
Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 4:05 pm
Opinion: Naing Ko Ko
Thanks to information technology, particularly to DVB, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, and especially to some brave people in Burma, both the people of Burma and the international community were able to witness on TV many aspects of the Saffron Revolution of Burma in September 2007. Thousands of Burma soldiers poured onto the streets of Rangoon and Mandalay in trucks made in China to shoot into peaceful monks, nuns and civilians.
Respected peaceful monks became corpses killed by ammunition produced in China. Rangoon's clammy sky changed to black and gray by tear-gas grenades that also came from China. Burmese soldiers have used not only Chinese-made military equipment such as helmets, uniforms, boots, bayonets, but also munitions, including tanks, small-arms, artillery, surface to surface missiles, surface to air missiles, jet-fighters, naval-vessels, even a nuclear reactor since this military junta became an outpost of China and Russia's ally.
No one knows exactly how much of such China-made strategic, conventional and non-conventional munitions are deployed in Burma as the military junta never ever releases authentic statistics on purchasing for its defence sector. However, the international strategy and security watchers, such as Jane's Intelligence Review, CIA, IISS and SIPRI, observe that the junta's army has been installing China-made ammunitions to upgrade its modern "tat-ma-daw".
Most of the military junta's press-conferences claim that 'tat-ma-daw' is linked now with 17 cease-fire ethnic insurgent groups, however, on the ground, thousands of ethic people in the border areas and mainly unarmed civilians, have been slaughtered by China-made munitions. The Burma Army has been producing thousands of landmines causalities, and other handicapped and injured people, each year, According to Landmine Monitors of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL); researchers estimate a landmine casualty rate of 1,500 people per year in Burma. However, the Burma Army has not stopped buying arms from China for its war against innocent civilians.
China and Russia have been behaving like a guardian protecting Burma in the international relations and diplomatic sphere.
Although the law and orders of the SPDC prohibit forced conscription of children into its army, the issue of child soldiers in Burma has reached the table of United Nations Security Council. Burma Army personnel have been violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers since 1988. The New York based Human Rights Watch documented how children as young as 10 are recruited by force into Burma's army. At recruitment centres, officers falsify documents to register new recruits as being aged 18, even if they are clearly underage. HRW considers that 70,000 or more of the Burma Army's estimated 350,000 soldiers may be children.
The Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Trend Indicator Value (TIV) of arms importers to Myanmar (Burma) in 2005-2006 were China, India, Serbia and Montenegro. China was the biggest arm-exporter with a value with 2.5 billion US dollars. An arm of US government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the World Fact Book stated, in the same year of 2005, that the Burmese junta spent 2.10 percentage of gross domestic product on military expenditure.
According to Jane's Intelligence Review (Vol. 12, No. 10, October 2000), antipersonnel landmines imported from China including Chinese Types-58, -59, -69, -72A; Russian made POMZ-2, POMZ-2M, PMN, PMD-6; US made M-14, M-16A1, M-18, and Indian/British LTM-73, LTM-76. In addiction, the military junta has not ratified the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT), and has used antipersonnel mines of China, India, Russia, and other unidentified manufacture.
Although the Burma Army occasionally denied its use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), but there is a lack of ant independent monitoring system in Burma. Despite the regime signing the Chemical Weapons Convention on January 13, 1993, to date it has not yet ratified the agreement. Some military strategists estimate that regime is trying to obtain such WMD and nuclear reactor from China and Russia. Some firmly said that Russia was already providing such a reactor to military generals.
While there are no crucial and strategic security threats from either internal or external enemies or actors, the Burma Army has doubled in size since 1988 and continues to expand, with military forces estimated at 428,250 active military, ranking it 12th in the world, and with a total force of 500,250 , ranking it 26th in the world. The Burma Army has totally destroyed almost every other institution and most of civil societies.
Recently, January 23, 2008, UNICEF claimed that hundreds of children under the age of 5 die from preventable diseases each day in Burma, the second-worst mortality rate for children in Asia apart from Afghanistan. Dr. Osamu Kunii, the nutrition expert of UNICEF in Burma said that there were between 100,000 to 150,000 child deaths per year in the country; equal to between 270 and 400 daily.
Almost every policy is formulated by unskilled military generals and with the state economy unskilfully run by army generals as their own private business. The result is that almost every policy of the military junta failed through lack of professionalism, human resources and follow-through. Sadly, this resource-rich and beautiful S.E Asia country, in the hands of the generals, has turned into a failed state. There is an exodus of millions of Burmese to neighbouring countries to hunt for any job, no matter how dirty or unskilled, and some others have migrated to the first world countries to avoid suffering from the oppression and tyranny of their army.
