Thread: Burmese Weekly : Vol 35 , WE Sun 27th Jul '08

Myanmar foreign minister says Suu Kyi could be freed in 6 months

SINGAPORE, July 21 (Kyodo) - Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win on Sunday indicated his country's military junta could release Myanmar political dissident Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in about six months, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.

Nyan Win explained at a working dinner for ASEAN foreign ministers that under Myanmar law, a political detainee can be held for up to six years, Yeo told reporters after hosting the dinner.

''He told us that the six-year limit will come up in half a year's time,'' Yeo said.

Asked further by reporters if that implies that Suu Kyi could be released in six months' time, Yeo said, ''I am just repeating what he told me. I think that is not an inaccurate inference.''

Yeo issued a statement as the current chair of ASEAN after the dinner expressing the foreign ministers' ''deep disappointment'' with the junta's recent decision to extend Suu Kyi's detention and calling for her release and also that of other political detainees.

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enews.mcot.net


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Asean Issues Strong Rebuke against Burma
By VIJAY JOSHI / AP WRITER / SINGAPORE
Monday, July 21, 2008

Southeast Asian nations issued their strongest rebuke ever to military-ruled Burma before opening an annual security meeting Monday amid a bubbling border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia.

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Youth members of National League for Democracy, Burma's opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, stand outside the party headquarters in Rangoon during the Martyr's day ceremonies on July19.
(Photo: AP)

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At the end of a working dinner Sunday, the ministers issued a statement expressing "deep disappointment" that Burma's junta had extended the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by another year, the sixth straight year that she has remained under house arrest in her dilapidated villa.

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win, however, held out a glimmer of hope that Suu Kyi would be freed within six months at the end of the maximum six-year period that a political detainee can be held by law, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.

Still, the joint statement was an unprecedented criticism of Burma by Asean, the region's main bloc, whose members usually stick to the policy of not interfering in each other's domestic affairs.

The ministers also urged the junta to engage in a "meaningful dialogue with all political groups and work toward a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future."

The statement is a reflection of its deep frustrations with Burma's junta, which has kept Suu Kyi in detention for 12 of the last 18 years at varying times. Asean is also fed up of the criticism it faces from the international community for not putting enough pressure on Burma.

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irrawaddy.org


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Political Prisoner Dies in Burma Prison
By WAI MOE
Monday, July 21, 2008


Mandalay prison.
(Photo: www.geogr.uni-goettingen.de/kus/pics/myan6.htm)

CHIANG MAI — The 137th political prisoner died on July 18 due to a lack of health care in a Burmese prison, a Burmese human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) said in a press release on Sunday.

Khin Maung Tint (also known as Ya Pyi), 49, died in Mandalay Prison in Mandalay, the second largest city in Burma.

He was arrested and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for his pro-democracy activities in 1998, according the AAPP press release.

“The latest death reflects a kind of systematic execution of political prisoners that is going on in Burma’s prisons,” said Tate Naing, secretary of the AAPP. “Who can survive without adequate healthcare in Burma’s terrible prison conditions?”

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irrawaddy.org


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Chiangmai Shans mark Martyrs Day
21 July 2008


Sao Sam Tun

For the second consecutive year, young Shans in Chiangmai came together yesterday, 20 July, a day later than the official Martyrs Day, to mark the fatal shooting that shook Burma in 1947.

“We honor all the martyrs,” said a young organizer of the event. “But we also wish to remember that our Shan leader Sao Sam Tun died from his wounds a day after the shooting.”

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shanland.org


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Observers doubt Myanmar on ASEAN charter pledges

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Military-ruled Myanmar on Monday formallyratified the ASEAN Charter but observers doubted the junta will live up to thedocument's ideals on democracy and human rights.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win presented his country's ratification during anannual meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN). In the charter, ASEAN members commit "to strengthen democracy, enhance goodgovernance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights andfundamental freedoms."

