News & Articles on Burma

Saturday, 22 October 2011
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China transports Burmese troops inside its border to fight KIA
Created on Saturday, 22 October 2011 08:21
Published on Saturday, 22 October 2011 08:21
Written by KNG
The Chinese army secretly transported dozens of Burmese troops inside its border on Friday morning to fight against the Kachin Independence Army, which is resisting an offensive by Burmese troops, said witnesses.

According to eyewitnesses, about 30 Chinese military trucks secretly transported Burmese troops from the Chinese border- trade city of Ruili (Shweli) to Jang Hkawng, another border town close to Loije on the Burmese side.

Only two or three trucks in the military convoy were carrying Chinese troops and the rest carried Burmese troops, added witnesses.

The aim is to recapture two posts which recently fell to the KIA at Jan Mai and Maw Shwi, near Loije, border-based military observers said.

At the same time, over 2,000 Chinese troops have arrived on the Burma border, where KIA strongholds have been positioned since early this month, said people on the border.

Chinese soldiers take military exercises in Jang Hkawng every afternoon from 4 pm to 6 pm, said eyewitnesses. http://www.kachinnews.com/news/2114-china-transports-burmese-troops-inside-its-border-to-fight-kia.html
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Burma: soldiers shoot at worshippers during Mass, burn churches
RSS Facebook October 21, 2011

Military forces in Myanmar (Burma) disrupted Mass in Namsan-yang, a village of Kachin State on October 16, shooting at worshippers, beating one, and detaining five for forced labor. After releasing Father Sara Doi Awng, the soldiers burned the parish and a Baptist church.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the Burmese army has been engaged in a campaign of “rape, forced labor, and killing civilians on a widespread and systematic basis” in Kachin, the nation’s northernmost state. Since 1962, the nation has been ruled by authoritarian military regimes, which expelled missionaries and nationalized Catholic schools and hospitals in the 1960s and abolished constitutional religious freedom protections in the late 1980s. Myanmar has gained a reputation for brutality: in 2005, the United Nation’s International Labor Organization estimated that 800,000 citizens are subjected to forced labor.

According to the US State Department, this atmosphere of repression is particularly unfavorable to non-Buddhists, for “the Ministry of Religious Affairs includes the powerful Department for the Promotion and Propagation of Sasana (Buddhist teaching).” Buddhist prayer and doctrine are part of the curriculum of all state-run elementary schools. The government pressures students to convert to Buddhism and rarely permits non-Buddhists to rise in the civil service. Monitoring church services and controlling the publication of all religious literature, it forbids the translation of the Bible into indigenous languages and at times has censored the Old Testament, citing its violent language. The construction and even the routine maintenance of churches often depend upon the whim of local administrators.

Only 1.2% of Myanmar’s 53.4 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; in all, 89% are Buddhist, 4% are Christian, and 4% are Muslim. http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12130
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Saturday, 22 October 2011
Press statement on Harn Yawnghwe’s visit to Burma

The Board of Directors of DVB is satisfied with the intentions of Acting Excecutive Director Harn Yawnghwe in his current visit to Burma. It is a private visit that was arranged before he was appointed as Acting Excecutive Director of the DVB.

The Board is satisfied that his visit will not adversely affect DVB‘s operations or the security of our personnel in Burma. Harn Yawnghwe does not personally know any of the DVB reporters in Burma.

Harn Yawnghwe has not been authorised to enter into negotiations with the Burmese government on behalf of the DVB. DVB policy decisions will, as before, have to be approved by the Board, and the DVB editorial policy is decided by the Chief Editor and Deputy Chief Editor in the DVB head office in Oslo.
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Burma: Kachin churches attacked, women raped and civilians killed
by military while regime talks of reform
Sat, 2011-10-22 00:21 — editor
London, 22 October, (Asiantribune.com):

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is deeply concerned by reports that the Burma Army are directly attacking churches in Kachin State, beating pastors and church members, setting homes alight and raping, torturing and killing civilians.