In order to stop such a modern tragedy, the international community needs to establish multilateral and bilateral binding resolutions on arms-embargos instead of turning to 'megaphone-diplomacy' and issuing condemnatory statements to deaf military generals. As long as the army generals are kept in place by the arms and munitions from more developed countries, they will never sit down for real dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and their own people. Before another mass killing footages appears on the TV screens, it is time to adopt a universal arms-embargo targeting the Burmese military generals.
ends-
Naing Ko Ko is a postgraduate scholarship student in the Department of Political Studies, at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He is a former Political Prisoner.
Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 4:05 pm
Opinion: Naing Ko Ko
Thanks to information technology, particularly to DVB, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, and especially to some brave people in Burma, both the people of Burma and the international community were able to witness on TV many aspects of the Saffron Revolution of Burma in September 2007. Thousands of Burma soldiers poured onto the streets of Rangoon and Mandalay in trucks made in China to shoot into peaceful monks, nuns and civilians.
Respected peaceful monks became corpses killed by ammunition produced in China. Rangoon's clammy sky changed to black and gray by tear-gas grenades that also came from China. Burmese soldiers have used not only Chinese-made military equipment such as helmets, uniforms, boots, bayonets, but also munitions, including tanks, small-arms, artillery, surface to surface missiles, surface to air missiles, jet-fighters, naval-vessels, even a nuclear reactor since this military junta became an outpost of China and Russia's ally.
No one knows exactly how much of such China-made strategic, conventional and non-conventional munitions are deployed in Burma as the military junta never ever releases authentic statistics on purchasing for its defence sector. However, the international strategy and security watchers, such as Jane's Intelligence Review, CIA, IISS and SIPRI, observe that the junta's army has been installing China-made ammunitions to upgrade its modern "tat-ma-daw".
Most of the military junta's press-conferences claim that 'tat-ma-daw' is linked now with 17 cease-fire ethnic insurgent groups, however, on the ground, thousands of ethic people in the border areas and mainly unarmed civilians, have been slaughtered by China-made munitions. The Burma Army has been producing thousands of landmines causalities, and other handicapped and injured people, each year, According to Landmine Monitors of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL); researchers estimate a landmine casualty rate of 1,500 people per year in Burma. However, the Burma Army has not stopped buying arms from China for its war against innocent civilians.
China and Russia have been behaving like a guardian protecting Burma in the international relations and diplomatic sphere.
Although the law and orders of the SPDC prohibit forced conscription of children into its army, the issue of child soldiers in Burma has reached the table of United Nations Security Council. Burma Army personnel have been violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers since 1988. The New York based Human Rights Watch documented how children as young as 10 are recruited by force into Burma's army. At recruitment centres, officers falsify documents to register new recruits as being aged 18, even if they are clearly underage. HRW considers that 70,000 or more of the Burma Army's estimated 350,000 soldiers may be children.
The Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Trend Indicator Value (TIV) of arms importers to Myanmar (Burma) in 2005-2006 were China, India, Serbia and Montenegro. China was the biggest arm-exporter with a value with 2.5 billion US dollars. An arm of US government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the World Fact Book stated, in the same year of 2005, that the Burmese junta spent 2.10 percentage of gross domestic product on military expenditure.
According to Jane's Intelligence Review (Vol. 12, No. 10, October 2000), antipersonnel landmines imported from China including Chinese Types-58, -59, -69, -72A; Russian made POMZ-2, POMZ-2M, PMN, PMD-6; US made M-14, M-16A1, M-18, and Indian/British LTM-73, LTM-76. In addiction, the military junta has not ratified the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT), and has used antipersonnel mines of China, India, Russia, and other unidentified manufacture.
Although the Burma Army occasionally denied its use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), but there is a lack of ant independent monitoring system in Burma. Despite the regime signing the Chemical Weapons Convention on January 13, 1993, to date it has not yet ratified the agreement. Some military strategists estimate that regime is trying to obtain such WMD and nuclear reactor from China and Russia. Some firmly said that Russia was already providing such a reactor to military generals.
While there are no crucial and strategic security threats from either internal or external enemies or actors, the Burma Army has doubled in size since 1988 and continues to expand, with military forces estimated at 428,250 active military, ranking it 12th in the world, and with a total force of 500,250 , ranking it 26th in the world. The Burma Army has totally destroyed almost every other institution and most of civil societies.
Recently, January 23, 2008, UNICEF claimed that hundreds of children under the age of 5 die from preventable diseases each day in Burma, the second-worst mortality rate for children in Asia apart from Afghanistan. Dr. Osamu Kunii, the nutrition expert of UNICEF in Burma said that there were between 100,000 to 150,000 child deaths per year in the country; equal to between 270 and 400 daily.
Almost every policy is formulated by unskilled military generals and with the state economy unskilfully run by army generals as their own private business. The result is that almost every policy of the military junta failed through lack of professionalism, human resources and follow-through. Sadly, this resource-rich and beautiful S.E Asia country, in the hands of the generals, has turned into a failed state. There is an exodus of millions of Burmese to neighbouring countries to hunt for any job, no matter how dirty or unskilled, and some others have migrated to the first world countries to avoid suffering from the oppression and tyranny of their army.
