Malaysia aom Kawlgam Embassy mai ah Zomi te'n lungphona neiding

Asia Pacific Zomi Protest Committee makaihna tawh Malaysia khuapi Kuala Lumpur ah May 28 ciangin Myanmar Embassy mai ah 'Kawlkumpi in Zomi omlo' cih tawh kisai in Zomi te'n 'Zomi om hi' cih lak in nunnem lungphona nei nuam ih hih manin Malaysia a om Zomi akci khempeuh hih hunah pai ciat dingin ih kizasak hi.

Hun hoihtak ih zat theihna dingin KL Police te tungpan phalna kingah zo a, hong nawnkaisak omloh na dingin Palikte hong cing dingin kingen pah hi.

Nunnem lungphona 'Peaceful Protest' ahih mah bangin Numei naupang Zomi khempeuh paitek dingin ih hih manin Zopuan ih neih bang2 silh ciat ni.

Zomi nampi hihna lak ding ih hih manin zatep, khaini, kunza, zukham, cilsiat peuhmah zanglo dingin hihang. TV leh news tuamtuam ih omdan teng kilak ding ahih manin pilvang ciat ni.

Kingak khawpna mun : Pasar Seni, (Zomi Restaurant Taungzalat sai mai) nai 9:00AM hunin tunkim ciat sawm tek ni. Pasar seni pan Embassy paina ding Bus kivaihawm a, mitam ding ahih manin hunlap sawmtek ni.

Mawtaw vai -0129329095, 0173985940 te ah kidawp thei hi.

10:30 AM in hun kipan ding hi.

A mun:
Embassy Of The Union Of Myanmar
8 Jalan Ampang Hilir, 55000
Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Asia Pacific Zomi Protest Committee tangin

Zo Land Thang
Ph - 0166100877

Src  :   Zomidaily

Two Tibetans burn themselves as fiery protest spreads to Lhasa

Two Tibetans burn themselves as fiery protest spreads to Lhasa

Two Tibetans set themselves on fire near an important Tibetan Buddhist monastery at the heart of Lhasa on Sunday, in the first self-immolation protests reported in the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). 

Tobgye Tseten, a monk from Xiahe, a Tibetan county in southwestern Gansu province, died after he burned himself in front of many worshippers who had gathered at the Jokhang Temple to mark Saka Dawa, an auspicious month for Buddhists, State media reported on Monday. 

Dargye, another monk from Aba county in southwestern Sichuan, where more than half of the self-immolation protests reported in the past year have taken place, survived after his self-immolation attempt and was taken to a hospital. He is in a stable condition. There were more than 30 self-immolation protests last year. 

The two Tibetans attempted the immolations at 2.16 p.m. on Sunday afternoon on Pargor Street in a busy Lhasa area near the Jokhang temple, according to a statement from the publicity department of the Communist Party of China’s Tibet regional committee. The statement, reported by the official Xinhua news agency, said police on patrol put out the flames in two minutes and took the men to a hospital. 

The Chinese government has boosted deployment of police personnel in Lhasa in recent months in the wake of a string of self-immolations reported in Tibetan areas of neighbouring Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces. 

Residents of Lhasa told The Hindu in recent interviews that security measures put in place in February and March, ahead of the Tibetan new year and the anniversary of the March 14, 2008 riots, were “unprecedented”, with a ring of checkpoints operating around the city and turning away many Tibetans who did not hold Lhasa residence permits. 

Part of the reason for the security arrangements was to prevent the spread of self-immolation protests into TAR, with more than 30 incidents reported over the past year in Tibetan areas in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai. 

Before Sunday’s incidents, only one self-immolation had been reported to have taken place in the TAR, in Qamdo county last year. Chinese officials have often pointed out that the immolations had largely been restricted to a few monasteries in Tibetan areas in Sichuan and Qinghai, where they blamed the influence of exiled monks – a reflection, they argued, of stability within TAR. 

The spread of the protest to Lhasa, the most important religious centre for Tibetans and the administrative and political capital of the TAR, brought condemnations from Chinese officials who labelled the acts as “separatist attempts”. 

“They were a continuation of the self-immolations in other Tibetan areas and these acts were all aimed at separating Tibet from China,” Hao Peng, secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Tibet Committee, was quoted as saying by Xinhua. 

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of TAR, alleged that the protests had been carefully planned. Most of the protests had been carried out by lamas, nuns or former members of the clergy, Xinhua quoted him as saying, adding that “investigators found in many cases photos of the designated self-immolators had been sent in advance to separatist forces abroad”. 

Xinhua reported that the Lhasa public security bureau, or police authority, had set up a special task force to investigate the cases. 

