BURMA RELATED NEWS AUGUST 14, 2012.

Asia News Network - Myanmar journalists slam gov't-appointed Press Council
News Desk
Eleven Media Group
Publication Date : 14-08-2012

The government’s formation of the Myanmar Core Press Council (MCPC), which was announced on Friday, provoked criticism from journalists who claimed its formation without approval from local media can lead to complications and cannot safeguard freedom of press.

The government has announced a 20-member core press council which has been formed to protect media persons, compile journalism ethics and settle press disputes.

The council will be chaired by retired Supreme Court judge U Khin Maung Aye, and retired principal of the United Nations System Staff College Dr Aung Tun Thet and retired Myanmar Language Professor Dr Khin Aye will serve as vice chairmen.

‘’The formation of the core press council can be considered to replace Myanmar notorious censorship board, and I don’t think the council will guarantee freedom of press which have been fought by the Myanmar media for ages,’’ a veteran journalist said.

The Eleven Media Group and other journalists’ associations have issued statements that they do not believe the council can promote journalism ethics, protect journalists and safeguard freedom of press.

“The formation of the council without common consent of media can lead to complications, and restriction on the media will make a U-turn of democratisation process in the country. And enjoying immunity from criminal or civil prosecution against members of MCPC Council would be tantamount to putting them above the law,” the Eleven Media Group said in its statement.

“Some members of the council have records of breaching journalism ethics. So how could they work for journalism ethics? And some are publishers so there will be conflicts of interest in the future,” an editor of a weekly journal who asked not to be named said.

The formation of the core press council came a week after a protest by journalists to demand more press freedom. Myanmar journalists staged a protest after the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department suspended the publication of two private news journals, the Voice and Envoy, for having violated regulations. The two journals are expected to resume publication by next week.

“There are many problems as the government has callously formed the Myanmar Core Press Council and the draft press media law without revealing them to the journalists. For example, in some countries, a judge is appointed to be a chairperson of a press council. That country has a good judicial system, and the judges are respected and influential people. Here, the judicial system has been corrupted for about 40 years, and most of the judges are not in this position. It goes wrong as they've imitated this. There will also be problems if the press media law is (being drafted) with force. The press council should not stand with authority and order. It should stand firmly and powerfully with strong policies and the ethics and dignity of the members. Even though we cannot participate, we will not hesitate to support it if it is formed with respected people who can guarantee freedom of press. The reason why there is a conflict between the government and the news media is because of a particular government official who is drafting the press media law and wants to make a U-turn (of democratisation process),” Dr. Than Htut Aung, CEO of Eleven Media Group said.

“The government's announced that they have formed the press council. It was formed without electing so how can the group have freedom? How can it be a group that protects us – the newsmen and media persons? We need to think about this. They do not represent the press. They are not going to work for the benefit of the press and seems as they want to control the press. Moreover, there are people in the group who are not related to the press business. I think it shouldn’t happen like this. It will be a joke to write the press ethics by them,” Veteran journalist U Ko Ko Gyi (Kyaemone) said.

The council will discharge duties until it is handed over to the Myanmar Press Council to be formed in line with the Press Media Law after it has been approved by the parliament.

The draft press media law is currently being compiled by the Ministry of Information.
****************************************************
The Nation - Myanmar Airways plans Mandalay-Bangkok flights in October
Deutsche Presse Agentur August 14, 2012 2:02 pm

Yangon - Myanmar Airways International plans to launchflights from Mandalay to Bangkok, and Gaya, India, in October, reports said Sunday.

The Mandalay-Bangkok route will include a stopover in Yangon,the national carrier’s commercial executive Aye Mra Tha told the Myanmar Times.

Thai AirAsia, a low-cost carrier, also plans an October launch fordirect flights between Bangkok and Mandalay, the main commercial hubfor upper Myanmar and a leading tourist destination.

"We will also start direct flights to Gaya, India, from Mandalayin October," Aye Mra Tha said. Gaya is the closest airport toBodhagaya, the place where the Buddha obtained enlightenment and apopular destination for Buddhist pilgrims.

