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[brahmburgers]

The US senator got decent service and got to see "the lady" because he's against sanctions against Burma, and the Burmese chief thugs see that as a glimmer of light for them, coming from the US.

[Mosha]

The only problem is the plonker got the wrong person released.

[churchill]

Shan leader: Stop junta from killing spree before more refugees flock to Thailand

Sao Yawdserk, the leader of the Shan State (SSA) South that has been fighting against Burma’s military rulers, has warned Thailand of more asylum seekers unless the regional grouping Asean gives a down-to-earth interpretation of its cardinal policy of non-interference.

He was speaking in connection to the Burma Army’s 5-day scorched earth campaign, 27 July – 1 August, that had left more than 10,000 people homeless in southern Shan State, according to the statement by Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) on 13 August.

His own statement issued today also put the loss of the villagers at K 936 million ($ 850,000).

“The RCSS (Restoration Council of Shan State, the political arm of the SSA) calls on Asean, in spite of its non interference in the internal affairs of a member state, and the UN to investigate and help resolve the problems of the Union of Burma,” he said. “We beg of you not to allow the Burmese military regime continue killing its own people and engaging in ethnic cleansing. Otherwise more and more refugees will be flocking to Thailand.”

The SSA leader also accused the regime of instigating a racial war. “We have never killed ordinary Burmese civilians because we regarded them as human beings,” he said. “What the Burma Army is doing is tantamount to inciting an inter-racial conflict.”

Sai La, son of Long Kham and Pa Sway, Mongkeung, for instance, was shot while he was begging the soldiers not to burn his house and his body thrown into a latrine pit, reads the statement.

Even Lahu villagers, whom the Burma Army is using as anti-insurgency militias, are not spared, it says. Many of them in Mong Leum village, Mongnawng sub-township, Kehsi township, were reportedly detained and tortured during the campaign.

According to the latest information, the Burma Army has allowed the villagers who were forcibly relocated to Laikha, Namlan and Mongnawng to return to their villages, many of which had been razed to the ground. “They are also checking and stopping the people from fleeing to Thailand and telling the international media of what’s happening back home,” said a young Shan activist to SHAN.
http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=c...&Itemid=285

[churchill]

Myanmar's elections an "opportunity for change"
BANGKOK: Myanmar's elections next year are set to alter the political landscape despite not being free and fair, with a chance that leaders of the ruling government could step aside, a think tank said Friday.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report that the polls will give local and international stakeholders an opportunity to push for change, despite a constitution that entrenches the military's political role.

Myanmar's generals have vowed to hold the elections some time in 2010, the first national vote since 1990, when they refused to recognise an overwhelming victory by the party of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

The ICG report said that the recent extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest by 18 months, after a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her home, had returned attention to repression in Myanmar.

"But while the elections will not be free and fair... the constitution and elections together will fundamentally change the political landscape in a way the government may not be able to control," the report said.

The influential think tank said government leader Than Shwe, 76, and his ageing deputy Maung Aye "may soon step down or move to ceremonial roles, making way for a younger military generation" after the polls.

"All stakeholders should be alert to opportunities that may arise to push the new government toward reform and reconciliation," the group said.

The report said that the military government must make the electoral process "more credible" by freeing all political prisoners including Suu Kyi and by bringing in key electoral legislation as soon as possible.

But it also warned that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy -- which has said it will take part in the elections only if the constitution is changed -- that a boycott "could play into the hands of the military government."

The constitution, approved in a controversial referendum in May 2008 just days after a devastating cyclone hit Myanmar, prevents Suu Kyi from standing for president, even if she were not imprisoned.

It also gives the military a dominant political role, with a quarter of the seats in the upper and lower houses of parliament to be appointed by the army's commander-in-chief.

The military has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962, launching bloody crackdowns on pro-democracy protests in 1988 and 2007 to preserve its rule and jailing dozens of its opponents over the last year.

But the new presidential system of government was "the most wide-ranging shake-up in a generation," the report said.

The report said the international community, including Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours, must continue to press the government to make the vote as fair as possible "while looking for opportunities that the elections may bring."

The report comes just days after visiting US Senator Jim Webb held the first ever talks between a senior American official and Than Shwe, leading to the release of John Yettaw, the US man jailed for swimming to Suu Kyi's house.

