News & Articles on Burma

Locals Fear 'Four Cuts' in Kachin State
By KO HTWE Friday, May 20, 2011

Villagers in Bahmo and Momauk townships in Kachin State are frightened that more clashes will take place after Burmese government troops fired a number of mortar shells into Kachin Independence Army (KIA) territory and the KIA was put on alert, according to local residents.

Recently, small clashes between government troops and the KIA have taken place across Kachin State, escalating tension between the KIA and the Burmese army. In addition, Burmese troops have been questioning villagers living in the area.

“The government troops scold the villagers and interrogate the farmers who are working in the fields. They also question the villagers who work in town,” said a resident of Bahmo Township.

Naw Din, the editor of the Kachin News Group (KNG), told The Irrawaddy that part of the government strategy to defeat the KIA is to drive villagers away from the KIA territory to the border.

“I see these are the signals of the Burmese army, to divide the KIA and the villagers using the “four cuts” strategy. Moving villages is in fact the strategy,” said Naw Din.

The “four cuts” strategy means cutting off access to food, funds, information and recruitment, often with devastating consequences.
In its fight with the Shan State Army, the Burmese army also used the “four-cuts” strategy, along with a military build-up, to drive many villagers in southern Shan State from their homes and land.
As a result, many villagers from Shan State Army territory in Shan State left for the border to find safer and better places to live.
The KIA attempted to negotiate with the new government, but the effort failed, said a KIA official on condition of anonymity.

“We have to fight back if they attack us. We are also ready,” he said.

“They said they should negotiate, if not the local residents will suffer with the escalating of tension. I don't know why the circumstances changed,” said Guan Sai, a member of the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP).

In 1994, the Burmese army agreed to a ceasefire with the KIA. However, tension between Naypyidaw and the KIA escalated after after the KIA refused the Burmese army order to transform into a Border Guard Force.

A Burmese army battalion commander was reportedly killed during an armed clash between government troops and the KIA on February. In addition, late lashttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift year Burma's state-run media referred to the KIA as “rebels” for the first time since the ceasefire was signed. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21333
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Journalists Barred from Anti-poverty Meeting
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, May 20, 2011

Burmese authorities have cancelled a previous invitation to journalists to attend a meeting in Naypyidaw on Friday when anti-poverty measures will be discussed. However, reporters for state-run media such as MRTV-4 are allowed to attend.

A Rangoon-based journalist who works for a foreign news agency told The Irrawaddy that the authorities had previously invited journalists to attend the meeting, but revoked the invitation on Thursday evening. No reasons were given for the decision, he said.

The anti-poverty conference will involve politicians, intellectuals and Burma economists, and will include economist Hla Maung, and retired UN official U Myint, who is currently a member of the board of directors at the Tun Foundation Bank.

Dr. Nay Win Maung, who belongs to the so-called “Third Force” also attended the meeting. The Third Force is a group founded by Burmese intellectuals during the International Burma Studies (IBS) conference in Singapore in mid-2006.

Recently, the Rangoon regional administration told journalists to provide detailed information—including the type of camera they may bring to events—to the local government office ahead of attending any media conferences.

The Rangoon regional administration has also suspended press conferences with Rangoon-based journalists, and have given no notice of when they might be resumed.

The move came after exile-based news agencies such as Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) broadcast and published critical news coverage concerning previous press conferences which were held in Rangoon on May 10 and May 17.

A minister of the Rangoon regional administration, Nyan Tun Oo, in early May said that his office planned to hold regular press conference with journalists every Tuesday.

On May 10, at the city’s parliament building in Rangoon, Nyan Tun Oo, told reporters during the press conference that media coverage which is sensitive to national security or critical of the state are banned.

Regarding freedom of press, he said that journalists can write stories if they are not sensitive to the state. No journalists can cover reports that endanger the state or national security, he told the journalists in Rangoon.

One Rangoon-based journalist who attended the press conference on May 10 complained that journalists were not able to ask questions freely even though the authorities said they held press conference for reporters.