"We have four aircraft now and two more aircraft will be addedbefore the end of August. After that it will be possible to startthese two routes from October," she said.

Myanmar has become a hot destination for tourists since the 2010general election, the first in two decades. The new government hasintroduced politcal and economic reforms that have helped it to shedits pariah status among Western democracies.

But the country faces a chronic shortage of hotels and flights toaccommodate the sudden influx of tourists
****************************************************
Bangkok Post - Myanmar seeks help to build 21st century grid
In country where only 25% of people have access to electricity, newly emboldened citizens are starting to vent their frustration over shortages.
Published: 14/08/2012 at 02:48 PM
Newspaper section: Asia focus

Myanmar has started discussions with foreign companies in a bid to transform its dilapidated national electricity grid, a vital component of the country’s economic reforms.

President Thein Sein earlier this year identified electricity generation and supply as a key component of a “second phase” of reforms which included providing power to 75% of the population within the next decade.

For electricity-starved Myanmar, this represents a hugely ambitious project that would require expanding generating capacity from 1,100 megawatts last year to more than 16,500 MW by 2022 at an estimated cost of up to US$20 billion. Currently, only about a quarter of Myanmar’s population of 60 million has an electricity supply, according to UN data.

“It means building a power plant with a generation capacity from 500 to 1,000 megawatts yearly,” said Thein Sein.

He identified hydropower, gas and coal plants as the main sources, adding that Myanmar would seek to import electricity in what appeared to be a major departure from the country’s recent policy on energy.

During protests in Yangon, Mandalay and other big cities in May in which people voiced their dissatisfaction with the lack of power, demonstrators criticised the government for building dams that would be used to sell electricity to other countries in the region.

In June’s policy speech, the president made regular references to the need for foreign help to overhaul its woefully inadequate power-supply sector as a host of overseas companies have visited Nay Pyi Daw to discuss potential projects.

In June, Somboom Arayaskul, the acting president of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), met with Myanmar’s minister of electric power supply, Khin Maung Soe, to discuss plans to move two Mitsubishi gas turbine generators from Thailand to Myanmar.

The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run daily, reported that Egat presented a report to the Myanmar government outlining sites for the turbines, which were not identified, and a tentative schedule for their installation.

Myanmar technicians were reportedly due in Thailand to examine the turbines ahead of their relocation. Egat did not respond to questions when contacted.

Takashi Ikeda, the regional CEO of Sojitz Corporation, held meetings with the Myanmar government on the same day as Egat, during which the Japanese company proposed installing a 500-kilowatt power grid and a sub-power station.

The Canadian company SNC-Lavalin is already consulting for the Myanmar government as part of assessments to see whether it may invest in the power supply sector.

“It is just a very high level discussion for the moment with no particular projects identified yet,” said Leslie Quinton, a company spokesman.

Meanwhile, General Electric has agreed a deal to provide power-generating equipment to a hospital in Yangon and has held talks with the government to supply portable gas turbines.

The problem for Myanmar, though, is funding this rapid and costly investment. Having spent only $3.3 billion of state funds on electricity generation and supply between 1988 and the end of the 2011 financial year in March last year, Myanmar must now invest the same amount roughly every 18 months for the next decade if it is to meet its own ambitious targets.

Thein Sein identified foreign aid and investment, likely backed by low-interest foreign loans, as the main sources of capital to fund these projects given a lack of state funds.

Whether or not Myanmar meets its targets will not only have a major bearing on economic growth, it will also affect social harmony in a country that saw widespread demonstrations in May from ordinary people fed up with routine blackouts.

Wai Muu Thwin, who was among the first protesters to join the “candlelight demonstrations” in Yangon, said that in the first week of May his apartment in the centre of the city was only receiving six hours of electricity per day. That has since risen to between 10 and 12 hours, he added.

His home, which features a flat-screen television and DVD player powered by a car battery, has only ever received round-the-clock electricity during the three-month period prior to the November 2010 election, a sign the government has used power supply as a political weapon, said Wai Muu Thwin.

It is time for the government to improve its record on supplying power, he said, not only for the people of the country, but for small businesses and the overall health of the economy.