In order to stop such a modern tragedy, the international community needs to establish multilateral and bilateral binding resolutions on arms-embargos instead of turning to 'megaphone-diplomacy' and issuing condemnatory statements to deaf military generals. As long as the army generals are kept in place by the arms and munitions from more developed countries, they will never sit down for real dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and their own people. Before another mass killing footages appears on the TV screens, it is time to adopt a universal arms-embargo targeting the Burmese military generals.
ends-
Naing Ko Ko is a postgraduate scholarship student in the Department of Political Studies, at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He is a former Political Prisoner.
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Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Daily Star - Rohingya issue to be raised in int'l forum if talks fail
Food minister tells discussion
Staff Correspondent
Food and Disaster Management Minister Md Abdur Razzaque yesterday said the Rohingya refugees issue will be raised in the international forum if the crisis is not resolved through bilateral negotiations with Myanmar.
Speaking as the chief guest at a discussion on 'Rohingya Crisis: Way Out for Bangladesh”, he said Bangladesh has been providing supports to both the registered and unregistered Rohingyas despite limited resources.
He criticised the so-called foreign NGOs and international community for their allegation of mistreating and persecuting the Rohingyas. “We want their support but not any move that malign our image abroad for something not actually happening here.”
Saying that Bangladesh is a victim of the crisis, the food minister asked them to be careful before making any false or fabricated reports on maltreatment of Rohingyas in the future.
The Centre for Education, Research and Advocacy (CERA), a Dhaka-based research and advocacy group, organised the discussion at the National Press Club in the city.
Since it was formed nearly one and a half years ago, the government has been trying to resolve one of the country's biggest problems bilaterally, the minister said.
“We hope a democratically elected government will assume power in Myanmar and resolve the crisis soon,” he said. “If not, we will take the issue to the international forum to find a solution.”
The international NGOs, Razzaque said, are also putting pressure to document the undocumented refugees.
“We can document them but it will encourage more influx of Rohingyas in Bangladesh,” he said, adding that the refugees, especially the undocumented ones are causing various social, environmental and law and order problems in the Cox's Bazar region.
About registered 28,000 Rohingyas are staying in the government and UNHCR-run two official camps at Teknaf and Ukhia in Cox's Bazar. They get housing, food and healthcare facilities in the camps. Over 300,000 more refugees staying outside the camps do not get the facilities. Rohingyas, who are the citizens of Myanmar, are entering Bangladesh due to persecution and repression by the country's military junta.
Chief Information Commissioner Muhammad Zamir, who attended the function as special guest, came down heavily on the UNHCR for not making enough efforts inside Myanmar to prevent Rohingyas from crossing over to Bangladesh.
“The UNHCR and IOM should take more pro-active role in resolving the issue,” said the former ambassador, adding Bangladesh is looking after thousands of refugees on humanitarian ground for years, which the European countries don't do.
He termed the crisis a regional and international and suggested for a proper border management mechanism to stop the Rohingya influx.
Dr AJM Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University said the UNHCR should work more vigorously for democratisation of Myanmar to resolve the crisis. Otherwise, he said, crises like the Rohingyas will increase in the region.Journalist Jaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, human right activist Abu Murshed Chowdhury, Chairman of Paribesh Bachao Andolon Abu Naser Khan, Country Director of Muslim Aid H Fadlullah Wilmot, UNHCR representative Arjun Jaino and Ruhin Hossain Prince of Communist Party of Bangladesh addressed the discussion, among others.
The Daily Star - Rohingya issue to be raised in int'l forum if talks fail
Food minister tells discussion
Staff Correspondent
Food and Disaster Management Minister Md Abdur Razzaque yesterday said the Rohingya refugees issue will be raised in the international forum if the crisis is not resolved through bilateral negotiations with Myanmar.
Speaking as the chief guest at a discussion on 'Rohingya Crisis: Way Out for Bangladesh”, he said Bangladesh has been providing supports to both the registered and unregistered Rohingyas despite limited resources.
He criticised the so-called foreign NGOs and international community for their allegation of mistreating and persecuting the Rohingyas. “We want their support but not any move that malign our image abroad for something not actually happening here.”
Saying that Bangladesh is a victim of the crisis, the food minister asked them to be careful before making any false or fabricated reports on maltreatment of Rohingyas in the future.
The Centre for Education, Research and Advocacy (CERA), a Dhaka-based research and advocacy group, organised the discussion at the National Press Club in the city.
Since it was formed nearly one and a half years ago, the government has been trying to resolve one of the country's biggest problems bilaterally, the minister said.
“We hope a democratically elected government will assume power in Myanmar and resolve the crisis soon,” he said. “If not, we will take the issue to the international forum to find a solution.”
The international NGOs, Razzaque said, are also putting pressure to document the undocumented refugees.