Burmese journalists in Rangoon who work for foreign news organizations whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifere not also invited to attend the press conferences held by the Rangoon regional administration, said a Burmese journalist in Rangoon who works for a foreign news agency. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21335
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Suu Kyi says presidential commutation not ‘amnesty’
Friday, 20 May 2011 18:35 Myo Thein

Rangoon (Mizzima) – Watch your language…that’s the message Aung San Suu Kyi sent to Burmese state-run newspapers, where a recent headline said, ‘Government grants amnesty for prisoners’.

Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a group of NLD members at headquarters in Rangoon in this file photo. Photo: Mizzima

Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a group of NLD members at headquarters in Rangoon in this file photo. Photo: Mizzima
Burma’s pro-democracy leader said on Thursday that the one –year commutation on all prison sentences ordered by President Thein Sein should not be labeled as an ‘amnesty’.

Her remarks were part of a press conference held in her lakeside home in Rangoon after a two-hour meeting with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Yun on Thursday.

‘The meaning of 'amnesty' in their usage is very controversial’, she said. ‘So, I looked it up in the dictionary. The word, ‘amnesty’ means an order by a government that allows prisoners to be free. So, the commutation ordered by the president was not an amnesty. It was just commuting sentences. It was just a reduction in severities of punishments. Death sentences were commuted to life sentences and other prison terms were commuted by one year. It is just a commutation, not an amnesty', Suu Kyi said in answer to a journalist’s question.

In the meeting with Yun, Suu Kyi talked about her view of the new government and the issue of granting all political prisoners amnesty, according to sources.

Suu Kyi said that she believed in a policy of direct engagement between the Burmese government and the NLD in order to reach an agreements in areas that affect the country

She also said that she might travel to various townships within two months. On May 17, Burma began releasing about 14,600 prisoners across the country under the one-year commutation ordered by President Thein Sein.

According to the latest figures, 55 (0.3 percent) of the 14,600 prisonerhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs are political prisoners and 27 of the 55 political prisoners are NLD members. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/5300-suu-kyi-says-presidential-commutation-not-amnesty.html
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'A Good Foundation Has Been Established'
Friday, May 20, 2011
With Burma's new Parliament having completed its first session, there is now an ongoing debate as to whether the country's first legislative branch in 20 years will promote an agenda that benefits the people and where the nation's democratic transition is heading. To get a first-hand account of the parliamentary session and perspective on how effective the new legislature has been and will be in the future, The Irrawaddy reporter Htet Aung interviewed Dr Aye Maung, chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) who was elected to the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) of Parliament. Aye Maung is also the chairman of the Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee for the Upper House.

Dr Aye Maung
Question: Do you feel satisfied with the previous parliamentary session? As a leader of the RNDP as well as a member of the Upper House, what is your analysis of the discussions in Parliament?

Answer: The Parliament has to be built on the foundation of the 20-year military administration. During the parliamentary session, the cabinet ministers, who are all members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), viewed their ruling period positively and protected themselves when answering all the questions. Although our proposals would be beneficial to the people if the union government would carry out them, they were all blocked or rejected by the ruling government’s ministers to protect all of their state-building tasks which were carried out during the military rule in the absence of a constitution.

But at least we have been able to begin a good tradition in Parliament, under which all the government ministers have to come and answer all the questions asked by the members of the Parliament (MPs). It shows the role of the ministers in this new system. In the next 6 months or one year, when the Parliament will go back in session, the union government ministers will again be questioned by the MPs, who will then prepare a set of questions regarding their respective regions.

Such a question and answer session will become a good tradition and the minsters will have to pay due respect first to the speaker of the Parliament and speak in good terms in accordance with the Parliament's tradition. I just recalled an incident that happened in the Upper House in which a cabinet minister used inappropriate expressions when he answered the questions of the MPs and then the speaker of the House prohibited him immediately from using these words. What I mean is that no matter whether these ministers are elected or appointed, they have to pay due respect towards the Parliament and the MPs and to cordially respond to the MPs' questions on state affairs.

Q: There has been no Parliament in the past 20 years and the people have not had any information about what the government is doing. Now after the emergence of the Parliament, the people have come to know the state affairs to some extent. Some people view the right to question the cabinet ministers as a rare chance that has never happened before. On the other hand, some argue that all the ministers protected themselves and their work by displaying a huge pile of statistical data and information, resulting in maintaining the status quo. What is your response to these two different views?

