At UN, Myanmar Languishes in Council’s Footnotes, Those Fleeing into China Are UNProtected

UNITED NATIONS, September 2 — Myanmar is in the footnotes of the UN Security Council’s agenda for September, during which U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice will serve as Council president. On Wednesday at the UN, Inner City Press asked Ambassador Rice why Myanmar is in the footnotes, to confirm reports that she warned Ban Ki-moon against visiting the country lest it just support Than Shwe, and to address Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul’s leaked memo that Ban lacks “moral authority” on Myanmar, like Sri Lanka. Video here, from Minute 21:50.

Ambassador Rice replied that “Myanmar — which we call Burma… is in the footnote because a number of members of the Council, including the United States, felt it is timely to stay focused on events there.” She said that Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal of her sentence might result in an outcome that the Council might want to consider.

Ms. Rice did not address the Juul memo’s critique of Ban’s performance, and said that her “advice to the Secretary General, it would be wise for me to keep it private.” Video here, from Minute 23:47. Rather, she noted that Ban said he received commitments by the Burmese leadership for “swift positive political steps.”

In fact, the military regime in Myanmar has gone on a Sri Lanka-like assault into rebel held territory, resulting in people fleeing across the border into China. continue
http://www.innercitypress.com/usun1sept2burma090209.html

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Around 4000 Burmese crossed into Thailand yesterday to attend an annual food donation event in the border town of Mae Sai, according to Burmese residents in the town.

Thousands cross into Thailand for free food
Sept 3, 2009 (DVB)–Around 4000 Burmese crossed into Thailand yesterday to attend an annual food donation event in the border town of Mae Sai, according to Burmese residents in the town.

The event was held at a Chinese temple in the town, and about 5000 people in total collected bags of rice, instant noodle packs, salt and canned fish.
“A lot of poor people from both sides of the border came to get the donation items and about 80 percent were from Burma,” said a Mae Sai resident.
A Burmese national at the event said the donation items would help his family survive for about two days.
“Two days is still not bad – I brought my kids along to the donation and they were given 20 Thai baht (around $US0.6) each,” said the person, adding that said he had been receiving the donation since 1997.
“There are three adults in my family so we got three bags of rice and the cash the kids got paid covered the transportation fee.”
Burmese living close to the border often cross into Thailand for food and medical treatment.

A monk in Magwe division’s Chauk township, U Thumana, was taken by authorities on 29 August. The reason for his arrest and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Monks intimidated close to 2007 anniversary
Sept 3, 2009 (DVB)–Several Burmese monks have been arrested and others intimidated by authorities as the two-year anniversary of the September 2007 uprising approaches, according to sources inside Burma.

A monk in central Burma’s Mandalay division said recently that a local government-led Monk Adminstration committee had warned monks in the area to avoid political activities.
This follows the arrest last week of several monks in various parts of Burma in what appears to be a campaign by the government to intimidate the normally apolitical community in the run-up to the anniversary of the monk-led uprising.
A monk in Magwe division’s Chauk township, U Thumana, was taken by authorities on 29 August. The reason for his arrest and his current whereabouts are unknown.
U Thumana is originally from the town of Pakokku, which became the flashpoint of the 2007 uprising after police broke up a peaceful demonstration on 5 September, injuring three monks.
Two monks in Pakokku were arrested last week by government officials. One of them was identified as U Weithuda from West Monastery in the town, said a local monk.
“Some people came to U Weithuda’s monastery and told him there was a girl waiting for him in a teashop near the monastery,” said the monk.

Ancient Mon Tradition that ancestors believed to prevent bad luck-Food offering on ship by IMNA

The Burmese junta has ordered New Mon State Party (NMSP) leaders not to sell private or party property, according to a source close to party members.

A NMSP member in Moulmein said special police appeared after party leader Tun Ya sold his land and house.

“They arrived suddenly after he had sold his property, but fortunately he had left before they arrived,” said the source.

The order not to sell private or party property comes amid growing tension and distrust following the party’s refusal to transform its army into a border guard force, as ordered by the state, and a split among the party leadership on ending its ceasefire agreement with the regime.

In previous years, party leaders were allowed to sell property. There was no explanation as to why the sale of property was banned, sources said, but they speculated it was intended to prevent party leaders from returning to the jungle to take up arms against the military junta.

Meanwhile, party leaders are split about whether to end the cease fire agreement with the Burmese government, sources said. The majority of the leaders who own property don’t want to cancel the ceasefire agreement, said sources.

Junta Continues its Campaign against Burmese Diversity

Recent fighting in northern Shan state, between the junta’s army and the ethnic Kokang militia known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, has fuelled speculation that the regime intends to coerce Burma’s 17 ceasefire groups into accepting a plan to incorporate them into the state security apparatus as border guards.

The ceasefire groups are ethnic militias—most notably the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the Kachin Independence Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army—that have fought on and off, in various guises, against central rule since Burma became independent in 1948. They are part of Burma’s remarkably diverse ethnic, religious and cultural demography—40 percent of the country’s population is comprised of non-Burman minorities. In total, the state recognizes 135 different ethnicities.

However, the Burmese regime’s army has fought brutal campaigns against these groups, with long-documented human rights abuses, including mass displacement, forced labor and conscription, as well as countless cases of rape and murder targeting civilians. Some analysts believing that the level of abuses ranks alongside or even exceeds that of Darfur in western Sudan.

In some cases, the junta has successfully co-opted proxy or splinter movements from ethnic insurgent groups as part of its ongoing strategy of “divide and rule” to weaken ethnically based opposition. But far from bringing peace to the country, this approach has served only to perpetuate ethnic tensions.

Indeed, some observers believe that the regime has little interest in resolving a problem that has long been its raison d’?tre. “Burma’s ethnic diversity has been one of the main justifications for continued military rule,” said Win Min, an analyst of Burmese affairs based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, adding that the army has long seen civilian government as too weak to prevent potential secession by ethnic minorities.

Kokang Conflict Highlights Tatmadaw Xenophobia

The Tatmadaw of Burma, one of the most nationalistic armies in the world, demonstrated its xenophobia during the past two weeks following its capture of Kokang-Chinese territory.

According to reports from the region on the northeastern frontier of Burma, following the seizure of Laogai, the Kokang capital, on Aug. 24, government soldiers questioned civilians about whether they were Burma-born Chinese or immigrants from China.

“After answering, Chinese from mainland China were beaten by soldiers,” said a source in Laogai.

Refugees who fled to China told reporters that shops, stores and other properties owned by Chinese had been looted in various towns in the Kokang region where an estimate 90 percent of businesses are owned by Chinese businessmen.

Anti-Chinese elements among government soldiers are not new. In 1967, an anti-Chinese riot in Rangoon and other cities caused led to dozens of deaths. Observers said late dictator Ne Win’s Burmese Socialist Programme Party used the Chinese as a scapegoat to deflect public anger at the government over a rice shortage in the country.

Anti-Chinese sentiment among Burmese has increased after the Chinese and Burmese governments signed border trading agreements in 1988, and the military junta signed ceasefire agreements with ethnic militias on the Sino-Burmese border in 1989.

Poisonous Political Thinking Zaw Naing Wynn

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