Friday, June 28, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

2 Rohingyas Killed, 6 Injured, For ‘Attacking Security Forces’

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 05:50 AM PDT

Police stand guard in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, in this June 2012 photo, after communal violence saw houses torched and residents driven from their homes. (Photo: Reuters)

Two Rohingya Muslims were killed and six were injured, including two minors, after government security forces opened fire on displaced Muslims in a camp in Arakan State's Pauktaw Township on Thursday, the UN said.

An Arakan official claimed that the crowd had been shot at because they "attacked" the armed officers.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement on Friday that the incident had reportedly been sparked by a disagreement between displaced Rohingyas and local Muslim villagers, who had come to Kyein Ni Pyin camp to construct temporary shelters.

UNHCR said the two groups had a poor relationship and false rumors that the displaced Rohingyas would be isolated at another site led to an argument. Security forces intervened and took away a camp leader.

"When some of the displaced gathered at a nearby military post asking that the leader be handed over, gunfire was used by the authorities to disperse the crowd, resulting in the fatalities and wounding," UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards said.

He added that UNHCR staff arrived shortly after to treat the wounded. The agency is calling for investigation into the deadly shooting at the camp, which houses some 4,400 Rohingyas who were displaced by last year's inter-communal violence.

Arakan State spokesperson Myo Thant's account of events differed from the UNHCR statement as he claimed that the shooting had been provoked by the Rohingyas.

"The incident initially broke out between the workers and displaced in Kyein Ni Pyin IDP camp following a dispute over payments," he said. "Security forces who tried to intervene in the dispute were attacked by a group of displaced people, and the security forces shot to disperse the crowd."

Myo Thant said one person died on the scene, while another succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

It is unclear if the security forces fired any warning shots before taking aim at the Rohingyas.

A man called Lalu, one of the 35 workers who had become embroiled in the argument at the camp, also blamed the incident on the displaced Rohingyas.

"They threw stones at us and held knives and sticks, and their group was big," he claimed, adding that workers and officers "had no place to run as there was only a fence behind us, so the authorities shot into the crowd to disperse them."

The incident is the second fatal shooting in a camp for displaced Rohingyas this month, after policemen shot dead three Muslim women in Parein village, Mrauk-U Township, on June 4.

The women had been among a group of unarmed Muslim villagers who had protested against a government order to move to another site, according to UN rapporteur on human rights in Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana.

He condemned the incident at the time as "another shocking example" of "widespread and systematic" human rights abuses by security forces against the Muslim minority, which are not recognized by the government as citizens of Burma.

The President's Office has dismissed the allegations and claimed the women had been shot dead because "they attacked authorities."

International human rights groups and the UN rights envoy have repeatedly deplored the government's handling of the crisis in western Burma, where Arakanese Buddhists clashed with Rohingyas between June and October 2012. The unrest led to 192 deaths and displaced about 140,000 people, mostly Muslims.

Monks Rally Behind Bill That Would Restrict Interfaith Marriage

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 04:05 AM PDT

Nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu is greeted with respect at a monks' conference in Rangoon on Thursday. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Senior Buddhist leaders told a large monks' conference on Thursday that they support a controversial draft law that would put restrictions on marriages between Buddhist women and Muslim men.

The monks said they would pressure Burmese lawmakers into accepting the bill, which was first proposed at a conference earlier this month with the support of ultra-nationalist monk U Wirathu.

About 1,500 monks from all over Burma gathered at a monastery in Rangoon's Insein Township on Thursday in order to discuss how to resolve ongoing tensions between Buddhists and the country's Muslim minority.

Senior monks who spoke at the event, which was the largest gathering of monks in Burma in many years, urged the Buddhist clergymen to rally behind their draft Law for the Protection of Race and Religion.

This bill includes a set of rules that would supposedly strengthen and protect Burma's Buddhist tradition.

The draft law also requires any Buddhist woman seeking to marry a Muslim man to first gain permission from her parents and local government officials. Any Muslim man who marries a Buddhist woman is required to convert to Buddhism.

