Friday, February 7, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

BURMA BUSINESS WEEKLY: 1- 7 FEB

Posted: 07 Feb 2014 02:51 AM PST

 

ADB signs deal to develop electricity in Burma

A signing ceremony on a US$60m loan agreement pledged by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for electricity development in Burma was held at the Electric Power Ministry in Naypyidaw on Monday, according to a ministry official. It has been announced the loan will be spent on upgrading power substations, replacing existing distribution lines and transformers, instalment of digital revenue meters, and replacing tangled knots of existing bare low voltage distribution lines with more efficient aerial-bundled conductor lines in Rangoon, Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe Divisions. The project is aiming to reduce distribution loss by four percentage points.

 

Burma to export rice to Philippines

Burma has signed an MoU with the Philippines for the export of 500,000 tons of rice, according to the Myanmar Rice Federation. The planned export of Palethwe rice to the Philippines is part of a food security agreement reached during President Thein Sein's trip to Manila in December 2013.

 

Yadanapon promises 1,500-kyat SIM cards

Burmese domestic telecommunications firm Yadanapon Teleport is looking to distribute mobile phone SIM cards at 1,500 kyat (US$1.50) each beginning in August. Board member Shein Thu Aung said the company, now reconstituted as a public holding, is in the process of attracting foreign bidders to establish a network by August and plan promotions for calls, SMSs and SIM cards.

 

South Koreans dropped from Hantharwaddy Airport project

Burma's aviation authorities have dropped a plan to undertake construction of the Hantharwaddy International Airport with a South Korean company led by Incheon International Airport Corp, following unsuccessful negotiations over airport capacity. Burma's DCA says it is now considering a backup tender bidder, possibly a Singapore-Japan joint-venture, Yongnam-Cape-JEC Consortium.

 

India cements ties with Burma

A lull in domestic demand has led several Indian cement producers to ramp up exports to Burma, industry news site Cementworld reported Tuesday. Tamil Nadu-based Dalmia Bharat Cement Ltd began shipping approximately 10,000- 12,000 tons to Burma in January 2014, while Ramco Cements Ltd, also based in Tamil Nadu, has shipped about 40,000 tons of cement to Burma to date. Several other companies including India Cements Ltd and Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd are also "testing the market" in Burma, said the report.

 

Indonesian tin miners ready to explore Burma

Indonesian tin mining firm PT Timah has announced it will begin tin ore exploration in Burma in June. Timah, in which the state has a majority holding, has secured a 10,000-hectare tin concession area in Pubyien-Tamok in Tenasserim Division, estimated to have around 10,000 tons of tin reserves. Timah president director Sukrisno said on Tuesday that the firm had also submitted mining applications for other areas of Burma and was hoping to obtain permits this year.

 

German President to attend business forum in Rangoon

German Federal President Joachim Gauck will pay a first ever official visit to Burma next week at the invitation of his counterpart Thein Sein, said an official announcement on Thursday. Gauck is expected to arrive in Rangoon on 11 February to attend the first ever Myanmar-Germany Business Forum which will begin a day ahead of his arrival, sources said.

 

Rangoon skytrain on track for 2025 completion

Implementation planning is underway for 10 km of subway and elevated train systems in Rangoon, said Railway Transportation Minister Than Htay. Assisted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Rangoon regional government hopes to complete the project by 2025. The Japanese government has been instrumental in upgrading Burma's transit systems, having previously granted the ministry a loan for renovation of the dilapidated Rangoon– Mandalay railway.

 

US bank offers credit incentives on Burmese trade

The US Export-Import Bank on Thursday began to offer credit for trade with Burma, AFP reported. Officials said they hoped to boost US exports and jobs by providing similar terms as credit agencies from European and Asian nations, whose governments have gone even further in ending barriers to trade with the once pariah state. Effective immediately, US exporters can turn to the Export-Import Bank to seek credit insurance on their products, direct loans or loan guarantees.

 

Bitter aftertaste for sugarcane farmers in Naypyidaw

Sugarcane farmers in Naypyidaw's Lewe Township say they face substantial losses in a local venture with a military-owned sugar refinery that is losing business and cancelling orders with them. The farmers say that sugar refinery firm Taung Sin Aye, a subsidiary of Myanmar Economic Corporation, has been processing about 33 percent less sugarcane than usual due to outdated machinery, and has subsequently cancelled orders for sugarcane from the local farmers.

Read more: http://www.dvb.no/news/bitter-aftertaste-for-sugarcane-farmers-in-naypyidaw-burma-myanmar/36638

 

 

 

 

 

Burma busy arresting journalists, not ratifying CW treaty

Posted: 07 Feb 2014 01:30 AM PST

Burma's government has denied that a military factory in Magwe's Pauk Township is used for the manufacture of chemical weapons, but has yet to offer any explanation of what actually goes on there.

