Seats Reserved for 88 Generation Detainees at Media Event

Several imprisoned leaders of the 88 Generation Students group, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe, have been invited to an anniversary event on Friday to be hosted by the Eleven Media Group, an influential publication in Burma, raising hopes across the country that more dissidents will be released in the near future.

Fellow member Thein Than Tun, who was released on Oct.12 in a general amnesty, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the Eleven Media Group, publisher of Weekly Eleven News Journal and First Eleven Sport Journal, not only invited various student leaders of the 1988 uprising but also reserved seats for them.

“It is unusual that the 88 Generation leaders were invited by Eleven Media and that there will be seats set aside for them,” he said. “If they were released, they could attend. But otherwise, their family members will be allocated their seats.

“Many people expect that the 88 Generation leaders and other political prisoners could be released on Nov.11 or Nov.14,” he added.

KIO leader’s orange orchard burnt down by Burmese Army

Houses and huts in an orange orchard owned by Lt-Gen Nban La Awng, Vice-President of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) was burnt down on Tuesday evening by the Burmese Army, said eyewitnesses.

Hundreds of acres of the orange plantation along with non-commercial fish farms are located near Awng Ja village close to Ga Ra Yang village on the Myitkyina-Manmaw (Bhamo) Road in Waingmaw Township, about 36 miles south of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

The arson was perpetrated by Burmese Army troops from the Light Infantry Division No. 88 based in Magway, said KIA officers.

The Burmese Army soldiers also captured the Awng Ja post of KIA’s Light Infantry Division No. 254 and seized a 25mm machine gun, said eyewitnesses.

The KIA soldiers at the post withdrew after government troops resorted to indiscriminate shelling from heavy artillery, added eyewitnesses.

Jubilant Burmese troops celebrated on Wednesday in Ga Ra Yang after they burnt down the KIO leader’s orchard and seized a machine gun, according to witnesses.

The former General Thein Sein led Burmese government is currently sourcing troops from over 100 battalions for the offensive against the KIA in Kachin State and Northern Shan State even as it talks about democratic reforms in the country.

 

Building and Wood Worker’s International Solidarity Statement -Flooding in Thailand Impacts Thousands of Migrants

The BWI expresses its solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of workers and their families across Thailand who has been affected by the most recent floods to have hit the country, the worst in over 70 years.

While the floods affects all people in Thailand, undoubtedly those hit the hardest are the people who do not have access to social support networks and often live in temporary and precarious accommodation. Migrant workers have been the most deeply impacted by the current flooding. When the homes, factories and worksites of migrant workers are hit by the floods there is often nowhere for them to turn, and returning home is difficult, dangerous or costly.

Current estimates of the damage from the flooding include more than 9,000 factories inundated with water and 660,000 jobs at risk. Approximately 200,000 migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia in flood stricken areas have been badly affected and many more are expected to be affected as the flood water reaches other Districts of Bangkok. Currently only 250 Burmese migrant workers are living in shelters in the Greater Bangkok area, while reports from border areas of Thailand cite thousands of workers returning to Burma every day, with more than 10,000 returning in one day on October 29.

Yawdserk offers assistance for peace in the Triangle

A month after the brutal killing of 13 Chinese crewmen took place in the Golden Triangle, where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet, Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader of the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, that operates in Shan State East, has offered to lend a hand in the long term solution of the maritime security issue on the Mekong.

 

Lt-Gen Yawdserk (Photo: S.H.A.N.)

“Security on the Mekong rests upon law and order in the three Triangle countries,” he told SHAN during a telephone interview. “If one looks carefully, it is not hard to find that the Burmese side is the weakest link due to instability since Independence (in 1948).”

 

The failure of successive Burmese rulers to honor the 1947 Panglong Agreement which guarantees self rule, democracy and human rights and their refusal to back off from the military solution, he said, had left no choice for the people of Shan State but to engage in an armed struggle. “What happened in the Golden Triangle (on 5 October) was the consequence of the resulting anarchy,” he explained.

President Thein Sein, the head of the new government, had called for peace talks with the armed movement on 18 August 2011. So far it has achieved success with three of the groups: United Wa State Army (6 September), National Democratic Alliance Army (7 September) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (3 November).

It has however yet to meet the leaders of the SSA, whose troops are active in Mongyawng township, north of the Golden Triangle.

Arrangements are still in process before the two sides meet, according to inside sources.

“If both sides can reach a mutually acceptable political agreement, it will pave the way for end to anarchy in the area,” he predicted.

China has bought 5 ships that will be refitted for the patrolling of the Mekong, according to Bangkok Post, 10 November issue, quoting a Chinese Ship-owners Association. Beijing however has said the plan needs to be discussed with its downstream neighbors first.

shanland news

Thailand: Gen Yutthasak Sasripprapha, defense minister Mekong Killing in neighboring country and guilty party is Godfather Naw Kham.

Gen Yutthasak Sasripprapha, defense minister, says the 5 October killings in the Golden Triangle took place in the waters of the neighboring country and the guilty party is Godfather Naw Kham. There are some Thai soldiers who are also involved that has nothing to do with the Phamuang Task Force. Officials already have sufficient evidence to take action: photographs and electronic recording of communications between parties concerned. (SHAN)

WAR: Burmese Army fires chemical agent-filled artillery shells against KIA’s 3rd Brigade

The ongoing war between Burmese Army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has begun in June 9 of this year by Burmese military’s attack on KIA’s Sanggang post. As battles took place in Kachin areas and well-known terrain for Kachin soldiers, KIA has inflicted heavy casualties on Burmese Army troops since the war has started. As a result, Burmese Army resorted to use mortar and artillery shells filled with chemical agents in recent battles. Chemical weapons were first used in a battle near Gara-yang and Shwe Nyaung Pin on Oct 28, 2011. Kachin people army’s soldiers reported that they suffered from nausea, dizziness and vomiting after inhaling smoke from artillery shells. KIA soldiers at N-tap hill also said they had similar experiences after inhaling fumes from bomb shells.

On Nov 10, Burmese Army again used its chemical agent-filled artillery shells against KIA’s 3^rd Brigade in a battle near Tapein electrical plant at Sanggang village. Burmese Army began shelling KIA’s post at about 10:00 am with mortars and artilleries. An artillery shell landed about 15 feet away from 3 KIA soldiers and smell coming out of landed shell was different from usual one, said KIA frontline sources. Immediately after inhaling smoke from artillery shell, 3 KIA soldiers suffered from nausea, dizziness and itchiness. Their breathing became irregular and they started vomiting to the point of passing out. One KIA soldier was taken to the Army hospital and is in serious condition, said a KIA source.

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=20876

Daily News on November 10 2011

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