At a press conference on Thursday evening, three monks presented the senior monks' decision to unite behind the proposal.

“The bill has been endorsed," said U Sanda Siri, a monk from Kachin State, adding that legal experts would conduct a final review of the draft law before it is sent to lawmakers in Naypyidaw.

He said the monks would gather signatures from the public in support of the bill to pressure lawmakers to pass it into law.

U Wimala Buddhi, a monk from the Mon State capital Moulmein, warned that the clergymen would discourage voters from supporting any parliamentarian who does not back the law. "I want to know who will oppose our law, which political parties," he said during a speech.

U Nyanissara, one of the most respected Buddhist monks in Burma, urged the monks to unite against supposed external forces, although he stopped short of endorsing the controversial bill.

"To protect our race and religion, we should speak with one voice," he said in a speech, "The government also has an important role to play."

The bill on interfaith marriage was first presented at a smaller monks' conference in Hmawbi Township in mid-June in the presence of nationalist monk U Wirathu, who said that he had "dreamed of this law for a long time."

The radical monk leads the nationalist '969' movement, which calls on Burma's Buddhist majority to shun Muslim communities, and to only support Buddhist-owned businesses. It has been accused of stirring up deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims, which has killed about 250 people and displaced some 150,000 people, mostly Muslims, in the past year.

At its presentation in mid-June, the draft law sparked a flurry of reactions, with some Muslim leaders pointing out that it was a flagrant violation of basic human rights. Burmese women's rights groups have vowed to campaign against the proposal.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 16 states that "Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family."

Senior monk U Dhammapiya insisted nonetheless that the law would "protect Buddhist women's rights" and he dismissed the idea that the bill would violate human rights principles. "There are different human rights conditions in different countries," he said during a press conference.

U Wirathu also attended Thursday's event. He kept silent about the draft law but as he walked through conference many monks showed high respect to him.

In the past few days, the nationalist monk has been at the center of controversy after his photo appeared on the cover of Time magazine's July 1st issue with the headline "The Face of Buddhist Terror." The cover caused an uproar in Burma because some felt it coupled the country's Buddhist tradition with terror and violence.

On Thursday, U Nyanissara also spoke out against Time's cover and appeared to defend U Wirathu.

“They say the Buddhist religion is carrying out genocide, but we did nothing, not even expand our population,” he said. "Ashin Wirathu is a person who shows tolerance when someone criticizes him."

U Nyanissara, a highly revered monk in Burma, urged the gathered clergymen to unite and stay calm in the face of such outside criticism, saying, "Our Buddhist clergy here is as strong as the Burmese army; we have 500,000 monks." The Burmese military has some 400,000 troops.

Win Tin, a senior member and co-founder of the National League for Democracy, Burma's largest opposition party, said in a reaction that he was disturbed by the monks' proposal.

"It's all developing rather ugly… All these proposed laws would worsen the situation," he said, adding that the clergymen should not enter the field of politics in order to get laws passed that would put restrictions on ordinary people's lives.

"The first thing is, it should not be initiated by the Buddhist monks," he said. "These are issues for individuals, whether they are Buddhist or Muslim. These are family matters. There should be no legal obligations at all.

"This doesn't need to be put to Parliament at all, this is my opinion."

Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze.

Burma Telecom Deal with Qatar Firm Sparks Ire

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 05:33 AM PDT

A Buddhist monk walks inside a mobile phone shop in Rangoon on Feb. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun)

RANGOON — Religious tensions engulfing Burma spread Friday to the world of big business: Monks and others in the Buddhist-dominated country demanded to know why a lucrative license for a new national mobile phone network had gone to a company from a Muslim nation.

Currently 7.3 million of Burma's 60 million people have access to mobile phones, making it one of the least connected countries in the world, according to government statistics seen Friday. Eager to push that number to 45 million by 2015, the former military-run nation decided to loosen its grip on the industry and award licenses to build and operate mobile networks.

Norway's Telenor was widely seen as a favorite and there was little surprise that it was one of the two winners announced Thursday.

