U WIRA THU “တုိင္း/ၿမဳိ႕နယ္သံဃနာယကအဖြဲ႔ ဆရာေတာ္မ်ား၊ ေက်ာင္းထုိင္ဆရာေတာ္မ်ား အမွဴးျပဳေသာ ဘာသာေရး၊ လူမႈေရး၊ ပရဟိတအသင္းအဖြဲ႔ ဦးေဆာင္ပုဂၢဳိလ္မ်ားသို႔ ေလွ်ာက္ထားပန္ၾကားလႊာ”

“ယဥ္ေက်းလိမၼာ ဆရာျဖစ္ မြမ္းမံသင္တန္းသုိ႔ တင္ျပ ေလွ်ာက္ထားလႊာ”
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ရက္စြဲ။ ။ ၂ဝ၁၃ ခုႏွစ္၊ ေမလ၊ (၂၈)ရက္။
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အရွင္ဝီရသူအား ဆက္ကပ္ပါ၏ဘုရား……….
မုိးကုတ္ၿမဳိ႕၊ ဓမၼရံသီ မုိးကုတ္ဝိပႆနာရိပ္သာႀကီးသုိ႔ ၾကြေရာက္ေတာ္မူၾကကုန္ေသာ ဓမၼသင္တန္းမ်ား၊ ဗုဒၶဘာသာယဥ္ေက်းလိမၼာသင္တန္းမ်ားကုိ သင္ၾကားပုိ႔ခ်ေနၾကေသာ သံဃာေတာ္အရွင္သူျမတ္ အေပါင္းတုိ႔ႏွင့္ သိကၡာရွင္ ဆရာႀကီး/ေလး၊ ဆရာ/မ အေပါင္းတုိ႔အား မဂၤလာပါလုိ႔ ႏႈတ္ခြန္းဆက္ ဂါရဝျပဳအပ္ပါတယ္ အရွင္သူျမတ္တုိ႔ဘုရား။
တပည့္ေတာ္ကေတာ့ ဓမၼရံသီဆရာေတာ္ဘုရားႏွင့္ နမ့္ခြမ္ဆရာေတာ္ဘုရားတုိ႔၏ ဘုန္းရိပ္ ကံရိပ္ ေမတၱာရိပ္တုိ႔ကုိ ခုိလႈံၿပီး ၾသဝါဒကုိခံယူလ်က္ အမ်ဳိးဘာသာ၊ သာသနာအက်ဳိးကုိ တပည့္ေတာ္ စြမ္းႏုိင္သမွ် ေဆာင္ရြက္ေနသူ မူဆယ္ၿမဳိ႕၊ ဓမၼရံသီ မုိးကုတ္ရိပ္သာႀကီး၏ အတြင္းေရးမွဴး ေဇာ္ေလး ျဖစ္ပါတယ္ အရွင္ဘုရား။
တပည့္ေတာ္၏ ေလွ်ာက္ထားခ်က္မ်ားထဲမွ အမွားမ်ား ပါဝင္သြားခဲ့ရင္လည္း နားလည္ခြင့္လႊတ္ေပးပါရန္ ေရွးဦးစြာပဲ ရုိေသစြာ ေလွ်ာက္ထားအပ္ပါတယ္ သံဃာေတာ္ အရွင္သူျမတ္တုိ႔ ဘုရား။
တပည့္ေတာ္ဟာ မူဆယ္ၿမဳိ႕ႏွင့္ နယ္စပ္ေဒသျဖစ္သည့္ တရုတ္ႏုိင္ငံ ေရႊလီၿမဳိ႕မွာ သြားလာေနထုိင္သည္မွာ (၁၂)ႏွစ္ ၾကာခဲ့ပါၿပီ ဘုရား။ ေရႊလီၿမဳိ႕မွာ ယခင္က ဘာသာလူမ်ဳိးျခားမ်ားဟာ ရာပုိင္း ဦးေရမွ်သာရွိၾကၿပီး ျမန္မာ့သယံဇာတ ေက်ာက္မ်က္ရတနာမ်ားကုိ ဘန္းျပ၍ လူမ်ဳိးေရး၊ ဘာသာေရး၊ စီးပြားေရးမ်ားကုိ ျပဳလုပ္ၾကရန္အတြက္ ရခုိင္ျပည္နယ္မွ တဆင့္ အၿမဳိ႕ၿမဳိ႕ကို ျဖတ္ေက်ာ္ၿပီး မူဆယ္ၿမဳိ႕မွ ေရႊလီၿမဳိ႕သုိ႔ မွတ္ပံုတင္ အတုမ်ား ျပဳလုပ္ခါ ဝင္ေရာက္ေနထုိင္ၾကသည္မွာ ယခုဆုိလွ်င္ သံုးေသာင္းေက်ာ္မက ရွိေနပါၿပီဘုရား။ ထုိဘာသာလူမ်ဳိးျခားမ်ားဟာ နယ္စပ္ေဒသမွ ဗုဒၶဘာသာဝင္တုိင္းရင္းသားမ်ားအား ၎တုိ႔၏ ဥစၥာဓနျပ၍ သူတုိ႔ဘာသာဝင္ မယားအျဖစ္ သိမ္းသြင္းၿပီး မယားအျဖစ္ေရာက္ရွိၿပီ ဆုိလွ်င္ သူတုိ႔၏ မသမာသည့္ စီးပြားေရးတြင္ ဓားစာခံအဓမၼေစခိုင္းမႈကုိ အစဥ္သျဖင့္ ၾကားသိေနရပါတယ္ဘုရား။
သူတုိ႔ေစခုိင္းမႈကေတာ့ သူတုိ႔ဘာသာဝင္ျဖစ္သြားၾကတဲ့ တုိင္းရင္းသူမ်ားရဲ႕ ခႏၶာကိုယ္အတြင္း ဘိန္းျဖဴ အခဲမ်ား ထည့္သြင္း၍ တရုတ္ျပည္ ျပည္မထဲသုိ႔ အႀကိမ္ႀကိမ္ပုိ႔ခုိင္းျခင္းပါ ဘုရား။ ထုိသုိ႔ အဓမၼေစခုိင္းျခင္း အမႈေၾကာင့္ ႏွစ္ ဆယ္ႏွင့္ခ်ီ၍ အဖမ္းခံရသည့္ တုိင္းရင္းသူမ်ား ေထာင္ႏွင့္ခ်ီ၍မက တရုတ္ျပည္တြင္း အက်ဥ္းေထာင္မ်ားမွာ က်ခံေနရပါတယ္ဘုရား။
သူတုိ႔ အဓမၼေစခုိင္းတာေတြကုိ မလုပ္ႏုိင္သူေတြကုိေတာ့ အမ်ဳိးမ်ဳိး ႏွိပ္စက္ၾကပါတယ္ဘုရား။ သူတုိ႔ အဓမၼခုိင္းလုိ႔ ေထာင္က်ခံၿပီး ျပန္လႊတ္လာသူေတြက်ေတာ့ သူတုိ႔ဟာ စြန္႔ပယ္လုိက္ၾကတာကုိ ရင္နာစရာ ျမင္ေတြ႔ေနရပါတယ္ဘုရား။ အဲဒီလုိ စြန္႔ပယ္ခံရေသာ တုိင္းရင္းသူတုိ႔၏ စိတ္ဓာတ္ျမွင့္တင္ေရး ေဆာင္ရြက္ျခင္းမ်ားကို တပည့္ေတာ္တုိ႔ဘက္မွ လ်စ္လ်ဴရႈခံထားရပါတယ္ဘုရား။
ဒီထက္စုိးရိမ္မိတာကေတာ့ သူတုိ႔ရဲ႕ ယုတ္မာရက္စက္တတ္တဲ့အက်င့္ဟာ ေရႊလီၿမဳိ႕မွာ လူဦးေရ တုိးပြားေအာင္ စုေဆာင္းလ်က္ နယ္စပ္ၿမဳိ႕ျဖစ္ေသာ မူဆယ္ၿမဳိ႕၊ နမ့္ခမ္းၿမဳိ႕ႏွင့္ အနီးအနားေက်းရြာမ်ားသို႔ ရုတ္တရက္ျပန္လည္ ဝင္ေရာက္ၿပီး ရခုိင္ျပည္မွာကဲ့သုိ႔ ေစာ္ကားတုိက္ခုိက္ခဲ့လွ်င္ တပည့္ေတာ္တုိ႔ ျပည္ေထာင္စုဖြား တုိင္းရင္းသားမ်ားကုိ မည္သုိ႔မည္ပံု ကာကြယ္ရမည္ကုိ ညႊန္ျပေပးေတာ္မူၾကပါ သံဃာေတာ္ အရွင္သူျမတ္အေပါင္းတုိ႔ ဘုရား။