“We can document them but it will encourage more influx of Rohingyas in Bangladesh,” he said, adding that the refugees, especially the undocumented ones are causing various social, environmental and law and order problems in the Cox's Bazar region.
About registered 28,000 Rohingyas are staying in the government and UNHCR-run two official camps at Teknaf and Ukhia in Cox's Bazar. They get housing, food and healthcare facilities in the camps. Over 300,000 more refugees staying outside the camps do not get the facilities. Rohingyas, who are the citizens of Myanmar, are entering Bangladesh due to persecution and repression by the country's military junta.
Chief Information Commissioner Muhammad Zamir, who attended the function as special guest, came down heavily on the UNHCR for not making enough efforts inside Myanmar to prevent Rohingyas from crossing over to Bangladesh.
“The UNHCR and IOM should take more pro-active role in resolving the issue,” said the former ambassador, adding Bangladesh is looking after thousands of refugees on humanitarian ground for years, which the European countries don't do.
He termed the crisis a regional and international and suggested for a proper border management mechanism to stop the Rohingya influx.
Dr AJM Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University said the UNHCR should work more vigorously for democratisation of Myanmar to resolve the crisis. Otherwise, he said, crises like the Rohingyas will increase in the region.Journalist Jaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, human right activist Abu Murshed Chowdhury, Chairman of Paribesh Bachao Andolon Abu Naser Khan, Country Director of Muslim Aid H Fadlullah Wilmot, UNHCR representative Arjun Jaino and Ruhin Hossain Prince of Communist Party of Bangladesh addressed the discussion, among others.
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The Irrawaddy - Boy, 15, Killed by Troops after Resisting Enlistment
By LAWI WENG - Monday, May 31, 2010
Burmese army soldiers killed a 15-year-old boy who refused to be enlisted, according to a leading labor activist.
Aye Myint, of the “Guiding Star” labor rights group, told exile media on Monday that troops of Infantry Battalion No. 586, based in Pegu Division, captured two boys they found fishing at night in a paddy field.
The two boys resisted demands to join the battalion. One, identified as Tin Min Naing, was shot and then killed with a pitchfork as he tried to flee. The soldiers released the second boy, Kyaw Win Aung, who was given refuge at a temple.
“He is still in a state of shock at the temple,” Aye Myint said.
The labor rights activist said the battalion had given Tin Min Naing's family 500,000 kyat (US $500) compensation and warned them not to publicize the case.
Monks in the dead boy's home district, Pegu's Pyontaza Township, called for an investigation into the killing.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch says 70,000 underage soldiers are serving in the Burmese army. A UN report confirms that the Burmese military is still enlisting underage soldiers.
Kari Tapiola, the executive director of the International Labour Organization in Geneva, told The Irrawaddy that the overall number of underage recruitment complaints is increasing.
Human right groups based on the Thai-Burmese border say young recruits are threatened and beaten if they refuse to agree to undergo military training. After their training, many are sent to areas where the army is in conflict with ethnic groups.
By LAWI WENG - Monday, May 31, 2010
Burmese army soldiers killed a 15-year-old boy who refused to be enlisted, according to a leading labor activist.
Aye Myint, of the “Guiding Star” labor rights group, told exile media on Monday that troops of Infantry Battalion No. 586, based in Pegu Division, captured two boys they found fishing at night in a paddy field.
The two boys resisted demands to join the battalion. One, identified as Tin Min Naing, was shot and then killed with a pitchfork as he tried to flee. The soldiers released the second boy, Kyaw Win Aung, who was given refuge at a temple.
“He is still in a state of shock at the temple,” Aye Myint said.
The labor rights activist said the battalion had given Tin Min Naing's family 500,000 kyat (US $500) compensation and warned them not to publicize the case.
Monks in the dead boy's home district, Pegu's Pyontaza Township, called for an investigation into the killing.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch says 70,000 underage soldiers are serving in the Burmese army. A UN report confirms that the Burmese military is still enlisting underage soldiers.
Kari Tapiola, the executive director of the International Labour Organization in Geneva, told The Irrawaddy that the overall number of underage recruitment complaints is increasing.
Human right groups based on the Thai-Burmese border say young recruits are threatened and beaten if they refuse to agree to undergo military training. After their training, many are sent to areas where the army is in conflict with ethnic groups.
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The Irrawaddy - Tay Za's Air Bagan Gets a Rival
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Burmese businessman Aung Ko Win, owner of the Kanbawza Bank, has formed a domestic airline that is expected to compete directly with Tay Za's Air Bagan, according to the Rangoon weekly Myanmar Post.
Quoting Rangoon travel agency sources, the journal said the new airline would be named Air Inlay.
Aung Ko Win, also known as Saya Kyaung, is a longtime associate of the junta's No 2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. When Maung Aye was the commander of the Eastern Regional Military Command in Thaunggyi, southern Shan State, Aung Ko Win was a main supplier of goods for the regional command headquarters. He also owns a soccer club, Kanbawza FC.