But Ooredoo of Qatar, formerly known as Qatar Telecom, was a surprise to some. The company's majority shareholder is the Qatari government.

Social networking sites were alight with criticism, with comments flooding the Facebook pages of government officials who posted the official announcement.

"We should not be putting the Myanmar's telecommunications system into the hands of an Arab company," Kyaw Kyaw Oo wrote on the page of the president's office director, Hmuu Zaw. "I will not use their service."

Others said giving the contract to a Muslim-owned company was "worrisome," especially as it came at a time people were calling for protection of nationality and race.

Burma only recently emerged from a half-century of isolation and military rule.

Since embracing political and economic reforms in 2011, it has witnessed firsthand the downside of newfound freedoms of speech. Preaching all over the country, monks belonging to the radical Buddhist movement called 969 have been urging followers to boycott Muslim businesses and not to marry, sell property to or hire Muslims.

That has incited violence in several parts of the country with 250 people, most of them Muslims, killed in the last year and 140,000 others fleeing their homes.

"I'm really unhappy," said Shin Pyinya Dhaza, a monk from the Thaketa monastery in Rangoon and a 969 supporter, when asked to comment on the telecom deal.

Some of the overlooked front-runners in the telecom deal included Singapore Telecommunications, Bharti Airtel of India, KDDI Corporation of Japan, Telenor of Norway and Digicel of the Caribbean. More than 90 international consortiums were vying for the licenses and 11 were shortlisted.

Set Aung, chairman of the government panel handling the tender, defended Ooredoo, which has operations in more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia as the "best choice." It also has deep pockets, promising to pump part of its cash pile into the network.

That the government didn't consider public sentiment was a good thing, he said.

"That just shows how transparent we are and how unbiased," he said.

In a statement released Thursday, Ooredoo said its investment in Burma will create a significant number of jobs and be the indirect catalyst for creating several hundred thousand jobs in areas such as sales, distribution and customer service as the mobile industry develops.

Though not a household name in Asia, Ooredoo has been stepping up its presence in the region for several years and is the biggest shareholder in Indonesian phone company Indosat. It also has stakes in Singapore's StarHub and the main phone company in Laos.

Burma’s Mobile Phone Users to See Major Drop in Call Fees

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 04:51 AM PDT

A man uses his mobile phone on the side of a street in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — The deputy minister of communications says Burma's sole provider of telecommunications services will slash mobile phone airtime fees, potentially to one-third of the current price, according to a lawmaker in Parliament's lower house.

Thaung Tin, the deputy minister of communications, posts and telegraphs, said during the lower house session of Parliament on Friday that Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) would slash the fees to make and receive mobile phone calls, according to lawmaker Kyi Myint.

The deputy minister's pledge came after Kyi Myint asked whether MPT would consider reducing the current fee of 50 kyats (about US 5 cents) per minute to 5 kyats.

"The vice minister replied that the airtime fee would be between 25 kyats and 15 kyats," the lawmaker told The Irrawaddy.

Thaung Tin told Parliament that the airtime fee in Burma was two or three times higher than rates in neighboring countries, and that the ministry would consider reducing the fee to benefit the Burmese people.

He did not, however, offer a timetable for when MPT would carry out the plan, Kyi Myint said.

The announcement came one day after Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo won licenses on Thursday to also provide telecommunications services in Burma, bringing foreign companies into the sector for the first time.

Ye Myat Thu, an IT expert in Burma, said he welcomed a drop in the airtime fee but also worried that a cheaper fee would lead to an overloading of mobile phone lines.

"In other countries, the price is based on customers' use," he said. "The fees are not the same when you call during the day and at nighttime. When you call a number that uses the same SIM card from the telecoms provider you use, you can usually call free of charge. Now here [in Burma], only one organization fixes the fee. It sounds like we're still in the socialist era."

With Ceasefire, Land-Mine Removal Begins in War-Torn Karen State

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 04:45 AM PDT

Two land-mine victims who were former enemies find themselves lying next to each other at a hospital in Mae Sot, Thailand. (Photo: Alex Ellgee / The Irrawaddy)

For more than 60 years, ethnic Karen rebels and the Burmese government have waged war in Karen State, with both sides guilty of planting countless land mines in the war-torn region to gain a combat edge.

