Myanmar Activity Linkage

A group of women who regularly brave Burma's military spies to pray for detained opposition heroine Aung San Suu Kyi gave food to Buddhist monks Wednesday, after being banned from the country's famous Shwedagon Pagoda.

The group, lead by the former head of the women's wing of the National League for Democracy, Daw Naw Ohn Hla, made the religious and political gesture at the prominent Tha-tha-na-gon-ye monastery of Abbot Sayadaw U Zawana in Bahan Township Yangon.

Political activists have regularly prayed for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi at the Shwedagon that dominates the Yangon skyline since July 2004. The popular opposition leader has been confined to her house after a group of militia and thugs ambushed her cavalcade in May 2004. Aside from rare foreign visitors she has been isolated and apparently, at times, ill.

The prayers were previously held in the Tuesday corner of the Shwedagon because that is the day Suu Kyi was born. The pagoda's authorities recently banned 'political prayers' at the Tuesday hall and loudspeakers around the temple warn visitors not to engage in political activities.

Suu Kyi has been the focal point of the opposition to the military that has ruled since a 1962 coup. Her NLD party won a 1990 election by a landslide, which was ignored by the ruling generals.

The regime has arrested student leaders engaged in the 'prayers for peace' campaign and last month temporarily detained activists who attempted to pray at the Shwedagon.
Burma's police chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi said last month that activists were exploiting the country's sacred places for political reasons.

Suu Kyi has notably attempted to win the moral high ground with righteous behavior and self-sacrifice in her campaign to move Myanmar towards democracy. The ruling generals have countered by building and restoring Buddhist temples.
news.monstersandcritics.com

Posted by 020 at 4:50 AM | Permalink | Comments

Myanmar's military rulers adjourned a constitution-drafting convention on Friday which is expected to reconvene for its final session next May, delegates said.
Convention convener Lieutenant-General Thein Sein told the 1,000-plus delegates, most of them handpicked by the junta, they would resume their work at "a time convenient for all," one delegate said.
"Although he did not say exactly when, it is understood that the convention will resume in May next year for the last session," the delegate told Reuters.
The junta, which has run the former Burma under various guises since 1962, says the convention is key to a seven-stage "roadmap to democracy" laid out in 2003 by former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who was ousted in October 2004.
Western governments, analysts and diplomats say it is nothing but a smokescreen to preserve the generals' grip on power, especially while opposition figures such as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remain under house arrest.
Critics point to a key objective of the convention which ensures a "leadership role" for the army in politics.
The military started the national convention process in early 1993 but never committed to a schedule to conclude the exercise boycotted by major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
The United States said on Thursday it would renew efforts early next year to pass a U.N. Security Council resolution to prod the junta to allow greater freedom and improve human rights.
"We remain concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian and political situation in Burma, which poses a threat to stability in the region," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington.
The United States has repeatedly pledged to ask the Security Council to take action on Myanmar, but has not yet introduced a promised draft resolution.
Russia, a permanent member of the 15-nation council with veto power, and others on the council have argued that Myanmar did not constitute an international threat to peace and security, which is the council's mandate under the U.N. Charter.

Posted by 020 at 4:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

Poppy trade is flourishing in Myanmar, thanks to the activities of a rebel group that has the support of the country's military regime, a media report said.
It is boom time for cultivation and production of poppy as prospective buyers from other states have been gathering in western Myanmar.
Though intravenous drugs are particularly popular in northeastern India, opium abuse is equally prevalent in the region. The sale of raw opium grown in Cikha sub-township near India's Manipur state is on the rise, the Mizzima News reported.
The United Wa Army (UWA), under ceasefire terms, has entered the local market under the protection of the military junta, the anti-military news service said.
Shipment of the contraband is done mostly by the army vehicles, while free transportation is arranged by the rebel group. Four to seven cadres of the UWA stay regularly in Cikha and buy raw opium and cam with the help of the Myanmar Army, the report said.
The group monitors harvesting and collection of opium and makes purchases for the year. Raw opium is collected thrice annually.
Between September and November, the UWA bought more than 150 kg of raw opium from Cikha, while around 12,795 kg was sold from Tedim township in Chin state between May and August.
The UWA pays Kyat 100, 000 for 1.5 kg in the local market. There are around 20 poppy fields - three acres on an average in the 30 villages surrounding Cikha - and around 87 acres of land under poppy cultivation in Tedim.
www.hindustantimes.com

