BI Weekly No. 309

December 7th - December 13th, 2006

The BI Weekly archive is available on our website: www.burmaissues.org

Inside

Border

International

Using Indian Military Aid against Civilians
Honored for Promoting Freedom and Opposing Military Rule
Proposing ASEAN Sanctions Taken Against Members

Interview

One health worker from Akyab Hospital say that the number of children who have been suffering from tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and hepatitis has increased, and the limited medicinal supply has not been helping the problem.

Since 19 November, there have been about 300 children hospitalized in Akyab Hospital , in Arakan State , due to malaria and dengue fever, and jaundice caused by complications of malaria, reports a medical officer from the hospital.

Most of the children are from the outlying cities of the state, such as Kyauktaw, Mrauk U, Ponna Gyan, Rathidaung, and Pauktaw. Since local hospitals in those cities are facing a grave shortage of medicine, these children are transferred to the state's capital hospital, said the same medical officer.

However, the situation is not much better at Akyab Hospital , since medical supplies are low and staff numbers are insufficient to deal with the large number of patients.

“Inadequate Medical Supplies in Arakan Spell Looming Health Crisis for Children”, Narinjara News, 11 December 2006

KNU Attacked by Burmese Military

Pa doh Man Sha, the General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU) was issued the Burmese military has been planting landmines throughout Karen State to attack civilians.

Man Sha critique that is a very brutal and inhuman act causing landmines were planted in frontal area by the SPDC especially in Taungoo , Pa Pun and Tha Ton districts.

This KNU's accusation came in the wake of a press release by the Free Burma Ranger a few days ago. Three people were killed and eight injured after a landmine exploded in Nyaunglaypin district.

The victims were KNU members who were escorting 5,000 Karen internally displaced people fleeing the onslaught of the Burmese military.

“Burmese Military Using Land Mines to Attack Civilians: KNU”, Mizzima News, 12 December 2006

Illegal taxation tantamount to extortion continues unabated in parts of Karen State .

The construction of the high school in the village has been on since 2003. It has been built mostly with money collected forcefully from the villages. The military regime has forcefully collected money this month for the opening ceremony of a new school building.

Nai Mon, a local Mon Literature and Culture Committee member said that every household in his area comprising seven villages were forced to give money by the village authorities which claimed that they were doing it in keeping with the instructions from the township authorities.

In this case, there are over 2,000 households and each household had to pay Kyat 3,500 Kyats for the high school inaugural ceremony.

“ Extortion Continues Unabated in Karen State ”, Independent Mon News, 11 December 2006

Youth Served Army

Young people in Chin state, Burma are being arrested by the military authorities to be recruited as soldiers.

Soldiers from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No (104) arrested four young men - a student from Matupi High school - while they were celebrating Buddhist festival.

The high school student was released after Naw Kua Yi, a High School teacher in Matupi met military authorities and pleaded on his behalf. The amount of money paid as bribe to the authorities is still to be verified.

The rest of the youth were taken away in an army vehicle to Mindat town but they escaped from the clutches of the Burmese soldiers as the vehicle rolled down near Champian village, 12 miles from Matupi.

The fate of the three young men is not known yet.

“ Chin Youths Being Forced to Serve Army”, Khonumthung News, 8 December 2006

Rohingya Refugees Cheated by Human Trafficker

Cox's Bazaar , Bangladesh , a group of Rohingya refugees were cheated of Taka 400,000 by a Bangladeshi human trafficker who promised to send them to Malaysia by sea.

A week before their departure, the human trafficker collected Taka 20,000 per head from 20 Burmese refugees, who live in Nayapara refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar district,. On November 28 mornings, Mohammed Ali gathered all the refugees at Cox's Bazaar to proceed to Malaysia . At about 10 p.m. all of them were herded into an engine boat which departed for Malaysia from the Fishery Ghat (port) in Cox's Bazaar.

When the boat reached Shilkhali of Basara union in Teknaf, Cox's Bazaar district, the Rohingya refugees were tied with ropes at gun point by the human trafficker and his partners. Mohammed Ali called some local goons who he knew when the engine boat touched the coast of Shilkhali . They refugees were off loaded.

The refugees were then tortured severely through the night. The following day the refugees were released. Some of them are being treated after reaching the refugee camp.

“Refugees Cheated by Bangladeshi Human Trafficker”, Kaladan News, 7 December 2006

Registering to extend permits: Migrant Workers in Thailand

Valid migrant worker permits for 2006 will be extended by the Thai Ministry of Labour to 2008.

Migrant workers will be required to register for an extension with Thai authorities, starting January 10, 2007. To qualify for a permit, they must have a health check-up and later be approved by their native country, at a cost of about 3,800 baht (US $105).

Kosit Panpiumrat, a deputy prime minister, said an estimated 668,576migrant workers from Burma , Laos and Cambodia who registered in 2006 are eligible.

“Migrant Workers Must Register to Extend permit”, Irrawaddy , 8 December 2006

Thai Worries about Fighting Near Border

Authorities and traders in Thailand are worried about a spillover from the latest clash between Burmese troops and Shan State Army fighters near Tachilek, opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.

After the fighting started on Sunday [10 December], Maj-Gen Wannatip Wongwai, commander of the Pha Muang Task Force, said Thai soldiers have sealed off the border to prevent the fighting from spilling over into Thai territory.

They have also intensified anti-drug smuggling efforts which usually gain momentum when skirmishes break out on Burmese soil, he said.

