BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEPTEMBER 10-11, 2011

US envoy meets ministers in first Myanmar visit
(AFP) – 2 days ago

YANGON — A new US envoy to Myanmar kicked off his first trip to the country on Friday as part of Washington's strategy of engagement with the army-dominated nation.

Derek Mitchell, who was appointed as the first US coordinator for policy on Myanmar last month, began the visit by meeting foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin in the capital Naypyidaw, a government official told AFP.

He is then scheduled to see a variety of other senior figures including speakers in the parliament -- formed after last November's controversial elections -- before returning to Yangon on Saturday.

Mitchell, a veteran policymaker on Asia, will meet democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday, according to her spokesman Nyan Win.

In his Senate confirmation hearing in June, Mitchell said he would seek "direct and candid" dialogue with Myanmar's leaders but that the United States should be flexible in its approach.

His post was created when Congress, under then-president George W. Bush, approved a law on Myanmar in 2008 that tightened sanctions against the country, but the position was not filled at the time due to a political dispute.

After taking power in 2009 President Barack Obama's administration changed tack, concluding that the sanctions aimed at isolating Myanmar had been ineffective.

Mitchell is also set to meet party leaders in Yangon, including representatives from the National Democratic Force (NDF), which split with Suu Kyi's party to contest the election.

"I think his visit will be more than fact finding," said the NDF's Khin Maung Swe, who expects to meet the envoy on Tuesday and plans to ask about the US stance on sanctions following recent changes in Myanmar.

The isolated nation's nominally civilian government has recently appeared to be seeking to improve its image by reaching out to critics such as Suu Kyi, who last month met President Thein Sein, a former general, for the first time.

The Nobel peace prize winner was released from seven straight years of house arrest by the junta days after the election, which was marred by allegations of cheating.
The military's political proxies claimed an overwhelming victory in the vote.
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Bangladesh expects Bay of Bengal verdict by April
DHAKA | Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:02pm IST

(Reuters) - Bangladesh, hoping to explore in deep seas for oil and much-needed natural gas, expects an international tribunal to deliver a verdict by April in a dispute with Myanmar over ownership of a swathe of the Bay of Bengal.

Foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes told Reuters on Sunday a hearing started last week in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Germany. "The arguments will be held in two phases ending on Sept. 24 and the ruling is expected in April."

Myanmar has claimed rights to part of an area Bangladesh has been trying to explore. At the peak of the dispute, both countries sent naval ships to the site -- 280 km off Chittagong.

Bangladesh's biggest neighbour, India, has also made a claim. Officials said the government would seek to settle the Indian claim through the same international court, after it dealt with Myanmar.

Bangladesh struggled to keep running gas-fired power plants and industries due to supply shortages. The country faces up to 2,000 mmcf of gas and up to 2,000 MW of electricity shortfall daily, according to official estimates.

So, state-run oil and mineral company Petrobangla signed a deal with U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips in June to undertake the country's first offshore exploration, which envisaged the company conducting a seismic survey between January and April.

That job may be difficult if the sea boundary is not clearly defined and accepted by all concerned, Quayes said.

Energy officials said exploration by ConocoPhilps -- which faced a series of protests by Bangladeshi environmental groups and political parties -- would encourage other investors, not only in energy but in other sectors as well.

ConocoPhillips has asked international surveyors to conduct a seismic survey in two Bangladesh deep-sea sites in the Bay of Bengal, said Imad Hossain, Petrobangla's director for the production sharing contract. The surveyors will conduct the survey in a 2,500 square-kilometre area.

In May, Petrobangla approved a plan by ConocoPhillips to carry out hydrocarbon exploration in the two blocks.

ConocoPhillips has nine years to explore the two blocks, with five years of primary exploration period and two years each for two extended exploration periods.
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11 September 2011 Last updated at 12:36 ET
BBC News - Burmese political satirists return home from exile

A group of prominent Burmese satirists has flown back to Burma from self-imposed exile in Thailand.

Three comedians and a dancer flew from Chiang Mai to Rangoon weeks after Burma's new civilian president urged exiles to come home.

One of them said there were signs that Burma's military-backed government was taking steps towards democracy.

President Thein Sein's appeal has divided exiles, some of whom point out that he offered no amnesty.

The performance troupe, Thee Lay Thee, became well known across Burma for daring shows and videos in which it joked and performed satirical skits about the military leadership.

A performance in Rangoon in late 2007 poked fun at the authorities, just months after the security forces put down renewed anti-government protests.

Weeks later, the group went on an overseas tour and decided not to come back.

Their founder, the comedian Zarganar, who stayed in Burma, was jailed in 2008 and is now serving a 35-year prison-sentence.

"Steps towards democracy"

Thee Lay Thee continued to perform in exile, mostly in Thailand which they made their base.

But since their departure Burma has changed.

The democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from years of detention in November 2010, and a nominally-civilian government, backed by the military, took power this year.

"We like the fact that the new government is taking steps towards democracy," Thee Lay Thee's manager, also a comedian who goes by the stage-name of Godzilla, told the BBC Burmese service.

"That's why we decided to cooperate with it, and contribute with the knowledge we have."

Divided opinion

Similar comments by the comedian are reported in the online version of the Burmese weekly news magazine "The Voice" in its edition dated 12th September.

But President Thein Sein's appeal to Burmese last month to come home and help develop the country has divided opinion among tens of thousands who have fled abroad since the 1988 uprising.

The president said even those who had committed past offences would be welcome - but there has been no amnesty, and some exiles doubt that the government is serious about change.

A veteran journalist, Sein Kyaw Hlaing, was reported to have been detained for questioning after accepting an offer to return.

Burma has resisted international pressure to free some 2,000 political prisoners it is believed to be holding.
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The Nation - Burma easing refugee, assistance pressures: diplomat
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Published on September 12, 2011

The new Burmese government has promised peace and job opportunities for refugees who voluntarily return home - as well as allowing the international community to have more accessibility for humanitarian assistance to its disaster and conflict affected populations, a European commissioner said yesterday.

"The minister of border affairs strongly believed there must be peace, and it can be achieved by fair treatment to ethnic minorities through development opportunities for them," said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response who visited Burma last week.

Commissioner Georgieva discussed the matter with Burma's Border Affairs Minister Lt-General Thein Htay in Naypyidaw on September 9. He assured her the repatriation of refugees, notably from neighbouring Thailand, must be done on a voluntary basis.

There was also a bilateral talk between Burma and Thailand on the possibility of Thai investment on the other side of border to create jobs for them, she said.

Thailand is now sheltering some 100,000 refugees from Burma and mapping out a plan to repatriate most them to Burma.

