Thursday, July 18, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Burma arrests six Buddhists for role in Muslim massacre

Posted: 18 Jul 2013 05:20 AM PDT

Burmese authorities have arrested six people for their suspected role in the massacre of 10 Muslim pilgrims in Arakan state last year, which sparked a series of vicious ethno-religious riots that left scores dead.

The suspects were nabbed when Naypyidaw police carried out a surprise raid in Arakan state's Taungup on Wednesday, reportedly without informing local officials. It comes less than two days after Thein Sein pledged a "zero-tolerance approach" to ethnic violence during a high-profile European tour that has been overshadowed by allegations of persecution against Burmese Muslims.

According to the chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Sandoway district, authorities from Naypyidaw arrived with a list of the suspects' addresses, but refused to disclose details to local police.

"Naypyidaw police seized local police officers' phones when they arrived in town and told them to get in the cars with them," said Win Naing. "It turned out they were there to detain seven suspects in connection with the massacre that took place on 3 June last year."

One suspect reportedly escaped, while the others are being detained in Sandoway awaiting charges.

The massacre took place shortly after reports began to circulate about the alleged rape and murder of an Arakanese woman by three Rohingya Muslims in late May 2012. A large Buddhist mob surrounded a bus filled with non-Rohingya Muslim pilgrims, who were leaving Taungup for Rangoon, dragging off several passengers and beating them to death with clubs and sticks.

According to a report published by Human Rights Watch in August 2012, "local police and soldiers stood by and watched the killings without intervening".

An initial probe into the massacre reportedly floundered after investigators were unable to find a witness who was willing to testify against the killers.

Five days later riots kicked off in Maungdaw town in northern Arakan, pitting Buddhists against the stateless Muslim Rohingya, who are considered illegal Bengali immigrants by most locals and broadly despised. It resulted in four days of rioting that spread throughout the coastal state, killing dozens of people and leaving more than 100,000 people displaced.

A second eruption of violence flared in October, primarily targeting the Rohingya minority, many of whom have been left trapped in dismal camps and ghettos ever since. The violence has cast an international spotlight on Burma's treatment of the minority and prompted global calls for the government to grant them citizenship.

Thein Sein's government has also been criticised for a perceived failure to prosecute Buddhists involved in the violence.

When contacted by DVB on Thursday, Sandoway police said they were unable to comment on the arrests because more senior authorities had supervised the operation. Sandoway district's administrator was also unavailable for comment.

Residents in Taungup said the arrests were carried out in secret and neither local officials nor local army units were aware of the operations until the next morning. Security was reportedly tight in Taungup on Thursday.

UK approves US$5 million in arms export deals to Burma

Posted: 18 Jul 2013 04:26 AM PDT

The British government has approved arms export licences worth over US$5 million (£3.3 million) to Burma, even though it is considered a country of "serious human rights" concern and continues to be the subject of an EU arms embargo.

A parliamentary investigation into the UK's arms exports concluded that human rights standards have been "fundamentally undermined" by the scale and nature of licences issued to countries of concern, including Burma, Iran and Syria.

The UK acknowledged that a rise in exports to Burma between 2010 and 2011 has made it harder for them to enforce the arms embargo. "Whilst the vast majority of this trade is legitimate, there is a potential for increased illicit exports as well," the government conceded to parliament in a report published on Wednesday, adding that it was investigating cases of "non-compliance".

The UK currently has eight active arms export licences for Burma, including Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) for bomb suits and devices used for initiating explosives, high performance air traffic control software and cryptographic software.

The vast majority of licenses (totaling £3.2 or US$4.9 million) were designated for inertial navigation systems, which may be used by the military to guide aircrafts, submarines and missiles. The report also reveals that a request to export small arms ammunition in 2011 was rejected, but does not divulge more details.

In a written response to parliament, the government insisted that licences for cryptographic software was for civil use by a "known international media group" and did not breach the embargo. However, no further information about the multi-million dollar export deals has been made public.

The revelations coincide with President Thein Sein's first visit to London, where the UK offered to help provide military training to Burma in a bid to "help" resolve ethnic tensions. Burma has been subject to an EU arms embargo since 1996 as a result of the former military regime's persistent violations of human rights, including military attacks and abuses against civilians in ethnic minority regions.

"It is highly concerning to see the number and value of licences going to countries that we know are not respecting the human rights of their own and neighbouring populations," said Richard Burden, a Labour MP and member of the House of Commons Committee on Arms Exports.

Thein Sein has received international praise for introducing a series of democratic reforms in Burma since taking office in 2011, prompting the EU to drop most economic and trade sanctions, but not the arms embargo.

The UK can still approve the export of arms-related or "controlled" goods to Burma, as long as it is not intended for military purposes. But human rights groups say its failure to disclose all details surrounding the sales raises questions.

"They need to reveal exactly who made the requests for these exports, who they went to, and what their intended use was," said Mark Farmaner, Campaign Director at Burma Campaign UK. "Given the emphasis of the British government on building ties with the Burmese military, unless they are completely transparent this will fuel suspicions that they want to start selling arms to Burma."

The UK government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rights issues dominate Thein Sein’s Euro trip

Posted: 18 Jul 2013 02:49 AM PDT

Burma’s President Thein Sein met the French head of state Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday.

Human rights issues have dominated Thein Sein’s visits to Britain and France – both David Cameron and Francois Hollande confronted the president over rights abuses and ethnic violence.

But activists claim western powers are putting their economic interests in Burma ahead of the need to end the ongoing rights abuses.