Posted by 020 at 4:41 AM | Permalink | Comments

EU to provide more humanitarian aid to Myanmar

The European Union (EU) has pledged another humanitarian aid of 2 million U.S. dollars to Myanmar through the World Bank, a local weekly reported Thursday.
The EU aid, pledged by EU Minister Counselor (Health and Food Safety) Patrick Deboyser during a recent visit to Myanmar, will be used for health and livestock-related projects in the country, the Khit Myanmar quoted Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Brigadier- General Maung Maung Thein as saying.
According to the Yangon-based European Commission, EU extended 8 million euros or 10.48 million dollars' humanitarian aid to Myanmar in 2006 and has drawn an aid program to Myanmar for 2007 with regard to the social sector.
Earlier reports said that the EU has allotted 40 million euros' aid to Myanmar for use in the latter's education and health sectors for a period of seven years between 2007 and 2013.
As of the end of 2004, the EU had extended 11.65 million euros to the country, according to the European Commission.
Source: Xinhua
www.english.people.com.cn

Posted by 020 at 4:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

Slovenia has established diplomatic relations with Myanmar, the country in southeastern Asia formerly known as Burma. The documents to that effect were exchanged at the headquarters of Slovenia's mission in New York on Monday, 18 December by Ambassador Roman Kirn and his Burmese counterpart Kyaw Tint Swe. In the brief meeting on the occasion, Ambassador Kirn informed his opposite number of Slovenia's preparation for EU presidency in the first half of 2008, and provided him with general information about the Slovenian economy. Ambassador Tint Swe also talked about the state of Myanmar's economy, noting that it expanded by 13% last year. The ambassadors agreed their countries had the potential to boost economic cooperation.
Source: Slovene Press Agency STA

Posted by 020 at 4:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

Thousands of friends and some foes of Myanmar's ethnic Karen rebel movement paid their respects on Tuesday at the funeral of veteran guerrilla leader Bo Mya, held along the Myanmar-Thai border.

The Christian ceremony was held at the rebel's Mu Aye Pu camp, 600 km (370 miles) north of Yangon, with 3,000 people, including a small delegation of Myanmar troops and Thai soldiers, paying homage from dawn.

"He is our hero and warrior who had served the Karen people until his last day," General Mutu Saepo of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) said in a speech, which was followed by a salute fired from M-16 rifles. Bo Mya, whose Karen National Union (KNU) has waged guerrilla war against the central government since 1949, died on Saturday in a Thai hospital near the border after suffering from diabetes, heart disease and having been wheelchair bound for several years.

The KNU and its armed wing, the KNLA, have been fighting the central government in Yangon since the year after the country, then called Burma, won independence from Britain.
The coffin of Bo Mya, who died at the age of 79, was interred in a concrete structure on a small sand hill on the Myanmar side of the Moei river, which marks the border with Thailand.
Exiled Myanmar political dissidents and Karen civilians crossed the river from Thailand to attend the funeral. Despite the death of Bo Mya, the KNU's struggling for autonomy would continue, a key rebel official told Reuters.

"KNU objectives remain the same. Nothing changes," said Colonel Nerdah Mya, a son of Bo Mya and a battalion commander.

"If they want to continue to talk the ceasefire talks, we will. But if they don't, we will continue to fight on." After seizing power in 1988 from another set of generals, Myanmar's current military rulers signed cease-fires or peace pacts with about two dozen ethnic minority guerrilla groups in the country's jungle hinterlands.

from www.chinapost.com

Posted by 020 at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

A total of 579,473 foreign tourists have visited Myanmar this year as of the second week of this month, generating more revenue through tourism compared with the same period of last year, sources with the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism said Tuesday.
The earning gained as of Dec. 11 was 101.7 million U.S. dollars and 3.87 billion Kyats (about 3.07 million dollars), up from 98.85 million dollars and 3.77 billion Kyats (about 2.9 million dollars), the sources said.
Of the main tourist arrivals so far in 2006, 19,747 were from Thailand, up from 16,647 in the same period of 2005, while 13,855 were from South Korea, also up from 7,228 correspondingly, it said, attributing the growth to the increase of frequency of flights of the Thai Airways International and chartered flights operating from South Korea since earlier this year.
During the same period, the number of travelers from China also went up to 10,244 from 8,550.
Tourist arrivals in Myanmar rose in the past five years from 475,106 in 2001 to 660,206 in 2005 and a target was set to absorb one million into the country this year.
According to the ministry's statistics, there are 596 hotels, motels and guest houses in Myanmar providing a total of over 18, 500 rooms. The number of travel agencies in operation stands at over 500.
Contracted foreign investment in hotels and tourism has so far amounted to 1.06 billion dollars since Myanmar started to open to such investment in late 1988. The investment in hotel projects amounted to over 580 million dollars.

http://english.people.com.cn

Posted by 020 at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

A veteran leader of Myanmar's ethnic Karen rebel movement, which is fighting one of the world's longest-running insurgencies, has died aged 79, rebel officials said on Sunday.