Chinese officials have blamed the exiled religious leader the Dalai Lama of being behind the incidents. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin said on Monday that the incidents were “driven by political motives and are doomed to fail.” “The situation in Tibet is stable, and economic and social development of Tibet have been making continuous progress,” he said. “People of all ethnic groups cherish stability in Tibet. 

Some people, especially some overseas people, have been trying to sabotage such stability, and I believe this is unpopular with all the people in Tibet.” 

Many of the monks who died in the protests were calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and for greater religious freedom, according to videos of some of the self-immolations. 

In recent months, the self-immolations have begun to spread beyond the walls of Tibetan monasteries. In Xiahe in Gansu, from where Tobgye Tseten - the monk who died on Sunday - was from, a Tibetan student Tsering Kyi died after setting herself on fire, while Sonam Dargye, a farmer, burned himself in Tongren, Qinghai in March. 

The Dalai Lama has stressed that he did not encourage the incidents, blaming repressive policies for triggering the self-immolations. He has expressed sympathy with the monks and nuns, and chose not to answer a question last week when asked if he thought Tibetans should stop setting themselves on fire. 

Keywords: Tibetan protests, self-immolation protest

Src  :  The Hindu

Two trucks ambushed by KIA soldiers: state media

(Mizzima) Seven uniformed members of the  Kachin Independence Army (KIA) blew up two trucks heading from Muse to Lashio in Burma’s eastern Shan State over the weekend, official media reported on Tuesday.

A Kachin Independence Army sniper at a frontline base in Northern  Shan State. Photo: KNG

Two large trucks carrying freight were ambushed between Nantpaw bridge and Nantoun village in Muse Township with gunfire, said the New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper.

After extorting about US$ 100 from the drivers and then releasing them, the group tossed two grenades into the driver's cab of each vehicle, the article said.

The incident was the latest in a series of KIA attacks launched on non-military targets including passenger trains, rail tracks and bridges on the Myikyina-Mandalay railroad, according to authorities.

Recently, the KIA was blamed for an attack on four electrical towers on the 230-KV Shweli-Mansan national power grid in Namkham in Shan State, disrupting normal power distribution to Rangoon and other cities.

Peace negotiations between the two sides broke down last month, and fighting has continued since June 2011.


Src  : Mizzima

Mexican police find 49 headless bodies

Mexican police find 49 headless bodies

MONTERREY, Mexico: Mexican investigators on Monday searched for perpetrators of a heinous drug-war massacre in which 49 people were killed, decapitated, dismembered and left in plastic bags on the side of a rural highway.
The mutilated corpses, whose hands had been cut off to prevent fingerprint identification, were discovered close to the northern city of Monterrey, 180 kilometers (110 miles) from the US border.
Jorge Domene, a public safety spokesman for the state of Nuevo Leon, said the victims comprised 43 men and six women, and the bodies had been stacked up at the roadside.
Adrian de la Garza, a prosecutor in Nuevo Leon state, said some of the bodies in Sunday's shocking find were naked and their hands had been cut off, though forensic experts were collecting DNA samples.
A note was found at the scene in which the Zetas -- a gang set up by ex-commandos who deserted in the 1990s -- claimed responsibility.
Initial investigations indicate that the victims were killed up to 48 hours earlier in a different location, having likely been transported by truck to where they were found.
"The grisly find was part of what has been happening in the country in general," said Domene, pointing to other mass killings.
"It is a continuation of what has already happened recently in Nuevo Laredo, a few weeks ago in Jalisco and a few months ago in Veracruz."
The gruesome discovery came just days after police found the dismembered, decapitated bodies of 18 people in two abandoned vehicles in western Mexico, in what appeared to be a revenge killing involving powerful drug gangs.
Just a few days earlier, there were 23 killings in the city of Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas state, which borders the United States, with nine people found hanging from a bridge and 14 others decapitated.
On Friday, gunmen attacked the offices of El Manana newspaper in Nuevo Laredo, even though the newspaper long ago stopped reporting on cartel violence out of fear.
The gunmen sprayed the building with high-caliber ammunition and tossed a homemade grenade at the building as the news staff worked to finish the next morning's edition. Amazingly, no injuries were reported.
In Tamaulipas, the cartels are fighting for control of a corridor that leads to US Interstate 35, a highway known as one of the most lucrative routes for drug and human smugglers.
Authorities have blamed much of the deadly violence on battles between the Zetas and groups allied to the Sinaloa Federation of Mexico's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
The state of Veracruz has become a battleground between the Zetas and Guzman's Sinaloa grouping, and journalists have also been targeted.
Last week, the dismembered bodies of three photographers and a news company employee were found, wrapped in plastic bags, in a canal in the metropolitan area of Veracruz, a port city on the Gulf of Mexico.
Several days earlier the Veracruz state correspondent of the national weekly news magazine Proceso was found strangled in her home.
Late last year, 96 bodies were dumped in public squares and alongside roads in the eastern state in a three-week period, with most of the killings attributed to the rivalry between the Sinaloa cartel and the Zetas.
More than 50,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an all-out war against the nation's drug gangs on taking office in December 2006.