Business sources in Rangoon say the family of Minister of Industry-1 Aung Thaung is also involved in the new airline.
Aung Thaung's son Pyi Aung is married to Maung Aye's daughter Nandar Aye. Pyi Aung and his brother Nay Aung are directors of IGE Co Ltd and are said to be even wealthier than Burma's reputedly richest tycoon, Tay Za.
IGE Co Ltd is a supplier of substation and transmission line materials, oil and gas, as well as running CNG filling stations for government projects and the recently licensed Amara Bank.
“Since early May, ICG has been looking for new staff who have graduated in business administration for the new airline, offering good pay,” said a Rangoon businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to The Myanmar Post, Air Inlay will use aircraft from Myanmar Airways International (MAI). Earlier this year, Kanbawza Bank bought an 80 percent stake in MAI.
Air Inlay will have to compete with Tay Za's Air Bagan. Tay Za is close to the junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his family, who have invested heavily in the tycoon's group of Htoo companies, which include Air Bagan.
While Than Shwe’s family is closely involved in Tay Za’s business interests, Maung Aye’s family members are associated with IGE, Kanbawza Bank and their sister companies.
But not only the families of the two top generals are involved in big business. The sons of the junta's No. 3, Gen Shwe Mann—Aung Thet Mann and Toe Naing Mann—are also active within Tay Za’s group of Htoo companies.
Another tycoon, Zaw Zaw of Max Myanmar Co Ltd, is close to the junta secretary 1 Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is also Quartermaster-General of the armed forces, according to businessmen in Rangoon. Tin Aung Myint Oo’s son, Nay Lin Oo, is also a successful businessman.
The junta’s budget holder, Lt-Gen Tin Aye, the chief of Military Ordnance and head of the military-run Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd also has a businessman son, Zaw Min Aye, who is involved in media and export-import businesses. He was controversially granted an executive copyright for publicizing and televising the 2010 World Cup.
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Burmese businessman Aung Ko Win, owner of the Kanbawza Bank, has formed a domestic airline that is expected to compete directly with Tay Za's Air Bagan, according to the Rangoon weekly Myanmar Post.
Quoting Rangoon travel agency sources, the journal said the new airline would be named Air Inlay.
Aung Ko Win, also known as Saya Kyaung, is a longtime associate of the junta's No 2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. When Maung Aye was the commander of the Eastern Regional Military Command in Thaunggyi, southern Shan State, Aung Ko Win was a main supplier of goods for the regional command headquarters. He also owns a soccer club, Kanbawza FC.
Business sources in Rangoon say the family of Minister of Industry-1 Aung Thaung is also involved in the new airline.
Aung Thaung's son Pyi Aung is married to Maung Aye's daughter Nandar Aye. Pyi Aung and his brother Nay Aung are directors of IGE Co Ltd and are said to be even wealthier than Burma's reputedly richest tycoon, Tay Za.
IGE Co Ltd is a supplier of substation and transmission line materials, oil and gas, as well as running CNG filling stations for government projects and the recently licensed Amara Bank.
“Since early May, ICG has been looking for new staff who have graduated in business administration for the new airline, offering good pay,” said a Rangoon businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to The Myanmar Post, Air Inlay will use aircraft from Myanmar Airways International (MAI). Earlier this year, Kanbawza Bank bought an 80 percent stake in MAI.
Air Inlay will have to compete with Tay Za's Air Bagan. Tay Za is close to the junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his family, who have invested heavily in the tycoon's group of Htoo companies, which include Air Bagan.
While Than Shwe’s family is closely involved in Tay Za’s business interests, Maung Aye’s family members are associated with IGE, Kanbawza Bank and their sister companies.
But not only the families of the two top generals are involved in big business. The sons of the junta's No. 3, Gen Shwe Mann—Aung Thet Mann and Toe Naing Mann—are also active within Tay Za’s group of Htoo companies.
Another tycoon, Zaw Zaw of Max Myanmar Co Ltd, is close to the junta secretary 1 Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is also Quartermaster-General of the armed forces, according to businessmen in Rangoon. Tin Aung Myint Oo’s son, Nay Lin Oo, is also a successful businessman.
The junta’s budget holder, Lt-Gen Tin Aye, the chief of Military Ordnance and head of the military-run Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd also has a businessman son, Zaw Min Aye, who is involved in media and export-import businesses. He was controversially granted an executive copyright for publicizing and televising the 2010 World Cup.
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The Irrawaddy - Depayin Masterminds Wield Power in USDP
By WAI MOE - Monday, May 31, 2010
Several of the Burmese junta officials who recently resigned their military positions to found the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) were responsible for the deadly ambush on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Division, in 2003.
About 5,000 armed thugs recruited from rural areas under the authority of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) ambushed Suu Kyi’s convoy in the evening of May 30, 2003, and killed an estimated 100 people, according to independent observers. Suu Kyi narrowly escaped with her life.
