Burma Related News - May 16, 2006.
- From: "Tin Kyi" <maungtinkyi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 08:58:06 +0000 (UTC)
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BURMA RELATED NEWS - MAY 16, 2006.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - Myanmar reshuffles military, government
AFP - Myanmar an obstacle as EU pushes for FTA with Southeast Asia
Reuters - U.N. envoy to make rare Myanmar visit this week
Reuters - Refugees brave mines, malaria to flee Myanmar junta
Reuters - EU sees Southeast Asian trade deal without Myanmar
China Post - Myanmar raises electricity rates, drops subsidies for civil
servants
India Daily - India has raised the issue of opening another border point
with Myanmar
NetIndia 123 - Suu Kyi's detention to continue: analysts
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Tuesday May 16, 3:40 PM
Myanmar reshuffles military, government
YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's secretive junta has begun reshuffling military
and government officials, in its latest drive to consolidate its hold on
power, sources close to the military have said.
The changes came as the junta held a top-level meeting in its secret new
War Office compound outside the central town of Pyinmana, where the
military regime has built a new administrative capital.
Among the highest-level moves so far, Myanmar's Prime Minister Soe Win
is losing his position as chief of staff for air defense and will no
longer hold any military post, while remaining the premier, the sources
said.
His replacement is Brigadier General Myint Hlaing, who is believed
responsible for instigating the ouster of former prime minister Khin
Nyunt, the only member of the regime who showed any willingness to talk
with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
New generals were appointed to six of the 13 regional commands, with
most of the outgoing commanders given cabinet posts.
Changes within the military are never announced publicly as the junta
keeps a tight lid on all its activities.
The military even blocked cell phone signals around the administrative
capital to maintain silence about the proceedings.
The junta did announce in official media a slate of changes within the
government, mainly involving low-ranking positions including the
ministers for culture, social
welfare, tourism and electricity.
Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo told AFP in Bangkok that
the latest changes were another effort by junta supremo Than Shwe to
consolidate his power by promoting generals loyal to him.
"You have these new people coming in and taking positions, especially
those who are up and coming and who have shown great loyalty to the
regime," he said.
"You have to create some new positions to make way for some other people
to keep their loyalty intact," he said.
Sources close to the military in Yangon expected more changes as the
generals wrap up their meeting later this week.
The reshuffle comes amid a new drive by the junta to crack down on its
rivals, stepping up pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy while waging an offensive against the country's largest rebel
group in eastern Myanmar.
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Myanmar an obstacle as EU pushes for FTA with Southeast Asia
Mon May 15, 4:40 AM ET
MANILA (AFP) - The European Union wants to strike a free-trade agreement
(FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but human
rights issues in Myanmar could be a problem, EU trade commissioner Peter
Mandelson has said.
He said he would meet later in the week with his counterparts from ASEAN
members; Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam who are in Manila for an
informal retreat.
"The reason why I want to see closer links between the EU and the ASEAN
countries is because I want to persuade European business to look beyond
China to the wider opportunities of Asia," Mandelson told a news
briefing.
He said there was a need "to bring new focus to our trade relations with
ASEAN countries."
A feasibility study for an FTA has already been commissioned and "now we
got to see whether we can open up negotiations," Mandelson said.
However, he said there would "always be risks in taking the adventurous
course".
Among the likely stumbling blocks to an FTA with ASEAN is the Asian
bloc's reluctance to force democratic and human rights changes in
Myanmar, which has continued to ignore calls by both the EU and the
United States to free democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Both have already slapped trade sanctions on Myanmar.
Mandelson said ASEAN and EU ministers should "find a way through" the
problem if an FTA is to be signed.
"It will be tragic if other ASEAN countries were to forego economic
opportunities and expand trade in the world because of Myanmar's refusal
to change for the better," he said.
"I don't want to see people in Southeast Asia as a whole held back and
unable to tackle the urgent challenge of poverty because of Myanmar's
refusal to embrace the (international) norms and standards," he said.
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Tuesday May 16, 2:41 PM
U.N. envoy to make rare Myanmar visit this week
YANGON, May 16 (Reuters) - A top U.N. official is expected in Myanmar on
Thursday to press the military junta to restore democracy and respect
human rights, but he is unlikely to meet detained democracy icon Aung
San Suu Kyi, diplomats said.
Details of the trip by Ibrahim Gambari, the undersecretary-general for
political affairs and the first U.N. envoy to visit Myanmar in more than
two years, have not been announced.
But diplomats in Yangon said on Tuesday the Nigerian envoy may meet
junta leader Senior General Than Shwe during the May 18-20 visit.
Gambari has asked to see Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner
who is under house arrest since her latest detention in May 2003.
"Of course he may want to see Aung San Suu Kyi, but we don't think he
will be able to see her," a Western diplomat said.
The visit comes amid mounting pressure on Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 only to be
denied power by the army which has ruled in various guises since 1962.
The junta accused the NLD last month of having ties to "terrorists and
destructive groups" and said it had cause to ban the party, but would
allow it exist for now.
Since then, the party has been hit by a spate of resignations which NLD
officials blame on pressure from the regime.
Most recently, Myanmar's army has been driving thousands of ethnic Karen
out of villages close to the junta's new jungle capital, near the town
of Pyinmana, in what appears to be the biggest offensive against the
Karen in 10 years.
Aid and humanitarian groups say their work in Myanmar has been curtailed
by new government restrictions imposed in February, including forcing
their staff to be accompanied on trips by government officials.
Malaysian Razali Ismail, who gave up his post as U.N. special envoy to
Myanmar in January after he was refused a visa for nearly two years,
said the generals seemed to be digging in their heels against demands
for reform from the United Nations as well as the 10-member Association
of South East Asian Nations.
The United States and other Western nations want to put Myanmar formally
on the council agenda, which would increase pressure on the government.
But in December China, Russia, Japan and others said the council was
exceeding its mandate by involving itself in a human rights issue.
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Refugees brave mines, malaria to flee Myanmar junta
By Ed Cropley
Mon May 15, 9:42 AM ET
NEAR THE SALWEEN RIVER, Myanmar (Reuters) - Ta Kler Too was two weeks
old when he had to go through his first minefield.
Born on the run from the army in the jungles of eastern Myanmar, he and
his family -- all ethnic Karen -- are now in the relative security of a
makeshift refugee camp protected by Karen National Liberation Army
(KNLA) guerrillas.
One mile from the Thai border, they remain at the mercy of infection,
diarrhea and malaria but consider themselves the lucky ones after a
terrifying month-long flight from soldiers of the former Burma's ruling
military junta, or State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as it is
officially known.
"I thought I would die on the way because I was so pregnant, so weak,"
said his mother, Enne Paw, 31, who took to the forests with her family
when two people in their village were shot dead in an army raid.
After a week on the run, she went into labor and gave birth in a bamboo
hut in another Karen village before resuming the desperate flight
eastwards to the Salween River and the Thai border, where the rebel
Karen militias are at their strongest.
First though, they had to make a night-time crossing of the main road
bisecting that part of Karen State -- a thoroughfare teeming with
soldiers and landmines.
"I had to rock the baby in my arms all the time to keep him from
crying," said his 39-year-old father, Bwer Nee Tha, with a thin smile
that revealed teeth stained crimson with betel nut.
"Either that or we would feed him. Otherwise, we were scared his cries
would alert the Burmese patrols," he said, clutching the tiny child to
his chest in a medical hut where he was being treated for a throat
infection.
EXODUS
Besides 1,800 Karen who have entered Thailand since December, 805 people
have made similar journeys to the Salween camp to escape what appears to
be the biggest SPDC offensive against the Karen in 10 years.
Around three quarters of them are children and the numbers grow almost
daily as new arrivals emerge sick, exhausted and starving from the
trees.
Some of them used the word "myo dong." In Karen, it means genocide.
In a rare lifting of their veil of secrecy this weekend, Yangon's
generals admitted they were targeting the Karen, a mainly Christian
ethnic minority of around 7 million people, or just over 10 percent of
Myanmar's population.
But Information Minister Brigadier-General Kyaw Hsan said the offensive
was to quell anti-government military action by the KNLA, who have waged
a 50-year civil war with Yangon -- one of the world's longest-running
conflicts.
Accounts from dozens of refugees interviewed by Reuters suggest
civilians are bearing the brunt of the assault.
With empty eyes, they spoke of neighbors murdered, villages burned to
the ground and the ashes seeded with landmines. Hidden stores of rice
had also been destroyed, meaning many communities faced starvation if
they tried to stay.
The Free Burma Rangers, a Christian refugee relief group which estimates
15,000 Karen are on the run, has provided photographs of SPDC notices
pinned to trees "For the hiding villagers."
"No one is allowed to live in this area," reads the first line. Lower
down: "Anyone who stays in this area will be shot. This is a command
from above."
In several cases, soldiers had mined the path leading to the notice, the
Rangers said.
At the entrance to the camp, Saw Da Pulo, a 43-year-old who lost his
right leg to a land mine four years ago, sat waiting for his parents and
children to arrive. His wife is already dead.
Separated from the group a month ago, he managed to make it on one leg
to the Salween, where he was picked up by a KNLA patrol. All he can do
now is sit and pray that one day he will see his family again.
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Monday May 15, 6:37 PM
EU sees Southeast Asian trade deal without Myanmar
MANILA, May 15 (Reuters) - A possible free trade agreement between the
European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
may have to be sealed without Myanmar, the EU trade chief Peter
Mandelson said on Monday.
"I do not want to see people in Southeast Asia as a whole held back ...
because of Myanmar's refusal to embrace the norms and standards that are
taken for granted elsewhere in Southeast Asia," Mandelson told reporters
in Manila.
"We will have to find a way through this that enables us to negotiate
for the benefit of the many rather than being held hostage by one."
Myanmar's secretive military junta has been criticised for suppressing
democracy and abuses against the Karen people, a mainly Christian ethnic
minority of around 7 million people, or just over 10 percent of the
country's population.
Mandelson, in the Philippines for a meeting of Southeast Asian trade
ministers, said the EU and ASEAN would be assessing the potential for a
free trade agreement on Tuesday.
"We need to ... test the feasibility of what is being proposed and
create a template for any negotiations," he said. "Once we are sure of
our ground then we can talk about a timetable for the negotiations
themselves."
Southeast Asian countries are anxious to compete against fast-growing
rivals China and India, while Mandelson is keen to push on with
bilateral trade deals once the World Trade Organisation's Doha round is
over.
The 25-nation EU and 10-member ASEAN established a group last year to
look at the possibility of a free trade deal.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the
Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar.
Renowned for its emphasis on consensus, ASEAN has shown rare displeasure
in recent years with foot-dragging on reforms by Myanmar. Last week,
Yangon did not sent a representative to the first-ever meeting of ASEAN
defence ministers.
Mandelson, who heads for Malaysia later this week, said time was running
out for a new world trade deal by a July deadline.
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The China Post
Myanmar raises electricity rates, drops subsidies for civil servants
2006/5/15
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) Myanmar's military government has raised
electricity prices while at the same eliminating special lower rates for
civil servants and the elderly, an official of the state electric power
department said Monday.
The move has been touted as a free market reform by the government, and
comes directly after massive salary increases announced for civil
servants on April 30.
The new salaries appeared to have been an effort to placate civil
servants who in many cases were making less than US$10 (?8.30) a month
and were hit hard by fuel price increases last year.
"As the country has adopted an open-market economy, everything has to be
adjusted according to the market economy. However, the government will
make a gentle and step by step increase so that the people will not face
hardship," said Information Minister Brig Gen. Kyaw Hsan last week when
asked about the possibility of electricity rate increases.
Effective May 1, every household and religious building will pay the
same rate of 25 kyats (US$0.02, ?0.015) per unit while industries will
pay 50 kyats (US$0.04, ?0.03) per unit, said the official, who insisted
on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
Under the previous rate table, there had been a sliding scale, ranging
from 2.50 kyats (US$0.002 or ?0.0015)to 25 kyats (US$0.02, ?0.015) per
unit, depending on the category of consumer and the amount used. The
price for civil servants and pensioners had ranged between 50 pyas
(US$0.0004 or ?0.0003) and 25 kyats (US$0.02, ?0.015).
"The new rate will have a bigger impact on government servants, retirees
and low-volume consumers," said high school teacher Myint Soe, who is
now getting 44,000 kyats (US$33.80, ?27.97) a month compared to 10,900
kyats (US$8.38, ?6.92) before the salary hikes.
It is unclear how the electricity rate increases will affect the problem
of power shortages, caused by inadequate domestic fuel supplies and a
shortage of money to import oil. The government for years has been
forced to use electricity rationing, even in the country's commercial
capital and biggest city, Yangon.
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India Daily
India has raised the issue of opening another border point with Myanmar
Media Release
May 14, 2006
India has raised the issue of opening another border point with Myanmar
besides increasing the commodities basket as part of increasing
bilateral trade between the two countries.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath flagged this issue with his Myanmarese
counterpart Brig Gen Tin Naing Thein during a meeting of India-Myanmar
Joint Trade Committee here, an official release said.
"Our Bilateral Border Trade Agreement inked in 1994 provides framework
facilities by which trade is being carried out through the designated
border points of Moreh-Tamu and now Zowkhathar-Rhi since January 2004.
We now hope to add another border trading point at Pangsau Pass," Nath
said.
He also favoured increasing the border trade commodities basket from the
present limited list of 22 commodities but said the two countries needed
to study the obstacles that stand in the way of bilateral trade, whether
they relate to banking, transport or other infrastructure related
problems.
Nath said though trade has risen to more than US $500 million in
2004-05, this was still short of the target set by the two sides at the
first JTC meeting in Yangon in 2003.
Both Nath and Brig Gen. Thein emphasised the natural complementarities
of the two economies and noted that after Myanmar's entry into ASEAN and
Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation (BIMSTEC), new avenues had opened for greater cooperation on
a bilateral and regional basis.
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NetIndia 123
Suu Kyi's detention to continue: analysts
New Delhi | May 15, 2006 12:15:06 PM IST
Myanmar's military regime is expected to renew National League For
Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest when her current
detention term expires May 27, say political analysts.
The analysts told Mizzima News, a news agency run by Myanmarese in
exile, that they expected the military - the Junta - to continue to
detain Suu Kyi without formally announcing an extension.
Nyo Ohn Myint, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Thai-based
National Council of the Union of Burma, said: "I don't think (the Junta)
will release her from detention, as they want to wipe out the NLD
party".
Suu Kyi has been in and out of detention since her return to Myanmar in
1988. She was last arrested May 30, 2003, when her motorcade was
brutally attacked by a military-backed mob.
In November 2003, the Junta announced she would spend a year under house
arrest. The military then continued to extend her detention every six
months.
Tint Shwe, minister for the Prime Minister's Office of the exiled
National Coalition Government, said it was hard to tell exactly when Suu
Kyi's latest detention term would finish since the military was
"notorious" for ignoring its own deadlines.
"The date must be before the end of May but I am not sure because the
Junta's calendar is different and complicated," said Shwe.
NLD spokesperson Myint Thein said: "Looking at the current political
scenario, there is no sign for her release."
In the past month, the military has forced many NLD members to resign
from the party. They have also threatened to outlaw the opposition,
claiming it has links with terrorist groups.
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