Democratic Voice of Burma

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• Karen man charged in connection with Taungoo bombing
• Three Arakanese men arrested for plotting to bomb mosques
• Four injured by landmine in southern Shan state
• Allow Rohingyas citizenship, UN tells Burma
• Dawei SEZ on hold as Burma seeks to reassure Ital-Thai

Karen man charged in connection with Taungoo bombing Posted: 20 Nov 2013 03:44 AM PST A police officer from Taungoo township in Pegu division has told DVB that a 34-year-old suspect was arrested on Monday in connection with a bombing in the town last month. The police officer said that Saw Htun Htun, an ethnic Karen resident of nearby Kyaukkyi, was detained on 18 November with assistance from Karen National Union (KNU) officials in the town. "[Saw Htun Htun] was detained around 8:45 in the evening on 18 November – the arrest was carried out by the police who were assisted by the KNU [Karen National Union] in the investigation. The suspect has vowed to confess to the bombing at his trial," he said. A local news reporter in Taungoo said Saw Htun Htun confessed on Wednesday morning and was subsequently charged under the Explosives Act. "He told police that he travelled to Taungoo via bus from Penwegon [a town 70 km south of Taungoo] on 9 October," the reporter told DVB. "He said he rented a room at the Chan Myae guesthouse, and planted the bomb behind the curtain above the bed on the morning of 10 October before leaving town. "He re-constructed the events for the police and showed them exactly where he planted the bomb." Related Stories Three Arakanese men arrested for plotting to bomb mosques Nationwide ceasefire, political dialogue appear on the horizon Namhkam festival cancelled in wake of bombings However, KNU Secretary Pado Kwe Htoo Win told DVB that the investigation report on this case is yet to be released, and that he believes that Saw Htun Htun is an innocent victim. "As far as I know, Saw Htun Htun is just a rural villager and he did not commit any crime," he said. "He was scared to return home after hearing that his name was on a list of suspects; but he is just an ordinary villager who makes a living cutting firewood in the forest." Two people were killed and one was injured in the bombing at Chan Myae guesthouse in Taungoo on 11 October. The Taungoo bombing was just one of a spate of attacks that took place within a week; other bombs exploded or were detonated in Rangoon, Mandalay, Sagaing and Namhkam.

Three Arakanese men arrested for plotting to bomb mosques Posted: 20 Nov 2013 03:14 AM PST Burma police said on Wednesday they had arrested three people suspected of planning bomb attacks on mosques, as the country grapples with religious tensions after waves of anti-Muslim violence. The suspects are all Buddhist men from the western state of Rakhine [Arakan], where two bouts of unrest last year left scores dead and some 140,000 displaced, mainly Rohingya Muslims. “They were planning to plant bombs at mosques, after attending training on the border in Karen state,” a police official in Rangoon told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the country’s eastern frontier. He said authorities were continuing to investigate the “ongoing case”. Related Stories Karen man charged in connection with Taungoo bombing Allow Rohingyas citizenship, UN tells Burma Mosque damaged in attack in western Burma Burma remains tense after eruptions of religious conflict that have killed around 250 people and cast a shadow over much-praised political reforms. A report in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on Wednesday said an initial raid on a guesthouse in the Rangoon area found one 34-year-old suspect “red-handed making bombs with gunpowder and related materials” on 13 November. It said further investigations led police to arrest two more suspects, aged 31 and 28, early Saturday. The English-language newspaper said one of the men had received training on the border and had received “two ready-to-use” mines and a pack of gunpowder. It said the intended target was “religious buildings” and police were still hunting further suspects. Burma was rattled by a series of explosions in October that the United States denounced as “acts of terror”, including one at the luxury Traders Hotel in Rangoon that injured an American woman. No group claimed responsibility but authorities said suspects arrested at the time were linked to ethnic Karen rebels. There were two rounds of unrest in Rakhine in June and October 2012, with fighting largely between local Buddhists and the Rohingya minority. Clashes were later reported in other areas. Last week the arrival of a delegation from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for a tour of the country, including Rakhine, sparked protests led by Buddhist monks. Humanitarian workers have faced threats and harassment for trying to help in Muslim camps. Radical monks have been accused of fuelling the violence with anti-Muslim rhetoric, while witnesses to violence in central Burma in March said some attackers were dressed in clerical robes. Burma views its population of some 800,000 Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. They are considered by the United Nations to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. Thousands of Rohingya have since fled Burma, with many paying smugglers for passage on rickety and overcrowded boats to Malaysia or further south. Hundreds are believed to have perished at sea so far this year.