Since the massacre, several of those involved in the incident have been promoted, have established close business relations with the junta or, in at least one case, have married their family members into the military elite.
Former Lt-Col Aung Thaung, a hardline minister who was a USDA leader in 2003, has seen his business interests grow exponentially since the Depayin Massacre. His family’s IGE Co Ltd is now one of wealthiest and most diverse companies in the country with interests in banking, pipeline construction, exporting and logging.
Nowadays, he is not only personally close to Than Shwe, but also to junta No. 2 Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. One of his sons is married to Maung Aye’s daughter. Aung Thaung is the current minister of Industry-1, but is expected to lead the USDP in this year's general election along with Prime Minister Thein Sein.
Another hardliner, Minister of Information Kyaw Hsan has also seen his star rise since he was the leader of the USDA in Sagaing Division at the time of the Depayin attack. He is now head of the junta’s Spoke Authoritative Team and a powerful leader within the newly formed USDP.
The commander of Northwestern Regional Military Command in 2003 is the current minister of Hotels and Tourism Soe Naing. Both Kyaw Hsan and Soe Naing were among the more than 20 ministers who resigned from their military posts to become founder members of the USDP.
Perhaps the highest rising “butcher” of Depayin was Gen Soe Win. As secretary-2 of the junta in 2003, it is believed he ordered the attack on Suu Kyi's convoy without the knowledge of the Military Intelligence Service, which was led by Gen Khin Nyunt. Local sources in Sagaing Division have said that Soe Win commanded the attack from the headquarters of the Northwestern Regional Military Command.
Soe Win died of leukemia in October 2007, but not before serving as Burma's prime minister, personally appointed by Than Shwe, from 2004-07.
Another military commander accused of playing a role in the Depayin Massacre is the 2003 commander of the Central Regional Military Command Lt-Gen Ye Myint who is now the junta's chief negotiator with the ethnic cease-fire groups, as well as heading Military Affairs Security. Ye Myint however, has not been named as a member of the USDP.
A Depayin survivor, Tin Oo, who is the deputy chairman of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, recently told foreign broadcasters that he witnessed several groups of about 50 persons per group moving in to attack the convoy on May 30.
By WAI MOE - Monday, May 31, 2010
Several of the Burmese junta officials who recently resigned their military positions to found the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) were responsible for the deadly ambush on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Division, in 2003.
About 5,000 armed thugs recruited from rural areas under the authority of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) ambushed Suu Kyi’s convoy in the evening of May 30, 2003, and killed an estimated 100 people, according to independent observers. Suu Kyi narrowly escaped with her life.
Since the massacre, several of those involved in the incident have been promoted, have established close business relations with the junta or, in at least one case, have married their family members into the military elite.
Former Lt-Col Aung Thaung, a hardline minister who was a USDA leader in 2003, has seen his business interests grow exponentially since the Depayin Massacre. His family’s IGE Co Ltd is now one of wealthiest and most diverse companies in the country with interests in banking, pipeline construction, exporting and logging.
Nowadays, he is not only personally close to Than Shwe, but also to junta No. 2 Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. One of his sons is married to Maung Aye’s daughter. Aung Thaung is the current minister of Industry-1, but is expected to lead the USDP in this year's general election along with Prime Minister Thein Sein.
Another hardliner, Minister of Information Kyaw Hsan has also seen his star rise since he was the leader of the USDA in Sagaing Division at the time of the Depayin attack. He is now head of the junta’s Spoke Authoritative Team and a powerful leader within the newly formed USDP.
The commander of Northwestern Regional Military Command in 2003 is the current minister of Hotels and Tourism Soe Naing. Both Kyaw Hsan and Soe Naing were among the more than 20 ministers who resigned from their military posts to become founder members of the USDP.
Perhaps the highest rising “butcher” of Depayin was Gen Soe Win. As secretary-2 of the junta in 2003, it is believed he ordered the attack on Suu Kyi's convoy without the knowledge of the Military Intelligence Service, which was led by Gen Khin Nyunt. Local sources in Sagaing Division have said that Soe Win commanded the attack from the headquarters of the Northwestern Regional Military Command.
Soe Win died of leukemia in October 2007, but not before serving as Burma's prime minister, personally appointed by Than Shwe, from 2004-07.
Another military commander accused of playing a role in the Depayin Massacre is the 2003 commander of the Central Regional Military Command Lt-Gen Ye Myint who is now the junta's chief negotiator with the ethnic cease-fire groups, as well as heading Military Affairs Security. Ye Myint however, has not been named as a member of the USDP.
A Depayin survivor, Tin Oo, who is the deputy chairman of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, recently told foreign broadcasters that he witnessed several groups of about 50 persons per group moving in to attack the convoy on May 30.
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NLD member given five years’ jail
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 00:11 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – A former member of the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia branch was sentenced to a five-year jail term in an eastern Rangoon court for illegally entering the country and alleged contact with an illegal group, according to a family friend.
