Thursday, 29 September, 2011
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Burma’s FM offers olive-branch while Burma Army shelling on ethnic Kachin
By Zin Linn Sep 29, 2011 4:00PM UTC
Burma’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin told the Assembly’s high-level debate on 27 September that his Government has launched a series of political, economic and social reforms aimed at improving the welfare of its people, but uttered lament that these efforts are being hindered by international economic sanctions.
As a signal of ‘national reconsolidation,’ the Government had last month offered an olive branch to all “national race armed groups,” FM Maung Lwin said.
But, while Maung Lwin was delivering an address about his regime’s olive-branch policy towards ethnic armed groups, his government has been launching a major offensive targeting the KIA’s Brigade 4 near the Sino-Burma border.
Maj-Gen Aung Kyaw Zaw, commander of northeastern Shan State regional command, takes charge of driving Kachin rebel troops out of Shan State near the Sino-Burmese border. China’s major oil pipeline which channels the Burma’s Kyaukpyu deep-sea port on Arakan coast in the Bay of Bengal to Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province will pass through central Burma and next to the current conflict zones in Shan State. That will extensively improve China’s energy security while also creating the presence of Chinese ships in India’s eastern backyard.
Kachin rebels are keeping hold of the hilly terrain of both Kachin and northern Shan states where they have launched guerrilla warfare combating the Burma Army for self-determination since 1961.
The four days of heavy fighting between the Burma Army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Burma’s northeast Shan State has produced over 20,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), in line with IDP assistance groups, Kachin News Group reported.
Most IDPs are mothers and their children as well as elderly men and women who are fleeing to nearby towns, churches and the China border, leaving behind their homes, livestock, paddy fields, land and crops, quoting local sources, KNG said.Most schools in the war zone have been closed as Burmese government’s all-out offensive started on Saturday.
Some war-stricken refugees are fleeing to Pangsai and Mongkoe but the victims are prevented from crossing into China by both Burmese police and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and Border Guard Force, referring sources in the two border towns, KNG reported.
As said by IDPs in Kyukok (Pangsai), a large number of IDPs are fleeing from Northern Shan State after government troops fired hundreds of 120 mm mortar rounds daily into the camps and villages in the KIA controlled areas since Saturday.
The on-going civil war in Kachin State between the Burma Army and KIA has intensified since 9 June. Over 30,000 Kachin IDPs have fled to the camps in KIA controlled areas, near the Sino-Burma border as well as to government-controlled towns. Non-Governmental Organizations, churches and oversea Kachin communities have been helping IDPs in both KIA and government controlled areas In Kachin State.
Until now, IDPs in northern Shan State have not received any aid from the Burmese government or non-governmental organizations, church leaders said. As said by the KIA brigade officials, there is no ending sign of the ongoing war and thousands of IDPs under the KIA Brigade 4 controlled area are likely to run away soon.
The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has rejected an offer of Burmese government’s new peace talks along with a statement released on August 18. The government’s offer was rejected because it did not include country-wide political dialogue but only talks with each individual ethnic armed group, quoting Salang Kaba Lar Nan, Joint General Secretary-2 of the KIO, Kachin News Group said.
According to Lar Nan, the peace offer statement lacks political dialogue. The government forces the ethnic groups to talk under the rule of the military-centered 2008 Constitution. Peace negotiations have failed because the KIO desires to solve the country’s six decade-long political problems based on the 1947 Panglong Agreement. However the government is intent on negotiations based on the 2008 Constitution.
As the ethnic armed groups did not agree to the 2008 Constitution, the government peace offer seems to be empty. Unless there is genuine movement toward political change initiated by the government, such as releasing political prisoners and genuine talks with all political stakeholders, Burma’s six-decade long political stalemate will not be erased simply.
The Kachin Independence Organization urges the international community, including the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Burma’s neighbors, to facilitate ending country’s civil war by way of national reconciliation.
In fact, Burmese government needs to offer a genuine olive branch to ethnic armed-groups including the KIO, if it really wants lifting of international economic sanctions that – as said by Wunna Maung Lwin – hampered the country’s growth. http://asiancorrespondent.com/66119/burma%E2%80%99s-fm-offers-olive-branch-while-burma-army-shelling-on-ethnic-kachin/
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‘Myanmar will not cooperate with India in crossborder insurgencies’
Bertil Lintner, a scholar on Indo-Burmese affairs, tells Ratnadip Choudhury why it is tough for Myanmar to crack down on Northeast insurgency groups. Edited excerpts from an interview.
You have seen the insurgencies of Southeast Asia from Ground Zero. In some areas they have joined the mainstream, in many places they continue with their struggles. How do you see the future?
It varies from country to country. In democratic countries, rebels and former rebels can join the mainstream and become politicians. But this is not possible in countries such as Myanmar. Hence, the civil war there is bound to continue. The only solution to the Myanmar problem is to adopt some kind of federalism rather than a centralised system, which the country follows. But that would also mean that the entire political system in Myanmar would need an overhaul, which is not easy.
The insurgent outfits of Northeast India have lost sanctuaries in Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Reports indicate that they are holed up in Myanmar. Do you see more disintegration in ethnic insurgency?
India wants to open a west-east corridor through Myanmar for two reasons. First, it wants to trade directly with Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. Second, it would be in India’s interest to keep China at bay in Myanmar. But in order to do so, the Northeast needs to be pacified. This is why there was an expulsion of ULFA and UNLF leaders from Bangladesh - at India’s insistence - and the arrest of Anthony Shimray, the chief arms procurer of the NSCN(IM). Evidently the rebels are in a tight corner, which is why they are trying to survive by banding together into various fronts.
There are media reports of an operation by the Myanmar army against Northeastern insurgent groups from India camping in Myanmar. Does this mean that Myanmar will help India with a major crackdown?
That was a phantom operation. It never took place and it was no coincidence that the news about the alleged fighting was leaked just before the new Myanmar president, Thein Sein, was to make an official visit to India. It is like when US dignitaries visit Myanmar, the authorities always carry out a big drug bust before they arrive. It is not in the interest of the Myanmar authorities to work against rebels from the Indian side who have established a presence in Mayanmar’s Northwestern region. They see it as India’s problem. Myanmar government has too many problems of its own. I believe it is in the interest of Myanmar to have a buffer of instability with India.
Where do you think India has gone wrong with its policy when it comes to sub-continental neighbours, particularly Myanmar?
India’s policy is not wrong. Myanmar is not interested in cooperating with its neighbours when it comes to crossborder insurgencies. It fights insurgents on its own terms and doesn’t want to get into joint operations, which India wants with its neighbours.
Is there a chance that India will get Myanmar’s support?
It is not in Myanmar’s interest to launch military operations against Indian insurgents. As long as these rebels don’t bother the Myanmar army, the army won’t bother them.
In 1985, when you became the first foreign journalist to cross over from Nagaland to Myanmar, you saw two major insurgents, the Naga rebels and the ULFA, gearing up. After three decades, both are involved in peace processes at different levels. Does this guarantee a solution to the conflicts?
