Myanmar continues assault on Kachin rebels

Military attacks near ethnic group's stronghold threaten to deliver a setback to its independence movement.

Ethnic Kachin rebels in northern Myanmar say the government is keeping up air and ground attacks against them despite international calls for restraint.
An exclusive video obtained by Al Jazeera on Tuesday reportedly shows government air raids on an area controlled by Kachin fighters.
Pointing to the latest skirmish near the northern city of Laiza, Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay says that "there is no sign that this fighting is slowing down anytime soon.
"There is some feeling that perhaps the Myanmar military is launching an attempt to take that town, which of course would be a severe blow to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)".
Laiza, which is near the border with China, and a government base are close to each other, and access to both is by the same road.

Myanmar military admits airstrikes against Kachin

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military acknowledged launching airstrikes against ethnic Kachin rebels in the north and said it captured a hilltop post from where the insurgents had attacked government supply convoys.
The statement broadcast on state television Wednesday contradicted government claims two days earlier that the military was not carrying out offensive air attacks on the Kachin, raising questions about how much control the elected government of reformist President Thein Sein has over the army.
The United States said Wednesday the use of air power in Kachin state was "extremely troubling." In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged the government and the Kachin rebel group to cease their conflict and begin a real dialogue for peace.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar's authorities "to desist from any action that could endanger the lives of civilians living in the area or further intensify the conflict in the region," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Ban called on the government and rebels to work toward political reconciliation.

Burmese Democracy Icon’s Sweater Sells for $49,000

A sweater hand-knit by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi sold for $49,000 Thursday night at a fundraising auction in Burma’s commercial capital Rangoon.
The red, green and blue V-neck, whose initial bidding price was $6,000,was sold at an event organized by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party. A Burmese radio station won the bidding war for the sweater, the Associated Press reported.
(PHOTOS: Aung San Suu Kyi’s Path to Victory, by James Nachtwey)
Forty-nine thousand dollars is a lot of money in one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia; it’s equivalent to about 23 years of income for a local taxi driver (although he probably wouldn’t need the sweater in a city where temperatures rarely drop below 70 degrees Fahrenheit). The money will be used to pay for the education of children in need, the organizers said.

Jason Mraz becomes first international star in decades to perform in Burma

Jason Mraz, the American singer, became the first major international entertainer in decades to perform in Burma, with a concert to raise awareness of human trafficking.

Jason Mraz (C) performs during the MTV EXIT Live show, a free concert aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking, in Yangon, Myanmar Photo: EPA

Mraz's 2008 hit "I'm Yours" was the finale for the night-time concert before a crowd of about 50,000 people at the base of the famous hilltop Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, the country's biggest city.

Local artists, including a hip-hop singer, also played at the event organised by MTV in co-operation with US and Australian government aid agencies and the anti-slavery organisation Walk Free.

Burma caught using Swedish weapons in war against rebels

Inquiry launched into how anti-tank rifles were found on soldiers in breach of EU sanctions

 The authorities in Stockholm have launched an investigation into how new Swedish-made
weapons made their way to Burma in breach of EU sanctions where they were used
by troops in military operations against ethnic rebels.

The Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls (ISP) confirmed that an investigation had been launched after it was handed details about several high-performance M-3 Carl Gustav anti-tank weapons that were recovered by Kachin rebels who had been battling Burmese troops in bloody and ongoing clashes.

“We have the serial numbers for these weapons and with this you can know the where, when and what – the detailed information,” said an ISP spokeswoman. “We hope we will be able to trace how they got there.”
While the EU and the US has suspended most sanctions against Burma in recognition of reforms that have been introduced by the nominally-civilian government of President Thein Sein, bans on the sale of weapons remain in place. In any sale to a foreign country, US or European arms manufacturers are obliged to enforce an end user agreement that stipulates the arms cannot be sold on to restricted nations such as Burma.

Scomi wins job in Myanmar

The Star online 

PETALING JAYA: Scomi Group Bhd has been awarded a drilling fluids and drilling waste management contract in Myanmar worth about RM93.6mil.

Wan Ruzlan: ‘We are excited about the prospects of this contract.’

