BI Weekly No. 361

October 21st - October 27th, 2008

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

Inside Burma

Border

International

Lawyer ask Burmese junta to meet Suu Kyi again

Pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer has requested another meeting with her to discuss an appeal against her detention, amid repeated international calls for her release, her party’s spokesman said.
Kyi Win asked the ruling junta for permission to meet with the Nobel peace prize winner, who has spent most of the past 19 years locked away in her lakeside home in Rangoon, the National League for Democracy’s Nyan Win said.
“Lawyer U Kyi Win has asked the authorities to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi again to give her receipt of her appeal and to get further instructions for it,” Nyan Win told AFP.
“We haven’t received any reply yet. But the authorities are likely to allow him to meet her,” he said.
The authorities acknowledged receipt of Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal on October 9 but have not yet indicated whether they will accept the case.
On Thursday leaders around the world marked the 13th anniversary of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest by renewing calls for the government to release her.
A US State Department spokesman urged the “unlawful detention” to end, while the European Parliament joined rights groups in urging Asian and European leaders meeting in China this week to appeal to Myanmar (Burma) for liberal reforms.
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ expert on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, announced a four-point plan of political reforms he is asking the junta to implement before elections due in 2010.

“Suu Kyi’s lawyer asks Myanmar junta for further appeal meeting” Agence France Presse, October 24, 2008 

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6 NLD members sentenced

A court in military-ruled Burma handed down prison sentences to six opposition party members who were arrested after last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations, a party spokesman said.
A Mandalay court convicted the six of creating public alarm and promoting hatred, and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two to 13, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy.
Pro-democracy protests raged across the country in Sept. 2007 before they were violently crushed by the army, leaving at least 31 people dead, according to the United Nations. Thousands of people were arrested.
International human rights groups say Myanmar’s junta now holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, compared with nearly 1,200 in June, 2007, before the pro-democracy demonstrations.

“6 Myanmar opposition members get jail terms” Associated Press, October 24, 2008

The Burmese military junta authorities confiscated 365 acres of farmland from the Rohingya community in Razabil (Auk Nan Yar) village in Rathedaung Township recently without citing any reason, said a school teacher from Rathedaung.
The farmlands are owned by 65 families in Razabil, who eke out a living from cultivation.
The seizure was ordered by the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) number 538. Military officers told village authorities that anybody wishing to cultivate their land must give nine tins of paddy per acre as ration for the Burmese Army, he added.
Moreover, it was reported that the Burmese military junta authorities are forcing 200 villagers to work in a rubber plantation near Aung Mamgala modern village from October 20. The rubber plantation is around 3.40 acres and is controlled by Tactical Operations Command (TOC) in Buthidaung. The land was confiscated from the Rohingya community in the area.

“Over 365 acres of farmlands confiscated in Rathedaung”, Kaladan News, October 23, 2008
“Over 200 villagers forced to work in rubber plantation” Kaladan News: October 22, 2008

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66,000 displaced in eastern Burma in the past year

Up to 66,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes in eastern Burma in the past year because of systematic abuses by the country’s ruling military, an aid group said.
The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), which provides aid to hundreds of thousands of refugees who flee Burma, said in a new report that the junta’s actions could constitute crimes against humanity.
“The extent of persecution and suffering in the border areas has been largely unseen and under-reported for decades,” said Jack Dunford, TBBC’s executive director.
“Yet the same brutal army that crushed protests on city streets last September marauds with impunity in rural Burma, bringing fear and disrupting the lives of villagers on a day to day basis.”
The TBBC report accuses the military of systematically forcing villagers from their homes in Burma’s eastern Karen and Shan states.
Forced labour, land confiscation, and restricting people’s access to farmland and markets also has a devastating economic impact, it added.
The TBBC estimated that there are more than half a million people currently internally displaced within eastern Burma.
“Approximately 66,000 people were forced to leave their homes due to the effects of armed conflict and human rights abuses during the past year alone,” the group said, referring to the time period between July 2007 and June 2008.

“66,000 people displaced by Myanmar army abuses: aid group” Agence France Presse, October 22, 2008
<to download full report, please visit http://www.tbbc.org >

Chin villagers in northern Chin state, Burma are being terrorized and tortured by insurgent groups from Manipur state in northeast India operating on Burmese soil, it is learnt.
In the first week of October cadres of the Manipur rebel group entered Maulpi village in Tonzang Township, Chin state and asked the village council’s chairman and school principal to provide them with chicken and pork, according to Min Thang from Zomi Human Rights Network.
The chairman and the school principal refused to offer livestock to the rebels from northeast India. The irate Manipuri cadres assaulted the duo.
Manipuri armed groups have been using Chin territories as a safe haven and move around freely with the blessings of the Burmese military junta authorities, villagers from Maulpi said.
A villager from Dizang village in Tonzang Township was also assaulted by Manipuri rebels in September.