General Bo Mya, whose Karen National Union (KNU) has waged guerrilla war against the central government since 1949, died late on Saturday in a Thai hospital near the border of eastern Myanmar, a senior KNU official told Reuters.

"He passed away after suffering from several diseases so severe that he could not walk for three years," said the official, who declined to be named.
KNU general secretary Mhan Sa La Pah said the funeral would probably take place on December 26 in a Karen stronghold near the Thai border. "General Bo Mya died last night. His condition got worse in the last two days. He couldn't eat and had a sore throat. We had planned to move him to a hospital in Bangkok," Man Sa La Pah said.

Bo Mya suffered from diabetes and heart disease, and had been wheelchair-bound for several years.

The KNU official said the leader's death would have no impact on the group's fight for autonomy for the Karen, a predominantly Christian ethnic minority in eastern Myanmar, the official said.

"KNU objectives are the same. Nothing changes," he said.

The KNU and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), have been fighting the central government in Yangon since the year after what was then called Burma won independence from Britain.

After seizing power in 1988 from another set of generals, Myanmar's current military rulers signed ceasefires or peace pacts with around two dozen ethnic guerrilla groups in the country's jungle hinterlands.

The KNU reached an informal cease-fire with the junta in December 2003 after talks brokered by then military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, with whom Bo Mya once said he had a good rapport.

But a formal peace deal was never signed. Khin Nyunt was ousted in October 2004 and fighting resumed.

LIFELONG GUERRILLA
Born in the Papun hills of Karen State in eastern Myanmar around 1927, Bo Mya served with the British and then became an active member of the anti-Japanese resistance in the Second World War.

It is from these roots that the Karen independence movement was born.

As an able field commander, Bo Mya rose quickly through the ranks in the 1950s and 1960s as ideological differences between the top political leaders threatened to tear the movement apart.

A committed Christian and staunch anti-communist, he was responsible for remodelling the KNU in his own image at the height of the Cold War in southeast Asia with the help of right-wing military governments in neighbouring Thailand.

from Reuters

Posted by 020 at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

A veteran leader of the Karen rebel movement in Myanmar, fighting one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies, has died aged 79, a rebel official said yesterday.General Bo Mya, whose Karen National Union (KNU) has waged guerrilla war against the central government since 1949, died late on Saturday in a Thai hospital near the border of eastern Myanmar, a senior KNU official told Reuters.

“He passed away after suffering from several diseases so severe that he could not walk for three years,” said the official, who declined to be named.

Bo Mya suffered from diabetes and heart disease.

The KNU official said the leader’s death would have no impact on its fight for autonomy for the Karen people in eastern Myanmar, the official said. “KNU objectives are the same. Nothing changes,” he said.–Reuters

Posted by 020 at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution expressing ``grave concern'' over persistent human rights violations in Myanmar, particularly violence against minorities.


The resolution, which came in response to a U.N. special investigator's report, called on Myanmar to end the atrocities it has perpetrated in its yearlong efforts to suppress an insurgency in the country's Karen province.

In the resolution adopted Friday night, the assembly asked the military government to ``end the systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Myanmar.''

It also called on the government ``to take urgent measures to put an end to the military operations targeting civilians in the ethnicareas, and the associated violations,'' including the recruitment of child soldiers and the use of torture.

from thenews.com

Posted by 020 at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

India is likely to make a fresh demand before Myanmar for crackdown on northeast insurgent groups operating from that country when Myanmarese Home Minister Maj Gen Maung Oo meets his Indian counterpart Shivraj Patil here on December 21.

The demand is expected to be made at a meeting between Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the visiting delegate on December 21, sources in the Home Ministry said on Tuesday.

They said that New Delhi is likely to take the opportunity to impress upon Myanmar about the need to launch a drive against the insurgents.

In the past too, India has utilised talks at the Home Secretary level to discuss issues like security, border management, trade, drugs and smuggling besides free movement of people and release of prisoners.

Sources in the security establishment say insurgent groups like United Nationalist Liberation Front (UNLF) and People's Liberation Army (PLA) operate from across the border.

India has also been raising the issue of shifting of boundary pillars in Ukhrool and Chandel districts of Manipur allegedly by the Myanmarese army, a charge denied by Yangon.

India shares 1,643km border with Myanmar and Arunachal Pradesh alone accounts for 520km followed by Mizoram 510 km.

Manipur shares 398km of its boundary with Myanmar and Nagaland another 258 km.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is building a 151-km long Tamu-Kalemyo-Kalewa road in Myanmar and it is likely to offer to maintain the road.