Earlier this month, 15 bodies were also discovered on the road to Chapala, Mexico, a popular retirement community for US citizens in Jalisco state.


 Src  :  Times of India.

UNFC gives deadline to halt military offensives

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The newly formed United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) says it will review the ethnic cease-fire agreements reached with the Burmese government if the government does not halt military offensives in Kachin State by June 10.

PNLO chairman Khun Okkar, left, and Aung Min, the government peace team leader, opposite. Photo: Mizzima

The UNFC was formed by six ethnic armed groups during on May 12 at a location on Thai-Burma border.

UNFC Joint Secretary (2) Colonel Khun Okkar said Karen National Union (KNU), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and New Mon State Party (NMSP) would reconsider their cease-fire agreements reached with the government unless the government stopped its military offensives in Kachin State.

“These three major cease-fire groups decided to make this demand to showing solidarity with their fellow KIO at the expense of their [own] cease-fire agreements reached with the government. They demand to stop using force and to seek peace instead,” he told Mizzima.

The delegates from the Chin National Front (CNF) did not attend the meeting because they were meeting with a government union-level peace delegation led by Aung Min in Hakha, the capital city of Chin State.

The UNFC statement dated May 12 said the members would review and reconsider their future plans if the government offensives continue.

The statement said, “The main purpose of the government offensives in northern Shan State and Kachin State is to protect the commercial and economic interests of foreign investments in Burma. We oppose and object to the killing of our own ethnic people in the country for the interests of foreign countries.”

Despite of a presidential order dated December 10, 2011, which ordered a halt to all military offensives in ethnic areas, the government has deployed about 2,000 troops near KIO headquarters in Laiza including artillery and helicopters, said KIA Colonel Khun Okkar.

The renewed fighting erupted between government troops and the KIA on June 11, 201. The KIA said there have been 1,300 clashes.

The statement urged the international community and not to suspend or lift the political, military and economic sanctions imposed on the government.

Khun Okkar said he cautiously welcomed the newly formed peacemaking central committee led by President Thein Sein, but it would not succeed if it continues with the current policy.

UNFC statement said the current policy of President Thein Sein for ethnic groups to form political parties, stand for election and continue the transformation and reform process in Parliament through laws and consensus is not acceptable. The decades-long political disagreements should be addressed through political dialogue, he said.

The UNFC was formed in February 2011 with six core member ethnic groups and six associate ethnic groups totaling 12 ethnic groups that are opposing the government for their right to self-determination.

Among their members, the KNU, CNF, NMSP, Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) and KNPP have signed preliminary cease-fire agreements with the government.


Src  : Mizzima

Nigeria Car Bomb: Kaduna Blast Near Churches Kills 38

People gather at the site of a bomb explosion at a road in Kaduna, Nigeria on Sunday, April 8, 2012. (AP Photos/Emma Kayode)

LAGOS, Nigeria — A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday morning on a busy road after apparently turning away from attacking Nigerian churches holding Easter services, killing at least 38 people in a massive blast that rattled a city long at the center of religious, ethnic and political violence in the nation.

The blast struck Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna state, leaving charred motorcycles and debris strewn across a major road in the city where many gather to eat at informal restaurants and buy black market gasoline. Nearby hotels and homes had their windows blown out and roofs torn away by the force of the powerful explosion, which engulfed a group of motorcycle taximen.

The explosion damaged the nearby All Nations Christian Assembly Church and the ECWA Good News Church as churchgoers worshipped at an Easter service, the possible target of the bomber. Witnesses said it appeared the explosive-laden car attempted to go into the compound of the churches before it detonated, but was blocked by barriers in the street and was turned away by a security guard as police approached.

"We were in the holy communion service and I was exhorting my people and all of a sudden, we heard a loud noise that shattered all our windows and doors, destroyed our fans and some of our equipment in the church," Pastor Joshua Raji said.

While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion immediately fell on a radical Islamist sect blamed for hundreds of killings in the oil-rich nation this year alone. And some fear the attack could further inflame tensions around Kaduna, a region on the dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and Muslim north.

At least 38 people were killed in the blast, said Abubakar Zakari Adamu, a spokesman for the Kaduna state Emergency Management Agency. Others suffered serious injuries and were receiving treatment at local hospitals, Adamu said.

A witness, Augustine Vincent, said he was riding a motorcycle just behind the car when it exploded.

"God saw our heart and saved us," he said.