It depends how you define a solution. From the Indian point of view it would mean neutralising such groups by turning their leaders into politicians and businessmen. And, so far, that policy has been quite successful. But solving the underlying ethnic tensions between the Centre and the Northeast is a different ballgame.
You have been in touch with the Naga rebel leaders for a long time. The NSCN(IM) has been involved in peace parleys for four years. In ULFA, chair Arabinda Rajkhowa is leading the peace bandwagon while its army chief Paresh Baruah is waging war with a handful of cadres. Do these splits weaken the scope of dialogue?
These are exactly the developments that New Delhi wants.
India-China relations have been in trouble for some time as India says China is supplying arms to the Northeast insurgents. There are also reports that the rebels are being trained in frontier China. How big can this become?
The rebels from northeast buy weapons from the black market. But in reality, it is more grey than black. The informal weapon trade in China is run by former army officers and well-connected private dealers. The rebels have to pay for these weapons. The Chinese authorities allow this to happen as retaliation towards India allowing the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans to operate from their territory. Even though the Tibetans are not waging an armed struggle against the Chinese government, they are attracting attention and moral support from the international community, which has disturbed China. So they are letting Baruah and his comrades do what they want in China, which includes buying arms.
There are reports that the Indian rebel groups are regrouping in Myanmar, the Kachins are once again helping them with arms and Chinese help is being rendered. What is your opinion?
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is not helping the ULFA or any other insurgent group from India. They need weapons for their own struggle especially after their ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government broke down earlier this year. They are in no position to share their weaponry with anybody else. The weapons from China that reach India’s Northeast are most probably trucked across Myanmar by the United Wa State Army, which is also a main supplier of narcotics to Manipur, Nagaland and beyond. Its ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government enables it to transport whatever it wants across Myanmar.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws280911Myanmar.asp
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VOA News: September 29, 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi to Meet Burmese Labor Minister
A spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi says the Burmese democracy leader will meet Friday with Labor Minister Aung Kyi.
It will be the third meeting between the two since Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest late last year. She has also met with President Thein Sein as the new government cautiously begins to engage its critics.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, was unable to say what will be discussed in the meeting at a government guest house in Rangoon.
But the exile Irrawaddy newspaper said there is speculation that the talks will touch on prospects for the release of political prisoners and the NLD's bid to be re-registered as a political party.
The NLD was stripped of its party certification when it refused to contest elections in November, which were widely denounced as unfairly designed to ensure victory by supporters of the former military junta. The party refused to run because Aung San Suu Kyi, still under house arrest at the time, was not allowed to be a candidate.
The new government, which took office at the end of March, is dominated by past and former military officers and their close supporters. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-to-Meet-Burmese-Labor-Minister--130770403.html
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What Thein Sein promised Suu Kyi
By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - An emerging rapprochement between Myanmar President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has set a new tone over the country's historically military dominated political landscape. The two met on August 19 and details now emerging from that closed-door encounter indicate that major concessions could be in the cards in the weeks ahead.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has spent 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest, recently told a small group of supporters outside of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party headquarters she believes there is an "opportunity for change". She has met and made public appearances with top government officials and insiders say that more meetings are imminent, perhaps as early as next week.
The high-level meetings, a parliamentary motion and recent official pronouncements have raised speculation that Thein Sein's government is poised to release over 2,000 political prisoners, a major sticking point to his winning international recognition for the country's recent transition from military to democratic rule. Many of those held are affiliated with Suu Kyi's NLD or other political groups opposed to military rule.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin told the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this week that the government intended to free more prisoners in the near future, though he did not mention whether political prisoners would be included. A government official who requested anonymity claimed they may be released in three batches, with more than 200 set to walk free within next week, including renowned comedian and blogger Zaganar.
If true, the release of political prisoners would send a clear signal both domestically and internationally that Thein Sein's government, formed in March after last year's elections, is following through on his democratic reform vows. "There is enough to make us cautiously optimistic, with the stress on optimistic," a senior International Labor Organization official in Yangon told Asia Times Online.
Although tight-lipped about the details of his visit, which included talks with both President Thein Sein and Suu Kyi, US special envoy to Myanmar Derek Mitchell was likewise upbeat about the prospects for change. At the end of an earlier visit, Mitchell said "genuine and concrete reforms" were needed before Washington would consider reciprocating. Thein Sein is lobbying for the end of US and European economic sanctions.
"I think it would be fair to say that winds of change are clearly blowing through [Myanmar]," Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell told reporters in Washington earlier this month. "The extent of it is still unclear, but everyone who's gone there recognizes that there are changes."
Significantly, many of the government's concessions have come without formal announcement or legal commitment. To mark Democracy Day, the government unblocked many censored international news sites, including the BBC, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Burmese language broadcasts of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. The move followed an earlier relaxation of blocks on Skype, Yahoo! and Youtube.
The list of small incremental changes is long, though few if any have been enacted by law. The most critical change, however, is that Thein Sein, the country's quasi-civilian leader and former military general, seems willing to involve Suu Kyi in the country's political future. This represents a sharp reversal of the outgoing junta's stance, which banned her NLD after it refused to participate in last November's polls.
While Suu Kyi said she was happy with the outcome of her August 19 meeting with Thein Sein, few details of the substance of the talks have been revealed. The two met privately - "four-eyes", as Asian diplomats like to call it - for a little over an hour. Atmospherics and appearance matter in Myanmar's cultural context and both came out of the meeting relaxed and smiling.
More symbolically, a photo of General Aung San, Myanmar's independence hero and Suu Kyi's assassinated father, was hanging in the presidential palace where they met. Over the past decade, former ruling General Than Shwe had tried to remove Aung San's name and image from the national memory. Many analysts have perceived the reemergence of Aung San's portrait as a significant sign of change.
"It was important to show the Lady that we are willing to work with her," said a government official close to the president, referring to Suu Kyi. "We see her as a potential partner, not an adversary."
Another message apparently sent was that Suu Kyi is viewed by the new regime as an important public figure rather than a politician or leader of the legally banned NLD. During the closed door meeting, Thein Sein apparently talked about the role she could play in the future, according to sources in Naypyidaw who spoke on condition of anonymity.
They characterized the meeting as more trust-building exercise than negotiation, where both leaders laid out scenarios for the process of genuine reform and democracy to take root. Thein Sein apparently assured Suu Kyi that although her NLD party is currently illegal, it would be left alone and she would be free to travel freely inside the country, the sources said. Thein Sein's wife even invited her to an informal working dinner with other ministers' wives, they said.
Prisoner politics
The political prisoner issue was high on Suu Kyi's agenda, and she apparently told the president that there could be no forward movement without their unconditional release. Thein Sein's advisors know that this is also the key to improved relations with the outside world, including their neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A mass release would likely smooth the way for Myanmar to take ASEAN's chairmanship for 2014, a decision that will be made later this year.
