A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / NIUE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / COOK ISLANDS / TONGA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / FIJI / HOWLAND-BAKER / JARVIS IS. / NEW ZEALAND / FR. POLYNESIA / PALMYRA IS.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME – 1748Z 29 SEP 2009
COORDINATES – 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST
DEPTH – SHALLOWER THAN 100 KM
LOCATION – SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
MAGNITUDE – 7.9

EVALUATION

IT IS NOT KNOWN THAT A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. THIS WARNING IS
BASED ONLY ON THE EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION. AN EARTHQUAKE OF THIS
SIZE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN
STRIKE COASTLINES NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN MINUTES AND MORE
DISTANT COASTLINES WITHIN HOURS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE
APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER
WILL MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA FROM GAUGES NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE TO
DETERMINE IF A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED AND ESTIMATE THE SEVERITY OF
THE THREAT.

ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2009/pacific.2009.09.29.180334.txt

The United Nations on Tuesday praises Laos for ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

Lao praised for ratifying UN key human rights treaties
uch as victims of cluster munitions, and to protect an individual’s physical integrity (against e.g. torture and arbitrary arrest), explained the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations Lao PDR and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in South East Asia,” said the UN in a press statement.

“This is a significant moment in the evolution of the country’s commitment with the promotion and protection of human rights and the UN Country team stands ready to support the Government in the realisation of these conventions,” said Serge Verniau, UN Resident Coordinator in Laos.

“These ratifications herald a momentous step by the Lao PDR in its integration into the international legal framework.”

Homayoun Alizadeh, Regional Representative of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the next step for Laos is to move towards implementation and translate the provision of these conventions into national laws.

With the ratification of ICCPR and CPRD, Laos is now a state party to six out of the nine existing core UN human rights treaties.

In South East Asia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam, and now Lao PDR, have ratified the ICCPR. Philippines and Thailand are the only other countries together with Lao now in the region having ratified the CRPD.
nation

Eighth Meeting Between Burmese And KIO Officials

Written by KNG
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 13:43
The eighth meeting between Burmese military officials and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) got off the ground today in Myitkyina, the capital of Burma’s northern Kachin State, said KIO sources.

The meeting is on at the Mali Hka Hall in the Burmese Army’s Northern Regional Command headquarters based in Myitkyina. The meeting began at 10 a.m. local time, said KIO officials in the group’s Laiza headquarters on the Sino-Burma border in Kachin State.

KIO sources said this time, the meeting will mainly focus on issues related to civil departments under the KIO rather than the contentious Border Guard Force issue.

The Burmese junta’s Northern Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win (left) and KIO chairman/president Lanyaw Zaw Hra

The KIO delegates are meeting Maj-Gen Soe Win, the junta’s commander of the Myitkyina-based Northern Regional Command and a local chief negotiator to the KIO and other pro-junta Kachin militia and armed groups in Kachin State, said KIO sources.

Ethnic Soldiers In Burmese Army Discriminated Against

Written by KNG
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:55
Two ethnic Kachin military personnel in Burmese Army’s No. 1 Nyaung Pin military base in Mongkoe in Burma’s Northeast Shan State deserted on September 17 because they could not withstand the torture, repression and discrimination by their superior Burman officers, said the two deserters.

Currently, the Burmese Army’s Mongkoe No.1 Nyaung Pin military base has the Namtu-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 324 led by Lt-Col Moe Zaw Htut on a rotational system every three or four months, local residents said.

During day time on September 17, three Kachin soldiers, Tangbau Lum Ze, Labang Ma Naw and Maran La Awng were serving in Company No. 2 under the battalion. They were ordered to collect tax from all civilians crossing the army gate on Mongkoe-Mongya Road.
Sources close to deserters said, the three Kachin soldiers did not collect tax from local civilians because they understood the local peoples’ language and were sympathetic given the current economic hardship and struggle for livelihood of the civilians.

The three Kachin soldiers were punished early in the night and were ordered by the commander Lt-Col Moe Zaw Htut to buy liquor from outside because they did not collect tax from local civilians, said sources.

After all the soldiers in the military base drank the liquor bought, the three Kachin soldiers were beaten up by the rest of the soldiers. Tangbau Lum Ze went into a coma following a serious head injury, said deserters.