Churches have been increasingly targeted by violence on holy days in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people of Christians and Muslims. A Christmas Day suicide bombing of a Catholic church in Madalla near Nigeria's capital killed at least 44 people.

Police and soldiers quickly cordoned off the blast site, though citizens looked on at the flames and damage. Authorities said they had no immediately suspects in the attack, though a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has claimed similar attacks in the past.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, is waging an increasingly bloody fight with security agencies and the public. More than 380 people have been killed in violence blamed on the sect this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

The sect, employing suicide bombers and assault-rifle shootouts, has attacked both Christians and Muslims, as well as the United Nations' headquarters in Nigeria.

The sect has rejected efforts to begin indirect peace talks with Nigeria's government. Its demands include the introduction of strict Shariah law across the country, even in Christian areas, and the release of all imprisoned followers.

The near-daily attacks by the sect – and Nigeria's weak central government's inability to thwart them despite public promises – has sparked anger and fear about the group's reach. The United Kingdom and the United States had warned its citizens living in the country that violence was likely over the Easter holiday. Nigeria's government dismissed the warning, with local newspapers quoting presidential spokesman Reuben Abati saying: "Easter will be peaceful for all."

Abati did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. In his Easter speech at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI mentioned the ongoing violence in Nigeria. Catholic churches have been targeted in previous attacks.

"To Nigeria, which in recent times has experienced savage terrorist attacks, may the joy of Easter grant the strength needed to take up anew the building of a society which is peaceful and respectful of the religious freedom of its citizens," he said.

Britain's Africa Minister Henry Bellingham condemned the attack, calling it a "horrific act."

Meanwhile, authorities said an explosion struck the city of Jos in neighboring Plateau state on Sunday night, another city where religious and ethnic violence has killed hundreds in past years. Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, said there were some injuries in the blast, but had no other details. State police commissioner Emmanuel Dipo Ayeni said the cause of blast was still being investigated.

Kaduna, on Nigeria's dividing line between its largely Christian south and Muslim north, was at the heart of postelection violence in April 2011. Mobs armed with machetes and poison-tipped arrows took over streets of Kaduna and the state's rural countryside after election officials declared President Goodluck Jonathan the winner. Followers of his main opponent, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim, quickly alleged the vote had been rigged, though observers largely declared the vote fair.

Across the nation, at least 800 people died in that rioting, Human Rights Watch said. In the time since, heavily armed soldiers remain on guard on roadways throughout Kaduna. In December, an explosion at an auto parts market in Kaduna killed at least seven people. Though authorities said it came from a leaking gas cylinder, the Nigerian Red Cross later said in an internal report the blast came from a bomb.

In February, bombs exploded at two major military bases near the city, injuring an unknown number of people.


Src  :  http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Analysts: New Burmese Parliament to look closely at China relations

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy secured a landslide victory in Burma’s recent elections, and the opposition party will make its parliamentary debut in two weeks. Among the many questions the election results are raising is the possible impact they could have on Burma’s relations with its biggest investor – China.

The Irrawaddy-Myitsone bridge south of the Myitsone hydropower dam site under construction in 2011. The 600-meter long, 300-ton capacity suspension bridge links the dam's project supply headquarters in Tengchong, China, to the Myitsone dam site. Photo: KDNG

China has long been a key ally of the Burmese government and, according to official estimates, has already pumped at least $15 billion in investments into Burma.

But, as Burma – which is also known as Myanmar – has begun to enact reforms over the past year, releasing hundreds of political prisoners, holding talks with ethnic minority rebels, and easing censorship, it also appears to be trying to lessen China's influence on its economy.

"The China relationship was clearly a factor in the military government's decision to move toward democracy, but with Aung San Suu Kyi and sort of an opposition group in parliament, I suspect you'll see a lot more discussion about issues like that," Bower said. Ernest Bower is the director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"We know from interviews with Myanmar leaders and the business community that there was a feeling of claustrophobia in the country related to China's dominance," Bower said.

Analysts say President Thein Sein's decision last year to call off the construction of a major Chinese hydropower project in northern Burma because of local opposition was in part an example of the desire to ease China's influence.

Originally, the Myitsone Dam was slated for completion in 2017 and was expected to provide energy-hungry cities in China with power to meet their ever-growing demands. Now, the fate of the project remains uncertain.

David Steinberg, a Burma expert at Georgetown University, says he expects China will continue to play a very important role in Burma's economy, but the Burmese president’s Myitsone Dam decision shows there are limits.

“I think it’s in China’s interest to play its cards very, very carefully. They didn’t on the Myitsone Dam, but they may have learned a lesson. They really didn’t believe that there was public opinion that could change the government in Myanmar, the government’s position. And they have found out that there was in fact that,” Steinberg said.