The arrest of five Unity Weekly journal employees in connection with a report on the alleged production site has renewed pressure on Burma to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which bans the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.

"As it does with all non-States Parties and Signatory States, the OPCW has made regular overtures to Myanmar through official channels to join the CWC without delay," said Michael Luhan, spokesperson for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the enforcement body for the CWC.

The convention, effective since 1993, currently has 190 party states. Upon becoming party, suspected facilities are investigated and stores disposed. As of last year, about 82 percent of declared stockpiles had been destroyed in CWC party states.

Burma became signatory to the CWC in 1993, but has made slow progress towards ratification. Luhan told DVB on Friday that in the years since becoming signatory, Burma has participated in a few OPCW conferences and in 2013 hosted a "technical assistance visit."

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The recent allegations of chemical weapon production were sparked by a report that first appeared in Unity Weekly on 25 January, titled, "Secret Chemical Weapon [built] by the Former Senior-General, Chinese Technicians and the Current [Burmese Military] Commander in Chief", which detailed the location and purported activities of a military facility in Pauk Township, Magwe Division.

"I saw 15-ft long rockets," read the report, citing a local who claims to have worked at the site. The report also alleges that "soldiers" protect the site and prohibit workers from leaving.

The report was quickly pulled from shelves, and five people – four reporters and the journal's CEO – are currently awaiting arraignment for charges under Article 3(1)a of Burma's colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The law criminally implicates any citizen who "approaches, inspects, passes over or is in the vicinity of, or enters, any prohibited place" for any purpose, and carries sentences of up to 14 years.

Their detention has been heavily condemned as a setback to Burma's progress towards press freedom. Myint Kyaw, general secretary of the Myanmar Journalists Network, told DVB that, "The [Unity Weekly staff] were arrested as if they were fugitives… similar to back in the time when journalists had to live in fear."

If the information is incorrect, he said, the editors should be informed, and if necessary issue a correction. The contents and credibility of the report, however, have since come under serious criticism.

President's spokesman Ye Htut denied on Wednesday that the disputed No. 24 Defence Industry Factory – the facility detailed in Unity's report — was used for manufacturing chemical weapons.

"Regarding the question whether it was really a chemical weapon factory, our country is a signatory state for the Chemical Weapons Convention – it was just a defence related factory, but not a chemical weapon factory," he said, speaking to DVB by phone.

He did not, however, elaborate on the actual uses of the facility. The spokesman did not respond to DVB's multiple follow-up inquiries about when Burma will move beyond signatory status and become a CWC State Party.

Becoming party to the CWC would require Burma to allow OPCW verification of suspect activities. Luhan said that upon ratification, Burma would have 60 days to declare all chemical assets within its territory.

"As Myanmar is not yet a CWC  State Party, the OPCW has no mandate to conduct verification activities in the country and hence cannot comment or speculate upon such reports," he said.

Burma has long been suspected of maintaining chemical weapons facilities, and has been repeatedly accused of using them in military offensives against ethnic armed groups during the country's decades of civil wars.

"As Myanmar is not yet a CWC  State Party, the OPCW has no mandate to conduct verification activities in the country and hence cannot comment or speculate upon such reports," Michael Luhan, OPCW

Even since Burma's protracted peace process began to take hold, there have been several reports of the use of chemical weapons.

In January 2013, DVB reported that the Burmese government denied use of chemical weapons during an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) near their Laiza headquarters on the Burma-China border.

At that time, KIA spokesman James Lum Dau said there was an intense heat and soldiers "lost consciousness" when shells exploded.

The Burmese government maintained that the accusations are untrue. In January 2013, Ye Htut responded by saying that, "Our military never uses chemical weapons and we have no intention to use them at all."

While the reports could not be independently verified, Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a humanitarian aid group delivering medical assistance to those displaced by conflict in Burma, affirmed the conclusion that illicit weapons were used in the fighting.

FBR founder Dave Eubank told DVB via email on Friday while he was doing fieldwork in Burma, "We ourselves have no hard evidence of chemical warfare but do believe that the Burma army has used them based on eyewitness accounts."

Eubank referred to the group's previous reportage on an attack against Kachin villages in May 2012.

"[The] Burma Army fired two rifle grenades with chemical munitions. White smoke came out as the grenades impacted and immediately all those caught in the cloud of smoke began to choke, become dizzy and nauseous and their eyes began to burn. Although no affected person has died from these munitions, this may be a chemical more potent than tear gas or military grade High Content CS, as the symptoms persisted for up to three days," the report read.

Burma is currently State Party to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but has yet to ratify either the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention or the Chemical Weapons Convention.

While full stock of the nation's munitions is still a mystery, Burma has been repeatedly implicated for involvement in the North Korean arms trade, as well as illicit trade with the Indian Army, which violated a European arms embargo by selling Norwegian rocket launchers to the Burmese Armed Forces.

