The Burma Army military operations command has requested the United Wa State Army (UWSA) to submit the list of all its bases stationed on the east of Salween, along the Thai-Burma border, local news sources said.
“On Thursday (June 27), the Burma Army military operations command (MOC) based at Pongpakhem, opposite Chiang Mai Province, has requested the Wa Army’s official representatives submit a list of its bases stationed on the east Salween River along the Thai-Burma border; including all UWSA bases stationed in the regions under his [MOC] control. The list should be detailed and include the amount of men at each base. It seems UWSA commander was unwavering, and unlikely to comply the order,” said a local source that is familiar with the regional Wa army commander.
According to the RCSS/SSA sources, on 27 June, the Burma Army mobilized 20 military trucks fully loaded with soldiers, military equipment and heavy guns as it crossed the Tasang bridge heading toward southern Wa army region, a SSA commander said.
“Right now, the government and Shan armies are under the truce agreement. Our relationships have been good so far. Lt-Gen. Yawdserk, the RCSS chairman, has just returned from Naypyitaw where he met with President Thein Sein. Tensions between Wa and Burma armies have been increasing day by day. We have to be watchful and careful in this critical situation. We have to avoid confrontation with the Wa as we are all citizens of Shan State,” said regional Shan army commander.
The Shan commander adds: “Right now, I don’t see any imminent threats that the Burma army would launch an attack on the Wa any time soon. At this stage the Burma army may use a psychological warfare; they may block Wa movements, or hinder ability to get food and supplies that are essential for the Wa army.”
“The Burma army has setup a new base at Loi Samsum located between Monghsat and Tachileik. Although the Wa army can still travel on this highway, they are not allowed to carry war weapons. Passerby vehicles are thoroughly searched. Some of the strategic Wa bases have also been informed to retreat. On Monghsat-Tachileik Highway, there are 2 Wa bases, and the Burma army has setup a base close to one of the Wa bases,” a local elder from the area who is familiar with both Wa and Burma armies told SHAN.
The Burma army official circles have recently estimated that under the control of the southern Wa Army region 171, in Monghsat-Mongton townships along the Thai-Burma border, there are 5 Brigades: 772, 775, 778, 518 and 248; each brigade is 1,500-strong. There are also additional troops from the Wa militia totaling in 15,000 troops.
A Parliamentary commission has failed to disclose the identity of Dr Seik Phwar, an anonymous blogger who has published articles criticising opposition parties, independent media and MP’s.
The commission was formed in February to investigate Dr Seik Phwar after he posted an article titled ‘Above the Law’ in which he accused the Parliament of overstepping their boundaries for voting to amend the Constitutional Tribunal Law.
After five months of investigation, the commission submitted their report on Monday but the discussion only ended after the Union Assembly Speaker warned the blogger, without revealing his real identity.
While reading out the report, the commission’s chairman Mya Nyein told the Parliament that the commission had investigated 14 people including the media and officials from the Presidents Office and the Ministry of Information over the past five months.
He presented a summary of the interviews conducted by the commission. During the investigation, Dr Thein Myint, Wai Phyo, and Nay Htun Naing of Eleven Media Group told the commission that they suspected Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut of using the pseudonym Dr Seik Phwar.
They provided information connecting Dr Seik Phwar, the Padauk Myay website, and a Facebook user who goes by the name Sit Aung, who writes slanderous articles about members of opposition parties including Aung San Suu Kyi.
Wai Phyo, Chief Editor of Eleven Media Group, told the commission that an article written under the pseudonym Seik Phwar was once featured in Smart News journal, where Khin Maung Nyo now works as a chief editor.
Based on the usages in the article, it can be deduced that the article was written by someone who has extensive knowledge of the media. While most critics rarely care for formal usage in their writings, the author formally addressed the President with respect in his article, according to the report.
Wai Phyo also told the commission that a Facebook account with the username Sit Aung used a photo of Deputy Minister Ye Htut taken during his trip to Europe as his profile picture. The account was deleted after the Parliament formed the commission to investigate Dr Seik Phwar, according to the report.
Nay Htun Naing, executive editor of Eleven Media, told the commission that Ye Htut denied that he was Sit Aung even though his photo was not easy to obtain online and they both have similar writing styles. Continue reading “Parliamentary commission fails to expose defamatory blogger Dr Seik Phwar”→
Local authorities have imposed a curfew in Thandwe, Rakhine State on June 30 after a rape case caused riots and arson attacks.
Locals report that the rape victim was returning from a family visit on June 29 when she arrived in Thandwe looking for a late bus to Taunggup. She was approached by a motorcyclist who invited her to stay at his relatives house, but after refusing he took her to the Nandaw Pagoda where he proceeded to rape her.
After some youths appeared on the scene apprehending the man and taking them both to the Thandwe Myoma police station. As word spread, some 200 people soon gathered in front of the police station. By 7pm on the following day crowds had grown in numbers. After ignoring calls to disperse, the police announced a curfew order which sparked arson attacks in Arndaw Ward of Thandwe Town.
A similar incident ignited religious riots between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and local Muslims in May 2012. An estimated hundred people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed. Incidents of religious violence and riots have spread to other towns of Myanmar this year.
The authorities managed to control the situation and have told reporters that they would take actions against those who committed a crime in accordance with the law. They have not confirmed the identities of those responsible.
In response to the questions by an Eleven Media reporter, a police officer replied that the rapist was arrested and the rape victim was still at the police station. The police were in pursuit of the friend of the arrested person. They maintained that imposing curfew in Thandwe was right.
The Facebook page of the Presidential Spokesperson, Ye Htut confirmed that a riot had occurred in response to the rape.
ရခုိင္မွာ အျဖဴေရာင္ကတ္ ( White Card , Temporary Green Card,
issued by former Myanmar government )
( Not Myanmar National ID card – Not Myanmar Citizen )ကိုင္ထားတဲ႕
600,000 Illegal ဘဂၤလီ ေတြ မဲေပးပိုင္ခြင့္ ရွိမရွိ ဟာ
ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ေကာ္မရွင္နဲ႔ သက္ဆိုင္တယ္ဆိုတာအလြဲၾကီးပါ။
The following is the full text of President U Thein Sein’s speech through radio programmes to the entire people the length and breadth of the nation on 2-7-2013.
My Fellow Citizens,
I would like to inform you all of the developments that have taken place in our country in the month of June just as I have done previously on this radio program.
Out of all the reforms that my government is currently carrying out, all of you are aware that we are working hard to realize what most of you desire— economic development—within a modern national framework. Towards this goal, we hosted the World Economic Forum East Asia Summit at Nay Pyi Taw to reconnect with world markets and to promote Myanmar to international investors. It is the first time Myanmar has hosted a Summit of this nature and caliber. We should all be proud as a nation to be able to successfully host a Summit that was attended by internationally recognized leaders and experts in political and economic realms. I am sure most of you also noticed that those who were in attendance—both the current leaders and the young global leaders who will become important figures in international relations in the future—had lively discussions relating to economic development in Myanmar. This is a strong indication that the international community is watching and is interested in working together with us as we strive to reconnect with the global community. The theme of the Summit— Courageous Transformation for Inclusion and Integration —also conforms with what we are trying to accomplish with regards to the peace process and resource sharing as linked to the overall economic development. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the committee members who were tasked with organizing the Summit, experts, civil servants, university students who volunteered their time, and everyone who took the responsibility to make this Summit a success.
democracy for burma 
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