Webb said his visit could lead to a "new approach" in US-Myanmar ties, including a rethink on sanctions, while Myanmar's government-controlled media said the trip had been a "success" for both sides.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp.../450216/1/.html

[churchill]

Thai citizenship to grant stateless near Burma border
by Usa Pichai
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 12:36

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Citizenship will be granted by Thailand to displaced Thai villagers, who were in Burma, during demarcation by the British a hundred years ago.

Surapong Kongchantuek of the Committee to amend the Thailand Citizenship Act told Mizzima that “the committee will finalize the law that would grant citizenship to Thai villagers near Thailand and the southern Burma border, who became stateless during demarcation.”

The Act formulated would provide an opportunity for the stateless group near the Thailand–Cambodia border for more than 4,000 people that share the same problem.

The 20,000 or so villagers live in Thailand’s Ranong and Prachoub Kirikhan and Chumporn provinces, bordering southern Burma. They are descendants of ethnic Thais who found themselves marooned in Burma by a British colonial demarcation package in 1868. Burma’s rulers would have nothing to do with them. They also face discrimination by the Burmese government.

According to the group some had to contend with land confiscation by the Burmese military without any compensation and some were forced to work as porters for the army.

Gradually whole communities moved from Tavoy and Taninsari south of Burma to neighbouring Siam, now Thailand. But Siam also shunned them, and subsequent Thai governments refused to recognize them as Thai citizens. The stateless status has caused them to lose their rights to access education, medical and other facilities. In addition they also face arrest because they have no ID cards.

Pakawin Saengkong, the representative of the group, who lives in Ranong Province, said that the process of granting citizenship has progressed. He added that they had fought for their rights for nearly a decade together with rights groups and academics.

“Currently, the registered members of the group are in the process of being verified along with the family. The committee consists of representatives from the group and Thai authorities. About 3,800 have been verified as a first step. The group is expected to seek cabinet approval by the end of this year or early 2010,” he said.

In October 2006, about 500 of the group travelled to Bangkok and submitted a letter addressed to the British Embassy in Bangkok, pleading for support in their efforts to get Thai citizenship, which they said resulted from the 19th century British colonial carve-up of a border region of Burma and Siam making them stateless.


http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/2671-...ma-border-.html

[churchill]

Myanmar, Thailand join hands to combat human trafficking
2009 August 25
tags: Burma, Human Trafficking, Junta, Myanmar, Thailand, world focus on Burmaby peacerunningource: Xinhua News Agency
Date: 24 Aug 2009

YANGON, Aug 24, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — Myanmar and Thailand are implementing a joint plan of action against human trafficking, especially smuggling of women and children, under an memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries four months ago.

The plan of action covers cooperation in human trafficking prevention, suppression, repatriation and reintegration of trafficked victims, a local weekly reported Monday.

The plan was adopted at a bilateral meeting hosted by Thailand’ s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security early this month, the Myanmar Times said.

The MoU on cooperation in combating human trafficking was inked by Myanmar Minister of Home Affairs Major-General Maung Oo and Thai Minister of Social Development and Human Security Issara Somchai in Nay Pyi Taw in April.

The areas of cooperation under the MoU cover combating all aspects of human trafficking including prevention, protection, rehabilitation, reintegration, law enforcement, justice and developing and implementing joint action between the two countries.

According to reports, Myanmar migrants were trafficked and induced into different parts of Thailand to take up exploitative and dangerous work as some of many factors including employment opportunities and natural disaster contributes to the trafficking of them. Meanwhile, aimed at providing necessary protection and help solve problems for the workers who are facing with unfair circumstances in that country, an employees protection association for the Myanmar citizens working in Thailand is being organized by the Myanmar side.

Under an agreement between the Myanmar Foreign Ministry and the Thai Labor Ministry in 2006, Thailand offered then to grant 10,000 Myanmar workers to work in industries, factories and restaurants in the country.

Meanwhile, Thailand is also legally recruiting new workers from Myanmar on its labor demand that there are reportedly about 100, 000 Myanmars working in Phuket.