“The government should have a Plan B,” he said. “Without electricity there is nothing we can do.”
****************************************************
August 14, 2012, 6:32 pmComment
New York Times - Visiting Myanmar’s Threatened Rohingyas
By ROBERT MACKEY

Despite official obstacles barring most observers and aid workers from western Myanmar, two months after dozens were killed in sectarian clashes and tens of thousands of Muslims were forced from their homes into “resettlement camps,” a television crew from Britain’s Channel 4 News managed to report from the region on Tuesday.

As my colleague Thomas Fuller reported in June, Myanmar declared a state of emergency that month after violence between the Buddhist majority and a minority Muslim population known as Rohingyas swept Rakhine State, along the border with Bangladesh. The rape and murder of a Buddhist woman in May led to revenge attacks on the Rohingyas, who were blamed for the crime. In the following weeks, up to 60,000 Rohingyas were driven from their homes and a whole section of the regional capital Sittwe was burned to the ground.

The British crew managed to film at a camp for displaced Rohingyas outside Sittwe, and also interviewed Buddhists in the town who claimed, implausibly, that the Muslims had set their own homes on fire. The Buddhists also complained to the reporters that the United Nations and international aid groups are biased in favor of the Muslims.

Myanmar denies citizenship to the about 800,000 Rohingyas who live in the country, on the disputed theory that their ancestors arrived there after the start of British colonial rule in the 19th century. The government even proposed expelling them en masse last month. That has led some Rohingyas to try to find refuge across the border in Bangladesh.

According to Moshahida Sultana Ritu, an economist at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh who wrote a New York Times opinion piece on the crisis in July, fears of an influx of refugees “have aroused anti-Rohingya sentiment among some Bangladeshis, and initially Bangladesh’s government tried to force the refugees back without assisting them.”

Ms. Sultana Ritu also said Myanmar’s government used its security forces “to burn houses, kill men and evict Rohingyas from their villages.” The attack on the Rohingyas, the professor said, “is not sectarian violence; it is state-supported ethnic cleansing.”
****************************************************
Sky News Australia - Aust gives $5m aid for Burma mums, kids
Updated: 05:22, Wednesday August 15, 2012

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr says Australia will provide $5 million aid to help prevent the deaths of mothers and children in Burma.

Senator Carr says the money will fund a program of immunisations, paediatric and emergency pre-natal care for more than 320,000 mothers and newborns in the Asian nation.

He says Burma is one of the poorest nations in Asia, with an infant death rate 10 times higher than in Australia.

Around one in 14 Burmese children die before their fifth birthday, with the cause of death often a preventable condition like pneumonia, diarrhoea or malaria.

'We will be working to save the lives of women and infants through immunisation and medical supplies, and through funds for better delivery rooms in remote Myanmar villages,' Senator Carr said in a statement on Wednesday.

Senator Carr says the aid will be delivered immediately to teams from the World Health Organisation and United Nations working with mothers and newborns in around 3000 villages.

The money will go to immunisation programs to protect 140,000 expectant mothers in remote villages against tetanus and 182,000 newborns against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus. Funds will also be provided to treat 60,000 women with malaria, and to train paediatricians and health clinic staff in advanced and basic newborn care.
****************************************************
Indiana's NewsCenter - Local Burmese Activists Petition for Visit from Suu Kyi
By Scott Sarvay
August 14, 2012 Updated Aug 14, 2012 at 11:12 AM EDT

Fort Wayne, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) - Local Burmese activists are hoping the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, will be available to visit the Summit City in late September.

Suu Kyi, 67, had spent much of a quarter-century under house arrest by the Myanmar’s ruling military. In 2010 she was freed and elected to a seat in the nation’s year-old parliament.

In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

According to the 2010 census, the majority of the state’s roughly 7,900 Burmese are residents of either Allen or Marion counties.
****************************************************
Rediff.com - UK offers help to end violence in Myanmar
August 14, 2012 19:33 IST

Expressing 'serious concern' over recent violence in Myanmar, Britain on Tuesday offered assistance to the trouble-torn country's government to help end the unrest and to support an 'inclusive political settlement'.