Whether Thein Sein has the power to follow through, however, is still in question. Former junta leader Than Shwe has made it clear on at least two occasions - once just after last November's elections last and again earlier this year before Thein Sein was officially sworn in - that the release of political prisoners and jailed former military intelligence officers was non-negotiable.
However, a recent motion to free political prisoners adopted by a majority of parliament may have set the seal for the release of at least some of them. Analysts say it was highly significant that the lower house speaker Thura Shwe Mann - the former third top general in the ruling junta - was the one that steered the motion through parliament.
When it appeared the motion was set to be rejected, Thura Shwe Mann called a 15-minute recess on the pretense the computer screens which showed the voting results were down. During the break he apparently lobbied the military parliamentarians who make up 25% of parliament - a quota set by the new constitution adopted in a sham referendum in 2008 - to support the proposal. It then passed with a large majority.
Thura Shwe Mann, formerly seen as Than Shwe's heir apparent, strongly supports the new president, according to sources close to him. They say he sees the release of political prisoners issue as something he can support that would make a difference, both domestically and internationally. His support is crucial because for various reasons the government cannot be seen to be bowing to international pressure on the issue.
Thein Sein's and Suu Kyi's meeting also touched on private matters, according to inside government sources. Significantly, Thein Sein has recently intervened to save from demolition the now dilapidated house in which Aung San and his family once lived in Pymina while he was leading the battle for independence against British colonialists. Suu Kyi reportedly sent the president an old photo of the house with her standing outside of it when she was a very young child as a token of appreciation.
Diplomats in Yangon who have recently met Suu Kyi all say that she is confident about the future and optimistic about the possibility of genuine change. Thein Sein can be trusted, he is genuinely trying to reform the country, and needs international support, she has told several foreign envoys.
Long time observers see similarities between the current warming trend and previous secret talks between Suu Kyi and former military intelligence chief and prime minister Khin Nyunt. Those talks led to Suu Kyi's release from house arrest in May 2002 but little else. She was rearrested a year later after her entourage was attacked by armed pro-government thugs who massacred many of her supporters. Khin Nyunt was purged in 2004 and remains under house arrest.
While arguments persist as to whether those talks represented a genuine opening, there is little doubt that the lack of international support for Khin Nyunt's gambit contributed its demise. This time, diplomats say, the international community, including the US, is keen not to make the same mistake.
Like then, there are still military hardliners waiting in the wings ready to pounce if given the opportunity. These same hardliners - now led by the Vice President Thin Aung Myint Oo - are apparently not pleased by Thein Sein's overtures towards Suu Kyi. Some hardline ministers apparently did not know the meeting had taken place until they saw it on the evening television news, according to government insiders.
Many diplomats and analysts believe Thein Sein's conciliatory gestures are genuine and a mass release of political prisoners would set the stage for substantive talks with Suu Kyi towards national reconciliation. Government insiders claim another meeting between the two is tentatively scheduled for after next week's first phase release.
However some believe another military coup is also possible, particularly if the army decides change, including the release of political prisoners, risks instability. For the moment, the Armed Forces Commander Gen Min Aung Hlaing has signaled his support for Thein Sein and Thura Shwe Mann, but the military's sustained support is by no means certain.
That's especially true if former military supremo Than Shwe starts to feel threatened by the change underway, including engagement with Suu Kyi, and decides to intervene. Under the 2008 constitution, the military may legally seize power in the name of upholding national security. "If we fail, we'll end up in jail," said a senior member of government on condition of anonymity.
Larry Jagan previously covered Myanmar politics for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He is currently a freelance journalist based in Bangkok. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MI30Ae01.html
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Suu Kyi to hold more talks with Myanmar regime
(AFP) –
YANGON — Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will hold another round of talks with the new army-backed government, her spokesman said on Thursday, following signs of a thaw in relations.
Friday's meeting with labour minister Aung Kyi in Yangon will be the third since the Nobel Peace Prize winner's release from seven straight years of house arrest last November, shortly after a widely criticised election.
The opposition leader also met President Thein Sein -- a former junta prime minister -- in the capital Naypyidaw last month, one of several tentative signs that the regime is reaching out to its opponents.
Myanmar is now ruled by a nominally civilian government but its ranks are filled with former generals and the country still has about 2,000 political prisoners.
In an interview with AFP earlier this month, Suu Kyi said there had been "positive developments" in Myanmar, but added that it was unclear whether Thein Sein would be able to carry through his reform pledges.
Her spokesman Nyan Win said Friday's meeting with Aung Kyi -- the former liaison between Suu Kyi and the junta -- would take place at the State Guest House, but he gave no information about what might be discussed.
The 66-year-old dissident's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a 1990 election but was never allowed to take power.
Last month the daughter of Myanmar's liberation hero General Aung San travelled unhindered on her first overtly political trip outside her home city since being released from detention, addressing thousands of supporters.
The international community has called for a number of reforms in Myanmar including the release of political detainees and an end to rights abuses, particularly against ethnic minorities.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5glOaGmeks_CAnTzySUAmRw4Z8_Sg?docId=CNG.f582da93057f0e3389e6e0e5a288c42d.311
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Govt and Wa Delegations to Meet in Lashio
By WAI MOE Thursday, September 29, 2011
Government representatives led by the secretaries of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Aung Thaung and Thein Zaw, are scheduled to meet a delegation of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) on Saturday in Lashio, the headquarters of the Burmese army's North-East Regional Military Command (RMC) in northern Shan State.
The Wa delegation, led by Xiao Ming Liang, the vice chairman of the United Wa State Party (UWSP), the political wing of the UWSA, will include Bao Youlaing, the brother of Wa leader Bao Youxiang and a politburo member of the UWSP; Zhao Guo-ang, who is in charge of the UWSP’s external relations; Aik Laing, the commander of the UWSA’s key Brigade 418 in northern Shan State; and Le Zuliang, the UWSP's information officer.
According to ethnic sources, the delegation left the UWSA headquarters at Panghsang on Thursday for the Lashio talks.
The scheduled meeting comes as the government army is carrying out a major offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a former ceasefire group, in northern Shan State and nearly a month after the last meeting between the two sides on Sept 6 in Kengtung, headquarters of the Triangle RMC.
Observers said the government and Wa representatives will likely discuss the future status of the UWSA. Burma’s 2008 Constitution makes it illegal for any non-state army to exist in the country, and since 2009, the government has called on all ethnic ceasefire groups to join a Border Guard Force (BGF) under Burmese military command—a move that has heightened tensions between the government and ethnic armed groups in the north and south of the country.
Recently, however, Naypyidaw temporarily suspended its calls on the UWSA and its ally, the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), also known as the Mongla group, to join the BGF. Both groups are said to be backed by China and were trained by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army when they were part of a communist insurgency that ended in the late 1980s.
Ethnic sources said that government officials have been in touch with the UWSA since their meeting in Kengtung earlier this month. Two significant issues in the talks between Naypyidaw and Panghsang are the status of the Wa army and of three Wa townships that are not recognized in the 2008 Constitution as Wa territory.
