Depayin Massacre
Day: February 27, 2009
FREE BURMA Depayin 69 months
FREE BURMA Depayin 69 months ၂၀၀၃ ေမလ ၃၀ရက္တြင္ နအဖမွလုပ္ ၿကံသတ္ျဖတ္ ၿပီး ဦးတင္ဦး၊ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္တု ိ ့ ့အားယေန ့တုိင္ျပန္လည္မလြတ္ေပးျခင္းကုိေ တာင္းဆုိျခငး္။ မ်ဳိးေဆာ့ ဗီဒီယုိ သတင္းႏွင့္ျပန္ၾ…
Ethnic delegation urges Australia to lend more support
by Solomon
Friday, 27 February 2009 20:13
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The apex body of Burma’s ethnic nationalities, the Ethnic Nationalities Council, said it had called on Australia to send a special envoy to Burma, in order to facilitate a process of dialogue.
Delegates of the ENC, an umbrella organization of Burma’s ethnic political and armed groups, said they had urged the Australian government to designate a special envoy to put pressure on Burma’s military rulers for political reforms.
During an eleven-day lobbying trip to Australia, the Thailand-based ENC representatives, urged Australia to take a stronger stand on Burma and boycott its proposed 2010 elections, as it was a process to legitimize military rule in the country.
The representatives also explained the importance of a tripartite dialogue that would include the government, the opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of ethnic nationalities and urged Australia to mount pressure on the junta to kick-start a tripartite dialogue.
Duwa Mahkaw Hkunsa, General Secretary of the ENC, who is among the four-member delegation, told Mizzima that the Australian government had given a positive response to their requests of pressurizing the Burmese junta on ethnic issues, and to provide more support for the Burmese democratic movement both politically and financially.
The ENC delegation, has so far met an Australian parliamentarian, Assistance Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship. The delegation began their trip on February 20 and it will continue until March 3. continue
http://www.mizzima.com/
Villagers forced to pay for mobile phone lottery
imna news
The Ye Township Peace and Development Council (PDC) is forcing villagers to pay for CDMA phones, say local sources.
About 700 phones are allocated for Ye Township and Khaw Zar Sub-township, of which 400 will be given to government servants.
Residents who would like phones must apply for the remaining 300, which will be distributed based upon a random drawing. Each phone costs 1.8 million kyat.
According to a resident in Yinye village, the head of the Village PDC called a meeting on February 19th and explained that rights to new phones would be drawn by lot. Every resident was ordered to pay 3,000 to 10,000 kyat per house. Yinye village is home to 374 households.
Yinye villagers will then have to pay 300 kyat per minute, said a resident. “We paid money to buy the phone. And we pay it again if we use it – that is what the headman made business from us.”
According to a Ye resident who applied for the CDMA phone, applications were made two months ago. Some people applied for 3 or 4 phones in the hopes that they can resell multiple phones at a profit.
In Thaton district, Burmese government officers have not received phones though they made an application two months ago.
In 2007, the Mon State PDC sold mobile phones to authorities and officers of administrative offices. Most high school principles filled out applications to buy the phones, said a principle in Mon State. But not all townships have received phones.
http://www.monnews-imna.com/newsupdate.php?ID=1337
Local discuss druglord’s staying power
The marvel of druglord Naw Kham who is on the run is not the chase launched recently by the Burmese and Lao security forces but the fact that he had been able to run his illegal activities for so long, according to local sources both in Thailand and Burma’s Shan State.
By SHAN
27 February 2009
Naw Kham, 48, a former pro-Burma Army militia leader, went underground in 2006 to become one of the most successful racketeers along the Mekong, particularly in its Golden Triangle, where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet.
When the order came to launch a military operation against him and his estimated 50-men band last week, some Lahu militiamen were astonished. “This must be wrong,” one militia leader was quoted as exclaiming. “As far as we know, all the local military and police officers are being fed by him.”
All sources nonetheless have agreed that one reason Naw Kham had been able to run his protection racket in the locality was because Burmese authorities have turned a blind eye to him.
At least three others, one Thai businessman, one Thai security official and one Shan businessman have also given another identical reason: the undercurrent of resentment towards China.
The Thai businessman for one had cheered Naw Kham when he heard a Chinese cargo boat was hit on 18 February during a clash between the racket members and the Burma Army patrol. “Good of him,” he said. “I’ve also wanted to do the same thing for a long time.”
Asked why, he replied, “It’s because they (the Chinese) are acting as if the Mekong were theirs and theirs alone. When their boats come down, there is water. But when our boat goes up, there is no water.”
He was referring to a series of dams being completed and in construction upstream in the Chinese territory.
Likewise, Laotians in Huay Xai, opposite Thailand’s Chiang Khong, had reportedly expressed jubilation when Naw Kham’s men shot up a Chinese patrol boat and wounded 3 officers last year. Feelings against Chinese were high after people were moved out following a contract with Vientiane to build a casino there, local sources reported at the time.
Continued crackdown on Naw Kham on the Burmese side since 19 February has resulted in several seizures, according to militia sources:
6 M16 automatic rifles
30 AK47 automatic rifles
4 RPGs
2 pistols
10,000 plus cartridges (assorted)
B 22 million
½ truckload of heroin
8 gunny sacks of yaba (methamphetamines)
http://www.shanland.org/
Mongton-based Infantry Battalion IB 65, eastern Shan State, opposite Chiangmai Province, has been training militia units in the township, according to sources on the border.
by admin — last modified 2009-02-27 10:32
Mongton-based Infantry Battalion IB 65, eastern Shan State, opposite Chiangmai Province, has been training militia units in the township, according to sources on the border.