A: There will always be two sides in viewing a thing. As I said before, we have to consider the fact that a good foundation has been established. When a situation has arisen for the people to voice their criticisms, they will be able to criticize the good and bad images of the Parliament by themselves. This will be to the benefit of all. All the discussions in the first Parliament session will be left as a historical record. In the interim time before the resumption of the second Parliament session, the MPs should study what issues they should raise and how they should approach the people to collect data on the issue. We should look into where the country is going and whether it is in accord with the Constitution. What shall be repaired? Are the government officers taking bribes? What is really happening on the ground? Are the people really enjoying their rights which are guaranteed by the Constitution? Do the people really have property rights, either for their moveable or non-moveable possessions? All these matters will likely be the questions in Parliament.

We shouldn't talk only about the union government. The Parliament should also look into whether the MPs are really representing the people of their constituencies or whether they are betraying their voters. For all these matters, the media will step in to investigate and criticize the performance of each individual MP. President Thein Sein mentioned in his first speech that the media is the fourth pillar of the nation. The media should also take a neutral stand to criticize all the good and bad aspects of the legislative, executive and judiciary bodies. We have to accept it. Whether or not we accept the 2008 Constitution, we have to demand the rights given by the Constitution gradually and to try to amend the Constitution.

Q: There were weaknesses on the part of the MPs in their questions or proposals, which didn't provide accurate facts and figures in order to make them strong. What are your plans to have a more effective discussion in the next Parliament sessions?

A: It is really important and the political parties must be systematic in their structures. To observe the situation at the grassroots level, we must have at least an R&D [Research and Development] department. To collect the accurate facts and figures, the parties also need the support of their local branch offices and the NGOs [non-government organizations] can also provide assistance. Later on, I will establish a research unit in my party.

Q: The government has all the data and information of the development projects that they are carrying out in the country. As chairman of the Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee for the Upper House, do you have the right to get access to this information? How much authority can this committee exercise?

A: The committee's duty and responsibilities are set already. The duty is that when a parliamentary committee has questions regarding the performance of the government, it can ask the respective minister to come and answer those questions in Parliament. In doing so, the Parliament can examine only the pledges that the minister made in front of the Parliament. There can be projects that the government is carrying out outside the Parliament, but the committees are in no position to examine them. We have to examine the pledges that the ministers made in their answers to the questions of the MPs and we can go to the place to which the pledge referred and examine it in the prescribed time frame. After conducting the inquiry, the committee has to submit its findings to the Parliament, which approves them with a majority vote and sends them to the President with the signature of the House Speaker. Identifying and enhancing the scope and authority of the Parliament in comparison with the other parliaments in the Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] is the task that we have for the future in order to promote the role of Parliament to perform the act of “check and balance� against the administrative tasks of the government outside the Parliament.

Q: Do you think this Parliament is indeed meaningful? What is your response to the skepticism that there is no change because the new government was formed by the same ministers from the military junta?

A: In structure, it can't be seen as the same between the new and old governments. Although the players are the same, the rule is not. The president has already given the speech three times and we have to watch the consistency of his speech and deed. It is the responsibility of us all to watch whether the government keeps following its pledges correctly. Although the policies, but not the policymakers, have been changed, if they have the will to change their desire, feelings and visions, we can say that both the policies and the policymakers have changed after a period of time.

Q: Before the emergence of the Parliament, there was an assumption that as the parliamentary system was designed to be a civil-military one, there would be an opportunity between the military and civilian MPs to build a mutual understanding. How can you describe the relation between the 25 percent military-appointed MPs and the civilian MPs in the previous Parliament sessions?

A: Previously, I thought that the 25 percent military-appointed MPs would include some high-ranking military officials such as Maj-Generals and Brig-Generals and many Colonels, but in reality, they are majors and captains in their young ages. It is surprising, and the military may have an intention to send their younger new generation to engage in Parliament. In Parliament, they are just the listeners. But during the Parliament sessions, we were able to build a mutual relationship with them to some extent, based on some commonalities such as coming from the same birthplace, ethnicity and educational background. When we met outside the Parliament, they said that they can't speak out in Parliament this time and hoped to have their voice heard next time. If so, there will be questions from the side of the military-appointed MPs as well.