Ministry agrees to return meagre fraction of land confiscated by military

Posted: 18 Jul 2013 01:28 AM PDT

Burma's defence minister promised the country's parliament on Tuesday to return just over 18,000 of the approximately 300,000 acres of land confiscated by the military during decades of junta rule.

According to the secretary of the parliament's land grab investigation commission Thein Htun, Defence Minister Lieutenant General Wai Lwin informed legislators that the ministry had verified about 400 of the more than 600 complaints forwarded to ministry by the group.

"The committee had forwarded 665 complaints to the [MoD] involving 297,217 acres of land and so far they have verified the ones concerning 10 of 14 regional military commands across the country involving 18,364.49 acres, which have been approved to be returned to the original owners," said Thein Htun.

The minister told the parliament that the military would not be returning approximately 50,000 acres of land where projects had already been constructed and instead would follow legal procedures in order to compensate the relevant parties.

During his address, Wai Lwin went on to claim that the military was not responsible for all of the land grab cases that were cited by the commission and insisted that certain episodes had been wrongfully pinned on the army, when in fact the property had been appropriated by individuals and companies.

The minister said the country's armed forces had also allowed locals to cultivate more than 15,000 acres of land that had been confiscated but not developed by the military. Wai Lwin then pledged to return around 25,000 acres to locals if they could prove they were actually using it for farming.

Lower house MP and land grab investigation commission member Pe Than welcomed the minister's pledge but stressed that the commission would wait and see if the military followed through with the agreement.

"Generally this looks encouraging but we need to wait and see if the farmers actually get their land back," said Pe Than.

Earlier this week, Burma's parliament approved a proposal tabled by the land grab investigation commission urging the government to speed up the implementation of recommendations presented by the group.

During a speech in London on Monday night, Burma's President Thein Sein described the challenges facing the reformist government as "tremendous" and alluded to the difficulties authorities have had with confronting the myriad land issues in the country.

"Land ownership issues for example are extremely complex," said Thein Sein. "As part of our drive to foster growth for all the people of Myanmar (Burma), we will develop clear, fair and open land policies."

However, the government has yet to provide the parliament with a detailed plan laying out how authorities are preparing to address what is fast becoming one of the most tempestuous issues in the country.

In a article published by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the think tank reports approximately 1.9 million acres of land in Burma has been illegally seized by private businesses in the past two decades, "even though 70 percent of that land has never been developed and is still used for farming by the original owners".

Hollande urges Thein Sein to forge ahead with reforms

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 09:31 PM PDT

French President Francois Hollande urged Burma’s head of state Thein Sein to push ahead with reforms and follow through on a vow to release political prisoners, as the two met in Paris Wednesday.

The former general, fresh from a three-day trip to London, was in Europe to build on support for introducing much-lauded reforms in the former pariah state.

Thein Sein held a 45-minute meeting in the Elysee Palace with Hollande, who called on him to “continue the process of political transition and deepen economic reforms launched two years ago.”

In a statement, Hollande’s office said the French president had praised the fact that “the opposition is now taking part in the national political debate”.

But he said the government also needed to follow through on Thein Sein’s promise on Monday that all prisoners of conscience in Burma would be freed by the end of the year.

Hollande “underlined the need to see all prisoners of conscience quickly freed without condition”.

He also expressed France’s concern at “persistent” inter-communal violence in the country.

Thein Sein on Monday voiced optimism about ending decades of conflict that have raged between the government and more than a dozen ethnic groups since independence from Britain in 1948.

Buddhist-Muslim clashes in the Arakan state last year left about 200 people dead, mostly Rohingya Muslims who are denied citizenship by the government. Further clashes have erupted in recent months.

The Burmese leader shunned the spotlight during his visit to Paris and did not speak to journalists after the meeting with Hollande or after earlier meetings with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault or the MEDEF employers’ union.

He was to leave France on Thursday after visiting the palace of Versailles outside Paris.

An advisor to Hollande said the “historic” visit, the first to Paris by a sitting Burmese head of state, was aimed at showing Rangoon’s “willingness to normalise relations with the international community”.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the advisor said a number of projects were discussed, including potential French investment in agriculture, water management, transport infrastructure, energy and tourism.

A number of leading rights groups, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Reporters Without Borders, urged Hollande in a joint letter to press Thein Sein on the human rights situation in his country.

“France must not let itself be guided solely by economic interests as major French businesses such as Vinci Bouygues, Total and Orange are in the process of negotiating contracts in Burma,” they wrote.

In a protest timed with the visit, activists from rights-group Avaaz dressed up as Hollande and Thein Sein made mock toasts with a bottle of champagne before cardboard graves and a banner reading: “Don’t let Burma become the next Rwanda”.

Trade between France and Burma remains at a modest level, with one diplomatic source putting the figure at 18 million euros ($23 million) a year.

French Minister of Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq is scheduled to visit Burma later this month. Development Minister Pascal Canfin travelled to the country in March.

Hollande had said he was willing to host Thein Sein after rolling out the red carpet for Burma's opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi during her landmark visit to Paris in June 2012.

Since coming to power in 2011, Thein Sein has sought to end his country’s isolation with a series of political changes that have won him international praise.

He has freed hundreds of political dissidents, eased media restrictions and welcomed Suu Kyi and her party into parliament.

In response, the European Union has scrapped most of its sanctions, except for an arms embargo, and readmitted Burma to a preferential trade scheme.

The United States has also lifted most embargoes and foreign companies are now eager to enter the resource-rich nation, with its perceived frontier market of some 60 million potential consumers.
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