Patrols, movement restrictions and forced labour in Toungoo District

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Evil Mara Than Shwe : cartoon by Feraya

Landmines halt refugee return in Karen State

Mae Sot, Thailand (Mizzima) – Fighting largely came to an end in Karen State’s central Hlaing Bwe Township three months ago, but villagers who fled to Thailand in June to avoid the offensive are still afraid to go home. They say that unless landmines are removed, the area will still be too dangerous when Thai permission for their stay runs out at the end of the rainy season.

A forced recruitment campaign by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which began in May and a joint DKBA-Burmese Army offensive in June resulted in several thousand Karen villagers fleeing the area. Temporary refugee sites were set up at Noh Boh, Oo Thu Hta and Mae Salit villages in Thailand’s Tha Song Yang district.

The unusual rainy season offensive ended when Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) troops pulled out of their border camps on June 13 to wage a more mobile guerrilla campaign. Refugees continued to come out in small groups as people fled forced labour involving portering for DKBA and Burmese troops and a continued forced conscription campaign. By September the camp population had grown to 4,862 refugees.

Permission has only been granted by the Thai authorities until the end of the rainy season, which usually ends in late October or early November. At that point, refugees must choose between moving to Mae La refugee camp or going back to Burma. Remaining at the sites is not an option and anyone doing so will be considered an illegal immigrant and deported.

So far, the refugees have chosen to remain in the temporary camps rather than go to Mae La directly out of hope that when the rains finish they can return home. However, a DKBA move to systematically landmine abandoned villages and the western riverbank of the Moei River which separates Burma and Thailand makes those plans extremely dangerous.

Mon “election working committee,” Min Nwe Soe, was arrested by special police in Mudon Township in Mon State on Wednesday. He was later released with a warning not to work with Mon exile organizations again

Min Nwe Soe is one of 15 Mon community leaders, including former central members of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), who formed an election working committee in June to prepare for the elections to be held by the Burmese junta in 2010.

Several Mon community leaders, including Min Nwe Soe, have participated in joint Mon Affairs Union (MAU) meetings held in Thailand in recent months.

The MAU represents all Mon people, whether they live in Mon State in Burma or in exile.

The meetings are held to discuss current Mon affairs and Burmese politics, especially about how to take part in the planned 2010 election.

MAU sources said Min Nwe Soe was not present at an MAU meeting early in September.

MAU members believe he was targeted by the Burmese authorities because he is a leading committee member as well as a youth leader in Mudon Township.

Hostility between Thai police seniors over border crossing to casinos

by Usa Pichai
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:09

Bangkok (Mizzima) – A casino in the Golden Triangle near the Thailand-Burma border has become the centre of conflict among high level Thai police officers after the former Deputy Metro Police Chief was arrested by the local police in Chiang Rai province.

Pol. Lt. Col. Santhana Prayoonrat, former Deputy Metro Police, 2nd Department sued Pol. Col. Sutham Chartarsa, Chiang Saen district Police Chief in the Chiang Rai district court on Tuesday for maltreatment. Santhana, has claimed that he was on duty to investigate a case where the local police in Chiang Saen allowed gamblers to cross the border to the casino in the Golden Triangle 24 hours which is illegal, according to Thai law.

Pol. Lt.Col. Santhana was arrested together with eight people in Chiang Saen district, Chiang Rai province by the local police. They were accused of illegally carrying guns and bullets in public.

He said the local police in Chiang Saen threatened him, hit him on the chest and tried to choke him. The group was detained for a night and released on bail the next day. The court has accepted the case.

Santhana claimed that local police officials were suspicious when they were investigating the case. They had allowed gamblers to cross on all days. They were afraid the result of the investigation would be reported to senior officials in Bangkok.

“Besides, all my guns are licensed but the local police over reacted,” he said

KNLA demolishes DKBA’s bulldozer and excavator

by Don Talenywun
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:26

Mae Sot, Thailand (Mizzima) – A demolition operation by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), an ethnic armed rebel group, has destroyed a D6 Caterpillar bulldozer and a 20-tonne excavator near the village of Ta-ah Tah in Karen State in Burma.

The special KNLA squad, formed with soldiers of the Sixth Brigade’s 201 and 103 battalions, took the machines out with two kilograms of TNT.

The depot is on the western side of the southern reaches of the Dawna Mountain Range, about five days’ walk from the Burmese border town of Myawaddy.

KNLA forward scouts strapped the explosives under the engines and detonated them at 1 am on September 21 with a remote.

Sources said the machines were used in mining and in building the new military road by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a group that broke away from the Karen National Union, the political wing of the KNLA.