ASEAN has been widely criticised for its policy of "constructive engagement"regarding member Myanmar, which is under European Union and United Statessanctions over its human rights record.

Myanmar was also severely criticised internationally for its delay inallowing foreign aid into the country after a May 2-3 cyclone that left 138,000people dead or missing. It subsequently belatedly allowed aid workers to enter under an arrangementwith ASEAN and the United Nations.

"Myanmar's ratification of the charter today demonstrates our strongcommitment to embrace the common values and aspirations of the people of ASEANto build the ASEAN community, one that's together in partnership in a caring andsharing community," said the junta's foreign minister Nyan Win.

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orange.advfn.com


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STATEMENT BY ASEAN CHAIR, SINGAPORE'S MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS GEORGE YEO ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN MYANMAR, SINGAPORE, 20 JULY 2008

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers had a full and frank discussion on the political situation in Myanmar. They were briefed by Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win on recent political developments, including the constitutional referendum in May 2008 and preparations for general elections to be held in 2010.

The Foreign Ministers expressed their deep disappointment that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's detention under house arrest had been extended by the Myanmar Government. They repeated the call by ASEAN Leaders for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees, as part of Myanmar's national reconciliation process. The Foreign Ministers reiterated their view that the Myanmar Government should engage in a meaningful dialogue with all political groups, and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers also encouraged Myanmar to continue working closely with the Good Offices of the UN Secretary-General and his Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari in ensuring an inclusive process towards national reconciliation. They stressed the importance of Professor Gambari's work in helping Myanmar move forward. They welcomed the Myanmar Government’s invitation last week to Professor Gambari to visit Myanmar in August 2008 and reiterated their call for Myanmar to extend its fullest cooperation to Professor Gambari. They urged the Myanmar government to give him access to senior leaders and to facilitate meetings with the widest possible range of contacts, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

app.sprinter.gov.sg


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Stop Burma aid, government urged




The government has been told it should freeze humanitarian aid to Burma if it continues to be abused by the country's military rulers.

An influential committee of MPs claims further use of funds for anything other than relief by the Burmese junta should lead ministers to consider invoking their "responsibility to protect" to the south-east Asian country's population.

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viewlondon.co.uk


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Myanmar's Suu Kyi won't be released in 6 months, detention to last until late 2009
VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press Writer
July 21, 2008 8:08 PM

SINGAPORE (AP) - Myanmar's foreign minister has said pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi can be kept in detention legally until late 2009 and not until December this year as reported earlier, Singapore officials said Tuesday.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win was misunderstood by his nine counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during a dinner conversation on Sunday, said a Foreign Ministry official.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo subsequently passed on Nyan Win's remarks to the media, which reported widely that a new glimmer of hope had been raised for Suu Kyi's early freedom.

Yeo had quoted Nyan Win as saying that a political detainee can be held for a maximum of six years, and that the limit was approaching in about ''half a year's time.''

But the Straits Times newspaper on Tuesday quoted Yeo as saying that the six-year period will only be reached in the six months after May 2009, when her latest one-year detention period expires.

The Times quoted Yeo as saying the ministers had ''misunderstood'' Nyan Win.

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newspress.com


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Nobel laureate meets Burmese women
AMITHA AMRANAND
Tuesday July 22, 2008


CHIANG MAI : Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams met a group of women from Burma as well as from various ethnic groups in this northern province yesterday to gather information about their plight. ''We're here to bring messages of the women of Burma, of the marginalised, to the world. We're here to listen. We're here to learn the common concerns that women of the world seem to share,'' said Ms Williams, an American teacher and aid worker who received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel laureate was accompanied by actor-activist Mia Farrow, together with Dr Sima Samar of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and Chinese labour activist Qing Zhang.

The Nobel Women's Initiative delegation focused on the plight of Burmese women in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis during their information-gathering trip to Thailand.

