Saturday, 30 January 2010 15:57 Mungpi
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma’s military junta nurses nuclear ambitions, though there is insufficient evidence to prove the regime is building a secret nuclear reactor or facilities, a leading ‘Think Tank’ from the United States said.
David Albright, Paul Brannan, Robert Kelley and Andrea Scheel Stricker, well-known experts of proliferation of nuclear weapons, in a report said the Burmese regime’s suspicious links to North Korea and Russia’s agreement to sell a nuclear reactor to Burma in 2001 has led to suspicion...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Indian tourists to visit Burma on land route
Saturday, 30 January 2010 15:53 Mithu Choudhury
Guwahati (Mizzima) - A group of Indian tourists are geared to visit military-ruled Burma, through the border gates of the two countries in Manipur state, India on March, organisers of the package tour said on Thursday.
The Indo-Myanmar Fraternal Alliance (IMFA), an NGO based in Manipur state’s capital Imphal, on Thursday told journalists at the Guwahati Press Club in Northeast India’s Assam state that they are arranging a package tour from the Northeast India to Burma’s ancient capital of Mandalay.
R.K.Shivachandra,...
Burmese workers in thousands throng Ranong concert
Saturday, 30 January 2010 15:49 Usa Pichai
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - In the midst of tight security, Burmese migrant workers in thousands attended a concert by Burma’s top singers in Thailand’s Ranong province bordering Kawthong in Burma on January 28 and 29.
Gen. Wipas Tansuhat, Chairman, Thailand-Burma Economic and Cultural Association, the organizers of a charity concert ‘Culture without Border’ said that the concert was aimed at fostering a good relationship between Thailand and Burma. Part of the money from sale of tickets will be used for...
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Plight of political prisoners deteriorates in 2009
Friday, 29 January 2010 23:16 Mizzima News
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The political prisoners population in military-ruled Burma increased to 2,177 over the course of 2009, with over 120 are reportedly suffering from illness due to deplorable prison conditions, claims a new activist group report.
The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPPB), in its annual report, said while the ruling junta released a few hundred political prisoners it also arrested several more, resulting in an overall increase of 15 concerning...
ILO releases book promoting domestic worker rights
Friday, 29 January 2010 21:28 Usa Pichai
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - A guidebook to promote recognition of domestic worker rights was released Thursday at a press conference in Bangkok by the International Labor Organization.
The book, entitled ‘Domestic Work - Decent Work’, published in seven languages including Thai, Burmese, Lao, Shan and Karen, will be distributed through the Labor Ministry and labor advocacy groups. A total of some 17,000 copies are available.
Thetis Mangahas, the ILO's regional migration specialist, said in the press conference...
Tibetan MPs urge junta to hold free and fair elections
Friday, 29 January 2010 21:26 Salai Han Thar San
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Mrs. Dolma Gyari, the Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament has urged the Burmese military junta to hold free and fair general elections in 2010.
She said this while talking to Burmese democracy activists on January 25 during their three-day tour of Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh in India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. The Burmese activists were visiting Dharamsala at the invitation of Tibetan students.
“Elections are crucial for a democratic State. So, we...
Will junta focus on agricultural reform?
Friday, 29 January 2010 18:25 Salai Pi Pi
New Delhi (Mizzima) - A United Nation’s report recently urged Burma to prioritize its agricultural sector in the fight against poverty, as it has considerable growth potential. However, economic experts have cast doubts that agricultural reform can be feasible under dictatorial rule.
The Myanmar Humanitarian Partnership Group meeting, held Wednesday in Burma’s former capital of Rangoon, was attended by over 70 experts, including heads of UN agencies, diplomats and aid workers, and highlighted the crucial...
Dissidents want Suu Kyi released before election
Friday, 29 January 2010 14:22 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The release of detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the 2010 election along with the initiation of a dialogue for national reconciliation is the talk of local political dissidents.
