Monday, May 7, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Sule Shangri-La Turns on the Style for Mango Season

Posted: 07 May 2018 08:27 AM PDT

Mangoes are among the most popular fruits in the world and Myanmar is blessed with a wide range of the tropical delicacy.

Mangoes are currently in season in Myanmar and the Sule Shangri-La is celebrating with an overload of mango goodness throughout its restaurants and bars.

The hotel's two-month long Mango Festival will tempt guests with the sweet and rich taste of mangoes in a number of delicious and different forms.

There are over 400 varieties of mangoes in the world and Myanmar is said to have more than 100 types that come in a wide range of tastes, colors and shapes.

But for the Sule Shangri-La there is one variety that is king of them all: the Sein Ta Lone.

Cakes made from Sein Ta Lone mongoes are available at the hotel's Peacock Lounge.

"Our chef is using the Sein Ta Lone (variety) and we collect them from the best local mango suppliers," said Ms. Mildred Amon, director of communications at the Sule Shangri-La.

She added that many people regard the Sein Ta Lone as the best mango in the world because of its delightful smell, sweetness, juiciness and non-fibrous flesh.

The Sule Shangri-La prepares Sein Ta Lone mangoes in a number of ways so they can be consumed as part of a meal, a snack or even as a drink at its Gourmet Shop, Peacock Lounge, Gallery Bar or Summer Palace.

The hotel is also preparing mango gift boxes, with each box containing six high-quality Sein Ta Lone mangoes that will make the perfect gift for someone or that simply can be enjoyed at home. The gift boxes are available at the hotel's Gourmet Shop.

The shop also offers a wide selection of other mango-based goodies, such as homemade mango yoghurt, mango bread, mango tarts and cupcakes. The star of the show, however, might be a special Sein Ta Lone cheesecake, which costs USD$28 per kilogram.

For afternoon high-tea lovers, the Shangri-La is laying on a mango-inspired high tea set at the Peacock Lounge for only USD$15. The Lounge also offers a mango juice, mango icy shake, mango mocktails, mango margarita and other seasonal temptations.

My all-time favorite seasonal mango juice is fluid, thick and fragrant of the Sein Ta Lone. It's so good; just one sip of the juice is instantly refreshing — not too sweet and not too sour.

Mango salad with dried shrimp Thai sauce

The hotel is also offering a mango salad with dried shrimp Thai sauce (US$8), deep-fried rice paper roll with beef and mango (US$12) and many other foods infused with mango at the Shangri-La's Summer Palace Restaurant.

Among the range of Sein Ta Lone, the hotels is offering only Ma Chit Su (a kind of mango) with chilli powder. This spicy mango dessert is usually sold by street vendors and foreigners don't dare try it but the Sule Shangri-La will be offering the item for US$3.

The Mango Festival lasts for only two months and will end in June. So, if you are mango lover, don't miss this chance to taste these different foods made of mangoes.

For orders, to make a reservation or for further information, email restaurantreservations.ssyn@shangri-la.com.

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Tatmadaw Allows Evacuation of 125 Kachin Villagers

Posted: 07 May 2018 07:33 AM PDT

MYITKYINA, Kachin State – The Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) on Monday allowed government officials to evacuate 125 Kachin IDPs to Kamaing sub-township. The operation to rescue the IDPs, who had been trapped by fighting in their home village of Lai Nawng Hku (Man Wai), followed the evacuation of 22 people from the same village the previous day.

The villagers had previously been blocked from leaving the area by the Tatmadaw, which has recently stepped up attacks against the Kachin Independence Army.

U Khin Maung Myint, an Upper House lawmaker from Hpakant constituency, told The Irrawaddy that 125 villagers were on their way to Kamaing on Monday. Two families of five refused to leave their homes and opted to stay in the village to take care of their cattle.

The evacuees from Lai Nawng Hku will stay in temporary shelters in Kamaing before joining relatives there, he said.

On Sunday, a government relief team led by a municipal deputy director arranged transport for the initial 22 evacuees from Lai Nawng Khu, according to Daw Hla Kay Thi Mar, the director-general of the Kachin State Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

She told The Irrawaddy on Sunday that they were taking shelter at the Shwe Myintzu community hall in Inndawgyi Town and would be taken to meet relatives in Kamaing later on Monday.

Over 3,000 residents of various villages in Kamaing, Injangyang and Tanai townships have been trapped since April 11, when fighting broke out between the Tatmadaw and the KIA.

Since April 30, more than 1,000 Kachin youth have been staging a sit-in protest in downtown Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, demanding the evacuation of trapped IDPs. Last Monday, the protest drew over 5,000 people.