Thein Htay admitted he was not in a position to find a solution for many ethnic refugees or asylum seekers who might have a political agenda for their status and roles in society when they returned home, commissioner Georgieva said.

She urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other UN concerned agencies be brought in as part of the solution.

European ambassador to Thailand and Burma, David Lipman, said Thein Htay hoped to begin peace talks soon with the ethnic groups.

"He did say that the government is committed to peace and he hopes that within the next few months they will have serious negotiations to that end," said Lipman, who accompanied Georgieva.

However, the main purpose of the European commission to Burma was to secure faster and better access by humanitarian workers to all parts of the country affected by natural disaster and armed conflict.

Burma's previous treatment of international humanitarian workers raised outrage when the authority delayed assistance deliveries to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which killed 140,000 people in 2008.

Georgieva said she received the assurance from Burmese authorities with the improvement of obtaining visas for humanitarian workers and signing memorandums of
understanding on their operations.

"We also discussed the issue of disaster management on how we, the EU, could help Burma in improving disaster management," she said.

There were some improvements in accessibility for humanitarian workers after the new government, she said. "It has become easier to work. One credible organisation there said something that used to take two months, now takes two weeks," she said.

Georgieva met in Rangoon with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who " gave some very good insight on how we could be more effective in addressing difficulties, like problem with minorities."

Aung San Suu Kyi shared some positive signs of recognition. For example, articles she published and interviews she had given on her work providing free schooling for kids in the country, Georgieva said.

"Burma is lucky to have her as a guarantor for better things ahead and as the face and voice of the vulnerable people," she said of the Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who was freed from a seven-year house detention term in November last year.
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The Nation - Burma wants peace with ethnic groups, EU commissioner says
Published on September 11, 2011

Burma's new government has vowed to pursue peaceful solutions to its decades-old conflicts with ethnic minority groups that have forced thousands to flee the country, a European commissioner said Sunday after an official trip.

"The minister of border control strongly believes there must be peace, and it can only be achieved by fair treatment of ethnic minorities and by providing development opportunities for them," said Kristalina Georgieva, commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response.

Georgieva was in Burma on Friday and Saturday when she met with Border Affairs Minister Thein Htay and other ministers of the government that took office on April 1.

Since 1995, the EU has given 103 million euros in humanitarian aid for 140,000 Karen refugees in camps along the Thai border. They are reluctant to return to Burma for fear of persecution by the army that has been fighting the Karen National Union for six decades.

The new government's policy towards such ethnic minority struggles has not yet been made clear, but Georgieva returned from Burma with an optimistic outlook.

"They believe in a pull factor through development," she said. "They believe that there needs to be peace and jobs and that after that, return will follow."
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September 11, 2011
VOA News - EU Commissioner Optimistic about Burma Reforms
Ron Corben | Bangkok

The top European Union aid official says Burma’s government is pledging increased international access for humanitarian workers during natural disasters. E.U. officials say they are optimistic about reforms by Burma's new government.

European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Humanitarian aid Kristalina Georgieva says she is "encouraged" by Burma's pledges to give humanitarian workers greater access to troubled areas.

Georgieva spoke to journalists in Bangkok following a two-day official visit to Burma. She said she was “very positive” that it is possible to avoid the chaos and destruction that had come in the wake of cyclone Nargis in 2008.

“My impression from discussions with the minister for resettlement and social welfare who is also the chair of the disaster preparedness ministerial group, is that there is a recognition of the need to be on high alert; that experience form other countries is very valuable," said Georgieva. "In this sense Nargis was a wake-up call.”

Cyclone Nargis left more than 140,000 dead and missing after hitting the Irrawaddy Delta region. The then-military government faced international condemnation over delays to assistance that aid groups says cost thousands of lives.

In addition to meeting government officials in Rangoon, the E.U. minister met with Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Georgieva said Suu Kyi was positive over her new role in the country since her release from house arrest in November last year. Suu Kyi had spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest.

Georgieva and E.U. officials expressed optimism of signs of reform, with Burmese government members “genuinely” seeking change. But challenges remain, she said.

“We know that there are now agents for change. There are people who are genuinely reform minded they want to see the country included. But we also know that there are many who don’t want this to happen that divested interests that are going to be affected by change. So therefore how this power struggle would go will be to watch in the months to come,” Georgieva stated.

Georgieva, while not commenting directly on Burma's holding of more than 2,000 political prisoners, said the International Committee of the Red Cross was again granted limited access to three of Burma’s prisons. The ICRC’s access to prisons and camps had come to a halt amid increasing official restrictions in 2006.

E.U. officials also said Burma's government pledged to pursue peaceful ends to conflicts with ethnic minorities and their insurgent armies, offering talks within months.

In April, the European Union eased some sanctions in place due to Burma's human-rights record to enable the current dialogue.

The European Union now allows ministerial visits to Burma and modified visa restrictions that open the way for civilian members of Burma’s parliament to travel to Europe.

The visit by Georgieva comes as Derek Mitchell, the U.S. Special representative and policy coordinator for Burma is currently meeting officials in Naypyittaw, political party members and local civil society organizations.
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September 09, 2011
VOA News - Observers Doubt Burmese Government's Overtures
Daniel Schearf | Bangkok

Burma's normally defiant authorities have in recent weeks been welcoming their domestic and international critics for candid discussions. They have also slightly loosened their iron-clad grip on the media, leading observers to speculate on whether authorities could be softening their hard-line position. Analysts and rights activists have welcomed the moves but have dismissed suggestions that it represents any substantive change.

The United States special envoy for Burma, Derek Mitchell, is in the country this week meeting with representatives of the military-dominated government, the political opposition and activists.

Mitchell's visit is his first as U.S. special envoy and the latest in a series of meetings between authorities in Burma and their critics.

In August, Burma allowed the visit of United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana.

He has been spear-heading calls for a U.N. commission of inquiry for possible crimes against humanity and was previously denied requests to visit.

Burmese President Thein Sein also met with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent almost two decades under house arrest for challenging military rule and was just released last year.

Both leaders described the talks as friendly.

Will Thein Sein be a reformer?

Carl Thayer is a professor of politics at Australia's University of New South Wales. He says the diplomatic moves by Thein Sein's government have raised hopes that he might become a historic reformer like South Africa's apartheid-era president, Frederik Willem de Klerk.

"It shows the president in a new light. People are debating whether he's a puppet of Than Shwe, the military man behind the scenes, or whether he's the F.W. de Klerk who is going to usher in a new period. I think we shouldn't be too premature in seeing 'the opening' occurring but we can see positive trends and then speculate as to the reasons for them,"

In recent weeks, President Thein Sein called for peace talks with rebel groups, invited political exiles who fled persecution to return home, and set up the government’s first human rights commission.