 

U WIRA THU 4.JUNE 2013

“တုိင္း/ၿမဳိ႕နယ္သံဃနာယကအဖြဲ႔ ဆရာေတာ္မ်ား၊ ေက်ာင္းထုိင္ဆရာေတာ္မ်ား အမွဴးျပဳေသာ ဘာသာေရး၊ လူမႈေရး၊ ပရဟိတအသင္းအဖြဲ႔ ဦးေဆာင္ပုဂၢဳိလ္မ်ားသို႔ ေလွ်ာက္ထားပန္ၾကားလႊာ”
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အမ်ဳိး၊ ဘာသာ၊ သာသနာႏွင့္ တုိင္းျပည္ လူမ်ဳိးမကြယ္ေပ်ာက္ေစေရး တာဝန္သိသူတုိင္း အမ်ဳိးသားေရးအသိ၊ သတိ၊ ပညာဉာဏ္ဦးစီးလ်က္ ဗုဒၶအလုိက် မိမိတုိ႔ရပ္ရြာ၊ ၿမဳိ႕နယ္ေဒသအသီးသီးတြင္ တာဝန္ကုိယ္စီရွိၾကသည္ဟု ခံယူခ်က္ျဖင့္ ေအာက္ပါလုပ္ငန္းစဥ္မ်ားကုိ အေကာင္အထည္ေဖာ္ ဦးေဆာင္ ေဆာင္ရြက္ေတာ္မူၾကပါရန္ ရုိေသစြာ ေတာင္းပန္ေလွ်ာက္ထားပန္ၾကားအပ္ပါသည္။ အရွင္ျမတ္တုိ႔ႏွင့္ သူေတာ္ေကာင္း အေပါင္းတုိ႔ …..။
လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ (၁)
– ဗုဒၶအဆံုးအမမ်ားႏွင့္ ဗုဒၶယဥ္ေက်းမႈကုိ သိရွိနားလည္ တန္ဖုိးထား လုိက္နာက်င့္သံုးေနထုိင္၍ ယဥ္ေက်းလိမၼာေသာ၊ ထူးခၽြန္ထက္ျမတ္ေသာ လူေကာင္းလူေတာ္ မ်ဳိးဆက္သစ္လူငယ္မ်ား ျဖစ္ထြန္းေပၚေပါက္ေစေရး၊
– မ်ဳိးဆက္သစ္လူငယ္မ်ား၊ အမ်ဳိးဘာသာ၊ သာသနာ၊ ယဥ္ေက်းမႈအစဥ္အလာမ်ားႏွင့္ ဝံသာႏုရကၡိတ စိတ္ဓာတ္မ်ားကုိ ခုိင္မာစြာ ထိန္းသိမ္းေစာင့္ေရွာက္တတ္ေစေရး၊
– မ်ဳိးဆက္သစ္လူငယ္မ်ားတြင္ ေလာကအက်ဳိး စြန္႔လႊတ္ေပးဆပ္တတ္ေသာ ပရဟိတစိတ္ဓာတ္မ်ားႏွင့္ မိမိကုိယ္ကုိ တာဝန္ယူတတ္ေသာ စိတ္ဓာတ္မ်ား ျဖစ္ထြန္းရွင္သန္လ်က္ ျဗဟၼစုိရ္တရားမ်ား ထြန္းကားေသာ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းသာယာသည့္ လူ႔ေဘာင္ေလာကအျဖစ္ အလွဆင္ ရွင္သန္ေနထုိင္ေရး၊
ကေလး၊ လူငယ္အရြယ္မ်ားမွ စတင္၍ ႏွလံုးသားဝယ္ ဘုရားတည္ေစႏုိင္ရန္၊ တစ္ပတ္ (၁)ရက္ တစ္ေန႔ (၂)နာရီမွ် ဘုရား၊ ေက်ာင္း၊ ကန္၊ ဘာသာေရး ေနရာဌာနမ်ားတြင္ ကေလးလူငယ္မ်ား စုစည္းေစလ်က္၊
(က) အသက္(၁၅)ႏွစ္ေအာက္ ကေလးငယ္မ်ားအတြက္ ဓမၼေက်ာင္းေတာ္ ယဥ္ေက်းလိမၼာသင္တန္းမ်ား ဖြင့္လွစ္တက္ေရာက္ေစျခင္း။
(ခ) အသက္(၁၅)ႏွစ္အထက္ လူငယ္မ်ားအတြက္ ဗုဒၶဘာသာလူငယ္စကားဝုိင္း (အျမင္ဖြင့္၊ အသိပညာေပး ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲ)မ်ား၊ ဝတ္တက္၊ ဝတ္ရြက္ျခင္းမ်ား ျပဳလုပ္ေပးျခင္း။