According to CSW’s sources, on 16 October soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 438 seized control of a Roman Catholic Church in Namsan Yang village, Waimaw Township, where 23 worshippers, mostly women and elderly people, had gathered for the 8am Sunday service. The worshippers took refuge from the gunfire behind the Maria prayer sanctuary. When the troops saw them, they shot several rounds of bullets into the sanctuary. The Catholic assistant to the priest, 49 year-old father-of-four Jangma Awng Li, decided to speak to the troops as he is fluent in Burmese. He was beaten in his head with a rifle butt, and injured his forehead when he hit a concrete wall. He and four other men were handcuffed and detained by the soldiers.

The troops, who were later joined by soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 121, continued to march through the village shooting, and reached the Baptist church compound in the evening. During the march the detainees, including four from other villages who had been with the troops for two weeks, were used as forced labor. The detainees had to stay with the troops overnight and were temporarily stationed in the Baptist church compound. The whole northern part of village was burned and both church properties were destroyed.

Two days ago, Light Infantry Battalion 121 shot 72 yea r-old Maru Je Hkam N0aw in the arms and legs whilst he was erecting a fence around his house in Namsan Yang village. Houses in Namsan Yang were burned by the Burmese Army and Mr Jangma Awng Li and other detainees, too afraid to return home, fled the village. At least 21 villagers were detained and used for forced labour, and a 19 year-old Rakhine boy was shot dead. His body was burned and thrown into the mine in Namsan Yang where he worked.

On 18 October, a 19 year-old girl, Maran Kawbu, was detained, tortured and gang-raped by soldiers from the same battalion in Namsan Yang. Her body was left on the river bank.

In Momauk, approximately 500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have fled the conflict and are seeking temporary accommodation in the church. On 19 October, one man, a Shan farmer named Mr Tintun, was shot dead by soldiers from Light Infantry Brigade 601, while fishing.

CSW’s East Asia Team Leader Benedict Rogers said, “These brutal attacks on religious communities and peaceful civilians stand in stark contrast to the regime’s recent rhetoric about reform and peace building. CSW has received numerous reports of rape, torture and killing of civilians in Kachin State by the Burma Army this year. According to international humanitarian law, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, intentionally directing attacks on religious buildings constitutes a war crime and a violation of international law. Rape, forced labour and killing civilians on a widespread and systematic basis constitute crimes against humanity. We urge President Thein Sein to call a halt to the military’s attacks on civilians throughout Burma, stop the widespread and systematic violations of human rights, declare a nationwide ceasefire, and enter into a meaningful di alogue process with all the ethnic nationalities and the democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, in pursuit of genuine national reconciliation.

We urge the international community to mobilise the mechanisms of the United Nations, through the General Assembly, to hold the regime in Burma accountable for these violations of international law, and end these war crimes and crimes against humanity which the regime is perpetrating with impunity.”

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/10/21/burma-kachin-churches-attacked-women-raped-and-civilians-killed-military-while-regim
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UN calls on Myanmar to release political prisoners by end of year

UNITED NATIONS : Following Myanmar's release of 200 political prisoners earlier this month, the United Nations (UN) said the country's new government must follow up on the decision and free all remaining such detainees by the end of the year.

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana said Myanmar is currently in a key moment in its history, as "there are real opportunities for positive and meaningful development to improve the human rights situation and deepen the transition to democracy."

After more than two decades of military rule, Myanmar recently elected a new President earlier this year through its newly-convened Parliament. Quintana is now pushing the Government to release all remaining political prisoners before the end of the year, a day after briefing the UN General Assembly's third committee on his latest report on the South-East Asian country.

"Those prominent leaders, those who had important roles in the history of Myanmar, they still remain in prison," Quintana said. "The Government must move forward on this point ... [the prisoners] deserve now to play a role in this again important moment."