According to earlier Thai statistics, there are 500,000 to 600, 000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.

http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/200...an-trafficking/

[churchill]

Civil war feared in Myanmar

Agence France Presse


BANGKOK: Fighting between Myanmar's junta and ethnic groups Friday raised fears of full-scale civil war and forced more refugees from the northeast across the Chinese border, media and analysts said.
A battle in Shan state between the Kogang rebel group and the government's army began Thursday, breaking a 20-year ceasefire, according to the US Campaign for Burma (USCB), which uses Myanmar's former name.
More than 10,000 refugees have crossed into the Chinese border town of Nansan in southwestern Yunnan province since August 8 and at least one Myanmar policeman was reportedly killed during the fight, the campaign group said.
"People say they have been hearing gunshots and explosions," said Khuensai Jaiyen, editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News.
He said another ethnic group, the United Wa State Army, had now reportedly joined the Kokang forces' fight against the junta and he warned that other groups currently under ceasefire agreements could join in.
"If the Burmese army is returning to a reconciliatory stance it might get better but if not it might be blown into a full-scale civil war," Khuensai Jaiyen said.
He added that the government was trying to create stability ahead of elections scheduled in 2010 but warned "it will be the opposite".
David Mathieson, a Myanmar analyst at Human Rights Watch, agreed full-scale civil war was "a very real fear".
"This could potentially be the flash point that draws in several other groups to the resumption of open conflict," he said.
Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, has signed ceasefires with 17 ethnic armed groups.
Chinese state media reported Friday, citing local officials, that Myanmar nationals were still crossing the border into Yunnan province, without giving a specific figure.
"It's difficult to get a real-time update of that number," Yu Chunyan, a spokesman for the provincial government, was quoted as saying in the English-language Global Times.
The newspaper reported that China had increased the number of armed police along the common border.
Refugees have been settled in a temporary camp, and Chinese officials were providing food and medical care, the state Xinhua news agency reported, citing unnamed provincial government sources.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/rssRefere...php?id=Mjk1MTc=

[LaoPo]

Myanmar clash triggers exodus into China

(China Daily) Updated: 2009-08-28 09:22

A clash in Myanmar's Kokang region Thursday triggered an exodus of ethnic Kokang people into China's nearby Yunnan province, said Yunnan's foreign affairs office Thursday.

"The number of people crossing the border is on the rise," the office said in a statement.

Yunnan set up reception areas and offered shelter and daily necessities to the displaced people, the office said.

Thousands have already fled this month from northeastern Myanmar into China after tension ramped up between government troops and the Kokang area's regional army, AP reported on Wednesday.

Several thousand have streamed over the border each day into the town of Nansan, in southern Yunnan province, AP quoted one resident as saying.

Between Aug 8 and 12, about 10,000 people are believed to have left Kokang, most of them were Chinese traders and expatriate workers, according to reports in the Chongqing Evening News.

Tension started to rise on Aug 7 after Myanmar's government troops sent 30 police officers into a weapons repair factory in Kokang to find out whether the facility was being used to produce drugs, the paper reported.

The Kokang army, which has observed a ceasefire with the national government since 1989, disliked the incursion.

It said in a statement that the government army was pressuring it to join a border security force under the government's control ahead of Myanmar's elections planned for next year, AP reported. The Kokang army is part of an alliance of four ethnic groups called the Myanmar Peace and Democracy Front.

"The clash indicates that the Myanmar government has intensified its efforts to control the Kokang army loyal to Kokang supreme commander Peng Jiasheng. There's division among the Kokang army, and the government wants to take advantage of it," said Song Qingrun, senior researcher on South Asia studies with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

"The government's top priority is to ensure a peaceful election, especially in regions like Kokang," Song explained.

Song said the situation will not impact China-Myanmar relations but will hurt local businesses and border trade. More than 10,000 Chinese businessmen and workers earned their living in Kokang, where up to 90 percent of shops are owned by Chinese.

Source: China Daily


LaoPo

[churchill]

Thousands cross into Thailand for free food
Sept 3, 2009 (DVB)–Around 4000 Burmese crossed into Thailand yesterday to attend an annual food donation event in the border town of Mae Sai, according to Burmese residents in the town.


The event was held at a Chinese temple in the town, and about 5000 people in total collected bags of rice, instant noodle packs, salt and canned fish.

“A lot of poor people from both sides of the border came to get the donation items and about 80 percent were from Burma,” said a Mae Sai resident.

A Burmese national at the event said the donation items would help his family survive for about two days.

“Two days is still not bad – I brought my kids along to the donation and they were given 20 Thai baht (around $US0.6) each,” said the person, adding that said he had been receiving the donation since 1997.

“There are three adults in my family so we got three bags of rice and the cash the kids got paid covered the transportation fee.”