China should also be concerned, Steinberg says, about the impact too much investment in Burma could have on Burmese national sentiment. He says there have been anti-China riots in the past, and foreign control of the economy has long been a sensitive issue there.

“If they [the Burmese people] feel that the economy is once again under Chinese control, there could be a nationalist reaction. Already there is anti-Chinese sentiment growing in the country, and China recognizes the problem and must be careful,” Steinberg said.

Meanwhile, Burma is looking elsewhere for investment. In recent weeks, Burma has taken steps to loosen regulations for foreign investors in the country. This, Bower says, will not only increase investment opportunities, but will give Burma more options.

"Clearly one of the objectives of the government in opening was to enact economic reforms that would follow the political opening so that countries could bring new technology and capital into the country," Bower said.

Analysts say Burma is very interested in making sure the United States and Europe are involved in that process and that the participation of Asean countries, Japan and Europe is broadened as well. But getting the investment into Burma from the U.S., as well as other countries, remains problematic because of sanctions.



Src  :  Mizzima

Suu Kyi prepares for Parliament opening on 23rd

Rangoon (Mizzima) – With only two weeks before the NLD’s debut at the opening session of the Burmese Parliament, Aung San Suu Kyi is preparing her party’s goals for the session.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to supporters in Myitkyina in February 2012. Photo: Mizzima

Nyan Win, the National League for Democracy spokesperson, said the government informed political parties that the 4th legislative session would commence on April 23. The two-month third session ended on March 26.

“The day is very near, so we are very busy,” said Nyan Win.

During her political campaign, Suu Kyi repeatedly told her supporters it would be necessary to forge support with other opposition groups, and to work with USDP and military lawmakers in Parliament.

Newly elected NLD Lower House MP Phyu Phyu Thin of Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township said she knows what the residents of her township need.

“Now, I know the difficulties that people in the township have,” she said, noting their concerns about jobs, the economy, education and health care.

On April 8, NLD chairman Aung San Suu Kyi said NLD MPs-elect would hold a pre-session meeting on April 19 and 20 to plan legislative strategies. Decisions would be arrived at through majority votes, she said.

Thiha Saw, the chief editor of Myanmar Dana and the Open News Journal, said “I don’t think they will get many chances to put forward bills. Many bills have been put forward to the bill committee. For instance, the land ownership law has been put forward. But, they will have many chances to vote and debate when the bills are put to a vote.”

The NLD won 43 parliamentary seats in the recent by-elections: 37 Lower House seats; four Upper House seats; and two region/state assembly seats. With MP Dr. Myat Nyarna Soe, who resigned from the NDF and joined the NLD, the NLD now holds five seats in the Upper House. The NLD party comprises 6.4 per cent of Parliament.



 Src  :  Mizzima

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi – from prisoner to would-be lawmaker

Aung San Suu Kyi

(Reuters) – Aung San Suu Kyi, the long-time standard-bearer for democracy in Myanmar, is taking a leap of faith in running for parliament on Sunday, opting to enter a political system crafted and run by the soldiers who kept her locked up for a total of 15 years.

Her party’s participation in this weekend’s by-elections marks a change of heart for the Nobel Peace Prize winner who repeatedly rebuffed the military’s attempts to bring her into a political apparatus in which it dictated the terms.

But since a general election in November 2010, followed by Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest the same month, the pace of change in the former Burma under a nominally civilian government has been staggering, enough to convince her to compromise with the apparently reform-minded ex-generals now in charge.

Some Burmese fear it is a deal with the devil that will serve mainly to endorse a military-dominated legislature.

Suu Kyi is keeping an open mind.

“Some are a little bit too optimistic about the situation. We are cautiously optimistic. We are at the beginning of a road,” the 66-year-old Suu Kyi said last month.

“Many people are beginning to say that the democratisation process here is irreversible. It’s not so.”

There is little doubt that without her National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s participation, Sunday’s by-elections for 45 seats – just 7 percent of the elected seats in a legislature dominated by the military – would have barely registered on the global news agenda.

Instead, the polls have captured the world’s imagination and, if they are deemed free and fair, could persuade the West to start to lift economic sanctions imposed under the junta.

It was the Oxford-educated Suu Kyi’s steely determination in confronting the authoritarian generals that kept her country in the spotlight during its isolation, winning the hearts of her people and giving her a crucial role in the West’s targeted policies to squeeze Myanmar’s junta.

Suu Kyi was living in Britain but returned to her family home in April 1988 to care for her ailing mother just as resentment of junta rule boiled over into nationwide protests.

As the daughter of the General Aung San, Myanmar’s assassinated independence hero, Suu Kyi was persuaded to enter politics, giving a rousing speech to hundreds of thousands of people near Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda that catapulted her to the forefront of the fight against dictatorship.