In addition, the UN Special Rapporteur said the Government should not use the prisoners as hostages to have the compliance of the international community. "These people deserve to enjoy their freedom and they have been incarcerated for exercising political freedoms in Myanmar."

During his latest visit to Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, Quintana was able to meet with some prisoners in private conditions with no officials present, including those detained for political and ethnic reasons.

According to Quintana, despite pledges by the new Government to fulfill its international human rights obligations, he was still receiving allegations of abuses, particular from border areas where the military is fighting ethnic insurgencies and he hoped to have a dialogue with the Government on this issue on his next visit.

Many serious human rights, social, political, economic and cultural issues still remain to be addressed, Quintana added. "Investigations into human rights violation allegations need to be done in a credible and independent manner," he said, stressing that he had delivered this message to the authorities during his recent visit. http://www.newkerala.com/news/2011/worldnews-92266.html
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Dozens missing in Myanmar flash flood

A flash flood in central Myanmar yesterday left dozens of people missing as homes along a river bank were swept away, government officials in the military-dominated country said.

“About 60 people are missing so far because of the flood” in Pakokku township, an official who did not want to be named said.

“Some houses and a monastery along the river bank were swept away and a bridge was destroyed as the water rose up,” he said.

There were no confirmed reports of deaths, a second official said.

A monk in Pakokku said the water was believed to have risen to about three metres high.
“Some people, animals, houses and a monastery were swept away when the water rose up. The water level is back to normal now,” he said. “We had torrential rain in previous days.”

State media reported roads, bridges and buildings were damaged because of strong winds and heavy rains in some parts of the country.

Southeast Asia has been battered by particularly severe monsoon rains this year.

According to the United Nations, more than 700 people have been killed across Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines, and 8mn have been affected.

Thailand has been particularly severely hit, with more than 300 people dead and Bangkok on alert for flooding. AFP http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=465428&version=1&template_id=45&parent_id=25
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The Improbably Bright Future of Myanmar
By JAMES FALLOWS
Published: October 21, 2011

As economies and societies all around them have flourished, two countries have been strikingly left out of the East Asian boom of the past generation: North Korea and Myanmar. The strategic importance, internal miseries and governing oddities of North Korea are obvious and frequently in the news. Myanmar, by contrast, is rarely mentioned. When it does appear, it is usually as the object of some new calamity — like the 2008 cyclone that killed over 100,000 people, many of them perishing after Myanmar’s benighted military rulers refused outside aid — or as the setting for dramas involving Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner whose party triumphed in the 1990 national elections but who has spent most of the years since then under house arrest.

The central premise of Thant Myint-U’s new book, “Where China Meets India,” is that Myanmar both deserves and is destined to play a much more crucial role in world economic, political and even military events. (A note on names: the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or Slorc, which replaced the military regime of General Ne Win in the late 1980s and which still maintains control under a different title, changed the English version of the country’s name to Myanmar. Some newspapers, including this one, use that name while many Western governments, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have stuck with Burma, as Thant does in his book.) What’s not yet clear, the author argues, are the likely consequences of Myanmar’s impending reintegration into the world — for its own people, for the nearby powers of India and China, and for other nations, notably the United States. “Where China Meets India” is not mainly a political book, but it ends with a sharp argument that American policy toward Myanmar is flawed in a way that is about to become more costly for all parties involved, except the Chinese.

Thant, who was born in New York of Burmese parents, is a former United Nations official and the author of a previous well-received book, “The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma.” He is also a grandson of U Thant, the secretary general of the United Nations in the 1960s. He tries hard here to emphasize the centrality of Myanmar’s geographic, cultural and historic positioning between India and China, both of which have interacted with Burmese tribes and rulers over the years.