Burmese living close to the border often cross into Thailand for food and medical treatment.

The Burmese government is estimated to spend only around 0.3 percent of its annual budget on healthcare.

In 2000 the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranked Burma’s healthcare system second worst in the world, above the then war-ravaged Sierra Leone.

Burma’s rice production industry was severely damaged by cyclone Nargis last year, which destroyed more than one million hectares of rice paddy in the southern Irrawaddy delta region.

The ruling junta was criticized in the wake of the cyclone for continuing to export rice at the same levels as before, despite widespread food shortages within the country.

The donation event in Mae Sai is sponsored supported by wealthy Thai business owners.

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2834

[churchill]

Mynanmar activists urge China to halt pipeline project

http://www.alertnet....sk/BKK40759.htm

[churchill]

British firm attacked over Burma dams , Villagers raped and killed during construction of huge projects, claim human rights campaigners

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/2...ms-human-rights

[churchill]

BURMA: Three children among six females imprisoned with hard labour

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that three girls in Burma have been sentenced to a year in jail with hard labour for allegedly selling illegal lottery tickets. When the case against them came to court, the judge reportedly ignored evidence given that the three girls are not yet 16 years old, and should have been tried in a juvenile court. All six of the defendants claimed that they were innocent of the charges and that the police set them up; the AHRC has also received information that the police bribed the prosecutor to take the case

continued http://www.ahrchk.ne....php/2009/3281/

[sabaijai]

Rangoon’s Young Women Swap their Sarongs for Hot Pants
By THE IRRAWADDY Monday, September 28, 2009

There’s a theory in the fashion capitals of the West that the hemlines of women’s skirts rise and fall with the movement of the New York Stock Exchange index. When stock prices climb, hemlines fall. Conversely, skirts become shorter as investor confidence declines.

Applied to a new fashion trend in Rangoon, Burma’s economy must be in the doldrums. Increasing numbers of young women of Burma’s largest city are casting off their sarongs to reveal miniskirts and “hot pants.”



Low-cut blouses with “spaghetti” straps are also “in,” observers of the local fashion scene report.

Jeans and sarongs are “out,” according to boutique and clothing store owners. “There’s hardly any demand now for jeans,” said a shopkeeper in Rangoon’s Yana Plaza. “Most teenagers prefer shorts, they like revealing styles.”

Shorts are the preferred style for trips to a disco or a nightclub, but the fashion is also seen increasingly in Rangoon streets and on buses.

"Some girls leave home wearing sarongs, wearing short pants underneath,” said a Dagon North Township resident. “When they arrive in the city and meet up with friends, off come the sarongs and they walk around in short pants. When they return home they put their sarongs back on. They’re concerned about what the neighbors think.”

The new fashion raises not only skirts but also eyebrows in many conservative households, although one father confessed that he’d accustomed himself to the way his daughter dressed.

"Previously, I disliked my daughter wearing tight pants, and I told her repeatedly,” he said.

“Now, when I see what girls are wearing, I feel she is just about right."

Weather (as well as, possibly, the economic outlook) plays a role in what the young women of Rangoon are wearing. “When it’s hot they prefer the freedom and light styles of short pants and blouses,” a Rangoon journalist told The Irrawaddy.

Rangoon fashion designer Thet Hnin Aye advised young women to dress according to the occasion. “Fashion can’t be separated from culture,” she said.

"The girls should think twice about where they’re going. They should dress appropriately according to the occasion.”

Source: http://www.irrawaddy...hp?art_id=16872

[fred110]

cdnvic, on 2007-03-27 19:54:04, said:

A bunch of incompetent "generals" building toy cities with slave labour. Those boobs make Thailand look first world in comparison.

Sadly, many Burmese people asked me why the US does not invade/free them like Iraq. Sounds like the generals and government are easy targets now for cruise missiles.

[Fishenough]

From Yahoo.com - what came to my mind was good luck, dictatorship + (spur) democratic reform...........

Wed Oct 21, 1:55 pm ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will soon send a fact-finding delegation to Myanmar as part of an exploratory dialogue with that country's military junta, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia said on Wednesday.

"We intend to go to Burma in the next few weeks for a fact-finding mission," Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. He gave no dates or details.

"During our trip, we will talk to the Burmese government, representatives of the ethnic nationalities and the democratic opposition including the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi and others," he testified in a hearing.