Journalists were for the first time invited to observe legislative debates.

Burma's strict censors also allowed some positive media reports about Aung San Suu Kyi and toned-down regular propaganda condemning the BBC, VOA and other western media.

Are changes real?

However, political analysts and rights activists point out military leaders have taken similar actions in the past only to reverse course when it suits their purpose.

At least one dissident journalist who took Thein Sein’s offer and returned to the country was immediately detained and questioned at the airport.

And authorities punished a local journal that published Aung San Suu Kyi’s first interview in years with a domestic publication.

Benjamin Zawacki, a Burma researcher for Amnesty International, says any hints of reform in Burma should be greeted with skepticism.

"And so, we've seen this before, perhaps as a concession on the part of the government, perhaps as a means of deflecting international criticism. But, it has not ever translated into real progress on the ground in human rights," said Zawacki. "And, I think the real measure of whether or not these moves on the part of the government are real or simply strategic or simply window dressing will be determined by actual events on the ground.”

Zawacki notes more than 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Burma despite ongoing international pressure.

'Polishing international image'

He says authorities are polishing their international image in hopes of getting western economic sanctions lifted.

Burma also wants to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014. It was previously pressured out of its turn in the prestigious role so as not to embarrass the regional group.

Burma has for decades been dominated by the military and its fight against ethnic rebels seeking autonomy. The result has been tight controls on society and one of the world's worst human rights records.

'Military still in control'

Bertil Lintner, a Thailand-based author on politics in Burma, says the military is still firmly in control. He say only internal disobedience will bring about real political change. Lintner points out that dissent within the ranks was crucial for bringing down former military governments in South Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

"And I cannot see Burma changing in any other way," he said. "As long as the military remains united, and they are very united, there won't be any fundamental changes of the present power structure in the country. And, certainly, no steps toward real democracy."

Elections in 2010 brought Thein Sein to power but were widely condemned as a sham designed to cement harsh military rule in the guise of democracy.

Even before the vote, the military-drafted constitution gave it a quarter of all seats in parliament. And the polls were marred by fraud and intimidation.

The main opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, boycotted the election because of unfair rules that banned her from running for office.

The NLD won Burma’s previous election in 1990 by a landslide but the military refused to give up power.
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Sin Chew Jit Poh - - Medics dice with death in Myanmar jungle warzones
2011-09-11 14:23
by Daniel Rook

MAE SOT, September 11, 2011 (AFP) - Risking prison or death if caught by a regime that sees him as the enemy, medic Saw Poe Aye roams the Myanmar jungle helping people trapped in one of the world's oldest civil wars.

Hundreds of others like him criss-cross Myanmar's impoverished eastern border areas to deliver medicine, treatment and education to Karen and other ethnic minority villagers who lack access to even basic healthcare.

From their base in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, members of the Back Pack Health Worker Team smuggle medicine across the porous frontier -- fleeing at any sign of soldiers loyal to the rulers of Myanmar, also known as Burma.

The non-profit organisation, which relies on donations, says that since it was created in 1998 nine medics and a midwife have been killed by regime troops or their landmines, most recently in July 2010. Several others have been imprisoned.

"If we don't run we will be shot because the regime regards us as an opposition organisation. They don't see us as health workers," said 34-year-old Saw Poe Aye, who is from Karen State.

"Our area has lots of mountains and deep forests. Often it takes two or three hours to walk between villages," the married father-of-one said in an interview at the group's Mae Sot headquarters.

The organisation has about 300 medics serving a target population of about 180,000 vulnerable and displaced people spread across 320 villages in areas including Karen, Karenni, Mon, Arakan, Kachin, and Shan states.

Each team, made up of about three to five medics, typically returns to Thailand twice a year for training and to collect supplies.

It takes Saw Poe Aye four days to travel by bus, boat and on foot from Mae Sot to the rebel-held area where he works, treating ailments including malaria, worm infestation and diarrhoea as well as war wounds.

Some teams carry surgical tools for trauma patients.

They travel for several months at a time, spending at least three days in each village they visit and covering as much as 1,000 kilometres (about 620 miles) on a single trip.
Sometimes rebel soldiers provide a security escort if the situation is dangerous.

While their links to the armed groups raise questions about their neutrality, the medics say they are simply filling a void left by the absence of international aid groups or state healthcare workers.

"The government and international NGOs can't reach these areas because they are conflict zones," said Mahn Mahn, the Thai-based director of the Back Pack Health Worker Team.

"These areas are not stable and civilians are always moving around. Our backpack medics give training so these people can help themselves."

Myanmar has been plagued by decades of civil war between pro-regime troops and armed ethnic minority rebels, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

More than half of all deaths in Myanmar's eastern conflict zones are from treatable illnesses, with the junta blocking access to healthcare, according to a study published last year. Malaria is the number one killer.

Child mortality rates are nearly double the official national figure, while maternal mortality is three times as high, according to the study by groups including the Back Pack Health Worker Team and Burma Medical Association.

"The health situation is chronic. People do not have access to any regular healthcare," said Sally Thompson, an aid worker helping Burmese refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border.
"If you fall sick, it's just lucky for you if a backpack team walks through your area at the time. Otherwise, you're essentially on your own," she added.

For serious medical problems, many people in Myanmar's eastern conflict zones make the long and dangerous journey to Thailand, crossing over illegally to seek treatment.

Myanmar has endured half a century of military rule and while a civilian government is now nominally in charge after a widely criticised election last year, its ranks are filled with former generals.

"At first we thought things would change," said Saw Poe Aye.

"We thought the country would become a democracy and there would be equality for different ethnic groups. But the situation has remained the same or even worsened since the election," he added.

Fighting still rages in some areas and a recent call by the government for ceasefire talks has been met with scepticism, while Thailand's threat to close its refugee border camps has caused alarm among the 140,000 residents.

Human rights abuses continue in the ethnic conflict zones, including attacks on civilians, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, the recruitment of child soldiers and forced labour, a UN rights envoy said last month.

The regime spends about seven US dollars per person on health each year, among the lowest in the world, according to a 2009 report from the United Nations. Just 1.8 percent of government spending goes into health.

As long as people in their communities are sick and dying from a lack of healthcare, the backpack medics say they will continue their work, despite the risks.

"If we don't do this no outsider will come and do it for us," said Saw Poe Aye.
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Channel NewsAsia - Top EU aid official 'encouraged' by Myanmar visit
Posted: 11 September 2011 0358 hrs

BRUSSELS : The EU's top aid official wound up a visit to Myanmar Saturday, including the first talks between an EU commissioner and peace icon Aung San Suu Kyi, "encouraged" by official pledges of greater access to troubled areas.