Now and for the immediate future, that influence comes overwhelmingly from China — because of its high-speed growth, because of its trade across its rugged land border with Myanmar, because of its demand for that country’s raw materials and for commodities that can come in by sea to Myanmar’s ports. China has roughly America’s geographic scale and layout, with a dry and mountainous interior. “What China is lacking is its California,” Thant points out, “another coast that would provide its remote interior provinces with an outlet to the sea.” He quotes Chinese strategists who see Myanmar not exactly as a new California but “as the bridge to the Bay of Bengal and the waters beyond.”

Thant’s book is an engaging combination of history, contemporary travelogue and personal and family recollections, along with a certain amount of policy analysis. Western readers are likely to be especially drawn to its rich, loving, but tragic portrayal of Myanmar. As he did in his previous book, Thant explains its colonial legacies, its repressive and erratic government, its deep ethnic divisions, drug trade and civil wars, as well as the look and feel of its cities and landscape.

What may come as news to many Western readers (and would be unacceptable to many in China) is Thant’s exhaustive account of how very separate were the kingdoms, tribal areas and small independent states that are now amalgamated into the modern nations of the region. “For much of its early history,” he notes, “Burma’s neighbor to the northeast was not China, but the independent kingdom of Yunnan” — now a Chinese province — “with Dali as its capital.” Thant’s description of the historic variety of China’s component parts is convincing and fair-minded. Yet this is a loaded, even dangerous, theme within China, because of the government’s hypersensitivity about what it calls “splittism” in any form — the concept that China’s extent might ever have differed from its current borders, including those in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Thant also ably portrays the mixture of opportunism and wariness with which the people of Myanmar and their neighbors view the coming of new Chinese factories, plantations, mines and dams. “Burma is naturally very rich in the very commodities that will be most valued in the 21st century, . . . and China will likely bankroll any efforts to exploit these resources,” Thant writes. “What’s unclear is whether the majority of Burmese people will benefit at all.”

My main concern about his book involves its on-scene Chinese coverage. Thant appears to have spent less time there than in the other venues, and his descriptions often sound touristy, padded or just plain wrong. I don’t know who told him that Beijing’s name means “Northern Peace,” but it doesn’t — it’s “Northern Capital,” in contrast to the “Southern Capital” of Nanjing. He has a famous neighborhood in Beijing placed in the wrong part of town, and he says, remarking on the enormous “photograph” (actually a painted portrait) of Mao Zedong that dominates Tiananmen Square, that it was “the only place I saw a photograph of him anywhere in China.” That is hard to imagine. While living in China, I came across images of Mao many times a day, not even counting his presence on every unit of Chinese currency from the 1-renminbi bill to the largest, 100 renminbi. Some of Thant’s China-travelogue sections also have a notebook-emptying feel: “A bellhop in a red uniform showed me upstairs. . . . After the bellhop left I studied the hotel brochure and saw that in addition to the basic singles and doubles (I had taken a single, called a ‘Deluxe’) there were various classes of suites.”

But most of “Where China Meets India” is engaging and strong, particularly when it reformulates an argument Thant has made over the years — that America’s exclusions and trade sanctions have outgrown their usefulness. The American boycott of Cuba has the same obsolete quality. The difference is that Myanmar has an alternative financier immediately at hand.

In one possible outcome for the country’s future, Thant says, “Western sanctions stay in place, and they reduce the influence of Western democracies to near zero.” He quotes a Chinese businessman who puts this prospect more pithily: “I hope Western sanctions will remain forever.” Thant argues that the ripple effects of a Myanmar that had become a full but resentful Chinese satellite would alarm India and disrupt the region. The better option, he says, would be selective engagement by the West (which, if recent headlines are to be believed, may already be in progress), much like America’s with China over the past 30 years — a tactic that has not ended disagreements but has made relations easier. Even if you aren’t persuaded, it’s a case worth hearing and a trip, in Thant’s company, worth taking.
James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. His new book about China’s high-tech ambitions will be published next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/books/review/where-china-meets-india-by-thant-myint-u-book-review.html?src=me&ref=books