The response follows a speech by Major General Maung Oo, Minister for Home Affairs, in Kyaukpadaun, Mandalay, on Thursday, saying she would be released in November this year.
“According to Maj. General Maung Oo who said that the release would happen in November, it means no release...
Friday, January 29, 2010
Indian activists to brainstorm Burmese junta’s intentions
Friday, 29 January 2010 00:18 Mithu Choudhury
Guwahati (Mizzima) - Activists and journalists in Northeast India are preparing to hold a symposium on the planned elections in Burma scheduled for later this year.
Burma Center Delhi, a group comprising Burmese and Indian activists, along with journalists from Forum of Assam, are to hold a consultation meeting to discuss probable implications stemming from the general election in Burma.
Though the Burmese junta has announced it will hold a general election this year as part of its seven-point roadmap...
Thailand concerned over agricultural smuggling from Burma
Friday, 29 January 2010 00:16 Usa Pichai
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Thailand has increased surveillance along the Thai-Burma border since the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) came into full effect early this month, over fears of agricultural smuggling, particularly rice, entering the Kingdom.
“The Ministry of Agriculture has asked cooperation from related authorities near the border with neighboring countries to raise surveillance on illegal low-quality rice that may be smuggled into the country that would effect the rice price in Thailand,” said...
Solar energy coming to Burma
Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:26 Sai Zom Hseng
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - According to company officials, OK Myanmar Co. Ltd. will commence employing solar energy in the near future.
The plan is mainly intended to provide service to microwave communication towers and remote areas in Burma with no electricity, said a company official.
“This solar energy plan is mainly for microwave communication towers, river water pumping stations and street lamps,” added a company engineer.
The service is to utilize Japanese manufactured Sanyo equipment and employ...
Burma to have first ‘Sculpture’ village
Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:24 Min Thet
Rangoon (Mizzima) - The Rangoon division commander has decided to set up the first ‘Arts and Sculpture’ village in the division to promote arts and culture, including sculpture.
Khin Maung Aye, Chairman of the Central Co-operative Society, a group that has been exhibiting sculptures as part of fund raising for post Cyclone Nargis recovery, said Rangoon division Commander Maj-Gen Win Myint approved the idea of an ‘Arts and Sculpture’ village during the 10-day sculpture exhibition in Rangoon.
“We plan to...
DVB reporter sentenced to 13 years
Thursday, 28 January 2010 21:43 Phanida
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Reporter Ngwe Soe Lin of the Norway-based opposition radio station Democratic Voice of Burma was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment yesterday by the Rangoon Western District Court sitting inside Insein prison, close associates said.
According to confidants, Ngwe Soe Lin (28), who lives in Rangoon’s South Dagon Township, was charged under the Electronic and Immigration Emergency Provisions Acts, receiving associated terms of ten and three years imprisonment, respectively.
“Ngwe Soe...
Mother pleads for release of forcibly recruited son
Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:33 Kyaw Kha
Mizzima News - A mother of a 14-year old boy persuaded to join the Burmese army speaks of her family’s ordeal with Mizzima. Sandar Win, the mother, says her son, Maung Kyaw Min Tun (alias Kyar Min) was recruited on the 19th of this month and is being kept at the army’s Light Infantry Battalion 83 based in Michaungye in Taungdwingyi township of Magwe Division.
According to her, she journeyed to the barracks to try and bring her son home, but officials at the gate denied her request. The incident happened...
Opium production rending the fabric of ethnic communities
Thursday, 28 January 2010 14:58 Larry Jagan
Mizzima News - Opium poppy cultivation in Burma is surging again in areas controlled by the country’s military, according to a report just published. More alarmingly, drug addiction is skyrocketing in areas where opium is now being produced while the cultivation of poppy is also killing the traditional tea industry in parts of northern Burma.
The amount of land being used to grow opium poppy in Burma’s northern Shan State has jumped five-fold in the past three years to more than 4,500 hectares, according...