Since the signing of a ceasefire agreement in January 2012 between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the government, the long and dangerous task of identifying and removing that legacy has begun to take place in some regions of Karen State, one of Burma's most mine-populated states. The task includes surveying, mapping, mine risk education and de-mining activities.

Aung Min, a President's Office minister, told reporters at a press conference in Rangoon on June 21 that a de-mining program had been started in Papun District, where local residents can now travel freely without fear of land mine danger.

"Land mines started to be removed in Papun and people can travel freely now. Media don't know about it because we didn't tell you. Actually, it [de-mining] is happening around there," Aung Min told reporters.

Papun is one of the most densely mine-populated districts in northern Karen State, which is partly controlled by Brigade 5 of the KNU's military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

Sources familiar with land mine affairs in the area told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the European Union is providing funds to the government-affiliated Myanmar Mine Action Center for mine-related activities in ethnic regions where ceasefire have been signed between the government and the respective ethnic rebels.

Mine mapping, the posting of warning signs and de-mining have been separately taking place in Pegu Division's Kyaukkyi Township since the KNU ceasefire's signing. The Myanmar Peace Support Initiative, a Norwegian NGO, and the Myanmar Mine Action Center have been collaborating in such activities, the sources said.

Another NGO, the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), signed an agreement on May 31 with the European Commission, donating 3.5 million euros (US$4.6 million) to support the establishment and initial operations of the Myanmar Mine Action Center over the next 18 months. Operations include conducting mine mapping and clearance of land mine-plagued areas in Burma, according to a report by the NPA.

In the report, NPA secretary-general Liv Tørres said "securing this large grant from the EU is a significant step forward in the effort of making it possible for NPA to implement mine action in Myanmar and to open up for other international and national actors to engage in mine action activities."

One Burma observer said work on mine-related activities remained difficult.

In northern Karen State territory controlled by the KNLA's Brigade 5, NGOs face resistance to de-mining operations from KNLA troops that argue the land mines are still useful for defensive purposes.

The KNLA has voiced skepticism over the durability of the ceasefire agreement, and sees the mines' continued presence as a hedge against a possible breakdown of the peace deal. The deployment of government troops in its territories has also discouraged land mine removal from KNLA regions, according to the observers.

However, the observers said some Karen militia groups such as Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the Karen Peace Council, along with some government troops, have begun de-mining projects, mostly in the southwest of Karen State.

The NPA has initiated several development pilot projects in ceasefire areas including non-technical surveys. The group has said that non-technical surveys and de-mining are a precondition for the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.

Both the Burmese government and ethnic rebels used land mines extensively during six decades of civil wars. The KNLA is accused of particularly heavy land mine use during the conflict, with the explosive devices viewed as necessary to bolster the militia's odds against a government Army of many more soldiers and superior weaponry.

British Council to Hold Conference on Higher Education in Naypyidaw

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 03:25 AM PDT

From left to right: Dr. Mya Oo, Dr. Aung Kyaw Myat, Dr. Mya Oo, and Dr. Myo Myint attend a meeting during their fact-finding mission to UK universities in May 2013. (Photo: The British Council)

The British Council is holding an educational conference entitled "Empowering Higher Education" in Naypidaw this weekend.

Attending will be Burmese members of Parliament, officials from the British Council and representatives from UNESCO, AusAid and the Asian Development Bank.

It is a follow-up to a fact-finding tour of British universities that the British Council organized for four Burmese government officials in May. The delegates were Dr. Myo Myint, Dr. Mya Oo, Dr. Aung Kyaw Myat and Dr. Mya Oo.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who chairs two parliamentary committees tasked with drafting new laws on Burmese higher education and revitalizing Rangoon University, had asked the British Council to support her work.

The British Council organized visits to English and Scottish universities and meetings with staff and student representatives for the delegates.

The culmination of the tour was a policy dialogue meeting on May 9 at the University of London, where Suu Kyi gave the keynote speech by video link.