HERO’S DAUGHTER

“I could not, as my father’s daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on,” Suu Kyi told the crowd in August 1988.

The military crushed the uprising the following month. Thousands were killed and imprisoned. Paying the price for her popular appeal, Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest on July 19, 1989, and remained there for six years.

Even without her, the NLD overwhelmingly won an election in 1990 for an assembly to draft a new constitution, trouncing the military’s proxy party. The junta simply refused to allow the assembly to convene.

The NLD continued to reject the military’s demand for a leading role in politics. The top generals refused to hold dialogue with Suu Kyi and questioned her patriotism by calling her by her British married name, Mrs Michael Aris.

Even in her brief periods of freedom after 1989, she never left Myanmar, afraid that the military would not let back in. For that reason she was unable to be with Aris, an Oxford academic, when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in Britain in 1999.

Their love story has been played out on the big screen, with Malaysian star Michelle Yeoh playing Suu Kyi in a 2011 film “The Lady”, as she is affectionately known in Myanmar.

A final stint of house arrest – after she was found guilty of breaching an obsolete security law when an American intruder swam to her home and stayed for two nights – kept her out of the 2010 election, which the NLD boycotted and a military-backed won easily.

Insiders say the NLD was split on whether to run but Suu Kyi said she personally “would not dream” of taking part, which decided the matter.

Upon her release on November 13, 2010, thousands greeted her amid jubilation in Yangon.

The election held just six days earlier had promised little but, against all odds, the civilian administration under President Thein Sein has released more than 600 political prisoners, reached ceasefires with ethnic militias and begun to overhaul the economy.

Suu Kyi and Thein Sein, a softly spoken former junta general, have found some mutual understanding: she has called him “honest” and “sincere” and in November she accepted his appeal for the NLD to take part in the by-elections.

It will not be plain sailing.

The campaign trail has left Suu Kyi suffering from sickness and exhaustion and the NLD has alleged irregularities in the run-up to the ballot.

Suu Kyi has made no secret of the fact she wants to change a constitution that enshrines the military’s role in politics.

“There are certain laws which are obstacles to the freedom of the people,” she said during a rally. “We will strive to abolish these laws within the framework of the parliament.”

That puts her on a collision course with hardliners and an armed forces commander who just this week vowed to protect the military’s place in the corridors of power.

(Writing by Martin Petty in Bangkok; Editing by Alan Raybould and Jonathan Thatcher)


Src  :  euronews

NEWLY COUPLE

Mungpi Buansing + Huaino

 

NLD statement has led to misunderstanding: KIO

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) says a statement by the National League for Democracy (NLD) has created confusion around the postponement of elections in three constituencies in Kachin State.

On March 23, the Burmese government announced that elections in Bhamo, Phakant and Mogoung constituencies would be postponed, claiming the area was too dangerous for elections to be held. The NLD planned to contest in all three constituencies.

According to La Nan, a KIO spokesman, an NLD central campaign committee statement issued on Monday said, “The NLD wants to discuss and negotiate with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)” about holding elections in the constituencies.

“We’re concerned about the misinterpretation of this statement because the KIO has no responsibility for cancelling the voting in these three constituencies. In fact, we have nothing to do with the decision taken by the government. The statement could be interpreted to mean the by-elections in these constituencies can be held only after getting approval from the KIO,” he told Mizzima.

The NLD statement said the by-elections could be held in these constituencies on April 1 as planned if the election commission or government helps in negotiating with the KIO and its army, La Nang said.

He told Mizzima: “There are no movements of KIO troops in these areas so there would be no harassment from us. We don’t understand their intentions in postponing these elections. The reason given on security grounds is not logical and it is unfounded.”

The NLD should contact the KIO directly to discuss the issue, he said.

The NLD statement also said Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to help negotiate peace in Kachin State and to meet with government or KIO officials.

The Union government said it postponed the elections in the constituencies “on security grounds as there would be no guarantee for holding free and fair elections.”


Src  : Mizzima

Umpeim Mai Refugee Camp recovering, but aid still needed

An update on the devastating fire at the Umpeim Mai Refugee Camp on the Thai-Burmese border has established that 566 families lost all or most of the possessions. The camp is home to over 17,600 Burmese refugees.

An overview of the Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp showing the destroyed houses on the side of a mountain. The fire on February 23 devastated a large portion of the camp. Photo: TBBC

The fire on February 23 destroyed 420 houses and damaged about 350. An estimated 2,500 refugees have lost everything, including their monthly food ration that they received the day before the fire.

The Thailand-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) urgently needs funding to help rebuild and repair the houses that have been destroyed or damaged by the fire and to replace the one-month food ration that the affected refugees have lost.