India and Myanmar have a pact for maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas under which Home Secretaries of both countries meet once annually.

Posted by 020 at 2:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

The Gas Authority of India (GAIL) has submitted its bid to the government of Myanmar for purchase of gas from Shwe & Shwe Phyu fields in A-1 block and Mya field in A-3 block, report agency sources.

The Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dinsha Patel, said that the government of Myanmar has intimated GAIL (Q, N,C,F)* that they were reviewing their decision to sell this gas through the pipeline route.

He added that while exploring other options of selling the gas Myanmar had asked for a bid for 3.5 MMTPA of liquefied natural gas. GAIL has planned the import of natural gas from Myanmar through onland pipeline from Myanmar via the north-eastern states of the country.

For evacuation of gas from Myanmar, GAIL has completed a detailed feasibility report, an environment management plan and rapid risk analysis study.

The length of the possible pipeline from Myanmar border to Gaya (Bihar) is about 1,573 kms. and the project cost is estimated at Rs. 85 billion. The pipeline is slated to be routed through Mizoram, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.

The minister also said that the operation, maintenance and monitoring of such pipelines is ensured through supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Sectionalized valve (SV) stations and intermediate pigging (IP) stations of such pipelines are monitored continuously.

The shares of the company were trading at Rs 253.60, up Rs 6.20, or 2.51% at the BSE (Wednesday 10.20 am.)

Posted by 020 at 1:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

Myanmar is reportedly planning to build an airport for the tourism-business-booming beach resort of Ngwesaung in the country´s southwestern division of Ayeyawaddy, to facilitate local and foreign travelers.

Recently, it was shared that Myanmar´s Yangon International Airport, which is under extension, would have the capacity of accommodating larger aircraft such as Boeing-747 on completion. The new airport on completion can also handle about 2.7 million passengers a year against the present 500,000.

Ngwesaung´s silvery beach, about 30 miles from the town of Pathein, stretches for nine miles from Zee-Maw Village in the north to Majee-Maw Village in the south with its scenic and occasionally rocky shoreline, all set against a backdrop of tropical rain forests and the towering Rakhine mountain range.

According to a Xinhua report, the number of tourists coming to Ngwesaung has exceeded that arriving at the five-kilometer Ngapali beach resort, which lies on the western Rakhine coast near Thandwe and traditionally attracted the largest number of travelers in the past. The report added that once the airport is built, the Ngwesaung beach resort will become the second which is accessible by air after Ngapali. Following Ngapali and Ngwesaung, the two-kilometer Chaungtha, which is also in the Ayeyawaddy division, stands as the third beach resort in Myanmar that invited large number of visitors.

Tourist arrivals in Myanmar increased annually in the past five years registering at 660,206 in the fiscal year of 2005-06 which ended in March, up from 656,000 in 2004-05, 590,000 in 2003-04 and about 470,000 in 2002-03 and 2001-02 respectively," reported Xinhua.

In the first seven months of 2006-07 which began in April, 7,000 tourists visited the Ngwesaung beach resort, while 2,700 Chaungtha and 1,500 Ngapali. The statistics also show that Ngwesaung beach resort has 21 hotels with 800 rooms, while Chaungtha 14 with 300 rooms and Ngapali 12 with 200 rooms.

Posted by 020 at 1:49 AM | Permalink | Comments

Myanmar's military government on Monday rejected claims by the UN's labour agency that there was forced labour in the country, saying the practice was wiped out 16 years ago.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) last month decided to bring its concerns about forced labour here before the UN Security Council and international courts in The Hague after years of frustration over the junta's inaction.

But Myanmar's deputy labour minister Major General Aung Kyi told a rare press conference that the practice had been practically wiped out after 1990.

Before then, he said, armed conflicts with ethnic insurgent groups had led to "labour contribution" -- meaning forced labour.

"What is unusual here is that ILO has never made any complaint before 1990 when a host of labour contributions were used," he said.

"But now they are crying out at a time when there is practically no forced labour."

The ILO has been trying for almost a decade to get Myanmar's government to crack down on forced labour, but a mission to the country ended in October at an impasse on how to respond to complaints of forced labour.

The labour agency had attempted to set up a "credible mechanism" to deal with complaints and to guarantee the protection of plaintiffs.

Posted by 020 at 1:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

Myanmar (Burmese) authorities on Sunday arrested three democracy activists who attempted to organize a ceremony marking International Human Rights' Day, effectively squashing the rare show of dissent.