Than Myint Aung, 31, was sentenced to two years under the Emergency Immigration Act and three years under the Illegal Associations Act by Judge Nyunt Nyunt Win of the Thingangyun Township court.
“His e-mail account was investigated by the officers during the interrogation period, in which they found supporting evidence that he was a member of NLD LA Malaysia branch”, a person who close to Than Myint Aung’s family said.
He has also been charged with violating the Electronics Act, section 33 (a), which contains provisions that establish long prison terms for disseminating news considered to tarnish the junta’s image. It has been increasingly used to silence opposition voices. That case will be heard at Tamwe East District Court on Friday.
Police said they had arrested him on March 4 at a bus stop in Tamwe Township on suspicion of involvement in a bomb blast in Rangoon. He had applied for a passport to work in Malaysia again before he was arrested.
The previous day bombs had exploded in Padomma Park, Sanchaung Township and no casualties were reported. In this case, the police linked him to the bomb blast but failed to produce evidence, and the charge was expunged.
Than Myint Aung worked in Malaysia from 2002 to 2008 and was a member of National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia branch, the sources said.
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 00:11 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – A former member of the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia branch was sentenced to a five-year jail term in an eastern Rangoon court for illegally entering the country and alleged contact with an illegal group, according to a family friend.
Than Myint Aung, 31, was sentenced to two years under the Emergency Immigration Act and three years under the Illegal Associations Act by Judge Nyunt Nyunt Win of the Thingangyun Township court.
“His e-mail account was investigated by the officers during the interrogation period, in which they found supporting evidence that he was a member of NLD LA Malaysia branch”, a person who close to Than Myint Aung’s family said.
He has also been charged with violating the Electronics Act, section 33 (a), which contains provisions that establish long prison terms for disseminating news considered to tarnish the junta’s image. It has been increasingly used to silence opposition voices. That case will be heard at Tamwe East District Court on Friday.
Police said they had arrested him on March 4 at a bus stop in Tamwe Township on suspicion of involvement in a bomb blast in Rangoon. He had applied for a passport to work in Malaysia again before he was arrested.
The previous day bombs had exploded in Padomma Park, Sanchaung Township and no casualties were reported. In this case, the police linked him to the bomb blast but failed to produce evidence, and the charge was expunged.
Than Myint Aung worked in Malaysia from 2002 to 2008 and was a member of National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia branch, the sources said.
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DVB News - Burma intelligence probes political inmates
By YEE MAY AUNG
Published: 1 June 2010
Political prisoners in northwestern Burma are being questioned about their stance on the National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s boycott of elections this year.
Intelligence officers from the Burmese government’s Special Branch (SB) have been visiting prisoners in Sagaing division’s Shwebo prison, according to the sister of Yin Yin Wyne, a jailed cyclone relief worker and one of 22 political inmates in the prison.
“[Yin Yin Wyne] was asked for an opinion on the NLD not entering the elections and she answered that she didn’t even know what the NLD’s stance was,” said the sister, Ma Moe, who visited her at the end of last month. “Then [the officials] showed her the NLD’s Shwegondai declaration and let her read to tell them what she thought about it.”
The Shwegondaing declaration, signed in April 2009, calls for the release of all political prisoners, recognition of the 1990 election results, a review of the 2008 constitution and the start of dialogue between the junta and the NLD.
Ma Moe added that the officers had acknowledged they were from the Special Branch and had interviewed every political inmate in the prison. The reasons for the questioning however remain unclear, although it may be a precursor to releasing ’softer’ political prisoners prior to elections this year, as the junta looks to further appease the international community.
Burma holds around 2,150 activists, journalists, lawyers, monks and aid workers in jails across the country. Yin Yin Wyne was jailed for four years in 2008 under the Unlawful Associations Act after assisting victims of cyclone Nargis in May that year, which killed 140,000 people and left 2.4 million destitute.
Ma Moe said that her conversation with Yin Yin Wyne during the visit was recorded by two Special Branch officers.
But families of political prisoners in Burma’s western Arakan state said that no such questioning had taken place. The sister of imprisoned 88 Generation Student leader, Htay Kywe, said after a recent visit that Special Branch police had not been to the remote prison.
“His health was good; he said he didn’t have such a discussion,” she said of her brother. “For his opinion, he [wished] the elections should be open for everyone and a dialogue with the NLD put in place. He said he can’t accept the elections unless everyone participating.”
Htay Kywe was sentenced after the Saffron Revolution in 2007 to 65 years in prison. He had been prominent during the infamous 1988 uprising and was one of the last student leaders from that era to have been arrested.
By YEE MAY AUNG
Published: 1 June 2010
Political prisoners in northwestern Burma are being questioned about their stance on the National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s boycott of elections this year.
Intelligence officers from the Burmese government’s Special Branch (SB) have been visiting prisoners in Sagaing division’s Shwebo prison, according to the sister of Yin Yin Wyne, a jailed cyclone relief worker and one of 22 political inmates in the prison.
