Day: April 7, 2009
Government troops attack rebel outpost
Apr 7, 2009 (DVB)–Government military troops and fighters from a pro-junta ceasefire army attacked and captured an outpost close to a strategically important base of a prominent rebel group last week.
Burmese military personnel and troops from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army launched a raid on a base belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the opposition group Karen National Union.
Lieutenant Kyi Aung, an official at the KNU base in Karen state’s Walakee region, said the attack on Saturday was the government’s first step in their plan to take control of the main base.
The base is located in a crucial position for regional trade and strategic military routes.
“Our soldiers [who fled the outpost] said the DKBA attacked them from behind while coming in from the Thai side,” said Kyi Aung.
He said the attack from government forces in the area continued over the weekend.
The DKBA split from the KNU in 1994, initially presenting itself as an alternative to the KNU before allying itself with the government.
Last week, the son of a former KNU leader joined another pro-government splinter group, the KNU Peace Council.
With three Karen splinter groups now allied to the ruling State Peace and Development Council, some Burmese military analysts have speculated that the recent attack by Burmese troops could be due to information supplied by the defectors.
Casualties from the latest assault are unknown.
A joint force of Burmese and pro-junta Karen troops attacked the base camp of a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) battalion early Monday morning, according to Karen rebel sources.
Burmese, Breakaway Karen Troops Attack KNLA Base
A joint force of Burmese and pro-junta Karen troops attacked the base camp of a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) battalion early Monday morning, according to Karen rebel sources.
Sources from the Karen National Union (KNU), the political wing of the KNLA, said that fighting broke out in Valeki, where the KNLA’s Battalion 201 is based, at around 6 a.m. Monday and lasted about 20 minutes.
There were no casualties reported in the clash, which started after a combined force of around 100 Burmese and Karen troops launched an attack on the KNLA base.
The sources said they expected KNLA Battalion 201 to come under further attacks from the Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalion 356 and Battalion 907 of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a Karen ceasefire group that broke away from the KNU more than a decade ago.
Capt Bu Paw of the KNLA’s Battalion 201 said, “We heard that they will attack us until they get control of our area. But they didn’t seem to be able to launch a big attack.”
The battalion has come under fire repeatedly since late last year, as the Burmese army and its Karen proxies try to wrest control of the area from the KNLA because of the profits to be gained from agriculture, logging and mining in the area.
The KNU has been fighting for autonomy since Burma gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948. The DKBA split from the KNU in late 1994 and soon after signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military government. Several other splinter groups have signed separate peace agreements with the military regime since then.
On Saturday, the state-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, reported that 71 Karen rebels led by Nay Soe Mya, son of the late KNU leader Gen Saw Bo Mya, defected to the Burmese military government on March 30.
Irrawaddy.news
BURMA BULLETIN ISSUE 27 – MARCH 2009
http://www.altsean.org/Docs/PDF%20Format/Burma%20Bulletin/March%202009%20Burma%20Bulletin.pdf
KEY STORY
• HRC condemns SPDC
• Ojea Quintana report
• Daw Suu’s detention
• Political prisoners
• Arrests
• Prison sentences
INSIDE BURMA
• 2010 elections
• SPDC Army desertions
• Bombs
• At the monasteries
• Post-Nargis recovery
• Delta water crisis
• Crisis beyond the delta
• Protests
• Speed out of Burma
HUMAN RIGHTS
• Rohingya and Muslims
• SPDC “internet enemy”
• Detention conditions
• Forced labor more on pdf
The planned mass protest on April 8 by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will likely remain peaceful and occur within the legal framework, according to Supreme Commander Songkitti Jaggabatara.
Gen. Songkitti confident military not to stage another coup
The planned mass protest on April 8 by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will likely remain peaceful and occur within the legal framework, according to Supreme Commander Songkitti Jaggabatara.
He states that the public should use their own discretion about former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s video-link speech since the country must move forward, and also urges all UDD core-leaders not to violate the law and other peoples’ rights.
He expresses confidence that the military will not stage another coup d’etat.
http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/index.php
The United Wa State Army will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding on 17 April, regarded by many Asian countries including Burma as the New Year’s Day, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.
Founding of Wa army to be celebrated
TUESDAY, 07 APRIL 2009 10:56 S.H.A.N.
The United Wa State Army will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding on 17 April, regarded by many Asian countries including Burma as the New Year’s Day, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.
Scanty details say festivities will begin on Wednesday, 15 April.
Security has been tightened and no individual outsider, without strong recommendations “from those responsible,” will be allowed entry, according to a security officer in Panghsang, the Wa capital opposite Menglian, Yunnan province.
Bao Youxiang, Wa supreme leader, with Gen Khin Nyunt, regarded as the architect of ceasefire with the Wa
It is not known how many news agencies will be represented there.
Since 14 March, hundreds of non-permanent residents without residence permits were ordered to leave the city, following reports that attempts would be made to sabotage the celebrations. “You will also be fined Y 1,000 ($147) if you can’t show any temporary stay cards,” said a Shan truck driver. “I know that, because I was among those who had to pay the fine.” Continue reading “The United Wa State Army will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding on 17 April, regarded by many Asian countries including Burma as the New Year’s Day, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.”
Two buildings in Thanbyuzayart Township were destroyed by fire yesterday when a customer’s petrol can started a blaze in the fuel shop where he was being served.
According to a local monk, the container still had traces of a flammable substance in it from a previous occasion and this reacted with the petrol when the fuel shop owner began to fill it at around 6pm yesterday. As the owner and customer fled, fire spread through the shop to the owner’s home behind and then to the car parts shop next door, destroying both buildings.
“When it started two fire trucks came to the shop from Thanbyuzayart Fire Station and tried to put out the fire,” said a local resident. One of the trucks turned out to be unusable but they were joined by two more– one each from Mudon and Kyaikhamee (Kyaikhami). Local people also tried to help tackle the blaze.
“A water seller used his truck and other people tried to help too,” said the resident.
“I don’t know if the shop owner was arrested afterwards or not.”
The fire was eventually extinguished but not before causing what locals estimate is around 100 million Kyat’s worth of damage.
Imna news
Ox fighters arrested after bribing only one local army battalion
Mon 06 Apr 2009, IMNA
Three men were arrested and millions of kyat were seized yesterday by the Burmese army after organizers of an ox fight paid one, but not the other, local army regiment in Thanbyuzayat Township.
On Sunday morning at about 7am, hundreds of villagers from Mudon and Thanbyuzayat Townships gathered on a football field outside Pangha village to watch and gamble on a fight between two large oxen.
Before the fight could commence, soldiers from Training Battalion (TB) No. 4 arrived. TB No. 4 arrested the owners of the oxen as well as the referee, who was also serving as the bookmaker for betting on the fight.
“Before they started the fight, the regiment came and took the money. The money was in two sacks – it might have been 10 million kyat,” a resident of Mudon Township who attended the fight told IMNA. “When the soldiers arrived, the referee could not run away because he was holding the two sacks of money.” Continue reading “Ox fighters arrested after bribing only one local army battalion”
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