No less than 190 states, representing over 98 percent of the world’s population, are party to the CWC. Two have signed but not yet ratified the treaty: Burma and Israel, while four nations have not acceded to the treaty: Angola, North Korea, Egypt and South Sudan.

Additional reporting contributed by Aye Nai.

 

Burmese media groups condemn Unity Weekly arrests

Posted: 07 Feb 2014 01:03 AM PST

Press bodies in Burma have denounced the arrests of five media workers from news journal Unity Weekly over the 25 January reporting of an alleged 'secret chemical weapon factory' in Magwe Division.

A joint-statement released by the Myanmar Journalists Association, Myanmar Press Union, Myanmar Journalists Network and PEN Myanmar, dated 3 February, expresses concern over "improper procedures" in the prosecution of Unity Weeky's staff, who have been arrested and questioned under the Official Secrets Act.

"The arrests of the Unity Weekly's local correspondent as well as the Chief Executive Officer prior to pressing charges, and their detention for over 24 hours is similar practice to the former military regime acting outside of legal guidelines," said the statement.

PEN Myanmar Board member Myo Myint Nyein said the prosecution of Unity Weekly staff was against legal regulations.

"If the government is planning a legal action, then they should act within the law, which means they need to press charges first and then summon the individuals for questioning in conformity with the law," said Myo Myint Nyein.

"Moreover, the Interim Press Council was formed under Presidential directive specifically to deal with issues like this, so a concerned government organisation should first reach out to the Press Council and then follow up as necessary. Taking people in casually and not letting them go is very similar to what the former military regime used to do."

Myint Kyaw, General Secretary of the Myanmar Journalists Network said: "The government claimed the Ministry of Home Affairs is seeking action against Unity Weekly in accordance with the law but they lack transparency in not clarifying what is provided in the law, while giving an impression to the press that they are liable of legal action if they cover certain issues."

"This is recreating the feeling of being under threat in the same way as under the former military regime," he continued.

Sithu Aung Myint, renowned journalist and political analyst, criticised the Unity Weekly's lack of media ethics, suggesting a lack of credible evidence to support the claim that the facility was in fact a "secret chemical weapon factory".

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"The report contained some photographs and assumptions about the nature of the buildings inside the compound and also mentioned 'rockets', but it did not include any information to support these claims — so the writing is completely against journalism ethics" said Sithu Aung Myint.

"More importantly," he added, "the report did not include any information to prove the facility is really a chemical weapons factory except for local testimony. It also mentioned names in the headlines such as the former Senior General [Than Shwe], the current Commander in Chief [Min Aung Hlaing] as well as Chinese technicians. The report also included a photo of the Commander in Chief and the China President but no explanation of how they are relevant to the story."

Maungdaw investigation to overlook allegations of Rohingya massacre

Posted: 07 Feb 2014 12:34 AM PST

Burmese President Thein Sein has appointed a 10-person investigation commission to determine the "real cause" of violent incidents in the village of Duchira Dan in Maungdaw Township last month.

Although the commission is instructed to investigate the death of Police Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein on 13 January and the cause of a fire which razed about 20 homes on 28 January, no instructions were issued for an investigation into allegations that an Arakanese mob massacred up to 48 Rohingyas in the town.

According to a report on Friday in state-run The New Light of Myanmar, the investigation commission is to submit a report directly to the president by 28 February after investigating the following incidents:

"(a) To investigate the root cause of the death of Police Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein from Khayay Myaing Police Outpost at Ducheertan [Duchira Dan] village on 13 January 2014 and whether there is evidence of foul play in his death.

"(b) To probe the root cause of the fire outbreak at Ducheertan west village on 28 January 2014 and to identify who had set fire the village.

"(c) To probe false and groundless reports of Ducheertan west village fire and who made the reporting.

"(d) Deaths and injuries and loss of property in the incidents.

"(e) Suggested measures to be taken to prevent such incidents from recurrence."

No mention is made of the alleged rapes, lynchings and murders of Rohingya villagers that have been reported. The UN has said it has "credible evidence" that 48 Rohingyas in Duchira Dan were massacred last month – eight men on 9 January in an attack by a Buddhist mob, then another 40 men, women and children in a retaliatory attack following the disappearance of Police Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein on 13 January.

The Burmese government has vehemently denied that such a massacre took place. "We have had no information about killings," Presidential spokesman Ye Htut told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Nations Foreign Ministers' meeting in Bagan, and he suggested that the "reports might be a cover-up, because of the policeman going missing."

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Naypyidaw has also been quick to slam media for reporting on the alleged incident. On 24 January, Burma's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement condemning "foreign media and some international agencies [for] issuing press releases based on unjustified conclusions drawing from unverified information in relation to the incidents which took place … on 13 January in Duchira Dan."