Foreign Secretary William Hague supported a recent statement by United Nations human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana who reportedly called for the Myanmar government to undertake a 'credible' investigation into the violence against Rohingiya Muslims after a recent visit there.

Quintana's statement is seen by Myanmar's parties as supporting the Rohingiya Muslims, and have called for his dismissal.

Hague said, "The United Kingdom, as ever, stands ready to assist the government of Burma in its efforts to develop Rakhine State, to share our knowledge and experience of tackling the many complex and long-standing issues to be overcome and, as Burma (Myanmar) continues its path towards establishing full democracy, to support an inclusive political settlement that protects the rights of all members of the local population."

Expressing serious concern 'about the nature and extent of the recent violence', Hague urged the Myanmar government to resolve the crisis in accordance with international human rights law.

He said, "We join Mr Quintana in stressing the need to end the violence; to grant full and unhindered humanitarian access to the areas affected; to allow the affected communities to safely return to their homes; and to support the restitution of property that was seriously damaged or destroyed."

Hague added, "We encourage the government to ensure that it treats the affected communities fairly and equitably and to ensure that the authorities prevent any further bloodshed.

There is also a need to seek a long term solution to the problems they face in a manner which recognises their human rights, including their right to nationality, and to take effective steps which prevents any further forced or involuntary displacement and which does not leave them permanently displaced."

Britain, the foreign secretary said, joined Quintana in calling for the release of people who had been arbitrarily detained, irrespective of their ethnic background. Hague also expressed the need for the Myanmar government to carry out 'an independent, fair and prompt investigation in to the violence, in particular the allegations of seriouS crimes within the communities and human rights violations by the security forces'.

Human rights groups have accused Myanmar's security forces of opening fire on Rohingya, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.
****************************************************
International Business Times UK - Myanmar: 13 Dead in Fresh Sectarian Clashes Between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims as Conflict Shifts to Kyauktaw Township
Clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims erupt in tit-for-tat arson attacks and targeted killings in western Myanmar
By Gianluca Mezzofiore
August 14, 2012 2:35 PM GMT

The conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in western Myanmar has moved to the rural township of Kyauktaw.

Thirteen people have been killed and seven injured in Kyauktaw over the last five days, while more than 300 homes have been torched in tat-for-tat arson attacks, according to reports.

Some 3,000 people are thought to have been affected by the violence, which allegedly began when a group of Rohingya Muslims set fire to a bus depot in the heart of the township.

Kyauktaw is situated in the westerly state of Rakhine, which has witnessed widespread sectarian fighting over the past two months. However, the small township has hitherto seen little conflict.

Following the rapid escalation of violence, the authorities have imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Kyauktaw. Six other towns around Rakhine have already received such restrictions.

Official state figures now suggest that 90 people have died across Rakhine since the sectarian conflict began in June. A further 116 people have been injured, and over 65,000 have been displaced.

International solidarity

With the violence continuing to escalate, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has urged the international community to take action to help the Muslim minority - which it believes is being persecuted.

The Rohingya have never been granted citizenship in Myanmar (previously known as Burma), and a 1982 law excluded them from the list of officially recognised minorities. It is widely believed within the Islamic community that the Myanmar government has acquiesced in, and even actively supported, the recent violence against the Rohingya.

"We are deeply concerned about the appalling conditions of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar whose members are denied citizenship rights and are considered stateless people; a situation that requires a firm decision," said a statement by the OIC.

In a separate development, a group of prominent Muslim Americans has gathered to launch Burma Task Force USA, a collective advocacy group which aims to highlight alleged atrocities and human rights violations against Myanmar's Islamic population.

"We demand that those responsible for the mass rapes and mass murder of thousands of Rohingyas be charged with crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Court of Justice," Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, chairperson of Burma Task Force USA, said.

The organisation also vowed to "hold [Aung San] Suu Kyi accountable" for her part in the ongoing conflict.