Campbell met Myanmar's minister of science, technology and labor, in New York last month in what was the highest-level U.S. contact with Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in nine years.

Following a U.S. policy review on Myanmar, the Obama administration in September announced it would pursue deeper engagement with Myanmar's military rulers to try to spur democratic reform.

But Washington said it would not ease sanctions imposed on the generals who rule the country to try to force them to hold talks with ethnic minorities and with Nobel laureate and opposition party leader Suu Kyi.

Myanmar this month allowed Suu Kyi, 64, to meet with U.S. and other Western diplomats on several occasions outside her lakeside home, where she is held under house arrest.

Campbell rebuffed calls by some U.S. lawmakers and Myanmar experts for easing of tight curbs on trade and investment in Myanmar, telling the hearing the talks "will supplement rather than replace the sanctions regime."

"We will maintain our existing sanctions until we see concrete progress and continue to work with the international community to ensure that those sanctions are effectively coordinated," he said.

Critics of the U.S. sanctions policy say the cutting of all commercial ties had eroded U.S. influence and placed the resource-rich country under the influence of its huge neighbor China, one of the junta's closest supporters.

[webfact]

ASEAN
Asean chief welcomes US visit to Burma
By The Nation

Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan welcomes US officials visit to Burma and described it as a golden opportunity for the region.
"This is a seismic change for the region's diplomacy," said Surin in referring to the two-day visit of Kurt Campbell, Assistant State
Secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affair and Scott Marciel, the US Ambassador for Asean.

He said the visit opens up potentially a wide opportunity on the horizon for both Asean and Burma. "We hope that the Myanmarese
(Burmese) leadership and the opposition will recognize that golden opportunity for all us in the region," he said.
But he pointed out that it will take two to tango. "Now that a space has been open up, some obstructive pieces have been removed I hope all key players on the stalemated chess board of Myanmar issue will adjust their strategies and made the right moves forward," he said.

The Asean chief was referring to the US latest move on Burma. Washington has made an offer to relax some restrictive measures to pressure Myanmar by previous US administrations.
"I have told Prime Minister Thien Sein that all Asean member states would be rdeady to extend hands in whatever form appropriate to make
sure that the planned election next year would be accepted by the Myanmarese people and lead to a genuine reconciliation."


-- The Nation 2009/11/04

[churchill]

US President Barack Obama has urged Burma's prime minister to release the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Obama delivered the message as he met leaders of the Asean grouping of south-east Asian nations in Singapore.

White House press secretary said Mr Obama raised the issue "directly" with General Thein Sein.

Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest was extended in August beyond the elections planned for next year. She has spent 14 years in detention in the past two decades.

Lawyers for Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, have lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court against her extended house arrest.

The Apec summit brings together leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), which includes Burma.

Cautious engagement

Before the talks in a hotel room, Mr Obama and the Asean leaders stood in a line on a stage, crossing their arms to shake hands with the leader on either side.

Thein Sein was not close to Mr Obama - a direct meeting would have marked the first time in 43 years a US president had met a Burmese leader.

US presidents have previously refused to hold meetings with Asean when Burmese leaders were present.



The US has previously boycotted Asean meetings because of Burma
"The president was just - as you know - in the scheduled meeting with the 10 Asean nations, and brought up in the meeting the... the release of Aung San Suu Kyi by Burma. So, he brought that up directly with that government," Mr Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs said.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won Burma's last elections in 1990 but the military never allowed her to take power.

Observers believe Burma's authorities want to keep the pro-democracy leader in detention until after polls scheduled for next year.

The Obama administration has said it favours cautious diplomatic engagement, with sanctions against the regime remaining in place until real progress on democratic change is made
http://news.bbc.co.u...fic/8361081.stm


-- BBC 15/11/09

[sabaijai]

Myanmar and Sri Lanka to jointly promote Buddhism

Myanmar and Sri Lanka have signed an agreement to promote Buddhism, which includes setting up an exchange programme for students of Buddhism. The signing took place during Myanmar leader Senior General Than Shwe’s visit to the country.

During his three day tour, the Myanmar leader visited some of the country’s most hallowed places of worship, including the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, the historic shrines in Anuradhapura, and the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara. General Than Shwe has donated US$10,000 for the upkeep and development of the Dalada Maligawa.