Thailand to deport Karen refugees in phases
Thursday, 28 January 2010 03:31 Usa Pichai
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Activists have urged the Thai government to postpone repatriating hundreds of Karen refugee families, currently sheltered in the Kingdom, claiming it is still unsafe for them to return.
Lt Gen Thanongsak Apirakyothin, Commander of Thailand’s Third Army, accepted that there was a resolution at the meeting between Thai officials and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to repatriate Karen refugees, who fled to Thailand’s Thasongyang district of...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
U.S. wants Burma to reach out to ethnic communities
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 21:43 Mungpi
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The United States on Tuesday said it would like to see Burma opening up its political process and reaching out to various the ethnic communities as the Southeast Asian nation gears up for a general election later this year, its first in two decades.
Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, told reporters in Washington, “We’d like to see Burma open up its political process.”
“It’s important for the Government of Burma to reach out not only to those who wish...
Villages burnt, Karen villagers hide in jungles
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 21:40 Kyaw Kha
Chiangmai (Mizzima) - Villagers are being killed and houses being burnt to the ground in Karen state by the Burmese Army to occupy territory and to divert the attention of people opposing the proposed 2010 elections in Burma, the Karen Nation United (KNU) alleged.
On 17 January, 13 houses were burnt down and two villagers killed in Khae Dae village, Nyaung Lei Pin district, in eastern Pegu Division allegedly by Burmese soldiers of the Light Infantry Battalion 367 under the Military Operation Command.
Major...
Secretary of Mongla-based ceasefire group assassinated
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 20:38 Myo Gyi
Ruili (Mizzima) - The Secretary of the Mongla-based ceasefire group National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS) was assassinated by unknown assailants on Wednesday morning.
NDAA-ESS Secretary Min Ein (a.k.a. Lin Hongshen) was shot by unknown gunmen at about 6:30 a.m. (local time) while walking in Mongla with a companion, sources said.
While Min Ein died on the spot after sustaining seven gunshot wounds, his companion was critically injured and is currently undergoing treatment at a...
MNA stops providing Suu Kyi pictures
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 20:08 Phanida (Media Alert)
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - The State-run Myanmar News Agency (MNA) as of January has stopped providing photographs of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to publications, editors of local journals in Rangoon said.
The MNA is a government-controlled agency under the News and Periodical Enterprise of the Ministry of Information and Publicity. It has exclusive rights to produce photographs of top-level government activities and also acts as an agency releasing the government’s news and information....
Imprisoned Burmese journalists recognized for reporting truth
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 19:23 Salai Pi Pi
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Two imprisoned Burmese journalists have been named this year’s recipients of an award in honor of a Japanese journalist killed during the 2007 monk-led protests in Burma.
Tokyo-based Japanese News Agency together with Burma Media Association (BMA) on Tuesday announced they had selected imprisoned Burmese journalists Hla Hla Win and Win Maw, arrested by Burmese military authorities for sending information and reports to the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma, as recipients of...
The face of Burma’s non-violent resistance
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 17:43 Brian McCartan (film review)
A new documentary by two Canadian filmmakers highlights the continuing, non-violent resistance to Burma’s dictatorial regime by political and humanitarian activists who do so at great risk.
The film, Breaking the Silence: Burma’s Resistance, was shown for the first time to an English-speaking audience at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok on January 22nd. The 75-minute film had previously been screened in a French language version late last year in Canada.
Filmmakers...
Indian Supreme Court halts University de-recognition move
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 18:50 Salai Pi Pi
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The Supreme Court of India staying the Central government’s move to de-recognize 44 ‘Deemed Universities’ has come as a balm to students, including Burmese monks studying in Nalanda University in Bihar state.
Indasara, a Burmese monk studying at the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara Deemed University, told Mizzima on Tuesday that most students welcomed the Supreme Court’s order on Monday staying the Centre from trying to strip the deemed status of 44 universities across India.
“We are...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Treason convicts transferred to remote prisons
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 22:20 Phanida
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Prison authorities in Rangoon’s Insein prison have transferred three people tried and sentenced for leaking confidential documents to remote jails across the country.