"I was encouraged that the authorities are willing to expand humanitarian access to more areas of Burma/Myanmar," Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement released in Brussels.

"I hope to see a tangible sign of this commitment soon, in the form of permissions for humanitarian experts to visit and work in areas of substantial need," she added.

During the two-day visit, aimed at discussing ways to step up support for the country's most vulnerable people, Georgieva held talks in the capital Naypyidaw and Yangon with government representatives and humanitarian groups.

The EU's executive arm, this year donating over 22 million euros of humanitarian and disaster relief, as well as aid to refugees in Thailand, needs "assurances that humanitarian agencies have full access to those who need relief", she said

Her talks with ministers as well as with democracy icon Suu Kui, she added, "give me hope that we will be able to do more to tackle these challenges".

The Nobel peace laureate "is the face and the voice of the most vulnerable people in Myanmar", Georgieva said.

"This is why, as the EU humanitarian commissioner, I was glad to have the opportunity to present to her our response to humanitarian challenges and disasters and to discuss how Europe can help the most needy people in the country in their quest for survival and development."

The isolated nation's nominally civilian government has recently appeared to be seeking to improve its image by reaching out to critics such as Suu Kyi, who last month met President Thein Sein, a former general, for the first time.

The Nobel peace prize winner was released from seven straight years of house arrest by the military days after controversial November elections.

The regime has also called for peace in minority areas, but its overtures have so far been met with distrust by rebel groups.

Over a million people benefit from assistance provided by the Commission, which supports basic health services, water and sanitation projects, food and nutrition assistance and relief to cyclone and earthquake survivors.

The primary focus of Commission assistance is to the civilian victims of the protracted conflict between the army and rebellious ethnic minority groups in border areas.
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Calcutta News.Net - Indian agencies deny ULFA leader injured in Myanmar
Saturday 10th September, 2011 (IANS)

Media reports that elusive commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Paresh Baruah was injured in a military offensive by the Myanmarese junta have been denied by the Indian intelligence agencies.

'We have no hard intelligence to indicate that Baruah is injured in Myanmar. Radio intercepts of the ULFA leaders communicating with leaders of other rebel groups in the last few days also do not suggest or hint at anything abnormal happening inside Myanmar,' an Indian intelligence official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

There were speculations in the media that Baruah survived the military offensive launched by the Myanmarese Army but was injured in the attack.

The reports could not be denied or confirmed independently from the ULFA.

The ULFA commander-in-chief is believed to be entrenched somewhere in the Sagaing division of northern Myanmar with an estimated 100-150 cadre - the same area is also the base of at least half-a-dozen other militant groups from the Indian northeast.

The Baruah faction of the ULFA, in an email Wednesday, claimed rebel bases of the outfit and some other northeast militant groups were attacked by Myanmarese troops.

'The Burmese Army has been aided with heavy arms and ammunition by India and the gunfights would get severe in the days ahead,' said the statement signed by the faction's publicity chief Arunodoi Dohotia.

On Thursday, the ULFA faction in another statement released a photograph of Baruah wielding a rusty AK series assault rifle and wearing blue socks and donning a camouflage cap.

Myanmar from time to time, especially with the onset of the winter, launches military operations in the rough and hostile northern region to flush out Indian militants.

'These attacks are nothing new and we always find the Indian government backing Myanmar in carrying out such offensives,' a National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-Khaplang) leader told IANS.

The ULFA's mainstream leadership offered a unilateral ceasefire in July and with New Delhi signed a truce accord last week aimed at pulling the curtains down on one of northeast India's longest running rebellions. The ULFA was fighting for an independent homeland since 1979.

The pro-talks majority faction led by chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, however, is now not seeking an independent homeland and instead wants protection of the cultural and economic rights of the indigenous Assamese.

The peace process started after Bangladesh arrested four top ULFA leaders, including Rajkhowa, in 2009 and handed them over to India.

But Baruah is opposed to the peace talks and from time to time accuses the pro-talk leaders of being puppets in the hands of the Indian government.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.
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New Kerala - ULFA chief Paresh Baruah reportedly shot at, injured by Myanmarese army

New Delhi, Sep.10 : The commander-in-chief of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Paresh Barua, reportedly been shot at and injured by the Myanamarese Army soldiers in the jungles of northwest Myanmar.

Sources were quoted by NDTV, as saying that Baruah has survived the attack. The channel said he was with some rebels when he was detected by the Myanmarese army and fired upon.

The ULFA recently had unconditional talks with Indian Home Ministry officials in an attempt to usher peace in insurgency-hit Assam.

An ULFA delegation met Home Ministry officials and Home Minister P. Chidambaram in February and again last week.

Baruah, however, has skipped both of these meetings.

He is still at large issuing threats and carrying out attacks. He wants sovereignty as a pre-condition for talks
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The Times of India - Ulfa, NSCN(K) to shift camps amid Myanmar offensive
TNN | Sep 11, 2011, 05.30AM IST

GUWAHATI/DIMAPUR: Ulfa and NSCN (Khaplang) militants have pressed the panic button and are planning to shift their camps in Myanmar amid reports of a crackdown by the Myanmarese army on Indian rebel outfits holed up there.

The NSCN (K) claimed that about 400 Myanmarese soldiers have moved into the area where its headquarters is located.

The outfit said its chairman , S S Khaplang, was safe. Ulfa, whose military chief Paresh Baruah shifted to Myanmar after Bangladesh launched a similar offensive in late 2009, has asked the NSCN (K) fighters to move to safer places.
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Gulf Times - Yangon vows peaceful solutions to conflicts
DPA/Bangkok

Myanmar’s new government has vowed to pursue peaceful solutions to its decades-old conflicts with ethnic minority groups that have forced thousands to flee the country, a European commissioner said yesterday after an official trip.

“The minister of border control strongly believes there must be peace, and it can only be achieved by fair treatment of ethnic minorities and by providing development opportunities for them,” said Kristalina Georgieva, commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response.

Georgieva was in Myanmar on Friday and Saturday when she met with Border Affairs Minister Thein Htay and other ministers of the government that took office on April 1.

Since 1995, the EU has given €103mn in humanitarian aid for 140,000 Karen refugees in camps along the Thai border. They are reluctant to return to Myanmar for fear of persecution by the army that has been fighting the Karen National Union for six decades.

The new government’s policy towards such ethnic minority struggles has not yet been made clear, but Georgieva returned from Myanmar with an optimistic outlook.

“They believe in a pull factor through development,” she said. “They believe that there needs to be peace and jobs and that after that, return will follow.”