Despite the difference between the uniform and civilian clothes, it is necessary not to go in with a different way in mind. I found out that they also have their personal feelings because they were born to the families and relatives who are also part of the society. Especially if they are in the armed forces, their families have to rely on only a single income source, and they have also many feelings between the high and low ranking officers among the armed forces. They live under a strictly disciplined society while we come from a relatively free society, so we are freer than them even in our way of speaking. I often noticed that their faces looked encouraged while we were discussing the state affairs in Parliament, while they had to keep their mouths tight all the time. In the future, we can build a mutual understanding with each other through these commonalities.
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Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21331
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Female political prisoners on hunger strike in Insein Prison : AAPP-B
Friday, 20 May 2011 19:24 Aung Myat Soe

Bangkok (Mizzima) – Protesting the Burmese government’s one-year commutation of prison sentences, female political prisoners are on a hunger strike in Insein Prison in Rangoon, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP-B).

insein-prisonSecretary Tate Naing said the strike started Tuesday, and, ‘One form of the protest is a hunger strike. They staged the protest against the presidential commutation ordered May 16 because they thought the commutation is not enough’.

Mizzima contacted the Prison Department, but an official refused to comment.

An activist in Rangoon who has provided help to political prisoners said that female prisoners in hall No. 7 in Insein Prison staged a hunger strike to protest against the commutation that was labeled as an ‘amnesty’ by some government officials.

The number of the protestors is not known, but activists Ohmma Myint, Thandar Aung and Aye Chan are taking part in the hunger strike, the activist said. When Ohmma Myint had a visitor on Friday she refused to take the food that was brought for her, he said.

According to an employee at the Prison Department, Ohmma Myint and Thandar Aung are not in good health and they have received medical treatment.

Meanwhile, the lack of information has increased the worries of political prisoners’ families.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma said on May 3 that there were 420 political prisoners in Insein Prison in Rangoon and more than 30 of them were female political prisoners. Across Burma, there were 2,061 political prisoners and 156 were female.

On May 17, Burma began releasing about 14,600 prisoners across the counthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifry under the one-year commutation ordered by President Thein Sein. According to the latest figures, 55 of the 14,600 prisoners are political prisoners and 27 of the 55 political prisoners are members of the National League for Democracy. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/5301-female-political-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-in-insein-prison--aapp-b.html
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ASIA TIMES:May 21, 2011
Arakanese rebels freed from Indian jail
By Subir Bhaumik

KOLKATA - Thirteen years after they were detained on charges of gun-running, 34 separatist rebels from Myanmar's Arakan province walked free on Thursday from an Indian jail in Kolkata, bringing down the curtain on a murky episode involving alleged betrayal and abuse by Indian intelligence agents.

The National Unity Party of Arakan (NUPA) rebels were later in the day flown out to Delhi, where they will stay with the small Burmese community until they win asylum in third countries. "They will not be repatriated to Myanmar because they fear execution if sent back," said Indian human-rights activist Sujato Bhadro.

The 34 were among nearly 80 fighters and fishermen who set sail on two ships for the Andaman Islands from Thailand in February 1998. The Indian military had maintained that the Arakanese were arrested soon after the navy and the army launched "Operation Leech" to intercept gunrunners around the islands.

The NUPA rebels allege that when they arrived at the Andamans' Landfall Island they were at first promised sanctuary by then Indian military intelligence official Lieutenant Colonel B J S Grewal.

"Grewal took away six of our leaders, had them shot and put the rest of us in a prison," recalled Thein Oung Gyaw, one of the 34 recently released. "We were detained without trial in [the] Andamans for six years. No charge sheet was filed against us."

The NUPA alleges that their fighters were all framed on the gun-running charges by the Indian military, and at Grewal's behest. Among those killed by Indian troops was Khaing Raza, the NUPA's military wing chief.

