BEIJING WARNS JUNTA!
LESS FUNDS FOR CROSS-BORDER ASSISTANCE!
CAN WFP SEND FOOD TO KOKANG AND WA?
JUNTA WHITEWASHING FOUR CUTS CAMPAIGN!
Cartoon
Tips for the Senior General
Think Piece
Our country is going towards ruin, it is moving without direction.. but you people could still save it from sinking further.
HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 21 August 2009
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The World
26 August 2009
US Senator Edward Kennedy, 77, passes away after battling brain cancer. (Agencies)
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International Relations
22 August 2009
John Yettaw told Newsweek a security guard “with the AK47 shook my hand and let me in.” (Irrawaddy)
25 August 2009
The Solidarity for Asian People’s advocacy Task Force on Asean and Human Rights (SAPA) sends an open letter to Asean panel tasked with drafting the terms of reference for the Asean Inter-Governmental Commission for Human Rights, to form a regional human rights court. The panel will meet in Jakarta, 26-27 August. (Jakarta Post)
26 August 2009
Meeting with a USDA delegation led by Than Htay, Zhou Tienong, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, says China will promote social exchanges with Burma to boast bilateral ties. (Xinhua)
26 August 2009
Dr Cynthia MaungDelegation led by Dr Cynthia Maung to Australia returned to the Thai border empty handed. Canberra has committed $ A 29 million in aid to Burma this year, but less than $ A1 million will make it to the eastern border, the region that needs it the most, says Union Aid Abroad (APHEDA). Burma is officially the second most corrupt country in the world, says Dr Sean Turnell, head of Burma Economic Watch at Sydney’s Macquarie University. (Irrawaddy)
27 August 2009
Zin Linn, spokesman for the exile government, says US sanctions should stay in place until Aung San Suu Kyi is released and Burma’s rulers agree to talk with the opposition. (VOA)
28 August 2009
US Campaign for Burma calls on US to lead action at the UN Security Council to stop attacks on ethnic minorities in Burma. (Press Release)
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Thai-Burma Relations
22 August 2009
Retired Gen Chettha Thanajaro, chairman of the new Thai-Burmese Culture and Economy Association, is supporting the Thai private sector’s bid to seek a coal mining concession in Burma, about 50 km (sic) from Tachilek. The deposit is estimated to be worth B 270 billion ($8 bllion) but the mining operation has raised environmental concerns because the area encompasses watershed zones. The National Security Council will allow a local border pass to open temporarily. (Bangkok Post)
26 August 2009
Witoon Permpangsacharoen, environmentalist attached to Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (TERRA), says the planned series of dams to be built on the Salween will be at risk from earthquakes. The Srinakarin dam in Kachanaburi on the border was rumored to have been damaged by an earthquake. It has been built on the Srisawat active fault. (Mizzima)
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Politics/ Inside Burma
22 August 2009
Meeting with Maj Gen Soe Win, Kachin Independence Organization leaders have refused to provide the Burmese authorities with its list of officers and men. (KNG)
24 August 2009
Lawyer Nyan Win says since she returned home on 11 August, the authorities have sent another doctor to check on Aung San Suu Kyi’s health. She says she wants her family physician Dr Tin Myo Win back. (Irrawaddy)
25 August 2009
Dr Win Naing, spokesman for the NLD, in response to the ICG report on 20 August, that the upcoming elections should be regarded as an opportunity, says they would be meaningless unless the 2008 constitution is amended. (Mizzima)
25 August 2009
Exiled Buddhist monks say Burmese monks inside are preparing to launch another boycott of military personnel and military by refusing alms from them. Known as Pattanikkujjana in Pali, the boycott has been declared twice in the past, 1990 and 2007. (Irrawaddy)
25 August 2009
Naw Ohn Hla
10 opposition activists launch month-long yellow campaign in Rangoon to pay tribute to monks who took part in the Saffron Revolution two years again September. “We wear yellow ribbons, yellow hairpains, yellow flowers and yellow dresses as symbols,” says Naw Ohn Hla, one of the campaigners. (Mizzima)
27 August 2009
Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers meet for two hours with her to finalize details of her appeal, which will be submitted to the Rangoon court next week. (AP)
28 August 2009
Visiting three staff members of House Foreign Relations Committee tell NLD that the new Burma policy is to be completed and announced soon. Ohn Kyaing, NLD’s information committee member, say they were told the new policy is unlikely to bring about drastic changes. (Mizzima)