Permission for the evacuation operation was negotiated by Dr. Win Myat Aye, the Union social welfare, relief and resettlement minister, who arrived in Myitkyina on Saturday. The same day, he also met with the protesting youths and pledged to help the trapped IDPs.

Daw Hla Kay Thi Mar said officials would continue to provide the necessary support to the IDPs. She said the Union minister visited three IDP camps in Namti and another in Myitkyina and distributed food rations and money to disabled people, pregnant women and children.

Last Thursday, Kachin State Chief Minister U Khet Aung agreed to help the trapped villagers after meeting with protest leaders, religious leaders and representatives of the Kachin Peace Talk Creation Group, but urged the protesting youth to shut down their campaign.

The following day, however, Tatmadaw troops turned away an evacuation team comprising representatives of the state government, the PCG, youth protesters and religious leaders who were attempting to travel to Kamaing Township.

Leaflets distributed in April to IDPs by the Tatmadaw and signed by its Northern Command stated that the villagers of Lai Nawng Hku were not trapped, and claimed that the Tatmadaw had distributed food and household utensils to local residents. However, the Lai Nawng Hku villagers asked for help from the religious and protest leaders, saying they were trapped in the conflict zone and that the Tatmadaw had prevented them from leaving.

Zau Jat, a protester, told The Irrawaddy that the sit-in would continue until all the trapped villagers are freed. "But so far, we have heard that [only] the migrant workers are allowed to travel. We are not satisfied with only the migrants being allowed to travel. We want a peaceful relocation for the local residents of these villages, who do not have enough food."

On April 20, a Myitkyina-based Red Cross team went to rescue villagers trapped in Awng Lawt in Tanai Township, but the more than 2,000 local residents were not allowed to travel. Meanwhile, more than 200 migrant workers who had come to work at the amber and gold mines in Tanai Township were cleared to leave.

However, now that the Union government has intervened in the situation, and following an order from the President's Office on Sunday ordering the Kachin State government to form committees to oversee rescue work at different levels, U Khin Maung Myint said he is optimistic that other trapped villagers would eventually be freed.

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Army Rebuffs UN Security Council Request to Investigate Rights Abuses in Rakhine

Posted: 07 May 2018 05:18 AM PDT

The UN Security Council asked the Myanmar Army to let it investigate rights abuses in Rakhine State, but the army refused, saying it was an internal matter, according to a detailed statement issued via Facebook by Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

Olof Skoog, a member of a visiting UNSC delegation, said during a meeting with several top army generals that the Security Council was deeply concerned about reports of human rights abuses in Myanmar. The UNSC wanted to investigate these cases and he asked the army for its view on this.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing rebuffed the diplomat, saying it was an internal matter and that reports of abuses in northern Rakhine, including in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, had been exaggerated by certain groups to drag the international community into the affair. He said the army and the government had investigated accusations of human rights abuses in 2012 and 2016 and had punished those who had committed violations.

He said that some organizations came to Myanmar and tried "to do what they wanted to do" and this could have far-reaching impacts on the country."For us, we have investigated enough already. But it is actually not up to the army to decide on whether to let the UNSC investigate human rights abuses. Only the government has the authority to do that," Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said.

The army chief's comments came at the end of a four-day mission to Bangladesh and Myanmar by the UNSC team. It visited Bangladesh first where the envoys met some of the 700,000 Rohingya refugees who had fled Buthidaung and Maungdaw since August amid a brutal Myanmar Army crackdown against Muslim extremists.

The refugees told the UNSC team tales of systematic rape and killing by members of the security forces. The refugees said they wanted to return to their villages in Rakhine, but they did not feel it was safe yet.

In response to Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing's assertion that the Rakhine case was an internal matter, Kelley Currie, the US Ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council, said this was clearly not the case as 700,000 people had to fled to another country, Bangladesh. As such, the situation demanded that the UN Security Council take action as the case had become an international affair.

Another delegate, Kairat Umarov, said that many refugees told stories of how they were raped. "For us, it was difficult to know how to believe it,"he said, adding that the UN envoys wanted Myanmar to agree to the investigation.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing noted that Myanmar is a Buddhist country and that many people could not accept the rape accusations, especially the implication that soldiers were involved. "There were a total of 1,116 rape cases in 2016. Army personnel were involved in 16 of those cases and the army punished all of the perpetrators with 20-year prison sentences. Even though there were 1,422 reported cases of rape in 2017, army personnel were involved in just 17 cases, and the convicted assailants were again sentenced in prison terms of 20 years," the army chief said.