Grewal left the Indian army soon after the incident and set up a bicycle parts manufacturing business near Yangon, Myanmar's old capital city. His family remains in a palatial mansion near Mohali in India's Punjab state, from where Grewal hails.

Though the rebels feel they were duped by Grewal, who allegedly fleeced them of nearly US$50,000 to help "get Indian support", Myanmar-watchers here believe it's unlikely that one official would have had the clout to get away with such an elaborate scheme on his own.

They believe the ploy was part of a broader strategy adopted by Delhi to win the confidence of the military junta in Yangon after years of supporting Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Since then bilateral commercial ties have blossomed, with India securing several lucrative energy deals in Myanmar.

"In the 1980s and early 1990s, Indian intelligence adopted a conscious policy of developing close relations with rebel groups along its borders with [Myanmar],'' said Naba Kumar Singh, who heads the Myanmar studies in Manipur university in Northeast India.

''India's RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] supported the Kachins, the Chins and the Arakanese insurgents to neutralize its own northeastern militants along a long border but also to keep pressure on the [Myanmar] military regime. That changed in 1995," he says.

Once India decided to court the military junta, the Indian military started to crack down on the rebel groups it had once supported. The bases of the Chin National Front (CNF) in northeastern India's Mizoram and Manipur were raided and most of their fighters were forced to flee or were nabbed.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which had received a huge consignment of weapons after its former chief Maran Brangsein visited Delhi twice and the chief of India's external intelligence RAW, were also told they could "no longer depend on Indian support".

The policy shift was controversial among the rank and file, many of whom had developed relations with rebel leaders. The RAW's late deputy chief B B Nandi actually offered to come to the defense of the 34 NUPA rebels in court because he felt they were victims of treachery.

Just before he died in Calcutta, he told this writer that he had opened the first parleys with the NUPA, the KIA and the CNF in an attempt to secure India's eastern borders with Myanmar from the "pernicious effects of insurgency, drug and weapons trade".

''These rebels served India's interest much better than [Myanmar's] military regime," Nandi told this writer.

The policy turning point came after the Indian army sought the help of their Myanmar counterparts to encircle a 200-strong column of three Indian rebel groups in April 1995. The rebels were heading for India's northeastern region after collecting a huge consignment of weapons at Wyakaung beach on the Chittagong-Arakan coast. In joint operations that came to be known as ''Ops Golden Duck'', Myanmar and Indian troops killed 38 and detained 118 rebels.

Ever since, the Indian army has pushed for a closer rapport with the Myanmar military. One former chief of India's eastern army, Lt-General H R S Kalkat, even told the BBC in a formal interview that India's Myanmar policy should be "better left to the army".

"We are soldiers and they are soldiers and our blood is thicker than the bloods of bureaucrats and politicians," he was quoted by the BBC as saying.

It's against that shifting backdrop that the NUPA rebels were killed and detained in 1998. Military officials summoned by a Calcutta court in the case at first refused to testify and later were reluctant to press the case when forced to take the stand.

However, pressure built up on the government to drop the charges once local media reports indicated that they had actually cooperated with Indian military to stop the movement of weapons and rebels from northeast India through the so-called Arakan corridor.

In July 2010, after failing to prove the gun-running charges with any evidence, India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) decided to reach a settlement. The plea bargain reached initially asked the rebels to pay a fine for illegal trespassing into Indian territory but the CBI later agreed to drop all charges.

The federal government has agreed not to extradite the group to Myanmar, as is normally done with foreign nationals against whom legal proceedings are dropped. ''It took us long to reach the settlement because we had to ensure the fighters are not sent back to [Myanmar]," said Soe Myint, a New Delhi-based Myanmar news editor who helped organize their defense.