In Addition Boontham Tipprasong, chairman of the Thai-Burmese Chamber of Commerce, said the Mae Sai tourism sector was cashing in on huge arrivals of Thais

thanks to the Royal Flora 2006 exposition in Chiang Mai.

He hoped the clashes would not expand and scare away the tourists.

“Worries after Fighting Erupts Close to Border”, Bangkok Post, 12 December 2006

Using Indian Military Aid against Civilians

Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned Wednesday that India was offering military aid to Burma 's military junta for using it against civilians.

The New York-based rights group said during a visit to Burma last month, India 's air force chief, Marshal SP Tyagi, offered a multimillion dollar military aid package for counterinsurgency helicopters, avionics upgrades of Myanmar 's Russian- and Chinese-made fighter planes, and naval surveillance aircraft.

In addition, India 's army chief of staff, JJ Singh, pledged to help train Burma troops in special warfare tactics.

In Brad Adams - HRW's Asia director's mind, it was shock that a democracy like India would offer military assistance to Burma 's brutal military dictatorship – as tools of repression, not of defense.

“Myanmar to use Indian Military Aid against Civilians”, Agence France Presse , 7 December 2006

Honored for Promoting Freedom and Opposing Military Rule

Promoting freedom and opposing military rule in Burma , Min Ko Naing, a Burmese human rights leader was honored Sunday at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Min Ko Naing, presumably in a prison in Burma for the very actions for which he was being honored, was not present. But many of his compatriots were, eager to honor him and leagues of others who have supported his cause.

Naing led Burmese students in calling for democracy and human rights in the 1980s. He led a nationwide uprising in which millions of people marched in the streets to demand democracy and thousands were killed.

He was imprisoned in 1989 and released in 2004. After less than two years of freedom, he was again arrested in September for his leadership of the democracy movement.

“City Burmese Honor Imprisoned Patriot,” Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 11 December 2006

Proposing ASEAN Sanctions Taken Against Members

A group of advisors to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has proposed reforms that would include sanctions against member nations who breach agreements made within the organization especially international criticism for its failure to hold member nation Burma accountable for its poor human rights record and lack of democratic reforms.

The proposed reforms are to be discussed at the ASEAN annual summit in the Philippines . The meeting had been scheduled for next week but has been postponed until January due to a powerful storm in the area.

Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos presented the proposal to reporters, saying that the 10 member group must be able to ensure compliance among its members in order to be relevant. Sanctions could include suspension of rights or even expulsion from ASEAN.

“ASEAN Advisors Propose Sanctions for Members like Burma who Breach Agreements”, VOA News, 8 December 2006

Getting Burmese Atrocities on Camera

SCOTT SIMON, host: Aung San Suu Kyi is certainly Burma 's best-known political prisoner. But the Nobel Peace Prize winner is just one of more than a thousand human rights activist who are imprisoned in that country. And international human rights groups say the Burmese army has displaced more than a million people within Burma , forcing a massive influx of refugees into neighboring countries.

(Soundbite of gunfire)

SIMON: Some human rights groups are trying to struggle against the military dictatorship there with a new weapon, the video camera. Kweh Say is a refugee from eastern Burma whose been working with the group Burma Issues to video-tape human rights abuses there. Kweh Say joins us from our studios in New York City . Kweh Say, thanks very much for being with us.

Saw Kweh Say (Human Rights Activist): Thank you.

SIMON: This must be dangerous work, to take a video camera and turn it on things that people there don't want the world to see.

Saw Kweh Say : Yes, it's true. It's really dangerous, because Burma 's government does not allow any human rights organization or any media to enter Burma .

SIMON: What sort of things have you captured on your camera? What have you seen and been able to show to the world?

Saw Kweh Say : A village burned down by the Burma army, and village people displaced and hide in the deep jungle without enough food and security and without medical care.

SIMON: May I ask about your personal story and that of your family? You left Burma , as I understand, in 1975.

Saw Kweh Say : Yes, that's true. I left in my home village from 1975, and wandering around inside Burma until 1984. And I came to border and take refuge in Thailand in the refugee camp in April 1984.

SIMON: And your family is ethnic Karen, right?

Saw Kweh Say : Yes, ethnic Karen.

SIMON: Why was your family forced to leave?

Saw Kweh Say : Because Burma military dictatorship began a strong offensive towards Karen people in that area and moved many villagers down to the low land area to the relocation site and moved people to the refugee camp.So my family stayed there for a while and we found out there's not enough security, enough food for us, so our family decided to move to the border, to refugee camp.

SIMON: Do you find that people react to video more strongly than they do the spate of official reports that we've read over the past 20 years about the situation in Burma ?

Saw Kweh Say : I would say that I personally feel that a video works better than written reports, as it tells story very clear and very shortly, because if you'll read - like the whole offensive report will take you a few hours. But with a video document, with only a few minutes, you can see the picture, you can hear the voice of the people suffering, and you can see their faces of suffering. That can tell a story deeper than a written report.

SIMON: Kweh Say, thank you very much.

Saw Kweh Say : Thank you very much.

SIMON: Kweh Say is a Burmese human rights activist with Burma Issues, speaking with us from New York . And this is NPR News.

"Getting Burmese atrocities on camera", National Public Radio (NPR) December 9, 2006

***The video "Season of Fear:Internally Displaced People in Burma call for International action" Produced by Burma Issues and Witness. For more information please go to www.burmaissues.org or www.witness.org