Suu Kyi, an internationally renowned journalist and former political prisoner, promised to support the citizenship of the Rohingya Muslims back in 2005, and has apparently held talks with Myanmar's president, Thin Sein, since being freed from house arrest in November 2010. However she has refused to discuss the subject publicly when asked directly.
****************************************************
Channel 4 News - Inside Burma's forbidden camps
Tuesday 14 August 2012
Exclusive: As members of Burma's Muslim Rohingya minority are forced into camps after violent clashes, the government bans international observers - but Channel 4 News gains access.

There is a part of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in Burma, that people still refer to as Narzi. But if you travel there, as Channel 4 News did recently, you will not find much to look at. In fact this substantial section of town, until recently the bustling home of 10,000, no longer exists.

Instead, you will find a post-apocalyptic world of rubble and burnt-out tree trunks. Personal effects are left scattered on the ground. It seems an incongruous scene in a country that claims to be remaking itself as modern, democratic state. Spend five minutes in Narzi, however, and you start to wonder whether Burma has really changed at all.

Until a month ago, Sittwe was home, in almost even proportions, to two different ethnic groups – the Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.
It seems an incongruous scene in a country that claims to be remaking itself as modern, democratic state.

There have long been tensions between the two, and the recent violence started with an allegation that three Rohingya men had raped and killed a young Buddhist woman. After the distribution of inflammatory pamphlets, ten Muslim pilgrims were pulled out of a bus and beaten to death. The immediate consequence was chaos. Hate-filled mobs from both communities went on the rampage, burning homes and settling scores.

'Resettlement'

Narzi and many other communities were lost in the storm. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) estimate that some 100,000 people were displaced in the fighting. The government puts the death toll at 78, a figure human rights groups call "a gross underestimate".

In an effort to regain control, Burma's government sent in nine military regiments to Rakhine and implemented a policy of strict separation. In Sittwe, this meant moving 60,000 Rohingya out of the city, and "resettling" them in a series of camps located some distance from the city.

We were told by humanitarian agencies that conditions in these camps were "desperate", but access is strictly controlled, even to aid workers. Through our contacts however, we managed to reach several of these sites.

The camps were located on soggy pastures, squeezed between paddy fields. When our vehicle stopped, we were surrounded by residents desperate to communicate. The adults looked thin and many of the children were clearly malnourished. I asked a woman with three children how much food she was getting. "We’re living on rice and beans," she said. "It's not enough. We haven't got blankets. When we were in town, we could buy food for the kids, but now we can't."

Restrictions

Young men in the camp told me they were dreaming of escape. One young man told me: "I am from Sittwe, but I don't want to stay (in the camp). I want to go to Bangladesh. We are really suffering here."

In truth, he has few options. The Bangladeshis do not want the Rohingya - and they have long been treated with indifference and hostility in Burma. The United Nations has for some time called them "one of the most persecuted groups in the world". They are subjected to restrictions on marriage, employment and education, and they were denied in citizenship in 1982.

We're living on rice and beans. It's not enough. We haven't got blankets. When we were in town, we could buy food for the kids, but now we can't. Rohingya camp resident

Now they are in the camps, another weighty constraint has been added – they can't leave. Sittwe is now off-limits, and it seems unlikely its former residents will be able to return.

It is the cause of great anxiety here, for few people here can support themselves. One woman told us: "We have no jobs and our kids can't work. I use to run a shop in Sittwe, but I came here in the rain with nothing but my bare hands. No money, nothing."

International NGOs and the United Nations are struggling to provide assistance to the camps, with their efforts hindered by a determined campaign of obstruction by local Buddhists. Aid workers have been threatened and some shipments have been blocked. Local doctors have refused to treat Rohingya and businessmen have declined to provide humanitarian organisations with services like warehouse space – crucial for the storage of food, for example.

'Favouritism'

When we sought the views of local Buddhists, they told us that the UN and International NGOs engage in favouritism. Much sought after jobs with the agencies "always" go to the Rohingya, we were told. When I put these complaints to one NGO official, he was unapologetic however. "We go to where the need is greatest," he said.