Four injured by landmine in southern Shan state Posted: 19 Nov 2013 10:25 PM PST Four people including a four-year-old child have been injured by a landmine blast in southern Shan state's Loilen district, according to local sources. A staff member at the hospital in Panglong said four locals, all female, aged 37, 22, 16 and four, from Kyunit village about 10 miles west of the town, arrived at the hospital in the afternoon of 16 November with landmine injuries; two of them were in a serious condition and were later transferred to Loilen district hospital, she said. "Two of them – the 19 and the 37-year-old – were transferred to Loilen hospital," said a Panglong hospital staffer. "One of them has a large gash on her leg. The other two are receiving treatment in Panglong as out-patients." Related Stories Shan parties consider merger proposal Shan dam causes waves Shan locals petition against Thai coal mining company Sai Hseng Mong, a community leader in Panglong, said the four were out picking herbs at a hillside near the village. "Four women from Kyunit village were foraging for herbs on the side of the Lwemont Hill when one of them, Nang Paw, stepped on a landmine," he said. "Nang Paw sustained a serious injury; one of her calves was blown off and she took shrapnel in her body." It was unclear who laid the landmine. The area has been active with both Shan State Army-South and Burmese government forces engaging in clashes over the last month. Sai Hseng Mong said the Burmese army has since taken up positions on the hill. Landmines have been used regularly by both the Burmese government troops and rebel groups during decades of conflict. According to this year's report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, more than 3,300 individuals have been affected by landmines in Burma between 1999 and 2012 with deaths totaling more than 300. Burma remains one of 36 nations that is yet to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

Allow Rohingyas citizenship, UN tells Burma Posted: 19 Nov 2013 09:29 PM PST The UN General Assembly’s human rights committee on Tuesday passed a resolution urging Burma to give the stateless Rohingya minority equal access to citizenship and to crack down on Buddhist violence against them and other Muslims in the Southeast Asian nation. The resolution passed the committee by consensus, meaning under General Assembly rules the body will unanimously pass it later this year. Burma emerged from a half-century of military rule in 2011, but its transition to democracy has been marred by sectarian violence that has left more than 240 people dead and sent another 140,000 fleeing their homes, most of them Rohingya. Some say the inter-communal violence presents a threat to Burma’s political reforms because it could encourage security forces to re-assert control. In 1982, Burma passed a citizenship law recognizing eight races and 130 minority groups – but omitted the nation’s 800,000 Rohingya, among Burma’s 60 million people. Many Burmese Buddhists view the Rohingya as interlopers brought in by British colonialists from modern-day Bangladesh, but many Rohingya say they have lived in the country for hundreds of years. Related Stories Three Arakanese men arrested for plotting to bomb mosques Mosque damaged in attack in western Burma OIC pledges help to 'both communities' in Arakan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, seen as likely to be elected as the next president of Burma, has had little else to say about Rohingya rights. She declined to meet with an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation delegation visiting Burma this week to look into the plight of the Rohingya. Burma had been ostracised by most of the world for 50 years after a coup that instituted military rule. But in recent years the nation has been cautiously welcomed into the international community after it freed many political prisoners and ended the house arrest of Suu Kyi and instituted reforms. President Barack Obama visited the country last year on an Asian tour, as a hallmark of Burma’s rehabilitation. The General Assembly resolution welcomed a statement by Burma’s president that “no prisoners of conscience will remain in prison by the end of the year.” Burma released 69 political prisoners last week. But it also “expresses concern about remaining human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions of political activists and human rights defenders, forced displacement, land confiscations, rape and other forms of sexual violence and torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as violations of international humanitarian law, and urges the government of Burma to step up its efforts to put an end to such violations.” In the resolution, the Assembly reiterated its serious concern about communal violence and other abuses of the Rohingya minority in Arakan state in the past year, and about attacks against Muslim minorities elsewhere. Burma’s government calls the Rohingya “Bengalis,” a reference to their reported South Asian roots. Rohingya leaders object to the terminology. The Rohingya speak a Bengali dialect and resemble Bangladeshis, with darker skin than most people in Burma. Bangladesh also refuses to accept them as citizens.

Dawei SEZ on hold as Burma seeks to reassure Ital-Thai Posted: 19 Nov 2013 07:46 PM PST The 75-year concession granted to Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) in Dawei remains in place, but construction of the deep-sea port has stopped while the participation of international investors is being arranged, a spokesman for the Burmese government said. Set Aung, adviser to the Myanmar President Office, brushed aside reports that the government has terminated the concession to ITD to develop a special economic zone and a deep-sea port in Dawei, also known as Tavoy, in southern Burma. Thailand's Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal, who headed the Thai team that visited Dawei earlier this month, said last week that the Burmese government planned to take back the concession awarded to ITD, Thailand’s largest construction company, after the Dawei project had been delayed for many years. Related Stories Karen language proposal gets green light in Tenasserim Thai firm reacts after Dawei seizure rumours Tavoy farmers demand return of lands seized in 1990 Mr Pongsak, who was recently named head of a special task force to kick-start the Dawei project, said the Burmese government would call for international bids for Dawei early next year. “It is not true that Burma's government wants ITD out,” Mr Set Aung told the Bangkok Post on Monday. “However, ITD has to stop all its work to have due diligence assessments conducted on these projects. Without due diligence assessment, no other investor will be able to participate in any projects related to the Dawei SEZ development. And with no other investors’ involvement, the Dawei project will never be successful,” Mr Set Aung said in an email. Mr Set Aung said all decisions are made bilaterally by the Burmese and Thai governments in high-level committees or joint coordinating committees. “ITD knows of every single discussion and decision made by the Burmese and Thai governments,” he said. Thai officials, meanwhile, said the National Economic and Social Development Board has contacted ITD about Dawei. All ITD executives flew to Dawei and work at the site has stopped. Shares of ITD closed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 5.60 baht, up 10 satang, in trade worth 408.6 million baht. This article was first published in the Bangkok Post on 19 November 2013.

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