Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

UNFC Says China is ‘Interrupting’ Ethnic Politics in Burma

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 08:35 AM PDT

After days of emergency meetings, spokesperson Nai Hong Sar says attempting to solve conflict through military means will bring 'greater challenges.'

The post UNFC Says China is 'Interrupting' Ethnic Politics in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

NVC Holders Granted Limited Freedom of Movement in Northern Arakan State

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 07:45 AM PDT

Maungdaw District administrator confirms that NVC holders from the area may travel to the Bangladeshi border, but need permission to visit Sittwe.

The post NVC Holders Granted Limited Freedom of Movement in Northern Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Karen State Chief Minister: IDP Repatriation Before De-Mining Would be Like ‘Living in a Prison’

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 06:58 AM PDT

In the first part of an interview, Nang Khin Htwe Myint talks about obstacles to repatriation of internally displaced communities.

The post Karen State Chief Minister: IDP Repatriation Before De-Mining Would be Like 'Living in a Prison' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Campaigners Warn of Dams’ Impact

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 05:03 AM PDT

To mark the International Day of Action for Rivers, campaigners in Burma say local people should have the right to decide how to use their resources.

The post Campaigners Warn of Dams' Impact appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Northern Alliance Rejects Defense Ministry’s Abduction Allegations

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 03:53 AM PDT

Northern Alliance spokesperson says MNDAA troops were transporting Laukkai hotel workers to a safe place.

The post Northern Alliance Rejects Defense Ministry's Abduction Allegations appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Police Arrest Store Owner for Abuse of Underage Workers

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 03:43 AM PDT

Police arrest a shop owner for the abuse of two underage girls who worked there.

The post Police Arrest Store Owner for Abuse of Underage Workers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Union Govt Approves $22 Million Plan For Rangoon Electricity Supply

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 03:02 AM PDT

Lawmakers will debate whether Rangoon should use presidential reserve funds for a new generator.

The post Union Govt Approves $22 Million Plan For Rangoon Electricity Supply appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ten Things to Do in Rangoon This Week

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 01:36 AM PDT

Boxing, slam poetry, a boat party, light show, and bamboo craft display—all in Rangoon this week.

The post Ten Things to Do in Rangoon This Week appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

KNU Congress Meets to Elect New Leader

Posted: 13 Mar 2017 10:56 PM PDT

Overseas Karen delegates are denied a vote on new leadership for the first time at the annual Congress in Lay Wah.

The post KNU Congress Meets to Elect New Leader appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Earthquake Jolts Rangoon Region, Injures 24

Posted: 13 Mar 2017 09:48 PM PDT

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolts Bago and Rangoon divisions and injures 24 people.

The post Earthquake Jolts Rangoon Region, Injures 24 appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UN Rapporteur to Burma Reports to Human Rights Council

Posted: 13 Mar 2017 09:05 PM PDT

Yanghee Lee says authorities may be using bureaucratic means to expel Muslim minority from northern Arakan State.

The post UN Rapporteur to Burma Reports to Human Rights Council appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
Posted by at No comments:

National News

National News

Dokhtawaddy River is no longer friendly to villagers

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:36 AM PDT

The Dokhtawaddy River, a major tributary of Ayeyarwady River, flows from east to west passing by over-100-households in Nyaung Ni Pin village in Amarapura township.

Amarapura Project EMP report to be ready March end

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:29 AM PDT

The Environmental Management Plan (EMP) report on the Amarapura Urban Development Project, which is designed to support the modernisation of Mandalay, will be ready at the end of the month, according to officials from Mandalay Business Capital City Development Ltd, which is undertaking the project.

Strong winds flatten houses in Rakhine State

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:24 AM PDT

Several properties in Yoke Chaung village in Mrauk-U township, Rakhine State, were destroyed and damaged by strong winds on the morning of March 13.

Difficult to control quality in construction sector: minister

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:21 AM PDT

The Union government is aware of the poor quality of construction works, but it is difficult to ensure private contractors meet the required standards, Minister of Construction U Win Khaing said in the Pyithu Hluttaw last week.

Labour Ministry plans to raise minimum wage

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:20 AM PDT

The Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population is planning to increase the minimum wage following claims that the present K3600 daily wage was too little for the people to survive on.

Immigration officers punished for graft

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:18 AM PDT

Since the start of the new government's term, a total of 50 officers from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population have been punished, said Union Minister U Thein Swe on March 7.