Subir Bhaumik is chief of news operations at a leading Indian TV channel and a known specialist on Northeast India and Bangladesh. His book Troubled Periphery details Indian intelligence's connections with Burmese rebels until 1995. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/ME21Ae01.html
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WEISS: Burma’s first billionaire no military bagman
It is past time to recalibrate relations with the struggling Asian nation
By Stanley A. Weiss
The Washington Times: 6:19 p.m., Thursday, May 19, 2011

Every spring, Forbes publishes its ranking of the richest men and women on the planet. One person you won’t see on the list is Burmese business tycoon Tay Za. The charismatic Tay Za is chief executive of the Htoo Group of Companies, a business empire founded during Burma’s era of democratic rule that spans logging, gems and jade, palm oil, construction, hotels and tourism, mobile-phone services, an airline and more. At 46, he is widely believed to be Burma’s first billionaire.

Tay Za is a high-profile figure in Asia, with business ties in Singapore, Thailand and elsewhere - even more so since the United States and EU levied sanctions against him for his relationship with Burma’s ruling generals. Yet he remains largely unknown in the West, and has received remarkably little press attention.

I have visited and written about Burma many times over the past 15 years. During my last trip in January, I had the opportunity to meet Tay Za in his palatial home in Rangoon. Tay Za has shied away from the spotlight and seldom agrees to be interviewed. Yet, as Burma, an emerging economic corridor between India and China, becomes more important on the world stage, its leading entrepreneur is speaking out. Maybe it’s time for America to take notice.

Tay Za is eager for more engagement with the West, and welcomes the scrutiny that comes with it. That’s good, because this enigmatic tycoon is certainly no stranger to controversy. His critics claim he has derived most of his wealth by colluding with a regime notorious for human rights abuses. He is reportedly close to junta strongman Senior Gen. Than Shwe. The United States accuses Tay Za of arms dealing for the government; he now controls all of Burma’s business links with Russia. Tay Za and his family are barred from entering the United States, EU, Canada, Australia and Switzerland.

But Tay Za contends that “investigations, which I would welcome, will prove that I am not a crony and a bagman for the generals.” While admitting that he is on “friendly terms” with the military regime, he insists he makes “no contribution to the generals other than officially paying taxes levied on my various businesses,” pointing out, “it has always been the case worldwide that regardless of government system, businesspersons and the incumbent state leaders have to cooperate for the benefit of the country.”

Not surprisingly, Tay Za is strongly opposed to Western sanctions, noting that while the United States and EU have punished local Burmese business leaders, they have taken “no action … against Chevron and Total, the two prominent Western energy companies that are making billions of dollars annually from their natural gas project in [Burma].”

Moreover, he argues, sanctions hurt Burma’s most vulnerable, not its most powerful, deepening the hardship in a country where one in three citizens lives below the poverty line. He says the sanctions “have virtually no effect on the rich” - and he is in a position to know.

Tay Za maintains that “no two nations can flourish through isolation.” Lately, it appears several Western governments may be coming around to his way of thinking. Earlier this spring, the European Union signaled a more flexible approach to Burma when it relaxed some sanctions against members of the government. The Obama administration recently appointed Asia expert Derek Mitchell the first U.S. special representative and policy coordinator for Burma.

If the United States seeks to reevaluate and fine-tune its foreign policy toward Burma, figures like Tay Za - who operate at the nexus of politics and economic markets - should be at the top of our list of people to know and not to shun. For decades, Americans have viewed the country through the prism of opposition leader and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was recently released from years of house arrest after the country’s November elections. The resulting black-and-white perspective obscures a more textured and complicated story.

In addition, U.S. authorities should reconsider the policy of punishing dependent children of persons designated for financial sanctions. Whatever relationships Burma’s business leaders may have with the military regime, sanctioning their dependent children simply isolates the next generation from the West and pushes Burma ever closer to China by default.

In any case, Tay Za says, the Htoo Group will “continue with our business activities, regardless of the government system, be it military or otherwise.”

When asked about his goals for the future, he answers like a Burmese Bill Gates: “I hope to become a philanthropist after qualifying for a billionaire.”

Stanley A. Weiss is founding chairman of Business Executives for National Security.

© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/19/burmas-first-billionaire-no-military-bagman/?page=all#pagebreak
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China supplied advanced mine detectors to Burma
Friday, 20 May 2011 15:42 KNG

China supplied new advanced mine detectors with six trucks to neighbor Burma, where civil war to be broken out with ethnic armed groups demanding self-determination, in last April, said a reliable source of the two countries’ border.