Border minister: Understanding needed for govt handling on Rakhine issue

SOURCE CREDIT EMG    10.12 2012    The international community should show understanding and tolerate the step-by-step process of the Myanmar government in tackling problems in Rakhine state, Lt-General Thein Htay, Minister for Border Affairs, said on Saturday.

“Negotiation is essential in solving the problems during the period of ‘globalisation’. We must carry out both ‘inter-dialogue’ and ‘intra-dialogue’. In this circumstance, we would like to make a request to the international community through the diplomats to understand the real situation of our country,” said the minister during a press briefing on the situation in Rakhine state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yangon.

“Due to the communal violence in the western Myanmar state, the number of IDPs [internally displaced persons] has reached 190,000, and the root cause of this unrest was ‘underdevelopment of the region’. The government has no reason to hide the real situation, and it expects aid from international donor countries.

“We have said frequently that the problem in Rakhine state is a ‘communal conflict’. We need to remove ‘mistrust’ and ‘misunderstanding’ spreading among the people in this area,” said Thein Htay.

He also said that some foreign media are exaggerating the problem by saying the Myanmar government is committing ‘genocide’ in Rakhine state. However, the Bengalis who numbered about 250,000 in 1980 have increased to 1 million in 2012.
Regarding the possible airing of a programme on the Rakhine issue by al-Jazeera TV, the minister said that all Bengalis or all Rakhine people do not commit the violence. The crisis is only between the mobs from both communities. Whenever such a problem occurs, they use the media for ‘political inspiration’. The government will respond to this problem only if it is necessary to do so.

Police chief Kyaw Kyaw Tun said at the event that the Myanmar Police Force is still investigating the evidence on alleged incitement to violence by some organisations. They will reveal the findings to the public.

Khin Ye, Minister for Immigration and Population, said that it is necessary for citizen Bengalis to report before travelling because authorities cannot easily identify them as Myanmar is located between two large countries with 1.2 billion and 1.3 billion population, and beside a country with four times more population than Myanmar despite having only one-third the area of Myanmar.