In her speech, the Burmese opposition leader stressed the need for academic freedom.

"We want to make our academic institutions independent. We want to make them vital and we want to modernize them to be in keeping with the developments of the times. We have to learn from everybody because we have fallen so far behind," she said.

She also called for students to be given more freedom to enjoy campus life again. She said: "Our young people have not known campus life for decades. The focus of the military government was on maintaining discipline, not on providing education."

After the meeting, Dr Myo Myint said training better academics and teachers and focusing back on the education parts of the discussion would initially be more important than site and residential campus matters. Widening access would also be critical, in light of the discussions around inclusiveness and the equity of education, he added.

The trip led to five major joint recommendations.

These were: to stay optimistic; to build strong friendships between the UK and Burma; to invest in English-language learning and the development of libraries; to strengthen student unions and the intellectual and civic identity of universities; and to build reciprocity with foreign universities.

Fakebook in Burma: Half of All Accounts Use False IDs, Says President’s Spokesman

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 12:46 AM PDT

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut is pictured at the US Embassy's discussion about hate speech on June 28 in Rangoon. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Dismissing "conspiracy theories" that Burma's government and military have fomented recent inter-religious violence, President Thein Sein's spokesman pointed instead to how people spread information and stoke tensions via social media, saying that half of Burma's 800,000 Facebook accounts use fake names.

"Some small criminal cases can become a religious riot because people can go on social media," Ye Htut, who is also the deputy information minister, said at a US Embassy seminar on "Preventing Hate Speech in Myanmar: Divergent Voices in a New Democracy."

Facebook, Ye Htut said, is increasingly a first source of news for many Burmese, with people preferring to read a four- or five-line update on the social media site rather than digesting a full newspaper story.

On Thursday, the Burmese government announced the winners of the country's two new long-awaited mobile licenses by posting a notice on Ye Htut's Facebook page.

Nonetheless, despite social media's utility for news dissemination, it has its downsides, believes the Burmese government. "Hate speech has been moving toward social media," Ye Htut added, saying this development has "allowed people to spread prejudice against each other."

Ye Htut acknowledged, however, that the prevalence of online pseudonyms was partly a legacy of military rule, with people still wary of speaking freely online after decades of censorship and arrest for those who criticized the former military government.

And while he said the government and army wanted to solve conflict in Burma, he added—without naming names—that some politicians in the country were manipulating religious and ethnic strife for their own ends. "People are confused," said the spokesman. "Is this a hate-speech issue or a political issue?"

"We have to know who is behind these conspiracy theories," he said. "Who is instigating behind the scenes?"

With a new telecommunications regime likely to see Burma's current 1.05 million Internet users increase significantly in the near future, Ye Htut said there was a growing need to balance free speech with what he termed "social responsibility."

The government hopes to have 75 percent of the country's population connected to a mobile network by 2015-16, and of these, Ye Htut projected that half would use their phones to go online.

"We do not want to go back to censorship," he said, "but society must be able to control itself."

The balance between allowing free speech and curbing excesses is a crucial issue in a democratizing Burma, said Hindu leader Aung Naing.

"Should there be a hate speech law or not?" he asked, cautioning that "if you shut their [the people of Burma] mouths, there will be no development here."

But monk Ashin Dhammapiya said that in contemporary Burma, where old restrictions on freedom of expression have been dismantled, people now overstep the mark.

"They think they can say what they like," he said. "People cannot differentiate between freedom of speech and human rights."

Recommending self-regulation for media in Burma, where a new press code is under consideration, Ye Htut took a potshot at one of the world's best-known media moguls, with an implicit message, perhaps, for Burma's so-called "cronies," or politically connected businessmen, who might want to use the country's media to promote themselves.

"[Rupert] Murdoch uses his media to improve his business," he said. "It shouldn't be like that."

Burma’s Currency Continues Its Downslide

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 10:12 PM PDT

Piles of Burmese kyat currency are counted in Rangoon. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy)

Rangoon — Burma's currency is continuing its downslide and has dropped almost 18 percent in value since the government floated the kyat in early April last year. Currency speculation and falling global gold prices are contributing to the slump of the kyat, local bankers and traders said.