On Thursday, DVB reported that the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission had concluded an inquiry into the alleged Rohingya massacre in Maungdaw's Duchira Dan-West village, saying it has found no solid evidence of any massacre taking place.

However, in a statement to DVB on Friday, international relief agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) indicated that an outbreak of violence had occurred in the Rohingya-populated village on 13 January, although it could not confirm any fatalities.

"We can confirm that our staff treated 22 patients in the area near Du Char Yar Tan [Duchira Dan] village from a variety of violence-related injuries in the days after January 14," said MSF Myanmar Head of Mission Peter-Paul de Groote.

In addition to omitting mention of the allegations of a massacre, presidential instruction (c) would appear to presume that any contradictory report on the cause of the fire in the village on 28 January would be "false and groundless".

Arakanese officials and police were united in condemning Rohingya villagers for setting fire to their own homes, though allegations have also emerged that local Maungdaw police were complicit in the arson attack.

The latter account has been publicly denounced by the government.

In a letter to DVB on Friday, Pierre Péron, the Public Information and Advocacy Officer for Myanmar UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the UN welcomed the President's call for investigations into the reported incidents last month in Duchira Dan and "looks forward to seeing their conclusive reports and findings".

"While the accounts of what happened may differ, what we can all agree on is that more than three weeks later, many people are still displaced and tensions remain very high in the area," said Péron.

He reiterated that the UN is continuing to ask for "complete and sustained access to the area in order to assess the needs of affected people and, if needed, to provide emergency assistance to them."

MSF made a similar call. "We continue to request the Government of Myanmar to enable safe access to the affected population for humanitarian personnel and ensure the security of the civilian population in need of assistance,” said de Groot.

According to the presidential order, the Duchira Dan Investigation Commission will comprise the following members: Dr Tha Hla Shwe of Myanmar Red Cross Society as Commission Chairman; Tun Aung Chein of Myanmar National Human Rights Commission; Dr Ngun Kyon Lyan, an international law expert; Dr Tin Thein Lwin, the vice-chairman of Interfaith Friendship Group; retired ambassador Tin Oo; Haji Tin Maung Win of the Interfaith Friendship Group; Win Ti of the Interfaith Friendship Group; Sittwe town elder Tha Pwint; Maungdaw town elder Hla Thein; and Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing, the secretary of Myanmar Egress.

Arakan statesmen dodge assassination in KL

Posted: 06 Feb 2014 11:39 PM PST

Arakanese politicians Aye Maung and Aye Thar Aung were targets of an attempted assassination in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. The pair was returning to their hotel by car when two men on a motorbike sped towards them and opened fire.

Neither of the statesmen nor any members of the public were injured, despite extensive bullet-damage to the car.

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Rakhine Nationalities Development Chairman Aye Maung and Aye Thar Aung, president of the Arakan League for Democracy, were not visiting Malaysia on official or State business.

The incident was reported to the Burmese Embassy on Thursday night. The Embassy then took to providing security for the ministers, who were shuttled to Kuala Lumpur Airport under armed guard.

The Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said it is in contact with the Malaysian government in regards to the arrest of the would-be assassins.

 

Nine Latpadaung protestors freed

Posted: 06 Feb 2014 08:22 PM PST

Nine activists have been released following their arrest on Wednesday after a protest near the Latpadaung copper mine turned violent.

A group of 30 residents were forcibly halted by police listed to accompany Wanbao staff as they erected a fence near the industrial site, on land that the villagers claimed as theirs. Prominent anti-mine activist Thwe Thwe Win was among those detained.

Residents of Wet Hmay village have been some of the most heavily affected by the Latpadaung copper mine project, operated by Chinese firm Wanbao in conjunction with military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings. Wet Hmay villagers have refused compensation for their land, confiscated in 2012.

"They were bulldozing the land right in front of us, so I grabbed onto one of the bulldozers and started riding it along, forcing it to stop" began Thwe Thwe Win.

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"After that, Ma Sein and I went to sit in front of it and the police told us to get in the police-truck — we resisted. Two policewomen dragged me into the truck. They said Khin Thaung and I were arrested for sitting in front of the bulldozer, another villager Yi Cho for apologising, Se Tin for crying. Phyu Phyu Win was arrested for knocking over rolls of fencing, and she grabbed on tightly to a Chinese Wanbao worker next to her. She shouted that she would not die alone.

"We were released around 6:20pm in the evening after – they only asked for my age and full name but there was no other negotiation," said Thwe Thwe Win.

The arrested protestors were identified as Thwe Thwe Win, Phyu Phyu Win, Khin Thaung, Ma Sein, Yi Cho, Se Tin, Myint Naing Win, Thike Tun Shwe and Aung Kyaw Soe Oo.

 
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