Scomi's oilfield services business under Scomi Oiltools Bermuda Ltd will provide PTTEP International Ltd (PTTEPI) drilling fluids and drilling waste management equipment and related engineering services for three blocks in Myanmar.

The company said in a statement the contract was commencing in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Since 2003, Scomi Oiltools has been servicing major clients in Myanmar including PTTEPI and Daewoo.
Scomi said Scomi Oiltools had embarked on various initiatives to strengthen its support services in anticipation of the growth prospects in the region, establishing a drilling fluids laboratory with trained laboratory engineers in Thailand.

Additionally, Scomi Oiltools' Thai operations will act as the second regional centre for its drilling waste management services and provide training and workshop services to support regional operations, with the other being in Dubai.
“We are excited about the prospects of this contract.

Global think tank honors Thein Sein, ignores Kachin state war crimes allegations

KNG

In recognition of President Thein Sein's “bold and visionary reform initiatives” the International Crisis Group (ICG), dubbed the world's largest think tank, will bestow the ex-general turned civilian politician with its annual Pursuit of Peace Award next April.
The ICG has chosen to celebrate General Than Shwe's hand-picked successor in spite of the fact that the army ostensibly under Thein Sein's control has committed what human rights groups describe as war crimes against civilians in Kachin state. The ICG however has opted to overlook this serious blemish on Thein Sein's record focusing instead on his much heralded peace initiative.

Thein Sein “has made vast strides in ending the decades-long conflict affecting Myanmar,” said the ICG in a brief bio which accompanied last month's press release announcing the award. Since Thein Sein came to office “all but one of the ethnic armed groups have signed preliminary ceasefires with the government, and it is hoped that an agreement will also soon be reached with the Kachin Independence Organization,” said the ICG press release.

UN Official Calls for Help for Myanmar's Displaced

YANGON, Myanmar December 7, 2012 (AP)

The head of humanitarian affairs for the United Nations on Friday described conditions as dire in some camps housing refugees from communal violence in western Myanmar.

AP

U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian...

Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos also called on the government to allow the U.N. to travel to areas in northern Myanmar controlled by ethnic Kachin insurgents who are fighting against the army, in order to provide assistance to civilians affected by the strife.
Her remarks at a news conference at the end of a four-day visit underscored concerns about Myanmar's stability even as the country makes strides toward a democratic society under the reformist government of President Thein Sein after almost five decades of military rule.
"There have been a number of very encouraging political developments this year but also a number of humanitarian challenges that need to be addressed where the United Nations and our partners can help and make a difference," she said.
She called on the government to promote reconciliation in Rakhine state, where antagonism between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities burst into deadly violence, killing around 200 people on both sides and displacing about 110,000 people, the vast majority of them Muslims.

National reconciliation vital: Suu Kyi

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, delivering her keynote address at the ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum in Yangon, Myanmar. Picture: BT/ Raul Padernal

The Brunei Times

 BASIC human rights, was the foundation in which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Laureate and chairperson of the National League for Democracy, built her oration on at the annual ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum.

The Nobel Peace Prize recipient, addressed over 180 ASEAN 100 participants and international ambassadors in Myanmar, including Singapore and Australia.

Her topic was "Resilience in Turbulent Times". She said that Myanmar has faced turbulence in the past, and that there still is turbulence in the country now. "When I first entered politics in 1988, I entered as one of those working for democracy and human rights because I believe in the value of human rights and democratic institutions," she said.

Top UN official Valerie Amos in Burma Kachin plea

BBC 

 

Kachin state remains a conflict-riddled area with thousands of displaced people

Top UN humanitarian official Valerie Amos has called for urgent access to some 40,000 people in northern Burma who have been displaced by fighting between troops and Kachin rebels.

Ms Amos said it was clear that they were in desperate need of assistance.

The Burmese military has allowed only a handful of aid vehicles into the area in the last 18 months.
Fighting flared up between the two sides in June last year when a long-standing ceasefire broke down.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by fighting between the Burmese army and the Kachin Independence Army over the last 20 years. There have been many reports of human rights abuses.
The conflict is being seen as one of the biggest tests facing Burma's new civilian government as it attempts to reform the country.