“The meeting will likely focus on the status of the Wa army,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military observer based on the Sino-Burmese border.
“Wa leaders seem to hope they will get the same treatment they received in 1989, shortly after they split from the Communist Party of Burma,” he said. “But the current situation under the 2008 constitution is quite different. I think a temporary ceasefire agreement can't guarantee lasting peace.”
Another reason the Burmese government is keen to pursue talks with the UWSA is that it wants to prevent the group from getting involved in ongoing armed conflicts in northern Shan State and Kachin State. The government army is currently battling with the KIA and the Shan State Army (SSA), which are both informal allies of the UWSA.
“I think the Burmese officials will tell the Wa delegation to avoid the Burmese army’s offensives against the KIA and the SSA,” said Khuensai Jaiyen, the editor of Chiang Mai, Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News and a close observer of conflicts in Shan State.
However, he added that the Wa leadership told other ethnic armed groups in northern Burma that their relationship with Panghsang would not be affected by the talks with Naypyidaw.
On Sept 6, the government and Wa delegations signed an initial “agreement for building peace,” ensuring that the government's ceasefire with Burma's largest ethnic armed group, with an estimated strength of 30,000 troops along the Sino-Burmese border, would hold, at least for now.
The agreement requires “peace delegations” from both sides to meet at agreed to times and places to maintain peace, stability and development in the Wa special administrative zone.
A day after the UWSA signed the initial agreement, an NDAA delegation signed a similar agreement in Kengtung.
During the Kengtung meetings with the UWSA and NDAA, government representatives did not raise the BGF issue. A Wa source said that when the Wa delegation asked why the government was suddenly silent on this issue, they were told that the current government was not the same as the regime that preceded it, and would discuss the status of the Wa troops later.
The meeting between the USDP leaders and the UWSA comes soon after a regular meeting of Burmese military commanders, held once every four months.
imilarly scheduled meetings of the government and the National Defense and Security Council have also recently been held.
After signing the initial agreement, the Wa leadership met with UWSA military commanders in Panghsang on Sept 14-16 to discuss the details of the Kengtung talks.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22167
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Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi to Meet Once Again
By SAI ZOM HSENG Thursday, September 29, 2011
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to meet Aung Kyi, Burma’s minister of labor and minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, on Friday afternoon. This will be Suu Kyi’s fourth meeting with officials of Burma’s new government since she was released from house arrest on Nov. 13, 2010.
The meeting will reportedly take place at the Sane Lae Kan Thar state guesthouse in Rangoon at 1 p.m. On Friday, but Nyan Win, a spokesperson for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy that no detailed information about the meeting had been announced.
Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi previously met twice this year, once in July and once in August. She also met with Burma’s President Thein Sein in August. Statements issued after each meeting said that both parties were satisfied with the discussions that took place.
There is speculation in the Rangoon-based political community that issues such as the release of political prisoners and the party registration of the NLD will be discussed at the meeting on Friday.
On Tuesday, Burma’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin addressed the issue of political prisoners at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, saying that an early amnesty program is being considered. He also asked the international community to lift the sanctions which have been imposed on Burma.
Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament, said that the government must release the political prisoners if they want the international community to lift the sanctions.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aye Thar Aung said, “We really hope to see the release of the political prisoners, such as the 88 Generation Student leaders, the ethnic leaders, comedian Zaganar, etc. Although we heard some rumors about the release of prisoners, we can’t confirm yet whether political prisoners are included.”
On Thursday afternoon, there were rumors that Zaganar, a well-known Burmese comedian, and Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 88 Generation Students Group, both of whom are serving long sentences, had been released from prison. But their respective families confirmed that it was just a rumor.
Suu Kyi has repeatedly called for a dialogue with the Burmese government since her release late last year after more than seven years under house arrest. Her release came just days after Burma held its first elections in two decades.
A retired major general, Aung Kyi held a number of meetings with Suu Kyi in the wake of a crackdown on the monk-led protests in September 2007 that drew widespread international condemnation and brought renewed calls for political reform in the military-ruled country. Observers noted, however, that the talks were chiefly intended to lessen pressure on the regime and never produced any substantive results. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22166
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ICG Burma Report Blasted by Global Justice Center
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Global Justice Center, an international human rights legal organization, has issued a strong condemnation of the latest report on Burma by the International Crisis Group (ICG), which was titled “Myanmar: Major Reform Underway.”
In an open letter released on Sept. 20, the Global Justice Center called on the ICG to stop supporting unconditional engagement with Burma’s military rulers.
“This policy, encouraging ‘the West to robustly engage the new Burmese government at the highest levels,’ ignores both ‘on the ground facts’ and peremptory norms of international law,” the letter read. (See: http://www.globaljusticecenter.net/news-events/news/2011/ICGLetter.pdf)
The ICG fails to acknowledge that “the new Burmese government” is illegal because it is based on a constitution mandating a bifurcated sovereignty, a fundamental breach of the law of nations, said the letter.
The ICG report was released on Sept. 22 and calls on the outside world to actively support efforts by Burma’s President Thein Sein to implement political and economic reforms. The report says that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank must support Burma's tentative reforms, adding that failure to do so would be to “the lasting detriment” of the Burmese people.
In its 21-page report, the ICG said that recent positive developments have emerged in Burma, including a meeting between President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which could be the beginning of historical change in the country.
The Global Justice Center also called on the Board of the ICG to revisit and change its policy on Burma.
In its letter to the ICG, the Global Justice Center said that Burma’s new Constitution guarantees the military impunity from prosecution, encouraging the military’s continuing crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
In addition, the sham election held in November 2010 has escalated the risk Burma poses to global peace and security to an all-time high, as armed conflicts broke out between government troops and ethnic armed groups in the wake of the election, according to the letter.
Burma’s civil war continues and is marked by heinous crimes of genocide by the military against the Kachin, Karen, Shan and other ethnic groups. The military’s war crimes, in particular the use of child soldiers and rape as a weapon of war, remain unabated, in spite of the UN Security Council’s denouncement thereof, said the Global Justice Center.
The letter stated that the post-election landscape in Burma is one of escalated military crimes, including genocide and war crimes, which present a threat to peace and security. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22165
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Female Japanese tourist murdered in Myanmar
Crime Sep. 29, 2011 - 09:14PM JST ( 20 )
YANGON —
A Japanese tourist has been killed in Myanmar and a motorcycle taxi driver arrested on suspicion of her murder, a government official said Thursday.
Chiharu Shiramatsu, 31, was killed on Wednesday near Kyaukpadaung, close to the ancient temple city of Bagan, after hiring the motorcycle taxi to go sightseeing, according to the authorities.
“She was killed by a motorcycle taxi driver who tried to rape her,” a Myanmar government official who declined to be identified told AFP.
Min Theik, the 39-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, was arrested at the scene.
Violent crime involving foreign tourists is relatively rare in military-dominated Myanmar.