Six trucks loading mine (or land mine) detectors with equipments crossed illegal Burma border door at Manwin in southeastern Kachin State, close to Muse border trade zone, and were supplied to the Burma military, said sources of Burma border security in Muse.
kia_soldier_frontline

KIA soldiers temporarily stopped in the frontline of Manmaw (Bhamo) district in Kachin State.
The sources said, unlike earlier Chinese mine detectors which uses in Burma military, the new detectors are more advanced than earlier for searching land mines and other aerial mines.

The new mine detectors was supplied to Burma before the visit of Xu Caihou, Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission to the country and enhancing the two countries’ friendships and military cooperation from May 12 to 14.

Border-based military analysts thought the two countries’ military cooperation will lead to eliminate ethnic armed groups along the borders--- Kachin Independence Army (KIA), United Wa State Army (UWSA) and Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) who denied for transforming their groups into the Burma Army-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF).

China, the main ally of military-back Burmese government is the major arm supplier of Burma and Russia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, India, Singapore, Serbia, Ukraine, Israel are also arms suppliers of Burma.

More than a dozen Burmese soldiers were injured by KIA mines on May 18, http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwhen government troops tried to enter KIA controlled areas in three locations, according to KIA officials.http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1913-china-supplied-advanced-mine-detectors-to-burma.html
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Myanmar to get RI rifles
Dina Indrasafitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/20/2011 9:54 AM | World|

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro says the government hopes to sell Indonesian-made SS-2 assault rifles to Myanmar.

“[Myanmar] looked at the SS-2. We have been offering it,” he said Thursday after the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting in Jakarta.

Purnomo said that the nation’s arms trade was currently conducted by Indonesian Incorporated, which represented Indonesia’s state-owned weapons maker, PT Pindad; the Defense Ministry and the Defense Industry Policy Committee (KKIP).

“Myanmar is already in the process of transition. They already had an election. It has to be done in phases,” Purnomo said.

Col. Jan Pieter Ate a special assistant to the Indonesian Defense Minister, said that in principle Indonesia would not limit its arms sales to any nation, including ASEAN member nations.

“They should control their own markets rather than countries outside ASEAN,” he said.

Jan Pieter said that Indonesia’s policy on arms sales was related to the ASEAN defense industry collaboration.

“It’s all right if we want to sell [arms] to Malaysia, Laos or Vietnam, and Myanmar. What we do not hope for — and we do not compromise in this — is if the weapons are used to threaten other countries,” Jan
Pieter said.

He added that Indonesia’s stance was firm, waving off the possibility that Indonesian-made weapons might be used on civilians.

“The main purpose of weapons is to defend a country. This appeals to us as well,” Jan Pieter said.

Weapons sales might help Indonesia support Myanmar’s shift towards democracy, he added.

“With such a relationship, we will have better access to the country to improve democracy. If one [nation] does not have a relationship with another, it would be hard to influence one another. One of the ways is through trade, and defense is one of the ways [to do that],” Jan Pieter said.

University of Indonesia security analyst Andi Widjajanto said the idea of selling Indonesian weapons to Myanmar was more positive than negative. “An ‘embargo’ of light weapons to Myanmar will in fact push the junta to enter the black market,” he said.

Giving Myanmar the option to remain in the international weaponry markethttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif would cause the transnational criminal network supporting arms smuggling to lose revenue, he said. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/05/20/myanmar-get-ri-rifles.html
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Militia men from battlefields deserting
Thursday, 19 May 2011 15:56 Hseng Khio Fah

Dozens of militia men from the battlefields in Shan State North’s Tangyan township are reportedly fleeing almost every week since April after they were deployed to fight against the Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), better known as SSA North or First Brigade, according to local sources reported.

Most of the deserters were from Tangyan’s Mongkao tract, where its area is connecting with the SSA controlled territory.
“There were no less than 70-80 men who have fled from their post since they were deployed together with the Burma Army soldiers to attack the SSA in March,” said a source from Tangyan. “Some would flee to the cities and other different places while some went to join other armed groups.”