David Lipman, EU ambassador to Myanmar and Thailand, said Thein Htay hoped to begin peace talks soon with the ethnic groups.

“He did say that the government is committed to peace and he hopes that within the next few months they will have serious negotations to that end,” said Lipman, who has accompanied Georgieva.

It was Georgieva’s first official trip to Myanmar, a pariah state among Western nations because of its human rights record, including documented atrocities committed against ethnic minorities seeking a measure of autonomy in their native territories.

After two decades of military rule, Myanmar now has an elected government, albeit one packed with former military men.

Georgieva’s visit was aimed at winning assurances of better access to humanitarian aid and to find ways to boost preparedness against natural disasters.

Myanmar was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2009, leaving more than 140,000 people dead or missing, mostly in the Irrawaddy delta.

The natural disaster sparked international outrage with Myanmar’s military rulers, who were reluctant to allow international aid workers in to help with disaster relief.

“Nargis was a horrendous tragedy,” Georgieva said. “Very simple measures would have saved thousands of lives. It must not be repeated.”

The commissioner met and praised opposition leader Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest.

“Myanmar is lucky to have her as a guarantor for better things ahead and as the face and voice of the vulnerable people,” she said of the Nobel laureate, who was freed from a seven-year house detention term on November 13.
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bdnews24 - Myanmar goes back on '74 pact
Sat, Sep 10th, 2011 12:30 am BdSTD

Dhaka, Sept 9 (bdnews24.com) – The oral hearing in the Bangladesh-Myanmar maritime delimitation case continued on Friday at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg.

The second day of arguments was dedicated to the delimitation of 12-mile territorial sea, says a foreign ministry press statement.

Professor Alan Boyle from the University of Edinburgh and Prof Philippe Sands of the University College London addressed the tribunal.

For delimitation of territorial sea, Bangladesh put forth two sets of alternative arguments.

The first argument requested the tribunal to delimit the territorial sea on the basis of 1974 'agreed minutes' signed between the heads of the delegations of Bangladesh and Myanmar, which was further reconfirmed in 2008.

According to the agreed minutes, the territorial sea boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar was drawn from the land terminus point at the Naaf River by joining seven points equidistant from the coasts of Myanmar and Bangladesh (St. Martins).

As per the minutes, Myanmar demanded unimpeded navigation through Naaf River, which Bangladesh has provided for over three decades.

However, during the proceedings, Myanmar declined to accept the boundary agreed upon in 1974 and proposed a new delimitation line totally ignoring the St. Martins Island.

In his speech, Prof Alan Boyle described various rules of international law and precedence of international courts and tribunals to prove that the 1974 agreed minutes was an agreement from which Myanmar could not revert now.

Then Bangladesh proposed a second set of argument for the delimitation of territorial sea.

Professor Philippe Sands argued that under Article 15 of the UNCLOS, which is the governing law in this case, the boundary in the territorial sea must be a median line, equidistant between the coasts of the two states.

Under both the bilateral agreement and the UNCLOS, the boundary in the territorial sea must be the equidistance line, as Bangladesh has constantly claimed.

The argument specifically stressed on the issue of St. Martins Island, which Myanmar claims to have no right to maritime zones, is in fact fully entitled to 12 miles of territorial sea and other maritime zones.

On Monday and Tuesday next week, Bangladesh will present its arguments on the boundary in the exclusive economic zone, up to 200 miles, and in the outer continental shelf, up to 390-460 miles.
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Philippine Star - Myanmar to compete in China-ASEAN basketball match
(philstar.com) Updated September 09, 2011 11:26 PM

YANGON (Xinhua) - Myanmar men's basketball team will take part in China-ASEAN men's basketball tournament to be held in Nanning, China, on Sept. 25 to 30 to seek international experiences, according the sport sources today.

Myanmar Basketball Federation has trained 15 selected basketball players over one year.

The 12 final players are now being trained by Malaysian coach Mr Tan Hoke Kang with a view to bringing honor to the nation in coming 26th SEA Games.
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Lakehouse Daily News - Lanka beckons Myanmar pilgrims
Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI
Monday, 12 September 2011

Sri Lanka will be Myanmar’s second choice for pilgrim visits after India in the near future, Myanmar Ruby Lanka Tourism Services Managing Director Aye Kyaw said at a press conference at Sri Lanka Tourism Development Board on Friday.

Kyaw the head of the delegation and members arrived in Sri Lanka on the invitation of Travelon Sri Lanka to promote pilgrimage tourism between the two countries.

He said an average of six thousand Myanmar people visit Bodhgaya in India annually but at least one thousand out of it will come to Sri Lanka in the future because Myanmar people are keen to visit places where Lord Buddha has visited.

They are also interested in visiting the Dalada Maligawa, Anuradhapura and Adams Peak.

“In the past more than 2000 people have visited Myanmar annually but only around 700 people have visited Sri Lanka from Miyanmar.

“There is a huge imbalance and this will be reduced as a result of the new plan,” he said.

Kyaw said there are 320 monks from Myanmar living in Sri Lanka and it helps to develop a good relationship between the people of the two countries as there are similarities such
as Pirith and the use of Pali.

He said another advantage for them is that Sri Lanka is not only a pilgrimage destination but also has beautiful beaches ,mountains and shopping malls as well.

Travelon Director Bandula de Silva said now the tourism industry is progressing well and it would give benefits to both countries in the future.

Myanmar’s Oriental Dragon Travel General Manager Lei Lei Win said the challenge for them is getting Sri Lankan flight bookings and it would be very convenient if some arrangement could be made to solve this problem.

An Oscar award winner Sin Yaw Mg Mg was among the delegation to film a documentary on Buddhism in Sri Lanka and India.
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The Irrawaddy - EDITORIAL: A Human Rights Whitewash?
Friday, September 9, 2011

In its latest effort to bolster its reformist credentials, Burma's new “civilian” government announced earlier this week that it had created a human rights commission charged with promoting and safeguarding the fundamental rights of citizens in accordance with the 2008 Constitution.

Controversially, the new 15-member body, called the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC), will be headed by retired ambassadors Win Mra and Kyaw Tint Swe, who in the past have denied well-documented rights abuses by the former military junta at international fora.

Even worse, say critics of the government, the move comes as Burma's new rulers refuse to acknowledge the more than 2,000 political prisoners still languishing in the country's gulag, much less release them as demanded by the democratic opposition and international community.

It is also doubtful that the MNHRC will tackle another major issue that has long earned Burma a reputation as one of the world's worst abusers of human rights: crimes committed by its military against ethnic civilians as part of its anti-insurgent offensives.

With the recent resurgence of conflict in Shan, Kachin and Karen states, rights violations appear to be increasing, not decreasing, under the government of President Thein Sein.