© 2011 AFP http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/female-japanese-tourist-murdered-in-myanmar
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Burma’s FM offers olive-branch while Burma Army shelling on ethnic Kachin
By Zin Linn Sep 29, 2011 4:00PM UTC
Burma’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin told the Assembly’s high-level debate on 27 September that his Government has launched a series of political, economic and social reforms aimed at improving the welfare of its people, but uttered lament that these efforts are being hindered by international economic sanctions.
As a signal of ‘national reconsolidation,’ the Government had last month offered an olive branch to all “national race armed groups,” FM Maung Lwin said.
But, while Maung Lwin was delivering an address about his regime’s olive-branch policy towards ethnic armed groups, his government has been launching a major offensive targeting the KIA’s Brigade 4 near the Sino-Burma border.
Maj-Gen Aung Kyaw Zaw, commander of northeastern Shan State regional command, takes charge of driving Kachin rebel troops out of Shan State near the Sino-Burmese border. China’s major oil pipeline which channels the Burma’s Kyaukpyu deep-sea port on Arakan coast in the Bay of Bengal to Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province will pass through central Burma and next to the current conflict zones in Shan State. That will extensively improve China’s energy security while also creating the presence of Chinese ships in India’s eastern backyard.
Kachin rebels are keeping hold of the hilly terrain of both Kachin and northern Shan states where they have launched guerrilla warfare combating the Burma Army for self-determination since 1961.
The four days of heavy fighting between the Burma Army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Burma’s northeast Shan State has produced over 20,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), in line with IDP assistance groups, Kachin News Group reported.
Most IDPs are mothers and their children as well as elderly men and women who are fleeing to nearby towns, churches and the China border, leaving behind their homes, livestock, paddy fields, land and crops, quoting local sources, KNG said.Most schools in the war zone have been closed as Burmese government’s all-out offensive started on Saturday.
Some war-stricken refugees are fleeing to Pangsai and Mongkoe but the victims are prevented from crossing into China by both Burmese police and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and Border Guard Force, referring sources in the two border towns, KNG reported.
As said by IDPs in Kyukok (Pangsai), a large number of IDPs are fleeing from Northern Shan State after government troops fired hundreds of 120 mm mortar rounds daily into the camps and villages in the KIA controlled areas since Saturday.
The on-going civil war in Kachin State between the Burma Army and KIA has intensified since 9 June. Over 30,000 Kachin IDPs have fled to the camps in KIA controlled areas, near the Sino-Burma border as well as to government-controlled towns. Non-Governmental Organizations, churches and oversea Kachin communities have been helping IDPs in both KIA and government controlled areas In Kachin State.
Until now, IDPs in northern Shan State have not received any aid from the Burmese government or non-governmental organizations, church leaders said. As said by the KIA brigade officials, there is no ending sign of the ongoing war and thousands of IDPs under the KIA Brigade 4 controlled area are likely to run away soon.
The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has rejected an offer of Burmese government’s new peace talks along with a statement released on August 18. The government’s offer was rejected because it did not include country-wide political dialogue but only talks with each individual ethnic armed group, quoting Salang Kaba Lar Nan, Joint General Secretary-2 of the KIO, Kachin News Group said.
According to Lar Nan, the peace offer statement lacks political dialogue. The government forces the ethnic groups to talk under the rule of the military-centered 2008 Constitution. Peace negotiations have failed because the KIO desires to solve the country’s six decade-long political problems based on the 1947 Panglong Agreement. However the government is intent on negotiations based on the 2008 Constitution.
As the ethnic armed groups did not agree to the 2008 Constitution, the government peace offer seems to be empty. Unless there is genuine movement toward political change initiated by the government, such as releasing political prisoners and genuine talks with all political stakeholders, Burma’s six-decade long political stalemate will not be erased simply.
The Kachin Independence Organization urges the international community, including the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Burma’s neighbors, to facilitate ending country’s civil war by way of national reconciliation.
In fact, Burmese government needs to offer a genuine olive branch to ethnic armed-groups including the KIO, if it really wants lifting of international economic sanctions that – as said by Wunna Maung Lwin – hampered the country’s growth. http://asiancorrespondent.com/66119/burma%E2%80%99s-fm-offers-olive-branch-while-burma-army-shelling-on-ethnic-kachin/
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‘Myanmar will not cooperate with India in crossborder insurgencies’
Bertil Lintner, a scholar on Indo-Burmese affairs, tells Ratnadip Choudhury why it is tough for Myanmar to crack down on Northeast insurgency groups. Edited excerpts from an interview.
You have seen the insurgencies of Southeast Asia from Ground Zero. In some areas they have joined the mainstream, in many places they continue with their struggles. How do you see the future?
It varies from country to country. In democratic countries, rebels and former rebels can join the mainstream and become politicians. But this is not possible in countries such as Myanmar. Hence, the civil war there is bound to continue. The only solution to the Myanmar problem is to adopt some kind of federalism rather than a centralised system, which the country follows. But that would also mean that the entire political system in Myanmar would need an overhaul, which is not easy.
The insurgent outfits of Northeast India have lost sanctuaries in Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Reports indicate that they are holed up in Myanmar. Do you see more disintegration in ethnic insurgency?
India wants to open a west-east corridor through Myanmar for two reasons. First, it wants to trade directly with Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. Second, it would be in India’s interest to keep China at bay in Myanmar. But in order to do so, the Northeast needs to be pacified. This is why there was an expulsion of ULFA and UNLF leaders from Bangladesh - at India’s insistence - and the arrest of Anthony Shimray, the chief arms procurer of the NSCN(IM). Evidently the rebels are in a tight corner, which is why they are trying to survive by banding together into various fronts.
There are media reports of an operation by the Myanmar army against Northeastern insurgent groups from India camping in Myanmar. Does this mean that Myanmar will help India with a major crackdown?
That was a phantom operation. It never took place and it was no coincidence that the news about the alleged fighting was leaked just before the new Myanmar president, Thein Sein, was to make an official visit to India. It is like when US dignitaries visit Myanmar, the authorities always carry out a big drug bust before they arrive. It is not in the interest of the Myanmar authorities to work against rebels from the Indian side who have established a presence in Mayanmar’s Northwestern region. They see it as India’s problem. Myanmar government has too many problems of its own. I believe it is in the interest of Myanmar to have a buffer of instability with India.
Where do you think India has gone wrong with its policy when it comes to sub-continental neighbours, particularly Myanmar?
India’s policy is not wrong. Myanmar is not interested in cooperating with its neighbours when it comes to crossborder insurgencies. It fights insurgents on its own terms and doesn’t want to get into joint operations, which India wants with its neighbours.
Is there a chance that India will get Myanmar’s support?
It is not in Myanmar’s interest to launch military operations against Indian insurgents. As long as these rebels don’t bother the Myanmar army, the army won’t bother them.
In 1985, when you became the first foreign journalist to cross over from Nagaland to Myanmar, you saw two major insurgents, the Naga rebels and the ULFA, gearing up. After three decades, both are involved in peace processes at different levels. Does this guarantee a solution to the conflicts?