"U Myint Aye and two others were arrested at 9:00 a.m. local time at Bogalay Township, and then released around 1:00 p.m.," said Mar Ky, a spokesman for the 88 Generation Students Group, a dissident group committed to peaceful resistance against Myanmar's military regime that has ruled the country since crushing student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988.

Myint Aye, a member of the former students' group, planned to draw 100 people to Bogalay, Irrawaddy Division, to commemorate international human rights' day Sunday in Myanmar, a country whose rulers are notorious worldwide for their human rights' abuses.

The peaceful show of defiance was silenced by the swift arrests of Myint Aye and two other leaders an hour before the ceremony was scheduled to begin, Mar Ky said in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The three were quickly released after the ceremony was cancelled.

Myint Aye was previously arrested on September 28 after he publicly complained about the regime's detention of 88 Generation Students leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe.

He was released in the second week of November.
The 88 Generation Students Group has carried out several non-violent protest campaigns in recent months including a signature gathering effort to petition for the freedom of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and nationwide prayer sessions calling for a resolution of the country's political impasse.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, when former strongman General Ne Win seized power. A new lineup of generals took control in 1988 after a brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy movement that left thousands dead.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, when former strongman General Ne Win seized power. A new lineup of generals took control in 1988 after a brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy movement that left thousands dead.

The regime has ignored the outcome of a 1990 general election that should have brought the victorious party, the National League of Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, to power 16 years ago. Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest, where she languishes now, for about 11 of the past 17 years.© 2006 DPA

Posted by 020 at 4:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - An Indian offer of military equipment, including helicopters, to the reclusive military regime in Myanmar could be used against civilians and rebels, and fuel abuses, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

"It is shocking a democracy like India would offer military assistance to Burma's brutal military dictatorship, which is likely to use that assistance against the civilian population," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

New Delhi, which is jockeying with Beijing for strategic influence in Myanmar, made an offer to sell its indigenously made advanced light helicopters -- that can be used as gunships -- during a visit by Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi last month.

India's air force also offered avionics while the army has said it was ready to provide training for Myanmar troops.

"The Burmese government's record shows that these weapons and special training are used as tools of repression, not of defence," Adams said in a statement.

"India may think it has to compete with China to cultivate good relations in the region, but this is going too far."

India, which shares a 1,600 km (1,000 mile) border with Myanmar, already provided Islander transport and surveillance aircraft in August, despite objections from Britain which manufactured the planes.

Britain is part of a European Union arms embargo on the junta in Myanmar.

New Delhi has also supplied artillery to the regime which Washington calls an "outpost of tyranny".

An Indian official said India was trying to boost its ties with Myanmar as part of its "Look East' strategy and that it did not foresee military supplies to its neighbour being used for "offensive" purposes.

Human Rights Watch said it was "particularly alarmed" that India was offering military supplies to Myanmar's military which is fighting separatist rebels of the Karen community, the country's largest ethnic minority.

India's engagement with Myanmar attracts little criticism at home, and is defended by strategic affairs experts as necessary given the perceived threat from China.

Western democracies such as the United States also make tactical alliances with military leaders like Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, analysts in New Delhi said.

"Engaging does not necessarily mean endorsement," C. Uday Bhaskar of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses said.

"The reality is that given the very complex geo-political and security environment that the Indian periphery represents, prudence warrants that India engages in with its neighbours."

New Delhi has called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader, and says it would welcome moves by the regime to reintroduce multi-party democracy.

from reuters

Posted by 020 at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

Fourteen executives from seven South Korean defense firms have been indicted by prosecutors for illegally selling factory equipment and technology to the government of Myanmar. The materials were to be used for the construction of a munitions plant.

The Seoul District Prosecutor's Office indicted officials at Daewoo International, Doosan Infracore, and five other companies on Wednesday. It also issued an arrest warrant for Yang Jae-sin, former president of Daewoo Machinery, now known as Doosan Infracore. Yang is believed to be in the United States.

"The Korean government prohibits the exportation of arms equipment and technology to Myanmar," said prosecutor Lee Geon-ju. "This is the first time we have exposed a case in which individuals exported an entire arms plant project, including factory materials, equipment, and technology."

In May 2002, Daewoo International signed a US$133.38 million contract with Myanmar arms industry officials to participate in the construction of a factory and the transfer of technology that would allow the Southeast Asian country to produce tens of thousands of six varieties of cannon shells a year. As of October 2005, Daewoo had exported close to 480 pieces of equipment and parts to Myanmar. The company was also found to have been training Myanmar citizens by having some of them come to Korea and by sending Korean technical experts to Myanmar for on-site training.

The other companies under investigation were subcontracted by Daewoo to help provide the technology sent to Myanmar.