The total estimated budget to affect a return to normal conditions is 13,132,105 baht (US$ 427,000).

To donate money or other goods go to: http://www.tbbc.org/donate/donate.htm

A summary of the a recent camp survey showed:

– Many people are not receiving fresh food, e.g., vegetables & meat.
– There is currently no gap for dry food, although fresh vegetables/ meats are not currently available to significant numbers of the affected population.
–Clothing: mostly women’s clothes have been received, but we still require between 500 and 600 sarongs for men.
– Currently, it has been confirmed 420 houses were completely consumed by fire, with a further two nursery schools, two mosques, on security office, four section offices, and one Muslim Women’s office.
– An additional 350 houses will need some repairs to their roof as this is the most flammable part of the building and many were taken down in efforts to save the building and stop the fire spreading further.
– Already more than 200 families have moved back to the site (from the 566 families displaced). For more families to move back a major site cleanup is needed to remove debris and to level and re-stabilize the land/soil that has been burnt. Also water supply and latrines are needed as families move back.
– TBBC is in a good position to procure and deliver the needed building materials, as we currently have a 2-3 months window to deliver the materials. Current estimates for shelter materials are 6,000 posts, 8,000 beams, 120,000 bamboo poles, 220,000 grass thatches, 1,000kg wire, 6,000 kg nails for a budget of approximately 12 million baht.
– Livelihoods: 84 of the 420 houses burned were small businesses.
–Education: Two nursery schools and a storeroom of education equipment and materials have been affected by the fire. Estimated losses include textbooks, stationary, sports equipment, furniture, and vocational training equipment totaling some 450,000 baht. The re-construction of schools will costs a further 250,000 baht.



Src  :  Mizzima

Jade processing bill approved by Kachin State Assembly

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A bill that will allow local processing, cutting and polishing of jade has been passed by the Kachin State Assembly. When enacted, lawmakers say many new jobs will be created in the state.

Workers at a jade mining area in Kachin State Photo: Phyusin Linn/Mizzima

USDP party legislator Pho Pa Kywe of Shwegu constituency 2 introduced the bill on March 1, and the bill passed unanimously. It must now be signed by the president.

In the 2008 Constitution, states were given powers to pass legislation in defined areas of energy, electricity, mining and forestry.

Currently, jade stones are mined in Kachin State, but the stones must be sent to Naypyitaw for cutting and polishing work, which increases the final cost of the products.

The bill's passage will be benefit both jade merchants and local people in Kachin State, said La Awng, vice chairman of the Jade and Gemstones Merchants Association (Myitkyina).

“The livelihood of local people will be better. The jade market will provide opportunities for more local people,” he told Mizzima.

The Jade and Gemstones Merchants Association (Myitkyina) was formed on March 3. Officers are Za Laung, chairman; and Tu Khaung, secretary. The association, with about 400 members, has a head office in Naypyitaw with branches are in Phakant, Mandalay, Sagaing and Mogok.

The current session of the Kachin State assembly was convened on February 27. The assembly is now deliberating on the state budget. The assembly has a total of 51 legislators of which 38 are elected and 18 are military-appointed.

The economy of Kachin State is predominantly agricultural, according to Wikipedia. The main products include rice and sugar cane. Mineral production includes gold and jade. Hpakan is a well-known area for jade mines. Most of the jade stones extracted in Burma (25,795 tons in 2009-2010 and 32,921 tons in 2008-2009) are from Kachin State.

The largest jade stone in the world (3,000 tons: 21 meters long, 4.8 meters wide and 10.5 meters high) was found in Hpakan in 2000. Most raw jade stones are sold to Chinese traders in sales conducted in Naypyitaw several times each year.


Src  :  Mizzima

UN calls for further progress on human rights

(Mizzima) – The U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma on Monday welcomed the amnesty and release a significant number of prisoners of conscience.

U.N. special envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana reads a press statement while on a visit to Burma. Photo: Mizzima

“I welcome the release of…individuals who have been imprisoned for exercising their fundamental human rights or whose fair trial or due process rights have been denied,” said Tomas Ojea Quintana.

While the exact number of prisoners released has yet to be determined, he said among those freed were individuals he had visited in jail.

“In this critical period for Myanmar, and in the lead-up to the by-elections in April, it is fundamental that all citizens, including those just released from prison, are allowed to play an active and constructive role in political and public life.”

“Based on lessons learnt from past elections, I call on the government to ensure respect for the rights to political participation and freedoms of opinion and expression, assembly and association – rights which are essential for the functioning of a democratic society.”

The special rapporteur also expressed concern that a number of prisoners of conscience remain in detention and called for their release without conditions and delay.

Separately, he expressed hope that there would be further progress in resolving political conflicts with armed ethnic groups throughout Burma and called on all parties involved to ensure the protection of civilians and respect for international human rights and humanitarian law.