It depends how you define a solution. From the Indian point of view it would mean neutralising such groups by turning their leaders into politicians and businessmen. And, so far, that policy has been quite successful. But solving the underlying ethnic tensions between the Centre and the Northeast is a different ballgame.
You have been in touch with the Naga rebel leaders for a long time. The NSCN(IM) has been involved in peace parleys for four years. In ULFA, chair Arabinda Rajkhowa is leading the peace bandwagon while its army chief Paresh Baruah is waging war with a handful of cadres. Do these splits weaken the scope of dialogue?
These are exactly the developments that New Delhi wants.
India-China relations have been in trouble for some time as India says China is supplying arms to the Northeast insurgents. There are also reports that the rebels are being trained in frontier China. How big can this become?
The rebels from northeast buy weapons from the black market. But in reality, it is more grey than black. The informal weapon trade in China is run by former army officers and well-connected private dealers. The rebels have to pay for these weapons. The Chinese authorities allow this to happen as retaliation towards India allowing the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans to operate from their territory. Even though the Tibetans are not waging an armed struggle against the Chinese government, they are attracting attention and moral support from the international community, which has disturbed China. So they are letting Baruah and his comrades do what they want in China, which includes buying arms.
There are reports that the Indian rebel groups are regrouping in Myanmar, the Kachins are once again helping them with arms and Chinese help is being rendered. What is your opinion?
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is not helping the ULFA or any other insurgent group from India. They need weapons for their own struggle especially after their ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government broke down earlier this year. They are in no position to share their weaponry with anybody else. The weapons from China that reach India’s Northeast are most probably trucked across Myanmar by the United Wa State Army, which is also a main supplier of narcotics to Manipur, Nagaland and beyond. Its ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government enables it to transport whatever it wants across Myanmar.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws280911Myanmar.asp
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VOA News: September 29, 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi to Meet Burmese Labor Minister
A spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi says the Burmese democracy leader will meet Friday with Labor Minister Aung Kyi.
It will be the third meeting between the two since Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest late last year. She has also met with President Thein Sein as the new government cautiously begins to engage its critics.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, was unable to say what will be discussed in the meeting at a government guest house in Rangoon.
But the exile Irrawaddy newspaper said there is speculation that the talks will touch on prospects for the release of political prisoners and the NLD's bid to be re-registered as a political party.
The NLD was stripped of its party certification when it refused to contest elections in November, which were widely denounced as unfairly designed to ensure victory by supporters of the former military junta. The party refused to run because Aung San Suu Kyi, still under house arrest at the time, was not allowed to be a candidate.
The new government, which took office at the end of March, is dominated by past and former military officers and their close supporters. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-to-Meet-Burmese-Labor-Minister--130770403.html
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What Thein Sein promised Suu Kyi
By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - An emerging rapprochement between Myanmar President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has set a new tone over the country's historically military dominated political landscape. The two met on August 19 and details now emerging from that closed-door encounter indicate that major concessions could be in the cards in the weeks ahead.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has spent 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest, recently told a small group of supporters outside of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party headquarters she believes there is an "opportunity for change". She has met and made public appearances with top government officials and insiders say that more meetings are imminent, perhaps as early as next week.
The high-level meetings, a parliamentary motion and recent official pronouncements have raised speculation that Thein Sein's government is poised to release over 2,000 political prisoners, a major sticking point to his winning international recognition for the country's recent transition from military to democratic rule. Many of those held are affiliated with Suu Kyi's NLD or other political groups opposed to military rule.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin told the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this week that the government intended to free more prisoners in the near future, though he did not mention whether political prisoners would be included. A government official who requested anonymity claimed they may be released in three batches, with more than 200 set to walk free within next week, including renowned comedian and blogger Zaganar.
If true, the release of political prisoners would send a clear signal both domestically and internationally that Thein Sein's government, formed in March after last year's elections, is following through on his democratic reform vows. "There is enough to make us cautiously optimistic, with the stress on optimistic," a senior International Labor Organization official in Yangon told Asia Times Online.
Although tight-lipped about the details of his visit, which included talks with both President Thein Sein and Suu Kyi, US special envoy to Myanmar Derek Mitchell was likewise upbeat about the prospects for change. At the end of an earlier visit, Mitchell said "genuine and concrete reforms" were needed before Washington would consider reciprocating. Thein Sein is lobbying for the end of US and European economic sanctions.
"I think it would be fair to say that winds of change are clearly blowing through [Myanmar]," Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell told reporters in Washington earlier this month. "The extent of it is still unclear, but everyone who's gone there recognizes that there are changes."
Significantly, many of the government's concessions have come without formal announcement or legal commitment. To mark Democracy Day, the government unblocked many censored international news sites, including the BBC, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Burmese language broadcasts of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. The move followed an earlier relaxation of blocks on Skype, Yahoo! and Youtube.
The list of small incremental changes is long, though few if any have been enacted by law. The most critical change, however, is that Thein Sein, the country's quasi-civilian leader and former military general, seems willing to involve Suu Kyi in the country's political future. This represents a sharp reversal of the outgoing junta's stance, which banned her NLD after it refused to participate in last November's polls.
While Suu Kyi said she was happy with the outcome of her August 19 meeting with Thein Sein, few details of the substance of the talks have been revealed. The two met privately - "four-eyes", as Asian diplomats like to call it - for a little over an hour. Atmospherics and appearance matter in Myanmar's cultural context and both came out of the meeting relaxed and smiling.
More symbolically, a photo of General Aung San, Myanmar's independence hero and Suu Kyi's assassinated father, was hanging in the presidential palace where they met. Over the past decade, former ruling General Than Shwe had tried to remove Aung San's name and image from the national memory. Many analysts have perceived the reemergence of Aung San's portrait as a significant sign of change.
"It was important to show the Lady that we are willing to work with her," said a government official close to the president, referring to Suu Kyi. "We see her as a potential partner, not an adversary."
Another message apparently sent was that Suu Kyi is viewed by the new regime as an important public figure rather than a politician or leader of the legally banned NLD. During the closed door meeting, Thein Sein apparently talked about the role she could play in the future, according to sources in Naypyidaw who spoke on condition of anonymity.
They characterized the meeting as more trust-building exercise than negotiation, where both leaders laid out scenarios for the process of genuine reform and democracy to take root. Thein Sein apparently assured Suu Kyi that although her NLD party is currently illegal, it would be left alone and she would be free to travel freely inside the country, the sources said. Thein Sein's wife even invited her to an informal working dinner with other ministers' wives, they said.
Prisoner politics
The political prisoner issue was high on Suu Kyi's agenda, and she apparently told the president that there could be no forward movement without their unconditional release. Thein Sein's advisors know that this is also the key to improved relations with the outside world, including their neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A mass release would likely smooth the way for Myanmar to take ASEAN's chairmanship for 2014, a decision that will be made later this year.