"The army has a duty to protect local ethnic people living in Rakhine," he said, adding that the army would not have launched its offensive if armed men had not attacked police bases and local people. "A total of 72 local people were killed in attacks by Bengalis between 2012 to 2018 and 13 others were wounded,"he said, using the military's preferred term for Rohingya Muslims, implying they are interlopers from Bangladesh.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said there were several reasons why the refugees were afraid to come back to Myanmar. Some had fled to Bangladesh as they were involved in the attacks on the police bases and army units or had killed local Buddhist men, he said. Therefore, they had run away to Bangladesh. Additionally, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which had orchestrated the attacks on the security forces, had also warned them not to go back to Myanmar. ARSA, which the Myanmar Army calls a terrorist group, did not want the people who had fled to Bangladesh to return to Myanmar, so they had threatened to kill people who wanted to come back, he said.

Violence first broke out in Rakhine State in 2012. It worsened in 2016 when armed men attacked several police bases, killing security officers and looting many guns. ARSA attacked again in 2017, but when the army launched a counter offensive, the attackers ran away without achieving the goals of their plan, the army chief said.

The situation was now stable in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships and the army had already withdrawn its troops and handed the responsibility for maintaining security back to the Interior Ministry, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said, adding that the army would even help refugees if they came back. Those refugees would not face any danger if they returned through army-approved border points. In the case the army needed to take care of security again in Maungdaw and Buthidaung, it would first seek permission from the government, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said.

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Dissent in the Naga Hills as India-Myanmar Border Follies Linger  

Posted: 07 May 2018 03:14 AM PDT

Even as India is busy courting Myanmar to advance its much-touted Act East Asia Policy, with promises and talks to open up borders and enhance people to people contact, far away in the remote Naga hills a slow but definite dissent is brewing against both New Delhi and Naypyitaw. The dissent has its roots deeply embedded in the decisions that were taken by governments of both these countries in 2016 to collaborate in fencing an imaginary boundary along the picturesque Dan village in the Noklak district of Nagaland.

Surrounded by the majestic Saramati highlands of Nagaland on its west, the tiny hamlet of Dan and other adjoining villages like Pangsha have been in the news since an abortive attempt was made by the Myanmar government to fence about three kilometers of an imaginary border that passes through these villages. The fencing work, which was stopped following massive protests from locals of Dan, Pangsha and other villages as well as several Naga organizations, threatens to convert about 3,500 hectares of cultivable area into no man's land and divide the Khiamniungan Naga families that inhabit these hills.

The unfinished border fences constructed by Myanmar at Dan village. / Bidhayak Das

The Khiamniungans are one of the major tribes among the Nagas and spread across the eastern part of Nagaland state in India and the western part of Myanmar. Khiamniungan literally means "source of great water or river," (Khiam means water, Nui means great and Ngan means source). The nomenclature is said to derive from the biggest river of the land (Laang) and the Chindwin river downhill with which the former converges. Apart from the Konyaks, the Khiamniungan Nagas were also known to be among the most ferocious Naga headhunters before they converted to Christianity. Their encounters against the British in 1936 and 1939 after their villages were burned by the latter are well documented.

The Khiamniungan Naga are restive. On the one hand, there is the fencing that Myanmar may resume any time and on the other Indian military forces, deployed to man a security post that was set up in Dan soon after the fencing work had started, are continuously harassing local residents. "Our people are literally at the mercy of the Indian military personnel to live their lives on their own land, stopped, checked and questioned whenever they make any attempt to find their way to their fields, to hospitals, to markets, to schools and even to visit their family members," rued Pape, the 80-year-old gaobura (village headman) of new Pangsha village, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening into several stripes.

"So why should we not fight back; we will if our lives and traditions are disturbed. We shall stop being good Indian citizens and prepare for something big," asserted P Beshim, a Khiamniungan elder in his mid-80s and an adviser of the Khiamniungan Tribal Council (KTC), an umbrella organization of all Khiamniungan Nagas. This was perhaps an indication of an armed uprising. When asked to explain, the answer from Beshim and members of the KTC was, "Such a thing has never happened to us, our feelings are hurt as if our body has been cut into two and if they don't stop harassing we shall go to any extent."

Truth Versus Hype: A Visit to Dan and Pangsha

The visit to Dan was long overdue and especially after the fencing fiasco broke out in 2016 it was important to get a sense of how things evolved since then. On reaching Pangsha covering several hundred miles, Baba (as Pape the gaobura is known) invited me to trek with him through the hilly terrain between the Dan mountains (the Dan village derives its name from the mountains) and meet his "Khiamniungan brothers and sisters" from the other side. I readily agreed but little did I realize that we were heading straight into trouble. Perhaps Baba knew but he did not let it dampen my excitement.