By Hseng Khio Fah
27 February 2009
“It started out as a 10 day training from 16 – 26 February, but it is not over yet this morning,” said a villager.
There were over a hundred of militia members from Nakawngmu, Na Pha Yawng, Kunghsa and Hwe Aw village tracts, who are being trained on combat infiltration and tactics.
The training is being conducted at the battalion command post. The trainees include both new and experienced members.
The trainees will get a special card each after the course is finished. Those holding the cards will be allowed to do “everything,” said a source.
“The card holders can go anywhere and can trade in anything they want,” he said. “They only need not make it obvious.”
In the meantime, authorities from Monghta, opposite Chiangmai’s Wianghaeng District, has also been training the Hsankang militia unit.
There were over 40 trainees who will be similarly given special cards after the course.
The battalion has already trained one batch in early February, which was called the upgrading course, for 32 militia members (Shan- 6, Lahu – 16, Kokang – 10).
The trainees then had to practise with the wooden guns, said another source.
In early this year 2009, the pro-junta militia units were re-organized on township basis. Tin Win of Maeken was appointed as the head of all the militia units in Mongton Township and Ja Pikoi of Nakawngmu his deputy. http://www.shanland.org/
Drugs – Junta’s short and straight road to Obama (Part II)
by admin — last modified 2009-02-27 10:30
By SHAN
27 February 2009
Soon after Part I came out on 23 February, I a journalist friend had argued over it:
The SPDC must also know fully well it can’t afford to buck against Beijing that wants no war on its doorstep
There is no way the Wa will surrender
To which I had fully agreed. For one thing, a clash took place on 3 February in Hopang township where 2 on the Wa side and 8-10 on the Burma side were reportedly killed. Yet both had chosen to downplay the whole incident despite both being in a state of high readiness.
For another, the Wa have often reiterated that the only way they could be disarmed is over their dead bodies. There are several statements made by the Wa which one certainly has the right to feel doubtful about. For instance, that they have totally done away with drugs. However, when it comes to their refusal either to disarm or become subordinate to the Burma Army, it is really hard to harbor any doubts about that.
At least to a certain extent.
Many believe that while the majority may resist any attempt by the Burma Army to the death, the minority led by Wei Xuegang, a drug fugitive from Thailand, who has made large-scale investments in Burma, will hold out for long.
Given a chance, that he will not be prosecuted or extradited to Thailand or even the United States, the same deal offered to the late Khun Sa in 1996, he may well conclude a separate pact with the junta.
With him and his company gone over to the enemy’s camp, the Wa’s financial foothold will be left in dire straits. After all, it was Wei who had saved the Wa from total collapse in 1989 after it had mutinied against the then Beijing-backed Communist Party of Burma.
That itself can be claimed as a crushing victory in the War on Drugs by the junta.
To achieve this, Naypyitaw may possibly not even need to fight. Its experiences with Khun Sa says it needs only a prolonged siege which will eventually break the will of some significant faction in the leadership.
When that happens, the remainder (it hopes) will weaken and perish.
It nevertheless is still a big gamble and what’s more, a big bluff. The generals cannot afford to offend Beijing but it still wants to satisfy Washington and it still hopes a significant part of the Wa forces will realize the errors of their way and come over.
Of course, as opinions go, I can afford to be wrong and I hope I’m wrong. The only problem is that if I’m right, the opposition may as well give up their fight.
http://www.shanland.org/
Burma sets condition for accepting Rohingya migrants
by Usa Pichai
Friday, 27 February 2009 19:41
Hua Hin (Mizzima) The Thai Foreign Minister has said that the Burmese military regime has agreed to take back only those migrants, who have been verified as “Bengalis” from Burma, at the regional bloc’s summit in Thailand.
Kasit Piromya, the chairperson of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), told the press on Friday after he had a meeting with foreign ministers from the 10 member countries, that the solution to the refugee problem required cooperation from these countries as well as the ASEAN Secretariat.
He said the Bengali ethnicity of the Rohingya in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia would be verified and then it would be confirmed that they were from Burma.
“The Burmese officials said that in the official ethnic groups list of Burma, there is only a Bengali group, but Rohingya has not been approved as an ethnic group in Burma,” Piromya added.
The solution to this issue would be worked out at two levels, firstly enlisting the cooperation of related countries at ASEAN and the second would be at a bigger level during the Bali Process.
Secretary General of ASEAN, Dr Surin Pitsuwan also said at a press conference that the Rohingya issue was a regional problem, and at the moment the solution could not be reached only by the countries in the bloc, so it would be raised during the “Bali Process” that is scheduled for April 14 to 15, 2009.
continue http://www.mizzima.com/
Burma Insists Rohingyas are ‘Bengalis’
CHA-AM, Thailand — Burma is insisting at the Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) summit in southern Thailand that the boatpeople now fleeing Arakan State are not Rohingyas but Bengalis.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromiya, told a summit press conference that Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win told Asean colleagues at an informal dinner on Thursday that a reading of the region’s history would show the people now being described as Rohingyas were actually Bengalis and not members of any Burmese ethnic group.
continue http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15209
The Junta alway sets condition for everything….ASEAN should kick…
democracy for burma 
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