Whether Thein Sein has the power to follow through, however, is still in question. Former junta leader Than Shwe has made it clear on at least two occasions - once just after last November's elections last and again earlier this year before Thein Sein was officially sworn in - that the release of political prisoners and jailed former military intelligence officers was non-negotiable.
However, a recent motion to free political prisoners adopted by a majority of parliament may have set the seal for the release of at least some of them. Analysts say it was highly significant that the lower house speaker Thura Shwe Mann - the former third top general in the ruling junta - was the one that steered the motion through parliament.
When it appeared the motion was set to be rejected, Thura Shwe Mann called a 15-minute recess on the pretense the computer screens which showed the voting results were down. During the break he apparently lobbied the military parliamentarians who make up 25% of parliament - a quota set by the new constitution adopted in a sham referendum in 2008 - to support the proposal. It then passed with a large majority.
Thura Shwe Mann, formerly seen as Than Shwe's heir apparent, strongly supports the new president, according to sources close to him. They say he sees the release of political prisoners issue as something he can support that would make a difference, both domestically and internationally. His support is crucial because for various reasons the government cannot be seen to be bowing to international pressure on the issue.
Thein Sein's and Suu Kyi's meeting also touched on private matters, according to inside government sources. Significantly, Thein Sein has recently intervened to save from demolition the now dilapidated house in which Aung San and his family once lived in Pymina while he was leading the battle for independence against British colonialists. Suu Kyi reportedly sent the president an old photo of the house with her standing outside of it when she was a very young child as a token of appreciation.
Diplomats in Yangon who have recently met Suu Kyi all say that she is confident about the future and optimistic about the possibility of genuine change. Thein Sein can be trusted, he is genuinely trying to reform the country, and needs international support, she has told several foreign envoys.
Long time observers see similarities between the current warming trend and previous secret talks between Suu Kyi and former military intelligence chief and prime minister Khin Nyunt. Those talks led to Suu Kyi's release from house arrest in May 2002 but little else. She was rearrested a year later after her entourage was attacked by armed pro-government thugs who massacred many of her supporters. Khin Nyunt was purged in 2004 and remains under house arrest.
While arguments persist as to whether those talks represented a genuine opening, there is little doubt that the lack of international support for Khin Nyunt's gambit contributed its demise. This time, diplomats say, the international community, including the US, is keen not to make the same mistake.
Like then, there are still military hardliners waiting in the wings ready to pounce if given the opportunity. These same hardliners - now led by the Vice President Thin Aung Myint Oo - are apparently not pleased by Thein Sein's overtures towards Suu Kyi. Some hardline ministers apparently did not know the meeting had taken place until they saw it on the evening television news, according to government insiders.
Many diplomats and analysts believe Thein Sein's conciliatory gestures are genuine and a mass release of political prisoners would set the stage for substantive talks with Suu Kyi towards national reconciliation. Government insiders claim another meeting between the two is tentatively scheduled for after next week's first phase release.
However some believe another military coup is also possible, particularly if the army decides change, including the release of political prisoners, risks instability. For the moment, the Armed Forces Commander Gen Min Aung Hlaing has signaled his support for Thein Sein and Thura Shwe Mann, but the military's sustained support is by no means certain.
That's especially true if former military supremo Than Shwe starts to feel threatened by the change underway, including engagement with Suu Kyi, and decides to intervene. Under the 2008 constitution, the military may legally seize power in the name of upholding national security. "If we fail, we'll end up in jail," said a senior member of government on condition of anonymity.
Larry Jagan previously covered Myanmar politics for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He is currently a freelance journalist based in Bangkok. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MI30Ae01.html
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Suu Kyi to hold more talks with Myanmar regime
(AFP) –
YANGON — Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will hold another round of talks with the new army-backed government, her spokesman said on Thursday, following signs of a thaw in relations.
Friday's meeting with labour minister Aung Kyi in Yangon will be the third since the Nobel Peace Prize winner's release from seven straight years of house arrest last November, shortly after a widely criticised election.
The opposition leader also met President Thein Sein -- a former junta prime minister -- in the capital Naypyidaw last month, one of several tentative signs that the regime is reaching out to its opponents.
Myanmar is now ruled by a nominally civilian government but its ranks are filled with former generals and the country still has about 2,000 political prisoners.
In an interview with AFP earlier this month, Suu Kyi said there had been "positive developments" in Myanmar, but added that it was unclear whether Thein Sein would be able to carry through his reform pledges.
Her spokesman Nyan Win said Friday's meeting with Aung Kyi -- the former liaison between Suu Kyi and the junta -- would take place at the State Guest House, but he gave no information about what might be discussed.
The 66-year-old dissident's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a 1990 election but was never allowed to take power.
Last month the daughter of Myanmar's liberation hero General Aung San travelled unhindered on her first overtly political trip outside her home city since being released from detention, addressing thousands of supporters.
The international community has called for a number of reforms in Myanmar including the release of political detainees and an end to rights abuses, particularly against ethnic minorities.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5glOaGmeks_CAnTzySUAmRw4Z8_Sg?docId=CNG.f582da93057f0e3389e6e0e5a288c42d.311
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Govt and Wa Delegations to Meet in Lashio
By WAI MOE Thursday, September 29, 2011
Government representatives led by the secretaries of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Aung Thaung and Thein Zaw, are scheduled to meet a delegation of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) on Saturday in Lashio, the headquarters of the Burmese army's North-East Regional Military Command (RMC) in northern Shan State.
The Wa delegation, led by Xiao Ming Liang, the vice chairman of the United Wa State Party (UWSP), the political wing of the UWSA, will include Bao Youlaing, the brother of Wa leader Bao Youxiang and a politburo member of the UWSP; Zhao Guo-ang, who is in charge of the UWSP’s external relations; Aik Laing, the commander of the UWSA’s key Brigade 418 in northern Shan State; and Le Zuliang, the UWSP's information officer.
According to ethnic sources, the delegation left the UWSA headquarters at Panghsang on Thursday for the Lashio talks.
The scheduled meeting comes as the government army is carrying out a major offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a former ceasefire group, in northern Shan State and nearly a month after the last meeting between the two sides on Sept 6 in Kengtung, headquarters of the Triangle RMC.
Observers said the government and Wa representatives will likely discuss the future status of the UWSA. Burma’s 2008 Constitution makes it illegal for any non-state army to exist in the country, and since 2009, the government has called on all ethnic ceasefire groups to join a Border Guard Force (BGF) under Burmese military command—a move that has heightened tensions between the government and ethnic armed groups in the north and south of the country.
Recently, however, Naypyidaw temporarily suspended its calls on the UWSA and its ally, the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), also known as the Mongla group, to join the BGF. Both groups are said to be backed by China and were trained by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army when they were part of a communist insurgency that ended in the late 1980s.
Ethnic sources said that government officials have been in touch with the UWSA since their meeting in Kengtung earlier this month. Two significant issues in the talks between Naypyidaw and Panghsang are the status of the Wa army and of three Wa townships that are not recognized in the 2008 Constitution as Wa territory.
