Day: September 22, 2009
Thailand to open another border-crossing
TUESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2009 13:35 S.H.A.N.
Maehongson, that borders with Burma’s Kayah State in the west and Shan State in the north, has scheduled 24 September as the date to inaugurate the Nampiangdin checkpoint with Kayah, according to local sources.
Provincial governor Thongchai Wongrianthong has already extended an invitation to Burma’s Kayah State administrator for the joint opening of the border-crossing which is located just a few kilometers south of the city. “So far we have yet to receive any response from the Burmese side,” said a security source.
Kayah State, or Karenni State, with its capital in Loikaw, is under the control of the Burma Army’s Loikaw Regional Operations Command, commanded by Brig Gen Win Myint, according to a list compiled by Network for Democracy and Development (NDD).
Maehongson has already opened two other border-crossings, one with Kayah State’s Mezay (BP-14) and the other with Shan State’s Namon Long (BP10).
The anti-Naypyitaw Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the Shan State Army (SSA) South are active in the Maehongson-Kayah-Shan State triangle.
Maehongson provincial governor Thongchai Wongrianthong greeting with Brig Gen Win Myint during the meeting on 1 October 2008 (Photo: http://www.maehongson.co.th)
22 September 2009 16:30 Thailand Standard Time At least 128 political prisoners released
(Mae Sot – Thailand)
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP) can confirm that so far 128 political prisoners have been released from 25 different prisons in Burma.
The 128 released include 44 members of the National League for Democracy, including 3 MPs; 22 women; 11 former political prisoners; 4 monks; 4 journalists; 13 students; 10 members of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network; 5 members of the 88 Generation Students; and 1 lawyer.
On the evening of September 17, 2009 in Rangoon, state-run MRTV carried a news bulletin announcing that 7,114 prisoners were to be released “on humanitarian grounds.
The Censor Board has banned media coverage of the press conference held by newly formed political party, Democratic Party, Chairman, Thu Wei and Win Naing and other news related to pre-2010 elections in Burma.
Junta bans weekly journals from pro-election media coverage
by Mizzima News
Tuesday, 22 September 2009 21:10
New Delhi/Rangoon (Mizzima) – The Censor Board has banned media coverage of the press conference held by newly formed political party, Democratic Party, Chairman, Thu Wei and Win Naing and other news related to pre-2010 elections in Burma.
The weekly journals are uncertain about why the Censor Board unexpectedly banned news of the press conference, held by two veteran politicians, who are pro-junta.
“We submitted this news to the Censor Board on Saturday, to be published in this week’s issue. They censored this news so that we had to replace it with another piece of news,” a journal editor told Mizzima.
Although they do not know which journals submitted this news to the Censor Board and why the news was censored, the journalists whom Mizzima interviewed said that they knew about it.
A veteran journalist said that he had himself decided not to cover this news. “I found the news of Thu Wei and Win Naing a little uncertain for the domestic media. Then I decided not to cover this news for fear of being censored. As I thought earlier, no journal was allowed to cover this news,” he said.
This press conference was attended by some domestic journalists; some Burmese reporters from Rangoon-based foreign media, a local military intelligence unit, a special branch of police and USDA members.
Three days after the press conference, the Bahan Township authority summoned these two politicians and warned them for not taking prior approval from them for holding this press conference, by saying that they must take prior approval from them for assembly of more than 5 people, and had to sign on a bond. Continue reading “The Censor Board has banned media coverage of the press conference held by newly formed political party, Democratic Party, Chairman, Thu Wei and Win Naing and other news related to pre-2010 elections in Burma.”
60 civilians fallen ill by an unknown disease in a Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled area
At least 60 civilians, mostly schoolchildren, have fallen ill by an unknown disease in an epidemic that has broken out in a Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled area in Papun district in northern Karen State.
About 300 people have been infected in the last two weeks, and about 60 remain in serious condition, Karen sources said.
Most of the victims are children from a middle school, which has closed due the outbreak, said Eh Na, the editor of Kwekalu, a Karen news organization.
Eh Na said a field medic speaking via satellite phone from Taw Auu Den, one of the affected villages, reported that he was unable to identify the disease.
The medic said the infected children suffered from sore throats, coughs and fevers up to 40 degrees Celsius.
“When children suffer such high fevers, there is a great risk that they can go into shock and fall unconscious,” Eh Na said.
The current epidemic has spread to four villages in Papun District, which Rangoon-based nongovernmental and international nongovernmental organizations cannot reach, he said. Continue reading “60 civilians fallen ill by an unknown disease in a Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled area”
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