They had a closed-door meeting with marginalised Burmese, ethnic and Thai women in Chiang Mai and also visited the Thailand-Burma border.

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bangkokpost.com


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Farmers Dispute Official ‘Back to Normal’ Claims
By AUNG THET WINE
Monday, July 21, 2008

LAPUTTA, Burma — Despite official assurances that rice production in the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta has fully resumed, farmers throughout the region are complaining of continuing difficulties in working their fields.

The difficulties range from inadequate supplies of seed, livestock, machinery and fuel to corruption within local administrations.
Even when government-provided supplies are available, local administration officials are reportedly demanding money for the aid.


Burmese farmers plant rice in some areas of the Irrawaddy Delta. But farmers throughout the region are complaining of continuing difficulties in working their fields.
(Photo: AP)

“You have to bribe the village head if you want to use the tillers [to work the paddy fields],” said one farmer in Ka Nyin Gone village, in Laputta Township. “If you want to receive a tin (about 15 kg) of government-provided paddy seeds you have to pay about 1,000 to 1,500 kyat (90 US Cents-$1.30) to the village authorities. Diesel costs 1,000 kyat per gallon.”

The charges are delaying a start to the monsoon season rice production, according to Laputta sources. Some farmers will be unable to work their fields this year, they say.

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irrawaddy.org


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94

Myanmar opposes investigative powers for human rights body
JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
July 22, 2008

SINGAPORE (AP) - Myanmar's junta has indicated it will oppose any effort to give a Southeast Asian human rights body the power to monitor or investigate rights violations in the region, diplomats said Tuesday.

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newspress.com

See Also : https://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...tml#post699201 (ASEAN unlikely to reach agreement on Human rights issue)


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Pace of Myanmar's recovery surprises head of US aid team
By Audrey McAvoy
Associated Press108

DR. CARL LUM / ALOHA MEDICAL MISSION VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dr. Myo Nwe, Aloha Medical Mission physician and an emergency room doctor at Kuakini Medical Center, examines a child on a boat in Kyeingchangi, Myanmar. The doctor was part of a mission this month to aid cyclone victims.

The leader of the only U.S. medical team to enter Myanmar since a cyclone struck two months ago said yesterday he saw a surprising number of replanted rice paddies and more reconstruction than he expected.

Dr. Carl Lum spoke a day after returning from a two-week trip to the Irrawaddy delta with 25 doctors and nurses of the Honolulu-based Aloha Medical Mission.

"I was surprised to see how much recovery they had so far. People were rebuilding their damaged homes ... putting up new roofs," Lum said. "The rice paddies were really green as far as you can see."

Even so, Lum said it was clear many homes, schools and shops needed to be rebuilt. In the town of Kyeingchangi, where only 700 survived out of a population of 4,000, residents used blue tarp to graft makeshift roofs and walls onto their wooden homes.

Traveling on an old ferry converted into a floating clinic, Lum saw towns that were only partially destroyed, but others were almost completely ruined. He said the cyclone victims need building materials and equipment to purify water supplies.

Earlier yesterday a report by the United Nations, the Myanmar government and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said Myanmar would need $1 billion in international aid over the next three years.

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starbulletin.com

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Suspected Myanmar gang leader killed in police shootout in Malaysia
Jul 22, 2008

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police killed a suspected leader of a gang of Myanmar nationals in a shootout after a high-speed chase in Kuala Lumpur, a news report said Tuesday.

When cornered by the police, the suspect attempted to escape on foot by firing several shots at police before being shot himself, federal police criminal investigation chief Ku Chin Wah told the official Bernama news agency.