Burma's government has been accused by international human rights organisations of doing little to stop the violence after the first clashes took place - and of siding with the local population when troops and military policemen were moved in. The UN Special Rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Quintana, told Channel 4 News that he had received allegations of mass arrests, torture and killings and the hands of the security forces on a recent visit there.

There is much justified excitement with the reforms currently being undertaken by Burma's new government. But the president, Thein Sein, has offered little on the issue, other than to suggest that a third country may be persuaded to take in the Rohingya. The opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has also said, and done, little. When asked about the situation by one Muslim during the initial period of violence, she replied: "Yes, I understand, but I am not the government. I can't do anything. Only the government [can] do something."

There are many Rohingya Muslims – like the former residents of Narzi - who would beg to differ with that.
****************************************************
WANE-TV Fort Wayne - Fort Wayne's Burmese hoping for Suu Kyi visit
Published : Tuesday, 14 Aug 2012, 9:04 AM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) -- Activists in Fort Wayne's Burmese community are trying to arrange a visit to the city by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The group hopes that the democracy advocate from their native Myanmar will travel to Fort Wayne as part of her September trip to the United States, during which she will receive the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington.

Members of a 70-person Suu Kyi welcoming committee tell The Journal Gazette they've been in contact with her representatives and are working with city officials on preparations.

Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest as a political prisoner for her struggle against military rule in her homeland.

Some 4,000 Burmese live in the Fort Wayne area, one of the country's largest concentrations.
****************************************************
Asian Correspondent - Burma’s President urges to stop bribery for clean government
By Zin Linn Aug 15, 2012 12:54AM UTC

Chairman of Planning Commission President U Thein Sein addressed second meeting of the commission at the meeting hall of the President Office on Monday in Naypyitaw, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Tuesday.

Present at the meeting were Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham, Union Ministers, the Union attorney-general, the Union auditor-general, the chairman of Union Civil Services Board, Region/ State chief ministers, chairmen of Self- Administered Division/ Zones.

In his opening speech, President U Thein Sein said that the meeting concentrated on drafting city plan, town plan and village plan as a fundamental requisite for practical implementation of reform strategies. It would also comprise city plans of Yangon and Mandalay, he said.

According to the President, such kind of plans must be drafted considering guaranteeing civilized living, adequate supply of electricity, availability of clean water, better transportation and sanitation. Additionally job opportunities must be created in all parts for improvement of all citizens, he explained.

More than six-million population of the country lives in Yangon. International airport and ports which are fabricated the country’s economic forces are in Yangon. Besides, products from upper and lower parts of the country get together in Yangon. So, Yangon is the potential mega city in Asia in future, President said.

Similarly, Mandalay is a commercial hub of the country as it has been trading with China and India. As 20 per cent of the whole population lives in Yangon and Mandalay, the two cities made 30 per cent of Gross National Product, he said.

President directed to form urbanization working committee for development of the towns. In accordance with the constitution, fiscal distribution and taxation must be carried out in Regions and States and foreign loans and aids would also be distributed equally to each Region or State, he said.

He suggested that regional governments have to strive for growth of their own area. The grassroots should be made powerful to vote for the competent village administrators who can control themselves from corruption and are ready to add the good to the village in line with the law. They are also responsible to take care of economic, education and health affairs and to ensure the rule of law, the president explained.

It was remarkable that the President has a good knowledge about the bribery which has been deep-rooted in every level of the governmental mechanism. He pressed the officials to tackle the issue seriously.

“Bribery is morally wrong and scandalous act for both official and civilian of the bribe. Deep-rooted bribery system must be stopped by way of strict actions. The practice is not only damage the dignity of the government but also the country’s reputation,” the President underlined.

He urged his senior officials to clear the paying-off practice to guarantee the clean government. He said that the heads of every society must be accountable for what their subordinates do and must deal with the bribery successfully. In addition, he emphasized that stability, social security and the rule of law are vital for development of each constituency of the country.