According to Prosecutor Lee, 90 percent of the factory has been completed and the Korean companies have received 90 percent of their payment.

"The contract was written to look like these companies were exporting regular machinery," said Lee. "These companies used code words like 'owner's hose' for the Myanmar defense ministry and 'rice container' for factory." He noted that money was transferred into personal bank accounts instead of corporate accounts, and that the plans for the cannon ammunitions plant appear to have been stolen by a 55-year-old individual who worked at the Korean defense ministry's Agency for Defense Development, which is how investigators think the information for the operation was passed to Myanmar.

An official at Daewoo International told reporters that "no one knows how ammunitions production equipment got exported."

The prosecution presumes that the deal was likely struck at the request of Myanmar's government, with which Daewoo had contact through other technology and natural resources ventures.

According to prosecutors, the National Intelligence Service learned of a leak in ammunitions manufacturing technology last August and began investigating with the cooperation of the Defense Security Command.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

from http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/176719.html

Posted by 020 at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

A documentary by a Toronto filmmaker has received the people's choice award for best feature film at the Whistler Film Festival.

Mystic Balltraces Greg Hamilton's journey into the culture of Myanmar and its traditional pastime, chinlone, a combination of sport and dance in which players pass a ball back and forth with their feet and knees as they walk around a circle.

The White Planet, a documentary on the fragile and threatened world of the Arctic, earned first runner-up, while Sarah Polley's Away From Her was second runner-up.

The festival said in a news release that 41 feature and mid-length films and 53 shorts were screened over four days. The total attendance exceeded 5,500 — up 15 per cent from last year, according to the festival.

Stéphane Lapointe's The Secret Life of Happy People won the $15,000 prize for best new Canadian feature film in the Borsos competition — named in honour of legendary Canadian filmmaker Phillip Borsos — which recognizes works that embody the spirit of independent filmmaking in Canada.

The film follows the Dufresnes, a perfect family until a young woman named Audrey shows up.
Catherine de Lean, who plays Audrey, received the $500 Borsos best actress award, while Andrew W. Walker was named best actor in the competition for his portrayal of a neo-Nazi skinhead in Steel Toes.

from http://www.cbc.ca/

Posted by 020 at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

The ruling military junta declares infection under control but experts dismiss government figures as underestimating real picture and unreliable. Lack of funding and inadequate information prevent more efficient handling of the problem. There are concerns that the disease might spread to neighbouring states.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Myanmar is heading towards an HIV epidemic that might spread to its neighbours, especially China, this according to experts who have challenged the ruling military government’s rosy forecast.




Officially the HIV infection rate has dropped. Figures for 2005 indicate that it fell to 1.3 per cent of those aged 15 to 49, or about 350,000 people, from 2.2 per cent five years earlier. Among pregnant women, the rate has remained steady at about 1.5 per cent in urban areas throughout the decade. The situation in rural towns and villages is hard to gauge because the public health-care system itself is in a critical condition, struggling to function on meagre funding. And there are concurrent reasons for grave concern. Among people aged 15-24, the infection rate is a high 2.2 per cent. Many experts agree for example that the official figures are not reliable for the lack of monitoring tools, shoestring budgets and the ruling junta’s obsession with secrecy over health care data.

Chinese Health Ministry officials said in November that Myanmar's infection rate is probably four or five times what their data indicate

“I think what we can say for now is that [Myanmar's] figures are likely a very significant underestimate, and the true numbers of infected individuals is much, much higher,” said Dr Voravit Suwanvanichkij, an epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Chiang Mai.

“The folks at John Hopkins recently published an estimate that [the Myanmar government] spent less than US$50,000 [on countering HIV and AIDS] in the last year,” said Laurie Garret, Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. But “I've heard other folks say that through secondary mechanisms such as the UN that it might be up to $2 million nationwide.”International money, medics and experts brought in to the reclusive country to track and combat its HIV/AIDS problem have recently been called back, apparently because of the military government's suspicions that foreign aid workers were too sympathetic toward the political opposition. For instance, in August 2005, the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria cancelled its US $37.5 million programme in Myanmar, blaming tight government restrictions on its movements that made working nearly impossible. Medecins Sans Frontieres pulled out of the country's war-torn Karen and Mon states last March for similar reasons. In November, the International Committee of the Red Cross was ordered to close all its offices outside of Yangon. Similarly, local non governmental groups trying to prevent infections and care for sufferers are often harassed by security forces.

This means that unless Myanmar’s “epidemic is confronted and there is a real aggressive campaign, then the whole region will continue to receive new strains of HIV, part of the fluid movement of the black market across southern Asia in drugs, sex and labour,” said Garrett. (PB)

form aisainews.it

Posted by 020 at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

Philippine National Police and Marines inspect a vehicle at a checkpoint near the venue for the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu City.