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monstersandcritics.com


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ASEAN Turns Blind Eye to Burma Rights
By HANNAH BEECH/BANGKOK
Tuesday, Jul. 22, 2008

ASEAN ministers join hands during the opening ceremony of the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore on July 21
Charles Pertwee / Landov

A new charter for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was signed on July 21 with much flourish and a promise to "strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms." An admirable undertaking, except that the person formally ratifying the charter was Nyan Win, the Foreign Minister of Burma, a country with one of the world's most appalling human-rights records. Indeed, Burma's signing of the document during this year's ASEAN ministerial meeting in Singapore threatens to render meaningless the lofty humanitarian goals set by the organization's 10 member nations.

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time.com

See Also : https://teakdoor.com/issues/32273-ase...tml#post699421


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UN Official Observes Burmese Relief Efforts
By SAW YAN NAING
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The United Nations’ chief humanitarian relief official, John Holmes, started a three-day visit to Burma on Tuesday to observe post-cyclone humanitarian assistance in the Irrawaddy delta.

The spokesperson to the UN secretary-general, Michelle Montas, told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that John Holmes was expected to visit the Irrawaddy delta to assess the progress of relief operations in the region.


Storm victims stand outside their shacks at Ohnpinsu village in the Irrawaddy delta after they rebuilt with tarpaulin and leftover pieces from the river.
(Photo: AFP)

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irrawaddy.org


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162

Huge foreign exchange loss for UN in Burma relief

Rangoon (dpa) - United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes acknowledged Thursday that the international community's relief effort for the victims of Cyclome Nargis in Burma was losing millions of dollars to the regime's foreign exchange controls.

"This is an extraordinary exchange loss, and where that gain goes I'm not sure," Holmes said in an interview before departing Burma after a three-day assessment tour of the areas affected by the cyclone that slammed into Burma's central coast on May 2-3 leaving about 140,000 people dead or missing.

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bangkokpost.com

See Also : https://teakdoor.com/issues/32373-hug...tml#post701528


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US calls Myanmar's promise of democracy a 'mockery'; Asia-Pacific nations flay junta

The Associated Press
Published: July 24, 2008


SINGAPORE: The United States blasted the Myanmar junta's oft-repeated promise to democratize as a "kind of mockery" Thursday, while Asia-Pacific countries urged the generals to take bolder steps to meet international demands.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a stinging rebuke to Myanmar, also known as Burma, before attending a security conference hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Myanmar is a member of the 10-nation ASEAN, whose foreign ministers meet every year with counterparts from 17 Asia-Pacific countries for the ASEAN Regional Forum.

In comments to reporters before the meeting, Rice noted the ASEAN charter aspires to the rule of law, human rights and the development of more pluralistic political systems.

"Burma is out of step, badly out of step," she said.

The foreign ministers attending the forum were to express their exasperation over the junta's unfulfilled promise to reform under a "roadmap to democracy" and free Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar should "take bolder steps toward a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future," the ministers said in statement, a final draft of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The statement also urged the ruling generals to ensure general elections in 2010 are free and fair.

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iht.com


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shanland.org


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No Political Prisoner in Burma: Junta’s Mouthpieces
By WAI MOE
Thursday, July 24, 2008

Burma’s state-run newspapers rejected the use of the term “political prisoners” to describe imprisoned dissidents, saying in a series of articles published ahead of Thursday’s commemoration of the United Nations’ Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience that detained activists were actually guilty of criminal offenses.

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irrawaddy.org

Mid : Trial , what Trial ???


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WFP to Stop Relief Flights to Burma Next Month
By SAW YAN NAING
Thursday, July 24, 2008

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) will stop its relief flights to Burma next month, leaving aid organizations to find their own means of ferrying supplies into the country.

Kevin Howley, WFP’s head of logistics, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the organization’s three-month “rapid response” program ends on August 10 and will not be extended.

“After August 10, organizations will be responsible for moving their own cargo,” he said.

Aid organizations that will have to find their own means of continuing to send relief supplies to the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta include UNICEF and Save the Children.

WFP will also cut its fleet of helicopters operating in Burma from five to three, which will continue relief flights until mid-November, Howley said.