Protesters against Myanmar copper mine charged with inciting unrest, denied bail

Washington Post

YANGON, Myanmar — Demonstrators who protested peacefully in Yangon against a mining project in northwestern Myanmar have been charged under a law that denies them release on bail, a lawyer said Tuesday.

Aung Thein, the lawyer for two of the six activists arrested last week in Yangon, said they were accused of inciting unrest, a criminal offense that carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment. Their trial began Monday.

Aung Thein said authorities could have charged them under the peaceful assembly act, which permits bail. That act allows street protests if a permit is obtained.

Protesters against Myanmar copper mine charged with inciting unrest, denied release on bail

YANGON, Myanmar — Demonstrators who protested peacefully against a mining project in northwestern Myanmar have been charged under a law that denies them release on bail.
Aung Thein, the lawyer for two of six activists arrested last week in Yangon, said Tuesday they were charged for inciting unrest, a criminal offense that carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment. The activists’ trial began Monday.

Aung Thein said the authorities could have taken action under the peaceful assembly act, which allows street protests if a permit is obtained.
Police last Thursday cracked down on protesters occupying part of the Letpadaung copper mine, which critics claim causes environmental and social damage. Dozens of protesters, including Buddhist monks, suffered burns caused by an incendiary riot-control device.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Blind China dissident urges Xi follow Myanmar path to reform

Beijing, December 3, 2012
(Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has urged Communist Party chief and president-in-waiting Xi Jinping to follow Myanmar's model of reform or risk a violent political transition.
Chen also accused the government of breaking a promise to investigate what he says is the persecution of his family, according to a recorded message posted on YouTube by Texas-based Christian advocacy group ChinaAid, which backs him.
The self-taught legal advocate's escape from house arrest in April and subsequent refuge in the U.S. Embassy was deeply embarrassing for China, and led to a diplomatic tussle between the two countries.
Chen was allowed to leave China and is studying in New York.
Chen said in the message released over the weekend that if Myanmar's President Thein Sein was able to release people like Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, then Xi should be able to release Chinese prisoners of conscience.

Two arrested at Myanmar mine rally in Yangon

* Activists say picked out for organising rally without permission

YANGON: At least two people have been arrested at a rally in Yangon held to condemn a violent police crackdown on protesters at a Chinese-backed copper mine, an activist and an AFP reporter said on Sunday.

The arrests come after Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed by the government to lead a probe into the raid on protest camps at the mine, in northern Myanmar, in an apparent bid to assuage public anger over the crackdown, which left scores injured.

An AFP reporter at the Yangon rally witnessed two men, including a protest leader called Moe Thway, being arrested by uniformed police. The reason for their arrests was unclear and police could not immediately be reached for comment, but activists said they were picked out for organising the rally without gaining permission from the authorities.

Myanmar’s investment law: temper applause with caution

Bangkok Post, December 3, 2012

After months of parliamentary debate, Nay Pyi Taw has finally done it: Myanmar’s new Foreign Investment Law was enacted on Nov 2 with a number of protectionist measures struck from the final draft.

While the law clarifies some issues for investors and create new incentives for investment, it also extends the powers and remit of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), whose task is to approve and oversee foreign investment.

Investors will need to closely scrutinise the government’s practical interpretation of multiple provisions of the law and remember that MIC approval will be needed to effect an exit or increase in any investment.
Most significantly, the law creates new broad-based categories of restricted investment, which could apply to many businesses and extends investor duties. Additionally, it requires the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development (NPED), which oversees the MIC, to issue implementing rules and procedures by the end of January.

Myanmar appoints Suu Kyi to investigate protest crackdown

Yangon - Myanmar appointed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to investigate a police crackdown on protesters at a copper mine that left 50 people injured, reports said Sunday.

Riot police on Thursday used water cannon, tear gas and smoke bombs to disperse hundreds of protesters who had camped outside the mining project near Monywa, 827 kilometres north-west of Yangon.

The protesters alleged that their land had been illegally confiscated and said an environmental impact study had never been conducted.