“[Yin Yin Wyne] was asked for an opinion on the NLD not entering the elections and she answered that she didn’t even know what the NLD’s stance was,” said the sister, Ma Moe, who visited her at the end of last month. “Then [the officials] showed her the NLD’s Shwegondai declaration and let her read to tell them what she thought about it.”
The Shwegondaing declaration, signed in April 2009, calls for the release of all political prisoners, recognition of the 1990 election results, a review of the 2008 constitution and the start of dialogue between the junta and the NLD.
Ma Moe added that the officers had acknowledged they were from the Special Branch and had interviewed every political inmate in the prison. The reasons for the questioning however remain unclear, although it may be a precursor to releasing ’softer’ political prisoners prior to elections this year, as the junta looks to further appease the international community.
Burma holds around 2,150 activists, journalists, lawyers, monks and aid workers in jails across the country. Yin Yin Wyne was jailed for four years in 2008 under the Unlawful Associations Act after assisting victims of cyclone Nargis in May that year, which killed 140,000 people and left 2.4 million destitute.
Ma Moe said that her conversation with Yin Yin Wyne during the visit was recorded by two Special Branch officers.
But families of political prisoners in Burma’s western Arakan state said that no such questioning had taken place. The sister of imprisoned 88 Generation Student leader, Htay Kywe, said after a recent visit that Special Branch police had not been to the remote prison.
“His health was good; he said he didn’t have such a discussion,” she said of her brother. “For his opinion, he [wished] the elections should be open for everyone and a dialogue with the NLD put in place. He said he can’t accept the elections unless everyone participating.”
Htay Kywe was sentenced after the Saffron Revolution in 2007 to 65 years in prison. He had been prominent during the infamous 1988 uprising and was one of the last student leaders from that era to have been arrested.
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DVB News - EU meets old and new opposition
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 1 June 2010
An EU delegation in Burma yesterday met with both the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the National Democratic Force, two parties that could come to represent ‘old’ and ‘new’ Burma following elections later this year.
The National Democratic Force (NDF), formed from the ashes of the now-disbanded NLD, has been criticised by members of the former opposition party who claim that the group has betrayed the principles behind the party’s boycott of the elections.
But NDF leader Khin Maung Swe, a former NLD central executive committee member, reportedly told the EU delegation in Rangoon yesterday that “the way to approach national reconciliation is only through the parliament”, and that the party would look to open dialogue between opposition and the government.
The NLD on the other hand reiterated its anti-election stance and said that it had consistently urged its members to “make their individual decision…we did not tell them what to do or who to vote for”, said party spokesperson Nyan Win.
He appeared to refute reports that there were ill feelings between the two parties, despite Suu Kyi last month expressing her disappointment that the NDF would be contesting the polls, which critics claim are a sham designed to cement military rule; The NLD claim that participating could be seen as adding legitimacy to the widely derided elections.
Nyan Win said that the EU delegation supported the group and respected its decision not to enter the elections, while the NLD responded by saying that EU countries should try to pressure the Burmese government to bring about democratic reform.
The Burmese government has announced that international monitors would be barred from entering Burma during the elections period, rumoured to be sometime in October or November.
Khin Maung Swe called on the ministers to press the ruling junta to open its borders and allow observers in, while the NDF would look “to reach into the parliament and try to change the constitution which is not up to democratic standards”.
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 1 June 2010
An EU delegation in Burma yesterday met with both the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the National Democratic Force, two parties that could come to represent ‘old’ and ‘new’ Burma following elections later this year.
The National Democratic Force (NDF), formed from the ashes of the now-disbanded NLD, has been criticised by members of the former opposition party who claim that the group has betrayed the principles behind the party’s boycott of the elections.
But NDF leader Khin Maung Swe, a former NLD central executive committee member, reportedly told the EU delegation in Rangoon yesterday that “the way to approach national reconciliation is only through the parliament”, and that the party would look to open dialogue between opposition and the government.
The NLD on the other hand reiterated its anti-election stance and said that it had consistently urged its members to “make their individual decision…we did not tell them what to do or who to vote for”, said party spokesperson Nyan Win.
He appeared to refute reports that there were ill feelings between the two parties, despite Suu Kyi last month expressing her disappointment that the NDF would be contesting the polls, which critics claim are a sham designed to cement military rule; The NLD claim that participating could be seen as adding legitimacy to the widely derided elections.
Nyan Win said that the EU delegation supported the group and respected its decision not to enter the elections, while the NLD responded by saying that EU countries should try to pressure the Burmese government to bring about democratic reform.
The Burmese government has announced that international monitors would be barred from entering Burma during the elections period, rumoured to be sometime in October or November.
Khin Maung Swe called on the ministers to press the ruling junta to open its borders and allow observers in, while the NDF would look “to reach into the parliament and try to change the constitution which is not up to democratic standards”.
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