Day: December 20, 2010

State censor ramps up bans on journal Suu Kyi stories

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Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese state censors are ramping up stops on publication of features on or interviews with pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi, on orders from Naypyidaw, the editor of People’s Era journal said.

peoples-era-journal2s1Writers Takkatho Tin Kha (first left), Maung Wuntha (centre) and Paragu, run trained eyes over the People’s Era journal at its launch in Rangoon on Tuesday, July 6, 2010. It and Venus journal became the latest victims of state censor, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department, which blocked from publication on Saturday, December 18, 2010 interviews with Suu Kyi conducted last week. Photo: Mizzima

Editors of that publication and Venusjournal met Suu Kyi last Tuesday. People’s Era journal on Friday submitted the transcript of its interview with her and the photo it wanted to run to the notoriously strict Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD), Burma’s state censor commonly known as the censor board. The department however told the journal that any publishing of the script would be postponed. Continue reading “State censor ramps up bans on journal Suu Kyi stories” →

Burma_Myanmar Urged to Allow U.N. Scrutiny of Alleged Nuclear Sites

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Monday, Dec. 20, 2010

 

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency has in the last few weeks pressed Myanmar to grant inspectors access to facilities said to have links to an undisclosed nuclear program, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday (seeGSN, Dec. 17)

“(The IAEA) is now officially asking for a visit,” said one official with knowledge of a letter sent by the IAEA Safeguards Department to the ruling military junta in Myanmar. The Vienna-based agency had in previous months sought details from the Southeast Asian nation on its purported atomic development efforts.

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101220_5892.php

The U.N. nuclear watchdog issued its latest request on the heels of heightened concerns shared by Washington and Asian governments of stepped-up military collaboration between Myanmar and North Korea (see related GSN story, today). Joint cooperation could include work on atomic projects as well as the development of hardened bunkers and extended-range missiles.

Myanmar could face a tough international reaction if it rejects the IAEA request for audits of the purported nuclear sites, according the the Journal. Still, officials and experts have expressed uncertainty over the country’s atomic intentions.

“Something is certainly happening; whether that something includes ‘nukes’ is a very open question which remains a very high priority for embassy reporting,” the senior U.S. diplomat in Yangon wrote in a November 2009 dispatch.

A large portion of the equipment said to have been sought by Myanmar has non-nuclear uses, and defectors might have exaggerated the nation’s nuclear ambitions for political reasons, proliferation analysts and former IAEA staffers said.

“North Korea has been trying to sell missiles to Myanmar for some years … but there’s no clear evidence of a nuclear program,” former State Department nonproliferation official Mark Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick and other specialists have still called for extensive audits in Myanmar over the country’s alleged atomic activities (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 17).

Eight Reported Dead in Latest Karen State Clashes

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Eight Reported Dead in Latest Karen State Clashes

Seven Burmese soldiers were killed in renewed clashes between Burmese troops and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers in Myawaddy Township in Karen State on Sunday, according to local sources. One DKBA soldier was killed and five others were wounded in the fighting, which sent about 100 Burmese refugees fleeing to neighboring Thailand, the sources said.Published Monday, 20 Dec, 2010

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