Weekly Diary 129

Weekly Diary, No. 129 (2-8 January 2005)

PM CONTRADICTS HIS OWN MINISTER!

Food for Thought

As responsible and mature adults, we must stop becoming "infantile adults", to quote U Thant's description of the Bama and the Burmese in general.
Chao Tzang Yawnghwe (1939 � 2004), 14 February 2004

I was very happy about my leaders making a ceasefire and believed in it. I made a large farm and now I have lost everything.
IDP villager fleeing SPDC offensive, Nyaunglaybin District, Karen State, December 2004.
Source: Free Burma Rangers/ Burma Issue

The World

6 January
Jakarta holds one day Tsunami aid summit. The unprecedented, global catastrophe requires an unprecedented, global response, says UN chief Kofi Annan. (Reuters) A humbling experience, exclaims Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Casualties estimated at 150,000 killed and 500,000 injured. Close to $ 4 billion in aid has been pledged, Australia alone $ 750 million. (DPA)

International Relations

3 January
India and Burma came closer to further cementing their relations in 2004. The new Congress led Indian government appears more pro-active towards Burma. It has paid no attention to opposition Indian parties pressuring on Congress to take pro-democracy steps. (Mizzima)

6 January
Speaking at Jakarta conference, PM Soe Win says the situation in "our country" is manageable and urges all available funds be channeled to other countries. He maintains 59 killed, 3 missing and 43 injured [which even contradicts figures disclosed by Sein Htwa yesterday]. (DPA)

7 January
Chinese diplomatic personnel and business companies based in Burma donate $ 7,000 for Tsunami victims. Beijing and the Chinese Red Cross have already donated $ 220,000 in cash. (XNA)

EU has announced funding worth ($ or Euro) 9.5 million for 5 projects in and out of Burma. Signing ceremony of 3 of them is held in Bangkok today.
� 510,000 for International Organization for Migration to help 20,000 displaced Shans to improve their health quality
� 1.2 million for UNHCR to improve education quality for Karen refugees
� 4 million for BBC to provide food for Karen refugee camps

Two other projects taking place in Burma will be for UNHCR, 1.78 million and WFP, 2 million.

EU has adopted another 2 aid decisions worth 8.1 million for Burma: 4.65 million for refugees in Thailand and 3.42 million for vulnerable populations inside Burma. (Financial Times)

Thai-Burma Relations

3 January
Dr Pornlert Chanruang, director of Phangnga's Takuapa Hospital, says out of 1,500 people who have received treatment, 65 are from Burma. (AP)

5 January
More than 1,000 Burmese workers arrived in Ranong when their employers in the six Tusnami-hit provinces closed down their businesses. They were refused passage into Burma through Kawhsawng (Kawthaung) by Burmese authorities, who said their entry point is Maesod. (Bangkok Post)

7 January
Lao workers verified by Vientianne will be issued temporary passports. (Bangkok Post)

More than 500 migrant workers from Burma in Phang Nga, said to be on a stealing spree, are being rounded up for deportation via Victoria Point to their homeland. (AP) Those working illegally and others who have lost their work permits in the Tsunami chaos do not dare to go and receive aid. (Irrawaddy)

Politics

2 January
State radio announces it is releasing 5,588 more prisoners to coincide with 4 January Independence Day. The release brings to 19,906 the number of prisoners, mainly believed to be petty criminals. (AFP)

3 January
All Nasaka camps have been replaced with 4-member Special Investigations Units in northern Arakan since Christmas. (Kaladan)

4 January
At least 25 political prisoners have been released, including 2 party MPs and 3 journalists, among whom is Zaw Thet Htwe, 38, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of high treason. NLD statement calls on the junta to enter into dialogue and to release all 400 political prisoners, including 135 NLD members. (AP/AFP)

Economy / Business

2 January
Flower News journal reports Burma will be building 4 deep seaports in Arakan's Kyaukhpyu in conjunction with a road link between Kunming and Kyaukhpyu-Sittwe. The town is in an area where there exists oil and gas resource potential. (XNA)

7 January
KNPLF, led by Zanda, accompanied by Lt-Col Hpone Naing, Commander of Bawlakay based LIB 337, meets Maehongson businessman. The group proposes opening of BP-10 (Nampiangdin) border crossing for trade and to issue passes for 500 fighters and 1,000 civilians to buy goods in Maehongson. (Bangkok Post/S.H.A.N.)

