http://moemaka.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8880&Itemid=1
Day: May 17, 2011
Now Nambiar has left Myanmar, after issuing a statement that does not mention the Shan or the ending of ceasefires.
UNITED NATIONS, May 13 — As UN envoy Vijay Nambiar was on his way to Myanmar earlier this week, Inner City Press asked the UN if he would meet with ethnic minority groups including the Shan, whom the government is attacking. The UN said it didn’t know yet.
Now Nambiar has left Myanmar, after issuing a statement that does not mention the Shan or the ending of ceasefires. At Friday’s noon UN briefing in New York, Inner City Press asked again the Nambiar take questions from the media when he returns, for example about the situation of the Shan, Karen, Rohingya and other groups, especially since his statement did not mention them.
“How do you know he didn’t mention them?” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky demanded.
Well, Nambiar’s statement was sent to Inner City Press by e-mail, as were various statements from human rights groups critical of Nambiar’s work.
Nambiar last time, Press excluded, new request not shown
Nesirky pointed again to Nambiar’s statement in Yangon, where previously even Burmese press was excluded from Nambiar’s press conference.
I’ll relay your requests, Nesirky said. He told Inner City Press, you don’t have to rely “on NGOs.” http://www.innercitypress.com/myanas2nam051311.html
Thailand:Anti-drug cops, dealers clash in Chiang Rai as undercover officials try to buy
Anti-drug cops, dealers clash in Chiang Rai as undercover officials try to buy 400,000 methamphetamine pills with Bt10 million cash; one official dead, one wounded
Myo Yan Naung Thein:Today, we went to North Dagon this morning for praying for to release…
Myo Yan Naung Thein: Is U Thein Sein government turning back on national reconciliation? by BDC
by BDC News
17 May 2011
Yesterday, Ex-General U Thien Sein’s USDP government announced that they would cut one year prison term for the Burma’s prisoners which would laterally benefit more for the convicts and criminals.
By seeing this, one would wonder “Is that the new government’s gesture of aggression?”
One would question, “Is it the gesture of U Thein Sein’s new government turning down the high hope for the release of all political prisoners as the first step toward national reconciliation in Burma?”
As for me, it is raising very serious questions. “Is U Thein Sein’s USDP regime turning back on national reconciliation?”
As soon as I heard the news, I was sad and at the same time I was upset. I, myself, spent the decade in the prisons due to my political beliefs and I know very well of the suffering of the political prisoners at the hands of the authoritarian regime.
I was tortured to be partially paralysed from my bottom especially at my left hand side of the body. They denied the medical treatment and they denied all our rights.
There are thousands of political prisoners in Burma. It is hard to say how many exactly political prisoners languishing in the Burma’s notorious prisoners since successive totalitarian regimes never admit that there are political prisoners in Burma.
U Thein Sein’s regime is releasing nearly 15,000 prisoners under a pity program that will include very few political prisoners.
The regime’s mouth-piece news agency announced that as the gesture of good will — it will commutes death sentences to life imprisonment and cuts one year prison term for others.
What we have been calling for is broader amnesties that have been announced in the past.
It truly is the insult on people of Burma sincerely working for genuine national reconciliation. read all http://www.bdcburma.org/NewsDetails.asp?id=840
WAR:Phones Turned Off After Bomb Blast in Mudon
May 16th, 2011
By Independent Mon News Agency – The Burmese authorities have ordered the phone lines turned off for two days in Mon State after an armed group seized the Telecommunications Office in Mudon Township on May 14th.
Modon Pagoda
Chit Aung, an overseas phone owner in Mudon Township, said that “They told us to turn off our phones after the blast for two days. We just turned it on today.”
Not all phones were ordered turned off. The type of phone to which the Burmese authorities referred was a phone used for international calls and money transfers.
A group of five people seized the Telecommunications office on Saturday morning, killing a police and injuring a telecommunications officer.
This is the first bomb blast to be set off after the new government was instated in Mon State in March, led by General Ohn Myint.
The Burmese authorities have tightened security along the road to Mudon Township while they investigate the case. Thus far, no group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
“They [the Burmese army] have deployed their troops from Mudon to Abit village,” said Nai Tin Aung, travelling yesterday from Moulmein to Mudon.
The Burmese authorities, including police, soldiers, and the military intelligence have set up military check points since the blast.
“They checked every one, especially they open every motorbike,” said a villager from Yin Taung village.
There are two ethnic armed groups active near Mudon; one is the New Mon State Party and the other is the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. Both armed groups refused to serve under the Burmese-led Border Guard Forces.
The residents who live nearby the Telecommunications office are worried that they will be suspects and arrested by the authorities. Several innocent people were arrested after a bomb blast in July 2008.
Short URL: http://monnews.org/?p=2805
WAR:One police officer dead and one man injured in Mudon bomb blast
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A bomb explosion at a telephone exchange in Mudon in Mon State has killed one police officer and injured one person, leading authorities to tighten security along the Mudon-Thanbyuzayat Highway with searches of vehicles and passengers.
The explosion took place at about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 14.
There are two checkpoints on the 22-mile long highway between the two towns manned by a combined force of army, police and officers from the immigration and customs departments.
‘Three or four soldiers are deployed along the highway about a mile apart from Mudon to Thanbyuzayat’, a resident from Thabyuzayat who just arrived back from Mawlamyine told Mizzima.
This was the first bomb explosion in Mon State since the new government has been installed.
A similar bombing took place at the same telephone exchange in July 2008. Resident from nearby Cyonephait, Wette and Nyaunggone villages were questioned. No one has been arrested in either bombing incident.
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The newly released prisoners from the NLD are:
The newly released prisoners from the NLD are Kyaw San (a former MP), Bo Bo Tun, Aung Gyi, Htwe Thein, Nyi Nyi Aung, Mya Than Htike, Kyi Phyu, Kyin Hlaing, Zin Lin Aung, Ye Min Oo, Myo Thant, Ko Ko Lat, Aye Myint, Naw Ohn Hla, Mi Mi Lay and Mar Mar Aye.
They were released from Insein, Taungoo, Paung De, Hpaan and Myitkyina prisons, according to Ohn Kyaing.
The list was compiled by NLD headquarters in Rangoon before 4 p.m. based on information reported by NLD members across the country.
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here are an estimated 200 prisoners who are NLD members in prisons across the country.
In accordance with the commutation, more than 14,600 prisoners are expected to be released from 42 prisons across the country, Zaw Win, the director general of the Insein Prison Department told the media on Tuesday. About 2,500 prisoners will be released from Insein Prison, he said.
The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma said on May 3 that there were 2,061 political prisoners in Burma.
mizzima news
democracy for burma 
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