Burma has a big problem of corruption which deeply rooted among its bureaucrats and especially with military elites.
****************************************************
UN News Centre - Myanmar: UN envoy welcomes mission to area affected by ethnic violence
14 August 2012 –

The recent mission of the Turkish Foreign Minister and senior officials of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Myanmar’s state of Rakhine – which recently experienced deadly ethnic clashes that displaced thousands of people – was welcomed today by the top United Nations envoy to the Southeast Asian country.

“Such positive steps will help support Myanmar’s ongoing process of democratization and reform,” the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General, Vijay Nambiar, said in a statement on the fact-finding visit led by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoðlu, undertaken at the invitation of the Government of Myanmar.

Recent tensions between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine have left at least a dozen civilians dead and hundreds of homes destroyed, as well as at least 64,000 people displaced.

The Turkish delegation visited the camps of both Muslims and Buddhists displaced by the violence, where humanitarian aid provided by Turkey was distributed, representing the first such assistance accepted by Myanmar outside that provided by the UN, according to Mr. Nambiar’s statement.

“This has demonstrated the willingness of the Myanmar Government to cooperate with the international community to alleviate the suffering of its people,” Mr. Nambiar said, adding that he and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been in continuous contact with authorities on the matter.

Last week, at the end of four-day mission to Myanmar, the Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), John Ging, warned of the rapidly growing needs faced by over half a million internally displaced persons in the Asian nation, and called on the Government to give aid agencies access to all areas of the country.

A series of democratic reforms in Myanmar, begun last year and led by President Thein Sein, culminated in April elections in which pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a position in the lower house of parliament and which Mr. Ban, in a visit soon after, called “a historic moment.”
****************************************************
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
i On Global Trends (Weblog) - Myanmar: Statement of Myanmar National Human Rights Commission on its trip to the Kachin State
This is a press release by the Government of Myanmar

The Secretary of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission and two members of the Commission visited Myitkyina and Waingmaw of the Kachin State from 23 to 27 July 2012 and carried out the following tasks of the Commission:- Visited 16 relief camps, met with the people of the camps and expressed words of encouragement to them.

Summoned and examined the witnesses in connection with the complaints, assumed to involve the violations of human rights in the Kachin State.

Met with the Chief Minister and the Ministers of the Kachin State Government and exchanged views on the prevailing situation in the Kachin State.

Based on the activities and the findings of the Commission team, the following recommendations are made:- on studying and examination of the camps that the Commission team visited, it was found that although over one year has elapsed, the basic needs of the peoples of the camps were able to be fulfilled as before. The departments and the organizations concerned are urged to supply additional medicines required for the provision of health care for and treatment of ailments caused by seasonal changes.

The people at the relief camps expressed that they wished to return to their villages and that land mines in the surrounding areas of the villages be cleared.

To carry out mine clearance before the resettlement work is commenced, there should be cooperation among the armed groups and the relevant domestic and foreign organizations. The villagers should be educated about land mines.

According to the statements of the witnesses made in connection with the complaints, it was found that there were certain violations of human rights of the populations of the villages by the armed groups.

Therefore, it is strongly urged not to violate human rights under any circumstances and to act in accordance with human rights standards.

According to the statements of the witnesses from the Tarlawgyi village of the Myitkyina Township, there were instances of forced recruitment of soldiders from villagers of Tarlawgyi by the KIA. It was learnt that 53 villagers of Tarlawgyi who were serving as the people’s militia of the KIA have returned to the legal fold. It is urged that no armed group should engage in forced recruitment of soldiers in any area.

it was learnt that the Tatmadaw arrested and interrogated two villagers of Tawlawgyi in early January 2012 and they were prosecuted by the authorities concerned under the existing laws. In order not to adversely affect the rights of the persons concerned, the court proceedings should be expeditiously concluded.

the Commission does not wish to make any comment on the interrogation of the suspects by security forces for security reasons and on their prosecution in accordance with the law. However, torture during the interrogation constitutes violation of human rights and must be avoided.

The Government has received encouragement and support from within and outside the country in establishing a democratic state. Similarly, the Government has made historic accomplishments in its efforts to bring about lasting peace. Under these circumstances, concerted efforts should also be made by all to establish peace in the Kachin State in accordance with the desire of the people.

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
****************************************************