Evidence smuggled out of the country by clandestine local human rights groups show a disturbing pattern of rape, forced labor and other crimes committed by Burmese military personnel acting with complete impunity.

It can only be hoped, then, that the MNHRC will not merely serve as a means of whitewashing Burma's appalling rights record. Above all, the international community must not be taken in by the government's thus far cosmetic efforts to clean up its act.

Thankfully, Burmese opposition groups and exiles are not the only ones who remain skeptical about recent “reforms” under the new administration. In a statement released by the UN office in Rangoon on Aug 5, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he welcomed the army-backed government's pledges of reform, but added that the detention of political prisoners undermines confidence in the regime.

Ban, who said the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi last year gave the country a chance to “embark on the path of progress,” urged “timely implementation” of proposed reforms, but stressed that the country continued to suffer from “serious, deep-seated and long-standing” human rights, political and economic problems.

If the MNHRC is to be anything more than a laughingstock, its leaders will have to come to terms with the facts and admit that after nearly fifty years of military rule, the state is the chief (albeit not sole) perpetrator of assaults on the human rights of Burmese citizens.

Until the members of the supposedly independent body can find the courage to confront the truth, it is essential that Western and regional governments continue to demand accountability from Naypyidaw. And the best way to do this is by supporting the opposition’s calls for a UN Commission of Inquiry into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.
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The Irrawaddy - The Rise of Burma's Most Undiplomatic Diplomat
By BA KAUNG Friday, September 9, 2011

It would be difficult to find a stauncher defender of Burma's human rights record and more ardent promoter of the country's new, nominally civilian administration than Ye Myint Aung, the middle-aged former army officer who has made quite a name for himself in international diplomatic circles in recent years.

As Burma's sitting ambassador in Geneva—a high-profile position he has held since the government of of President Thein Sein was formed in March—Ye Myint Aung has had ample opportunity to make the case for his bosses in Naypyidaw. Priding himself on his ability to set the record straight, he takes to his task of correcting Western misperceptions of Burma with evident zeal.

In a speech delivered to the Geneva-based International Labor Organization (ILO) in June, for instance, he told his audience he regretted that “even the civilized countries are using the incorrect name” to refer to the country he represents—called Myanmar by its rulers, but Burma by many in the West.

In the same speech (available on the Geneva embassy's website, which has become something of a repository for his views), he also reiterated his government's long-held position that there are no political prisoners in Burma, nor any “so-called labor activists” in the country's jails. “I would like to highlight that action was taken against only those for their violation of existing law,” he said, echoing the official line.

And, in a closing remark, he also rejected criticism of the slow pace of political change in Burma. “The government has been trying its best but everything can't be done immediately like an instant noodle,” he said, displaying his knack for using striking images to make a point.

In February 2009, Ye Myint Aung's unique way with words even made international headlines. In a letter posted on the website of the Burmese consulate in Hong Kong, where he was serving as consul general, he described the Rohingya, a Muslim minority living mainly in Arakan State, as “ugly as ogres,” with “dark brown” skin. By way of contrast, he offered himself as an example of a typical Burmese: “handsome,” with a “fair and soft” complexion.

These comments may not have endeared him to his diplomatic colleagues from majority-Muslim Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Brunei, who reportedly kept their distance from him after this episode, but they evidently did not hurt his career as a senior diplomat.

Perhaps sensing that his forthright manner had met with approval in high places, later the same year he waded into another controversy. While pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was embroiled in trumped-up charges of violating her terms of house arrest by allowing the American citizen John Yettaw, who swam to her house uninvited, to remain there overnight rather than force him to risk arrest, Ye Myint Aung referred to the Missouri man as “Suu Kyi's boyfriend.”

According to a Burmese diplomatic source, Ye Myint Aung's snide innuendo was a deliberate attempt to curry favor with the Burmese junta's top leadership.

“When Daw Suu was on trial at Insein Prison over the Yettaw case, [Ye Myint Aung] held a brief meeting with his subordinates at the embassy and asked them what they thought about describing Yettaw as Suu Kyi's boyfriend,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. “No one dared to go against his view, so they all just nodded their heads in support of his idea.”

Not all Burmese diplomats are as gung-ho about pleasing their masters, however. According to a US diplomatic cable from Rangoon leaked by Wikileaks last Friday, most diplomats and civil servants in Burma are “no fan of their leaders.”

After a meeting with officials from the Burmese Foreign Ministry in Napyidaw in November 2008, Larry Dinger, the US diplomatic chief in Rangoon, noted in a cable that the Burmese senior career diplomats, many with prior service in the United States and with their children studying there, “were welcoming, avoided polemics, and appeared genuinely interested in greater contact with the embassy.”

The cable also mentioned the insecurity of Burmese officials, who fear being spied upon by the government.

One Burmese Foreign Ministry official, Yin Yin Oo, then the ministry's North American Division director, indicated to Dinger that she was in no position to dine alone with US officials even if she wanted to.

The US diplomat described Yin Yin Oo's staff as her “chaperons,” ending the cable with a note that Burmese civil servants will not be the ones to bring about change in Burma, but will have an important role to play in helping to run the government after any transition.

But even this scenario is difficult to imagine, since key civil departments of the Burmese government have been filled with former army officials like Ye Myint Aung over the past two decades.

Leaked cables from the US embassy in Rangoon said the Burmese government had shown a desire to engage with the United States, particularly after President Obama's administration came into office, but concluded that this desire was “ symbolic rather than substantive.”

The cable concluded: “The generals chafe at being seen as international pariahs. They want respect. Whether, in the words of President Obama, they are willing to unclench their fists in order to deserve a measure of respect is yet to be seen.”
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Wikileaks: US scoffed at ‘Myanmar Times’ pleas after SPDC purge
Friday, 09 September 2011 18:55 Thomas Maung Shwe

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – US diplomats in Rangoon in 2004 scoffed at a bid by The Myanmar Time’s Australian co-owner Ross Dunkley to prevent the shutdown of his paper in the wake of Khin Nyunt’s purge from the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

According to a 2004 US diplomatic cable recently released by the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, a December 4, 2004, letter written by co-owner and editor Dunkley was circulated to numerous embassies in Rangoon asking for statements of support should his weekly newspaper "be closed down for any reason."

The general tone of the cable indicated that the American diplomats were somewhat enthused by Dunkley’s predicament. The cable noted: “We would not view any U.S. interests at stake should The Myanmar Times and its editor, a regular apologist for the SPDC, go down in flames.”

The cable said that Dunkley, “Like many others who enjoyed the protection of the Khin Nyunt empire, his company is paying the price for having relied exclusively on connections to the ousted Prime Minister.”