“Indian northeast rebels torture Chin villagers” Khonumthung News, October 24, 2008

Schools and clinics in Kawkareik forced to close

Schools and clinics in villages of Kawkareik Township were forced to close following operations launched by the Burmese Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), an NGO assisting these said.
Italy based ‘Help without Frontiers Refugees for Burma’ said that five schools and two clinics were opened in Phawbulahta and Hawphokee villages in Kawkareik Township after clashes occurred in late September.
“These areas are under the control of the DKBA and the Burmese Army. So, we have to move from the villages. We are not sure if we can reopen the schools and clinics as long as the soldiers from the two sides are present. We are in a wait and watch mode,” Benno Röggla, the Chairman of the NGO official told Mizzima.
Teachers and students dare not come to the schools. To make matters worse the joint forces of the DKBA and the Burmese Army looted medicines and other items from the clinics. So the clinics had to be closed too, he said.
The villages are on Thai-Burma border, 45 kilometres south of Mae Sod.

“Army operations force closure of schools, clinics” Mizzima News, October 23, 2008

The committee on foreign affairs of the House of Representatives has endorsed for plenary adoption a resolution urging the Philippines and other countries to denounce the violent crackdown of pro-democracy protest actions in Burma.
House Resolution No. 816 states that the Philippines, as a member of the United Nations (UN) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), affirms its conviction “in the strict observance of fundamental human rights” and has determined to promote social progress.
As such, the Philippine government is urging the military government in Burma to come up with a time frame for democratic reforms, which should include a genuine tripartite dialogue among the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the National League for Democracy (NLD), and ethnic nationalities.
This is to ensure equal representations of the stakeholders that could lead to an inclusive nationwide convention to draft a Constitution reflective of the needs of the Burmese people, the resolution said.
HR 816 further states that as a UN member, the Philippines believes in the importance of the rule of law in the maintenance of international peace and security, the components of which would include, among others, the establishment of institutions to ensure safety and order in post-conflict societies, prevention of impunity by violators of human rights and international humanitarian law, and protection of civilians, their rights and freedoms.
They noted that being a member of the ASEAN since 1997, Burma should ensure that all member states are observing the regional body’s existing democratic principles and that all international covenants and binding treaties that the ASEAN has unanimously ratified should be strictly followed.

“Philippines house panel adopts resolution denouncing pro-democracy crackdown in Burma” Popular News Agency (Thailand), October 23, 2008

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Australia extend sanctions against junta

Australia extended financial sanctions against another 45 of Burma’s military leaders as a protest against the junta’s lack of progress toward democracy.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the new list of 463 individuals singled out for sanctions included members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, government ministers and military officers as well as the regime’s business associates and relatives.
It replaces a list of 418 people announced a year ago after the junta brutally crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in Burma.
“This was, unfortunately, only the most recent very public instance of the brutal treatment meted out to civil society in that country and to those seeking to make Burma a better society and a nation based on democratic norms and ideals,” Smith told Parliament.
“Australia will continue to press Burma’s regime for meaningful political progress toward democracy,” he added.
Smith said the detention of 2,000 political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is “a major impediment to political progress.”
The junta’s initial response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in May was “very disappointing” and the referendum days later that approved Burma’s new military-backed constitution was “a sham,” Smith said.

 “Australia extends sanctions against Myanmar junta” Associated Press, October 22, 2008

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Burmese comedian awarded by PEN Canada

PEN Canada, the Canadian branch of the International PEN freedom of expression organisation, is to award the 2008 One Humanity Award to Burmese comedian and activist Zarganar.
The US$ 5000 award with be presented in absentia this evening at the opening night of the International Festival of Authors in Toronto.
Zaraganar will also be named as this year’s Empty Chair at the festival, which honours a writer who is not free to come to a literary festival.
According to PEN Canada, the One Humanity Award is given someone whose writings “reflect honest, good judgment and a courageous belief in the peaceful expression of ideas through any medium”.
Zarganar is a popular comedian and high-profile activist in Burma and has been imprisoned on several occasions for his criticism of the military regime.
He was detained in October 1998 for six months, served four years in Insein prison from 1990 to 1994 and in September last year was held for a month for giving alms to monks involved in the public demonstrations.
After Cyclone Nargis hit the country in May this year, Zarganar played a key role in assistance efforts but was arrested in June after criticising the government’s response to the natural disaster.
He is currently being held in Insein prison. 
“Zarganar honoured by PEN Canada” Democratic Voice of Burma, October 22, 2008

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