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Shans/ Shan State
23 August 2009Edited video tapes shown by the Burma Army says villages in Shan State South, during the 27 July – 1 August campaign, were burned by Shan militiamen and not the Burma Army. (SHAN)
Kokang
22 August 2009
Tempers flare again in Kokang after Shan State North police serve a summons for Peng Jiasheng, his brother and two sons to appear before the court. (SHAN)
21-24 August 2009
The alliance of 8 ethnic armed groups that National Democratic Front (NDF) says it will increase cooperation with ceasefire groupsthat have rejected the SPDC’s plan to transform into border militias. (DVB)
26 August 2009
Large groups crossed the border from Kokang to China’s Nansan yesterday. Some 10,000 people have fled the area since 8 August. (Reuters) VOA report puts it at more than 20,000 – Editor
26 August 2009
Hostile attitudes have hardened and preparations for an offensive on the Wa and Kokang groups have heightened since US Senator Jim Webb visited Burma. The regime knows that fighting against notorious druglord, would gain the sympathy if not the blessing of the US. (Irrawaddy)
26 August 2009
Nyo Ohn Myint, Burmese politician in exile, says the regime is trying to show that Kokang and Wa are involved in drugs, in an effort to discredit current leaders and replace them with those who may be willing to cooperate with the regime. (Irrawaddy)
27 August 2009
Burmese soldiers wearing police uniforms are detained by rebel fighters and some fled to Chinese territory. The KIO is watching the situation. (KNG)
27 August 2009
The Wa claim junta shell landed in Chinese soil and killed 1 PLA man while wounding 2. A different source says it killed 2 and wounded 3. The PLA as a result has moved more troops to the border. (SHAN) Later report says the casualties were civilians – Editor
28 August 2009
Phoe Than Gyaung, spokesperson for the once powerful Communist Party of Burma, “expect(s) the junta to launch attacks on other groups soon.” (Mizzima)
28 August 2009
Sources report casualties and losses:
1 police officer killed
1 police officer wounded
42 police officer taken captive
56 automatic rifles seized
3 Kokang fighters and several dozen government troopers killed. (Irrawaddy/New York Times)
28 August 2009
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, in a rare statement, warns Burma to “properly deal with its domestic issues to safeguard regional stability” in the Sino-Burma border area and ensure safety and rights of Chinese citizens in that country. (AP)
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Economy/ Business
25 August 2009Daewoo consortium will be investing $ 5.6 billion to produce and distribute gas in Burma. (Reuters)
26 August 2009
Two foreign firms: US Conoco Philips and Tullow Bangladesh will be allowed to explore gas and oil close to the disputed waters but not in the disputed areas, according to an official source in Bangladesh. (Narinjara)
28 August 2009
More Indian companies are to invest in Burma’s IT and education sectors this year. Last year, the two countries had set up 11 IT centers in Rangoon, Mandalay and others. (Xinhua)
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Human Rights
25 August 2009The World Food Program (WFP) ended its helicopter transportation services on 20 August in the cyclone-hit areas. It will be implementing a 3 year project (2010-2012) to distribute 150,000 tons of rice to Rakhine, Kachin, Chin, Shan and Magwe. (Xinhua)
28 August 2009
Villagers in Mudon township are being forced to buy valueless physic nut plants:
Large village K 200,000
Medium village K 150,000
Small village K 105,000
The are resold for K 300 per plants:
Large home 4 plants
Small home 2 plants
Residents don’t know why they are being forced to buy. (IMNA)
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Environment
24 August 2009Over 60 Kachin villages around the hydropower project site near the Irrawaddy confluence are on the list of villages to be moved by the junta, says a local watchdog group. (KNG)
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Drugs
24 August 2009Anti-drug squad seizes 104 heroin blocks, including two that weighed 700kg, 2,926,000 meth pills and 21 kg of powdered heroin in Tachilek. In July 762kg of heroin and 340,000 meth pills were seized in the same border town. (Agencies) The state-run papers ran the story two days later, unlike in the past, when seizures were either not disclosed or disclosed much later – Editor
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War
24 August 2009Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report by Andrew Selth says solid evidence still needed to confirm Burma’s nuke plans. “No one wants a repetition of the mistakes which preceded the 2003 Iraq war,” he says. (Sydney Morning Herald)
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