“The meeting will likely focus on the status of the Wa army,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military observer based on the Sino-Burmese border.
“Wa leaders seem to hope they will get the same treatment they received in 1989, shortly after they split from the Communist Party of Burma,” he said. “But the current situation under the 2008 constitution is quite different. I think a temporary ceasefire agreement can't guarantee lasting peace.”
Another reason the Burmese government is keen to pursue talks with the UWSA is that it wants to prevent the group from getting involved in ongoing armed conflicts in northern Shan State and Kachin State. The government army is currently battling with the KIA and the Shan State Army (SSA), which are both informal allies of the UWSA.
“I think the Burmese officials will tell the Wa delegation to avoid the Burmese army’s offensives against the KIA and the SSA,” said Khuensai Jaiyen, the editor of Chiang Mai, Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News and a close observer of conflicts in Shan State.
However, he added that the Wa leadership told other ethnic armed groups in northern Burma that their relationship with Panghsang would not be affected by the talks with Naypyidaw.
On Sept 6, the government and Wa delegations signed an initial “agreement for building peace,” ensuring that the government's ceasefire with Burma's largest ethnic armed group, with an estimated strength of 30,000 troops along the Sino-Burmese border, would hold, at least for now.
The agreement requires “peace delegations” from both sides to meet at agreed to times and places to maintain peace, stability and development in the Wa special administrative zone.
A day after the UWSA signed the initial agreement, an NDAA delegation signed a similar agreement in Kengtung.
During the Kengtung meetings with the UWSA and NDAA, government representatives did not raise the BGF issue. A Wa source said that when the Wa delegation asked why the government was suddenly silent on this issue, they were told that the current government was not the same as the regime that preceded it, and would discuss the status of the Wa troops later.
The meeting between the USDP leaders and the UWSA comes soon after a regular meeting of Burmese military commanders, held once every four months.
imilarly scheduled meetings of the government and the National Defense and Security Council have also recently been held.
After signing the initial agreement, the Wa leadership met with UWSA military commanders in Panghsang on Sept 14-16 to discuss the details of the Kengtung talks.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22167-------------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi to Meet Once Again
By SAI ZOM HSENG Thursday, September 29, 2011
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to meet Aung Kyi, Burma’s minister of labor and minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, on Friday afternoon. This will be Suu Kyi’s fourth meeting with officials of Burma’s new government since she was released from house arrest on Nov. 13, 2010.
The meeting will reportedly take place at the Sane Lae Kan Thar state guesthouse in Rangoon at 1 p.m. On Friday, but Nyan Win, a spokesperson for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy that no detailed information about the meeting had been announced.
Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi previously met twice this year, once in July and once in August. She also met with Burma’s President Thein Sein in August. Statements issued after each meeting said that both parties were satisfied with the discussions that took place.
There is speculation in the Rangoon-based political community that issues such as the release of political prisoners and the party registration of the NLD will be discussed at the meeting on Friday.
On Tuesday, Burma’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin addressed the issue of political prisoners at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, saying that an early amnesty program is being considered. He also asked the international community to lift the sanctions which have been imposed on Burma.
Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament, said that the government must release the political prisoners if they want the international community to lift the sanctions.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aye Thar Aung said, “We really hope to see the release of the political prisoners, such as the 88 Generation Student leaders, the ethnic leaders, comedian Zaganar, etc. Although we heard some rumors about the release of prisoners, we can’t confirm yet whether political prisoners are included.”
On Thursday afternoon, there were rumors that Zaganar, a well-known Burmese comedian, and Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 88 Generation Students Group, both of whom are serving long sentences, had been released from prison. But their respective families confirmed that it was just a rumor.
Suu Kyi has repeatedly called for a dialogue with the Burmese government since her release late last year after more than seven years under house arrest. Her release came just days after Burma held its first elections in two decades.
A retired major general, Aung Kyi held a number of meetings with Suu Kyi in the wake of a crackdown on the monk-led protests in September 2007 that drew widespread international condemnation and brought renewed calls for political reform in the military-ruled country. Observers noted, however, that the talks were chiefly intended to lessen pressure on the regime and never produced any substantive results. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22166
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ICG Burma Report Blasted by Global Justice Center
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Global Justice Center, an international human rights legal organization, has issued a strong condemnation of the latest report on Burma by the International Crisis Group (ICG), which was titled “Myanmar: Major Reform Underway.”
In an open letter released on Sept. 20, the Global Justice Center called on the ICG to stop supporting unconditional engagement with Burma’s military rulers.
“This policy, encouraging ‘the West to robustly engage the new Burmese government at the highest levels,’ ignores both ‘on the ground facts’ and peremptory norms of international law,” the letter read. (See: http://www.globaljusticecenter.net/news-events/news/2011/ICGLetter.pdf)
The ICG fails to acknowledge that “the new Burmese government” is illegal because it is based on a constitution mandating a bifurcated sovereignty, a fundamental breach of the law of nations, said the letter.
The ICG report was released on Sept. 22 and calls on the outside world to actively support efforts by Burma’s President Thein Sein to implement political and economic reforms. The report says that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank must support Burma's tentative reforms, adding that failure to do so would be to “the lasting detriment” of the Burmese people.
In its 21-page report, the ICG said that recent positive developments have emerged in Burma, including a meeting between President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which could be the beginning of historical change in the country.
The Global Justice Center also called on the Board of the ICG to revisit and change its policy on Burma.
In its letter to the ICG, the Global Justice Center said that Burma’s new Constitution guarantees the military impunity from prosecution, encouraging the military’s continuing crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
In addition, the sham election held in November 2010 has escalated the risk Burma poses to global peace and security to an all-time high, as armed conflicts broke out between government troops and ethnic armed groups in the wake of the election, according to the letter.
Burma’s civil war continues and is marked by heinous crimes of genocide by the military against the Kachin, Karen, Shan and other ethnic groups. The military’s war crimes, in particular the use of child soldiers and rape as a weapon of war, remain unabated, in spite of the UN Security Council’s denouncement thereof, said the Global Justice Center.
The letter stated that the post-election landscape in Burma is one of escalated military crimes, including genocide and war crimes, which present a threat to peace and security. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22165
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Female Japanese tourist murdered in Myanmar
Crime Sep. 29, 2011 - 09:14PM JST ( 20 )
YANGON —
A Japanese tourist has been killed in Myanmar and a motorcycle taxi driver arrested on suspicion of her murder, a government official said Thursday.
Chiharu Shiramatsu, 31, was killed on Wednesday near Kyaukpadaung, close to the ancient temple city of Bagan, after hiring the motorcycle taxi to go sightseeing, according to the authorities.
“She was killed by a motorcycle taxi driver who tried to rape her,” a Myanmar government official who declined to be identified told AFP.
Min Theik, the 39-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, was arrested at the scene.
Violent crime involving foreign tourists is relatively rare in military-dominated Myanmar.
© 2011 AFP http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/female-japanese-tourist-murdered-in-myanmar
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