On Friday, the Central Bank's official exchange rate stood at 969 kyat per US dollar, while some of Rangoon's money changers reported that the currency had already fallen to more than 1,000 kyat per dollar.

The currency has dropped 17.8 percent compared to 818 kyat per dollar on April 2, 2012, when President Thein Sein's reformist government floated the currency.

Since its float, the kyat experienced a gradual decline to 890 kyat per dollar until May 8, 2013, when it suddenly fell to 946 kyat per dollar in just one day.

Before April 2012, Burma's military government set the official exchange rate at 6.4 kyat per dollar, even though the black market rate stood at around 820 kyat per dollar.

Rangoon money changers said the currency was also subject to strong daily fluctuations.

"This morning when I just started exchanging, a US dollar cost 998 kyat only. Now, in the evening, the price for a dollar has gone up to 1005 kyat. The price of a US dollar jumped like this, just today," an informal money changer said on Wednesday.

Naw Eh Phaw, deputy-director-general foreign currency management at the Central Bank, told The Irrawaddy that a strong US dollar was hindering the bank's policy of trying to limit fluctuations in the currency's value.

"Now, our currency exchange rate has been destabilized," he said, adding, "I can't disclose how we will manage it."

Burma's Central Bank is still under authority of the Ministry of Finance, but Parliament is expected to soon pass a law that will turn it into an institution that can set independent monetary policy.

The International Monetary Fund said in a May 22 statement that the Central Bank was limiting exchange rate fluctuations without setting a specific target rate.

Than Lwin, deputy-chairman of Kanbawza Bank, said there were multiple reasons for the kyat's slump, including a strong demand for US dollars among Burmese traders.

"There are many reasons for the rise of the dollar's value [in Burma]. The reasons could be manipulation of the dollar's price. The buying and hoarding of dollars, as its price is likely to continue to rise. I also suspect that gem traders buy dollars," he said.

Gold traders are among those rushing to buy dollars, as global gold prices have fallen to their lowest point in many years.

"As the world gold prices slump, Burma's gold prices also slump. So, gold traders here seek to buy US dollars," said a Rangoon gold trader, who is a member of the Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs Association.

The slump of the kyat has coincided with an increase in imports, driven in part by a construction boom in Rangoon and a sharp rise in car sales in Burma in the past year.

Some international economists have said that the kyat was overvalued when it was floated last year and needs to fall in order to strengthen Burma's exports.

The President Office's Minister Soe Thein has said on several occasions that the government would prefer a lower-valued kyat as it could attract foreign investment and boost export, as Burmese products become cheaper for overseas buyers.

Win Aung, chairman of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, warned in late May however, that the kyat's sudden drop was hampering Burmese companies' foreign trade activities.

Dr. Maung Maung Soe, a retired economics professor of Rangoon University of Distance Education, said the falling kyat could attract foreign investment and boost export sectors, such as agriculture and garments, but he added that this had yet to happen.

"Although the US dollar price is up, in reality this has not led to an increase in exports. [And] there is not as much foreign investment as expected," he said, adding that the slump of the kyat has so far only led to a rise in the price of imported goods, such as fuel, which has contributeds to inflation.

Cambodian Khmer Rouge Atrocity Suspect Dies

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 10:05 PM PDT

Cambodians who survived the Khmer Rouge regime wait to attend a hearing at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge Tribunal, located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, in March 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Pring Samrang)

PHNOM PENH — A former top Khmer Rouge military officer who was expected to be indicted for alleged atrocities has died, a Cambodian official said on Wednesday.

Northwestern regional deputy commander Maj. Gen. Ek Sam Oun said former Khmer Rouge air force chief Sou Met suffered from diabetes and died on June 14 after a long illness. He had been living in Battambang province and was believed to be 76.

