Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

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Mizzima Mizzima, one of Myanmar ’s most prominent news outlets and a press freedom advocate, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative ( JTI ) certification from global audit firm Bureau Veritas , JTI says in a press statement 5 January.  Operating in clandestine mode within Myanmar and supported by an exiled team, Mizzima strives to fulfil its role as reliable source of news and information for the Myanmar public. “Your Journalism Trust Initiative certification affirms what audiences already know: that principled, transparent journalism matters. Congratulations on this achievement and on your continued contribution to informing citizens about Myanmar,” says Benjamin Sabbah , director of Journalism Trust Initiative “Myanmar’s ongoing conflict has created an intensely contested media landscape, where mis- and disinformation are increasingly deployed to reinforce state propaganda and the prevailing “official” narrative. Although Mizzima is already regarded as one of the most trusted ...

Junta pulls civil servants out of Shan ceasefire area

Monday, 18 October 2010 17:14 Jai Wan Mai

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese junta recalled government workers out of a ceasefire group’s area of control in northern Shan State amid rising tensions between ethnic forces and the Burmese Army, a source said over the weekend.

Dozens of doctors and teachers had left the villages Nam Ma and Mok Tawng in Mongyai Township, under the control of the 1st Brigade of the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), a source in northern Shan State said.

Furthermore, the Burmese Army called on a Border Guard Force (BGF) militia group to stand by for reinforcements in case fighting breaks out with 1st Brigade SSA-N.

The former 3rd Brigade of the SSA-N, now transformed into a BGF, was told it would be reinforced with Burmese junta troops.

However, Sao Hla Myint, the BGF group’s leader insisted that the whole unit might desert to rejoin the 1st Brigade because they have been sworn brothers in arms for decades.

Concurrently, the SSA-N’s 1st Brigade led by Major General Sao Pangfa (pictured in thumbnail on Mizzima front page) warned Burmese troops that any attempt to cross the Nam Ma River to the east would be shot.

A government newspaper labelled the ceasefire groups as criminals or troublemakers.

A Shan source, who requested anonymity, confirmed that “the Burmese Army did not recognise them as a ceasefire group but an outlaw association”.

The regime had also levelled similar accusations at the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO). A Kachin source said the junta had called the KIO “violators” and “insurgents”.

In September, three clashes took place between the 1st Brigade of SSA-N and Burmese troops after the group rejected Naypyidaw’s demand that it brings itself under junta command within a BGF.

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