Sources close to Insein prison authorities said retired Major Win Naing Kyaw was transferred to Tharyawaddy prison in Pegu Division, Foreign Ministry clerk Thura Kyaw (a.k.a. Aung Aung) to Shan state and Byan Sein (a.k.a. Ahsi) to Mandalay prison on January 23rd.
On January 7th the Northern Rangoon District Court sentenced...
Opium cultivation in Burma surges
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 21:50 Salai Pi Pi & Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Despite the Burmese military junta’s claims of successfully reducing drug cultivation in Burma, opium poppy cultivation in northern Shan state has sharply risen over the past two years, estimates a report by a Burmese ethnic women’s group.
‘Poisoned Hills’, a new report released on Tuesday by the Palaung Women’s Organization (PWO), reveals that opium cultivation in Nam Hkam and Mantong Townships in northern Shan state increased nearly five-fold from 2006 to 2009,...
Labour leaders sacked after strike in footwear factory
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 21:26 Sai Zom Seng
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Four labour leaders, who spearheaded a strike demanding a wage hike at the Osaka footwear factory in Mae Sai, Thailand, across Tachileik in Burma, were sacked on Tuesday.
Despite work permits, the Burmese migrant workers do not get wages equal to their Thai counterparts. So all 72 migrant workers staged a walk-out demanding a wage hike to the tune of 10 Baht per day on January 23 afternoon. The four labour leaders were dismissed today.
Though Thai workers are paid up to Baht...
Thai government refutes HRW report
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 19:29 Usa Pichai
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has defended his government against Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s accusation of Thailand being a threat to principles of human rights in its annual 2010 report.
The premier during his weekly television and radio broadcast on Sunday said his government has always respected human rights principles.
He said the report published by New York-based HRW may have been written before “special mechanisms” were put in place by the government to oversee...
Burmese Air Force probes fighter jet crash
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 18:53 Khaing Suu
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The Burmese Air Force has formed a group to investigate the crash of a F-7 fighter jet last Friday that killed the pilot, sources in the Air Force said.
The group will consist of a number of officers, including an engineering officer (EO) of the Air Force Engineering Department as well as the commander of Rangoon’s Mingalardon Air Force base.
The source, requesting not to be named due to fear of reprisal, told Mizzima that the investigation process is currently in the pre-survey...
Rangoon fire razes 13 homes
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 15:01 Min Thet
Rangoon (Mizzima) - Fire in a suburban township in Burma’s former capital of Rangoon on Monday evening destroyed 13 houses, according to fire officials.
An official at the Rangoon Division fire department told Mizzima that the fire started from an electric shock in the transformer of building number 142 in ‘Nga Htat Gyi’, home to a famous five-storey pagoda in Bahan Township.
“Hundreds of monks came to extinguish the fire because there are several Buddhist monasteries in the area. And the fire brigade...
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Passports seized; Burmese performers postpone Japan trip
Monday, 25 January 2010 23:09 Sai Zom Sai
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A traditional light dance troupe, known as ‘Ahnyeint’ in Burmese, led by popular comedian ‘Myatta’ were forced to postpone their visit to Japan after their passports were seized at the airport.
The ‘Tokyo Sakura Happy Ahnyeint’, who are scheduled to perform in Tokyo, have to postpone their trip as officials seized their passports when they arrived at the Minglardon International airport in Rangoon for departure on January 22.
“We are not sure when we can rescheduled for the performance....
AAPP calls for release of poet Saw Wei
Monday, 25 January 2010 22:29 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Thai based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners - Burma (AAPP-B) has called for the release of poet Saw Wei at the earliest possible date, as his release was set for the 21st of this month.
Poet Saw Wei was arrested on the 21st of January 2008 after his poem entitled ‘February 14’ which cryptically included the stanza ‘Power crazy senior general Than Shwe’ appeared in the Love journal. He was later charged with committing disaffection to the State and sentenced to...
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