The cable noted that Dunkley’s plea to the Rangoon diplomatic community was sent a few days after the arrest of The Myanmar Times then co-owner Sonny Swe (full name U Myat Swe). As the cable noted, “Sonny Swe is the son of Brigadier General Thein Swe, formerly a senior military intelligence (MI) official under ousted Prime Minister Khin Nyunt. BG Thein Swe himself was a victim of the post-Khin Nyunt purge of MI and is reportedly detained at Insein Prison.”

The cable stated that in his letter “Dunkley claims that Sonny Swe is accused of ‘using his father's influence to bypass the censorship process’ by seeking GOB approval for each edition of The Myanmar Times through MI, rather than through ‘normal channels’ at the Ministry of Home Affairs and its Press Scrutiny Board.”

The cable also said that in his letter Dunkley declared that The Myanmar Times has "never once in five years embarrassed the government or Myanmar [Burma]." According to the cable, Dunkley added, "In line with the policies of the government we have always wholly encouraged the development of the road map" and "we are...a very visible example of a successful Myanmar-foreign cooperation."

Dunkley finished his plea to the diplomats with the following: “I hope your government would defend The Myanmar Times … and see it as an integral part of the progression of the SPDC on its road map and transition to democracy.”

Dunkley’s response to cable

Reached for comment, Dunkley told Mizzima by e-mail that the cable’s author the then chief of the US mission in Rangoon, Carmen Martinez, was ill suited for the task.

Dunkley wrote: “Ms. Martinez may have been an experienced diplomat in places like Bogota or Buenos Aires, but she was sadly way too tall to hear the low, hushed tones of the chatter in Myanmar, way down at ground level.

“Her praying mantis demeanour also frightened the polite, reserved Myanmar and she rarely made her mark felt. I sensed they were rather taken aback by her stilettos and stockings, viewing them as more suitable to smoky dance bars in Mexico,” Dunkley said.

“Consequently, her ability to project a more sophisticated personality to the well-educated Burmese meant she missed out on all sorts of political goodies,” he added. “To my mind she was a markedly different creature to that of Priscilla Clapp who butterflied around the golf courses with the generals and was quite nicely 'engaged' in the political process. Pity the Americans didn't send more of her type around the world.”

Cable refutes the qualities of 'The Myanmar Times’

The cable went on to refute some of the self-described qualities of The Myanmar Times and the paper’s colourful Australian editor, Dunkley. The cable stated: “Dunkley has claimed at various international venues, most notably in Bangkok and Washington, that his newspaper is fully independent and that he uses the publication to ‘push the envelope’ and press for free speech and other political changes in Burma. The Myanmar Times does, on rare occasion, publish limited news about events generally considered off limits by state media (e.g. natural disasters inside Burma, international meetings that discuss Burma developments, etc.). However, as Dunkley freely admits, his publications are subject to government censorship and ‘sensitive’ articles routinely hit the cutting floor. The Myanmar Times never criticizes the military regime and each week prints a robust assortment of articles that praise GOB [Government of Burma] officials and the achievements of the SPDC.”

In the seven years since Khin Nyunt and Sonny Shwe’s arrest, The Myanmar Times has continued to publish weekly English and Burmese editions while maintaining a pro-regime line. Dunkley has managed to stay on as editor despite a recent power struggle with his new Burmese co-owners, a battle which was widely believed to have led to Dunkley’s arrest in February of this year on what many observers concluded were trumped up charges.

Dunkley’s recent trial in a Rangoon court on immigration, kidnapping, drug and rape charges involving an incident with a Rangoon sex worker in January was foreshadowed in the 2004 diplomatic cable which predicted that Dunkley’s continued presence in Burma could be problematic and “the Australian Embassy may have a sticky citizen case on its hands.”

The government’s case against Dunkley appeared to collapse after the women involved withdrew her testimony shortly after the trial began. The Burmese prosecutors however continued to pursue a conviction and in the end of June Dunkley was found guilty of the lesser charge of causing “minor harm” to the women and also found to have violated a minor immigration charge and sentenced to 30 days in jail, 17 less than what he had already spent prior to getting bail.

Dunkley has said that he would appeal the conviction, and he appears determined to try and stay on at The Myanmar Times. In an interview with Australia’s ABC following the verdict, Dunkley, when asked why he was appealing, responded: “Well because the importance of justice is a concept that is natural to all of us. And when you didn't commit a crime and you're found guilty of it and there's no evidence to support that – no witnesses, nothing whatsoever to be convicted – then you ought to appeal it.”

At present, a 49-percent stake in The Myanmar Times’s publisher Myanmar Consolidated Media Group Ltd. is held by Dunkley and the family of Bill Clough, an Australian mining tycoon who has offshore gas interests in Burma through his control of Twinza Oil. The remaining 51 percent is held by Dr. Tin Tun Oo, a leading figure in Burma’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party from Pazundaung Township. Dunkley and Clough also own a controlling interest in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Post.

‘The Myanmar Times’ started with funds from controversial Japanese foundation

While Dunkley has frequently claimed his newspaper is independent and financially stable and publicly mocked The Irrawaddy magazine for receiving support from the US government, The Myanmar Times was started with support from Japan’s controversial Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF). The foundation is named after Ryoichi Sasakawa, accused but acquitted of being a Class A war criminal by American authorities, for the role he played during Japan’s fascist dictatorship.

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation and its sister organization the Nippon Foundation are run by Sasakawa’s son Yohei, who Dunkley calls “a supporter and mentor.”

In January, Dunkley was quoted in a glowing profile on Yohei Sasakawa published in the Phnom Penh Post, saying: “I cannot over-emphasise the enormously important role SPF played in the early days of our Myanmar operations providing much-needed training support when we had no cash to do so, and also allowing me to travel and meet important personalities who influenced and helped focus my energy.”

In an op-ed written in March on the DVB website former Myanmar Times journalist Clive Parker said, “Using funding and donations from Japan’s Sasakawa Peace Foundation, The Myanmar Times has trained dozens of Burmese journalists to an international standard.”

Parker’s article titled “A Myanmar Times’ closure would be bad news,” like Dunkley’s letter to diplomats seven years before, was another plea for solidarity with Burma’s only news organization that has some form of foreign ownership.

Parker citing the paper’s collaboration with the Sasakawa Peace Foundation is an interesting choice to include in a list of reasons that the Myanmar Times should stay open. In 1931, Sasakawa created the openly fascist Nationalist Masses Party and was subsequently elected to Japan’s war-time parliament. As a businessman with close ties to the Japanese army, he profited immensely from investments made in Japanese-occupied Manchuria.