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irrawaddy.org


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183

US threatens if Burma rejects UN demands


New York (dpa) - The United States said Thursday that it would seek to impose "stronger measures" if Burma's military regime continues to refuse to implement democratic reforms and release political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said following a UN Security Council meeting that UN special envoy for Burma Ibrahim Gambari must bring back "concrete results" from his scheduled mid-August visit to Burma.

"If they don't cooperate in a time-bound negotiation on the issue of the release of political prisoners, and if they try to buy time with the visit of Gambari, then there will be Security Council's focus on this issue," Khalilzad told reporters.

Khalilzad said that Gambari must bring back an "agreed road map" for political changes and ensure wide participation in the 2010 general elections in Burma, which has been ruled by the military for more than four decades.

The military regime has been trying to prevent Suu Kyi, leader of the National League of Democracy, to take part in the elections on the grounds that she was married to a Briton, who died while she has been house for more than 10 years.

Khalilzad said that the US expects progress from Gambari's discussion with the military authorities, including a UN role in the democratic process in Burma.

"If there is no progress on the political track, we'll have to look at other measures to bear on the regime," Khalilzad said.

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bangkokpost.com


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188

Child sweatshop across the border
25 July 2008

Many children are being forced to work under unduly harsh conditions in Mongton township, opposite Chiangmai, according to a report coming from the border.

Five of them had fled across the border into Thailand last month only to be sent back by local authorities, according to Schools of Hope, a humanitarian organization that has been planning to set up a boarding school at the border village of Arunothai in Chiangmai’s Chiangdao district.

The five, two girls and three boys, none of them looking over 14, were directed to the Shan monastery just outside the village by a kindly ethnic Chinese woman upon arrival on 21 June, “looking famished and worn out,” according to the abbot Phra Virote.

After treating them to dinner, the children told the monks that they had been working in their neighbors’ houses and farms since their parents died. All of them were ethnic Wa and two of them were orphans of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) fighters.

“We had to wake up early in the morning and cook,” said one. “After that we had to go to work in the farm all day. Neighbors took pity on us and gave us shoes and clothes, but the families we were with didn’t like it and punished us.”

These children met at a village festival and became friends. They later decided to come to Thailand and “seek for better lives,” according to them.

“They were pleasantly surprised when we told them we would take care of them and send them to school to study,” said a member of the Schools of Hope, “because previous experience had taught them that in order to live, they had to eat. And in order to eat, they had to work. They therefore happily accepted our offer.”

However, the next morning, the village aw saw (militia) came by truck and took them away to be sent back across the border. “The temple prepared a meal for them before they left,” said the source who wished to be unidentified. “But the children were so distraught, they had lost their appetite.”

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shanland.org

See Also : https://teakdoor.com/issues/31287-tha...tml#post702023


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Fishing Industry Struggles to Survive after Cyclone
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, July 25, 2008


Fishing boats crushed by a tropical cyclone, Nargis, in the port of Rangoon.
(Photo: AFP)

YAY TWIN GONE, Burma — No matter how much she loved the river and sea that once provided her family's daily food, Tin Tin Latt now just wants to stay away from the water that widowed her, killed two of her children and destroyed the family's livelihood.

Tin Tin Latt is among thousands of widows of fishermen in Burma's cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta who have been forced to become breadwinners without land to farm or the means to earn money from the sea.

Cyclone Nargis, which struck in early May, killed 84,500 people and left 54,000 missing, according to the ruling junta, in the worst natural disaster in Burma's modern history and the world's fifth deadliest in the past 40 years. Of the dead, 27,000 were fishermen, the regime says, although aid workers believe the actual number is far higher.

The UN food agency says more than 100,000 fishermen have been affected and some 50,000 acres of fish ponds destroyed.

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irrawaddy.org


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SHRF MONTHLY REPORT - JULY 2008

COMMENTARY

Rape by the Burmese junta’s troops is still common in many places in Shan State and the perpetrators still enjoy the culture of impunity.