Indian army checkpoint in Dan village. / Bidhayak Das

As we approached the Indian security checkpoint, we were greeted by automatic machine gun barrels pointing at us from the bunkers that were located right in front of the entrance. Inside the bunkers sat soldiers with their fingers on the triggers and outside an Assam Rifles (an Indian paramilitary force) officer sat where all passersby from both sides were made to record their names in a register and questioned. It was a painstakingly slow process and decisions on granting permission to move in and out through this route were rather arbitrary. While we were allowed to go after entering our names on a register, a young Naga woman who was injured on her left leg and needing urgent medical attention was stopped and made to wait for hours even as she was turning pale from the pain she was in. The woman was driven up by her relatives on a motorcycle from Lahe on the Myanmar side. Lahe is a town in the Naga Hills of Sagaing Division on the northwest frontier of Myanmar and is grouped together with Leshi and Nanyun in the Naga Self-Administered Zone under Myanmar's military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

"We want to take her to Kohima for treatment as she is serious," said her escort, while pleading with the Assam Rifles officer who seemed to turn a deaf ear to the pleas.

"Please do something and take her with you to Noklak at least," said another of her relatives this time turning to me, but to my utter helplessness as I was also awaiting a final clearance to move along the boundary area. The army officer on duty saw this and walked to where I was standing and spoke to me in his native Bangla. He said, "Aye Naga ra boja ne khali bike kore asa jawa kore, aita bishon sensitive jayaga, Burma bomb kor te para kono somay," (These Nagas want to move in and out, they don't realize this is a very sensitive place. Myanmar can bomb any time). I thought to myself, "Is this the kind of fear psychosis that the Indian establishment is trying to create in the minds of the Nagas of these areas?"

I felt like telling the army officer that I have spent over 10 years in Myanmar and haven't heard of any decision that the Myanmar government would take to bomb the hills of Nagaland. However, I had to move on to see the fenced section of the border. Before I could move, Baba held my hand and said, "Look this is what has been happening here, our lives have changed. We have not been consulted before such restrictions were imposed on us; our people are suffering. It is our land and we shall not allow our lives to be cut into halves." Moments before that, Baba was seen confronting a Naga officer in the Assam Rifles telling him in no uncertain terms, "You are forcefully occupying our place and disturbing our lives. Please get out of here."

Pape, the New Panghsa gaobura with Khiamniungan Naga youth on the border. / Bidhayak Das

A day after my visit there was another incident reported, this time with an administrative officer of Lahe who got into a verbal altercation with an Indian security officer after he was prevented from taking his vehicle to reach a Naga village under his jurisdiction that could be accessed only through the Indian side. Incidentally, the nature of mountainous terrain makes it difficult to access villages that are under one administrative jurisdiction especially on the Myanmar side of the Naga Hills. Incidents such as this have been on the rise over the last two years.

Genesis of the Imaginary Boundary and the Fencing Story: Who is Fencing and Why?

The imaginary line that cuts across Dan village and parts of new Pangsha is shrouded in mystery. While it is well known that the Naga hills were divided by the Anglo-Burmese Yandabo agreement in 1826 and later in 1953 under the Indo-Burmese demarcation in Kohima on the Naga territory by Jawaharlal Nehru and U Nu, the then prime ministers of the two countries, there is virtually no information to suggest drawing of an imaginary line across the hills that houses villages belonging to the Khiamniungan Nagas.

Elderly members of the KTC remember two futile attempts, once a joint India-Myanmar initiative in 1970 when soldiers of both nations suffered heavy casualties after they were confronted by underground groups and 35 years later in 2004 by the Lahe administration of Myanmar. Each time the Khiamuingans stood up to thwart attempts to fence the border. "The British never told us of any imaginary line after 1947. We lived as free Nagas and will do so forever," claimed KTC president L Ngon.

There have been conflicting stories regarding the fencing with most media reports apportioning the blame squarely on the Indian government. India's Ministry of External Affairs has been quoted in several new media outlets as saying "India has nothing to do with the fencing." The KTC is of the view that both India and Myanmar are responsible. "The Myanmar government constructed the fences with their men and labor, with the Indian army guarding them."

A walk from border pillar number 139 to pillar number 146, which is at the edge of a helipad that was used during the World War II, reveals that about three kilometers of land have been cleared to make way for the fences. The fences lie half-done with only the skeletal frame made of iron rods on two sides covering about half a kilometer. The fencing plan runs through agricultural land, a playground and even a school called the Straightway Mission school that caters to the education needs of the Khiamniungan Nagas on both sides of the imaginary line.