Over 52,000 students no-show at matric exams

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:16 AM PDT

More than 52,000 students nationwide have failed to sit for the matriculation exams which started on March 8, according to the Department of Myanmar Board of Examinations.

Fund shortage halts Shwe Kyaung repair

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:12 AM PDT

Restoration work on a national heritage building, Shwenandaw Monastery (Shwe Kyaung) in Mandalay, has been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of funds, an official from the Department of Archaeology and National Museum for Mandalay Region said yesterday.

Workers to be sent for S Korean fishing industry

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:07 AM PDT

Myanmar plans to send workers for the fishing industry in South Korea as there is a demand for labour in that sector, said U Thein Win, director of the Migration Affairs Department under the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population.

Child labour in dangerous workplaces to be reduced

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 12:05 AM PDT

The Union Government aims to reduce child labourers in dangerous workplaces, Minister of Labour, Immigration and Population U Thein Swe said.
Posted by at No comments:

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Burmese environmentalists urge govt to halt dams on Irrawaddy, Salween rivers

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 04:02 AM PDT

A number of Burmese environmental organizations, including Burma Rivers Network, Save the Salween Network and The Burma Environmental Working Group (BEWG), released a statement today urging the National League for Democracy-led government to abandon plans to build more than 50 dams on the Salween and Irrawaddy rivers, particularly in conflict zones.

About 300 people gather at Kunhing Township, southern Shan State to protest against dam projects on March 14, 2017.

"Under Burma's Energy Master Plan, over 50 planned dams, mostly on the Salween and Irrawaddy rivers and their tributaries, will massively increase hydropower production from 3,000 to 46,000 megawatts by 2030," reads the statement. "Three-quarters of which will be exported to neighbouring countries."
 
The statement was released to coincide with the International Day of Action for Rivers, an annual event on March 14, when protestors around the globe gather to voice opposition against governments and investors who push through plans to construct hydro-dams in controversial areas.

On January 27, 2017, Shan Herald reported that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group which finances private sector initiatives in many developing countries including Burma, conducted workshops to promote hydropower projects in the country.

"Foreign investors should not be building dams in Burma's conflict zones," said Mi Ah Chai, coordinator of Burma Rivers Network. "The dams are fuelling conflict, human rights abuses and displacement, and destroying local environmental resources," she said in the joint statement.

Nang Moe Thauk Pan of Save the Salween Network and a joint spokesperson for today's statement told Shan Herald that the hydropower projects will affect the peace process – at a point when negotiations are being tabled to bring together the Burmese government, the military and ethnic armed groups. Known as the 21st Century Panglong Conference, or 21CPC, the peace talks are being led by Burma's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nang Mao Thauk Pan said, "Fighting continues in Shan and Karen states, but the government perseveres in trying to build dams. Clearly, it is going to impact the peace process."

The statement went on to say that no dams should be built until Burma becomes a federal union, and that only the people living in those areas should have the right to decide what should be done with their natural resources.

About 300 people gather at Kunhing Township, southern Shan State to protest against dam projects on March 14, 2017.

 Environmentalist Nang Moe Thauk Pan said that she stands by this statement and that people who live along the rivers also stand by the statement.

"We don't need any dams on the rivers," she said. "We want to live peacefully. We love our nature and our rivers. Our rivers are our lives."


Events in support of imposing a ban or suspension on hydroelectric dams were held today in Mon State capital Mawlamyine; the Kachin State town of Chipwi; Mudraw in Karen State; Kunhing Township in Shan State; and in Karenni State.

By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)

Learning to Share: Three days in Shan Shine

Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:59 PM PDT

Day Two. Wednesday, 22 February 2017

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
Martin Luther King (1929-1968)

The RCSS/SSA, also known as SSA "South," has 5 main bases along the Thai Burmese border:

·       Kawng Moong Mong        Homong sub-township, opposite Thailand's Maehongson (Muang)
District
·        Loi Taileng                Homong sub-township, opposite Thailand's Pang Mapha district
·       Loi Lam                                  Monghta sub-township, opposite Thailand's Wiang Haeng district
·       Loi Hserm Hsip                    Pongpakhem sub-township, opposite Thailand's Fang district
·       Loi Gawwan             Monghsat township, opposite Thailand's Mae Fa Luang district

(RCSS/SSA) annual meeting at Loi Taileng, 22 February 2017.
(Photo:PI)
Its troops are active mostly on the west bank of the Salween, and until late 2015, in the southern part. A small base was set up in 2006 in Namkham township, on the Sino-Burmese border a year after the Burma Army's forced disarmament of Palaung State Liberation Army (PSLA) and forced ejection of the SSA North's Third Brigade north of the Mandalay-Muse road. Then after an attack by the TNLA, the PSLA's successor, in 2015, its troops have spread over the north to maintain its supply and communications line. Attempts at negotiations so far have not been fruitful.