During his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at President’s House, Kandy, Senior General Than Shwe said the world appreciated the Sri Lankan President’s achievements in eliminating terrorism from the land and steering the country towards development.

The two leaders also discussed amendments to the Sri Lanka-Myanmar civil aviation agreement and measures to promote tourism. On Friday, a group of activists staged a protest against General Shwe’s visit, citing human rights violations in Myanmar.

Source

[sabaijai]

Large crowds greet Myanmar leader in Sri Lanka

(AFP) – 1 day ago

ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka — Large flag-waving crowds greeted Myanmar's junta leader General Than Shwe on Saturday as he toured an ancient city in north-central Sri Lanka on a religious pilgrimage.

The crowds, clutching flags of Myanmar and Sri Lanka, lined the streets of the sacred Buddhist city of Anuradhapura to welcome the reclusive general, who has been on his first overseas visit since 2004.

Speaking through an interpreter, Than Shwe told the crowd: "I am happy to be here and I look forward to touring the Buddhist shrines."

Heavy monsoon rains forced the general to travel by car rather than helicopter to the temple-studded city, delaying his arrival by five hours.

The general arrived in Colombo on Thursday with his wife, daughters and grandchildren on a religious pilgrimage to Sri Lanka.

The tropical island nation and Myanmar both practise Buddhism and have had cultural and religious ties since the 11th century.

Anuradhapura is a former Sinhalese royal capital and the site of the temple of the holy Bo tree, which was grown from a sapling from under which the Buddha found enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.

The junta leader, believed to be in his 70s, suffered from a stomach bug on Thursday but appeared to have recovered by Friday when he toured the pilgrim town of Kandy.

Than Shwe was slated to return to Colombo later Saturday.

He was due to receive blessings from Buddhist monks at a temple outside the capital Colombo on Sunday before departing, the foreign ministry said.

The junta leader stressed the "history of close Buddhist ties" between his country and Sri Lanka during a meeting with Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama at the start of his visit on Thursday.

His trip has outraged Myanmar monks living in Sri Lanka, who warned Colombo that its increasingly close relations with Myanmar's military regime would further stoke international concern over the island's human rights record.

Source

[ashacat]

Hi all,

I am going to Myanmar for Christmas this year(!) Does anyone have any up to date info on how to apply for a visa and any considerations that I need to be aware of before I travel?

Many thanks for any tips and advice.

Cat.

[webfact]

Eastern Burma: the Darfur of SE Asia
By Jim Pollard
The Nation


Refugees in the border camps have passed another milestone as the long-running crisis in Burma drags on.

Thailand has been hit by the negative impacts from wars and civil strife in neighbouring countries for years, and that pattern shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
Waves of refugees arrived following the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975 and the advent of communist governments there and in Laos and Cambodia. The situation worsened when hundreds of thousands of Cambodians poured over the eastern border in 1979 after the Vietnamese army swept the horrific Khmer Rouge regime from power in Phnom Penh.
The humanitarian crisis that suddenly swamped Sa Kaew province dragged on for over a decade before a peace settlement in Paris opened the door for Cambodian refugees to return home in the early 90s as a UN peacekeeping force arrived to oversee a much-touted election.

In the midst of that high-profile saga, a much smaller influx of refugees crossed into northern Thailand from eastern Burma. About 10,000 mainly ethnic Karen fled into Tak province after clashes in their home state in 1984.
Members of a committee of international groups supporting Indochinese refugees agreed to go to Mae Sot to help deal with the Burmese influx. Few thought the problem would last. However, massive rallies against the Ne Win dictatorship in Rangoon in 1988 led to a bloody crackdown and an even more brutal military regime, whose methods have slowly transformed eastern Burma - if not the entire country - into another humanitarian tragedy.

The scale of the trauma flared in the mid-90s when the junta reinforced its military campaign against ethnic armies on its eastern frontier. The fall of Manerplaw and other rebel bases in early 1995 was followed by vast forced relocations of villages and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.
Thailand saw a huge influx of refugees. In 1994, there were 80,000 refugees in 30 small camps. But the massive and ruthless relocation of villagers in Karen state - who faced summary execution, forced labour and portering (often through minefields) - spurred a continued exodus to Thailand.