As many as 244 villages, 44 on the Indian side and 200 in Myanmar, are facing the brunt of the fencing. The villages that have found repeat mention though are Dan, old and new Pangsha on the Indian side and Pounyiu and Woilan on the Myanmar side considering their strategic location, proximity to the Indian security post, and the bigger size of their land area and population. A visibly upset Bishem, who has roamed the hills and mountains since his childhood, is afraid that the fencing will rob the villagers of 3,500 hectares of their cultivable land and destroy the age-old traditional jhum (slash and burn) cultivation cycles forever.

Local Khiamniungan Nagas carry firewood at old Pangsha. / Bidhayak Das

"Over 10,000 people's livelihood will be affected. The most hard-hit will be our fellow Nagas from the other side and we can't allow this," he affirms, saying: "If the free movement regime (FMR) is taken away then we will have to decide to leave all the 244 villages either in India or in Myanmar. We cannot live in two countries if the FMR is taken away."

An FMR billboard inside the Indian security checkpoint clearly states that "citizens of India and Myanmar living within 16 km of the border are most welcome to cross the Indo-Myanmar border. It also states that "the free movement regime has been formalized to promote economic and social interaction between the two friendly countries," and that the free movement regime will safeguard the rights of the tribal communities accustomed to free movement across the land borders."

On the eve of my departure to these villages, KTC members planned a meeting in Noklak to give me a bird's eye-view of the problem and its implications on people's lives, livelihood, the Naga peace process and the potential of a new armed conflict.

Fencing Gains and Losses for India and Myanmar

From my interactions with the KTC, village council members, farmers, local administrative officials and elderly folks that have lived in these hills for almost 100 years have convinced me that the losses far outweigh the gains if any at all. Firstly, most of the population in Pounyiu and Woilan have been dependent on Dan and Pangsha to eke out a livelihood by selling and buying goods and food. "We don't have any hospitals and medical centers so we have to bring our patients to Nagaland for treatment," was what one of the relatives of the injured woman at the checkpoint had told me as if to corroborate what I have been hearing from the KTC and Village Council members of Noklak. Finding a doctor and a hospital in Nagaland is 10 times easier than having to travel to the nearest town in Sagaing or to Mandalay, which could take days if not weeks.

People living in these hills have developed a robust and self-sustaining economy of sorts which in many ways should lessen the worry for local administrators in Lahe and in Naypyitaw. For the Myanmar government, the Naga hills have always been difficult and inaccessible terrain and thus a fence, which they are eager to construct, would only add to their worries. So the push for a fence is intriguing to say the least and perhaps is a million-dollar question that only Naypyitaw can answer. For India too, supporting the local economy would be perhaps more prudent so as to prevent food scarcity, reduce pressure on the land and forest and prevent changes to climate and the environment.

On the security front, India stands only to lose. The argument that the checkpoint will contain cross-border insurgency especially in checking movements of the banned Naga insurgent group—the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K)—does hold not much water. If this was the case, then why for so long, especially when insurgency was at its peak before and during the 80s and the 90s, did neither government seem to think that fencing was a plausible solution to contain the insurgency? Besides, it would seem bizarre to say that fencing and a security post would suffice to check cross-border movements when there are many more passages along the snaky mountains and forests through which movements would continue and would be virtually impossible to fence.

Going by the interaction with an Indian army major at Dan, I am given to understand that protecting the border is part of "national sovereignty."  The army officer referred to an attack on the post by the NSCN-K only eight months prior, which left an Indian army officer dead and also casualties suffered by the insurgent group. NSCN-K which currently operates out of Myanmar had in 2015 abrogated a 2001 ceasefire accord it signed with the Indian government and since then it has been engaged in offensives and counter-offensives with the Indian security establishments in and along the international border with Myanmar in Nagaland and Manipur.

The Khiamniungans too seem to agree that the presence of NSCN-K cadres could be most visible reason for the border fencing, but they also feel that's its unfair for both the Indian and the Myanmar governments to unleash their anger against the outfit on the Khiamniungan Nagas. But there are also reasons to believe that the Khiamniungan Nagas could play a role in enhancing people to people contact and thereby reduce tensions in the areas.

 The Politics of Open and Closed Borders

I had no answers to some of the questions that were asked by the Khiamniungan Naga youth such as "what is this hypocrisy regarding the Act East Asia policy that talks of opening borders?" Interestingly, the Indian government began the process of developing Dan as an international trading post in the early 90s. The former Chief Minister of Nagaland S C Jamir laid the foundation stone of an International Trade Center (ITC) in November 1996, which stands right in the middle of the imaginary line where the fencing was coming up. The land now falls on the Myanmar side. Subsequent state governments under Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio (who is also the current chief minister of Nagaland) developed other infrastructure like a marketing shed and a rest house, which have all now fallen into Myanmar territory.