Environment

28 December 2004
There is strong evidence that suggests oil exploration activities have induced earthquakes in the past. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake had take place following incessant "sound bombing" of ocean floors to test for oil and gas carried out near Tasmania. The sound waves are reportedly powerful enough to penetrate up to 40 km below the sea floor. The tests apparently had affected whales and dolphins, 169 of whom had beached themselves on the island on 28 November. (Independence Media TV)

2 January
The death toll is in the thousands, estimates one foreign diplomats. Rangoon has brushed aside most offers to help, accepting a token £104,000 worth of aid from China. Diplomats were told that the total has just risen to 90. (Sunday Telegraph)

3 January
Steven N. Ward, geophysicist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, says southern Burma should have been hit equally as hard as southern Thailand, according to his computer model. (The Day)

4 January
The World Food Program says hundreds of fishermen were probably killed, as Rangoon puts the Tsunami toll at 53 killed and 21 missing. Some 30,000 people are in immediate need of shelter, food, drinking water and medical drugs, adds Simon Pluess. Rangoon, after initially claiming that the problem could be resolved by local means, have on 30 December made an appeal for international aid. (AFP) At least 400 people, most of whom were Salons from Lampi Island and fishermen from Irrawaddy Division, lost their lives during the storm. 100 fishing boats from Labutta have yet to return, said a schooner owner. Thahtaykyun casino, a resort for foreigners near Ranong, was also damaged. (DVB) Michael Geeraisak, a Thai missionary in Ranong, quoting a Thai newspaper, says the number of death is as much as 600. (Asian News.net) US Secretary of State Colin Powell, on a visit to Thailand, says satellite images of Burma's shoreline reveal it was not as badly damaged as other countries in the region. (AP/AFP) Meanwhile Indian helicopters fly to Rangoon to make the shortest possible flight to its remote Andaman and Nicobar islands for its relief operations. (XNA)

5 January 2005
Charles Petrie, Rangoon-based UN coordinator, says the Tsunami had minimal impact with Burma. Barry Hirstrom, geophysicist at the US Government's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii says the north-south fault line indicated that the waves would be pointed towards Thailand on one side and Sri Lanka on the other. The largest loss of life in a single incident took place in Kawhsawng where about 20 people were swept away. (International Herald Tribune) International Federation of Red Cross's Joanna MacLean says 86 peopled were confirmed dead, 45 injured, 10 injured, 10 missing and 5,272 persons homeless. According to Doctors Without Borders, about 90 people died nationwide (AP) Maj Gen Sein Htwa, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, announce 64 dead (10 in Tenasserim, 32 in Irrawaddy and 22 in Arakan), 56 injured and 3,460 homeless. There was no casualties in the Coco islands where 976 people live. (XNA) State-run media usually downplays or bury disaster stories. (Irrawaddy)

Joanna McLean of International Federation of Red Cross says more than 30 Salons or Mokens are still missing. As for the Coco Islands, an NGO staff was allowed to talk to the people of the islands and there was no report of special damages there. (DVB) According to the wife of one Thai fisherman, Thai boats had discovered more than 80 corpses floating on the sea near Moulmein. (DVB)

6 January
15 UN and NGO organizations meeting in Rangoon put the death toll at between 60-80 and 10,000 � 15,000 affected by the Tsunami. No assessment could be made on the situation on the Coco Islands as they are a military base and off-limits to outsiders. (Irrawaddy)

War

5 January
Adm Samphob Amrapal, Commander in Chief of Thailand's Navy, admits the Phagnga base including 4 warships were hit hard by the Tsunami with damage estimated at more than $ 50 million. 4 officers are also missing. (Bangkok Post)

6 December
Two bombs blow up in Myitkyina. No damage reported and no one has claimed responsibility. Kachins had experienced three bomb attacks last year, two of them killing Kachin leaders. (Mizzima)

Doi Yamo (Nyanmo hill) on the border, 15 km west of Maehongson, shelled with 81 mm mortars. 2 falls inside Thai territory. No damage reported. The two sides, Karenni and Burma Army, had already fought 4 clashes on 4-5 January. (NMG/DVB)