Cross-border raids on some camps - seen as harbouring rebel fighters - forced Thai authorities to consolidate the camps in areas less vulnerable to attack. By mid-1997 there were 115,000 refugees in nine camps and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was invited to provide protection services (as Thailand has never signed the UN Convention on Refugees).
The gradual militarisation and takeover of ethnic territory - and the serious risks and difficulty in reaching areas targeted for suppression by the Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) has meant the crisis in eastern Burma has been little reported by both the Thai and international media.

But the chaos and brutality persists. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), the biggest of about 20 NGOs providing services to refugees in border camps, run by the Ministry of Interior and refugee committees, has been monitoring the crisis zone for years. It says more than 3,500 villages and hiding sites in eastern Burma have been destroyed or forcibly relocated since 1996, including 120 communities between August 2008 and July 2009.
"The scale of displaced villages is comparable to Darfur and has been recognised as the strongest single indicator of crimes against humanity in eastern Burma. At least 75,000 people were forced to leave their homes this past year, and more than half a million remain internally displaced," it said in a recent statement.

"The highest rates of recent displacement were reported in northern Karen areas and southern Shan State. Almost 60,000 Karen are hiding in the mountains of Kyaukgyi, Thandaung and Papun townships, and a third of these fled from artillery attacks or the threat of Burmese Army patrols during the past year.
"Similarly, nearly 20,000 civilians from 30 Shan villages were forcibly relocated by the Burmese Army in retaliation for Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) operations in Laikha, Mong Kung and Keh Si townships."

The relentless repression and deliberate targeting of civilians - under the notorious "Four Cuts" policy to cut off food, funds, information and support to the rebels - has reached a point where eastern Burma is now seen as Southeast Asia's "new Killing Fields".
Calls for Burma's top generals to be dragged before an international court for crimes against humanity have grown louder and more frequent in recent years.

But while former heads of Khmer Rouge face trial in Phnom Penh, the junta is happily ensconsed in its new capital Napyidaw, buttressed by billions from its gas pipeline to Thailand and unburdened by ties with China and Asean, both of which adhere to policies of non-interference.
All of Burma's neighbours have suffered an influx of refugees, particularly ethnic groups oppressed by the Tatmadaw's violence. Thailand, at least, has wealthy allies, such as the US, Europe, Australia and Canada, who help care for the refugees.

Some 16 foreign governments plus international aid groups support TBBC - a small, efficient outfit that manages nine camps from Kanchanaburi right up to Mae Hong Son. It provides food and shelter to about 150,000 refugees, an operation that cost about Bt1.2 billion (US$35 million) last year.

Over the past five years more than 50,000 refugees have been resettled abroad, mainly in the US, but a similar number has flooded in to replace them. The Interior Ministry is interviewing these recent arrivals to determine if they are genuine refugees or opportunists seeking a new life in the West.

TBBC executive director Jack Dunford has the daunting task of getting funds from international donors, who have been calling for Thailand to allow the refugees to work and be more self-reliant. Moves are slowly being made in that direction with the help of UNHCR and IOM.
TBBC has faced tough times in recent years, with the price of rice soaring in 2008 and a push by some donors to give more aid directly into Burma, which receives little humanitarian assistance because of the onerous restrictions it places on aid groups.

Small rises in three uncontrollable factors - exchange rates, the price of rice and refugee numbers - "can suddenly add millions" to their costs, but there is also huge international goodwill.
"It is remarkable that we've been able to do what we've done for 25 years and that is thanks to the incredible support we've had," Dunford said.
The Englishman said, after a quarter of a century, he and his colleagues have much to be proud of.
"We have never in 25 years failed to give the refugees a full food basket, whereas all over the world refugees are getting partial rations."


-- The Nation 2009/12/9

[LaoPo]

Burma 'executing whistle-blowers'

 BBC_47058764_tunnel5_dvb.jpg   26.42K   1 downloads The tunnels are said to be large enough to accommodate heavy vehicles


Two Burmese officials have been sentenced to death for leaking details of secret government visits to North Korea and Russia, the BBC has learned.

The officials were also found guilty of leaking information about military tunnels allegedly built in Burma by North Korea, a source in Burma said.

A third person was jailed for 15 years, the source added.

The military rulers in Burma (Myanmar) have so far made no public comments on the case.

The source told BBC Burmese that Win Naing Kyaw, a former army major, and Thura Kyaw, a clerk at the European desk of Burma's foreign ministry, had been sentenced to death by a court in Rangoon on Thursday.