The abandoned rest house constructed by the Nagaland State government on the Myanmar side at Dan village. Bidhayak Das

The youth are demanding that they get back the 500 hectares of land that they donated to the Indian government for setting up the ITC. "The Pangshas (as the Khiamniungans living in the vicinity of the boundary villages are also called) want their land back and we also want to know why land was taken from us to construct the infrastructure on the Myanmar side," said Hanching, a youth leader from Pangsha. Most of the youth were baffled that "instead of bringing up development activities, the ITC India is providing security for the fencing."

Hanching was of the opinion that "if India is serious about implementing its Act East Policy then it should be concerned about people's well-being. The policy is about connecting people, not dividing people. This baffles us and we cannot find the answer." He is definitely right, as the very idea of fencing is antithesis of the aims of the Act East agenda. "Other states are constructing roads and bridges to connect but in our area, fences are being constructed even though we also share the same strategic space with other states that are connected to Myanmar."

Besides, at a time when the Indian government is in a peace mode with Naga insurgent groups led by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak Muivah faction (NCSN-IM) and the chance of the NSCN-K joining the fold is not being ruled out by New Delhi, the developments in Pangsha and Dan only raise more eyebrows.

The Khiamniungan Nagas appear to not be convinced as well. "The Indian government is not truthful," retorted octogenarian Beshim, who has been a part of several administrations in Pangsha and also in Lahe after India and Myanmar became free nations. "I have grown up seeing this, and I can tell you that if fencing has to be done, it should be done everywhere, not just here at Dan," he asserted, sending out a stern warning. "We are Mongoloids and from a small community that endears its lands and people so any form of pressure on us could force a big outcome." His caution resonates with what Baba said when he saw me at a cliff near an inauguration stone for the ITC. Baba said, "We shall cooperate and try to find a solution but if a fence is created and our land is occupied, go and tell the Myanmar government and the Indian government that we still can use the dao to defend ourselves."

The author is a former senior journalist who has worked for national and international news media in India and elsewhere. Currently he is a contributing editor for The Irrawaddy.

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Leaders of Alleged Cult Sentenced to Jail for Kidnapping

Posted: 07 May 2018 02:27 AM PDT

PATHEIN TOWNSHIP, Irrawaddy Region — An Irrawaddy Region court on Friday sentenced two leaders of the Christian “Soul Family” group to three years in prison for kidnapping a teenage girl.

The father of a 15-year-old girl from Sagaing Region's Kantbalu Township filed a complaint with police in Irrawaddy’s Kyonepyaw Township in 2016 when his daughter refused to return home after attending a 40-day class the group reportedly ran for “would be” disciples in the village of Hlel Seik. Many of the other students, all about 20 years old, had also reportedly refused to return home after the class.

"The girl from Kantbalu saw their class on the Internet and came to Hlel Seik to attend. Her parents came to bring her home after the class, but she refused to go back. The cult then hid the girl in Pathein," Mahn Htwng Sen, a member of the Myanmar Council of Churches, told The Irrawaddy.

"Only after her parents filed a complaint with the human trafficking squad in Pathein were they able to bring her back home. Her father was not happy and filed a complaint at the Kyonepyaw police station for kidnapping the girl," he said.

Mahn Win Myint and Nilaw Tun, the two group leaders sentenced to jail on Friday, face another charge filed in Kyonepyaw by Mahn Htwng Sen for insulting religion, which carries a maximum jail sentence of two years.

According to the Council of Churches, the group has branches in Karen State’s Thandaunggyi Township, Karenni State’s Loikaw Township, Bago Region’s Toungoo and Pauk Khaung townships, Yangon Region’s North Dagon and Sanchaung townships, and in Irrawaddy’s  Kyaunggon, Kangyidaunt, Myaungmya and Pathein townships, as well as in Singapore and Thailand’s Mae Sot district.

It says there are hundreds of young students at those branches refusing to return home.

Those who have left the group say members were asked to do unpaid work as an offering to God, raising suspicions of human trafficking and forced labor. The leader, Mahn Kyaw Soe, allegedly urged his young students to shun their families and arranged marriages for them without their parents’ consent.

"We're satisfied with the punishment given to the two. My elder sister has been in their cult for three years and still refuses to come back home. But we can't file a complaint because she has reached the legal age [18]," Nawng Aye Aye Aung, who lives in Yangon Region's Hlaingtharyar Township, told The Irrawaddy.

"There are many other people like my sister who refuse to go back home. I want the government departments to help bring them back to their families," she said.

In November, after 14 families urged the Irrawaddy Region government to abolish the alleged cult, the government imposed a ban on prayer gatherings at the house of U Nyan Tun Kyaw in Hlel Seik village, where the group is based, and warned of legal action if the ban were violated.