“I renew my call on the government to develop a comprehensive plan to officially engage ethnic minority groups in an inclusive dialogue to resolve long-standing grievances and deep-rooted concerns,” Quintana said. “And all parties to this dialogue must ensure that investigations and accountability for past gross and systematic human rights violations are on the agenda. Ending discrimination and ensuring fundamental rights for Myanmar’s ethnic minorities is essential for national reconciliation and will contribute to Myanmar’s long-term political and social stability.”

He also called for unimpeded access for the UN and relevant actors to help address the crucial needs of ethnic groups and human rights issues in the country.

Quintana was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2008. As special rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity.

For more information on Burma human rights issues, see http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/MMIndex.aspx


Src :  Mizzima

Unofficial Translation of the CNF cease-fire agreement

(Document) – The following is an unofficial translation by the Chinland Guardian of the preliminary peace agreement between the Chin National Front and the Chin State Government following the signing of a cease-fire agreement this week:

Dr. Sui Khar of the CNF and Colonel Zaw Min Oo flanked by peace delegates after
the signing of the cease-fire agreement. Photo: Chinlandguardian

In order that a permanent peace may be established:

– Drawing its basis from the announcement 1/2011 dated 18th August 2011 of the Government of the Union of Myanmar regarding the implementation of a permanent peace in the Union of Myanmar,

– Considering the need for a step-by-step practical implementation of the plans for a peace process drawn up by the Ethnic Affairs and Internal Peace Committee set up by both Houses of the People’s Parliament and the National Parliament on 18 August 2011

– Recalling that following the preliminary discussion between a delegation led by Union Minister U Aung Min, on the authorization of the President of the Union of Myanmar U Thein Sein, and Pu Zing Cung, Chairman of the fourth-term Conference of the Chin National Front and Joint General Secretary Dr. Sui Khar at a location in Thailand, the Chin National Front’s first Emergency Conference endorsed  its Central Executive Committee’s decision No. 9/2011, and that therefore the decision can be implemented,

– Therefore, the Chin National Front and the Chin State-level peace delegations have signed the following historic points of agreement so that a permanent peace may be established.

(1) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed to end mutual hostilities, including armed hostilities, effective from the time of the signing of this agreement.

(2) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed to open up a Liaison Office in Thantlang so that the points in this agreement may be vigorously implemented. Matters regarding the possibility of opening up Liaison Offices in Tedim and Matupi will be submitted to the relevant bodies, the result of which will be made known at a later date. The parties have agreed that the Chin National Front/Army can temporarily be based out of the areas around three Village Tracts in Thantlang Township: Tlangpi Village Tract, Dawn Village Tract and Zang Tlang Village Tract. Moreover, matters regarding the possibility of having bases in Tedim Township’s Zampi and Bukphir Village Tracts, and Paletwa Township’s Kung Pin, Para and Pathiantlang Village Tracts, will be submitted to the relevant bodies and the result made known at a later date.

(3) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed that any unarmed members of the Chin National Front and Chin National Army can freely travel to any place within the Union.

(4) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed to meet again as soon as possible, so that the parties can arrange a time and date for the Chin National Front and the Union government to hold a discussion. In holding Union level talks, the parties agreed in principle to uphold as basic principles the flourishing of ethnic issues and democracy, in addition to the three national causes.

(5) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed to allow the Chin National Front and the Chin National Army to freely hold public consultations, so that the desire of the Chin people can be brought forward as the basis of their discussion at the Union-level talks.

(6) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed to allow international Non-Governmental Organizations to operate freely in Chin State and elsewhere in the Union of Myanmar so that they can tackle the issues facing the Chin people, including the food crisis, lack of medicines, lack of access to clean water etc., in accordance with the existing laws.

(7) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed that, with financial support from the Union government, the Chin National Front will take a leading role in development work in relation to the Special Economic Zone (hereinafter SEZ) in accordance with laws governing the SEZ, so that the poorest state in the Union of Myanmar can be turned into a modern and developed State.

(8) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed that the Chin National Front and the Chin State Government work together as necessary, on development projects in Chin State by reciprocating advice and consulting with one another.

(9) The Chin State Government level peace delegation and the Chin National Front have agreed to closely cooperate in eradicating illegal poppy cultivation, drug business and drug smuggling in northern Chin State.

This agreement was signed between the Chin State Government-level peace delegation and the Chin National Front in the presence of the Union-level peace delegation leader Railway Minister U Aung Min and Union-level delegation member Environment and Forestry Minister U Win Htun, Chin State Chief Minister U Hung Ngai and members of the Peace and Tranquillity Committee on 6 January 2012.


Src  :  Mizzima