People seem to have become more reluctant, especially the victims themselves, to talk about rape for fear of further abuses and shame. But there have still been some who could not hide their plight and confided in their relatives and friends, and SHRF has still been receiving more or less frequent reports of rape over the last 2-3 years.

However, it could be assumed that there have been even many more cases that have gone unreported due to various reasons as stated above and other difficulties in collecting information. One most sad thing is that rape has proved to be an effective weapon of war in subjugating people, especially the rural Shan communities.

Patrols of SPDC junta’s troops still randomly arrest and torture people, force them to serve as guides and porters, and extort money and possessions from them as they roam the rural areas in many parts of Shan State, always making their arrival and presence painfully felt by the local people.

Various systems of forcible rice procurement are still practised by the military authorities to support the numerous battalions based in all parts of Shan State. In many places rice is procured not only for the soldiers, but also for members of their families.

Extortion is so widespread that it reaches every nook and cranny, even serving prisoners and bereaved families of the deceased are not spared.

A PETTY PEDDLER RAPED, ROBBED OF HER MONEY, IN MURNG-PAENG
In January 2008, a petty trader was raped and robbed of her money by a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB528, near Nawng Zum village in Ta Kaw village tract, Murng-Paeng township.

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A WOMAN GANG-RAPED IN MURNG-PAENG

In December 2007, a petty trader who was returning from buying goods was gang-raped by SPDC soldiers from LIB360 in a rice field outside her village, Naa Khaw, in Yaang Mai village tract, Murng-Paeng township.

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ARREST, TORTURE, FORCED LABOUR AND EXTORTION IN KUN-HING

In December 2007, several villagers in several village tracts in Kun-Hing township were robbed of their property, arrested, tortured and forced to provide free labour by a patrol of SPDC troops from IB287, based in Kae-See township.

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SITUATION OF FORCIBLE RICE PROCUREMENT

Like forced labour and other types of extortion, forcible rice procurement is also one of the diehard habits long practised by the successive Burmese military juntas.

Even though the current ruling junta, SPDC, has time and again declared that they had stopped the practice of forcing people to sell rice to the military at much lower than actual market prices, in reality that has so far not been the case.

In some places over the last few years, military authorities have tried different ways of procuring rice other than the long used quota system, but for the farmers the results that affected them have not been much different. They were still compelled to sell their rice at great loss.

At the beginning of this year, just after the last rice harvest, the military have again forced people in several townships in Shan State to sell them rice at low prices. Not only farmers, but non-farmers have also been required to sell the rice quota, albeit in lesser amounts than the farmers.

Furthermore, in some places, people have been forced to provide rice and money on a regular basis for the junta’s troops to support their families.

The following are some instances of forcible rice procurement by the SPDC troops in Shan State:

PEOPLE FORCED TO SELL RICE TO THE MILITARY IN MURNG-PAENG

In January 2008, SPDC troops of LIB528 issued an order requiring people in Murng Pu Long village tract in Murng-Paeng township to sell rice to them on a regular basis and at a rate many times lower than the market price.

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PEOPLE FORCED TO SELL RICE, THREATENED WITH ARREST AND LAND CONFISCATION, IN MURNG-TON

In January 2008, people of Pung Pa Khem town in Pung Pa Khem sub-township, in Murng-Ton township, were ordered to sell rice to the military by the SPDC troops from LIB519 that were stationed at Pung Pa Khem.

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PEOPLE FORCED TO PROVIDE RICE AND MONEY ON REGULAR BASIS IN MURNG-NAI

In January 2008, people in Kaeng Tawng sub-township area in Murng-Nai township were forced by the SPDC authorities to provide the military with rice and money once every 2 months to support the families of the soldiers.