“Giving citizenship and being a citizen is related to the sovereignty of a country. Therefore, those who cannot be easily identified in appearance as our citizen will need permission for travelling in the country,”’ he said.

The Ministry for Border Affairs said that the number of deaths in Rakhine State in June was 89 and in October 111, while the number of injured persons in June was 124 and in October 431. The number of houses damaged in June was 5,338 and in October 5,351.

The number of high-level persons’ trip to Rakhine state was 18 times from early June to December 4.

GOVERMENT BRIEFING ROOM 10.12.2012

Exaggerating Rakhine conflict as a “genocide” is totally contrary to the truth

Mon, 12/10/2012 – 09:29

Nay Pyi Taw, 8 Dec

Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham, accompanied by  General Hla Htay Win of the office of the Commander in-Chief (Army), Union Minister for Border Affairs Lt-Gen Thein Htay, Union Minister for Immigration and Population U Khin Yi, Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Daw Myat Myat Ohn Khin, deputy ministers and departmental heads, left here for Yangon with the Tatmadaw aircraft yesterday morning.

The Vice-President then proceeded to Sittway with the special flight of Myanma Airways, together with ambassadors of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey, diplomats and officials of UN agencies.

On arrival at Sittway airport, they were welcomed by the Rakhine State chief minister, the commander and state ministers.

The Vice-President held a meeting with ambassadors, diplomats, members of UN agencies, the state ministers, personnel working for restoring stability in the state, the supervisory committee for restoring peace and stability, relief and rehabilitation in Rakhine State and departmental heads.

At the meeting, Vice- President said that despite the government’s efforts, which were witnessed by diplomats and officials from UN agencies during their trips to Rakhine State, to restore peace and stability in Rakhine State since the conflict out broke, some accused the government of using over force to control the situation, and some media had portrayed the conflict as a “genocide” and that were totally contrary to the truth.

The vice-president also reaffirmed that there was no racial or religious discrimination by local authorities in Rakhine State when they made efforts for restoring peace and the rule of law. The fabricated reportage and information can arise misunderstanding among the international community over the actual situation in Rakhine State, he added.

To dispel the suspicion, the Government would provide correct facts and information and the diplomats and UN agencies can witness the actual situation.

The Ministry of Information also issued a press release strongly opposing the fabricated news and reportages.

With the aim of building a society which can live in peaceful coexistence in Rakhine State, the government has been making efforts at most to settle the issue, he said, and he also stressed the need for assisting in social and economic development of the local people in Rakhine State as part of efforts for settling out the issue.

For the social and economic development of the state, necessary arrangements have been made and the government itself has been providing humanitarian aids to the needy people in Rakhine State in a non-discriminatory manner, he added.

The government has been working together with UN agencies UNHCR, WFP, OCHA, NGOs, INGOs, other governments of the countries which are interested in implementing the socioeconomic development, and such way of cooperation is a meaningful and positive approach to help the people in Rakhine State.

Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham also expressed his belief that the diplomats and members of the UN agencies would witness the actual situation in Rakhine State, saying that he expected that the UN agencies would submit the reports which reflect the actual situation in Rakhine State to their respective headquarters.

Union Minister Lt- Gen Thein Htay briefed on June and October  incidents, rehabilitation and humanitarian aids.

UN Resident Coordinator Nigam thanked the government for arranging the trip. He pointed out the formation of the commission as one of the government measures. He called for immediate response to the humanitarian issues.

He called for providing shelter to displaced persons, allotment of land, ending hostilities of the local people towards the aids groups, social harmony between two societies, and granting citizenships to the eligible persons in accord with 1982 citizenship law which he said is key to address the issue. He also thanked donor countries and urged them to donate more.

The ambassadors of Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey and Cambodia said they would continue to support of the government’s efforts regarding the Rakhine State incident, acknowledging it is very subtle issue. They said their support was echoed at 21^st ASEAN Summit, calling for addressing root issues.

Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham in his concluding remarks thanked those present for their discussions and reiterated it was a fragile issue. He said the understanding of the history of the Rakhine State is required to resolve the issue. The Rakhine State incident is an obstacle while the government is initiating political, economic and social reforms. The June and October incidents were based on deep hostilities between the two societies. It would take time to resolve the issue, he said. He vowed the most possible effort of the government to overcome the challenge.

On arrival at Sambalay village in Minbya Township, the Vice-President and party met the local people and presented aids.

They comforted and interviewed the local people of Taunbwe village in Kyaktaw Township and presented them with aids.

The Vice-President met local people at the briefing hall of Shwe Yin Aye village in Maungtaw Township and the diplomats interviewed the villagers. U Tha Sein of Shwe Yin Aye Village said he thanked the government for taking relief and rehabilitation measures.

The Vice-President and party viewed construction of make-shift tents for local people in Thayaykonbaung village in Maungtaw  Township and cordially greeted the local people.

They left Thayaykonbaung village for Sittway with helicopters. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and the Rakhine State  government provided rice bags, oil, salt, pulses and beans, instant food and blankets to the local people of the villages.

Burmese Government Strongly Objects Al Jazeera Television’s Fabricated Non-Sense Propaganda For So-Called Rohingya (Bengali)-Exaggerating Rakhine conflict as a “genocide” is totally contrary to the truth

The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Release

1. It is learnt that Qatar based Al Jazeera Television will be airing a documentary relating to so-called “Rohingyas” from December 8 to 12 in Arabic and from December 9 to 13 in English languages. It is also mentioned that the documentary will include accusation of genocide against the so-called “Roh…

ingyas”.

2. The Government of Myanmar has been handling this matter with full transparency when the violence between Bangalis and the ethnic Rakhine people broke out in May and June, and also in October 2012.

3. The Government has given permission to organization such as UN Agencies, INGOs, Diplomatic Corps and Muslim Aid to visit the affected areas to observe the situation by themselves. Moreover, foreign minister and high level delegations from Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries as well as from the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are also allowed to visit Rakhine State.

4. Providing shelter, relocation and rehabilitation of the homeless victims of the conflict, supplying food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance have also been carried out in a non-discriminatory manner for both affected communities.

5. The Government has taken actions to ceasing violence and maintaining rule of law in accordance with the law. An independent Investigation Commission has also been formed to carry out detail investigation of the incidents.

6. The Ministry reaffirmed that the government security forces and local authorities have never involved in the communal violence or racial and religious discrimination in Rakhine State as accused by some media and organizations. The Head of State and other responsible officials have also declared this to the world at the UN General Assembly, ASEAN Summit and the Non-Aligned Summit.

7. Therefore, the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar strongly opposes and rejects the attempt made by Al Jazeera to broadcast the documentary by exaggerating and fabricating the incidents in Rakhine State.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Nay Pyi Taw

Dated: 6th December, 2012

http://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/issues/foreign-policy/id-1202

Exaggerating Rakhine conflict as a “genocide” is totally contrary to the truth

http://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/briefing-room/news/2012/12/10/id-1209

Phado David-Htaw (KNU) Interview

khrg report:All the information I’ve given you, I faced it myself’

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Karen-KNU freedomfighter leader Mahn Nyein Maung has been sentenced to 17 years imprisonment,

Five months after being deported from China, Karen rebel leader Mahn Nyein Maung has been sentenced to 17 years imprisonment, according to a source following the case in Rangoon.

A controversial character, Mahn Nyein Maung is often likened to French convict “Papillon” because of his extraordinary escape from prison on Coco Island in 1970 when he floated across the Indian Ocean clutching driftwood.

He went on trial on Dec. 8 behind closed doors at Mingaladon Court in Rangoon and was later sentenced after being charged with having connections to the Karen National Union (KNU), long denounced by the Burmese government as an illegal militia.

Mahn Nyein Maung, a leading member of the KNU and a central committee member of the ethnic armed alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), disappeared at China’s Kunming Airport in late July.