To maintain liaison with local government units and the people, it has since 2012 set up liaison offices in 9 towns: Taunggyi, Kengtung, Mongpan, Kholam, Mongton, Monghta, Tachilek, Muse and Kyaukme. The last two are officially still "economic" offices.

The day is spent in reviewing the progress made during past year. And these are some of their comments:

·        There's a Shan saying: Where there is no fish, the price of frogs rise. But it seems, according to our experience, even the price of tadpoles are rising. (The comment aims at more capacity-building for RCSS/SSA members engaged in political negotiations which most of them are not familiar)
·        More information sharing with the liaison offices that are required to communicate with the local Burmese units, necessary. Sometimes, when problems like being attacked by a Burmese patrol come up, we find we don't have sufficient information to counter the Tatmadaw's accusations
·        We have different interpretations of our bilateral and multilateral agreements with the Tatmadaw. The sooner we straighten them out, the easier our job will be

There is a call in the evening from the KNU on the subject of choosing appropriate dates for the upcoming Union Peace Conference #3, also dubbed 21stCentury Panglong#2.

"The Tatmadaw's representative thinks 1-5 April should be okay," the KNU's advisor Saw Htoo Htoo Lay. "But the KNU (whose Congress begins on 14 March) thinks 26 April (that is after the Burmese New Year) would be better."

The RCSS, still wrangling with Naypyitaw over the ideal venue for its ethnic based National Dialogue, leaves the matter entirely to the KNU.

Day Three. Thursday, 23 February 2017

We always like to say what liars the Burmans are
But we never like to admit what suckers we've been.

A Karen leader, 18 February 2017

(RCSS/SSA) officers after annual meeting at Loi Taileng, 23 February 2017. (Photo: PI)

Today's morning session is spent in the review of the past year. More comments:

·        If we are not allowed even to treat drug addicts, signing the NCA is meaningless
·        We want to change the constitution. The NLD wants to change the constitution.
On the other hand, it was easier to deal with the previous (quasi-military) government. But it has been more difficult to deal with the NLD government.
·        To Tatmadaw wants us to withdraw from the north. But the people there say we must not. They won't feel secure living in the north anymore, if we return to our southern bases
·        We need to inform the people its not we who are violating the terms of the NCA
·        The review session is not for finding fault with one another. It is for finding fault with what is being done.

(RCSS/SSA) dinner party at Loi Taileng,
 23 February 2017. (Photo: PI)
323 members are promoted, including 284 non-commissioned officers.

One advisor, former Lt-Col Paimoeng Laihsai, then proposes promotion of Sao Yawd Serk to full general, which is supported by the meeting.

Plans approved for the next year include: reorganization of the administrative department as well as the army. How the RCSS is going to do it is something we should wait and see.

The meeting ends with a dinner party in the evening.

Learning to Share: Three days in Shan Shine

Posted: 13 Mar 2017 11:32 PM PDT

(21-23 February 2017)

Kevyn: So we're losing?
Petey: No, we're winning expensively.
Schlock Mercenary, Quotes on Pyrrhic Victory

(RCSS/SSA) annual meeting at Loi Taileng, 21 February 2017.
(Photo: PI)
From 21-23 February, I was invited to observe the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) annual meeting in its Loi Taileng (Shan Shine Mountain) base that reviewed its past year activities, November 2016- October 2017.

The last time I attended its annual meeting was in 2014, when the SSA South was still embroiled in hundreds of clashes.

Naturally I wanted to know how much progress it has made since the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on 15 October 2015.

And also naturally, my problem is to inform the reader what they are entitled to know without, at the same time, revealing sensitive data.

I hope I'll be doing my best to please both sides.