According to him, there were around 30 men including their family members, who have fled and joined Shan State South (SSS) Company of Mahaja, known as the mayor of Homong since the departure of warlord Khun Sa following his surrender in 1996.

A source close to Mahaja group confirmed that the men have arrived to them but they were sent to resettle in other places for their safety.

Beside the militia men, dozens of Burma Army soldiers have also deserted from the fighting as well.
The Burma army, since 2009, has been recruiting and also beefing up local militias to reinforce its campaign against armed groups who refuse to join its BGFs program. All militia units were given military trainings as soon as they were recruited.

And when it started fighting the SSA since 13 March, it has used more militia units especially from Tangyan township in its frontline while some are to safeguard all roads and bridges leading to the SSA bases and areas along the Salween River in cooperation with Burma Army troops.

But on 15 May, the Commander of the Northeastern Region Command (NERC) Brig-Gen Aung Kyaw Zaw assigned more militia units across northern Shan State like Kawngkha militia led by Mahtunaw, and U Myint Lwin of Tamong Nge, U T Khun Myat of Kutkhai, Panhsay U Kyaw Myint of Namkham and U Keng Mai of Mongpaw (Muse township) to closely watch every movement made by the SSA from each of their assigned areas and inform the regional HQ.

The battles between the SSA and the Burma Army and had injured and killed dozens of civilians including at least 300 casualties on the Burma Army side, claihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifmed the SSA. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3698:militia-men-from-battlefields-deserting-&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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KNU Statement on Bombing near Capital of Burma’s Dictators
Date : 19/5/2011

1. In an Agence France Press (AFP) report, datelined May 18, a bomb blast killed two and wounded seven civilians near billion-dollar, custom-built capital (Naypyitaw) of Burma’s military dictators and military controlled dictatorship government headed by former general, President Thein Sein. Without hesitation, a Thein Sein government’s official accused the KNU of being responsible for the blast.

2. We, the KNU, categorically reject accusation of the official, as the KNU has no policy of letting members of its armed wing, the KNLA, to engage in heinous acts of harming or killing civilians. Even in the frontline, the KNLA troops have to follow strict orders not to cause casualty to the civilians, who are regularly used by the Burma Army troops as human shields and forced labour.

3. It is very likely that the bombing was the plot of the dictatorship itself in a dastardly attempt to point fingers at the KNU, while an important US official was on a visit to the capital. It could also be the work of members of a clique within the Burma armed forces, which is against the dictatorship. It is clearly impossible for the outsiders to carry out such an act in places near the capital, which are under tight security, constantly.

4. It has been the policy of the previous Burma military dictatorships as well as the present military controlled one to use its army troops to commit gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity, especially against the ethnic civilian populations.

5. In their suppression drives against the resistance forces in the ethnic areas, the Burma army troops regularly perpetrate forced labour, forced relocation, extortion, looting of properties, burning down villages - destruction of farms, orchards, plantations, food stocks etc. – arbitrary arrest, torture, extrajudicial killing - planting landmines indiscriminately in the foot paths, villages etc. - assassination and, rape of women and underage girls.

6. It is time the military controlled Thein Sein dictatorship stopped devious attempts to divert international and domestic attention away from its policy of ethnic genocide. In conclusion, we call on it to engage with the ethnic and democratic forces for meaningful dialogue and national reconciliation, and walk on the path to genuine democracy, federalism and durable peace.


Supreme Headquarters

Karen National Union
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Burma to hold first forum on poverty
Thursday, 19 May 2011 17:39 Mizzima Newshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Rangoon (Mizzima) – Burma will hold its first ever ‘Forum on Poverty’ in Naypyitaw on Friday and President Thein Sein is expected to attend the forum.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

There was no information about who else might speak or appear at the conference.

Some local and foreign journalists have been invited to attend the forum, but they will not be allowed to put questions to the president, according to sources.

Such a forum is rare in Burma, and never occurred under the former military junta. The newly formed government has listed the economy and the agricultural industry as targets on its list of problems to be addressed.
http://www.mizzima.com/news/breaking-and-news-brief/5289-burma-to-hold-first-forum-on-poverty.html