He was subsequently charged in Burma for violating immigration laws and possessing a fake passport. He was sentenced to one year for the immigration charge on Sept. 27, according to Rangoon-based Flower News Journal.

Then, in early December, he was put on trial on the more grievous charges. His case was not publicized and next to no information has been divulged either by the authorities or the KNU about Mahn Nyein Maung’s case or his condition.

An inside source told The Irrawaddy that the Karen rebel leader visited the ethnic Wa region via China on the Sino-Burma border in July. He was subsequently denied reentry into Thailand—where he was living at the time—as he had not applied for a reentry visa when he left from Thailand to China.

Despite his role within the KNU and UNFC, his trip to China and the Wa region had nothing to do with those organization, said the sources. KNU leaders also said that they didn’t know about Mahn Nyein Maung trip to China.

A former activist and political prisoner, Mahn Nyein Maung apparently visited northern Burma to observe first-hand the armed conflict between ethnic armed groups and government troops near the border.

Karen sources have said that after he was denied entry into Thailand, he was sent back to China’s Yunnan province where he was detained at the Kunming Airport. Yunnanese authorities reportedly insisted that Mahn Nyein Maung buy an air ticket with his own money for his deportation to Rangoon.

Mahn Nyein Maung was first arrested in 1960 for his work as an underground dissident. He was sentenced and sent to Coco Island, an infamous detention center for political prisoners located about 300 km off the Burmese mainland. He and two other political prisoners, Mahn Aung Kyi and Aung Ngwe, managed to escape from the island in 1970 by floating across the Indian Ocean clutching driftwood.

Due to his extraordinary escape from Coco Island, Mahn Nyein Maung is frequently likened to the famous French prisoner Henri Charrière, nicknamed “Papillon,” who escaped a penal colony in French Guyana. Like Charrière, Mahn Nyein Maung wrote and published a book about his experiences inside the brutal prison at Coco Island and his daring escape.

 

Karen Newsletter (November-2011) -KIC

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KNU-Government battle continues-video

KNLA ambush kills three and wounds six Burma Army Soldiers

Late last month the Karen National Liberation Army launched an attack on a Burma Army column in the Myit Tan area, Tanintharyi Division and killed three soldiers and wounded six soldiers,.

An unnamed source close to the Burma Army told Karen News that the KNLA, Brigade 4 launched a morning attack on a 120 soldier column led by Major Min Htay, Light Infantry Battalion 407 as they patrolling between Sin Phyu Dai village and Myitta village.

“Around 9:30am, 20 fighters from the KNLA ambushed using tripwire mines, small and heavy weapons against LIB 407 close to the Asian Highway.”

According to the Burma Army source, an unidentified group is accused of beating to death three LIB 407 soldiers on 21 November. The three soldiers where traveling from Sin Phyu Dai to Myitta village.

A KNU source confirmed to Karen News that they had ambushed LIB 407 but denied all responsibility to do with the three soldiers beaten to death.

KNU Brigade 4, Mergui-Tavoy district leader Padoh Kwe Htoo Win refuted the accusations in regard to the three soldiers beaten to death.

“Yes, fighting did happen between the KNLA and Burma Army. But I do not have a report on the three Burma Army soldiers beaten to death. I find it difficult to believe this case. Three armed soldiers being kill by beaten? I think it is just a made up the story, so the Burma Army can justified  its attacks on villagers in the area.”

Following the incident, Padoh Kwe Htoo Win says the Burma Army has threatened residents in the area and restricted their travel movements.

Despite political talk of ceasefire by the government, the reality for this region of Karen State is that there are been at least six Burma Army Battalions and KNLA Brigade 4 fighters in frequent battles.

Military Engagement in KNLA Areas_summary-1 to-10 M-2011

ဒဏ္ရာရရွိမွဳအခ်ိဴး ႀက့ံဖြတ္တပ္မေတာ္ + နယ္ျခားေစာင့္တပ္ = KNLA, 1:65.7+

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