A UN-backed tribunal is currently trying two former top leaders of the Khmer Rouge for alleged crimes against humanity and other offenses. The group’s radical policies in 1975-79 led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Tribunal documents leaked last year indicated that prosecutors were seeking to indict Sou Met along with Khmer Rouge navy commander Meas Mut. The documents alleged that both took part in purges that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.

Tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said he was unaware of Sou Met’s death and noted that he had never officially been named a suspect.

The tribunal earlier convicted the head of a Khmer Rouge prison where thousands were tortured before being sent away for execution. Currently on trial are Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge’s chief ideologist and No. 2 leader, and Khieu Samphan, its former head of state, both in their 80s.

There are concerns that the defendants could die before justice is achieved. Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, who was being tried with his two colleagues, died in March.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has opposed extending the tribunal to cover further suspects, saying it would cause civil unrest. Many former members of the Khmer Rouge — including Hun Sen, who defected from the group in 1977 — hold important positions in the current government or are political allies.

Ek Sam Oun said Sou Met had been appointed an adviser to the Cambodian armed forces and held a major-general’s rank in the army after he defected from the Khmer Rouge in the late 1990s, but was retired at the time of his death. The Khmer Rouge were ousted from power in 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion but continued an insurgency from the jungles until the shrinking movement collapsed with the 1998 death of its leader, Pol Pot.

Sou Met had been receiving medical treatment for several months in hospitals in Phnom Penh and in the Thai capital, Bangkok, Ek Sam Oun said, adding that a Buddhist funeral ceremony was held for him at the headquarters of Cambodia’s northwestern Army Region Five. He did not give any details of any family surviving Sou Met.

China Lifts 17-Year Ban on Dalai Lama Photos at Tibet Monastery: Group

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 09:57 PM PDT

Tibetan monks and activists pray next to a portrait of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, before a rally to support Tibet in Taipei on March 10, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Pichi Chuang)

BEIJING — Chinese officials have lifted a ban on Tibetan monks displaying photographs of the Dalai Lama at a prominent monastery, a rights group said on Thursday, an unexpected policy shift that could ease tensions in the restive region.

The decision concerning the Gaden monastery in the Tibetan capital Lhasa—one of the most historically important religious establishments in Tibet—reversed a ban introduced in 1996, the UK-based Free Tibet group told Reuters, citing sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

It was made as similar changes are being considered in other Tibetan regions of China, and may signal authorities are contemplating looser religious restrictions and a policy change over Tibet, three months after President Xi Jinping took office.

Chinese officials in western Qinghai province are also considering lifting a ban on Tibetans displaying pictures of the exiled spiritual leader, according to the International Campaign for Tibet, a US-based advocacy group.

It said there were also draft proposals in the region to end the practice of forcing Tibetans to denounce the Dalai Lama, and to decrease the police presence at monasteries.

Officials in Lhasa and Qinghai could not immediately be reached for comment.

Such measures appear calculated to reduce tensions between the Tibetans and the government after a series of Tibetan self-immolation protests against Chinese rule.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama, who fled China in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, a violent separatist. The Dalai Lama, who is based in India, says he is merely seeking greater autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.

Since 2009, at least 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in China in protest against Beijing's policies in Tibet and nearby regions with large Tibetan populations. Most were calling for the return of the Dalai Lama.

"Tibetans' reverence for and loyalty to the Dalai Lama has almost no equal among the world's communities and if this policy is extended beyond this individual monastery as other reports suggest, it will be very significant for the Tibetan people," Free Tibet spokesman Alistair Currie said.

The new policy at the Gaden monastery and the discussions in Qinghai come after a scholar from the Central Party School published an essay questioning China's policy on Tibet.

So far, President Xi has said very little publicly about Tibet. His late father, Xi Zhongxun, a liberal-minded former vice premier, was close to the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan leader once gave the elder Xi an expensive watch in the 1950s, a gift the senior party official still wore decades later.

"There's increasingly a view that due to the critical nature of the situation of Tibet, a discussion of a change in some hardline policies is merited and there's a need for the Dalai Lama to be involved in some way," Kate Saunders, spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet, told Reuters.

Saunders said that Tibetans at the meeting raised the possibility of the draft proposals in Qinghai being implemented either in August or September.