At the end of World War II, Sasakawa was arrested by American occupation authorities along with dozens of other senior figures from Japan’s fascist era. American investigators described Sasakawa as “one of the worst offenders outside the military in developing in Japan a policy of totalitarianism and aggression. He has been squarely behind Japanese military policies of aggression and anti-foreignerism for more than 20 years.”

After three years imprisonment, Sasakawa and most of those classed as Class A war criminals including his friend and future Japanese Prime Minister Kishi were released without trial. Documents subsequently released decades later reveal that US authorities were afraid that Japan was shifting too far to the left and the Truman administration figured that many industrialists and ex-armed forces personal previously declared as war criminals would be useful allies in the war against communism.

Following his release, Sasakawa used his old contacts to establish himself sole proprietor of legalized betting on speed boat racing. His gambling monopoly which began in 1951 lasted for more than four decades and enabled Sasakawa to become one of the wealthiest people in post-war Japan.

Sasakawa never left his ultra-nationalist roots behind. He was quoted in a 1974 Time Magazine profile describing himself as the "world's wealthiest fascist." The same article quoted him as boasting that he bedded more than 500 women beginning with "a distant relative of Emperor Taisho to almost all the top geisha."

After his death in 1995, Japan’s largest newspaper, the normally very reserved Yomiuri Shimbun, declared Sasakawa a “monster of modern times.”
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MPs to read papers in Parliament to mark Democracy Day
Friday, 09 September 2011 22:41 Myo Thant

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A joint session of the Burmese Parliament will be held on September 15 to allow MPs to read papers to mark the International Day of Democracy on that day, according to MPs.

To commemorate the first-ever government event in Burma to mark the International Day of Democracy, the parliamentary office asked MPs to submit two pages of remarks on democracy.

MP Khaing Maung Yi of the National Democratic Force (NDF) welcomed the new government’s action, but he said the government should go farther and really create a democratic system in the country.

“The first action to mark the day in Burma is a sign that the democratic principles will be applied,” Khaing Maung Yi told Mizzima. “If the government does the activity in a constructive way, I’ll welcome it. But, I don’t want the government to cheat the people just by preaching democracy.”

The U.N. general assembly in 2007 declared September 15 as the annual date to observe an International Day of Democracy in order to raise awareness about democracy among its members. Burma became a member of the U.N. in 1948.

However, Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Committee Representing People’s Parliament that comprises MPs elected in the never-honoured1990 election, said, “Just marking a day as the day of democracy and just stating in newspapers that the government is implementing a democratic system does not make a genuine democracy. In fact, the government needs to apply a democratic system and human rights. The government has a responsibility in order that the country has fundamental rights.”

Win Htein, the office chief of the National League for Democracy, said that due to the former successive juntas, he doubted that the government would support democracy.

“Since 1988, the [former] junta tortured the people in various ways. It suppressed the opposition groups and approved the constitution by force. Then [the current government] said it would establish a genuine democracy. I doubt it,” Win Htein said.
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Former No. 2 Burmese leader said nearly 300,000 killed in Cyclone Nargis
Friday, 09 September 2011 22:15 Ko Wild

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Cyclone Nargis killed about 300,000 people, but the former military junta's second most powerful leader insisted that the number would be released to the public "over his dead body," sources told a U.S. embassy diplomat, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable sent to the State Department.

One month after Nargis, which hit on May 2, 2008, the now disbanded State Peace and Development Council's Vice Senior General Maung Aye on June 7 told the Burmese business tycoon Tay Za the cyclone’s estimated death toll, according to a diplomatic cable dated June 11, 2008, that was sent from the embassy in Rangoon to the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington D.C.

"The government calculated that approximately 300,000 people had perished in the cyclone, but that this number would be released to the public ‘over his dead body,’ the cable quoted the businessman as saying.

According to leaked diplomatic cables posted on the Wikileaks website, the regime’s leaders could not estimate exactly the scale of the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis until a few days after the storm.

Some government ministers told Rangoon-based diplomats at a meeting that the death toll had reached 10,000 with 3,000 missing on May 5, 2008, or three days after Nargis hit Burma, according to the leaked US cable.

The government’s official number released before the end of June was 84,537 people dead, 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured in the cyclone. After those numbers, the government did not release additional casualty figures.

The United Nations estimated the death toll at 140,000 and said an estimated 2.4 million people were seriously affected by the storm.

The Rangoon-based US embassy said it obtained information from a source who was close to a relative of Tay Za that Vice Senior General Maung Aye was responsible for the order to impose cumbersome travel requirements and access procedures on humanitarian workers seeking to aid the survivors of the storm.

Horrific images of the cyclone damage, death and plight of the survivors were circulated on the Internet, in the international media and on VCDs throughout Burma, which embarrassed the generals. As a result, the source said that Maung Aye ordered access to the Delta for international staff to be tightened, the leaked US cable said.

The government then announced more cumbersome travel and access procedures than had been discussed and agreed upon at the TCG meetings, the cable said, and UN and Asean officials viewed the new procedures as "unacceptable."

The embassy source said that he believed factions were beginning to form among the senior generals based on those with a more flexible approach toward international assistance, such as third-ranking General Thura Shwe Mann, Prime Minister Thein Sein and Minister of Agriculture Htay Oo and a hardline faction led by Maung Aye and Secretary-1 Tin Aung Myint Oo, who were bent on closely controlling the activities of foreigners in Burma.

Another significant development after Nargis struck was the replacement of Maung Aye with Tin Aung Myint Oo as head of the powerful Trade Council by junta leader Than Shwe, to create conflict between the two hardliners and assure they did not align against him, the cable said. This was how Than Shwe cultivated loyalty and achieved a balance of power in his inner circle, the source told embassy diplomats.

The source also said that if Than Shwe were not in good enough health to be president in 2010, he would give the job to Thura Shwe Mann, who was not only his preferred choice, but also the choice of the senior-general’s powerful wife, Kyaing Kyaing.

The source said that Than Shwe planned to appoint Tin Aung Myint Oo as head of the military to counter-balance Thura Shwe Mann's power, and would appoint Agriculture Minister Htay Oo as one vice president, and the leader of the Union Pa-O National Organization, Aung Kham Htee, as the second vice president in order to appease ethnic cease-fire groups.

However, after the general election, Thein Sein was appointed president and Thura Shwe Mahn received the Lower House speaker post. Subsequently, the SPDC was officially dissolved at the end of March 2011, and both Than Shwe and Maung Aye retired.

The U.S. diplomat said that the unprecedented devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis succeeded in doing what no other situation had done before: uniting the West and Burma's Asian neighbours to bring unprecedented pressure on the regime to open up and allow international humanitarian workers unfettered access.
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