They were found guilty of leaking information about government visits to North Korea and Russia, which reportedly took place in 2008 and 2006.

The two men were also convicted of leaking details of a network of tunnels reportedly being built in Burma.

It is thought the tunnels were built to house communications systems, possible weapons factories and troops in the event of an invasion.

The third man, Pyan Sein, was given 15 years in prison on Thursday.

Burma still has capital punishment, but it has not carried out executions in recent years.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia...fic/8446462.stm

Published: 2010/01/07 15:45:28 GMT


LaoPo

[sabaijai]

Burma 'to free Aung San Suu Kyi in November' after 20 years

Burma's military government is contemplating the release of the country’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, at the end of the year, but only after the anticipated date of national elections, according to reports from Rangoon.

The Burmese Home Affairs Minister, Maung Oo, said that Ms Suu Kyi will be released in November, according to witnesses quoted by Reuters new agency. He is said to have made the announcement in a speech last Thursday in the town of Kyaukpadaung in central Burma, and also to have promised the release of Tin Woo, another long term political prisoner and leader of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

Mr Maung Oo’s speech was not reported in the country’s heavily controlled state media, and foreign diplomats in Rangoon have been unable to confirm it. But the report comes at a time of increasing speculation about the promised elections, the first since the NLD won a huge majority in 1990.

Despite that overwhelming result the ruling military dictatorship refused to yield power, and has confined Ms Suu Kyi to jail or house arrest for 14 of the 20 years since then. Human rights groups and many Burmese are convinced that the elections scheduled for this year will be fixed to ensure the success of military candidates and that they are little more than a ploy aimed at improving the political legitimacy of one of the world’s most hated regimes.

The new constitution was drawn up without consultation with the Ms Suu Kyi and her party, and guarantees a large number of parliamentary seats to military factions. On the other hand, the Government needs the NLD to participate in the elections to give them a semblance of credibility.

The NLD, for its part, is debating whether to take part or not. Some of its members argue that it should not lend legitimacy to an illegitimate process, others that even imperfect elections are better than no elections at all. The Government may be hoping that by holding out the early release of Me Tin Oo and the later release of Ms Suu Kyi, it will tempt the NLD to take part.

“Since 2003 regime officials have regularly dropped hints that Aung San Suu Kyi will be released — not once have they been true,” said Mark Farmaner of the Burma Campaign UK. “It is all part of the game they play with the international community to avoid pressure. But just in case, we are booking the flying pigs in November for a celebratory fly-past over the Burmese embassy.”

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle7001853.ece

[brahmburgers]

If Ms Aung San Suu Kyi gets freed, she can come and be my honored guest, and stay for free at my beautiful property in Chiang Rai. She can have her own abode on the secluded 5 view acres, with only one other house (farang owned) visible, and no other houses within a 600 meter radius.

But, quite surely, if she gets freed she'll want to remain in her home country. And just as surely, the military will watch over her like wild dogs watching a wounded lamb. And no one will be surprised if, soon after getting free, she'll be arrested again on some trumped up ridiculous charge.

Incidentally, there's a Burmese state TV channel is the default channel on my satelite TV service, so sometimes when I turn on the TV, I watch it for a few minutes. Nearly all the coverage is of dams and bridges and other such large infrastructure (mostly bridges) that's apparently just been built. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but for me it just adds to the sadness of Burma. I don't know exactly why, but I feel a kinship with the country and its people. I've been to Burma about 100 times, but only once for more than a week. Each day I spend in Burma is an adventure. Any direction you pick, you can just go wandering, and interesting things will happen.

Compared to Thais, the Burmese are more like gypsies, more diverse personalities, and not as straight laced and always worried about others' judgments. They're also not as encumbered (as Thais) by always having to do the correct thing according to cultural dictates. Sure there are culturally correct ways to do things in Burma, but it's not a lock-step obsession as it is in Thailand. Another way to put it: Burmese are more like hippies, whereas Thais are more like Catholics. Plus, most Burmese aren't inculterated by Mall mentality and aren't overly fixated on the plethora of vanity commercial products that Thais feel they have to have, like skin-whitening cream.

Sure, I'm generalizing, but that's just why it's always a relief for me to take a break from Thailand and spend some time in Burma.

[moe666]

Those bas---d generals are using the entire country as their personal atm. I have friends in Yangon hard working people who donot deserve what is happening to them and the rest of the country.