USDA(Thugs and Thieves) prepares list of possible election candidate

by Salai Pi Pi
Wednesday, 22 April 2009 20:56

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta-backed civilian organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in Chin state, has completed its list of members, who will contest in the ensuing general elections in 2010.

Sources in the opposition party – the National League for Democracy – in Hakha town, capital of Chin state, said the USDA had completed preparing the list of possible candidates from the nine townships in Chin state, and were ready to submit the list to their central office.

“The USDA office from Hakha has already received a list of candidates from all townships and are planning to submit it to their central office,” the source said.

The source said, the USDA had nominated four candidates from Hakha Township, five from Thangtlang Township and one from Falam Township. However, he failed to describe the numbers selected from other townships.

About 200 trucks brimming over with timber from Burma’s northern Kachin State are ready to move tonight to Tengchong in China’s southwestern Yunnan province after crossing the Sino-Burma border, said local sources.

The timber trucks, which can carry between six and 10 tons of wood, are allowed to move mostly at night by authorities of local Burmese Army bases because they do not want the log-trucks to be seen by civilians moving along the logging track, said sources close to timber traders.
Now, the trucks are lined up at the Jubilee timber camp in the Triangle Areas, situated between Mali and N’Mai Rivers also called Mali Hka and N’Mai Hka in local Kachin language. The timber carried by the trucks is hardwood, said eyewitnesses.
All the logging forests in the Triangle Areas are controlled areas of the 1st Brigade of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

BDC BURMA Tea Shop Campaign in BURMA

Tea shop sitting culture is very significant in Burma and tea shops are the places to meet people, to exchange news and to gather people. Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) would like to initiate Tea Shop Campaign to assemble public, to get ready for the mass uprising and to topple military junta.

http://www.bdcburma.org/

ဂူးဂဲလ္၊ ဂ်ီေတာ့ခ္ (ဂ်ီေမးလ္) အေၾကာင္း တေစ့တေစာင္း

FOR GRTALK USERS

http://moemaka.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3657&Itemid=1

Voice of Burma April 19 2009

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14519330/VOB706KK

Drug addicts “look like monkeys” in Eastern Shan State

WEDNESDAY, 22 APRIL 2009 16:56 KHUN AUNG KHAM
As drugs grow popular in Mong Pu, Mong Hsat Township, Eastern Shan State, many people are found unable to do their jobs without drugs. They are selling what they have to buy drugs instead of buying food and, as a result, are getting thinner and thinner, said local villagers.

“Many drug users in our village are getting thinner and thinner. If we look at them from their back they still look like human beings but if we look at them from the front, they look like monkeys,” said one local who arrived on the border recently.

Usually, they don’t care for anything when they are craving for drugs. They sell what they own even cows or buffaloes. When everything is gone, they repent but it is already too late for them, said another.

The affect of drugs is not only on individuals but on other people as well. Sometimes when there are celebrations in the village, drug users usually never come to help if there is no drug to feed them.

Many vehicles, including lorries and trucks, on the western border have been requisitioned by the Burmese army to transport stone and gravel for construction of fences along the border with Bangladesh, said one car owner.

Vehicles Requisitioned for Border Fence

4/22/2009
Maungdaw: Many vehicles, including lorries and trucks, on the western border have been requisitioned by the Burmese army to transport stone and gravel for construction of fences along the border with Bangladesh, said one car owner.

“This is the new year holiday but the army personnel requisitioned our cars in order to carry stones from Buthidaung to many construction sites of fences along the border,” he said.

The army has started the vehicle requisition in the last few days without providing full compensation to the vehicle owners.

“We lost profits because the army took our cars. The army officials do not pay full compensation to us for use of our cars. Even though the army has to pay 10,000 kyat for our car, the army officials actually only give us 5,000 kyat. At the same time, we have to spend at least one or two days for the transport work,” the owner said.

According to a source from a local car association, the army requisitioned the cars for two construction sites, one in Ma Kyi Chaung Village and one in Nga Khu Ra Village.

“there are only three or four trucks of the government to transport for the fence construction, and this is insufficient for the work, so the army officials are requisitioning vehicles owned by local residents,” the source added.

Ten vehicles each from the towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw are being commandeered everyday by the Burmese army for work on the border fence construction.

Shots fired as NMSP and breakaway MPDF clash over tax dispute

Wed 22 Apr 2009, IMNA
Shots were fired as conflict broke out for the first time between the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the breakaway group led by General Aung Naing, the Mon Peace and Defense Front (MPDF) over a tax dispute at a Water Festival ox fight in Mon State.

The clash happened on April 15th when MPDF officer, Nai Aie Chan, who was drunk at the time, demanded ‘tax’ from the organizers of the ox fight that was taking place near Sang Kalong village, Kyaikmaraw Township, Mon State, an NMSP controlled area.

An NMSP officer who was attending the ox fight intervened and ordered Nai Aie Chan to stop. An argument ensued between NMSP personnel and MPDF members and shots were heard at which point spectators fled.

According to an eyewitness, “The fighting didn’t last long and nobody was injured. However, a truck that was trying to escape went into a ditch and was damaged. People just ran back to their houses and shut their doors.”

This is the first recorded incident between the NMSP and the MPDF since the splinter group was formed last year when General Aung Naing split from the NMSP after holding secret talks with the Burmese regime.

According to sources in the NMSP stated that Nai Aie Chan is still a member of the MPDF.

Army using civilians as minesweepers

Apr 22, 2009 (DVB)–The Burmese army has been using civilians to act as minesweepers, forcing them to walk in front of bulldozers and troop patrols in order that neither army equipment nor personnel is damaged, claims a report.

Villagers from Play Hsa Lo, in northern Karen state, were forced by the army on 2 April to both carry food and sweep the area for mines as the army encroached on Karen rebel territory, said a Free Burma Rangers’ report released on Monday.
According to Thauwa A Ta, from Free Burma Rangers, the use of villagers as minesweepers happens on a regular basis.
“If the Burmese army is trying to move something they don’t want the resistance to destroy, for example a bulldozer to build roads, they often put people in front of it, usually about 30 or so, to clear the area of landmines and to step on them if there are any,” he said.

VDO-Former Brigadier General Htein Maung of KNLA

Thanks to longwalkfreedom news group