Myanmar Prime Minister General Soe Win will attend the upcoming 12th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a series of ASEAN-related summits to be held in Cebu, the Philippines, said an official announcement here Wednesday without mentioning the date of his attendance.

The ASEAN summit, scheduled for Dec. 11 to 13, will also be attached with the 3rd Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) Summit, ASEAN-China Summit, ASEAN-Japan Summit, ASEAN-Korea Summit, ASEAN-India Summit and 2nd East Asia Summit.

Soe Win is expected to brief the summits on Myanmar's latest development and its policy, separately meet with some leaders of ASEAN members and other dialogue partners on the sideline of the summits, and have bilateral talks with them.

The 11th ASEAN Summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in December last year.

Myanmar, as an ASEAN member, is actively taking part in regional cooperation to further its pace in the process of regional integration, while endeavoring to further the development of cooperative ties with other neighbors.

Myanmar was officially admitted into the 10-member regional grouping in July 1997 which also groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua

Posted by 020 at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

Myanmar's junta leader Senior General Than Shwe will again skip the annual leaders' summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Philippines this month, officials said Friday.

Than Shwe informed Philippine officials that he could not attend the 12th ASEAN Summit on December 11-13 on Mactan Island, 600 kilometres south of Manila, because he was preoccupied with Myanmar's national convention for the drafting of a new constitution.

Myanmar would instead be represented by Prime Minister Soe Win in the meetings.

"He sent his regrets and said he cannot attend the meeting because he has to attend to pressing matters in Myanmar," an official, who requested anonymity, said. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo earlier personally invited Than Shwe to attend the summit. The invitation was relayed by Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo when he visited Myanmar in August.

Than Shwe has also skipped previous ASEAN leaders' summit and is usually represented by Soe Win or Foreign Minister U Nyan Win.

Myanmar was supposed to take over the rotating chairmanship of the ASEAN this year, but it backed out amid pressure from ASEAN dialogue partners. The chairmanship was then passed on the Philippines based on ASEAN's alphabetical rotation.

Dialogue partners, such as the United States and the European Union, had threatened to boycott meetings with ASEAN if Myanmar were to host the meetings, citing the military junta's failure to implement genuine democratic reforms.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. They will be joined by representatives from Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India during the summit.

from http://www.playfuls.com/news

Posted by 020 at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

Seven more private magazines and nine more private journals have been granted by the Myanmar authorities for publication and circulation in the country, the local weekly Myanmar Times reported Friday.
The emergence of the new publications has brought the total number of private magazines and journals being sold in the domestic markets to 250 and 200 respectively, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board of the Ministry of Information was quoted as saying.
According to the report, among the journals granted over the past two years, sports journals dominated in number, followed by news journals which carry domestic and international news, news related to arts, children, health and crime.
Myanmar has readjusted its press scrutiny and registration policy by lifting some restrictions previously imposed upon news writing by journals and magazines with the aim of enhancing the development of press society.
According to the ministry which has taken over the duties of the press scrutiny and registration from the Ministry of Home Affairs since February 2005, the publication and distribution of journals and magazines are being continuously granted as long as it conforms to the prescribed policy.
The ministry outlined seven-point press policy for writers to adhere to, which include opening up to reporters of journals and magazines on writing about government departments but be constructive; permitting of writing on domestic and international news quoting foreign media but be in the interest of the nation or be rejected if harming the nation.
The policy permits carrier of translated international news and comments in local media but with assurance that it does not cause disturbances among the nations.
The policy permits writing news on natural disaster but in a confirmed manner.
The number of journals covering domestic news has grown over the past eight years in Myanmar, thanks to market demand and the emergence of more such journals also contributes to the development of journalism, readers said.
Leading news journals include Flower News, Yangon Times, Myanmar Times, Weekly Eleven News, 7-Day News, Kumudra, Khit Myanmar, International Eleven, Voice, 24/7 News, Zaygwet, Internet, Snap Shot and Popular.
Meanwhile, the New Light of Myanmar, both Myanmar and English languages, as well as the Mirror remain as the country's three major state-run dailies acting as the government's mouthpieces.
Other official statistics show that there were a total of over 5,000 printing houses and 759 publishers in Myanmar as of 2005.
More than 9,700 titles of books on various topics were also published.
Source: Xinhua