The Myanmar Baptist Convention and Myanmar Council of Churches have also distanced themselves from the group, saying that its sermons do not conform to the teachings of the Bible.

The post Leaders of Alleged Cult Sentenced to Jail for Kidnapping appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

One Killed, 2 Injured in Landslide at Rohingya Refugee Camp

Posted: 07 May 2018 12:04 AM PDT

DHAKA — A Rohingya girl was killed and two other children were injured Friday morning in a landslide at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya on the outskirts of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Mohibullha, a Rohingya community leader in the camp, said the three children had gone to collect firewood and were struck by the landslide when they stopped for a rest on the way back at the foot of a hill, according to the New Age, a Dhaka-based daily.

The 10-year-old girl reportedly died at the scene while the two others were rescued by locals and taken to an area hospital in critical condition.

Cox's Bazar deputy police chief Afruzul Haque Tutul confirmed the death and injuries but did not elaborate.

It is the first known death caused by a landslide at the camps due to rain. Police say a person died a few weeks ago in a landslide caused by construction work.

UN Sends More Aid

At a press conference in Geneva on Friday, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Andrej Mahecic, said the agency was rushing additional aid to Bangladesh, where the first rains of the monsoon season have hit Cox’s Bazar.

Some 700,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have taken shelter in Cox’s Bazar since fleeing Myanmar amid a military crackdown on their communities in northern Rakhine State triggered by militant attacks on security posts there in late August.

In a press release, the UN refugee agency said the first of three scheduled humanitarian airlifts carrying additional shelter materials arrived in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The 1,400 tents are the first of 10,000 the agency plans to deliver by the end of May for 60,000 refugees living in areas most at risk of landslides and flooding.

Aid is also arriving by sea, including more tents, 170,000 tarpaulins and other essentials.

Humanitarian partners estimate that between 150,000 and 200,000 Rohingya refugees will be at risk this monsoon season and in urgent need of relocation.

"Of this number, 24,000 people are at critical risk due to the severe instability of the land on which their shelters have been constructed," Mahecic said.

The Bangladesh government has recently allocated new land for the refugees. Work crews have already begun clearing the area and the UN refugee agency hopes to move some 5,000 people there by the end of the month.

"In the absence of more available and usable land, UNHCR has made temporary emergency relocation arrangements, which will be activated as needed" Mahecic said.

In addition to the 60,000 refugees to be housed in emergency shelters, the UN refugee agency said, another 35,000 can be hosted by other refugees living in safer areas and the same number can be moved to communal shelters in the camps. But the agency added that these were only short-term solutions to address imminent risks.

OIC Delegation Visits Camps

The Bangladeshi Daily Star reported that a delegation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also visited the Cox’s Bazar camps on Friday, ahead of a foreign ministers summit in Dhaka.

According to the report, OIC Assistant Secretary-General Hashmi Yousuf apologized that the organization had not responded to the refugee crisis sooner and said it would work with the international community to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar.

Friday’s visit to the camps was joined by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae, Canada’s special envoy to the OIC, Masud Husain, and Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, among others.

A UN Security Council delegation visited the camps on April 28 during a four-day mission to Bangladesh and Myanmar and said the refugee crisis would remain one of the council’s top priorities.

However, a provisional program of the UN Security Council’s work for May tweeted by Poland on Tuesday makes no mention of the refugee crisis.

The post One Killed, 2 Injured in Landslide at Rohingya Refugee Camp appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thai Environment Protesters Claim Victory in Battle over Forest Housing

Posted: 06 May 2018 10:04 PM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Environmental activists in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai claimed victory after the country’s military government agreed in talks on Sunday not to use forested land to develop luxury property.

It follows a protest in Chiang Mai last week in which more than 1,000 demonstrators protested against the construction of a government luxury housing project earmarked as homes for judges on land in the foothills of the province’s famous Doi Suthep mountains.

Last week’s gathering was one of the largest since Thailand’s junta took power following a 2014 coup.

It was also one of a growing number of anti-government protests around Thailand, including in the capital Bangkok, that are putting pressure on the military government before a general election planned for early 2019.

Green ribbons symbolizing the environmental movement have appeared in public places in Chiang Mai, including on lamp posts and on cars, over the past week.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sent Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana, a minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, to Chiang Mai on Sunday to talk to protest leaders.

“We have concluded that no one will be living in this housing estate,” Suwaphan said after a meeting with the activists, adding that the area “will eventually be restored to the forest.”

Decisions on the future use of the land currently under development, which includes 45 houses, will be taken later this week, Suwaphan said, adding that the government will form a committee with activists and representatives from the local community to determine further steps to restore the land.