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EXTORTION FROM PRISONERS AND FAMILIES OF THE DECEASED, IN KAENG-TUNG

Extortion has been so rampant in Shan State for years that even prisoners and bereaved families of the deceased are not spared. However, the situation has been getting worse and worse over the years. The following incidents are the situations of extortion by the authorities from the prisoners and from the families conducting funerals for their dead, in Kaeng-Tung town.

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shanland.org


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206

Woman shop owner arrested in Moulmein
Fri 25 Jul 2008, IMNA

A woman shop owner was arrested by Moulmein authorities on the accusation of being linked to the death of 59 Burmese migrant workers who suffocated to death while entering Thailand on the way Ranong to Phuket on April 9.

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monnews-imna.com

See Also : https://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...te-ranong.html (54 Burmese job seekers suffocate in Ranong)

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Press Release: DVB web site hit by DDoS attack

Jul 25, 2008 (DVB)–The website run by the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma radio and TV station has been hit by a persistent and severe Distributed Denial of Service attack rendering the site mostly inaccessible since 20 July 2008.

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english.dvb.no

See Also : https://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...tml#post702432 (Press Release: DVB web site hit by DDoS attack)

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Families forced out of homes in Ton Tay
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

Jul 25, 2008 (DVB)–Families living in more than 600 houses in Rangoon's Ton Tay township have been ordered to move out so the properties can be demolished and the land used for new homes for cyclone victims.

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english.dvb.no


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Burmese junta turns blind eye to food crisis in Chin state: WLC

July 25, 2008 - The Burmese regime was lambasted today for its callousness in solving the current food crisis faced by the people of Chin state in Burma by the Women's League of Chinland, an umbrella group of different Chin women's organizations in exile.


Family from Mautam affected areas in Chin state sharing one bowl of chopped up roots and vegetables foraged in the jungle.
(Photo - CFERC)

"The WLC strongly condemns the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) for its failure to prevent the disaster, provide assistance and improve the overall livelihood of the victims of this crisis," a WLC's statement released today said.

Around 100,000 people living in remote areas of Chin state near the Indo-Burma border, where bamboo groves are in abundance are facing acute shortage of food because of the famine like situation (locally known as 'Muatam') created by rats devouring bamboo flowers and raiding crops and food stocks. The flowering started in the region since 2006.

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khonumthung.com


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Foreign Investment In Myanmar Falls 77% On Year - Government

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP)--Foreign investment in Myanmar plummeted by 77% over the past fiscal year as investments in the oil, gas and electricity sectors were significantly lower, official figures showed Friday.

In the 12 months to March 31 2008, total income for the three sectors was $ 172.72 million. That compares with 2006-07, when 11 enterprises invested $471.48 million in oil and gas, and $281.22 million dollars in electricity, the National Planning and Economic Development ministry said.

The figures showed neighboring India is the biggest investor in Myanmar with $ 137 million in the oil and gas sector this year, followed by Thailand with $ 16.22 million dollars.

Germany invested $2.5 million in manufacturing, South Korea had $12 million in fisheries and Singapore invested $5 million into mining.

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nasdaq.com


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QUOTE OF THE DAY



If there is enough international pressure and if voices are raised loud enough, we can push China to change its position on Burma.
— American actress Mia Farrow

irrawaddy.org


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Ten Students Sentenced to Hard Labor
By SAW YAN NAING
Friday, July 25, 2008

Ten students—mostly Muslims—who were active in the Buddhist monk-led peaceful demonstrations in September 2007 in Burma were each sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor by the Kyauktada Township court, a prisoners’ rights group said on Friday.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) released a statement saying the 10 students, including seven Muslims, were arrested about one month after the demonstrations.

After the sentence, the students were placed in iron shackles to be transferred to labor camps by order of the Minister for Home Affairs, the AAPP said.

The AAPP said there are very few cases of political prisoners being sent to hard labor camps. The prisoners’ group it believed the sentences were more severe because of the students’ religious faith.

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irrawaddy.org


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