US Suspends Bangladesh Trade Privileges

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 09:51 PM PDT

Protesters hold up a sign commemorating those killed in recent clothing factory tragedies in Bangladesh outside Wal-Mart Stores Inc. headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, on June 5, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Rick Wilking)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama announced Thursday the suspension of US trade privileges for Bangladesh because of concerns over labor rights and worker safety that intensified after hundreds died there in the global garment industry's worst accident.

In a proclamation, Obama said Bangladesh was not taking steps to afford internationally recognized worker rights to employees in the South Asian country.

US Trade Representative Mike Froman said the United States will, however, start new discussions with Bangladesh on improving workers' conditions so the duty-free benefits that cover some 5,000 products can be restored. He didn't say when that might be, noting that it would depend on Bangladesh's actions.

Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry called the suspension "harsh" and had been taken despite its concrete actions to improve factory safety.

Thursday's announcement was the culmination of a years-long review of labor conditions in the impoverished country. Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for the step since the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka that killed 1,129 people. In November, a fire at a garment factory killed more than 100 people.

"The recent tragedies that needlessly took the lives of over 1,200 Bangladeshi garment factory workers have served to highlight some of the serious shortcomings in worker rights and workplace safety standards in Bangladesh," Froman said.

The Generalized System of Preferences, which is designed to boost the economies of developing nations, covers less than 1 percent of Bangladesh's nearly $5 billion in exports to the United States, its largest market. The benefits don't cover the lucrative garment sector but Bangladesh's government was anxious to keep them.

The action may not exact a major and immediate economic toll, but it carries a reputational cost and might deter American companies from investing in the country, one of the world's poorest.

The US action, which takes effect in 60 days, also may sway a decision by the European Union, which is considering withdrawing GSP privileges. EU action could have a much bigger economic impact, as its duty-free privileges cover garments, which account for 60 percent of Bangladesh's exports in that sector.

The US Trade Representative review of labor conditions in Bangladesh follows a petition filed in 2007 by the AFL-CIO labor federation seeking withdrawal of the GSP benefits. The review was expedited late last year amid concern from US lawmakers over deadly industrial accidents, deteriorating labor rights and the April 2012 killing of prominent labor activist Aminul Islam—a case that has not been solved.

Froman said despite close engagement with Bangladesh to encourage labor reforms, the United States hadn't seen sufficient progress. But he said the United States was "committed to working with the government of Bangladesh to take the actions necessary to rejoin the program." Steps it wants to see include passage of an amended labor law and other steps to enhance workers' rights and worker safety, Froman said.

Defending its record, Bangladesh said it was amending the labor law and a ministerial committee has been formed to ensure compliance by garment factories.

"Bangladesh hopes that the US administration would soon bring back Bangladesh's GSP status, a benefit a least-developed country is supposed to receive in developed countries as per the provisions of the World Trade Organization," the Foreign Ministry statement said.

House and Senate Democrats who had been calling for the US benefits to be curtailed quickly welcomed Thursday's decision.

Rep. Joe Crowley, a Democrat who is co-chairman of the congressional caucus on Bangladesh, said that in light of recent tragedies in the country, the suspension was "inevitable."

"I hope this action will propel Bangladeshi officials to develop a clear path forward that protects all workers in Bangladesh," he said.

Robert Menendez, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it was long overdue for Bangladesh to change its labor practices and ensure workers' rights.

"Bangladesh is an important trading partner, but we cannot and will not look the other way while workers are subjected to unsafe conditions and environments endangering their wellbeing," Menendez said in a statement.

He also called for American companies operating in Bangladesh to improve conditions for factory workers and work with European companies on a global standard for safety.

Lawmakers have criticized US retailers that source garments from Bangladesh for not joining the more than 40 mostly European companies that have adopted a five-year, legally binding contract that requires them to help pay for fire safety and building improvements. The Bangladeshi garment manufacturers' association says it stepping up inspections and has closed 20 factories.

The garment industry employs some 4 million people in Bangladesh, 80 percent of them women.
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