Day One, Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Sao Yawd Serk opens the meeting with a 10 minute speech extracts of which are as follows:

·        The Shan resistance is almost 59 years old, 20 of which I have been in the leading role. A critical review is  necessary
·        Whether we fight or negotiate, the objective is to achieve political power for the people

The following are extracts from the annual reports:

·        Conscription has been suspended, but we still encourage voluntary enlistment
·        We have also resolved to establish a police force
·        We have been in 34 clashes during the year: 6 against Burma Army and 28 against the TNLA. Casualties on our side: 8 killed and 41 wounded.
·        We conducted public consultations in 15 towns in Shan State in October 2016. Altogether 2,380 had attended. (Their questions, and statements of problems and wishes are reported separately). We also held consultations with migrants in Bangkok, Rayong, Lampoon, Chiangmai, Maehongson and Chiangrai in Thailand.
·        We participated in the 2 Union Peace Conferences (UPCs) in January and August 2016
·        Study trips were made to 8 countries: The Philippines, Germany, Indonesia, Switzerland, China, Cambodia, Norway and Japan
·        We received rice assistance and cash assistance to purchase rice, before the program was suspended in mid-2016:
16,333 bags from Nippon Foundation
371, 141, 982 Kyat from Myanmar Peace Center (MPC)
·        The SSA received 1,333 recruits and had 690 discharges, most of whom were conscripts plus some deserters
·        The Finance Department received approx. $ 20 million in Thai, Myanmar and Chinese currencies (I forgot to calculate the expenditures, but it is about the same size, the bulk going to the military. Not too different from the Tatmadaw, wasn't it?)

Here are some of the questions asked by the people during the consultations:

·        Can we really rely on the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU)? We hope it's not just a straw fire. (It was set up on 17 October 2013 by RCSS, SNDP and SSJAC plus 9 CSOs)
1.     Why are there still fighting between the RCSS/SSA and the Tatmadaw?
2.     How do we tackle with demands for new states inside Shan State?
3.     Can the conflict with TNLA settled peacefully?
4.     Shouldn't 7 February designated as a public holiday?
5.     Will Mogok and Maymyo (Pyin Oo Lwin) return to Shan State?

Next come the problems faced by the people:

1.     Rising drug addictions
2.     Few Shans hold national ID cards
3.     Land confiscations
4.     Bullying by the Tatmadaw and PMFs (People's Military Forces set up by the Tatmadaw) continues
5.     Paying tax to SSA North and SSA South along adjoining areas
6.     Continued deforestation
7.     Increased air and water pollutions

The last are their wishes:

1.     Shan State should have its own constitution
2.     The 2008 constitution should be amended
3.     Shan language should be taught during school hours
4.     There must be Burman state (s) too
5.     There should be only one Shan State defense force
6.     Other racial groups of Shan State should join CSSU
7.     The Shans were the losers because of the 1947 Panglong. May they not lose more because of the 21st century Panglong.

The day ends with dinner at Chairman Sao Yawd Serk's house, where he talks about his MA studies in Bangkok. One more subject, and one dissertation paper, his school days will be over, he says.


"My teachers have urged me to do a doctorate, but I don't think I'll be able to handle it at present."  He's 60 this year.

BRIEFING PAPER ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN BURMA/MYANMAR

Posted: 13 Mar 2017 08:21 AM PDT

Progressive Voice and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), an organization in consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, released a joint briefing paper today to coincide with the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). The briefing paper provides an update on the key human rights concerns in Burma/Myanmar for the consideration of member and observer states of the HRC in their deliberation for the resolution on Burma/Myanmar during the 34th session. It presents critical recommendations, including the establishment of a UN-mandated commission of inquiry or a similar body to investigate allegations of gross human rights violations in all areas of escalating conflict and increasing militarization, including the northern Rakhine State.

The briefing paper is published in parallel to the Special Rapporteur's reporting to the Council and the consideration of a resolution on the human rights situation in Burma/Myanmar under the HRC's agenda item 4. A delegation of women human rights defenders, led by Khin Ohmar, Chair of the Advisory Board of Progressive Voice, will be providing briefings on the situation of human rights in Burma/Myanmar, particularly in conflict affected ethnic regions and Rakhine State, during their visit in Geneva.

Download the briefing paper  HERE.

For more information, please contact:

Khin Ohmar, Chair of the Advisory Board, Progressive Voice; info[at]progressive-voice. org, +41 (0)76 788 8908 (Geneva), +66 (0)81 844 0772 (Thailand)
R. Iniyan Ilango, United Nations Advocacy Programme Manager, FORUM-ASIA; iniyan[at]forum-asia.org, +41 (0)22 740 2947
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)