Posted by 020 at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

With Afghanistan dominating opium production worldwide for the past few years, countries like Myanmar (Burma) have seen their share of global production decline and have been quick to holler to the heavens about how they are fighting the good fight against drugs. But a report from the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) suggests that the Myanmar military is only suppressing opium production among groups with which it is in conflict (like the Shan) while simultaneously protecting growing and trafficking by militias linked to ethnic groups it favors, like the Wa, Lahu and Kachin.
Citing eyewitness accounts and its own forays into the area, SHAN found that such groups have reached a quid pro quo with the military: They help the ruling junta by providing control over their respective territories, and in return, the military leaves their opium business alone. The ethnic militias also provide economic benefits to military leaders, including expensive gifts to officers and their wives.
Opium production in Myanmar has been declining for a decade, and has shrunk from 1,700 tons in 1997 to 680 tons last year. The military junta has used that decline to woo the United Nations and Western countries, who have isolated the Yangon regime because of its repressive policies. But SHAN complains that the figure is misleading. Tough eradication campaigns have been aimed at ethnic enemies of the junta, like the Shan, while ethnic groups allied with the regime have received a free pass.
Now, while Shan peasants have been forcibly relocated or had their crops destroyed, poppy cultivation is spreading among government-favored ethnic groups in the northeast, SHAN reported.

from Drug War Chronicle,

Posted by 020 at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: Myanmar's military junta has denied a U.N. contention that detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi lacks access to her doctors, insisting her health remains good.

"We allow the doctor to visit her once a month or any time she requests it," Police Chief Maj. Gen. Khin Yi told reporters at a press briefing late Wednesday at the country's new capital of Naypyidaw. "She has not yet made any request for the doctor to see her."

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for political affairs, met Suu Kyi for an hour on Nov. 11. Gambari said she seemed "reasonably well" and alert but that she needs more regular medical attention.

Gambari's visit came two months after the U.N. Security Council took the historic step of putting the country on its agenda in September, meaning that Myanmar's ruling junta is subject to greater U.N. scrutiny.

The visit was Gambari's second since May, when he became the first foreigner to see Suu Kyi in two years. Suu Kyi has spent 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly under house arrest.

Suu Kyi, 61, looked gaunt in a rare photo released by the United Nations after her meeting with Gambari.

Suu Kyi's physician, Tin Myo Win, is one of her only connections with the outside world.

Until recently, he was allowed to visit about once a month. However, he was recently quoted as saying that he had not seen her since Aug. 24 because of political developments in the country. He did not elaborate.

He visited her for the first time in nearly three months on Nov. 16 and conducted an ultrasound examination at her request for general checkup during the visit.

Yi confirmed that "the ultrasound results were good and there were no gynecological problems."

Suu Kyi underwent a major operation in September 2003 that other doctors said was a gynecological procedure, and she suffered a stomach ailment in June.

Myanmar's junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement led by Suu Kyi.

In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's party won a landslide election victory.

Since then, Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel peace prize, has been in and out of detention. She is kept in near-solitary confinement at her home and is generally not allowed telephone contact or outside visitors.

from international herald tribune

Posted by 020 at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta has no plans to expel the Red Cross and its closure of the humanitarian agency's five field offices near ethnic conflict areas was temporary, its police chief said.
"If they wanted to withdraw from Myanmar, we wouldn't stop them. This is my personal opinion. However, we do not have any plans or intention to ask them to leave our country," Brigadier-General Khin Yi told Reuters late on Wednesday.
Speaking at a rare news conference in the former Burma's new jungle capital, Nay Pyi Taw, he denied the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had been told to shut its field offices permanently.
"They were asked to suspend their activities temporarily while new rules and regulations governing the functions of foreign organisations are being processed," he said. "Their activities may be in a position to disrupt peace and stability."
The ICRC, forced to suspend visits to political prisoners a year ago, said on Monday the closure of its field offices made it impossible to carry out humanitarian work for those affected by decades of civil war.
Since its independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar has been riven by decades of conflict waged by ethnic militias fighting for regional autonomy.
A major offensive against ethnic Karen guerrillas this year in the east of the country -- where the Red Cross had three of its field offices -- has led to thousands of internal refugees, Karen and international human rights groups say.
Even though Western governments regularly condemn Myanmar for its detention of more than 1,100 prisoners of conscience, Khin Yi denied the junta was holding any political detainees.
"There are those members of political parties who were sent to prison for other criminal offences," he said.
Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 11 of the last 17 years either in prison or under house arrest, was in good health, Khin Yi said, denying reports that the junta had been restricting medical access to the 61-year-old.
"According to the results of the recent check-up by ultrasound ... she is in good health," he said.
Suu Kyi's doctor, who conducted a check-up at her lakeside residence on Nov 16, has refused to comment on the results, citing the need for patient confidentiality.

by reuters

Posted by 020 at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments