China, Russia arming Myanmar junta: UN rights expert

By Nina Larson

Geneva (AFP)

Feb 22, 2022

UN Security Council members China and Russia, as well as Serbia have continued supplying Myanmar's junta with weapons used to attack civilians since last year's coup, a UN rights expert said Tuesday.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged the Security Council to convene an emergency session "to debate and vote on a resolution to, at a minimum, ban those arms transfers that the Myanmar military are known to use to attack and kill Myanmar civilians."

He released a long-awaited report Tuesday detailing where the junta is getting its weapons from, highlighting that two permanent members of the Security Council itself, who hold veto power over its decisions, remain among the main suppliers.

"Despite the evidence of the military junta's atrocity crimes being committed with impunity since launching a coup last year, UN Security Council members Russia and China continue to provide the Myanmar military junta with numerous fighter jets, armored vehicles, and in the case of Russia, the promise of further arms," Andrews said in a statement.

"During this same period, Serbia has authorized rockets and artillery for export to the Myanmar military," said Andrews, who is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, but who does not speak on behalf of the world body.

- 'Crimes against humanity' -

In his report, he maintained that the arms transfers by the three countries had "occurred with the full knowledge that they would be used to attack civilians, in probable violation of international law."

Myanmar has been in chaos, its economy paralyzed, and more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in a military crackdown since the putsch in February 2021, according to the UN.

Since the February 1, 2021 coup, at least 12,000 people have been detained, including the de facto head of the civilian government, Aung San Suu Kyi, while more than 440,000 people have been forcibly displaced.

Andrews reiterated in his report that "there is strong evidence the junta has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity," including murder, sexual violence and torture.

"The situation of human rights in Myanmar is dire and deteriorating," it said.

The report provides an overview of countries that have authorized the transfer of weapons to Myanmar since 2018, when the military's attacks on the Rohingya ethnic minority were widely documented and after a UN fact-finding mission had urged an arms embargo.

Israel, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Belarus and Ukraine also figure on that list, although only China, Russia and Serbia have continued their transfers since the coup.

- 'Imperative' -

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution last June calling for countries to prevent the flow of arms to Myanmar, but Andrews said that it had failed to have "any discernible impact on the crisis and the capacity of the junta to launch attacks on civilians."

He pointed out that while none of the Security Council members had voted against that resolution, the council had also not even considered voting to make the text binding for member states.

"It is imperative that member states and the Security Council act urgently to stop weapons sales to the military junta. Human lives, and Security Council credibility, are on the line," he said.

The report acknowledges that China and Russia might very well use their veto power to block any such text, but stressed that this "should not deter other members from placing a resolution before the Council for consideration, debate and a vote."

"The people of Myanmar deserve to have a strong resolution."

"The Security Council should consider, at the very least, a resolution to ban weapons that are being used by the Myanmar military to kill innocent people," Andrews said.

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_Russia_arming_Myanmar_junta_UN_rights_expert_999.html.

Reports: Myanmar forces kill 82 in single day in city

April 11, 2021

YANGON (AP) — At least 82 people were killed in one day in a crackdown by Myanmar security forces on pro-democracy protesters, according to reports Saturday from independent local media and an organization that keeps track of casualties since the February coup.

Friday’s death toll in Bago was the biggest one-day total for a single city since March 14, when just over 100 people were killed in Yangon, the country’s biggest city. Bago is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Yangon. The Associated Press is unable to independently verify the number of deaths.

The death toll of 82 was a preliminary one compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which issues daily counts of casualties and arrests from the crackdown in the aftermath of the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Their tallies are widely accepted as highly credible because cases are not added until they have been confirmed, with the details published on their website. In its Saturday report, the group said that it expected the number of dead in Bago to rise as more cases were verified.

The online news site Myanmar Now also reported that 82 people had been killed, citing an unnamed source involved with charity rescue work. Myanmar Now and other local media said the bodies had been collected by the military and dumped on the grounds of a Buddhist pagoda.

At least 701 protesters and bystanders have been killed by security forces since the army’s takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The attack on Bago was the third in the past week involving the massive use of force to try to crush the persistent opposition to the ruling junta.

Attacks were launched Wednesday on hardcore opponents of military rule who had set up strongholds in the towns of Kalay and Taze in the country’s north. In both places, at least 11 people -- possibly including some bystanders -- were reported killed.

The security forces were accused of using heavy weapons in their attacks, including rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, though such allegations could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press. Photos posted on social media from Bago appeared to show fragments of mortar shells.

Most protests in cities and town around the country are carried out by nonviolent demonstrators who consider themselves part of a civil disobedience movement. But as the police and military escalated the use of lethal force, a hardcore faction of protesters armed themselves with homemade weapons such as firebombs in the name of self-defense. In Kalay, activists dubbed themselves a “civil army” and some equipped themselves with rudimentary hunting rifles that are traditional in the remote area.

A report by Myanmar Now said residents of Tamu, a town in the same region as Kalay, used hunting rifles Saturday to ambush a military convoy, and claimed to kill three soldiers. The junta has taken other measures as well to discourage resistance. It recently published a wanted list of 140 people active in the arts and journalism charged with spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law. The penalty for the offense is up to three years’ imprisonment. Arrests of those on the list have been highly publicized in state media.

State television channel MRTV reported Friday night that a military court had sentenced to death 19 people -- 17 in absentia -- for allegedly killing an army officer in Yangon on March 27. The attack took place in an area of the city that is under martial law, and the court action appeared to be the first time the death sentence has been imposed under the junta’s rule.

The U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, arrived Friday in the Thai capital Bangkok on a regional mission to resolve the crisis in Myanmar. She intends to sound out several Southeast Asian governments for their ideas but has been denied permission to visit Myanmar.

Myanmar forces arrest comedian, break up doctors' protest

April 06, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Authorities in Myanmar arrested the country’s best-known comedian on Tuesday as they continue to crack down on people they accuse of helping incite nationwide protests against February's military coup.

The comedian Zarganar was taken from his home in Yangon by police and soldiers who arrived in two army vehicles, fellow comedian Ngepyawkyaw said on his own Facebook page. Zarganar, 60, is a sharp-tongued satirist who has been in and out of prison since he was active in a failed 1988 popular uprising against a previous military dictatorship. He is also well known for his social work, especially arranging assistance for victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

In the past week, the junta has issued arrest warrants for at least 60 people active in the fields of literature, film, theater arts, music and journalism on charges of spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law. It was not immediately clear what Zarganar, whose real name is Maung Thura, has been charged with.

Many ordinary protesters and activists are also being arrested every day, according to numerous reports on social media. In Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, security forces used stun grenades and fired guns Tuesday to break up a march by medical workers who have defiantly continued to protest almost every day against the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The army's takeover set back Myanmar’s gradual return to democracy after five decades of military rule.

A participant who asked to remain anonymous for his own safety told The Associated Press that doctors, nurses and medical students were attacked as they gathered at about 5 a.m. by security forces who also used cars to run into protesters on motorbikes. The online news site The Irrawaddy reported that four doctors were arrested.

At least 570 protesters and bystanders, including 47 children, have been killed in the crackdown since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests. The group says 2,728 people, including Suu Kyi, are in detention.

Activists have begun organizing a boycott of next week’s official celebration of Thingyan, the country’s traditional New Year, usually a time for family reunions and merry-making. In leaflets and social media posts, they are imploring people not to hold any Thingyan celebrations, saying it would be disrespectful to “fallen martyrs” to enjoy the festival.

The leaders of Brunei and Malaysia announced Monday that leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet to discuss the situation in Myanmar. No date was given in the announcement, issued during a visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to Brunei. He and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said they “expressed serious concern on the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and the rising number of fatalities.” Indonesian President Joko Widido had proposed a summit on Myanmar last month.

There was no word on whether the ASEAN leaders would participate in person or by video, or if Myanmar, one of the group's 10 members, would attend. Myanmar's junta also has been battling in some border areas where ethnic minority groups maintain their own armed forces. Several major groups, most notably the Karen and the Kachin, have expressed solidarity with the anti-coup movement and vowed to protect protesters in the territory they control.

The Kachin in the country’s north have engaged in combat with government forces, but the Karen in the east have borne the brunt of the junta’s military assaults. The area where the Karen National Union holds sway has been subject to air attacks by the Myanmar military from March 27 through Monday, said David Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian organization that has for many years provided medical assistance to Karen villagers. Burma is another name for Myanmar.

Eubank said his group has verified that 14 civilians died and more than 40 were wounded in the air strikes. He said Tuesday that Myanmar’s military is mounting a ground offensive into Karen territory, driving villagers from their homes and increasing the number of displaced people in the area to more than 20,000, many of whom have to hide in caves or the jungle and are in desperate need of food and other necessities.

“The situation now seems, from our perspective, to be all-out war to the finish,” Eubank wrote Monday in an emailed message. “Unless there is a miracle, the Burma Army will not hold back in their attempt to crush the Karen and any other ethnic group that stands against them, just as they have not held back killing their own Burman people in the cities and plains of Burma.”

Protests swell after Myanmar junta raises specter of force

February 23, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Protesters gathered in Myanmar’s biggest city on Monday despite the ruling junta’s threat to use lethal force against people who join a general strike against the military's takeover three weeks ago.

More than 1,000 protesters gathered near the U.S. Embassy in Yangon despite barriers blocking the way, but left to avoid a confrontation after 20 military trucks with riot police arrived nearby. Protests continued in other parts of the city, including next to Sule Pagoda, a traditional gathering point.

Factories, workplaces and shops were shuttered across the country Monday in response to the call for a nationwide strike. The closings extended to the capital, Naypyitaw. The junta had warned against a general strike in a public announcement Sunday night on state television broadcaster MRTV.

“It is found that the protesters have raised their incitement towards riot and anarchy mob on the day of 22 February. Protesters are now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life,” the onscreen text said in English, replicating the spoken announcement in Burmese.

The junta’s statement also blamed criminals for past protest violence, with the result that “the security force members had to fire back.” Three protesters have been fatally shot. Trucks cruised the streets of Yangon on Sunday night, blaring similar warnings.

The protest movement, which seeks to restore power to the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and have her and other leaders released from detention, has embraced nonviolence. The nationwide strike was dubbed Five-Twos, for the five number twos in the numeric form of Monday’s date.

“I am joining the 22222 nationwide protest as a citizen of the country. We must join the protest this time without fail,” said 42-year-old Zayar, who owns a bottled water business in the capital. “So I’ve closed down my factory and joined the demonstration.”

Zin Mi Mi Aung, a 27-year-old saleswoman, also joined the strike. “We don’t want to be governed by the regime," she said as people marched and chanted behind her. "We will fight against them until we win.”

Thousands of people gathered in the capital’s wide boulevards, many on motorbikes to allow swift movement in the event of any police action. Reports and photos of protests in at least a dozen cities and towns were posted on social media. Overhead views, some shot from drones, showed massive crowds in six cities appearing to number in the tens of thousands.

There were pictures of a particularly colorful event in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state, where scores of small red hot-air balloons were set aloft. A bigger one was adorned with a drawing of the three-finger salute adopted by the anti-coup movement. The city is famous for its annual hot-air balloon festival.

In Pyinmana, a satellite town of Naypyitaw, police chased people through the streets to arrest them. Reports on social media, including from worried family members, said police had arrested 200 people or more, mostly young people, and sent them to a military base. If confirmed, it would be the biggest mass arrest since the protests started.

The general strike was an extension of actions called by the Civil Disobedience Movement, a loosely organized group that has been encouraging civil servants and workers at state enterprises to walk off their jobs. Many transport workers and white collar workers have responded to the appeal.

On Saturday, a General Strike Committee was formed by more than two dozen groups to provide a more formal structure for the resistance movement and launch a “spring revolution.” The United States and several Western governments have called for the junta to refrain from violence, release detainees and restore Myanmar's elected government. On Monday, the U.S. said it was imposing sanctions against more junta members because of killings of peaceful protesters by security forces.

Lt. Gen. Moe Myint Tun and Gen. Maung Maung Kyaw add to other military leaders and entities facing U.S. sanctions, and Britain and Canada have taken similar action since the military takeover. The U.S. condemned the attacks on protesters, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement vowing to take further action if more violence occurred. “We call on the military and police to cease all attacks on peaceful protesters, immediately release all those unjustly detained, stop attacks on and intimidation of journalists and activists, and restore the democratically elected government,” he said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military for most of its history since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. A gradual move toward democracy in the past decade allowed Suu Kyi to lead a civilian government beginning in 2016, though the generals retained substantial power under a military-drafted constitution.

Her party won last November's election by a landslide, but the military stepped in before Parliament was to convene on Feb. 1, detained Suu Kyi and other government officials and instituted a one-year state of emergency. It contends the vote was tainted by fraud and plans to reinvestigate those allegations before a new election is held.

Myanmar coup leader: 'Join hands' with army for democracy

February 12, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's coup leader used the country's Union Day holiday on Friday to call on people to work with the military if they want democracy, a request likely to be met with derision by protesters who are pushing for the release from detention of their country's elected leaders.

“I would seriously urge the entire nation to join hands with the Tatmadaw for the successful realization of democracy,” Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said using the local term for the military. “Historical lessons have taught us that only national unity can ensure the non-disintegration of the Union and the perpetuation of sovereignty,” he added.

In addition to the military commander's message published Friday in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, the new junta also announced it would mark Union Day by releasing thousands of prisoners and reducing other inmates’ sentences.

Min Aung Hlaing's Feb. 1 coup ousted the civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and prevented recently elected lawmakers from opening a new session of Parliament. It reversed nearly a decade of progress toward democracy following 50 years of military rule and has led to widespread protests in cities around the country.

The military has said it was forced to step in because Suu Kyi’s government failed to properly investigate allegations of fraud in November elections, though the election commission has said there is no evidence to support those claims.

The U.N.’s top human rights body opened an urgent session on Friday to discuss the coup, while on Thursday the U.S. announced fresh sanctions targeting Myanmar's top military officials. Recent rallies against the coup — now daily occurrences in Myanmar’s two largest cities, Yangon and Mandalay — have drawn people from all walks of life, despite an official ban on gatherings of more than five people. Factory workers and civil servants, students and teachers, medical personnel and people from LGBTQ communities, Buddhist monks and Catholic clergy have all come out in force.

Thousands of protesters, including Myanmar celebrities, demonstrated outside the Chinese Embassy in Yangon on Friday to criticize what they said was Beijing's failure to condemn the coup. Many of the protesters were students from local international schools and universities, and they held signs that read “We don’t want dictatorship,” “Stop helping the military coup” and “Free our leader."

“The students and the people are about to face bloodshed," protester Phyo Yadana Aung said. She accused state-run media of spreading “misinformation” about the protests. “We cannot let this happen.” On Thursday, people from Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups, who are concentrated in far-flung, border states, joined in — a striking show of unity in a country where some groups have resented the Burman majority’s control and have also had their differences with Suu Kyi. But their deep mistrust of the military, which has brutally repressed their armed struggles for more autonomy, has made them uneasy allies with her party.

The protesters are unlikely to be swayed by Min Aung Hlaing’s call for unity, which come on Union Day, a national holiday celebrating the date in 1947 that Myanmar, then known as Burma, when many of the country’s ethnic groups agreed to unify following decades of British colonial rule.

The junta's pardon orders published Friday in government-run media said that 23,314 prisoners would be freed, along with 55 foreign inmates. The orders also commuted some death-penalty sentences to life imprisonment and reduced the terms of other prison sentences.

It is also unlikely to win over the international community, which has widely condemned the coup as well as the use of police force such as water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse some of the protests.

The international rights group Amnesty International called the junta's release of prisoners “a sideshow designed to distract from the military authorities’ daily trampling of human rights.” “It should only highlight the fact that the military have thrown hundreds of people in jail since the start of the coup for peacefully challenging their rule," Ming Yu Hah, the group's deputy regional director for campaigns, said in a statement.

At its meeting Friday, the U.N. Human Rights Council called for the immediate release of people “arbitrarily detained” — including Suu Kyi — and more action by top U.N. officials to increase scrutiny in the country.

The council has no power to impose sanctions but can train a potent political spotlight on rights abuses and violations. “The seizure of power by the Myanmar military earlier this month constitutes a profound setback for the country after a decade of hard-won gains,” said the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif.

During Myanmar's previous decades of military rule, Western governments put sanctions in place, but they were eased when elections in 2010 and 2015 showed the country’s tentative steps toward democracy.

The new U.S. sanctions announced Thursday named Min Aung Hlaing and his deputy Soe Win, as well as four members of the State Administration Council. An executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden also allows the Treasury Department to target the spouses and adult children of those being sanctioned.

The move will prevent the generals from accessing more than $1 billion in Myanmar government funds held in the United States. It remains to be seen what, if any, impact the U.S. action will have on Myanmar’s military regime. Many of the military leaders are already under sanctions because of attacks against the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Myanmar president orders army to stop attacks on Kachin rebels

Dec 13, 2011

Yangon - Myanmar President Thein Sein has ordered the army to cease all attacks on armed ethnic groups in the country's northern Kachin state, government sources said Tuesday.

The sources said Thein Sein issued the order in a letter to army chiefs on Saturday, specifying that troops should only fire in self-defense.

It said the government did not want any new outbreaks of fighting to harm chances for a ceasefire agreement currently being negotiated with Kachin rebels.

Thein Sein, who has recently stepped up moves to reform the government and ease decades-long ethnic conflicts, instructed military units in Kachin State not to approach rebel camps, an apparent reference to Kachin Independence Army, which has been engaged in fierce fighting with government forces in recent weeks.

Myanmar's Minister for Information and Culture U Kyaw Hsan told reporters in Yangon recently that the Kachin Independence Army was the only armed group still engaged in combat operations with the Myanmar army.

A rebel source in Thailand said Thein Sein's letter was read by Kachin State Chief Minister La John Ngan Sai at a ceremony in Myitkyina City Hall in Kachin State on Monday.

Thein Sein's government recently signed a peace deal with another rebel group in Shan state, south of Kachin state.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited Myanmar early this month, said ending the decades-old ethnic conflicts was among Washington's main conditions for full normalizing of relations with Yangon.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1680554.php/Myanmar-president-orders-army-to-stop-attacks-on-Kachin-rebels.

'Myanmar Muslims face persecution'

Fri Feb 25, 2011

Waves of ethnic Muslims have attempted to flee by boats in the face of systematic oppression by the Myanmar government since the beginning of this year, a report says.

Known as the Rohingya, they have been given the label of one of the most persecuted people in the world, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize them. They say the Rohingya are not native and classify them as illegal migrants, although they have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Communities living in the Rakhine state of Myanmar are reportedly made to work against their will, often evicted from their homes and severely restricted in movement, ownership and opportunities.

“Whether one is an educated Rohingya with a proper job, or one is an illegal migrant or at the lower end if the economic strata, it doesn't matter, the discrimination is across the board,” Benjamin Zawacki of Amnesty International told Press TV.

Those attempting to escape face discrimination and inhumane treatment by immigration authorities of receiving countries.

Recent groups of refugees have drifted ashore to India, Indonesia and Thailand.

“There were a number of Rohingyas, ninety-one in fact, who washed up on the Nicobar Islands in India, claiming to have been put out to sea by Thai authorities, in a boat that was unseaworthy, without an engine,” Zawacki stated.

“But at the same time, the Thai authorities are claiming that the same number of people, ninety-one Rohingyas, were returned, repatriated from Thailand to Myanmar,” Zawacki added.

An additional 129 men claiming to be Rohingya washed ashore to Indonesia in February.

In neighboring Bangladesh, they mostly end up as illegal migrants with over 200,000 such registered cases. In Thailand, they experience poor conditions with limited opportunities and lack of recognition as refugees.

Leading human rights groups have called upon governments receiving the refugees to grant them full rights towards the refugee verification process.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/166918.html.

Myanmar appeals court rejects opposition's claim to legitimacy

Fri, 28 Jan 2011

Yangon - A special appeals court on Friday rejected a case submitted by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to restore the legal status of her party.

"The court in Naypyitaw rejected our appeal," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Naypyitaw is Myanmar's new capital. A Yangon court on November 22 had turned down Suu Kyi's attempt to restore the NLD's status as a legal political party.

The NLD lost its status in May after refusing to register for the November 7 general election, the first in more than 20 years.

The party boycotted the election to protest a law that would have required it to drop Suu Kyi, at the time under house arrest, as a member in order to get on the ballot.

The NLD had won the previous national election in 1990 by a landslide but was blocked from assuming power by the military.

New registration rules for the polls barred any party with members serving custodial sentences. Suu Kyi was under house detention until November 13.

Many Western critics consider the November 7 polls to be a sham used by the junta to legitimize its hold on power.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party, a junta proxy, won 77 per cent of the contested seats in the three chambers of parliament.

The party has been accused of tampering with advance ballots, and bribing or intimidating voters.

News of the election was overshadowed by the release of the 65-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, who has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

Elected members of parliament, along with 388 appointed legislators by the military, are scheduled to convene for their first post election session on Monday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/364690,rejects-oppositions-claim-legitimacy.html.

Junta warns of 'covetous' countries, Suu Kyi thanks foreigners

Tue, 04 Jan 2011

Yangon - Myanmar's junta on Tuesday used the independence day anniversary to warn of "covetous" countries bent on controlling the nation while opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the occasion to thank her foreign supporters.

"It is not strange (that) certain covetous, aggressive countries are anxious to gain political control over a geographically strategic country like Myanmar," military supremo Senior General Than Shwe said in a speech marking the 63rd anniversary of independence from Britain.

Meanwhile, recently freed democracy icon Suu Kyi used the same occasion to thank her supporters, including "national leaders, political leaders, Nobel peace laureates, United Nations, European Union, international amnesty organizations, people from America and Europe and our nationals from home and abroad."

Suu Kyi, the winner of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, was released from a seven and a half years of house detention on November 13, six days after the country held it first general election in two decades.

"Successful victory for democracy is a must," Suu Kyi said in a New Year's message. "Political freedom, economy freedom and social freedom are linked together," she said. "We need to unite together to achieve those freedoms."

Than Shwe, junta chief since 1992, made no mention of political freedoms in his independence anniversary day speech.

Instead he argued that Myanmar, also called Burma, fell to Britain in three wars between 1824 to 1885 "due to a lack of a strong army."

Now Myanmar has a strong army but a weak everything else.

Ranked as South-East Asia's biggest economy in the pre-World-War II era, Myanmar is now on the list of the United Nations' least developed countries.

The country has been under military rule since 1962, when former strongman General Ne Win launched his disastrous "Burmese Way to Socialism."

Mass anti-military protests in 1988 put an end to the socialist system, but failed to install democracy.

The military cracked down on the demonstrators, killing an estimated 3,000 protesters.

It allowed an election in 1990, but then refused to pass over power to the victor - the National League for Democracy party, headed by Suu Kyi. Although the junta staged a new general election on November 7, international observers criticized it for being unfree, unfair and non-inclusive.

The polls were won by the pro-junta Union Solitary and Development Party, which is packed with ex-military men and current government ministers.

Than Shwe said the successful election was "the pride of the nation and the people."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360614,suu-kyi-thanks-foreigners.html.

Pro-junta parliamentarians gather for closed-door meeting

Thu, 23 Dec 2010

Yangon - Elected members of Myanmar's pro-junta political party that won last month's general election gathered this week in Naypyitaw for closed-door discussions on nominations for the country's top leadership, sources said Thursday.

Legislators from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 77 per cent of the contested seats in the November 7 polls, met from Tuesday until Thursday in Naypyitaw, the military's new capital situated about 350 kilometers north of Yangon.

"The meeting is for preparing for the coming parliaments," a government official said. "I think there may be some nominations for important posts for the new government," said the official, who requested anonymity.

Last month, military-ruled Myanmar held its first polls in two decades for its three houses of parliament - upper, lower, and regions or states.

USDP, the proxy party of Myanmar's ruling junta, won 76.8 per cent of the 1,096 contested seats, or altogether 842 seats in the three chambers of parliament.

According to Myanmar's constitution, the elected legislators must nominate a new president and vice presidents within three months of the election, who will then select cabinet ministers and open parliament.

The selection process will be dominated by the winning USDP, which is packed with ex-military men and government ministers.

Even without the massive USDP election win, the next parliaments would not be free from military controls since the current constitution allows the army to appoint 25 per cent of all legislators, enough for them to veto any legislation they disapprove of.

Myanmar's elections were strongly criticized by the international community for being unfair and for excluding Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy opposition party.

Suu Kyi, 65, was freed from a seven-year house detention term on November 13, a week after the polls.

The National League for Democracy won the 1990 general election by a landslide, but it was blocked from assuming power by the military. The party was officially disbanded in May for failing to register to contest the polls.

Beside the USDP, other parties that won seats in the election included the pro-establishment National Unity Party with 5.7 per cent, the pro-democracy Shan Nationalities Democratic Party with 5.2 per cent and the Rakhaine National Development Party polled 3.2 per cent.

The National Democratic Force, a breakaway faction from the main opposition National League for Democracy party, came in sixth with 1.5 per cent of all contested seats.

Myanmar has been under military dictatorships since 1962.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359425,parliamentarians-gather-closed-door-meeting.html.

WikiLeaks: Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew disdains Myanmar leaders

Wed, 15 Dec 2010

Singapore - Singapore politician Lee Kuan Yew in a confidential US diplomatic cable released Wednesday by WikiLeaks expressed his scorn for Myanmar's military regime, saying the generals were "stupid", "dense" and difficult to deal with.

Recording a supposed meeting between Lee and US diplomats in Singapore in October 2007, the cable published by the whistleblower website quoted Lee as saying that dealing with the regime was like "talking to dead people."

Singapore's former prime minister and now minister mentor said China had the greatest influence over the Myanmar junta and it was worried that the country could "blow up," according to the cable.

Lee also said he was wary about some members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), noting that Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam should not have been accepted.

He said that stability in the region would be enhanced the more ASEAN was able to "get its act together," according to the cable.

"However, ASEAN should not have admitted Burma [Myanmar], Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam as members in the 1990s, Lee argued," it said.

The older ASEAN members shared an antipathy to communism and common values, which had been "muddied" by the newer members, Lee was quoted as saying.

The economic and social problems of the new members made it doubtful they would ever behave like the older members, he said according to the US diplomatic message.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358232,yew-disdains-myanmar-leaders.html.

Myanmar junta releases Aung San Suu Kyi - Summary

Sat, 13 Nov 2010

Yangon - Myanmar's junta on Saturday released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, almost a week after staging a general election widely criticized by the international community for being neither free, fair, nor inclusive.

Suu Kyi appeared briefly outside her house looking happy and relaxed, prompting her elated supporters to break out in a joyous rendition of the national anthem. "Mother, mother," cried one young woman, tears streaming down her face.

"I am very happy to see you all," Suu Kyi told the crowd. "I want to advise you to make noise at the suitable time, not now," she joked.

The Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy icon, who has spent 15 of the past 20 years in detention, promised to talk to her supporters at noon on Sunday.

After briefly addressing the crowd she returned to her compound for a meeting with the executive committee of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, which she leads.

Supporters drifted home in a state of bliss.

"I love her," said one young man. "This is genuine love."

Police cars arrived at Suu Kyi's compound at about 5 pm (1130 GMT) and officials were sent in to deliver her release papers.

Thousands of Suu Kyi supporters, members of the opposition NLD and reporters had waited outside her house-cum-prison in Yangon since Friday in anticipation of her release.

Security personnel did not prevent the crowds from gathering, which is unusual in the military-controlled state.

Suu Kyi was serving an 18-months of house arrest imposed by a criminal court in July 2009 for breaking the terms of her previous incarceration by allowing an uninvited United States national to swim to her lakeside home.

The sentence, which followed other periods of house arrest, expired Saturday.

Suu Kyi, 65, is the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San. Myanmar's junta chief, Senior General Than Shwe, is the only person empowered to order her release.

There were doubts the country's unpredictable generals would grant freedom to Suu Kyi, who continues to pose a threat to their grasp on power which has now been cemented by the results of a general election held on November 7 - the first in two decades.

Initial results from the polls show that the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the proxy party of the regime, has won by a landslide, albeit through dubious means.

The USDP, packed with ex-military men and government ministers, is set to dominate the next three-chamber parliament when it is set up three months from now, essentially perpetuating the regime rule in a country that has been under military dictatorships since 1962.

"They probably concluded that Suu Kyi is no longer in a position to rock the boat," analyst Maung Zarni said. "But the junta may be overestimating the way things are going."

He said it was highly unlikely that the junta, fresh from its electoral victory, would consider opening a political dialogue with Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi has the support of western democracies, who have already written off the election results as being neither free, fair nor inclusive. There have been widespread accusations that the USDP tampered with advance votes, bribed and intimidated people into voting for their candidates.

Suu Kyi was barred from participating in the polls because she was under house arrest. Her party, which won the 1990 polls by a landslide but was blocked from power for the past 20 years, decided to boycott last week's vote.

China and Myanmar's South-east Asian neighbors have, in general, accepted the polls as a tentative step forward.

"The junta may be giving China and ASEAN (Association of South- East-Asia Nations) something to work with by releasing Suu Kyi but the West will not be fooled," Zarni opined.

The international community has been calling for her release - along with that of 2,100 other political prisoners languishing in Myanmar jails.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353384,myanmar-junta-releases-aung-san-suu-kyi--summary.html.

Myanmar Supreme Court rejects opposition leader's appeal - Summary

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Yangon - Myanmar's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi against her latest detention, increasing the likelihood of her release this weekend, sources said.

Chief Justice Aung Toe rejected Suu Kyi's appeal in the military government's capital, Naypyitaw.

Suu Kyi had appealed a sentence of 18 months of house detention handed down by a criminal court in July last year for breaking the terms of her previous incarceration by allowing an uninvited US national to swim to her lakeside home-cum-prison in Yangon.

The sentence was due to expire Saturday because it began on May 13, 2009, when she was last arrested.

"With this court ruling, it is more likely that she will be released on Saturday," said a government official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Observers reasoned that if the court had accepted the appeal case, it would have dragged on, keeping Suu Kyi under house arrest for the duration.

Others were expecting the court to charge Suu Kyi, 65, with contempt and impose another detention period on her.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

"I think she will be released unconditionally, but we won't get the order until the last minute," the government official said.

Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Than Shwe is the only person empowered to order Suu Kyi's release.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win said Suu Kyi would never accept conditions to her release, and was expected to hold a press conference immediately if freed.

The international community has been calling for Suu Kyi's release either before or after the country's first election in 20 years, held Sunday.

The proxy party of the junta, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was expecting to win by a landslide at the polls, which have been widely condemned for being neither free nor fair.

In Yangon, Naypyitaw and Mon State, the USDP won 141 of the 182 contested seats, or 77 per cent. The National Democratic Force (NDF), a breakaway faction of the NLD, won 12 seats in the three areas, or 6.5 per cent.

The final results have yet to be announced.

There have been widespread complaints against the USDP of vote-buying and tampering with advance votes to secure its victory.

"The regime may feel they can deflect international condemnation of the election by releasing Suu Kyi," said Win Min, a Myanmar political scientist in Bangkok.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353056,leaders-appeal-summary.html.

Millions vote in Myanmar's first election in 20 years

Sun, 07 Nov 2010

Yangon - Myanmar's military-ruled population started voting Sunday in the country's first election in 20 years, designed to introduce "discipline-flourishing democracy."

An estimated 29 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's polls, the first since May 27, 1990.

This year's election has raised few expectations for real change in Myanmar, which has been under military dictatorship since 1962.

Current military supremo Senior General Than Shwe has vowed the polls will usher in a "discipline-flourishing democracy."

The military has stage-managed the run-up to the election in such a way as to assure the victory of its own proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and other establishment- friendly parties such as the National Unity Party (NUP).

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is currently under house arrest, due to be released on November 13, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party have boycotted the election urging heir followers not to vote.

Altogether 37 parties and 82 independents are contesting the race for 1,159 seats in three houses of parliament: upper, lower and regions/states.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352302,myanmars-election-20-years.html.

Myanmar vote rigged, shouldn't be recognized, exiles say

Fri, 05 Nov 2010

Dhaka - Myanmar exiles living in Bangladesh on Friday asked the international community not to recognize the results of Myanmar's general election this weekend because they said it was run by the ruling military junta there and would only benefit the junta.

"This upcoming election is only the creation of the military junta to benefit a small number of high-ranking military officers and to lengthen their bad rule," said Mra Raza Linn, the president of the Rakhaing Women's Union, during a protest on the streets of Dhaka.

The group of more than 20 women gathered in front of the Supreme Court building, chanting slogans against the military rulers in Myanmar and seeking assistance from other countries in their fight for self-determination.

"We earnestly request our neighboring countries - Bangladesh, India and China - to help us get real democracy and get the right of self-determination for the ethnic minorities in the country," a statement issued after the demonstration said.

The demonstrators carried placards and banners, one of which said, "The 2010 election is for the military junta, not for the Burmese people."

More than 200,000 citizens of Myanmar, which is also called Burma, live in exile in squalid slums in neighboring Bangladesh's south-eastern Cox's Bazar district. A handful has received refugee status.

Myanmar is to hold its first general election in 20 years Sunday, but critics of its regime argued that it has been stage-managed by the junta that has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1988.

It lost the 1990 election to the pro-democracy National League for Democracy (NLD), but the junta never let the party take power.

For Sunday's election, authorities introduced regulations effectively disqualifying the NLD from running.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352072,be-recognized-exiles-say.html.

Women poorly represented in Myanmar polls

Fri, 05 Nov 2010

Yangon - Less than 4 per cent of the 3,071 candidates contesting Myanmar's general election this weekend are female, the Myanmar Times reported Friday.

Myanmar's best-known female politician, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has been excluded from the polls. She is serving an 18-month house detention sentence that is due to expire on November 13, when she may or may not be released.

While there are few woman candidates in the election, the first to be held in two decades, several of the contesting parties have women in senior positions.

The Democratic (Myanmar) Party is led by Nay Yee Ba Swe, the daughter of former premier Ba Swe.

The Union of Myanmar party is also led by a woman, Nan Shwe Kyar.

"The number of women involved in this year's election is still better than in 1990 and I think in five years there will be more female candidates," she told the Myanmar Times.

The May 1990 elections were won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence leader Aung San, has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest, and won the Nobel peace prize in 1991.

Her party has refused to contest Sunday's polls as new regulations would have forced them to drop Suu Kyi as a member to qualify.

Western observers have complained that the polls are neither free nor fair, nor inclusive.

It was widely believed that the election would be won by the well-financed, pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party, which is packed with former military men and government officials. The second-largest party is the National Unity Party, which is associated with the former regime under military strongman Ne Win, who ruled Myanmar between 1962 and 1988.

Each of these parties have fielded more than 1,000 candidates to contest the 1,159 seats up for grabs in Myanmar's three houses of parliament.

The two military-flavored parties have only "a handful of women in their ranks," the Myanmar Times said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352056,poorly-represented-myanmar-polls.html.

Burma's Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons

By James Burke
Epoch Times Staff
Oct 30, 2010

Burma’s clandestine nuclear weapons are poorly managed but it could become a real threat if another rogue nation such as North Korea steps in to offer assistance, says a former director of the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In a technical briefing held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Thailand in Bangkok last week, American nuclear scientist Robert Kelley said he believes the secret nuclear weapons program run by the Burmese military is not well developed and is being badly managed.

“It is a poor program [from what we have seen]. … There’s poor workmanship, [and] it’s a top down management system saying you will do this, not how you will do this,” said Kelley.

“I think it is safe to say the people of Thailand are safe for the next few years because these guys don’t know what they are doing, but I wouldn’t want to give them more than a few years.”

However, Kelley said that he is also concerned about underplaying the Burmese generals' nuclear weapons program saying that it could develop into a genuine threat.

“If another country steps in and has all the knowledge, the materials, and the keys that would unlock what is plaguing them, including bad management, this program could really speed up,” said the former senior U.N. nuclear inspector.

“[Then] everything I’ve said about it being a bad program goes out the door. [Assistance] from North Korea certainly comes to mind,” he said.

Kelley wrote a report for the Democratic Voice of Burma that was released in June, which is predominantly based on the information and evidence such as documents, drawings, and photographs, provided by a defecting Burmese army major, Sai Thein Win.

“[Mr. Sai] was briefed on the nuclear program, not because he was a major, but because he was an aide to some senior officers,” said Kelley.

In his role as aide, the defector, who is also a Russian-trained mechanical engineer, attended briefings that included Burma’s top general, Than Shwe.

“In those briefs the word to the general officers [from Than Shwe] was we want a nuclear bomb, and we want to build a reactor so we can do it,” said Kelley.

“That’s what he heard—he also worked in the special machine tool factories making prototype components for missile and nuclear programs, which gave him a lot of credibility,” said Kelley.

The 34-year-old defector’s information, he added, included details about the nuclear battalion at Thabeikkyin, which has orders to build a nuclear reactor and to enrich uranium for a nuclear bomb.
Violation

Kelley said that the Burmese nuclear program is a violation of agreements the junta has signed both with the IAEA and ASEAN, and that the junta should not be allowed to get away with it.

“It’s a violation, it’s against the law. … I’ve been doing this for a long time because I’d like to catch someone early and make them stop,” said Kelley who participated in IAEA missions to South Africa and Libya.

“This program as we see it today is not a threat in terms of a nuclear mushroom cloud, but it is a threat to the whole system. I don’t think ignoring it should be an option,” he said.

“One of the things that we wanted to come out of our process and going public with this is that I worked with people for a long time who when they get the information, classify it very highly and don’t tell anybody and then nobody has to do anything. In this case, we have put enough information out there that somebody needs to do something or I think we can say that they are deficient.”

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/45103/.

Myanmar's NLD party disbanded

Aung San Suu Kyi's Myanmar pro-democracy party is dissolved after it boycotted the elections scheduled for this year.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) was officially abolished at midnight Thursday after NLD refused to re-register as a political party before a May 6 deadline.

Myanmar's ruling junta leaders had announced that any existing party who failed to re-register must be disbanded.

The forthcoming election, for which no date has yet been set, will be the first such election in two decades.

NLD says the laws under which the polls will be held are unfair. The new election laws require the party to expel its detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A NLD's spokesman has informed that the members of the disbanded party will continue operating from their headquarters in Myanmar.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, is known as a symbol of democracy in Myanmar. She has spent nearly 14 of the past 20 years in detention and house arrest.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125695§ionid=351020406.

Temperatures reach record highs in central Myanmar

Yangon - Temperatures in central Myanmar have reached 46-year record highs this hot season, peaking at 45.6 degrees in some places, news reports said Monday.

"The annual March and April heat wave has pushed maximum temperatures in some areas of upper Myanmar to almost 50-year highs," the Myanmar Times reported, citing data from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

According to the department's figures, the heat wave peaked at 45.6 degrees in Minbu, Magway division, on April 6, slightly above the past record of 45.2 degrees reached on April 17, 1973.

On March 26, the mercury hit 43.5 degrees in Monywa, 135 kilometers north-east of Mandalay, and on April 7, a temperature of 43.5 degrees was recorded at Naypyitaw, the military government's new capital, situated 320 kilometers north of Yangon, the old capital.

The exception was Kachin State in northern Myanmar, where temperatures were around the April average of 26 degrees, and rain and thundershowers were recorded.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320526,temperatures-reach-record-highs-in-central-myanmar.html.

Rohingya minority given ID cards

By AYE NAI

Identity cards are being issued to Burma’s Rohingya minority in the west of the country in a move likely aimed at securing votes prior to elections.

But the government’s decision to categorize the Rohingya as “Burmese Muslims”, and not Rohingya has inflamed locals in Arakan state who claim it will only heighten racial tension.

“They are doing this to make sure that they get votes for 2010,” said a local in Arakan state. “It is rather thought provoking that they are giving the ‘Burmese Muslim’ [status] in this election as they had never thought of doing this in the past. This could cause racial problems in the future.”

He added that the issuance appeared “not in accordance with immigration rules and regulations” – Arakan citizens had never before been given identity cards.

A member of staff at the Arakan state immigration office however denied that the cards have been issued, but said that the office head had gone to the capital Naypyidaw for a meeting, although didn’t elaborate on what was being discussed.

Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project, said that a Rohingya representative had also traveled to Naypyidaw in the past week to discuss the ID card issue.

She added that there had been “promises by ministers when they visited Arakan state last month that [the Rohingya] will soon get a full citizenship card”. Many already hold temporary cards.

“Because of the referendum the authorities are keen to give them temporary ID cards – the elections laws stipulate that temporary cardholders can vote,” she said.

“The majority of Rohingya in Rangoon have full citizenship and the government is choosing [Rohingya] businessmen with close ties to the ruling junta to go to Arakan state and give donations to the people,” she continued. “It seems that these people will stand as candidates for the government, in the [junta proxy Union Solidarity and Development Association] for example, in the elections.”

A native Arakan said that the practice also occurred during the rule of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL), the main political party in Burma between 1945 and 1962, when authorities promised foreign residents national identity cards to secure their votes.

“Successive military governments tended to make profits from illegal residents or ‘guests’ – nationals, foreigners, Chinese and Indians during the elections,” he said.

The issuing of identity cards to the Rohingya came after UN rapporteur to Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said in his report to the UN that the Burmese government has been persecuting Muslims.

Up to 400,000 Rohingya are living in dire conditions across the border in Bangladesh, having fled persecution in Burma. Only 23,000 of these however have been granted refugee status by the UN, while the majority live in makeshift refugee camps.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma.
Link: http://www.dvb.no/elections/rohingya-minority-given-id-cards/8592.