However, Suwaphan said construction of the homes already under way would have to continue in order for the government to honor its agreement with the construction firm involved.

He added that nobody would live in the finished homes.

Activists hailed the decision as a victory.

“What we have now is a promise that Doi Suthep forest will be restored,” said Teerasak Roopsuwan, one of the movement’s leaders.

“I think this could be a model for other parts of the country that public projects must not only be legal, but they must also consider local people’s opinions,” Teerasak said.

Sawat Chantalay, a Chiang Mai environmental activist, told Reuters that the activists will continue to organize public events to create awareness about such issues.

“This housing estate is like an open wound that reflects layers of problems Thailand has accumulated over many years,” said environmental activist Wattana Wachirodom.

“But if the government doesn’t fix this then people could rise up,” said Wattana.

The post Thai Environment Protesters Claim Victory in Battle over Forest Housing appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Hawaiians Race Home for Pets, Essentials During Lull in Volcano Eruptions

Posted: 06 May 2018 09:47 PM PDT

PAHOA, Hawaii — Hawaiians forced to flee repeated eruptions of the Kilauea volcano, which has already destroyed 26 homes as it spews rivers of lava and fountains of toxic gases into residential areas, were allowed to make a quick visits home on Sunday to rescue pets, medication and other essentials.

More lava fissures and vents opened overnight in the Leilani Estates area, where lava leapt up to 230 feet into the air but no new explosions were reported on Sunday from Kilauea, the state’s most active volcano.

So far no fatalities or major injuries have been reported from the volcano, which began erupting on Thursday, but at least 26 homes have been destroyed, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency.

“As a realtor, I can tell you that people move here thinking it’s paradise, and what they learn is that it’s something different,” said Jessica Gauthier, 47, who sells properties and manages vacation rentals on the Big Island.

“It’s a beautiful place to live, but it’s not for the faint of heart,” Gauthier said.

With an apparent lull in the action on Sunday, some of the nearly 2,000 people forced to evacuate their homes when the eruptions began were allowed to return during a 10-hour window, although some neighborhoods remained off-limits due to dangerous volcanic gasses.

“This is not the time for sightseeing,” the civil defense agency said on social media, urging others to stay away from the community about a dozen miles from where the Kilauea volcano erupted on Thursday.

The southeast corner of the island was rocked by a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the volcano’s south flank on Friday, the strongest tremor since 1975, and more earthquakes and eruptions were forecast, perhaps for months to come.

Although no significant lava flows have yet formed, additional outbreaks of lava, which can reach temperatures of about 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, were expected.

The rest of the island and state were conducting business as usual with no impact to flights to tourism centers, state officials said.

“The area where lava is coming to the surface is very far from resort areas,” said George Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Petra Wiesenbauer, owner of Hale Moana Hawaii Bed and Breakfast, evacuated on Friday evening with her two teenage children and pets.

“Now we are just trying to make plans for the future,” she said. “There is no telling when or if we’ll ever be able to go back in.”

US Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat, called on federal officials to quickly respond to needs such as short- and long-term housing and infrastructure repairs.

Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes and one of five on the island, has been in constant eruption for 35 years. It predominantly erupts basaltic lava in effusive eruptions that mostly flow into the ocean but occasionally experiences explosive eruptions.

The post Hawaiians Race Home for Pets, Essentials During Lull in Volcano Eruptions appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Trump Assures Bangladesh of US Support Amid Rohingya Crisis

Posted: 06 May 2018 09:32 PM PDT

DHAKA — US President Donald Trump has assured Bangladesh of US support in dealing with the Myanmar Rohingya refugee crisis, a Bangladeshi official said on Friday.

A letter from Trump was handed to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a meeting with US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat in Dhaka on Thursday, said Ihsanul Karim, the Prime Minister’s press secretary, and a US embassy official.

“The United States will continue to pressure Myanmar to create necessary conditions for the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya people to their homeland,” Trump said in the letter, according to Karim.

Last month, Hasina said more international pressure was needed on Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees.

UN officials say some 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to escape a military crackdown since August, amid reports of murder, rape and arson by Myanmar troops and Buddhist vigilantes in actions which the United Nations has likened to "ethnic cleansing."

Myanmar has denied nearly all allegations, saying it has been waging a legitimate counter-insurgency operation.

In the letter, Trump also said those in Myanmar responsible for instigating the crisis must be held accountable, said Karim.

He said Hasina reiterated her call for the international community to continue to pressure the Myanmar government to repatriate its people from Bangladesh.

The post Trump Assures Bangladesh of US Support Amid Rohingya Crisis appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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