The Burmese authorities have a new enemy to hunt down—dogs which are roaming Rangoon with pictures of Than Shwe and other regime leaders around their necks.
A resident of Shwegondine, Bahan Township, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that she saw a group of four dogs with pictures of the regime’s top generals around their necks.
Sightings were also reported in four other Rangoon townships—Tharkayta, Dawbon, Hlaing Tharyar and South Okkalapa.
Some sources said the canine protest had started at least a week ago, and was keeping the authorities busy trying to catch the offending dogs. “They seem quite good at avoiding arrest,” laughed one resident.
Associating anybody with a dog is a very serious insult in Burma.
Spray-painters are also at work, daubing trains with the words “Killer Than Shwe” and other slogans.
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Protesting Dogs Are Now on the Regime’s Wanted List
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Cyclone Nargis survivors face new battles under General Than Shwe
From The Times
May 2, 2009
Passengers carry supplies onto a boat in the fishing town of Labutta on the Ayeyarwady River
The human survivors were still coming to terms with their shock and grief when they began to notice it: one after another, the water buffalo, which ploughed the fields and fertilised the ground, were starting to die.
“They suffered from the shock, too,” said Aung Moe, a farmer in the village of Bantoung Khaung. “For six or seven months, they were slow, sad, we could not make them work. And they began to die gradually.”
When the dead creatures were examined, their stomachs contained a brick of muddy earth. “They drink the cyclone water,” Aung Moe said. “And the water is so muddy.”
It is a year today since Cyclone Nargis struck southern Burma, passing straight through Bantoung Khaung. Looking at the village today, it is hard to recall the scale of the disaster. The corpses have been cleared from the creeks and trees; the smashed houses have been replaced with neat, fragile shelters of bamboo and palm.
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Beneath the surface, though, the physical and psychological trauma is profound — and it is felt in changes to the natural world as much as the human.
The people of the Irrawaddy delta are no longer dying but they are communities on life support. They have roofs over their heads but most are so flimsy that it would take less than a cyclone to blow them away again. They are supplied with enough food aid to fend off hunger and disease but many are still unable to support themselves. Their buffaloes — the lumbering tractors of the paddy fields — have died and there is no money to replace them.
Even if these problems were solved they would still face an enemy as implacable and destructive as the surging tidal water and raging winds: the Burmese junta, which condemns its people to poverty by its stubbornness and greed.
However much physical reconstruction has taken place, one thing has not changed: the people’s latent fear of their Government.
From Rangoon, the largest city in Burma, it is an eight-hour drive, followed by a one-hour journey by boat, to Bantoung Khaung. Foreign journalists are barred from Burma and an elaborate subterfuge is required to gain the necessary documents and pass through the checkpoints on the road to Labutta, which is the closest town.
Once there, police and military intelligence make suspicious inquiries. Local people and even international nongovernmental organisations and United Nations agencies are afraid to give on-the-record interviews (all names in this article have been changed).
They have good reason: 21 people are serving prison sentences, from 2 to 35 years, on charges associated with taking aid into the Irrawaddy delta. It is this which sets Cyclone Nargis in a different category from a natural disaster such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004: it was quickly caught up in the politics of one of the cruellest, most stubborn dictatorships in the world.
About 140,000 people were crushed or drowned by the storm, which pounded the low-lying delta with winds of 135mph (215km/h) and waters 12ft (3.5m) high. Almost immediately offers of help came in from across the world but the Government of General Than Shwe refused to allow nonBurmese aid workers into the area.
After three weeks of international pressure, the junta unexpectedly gave in and allowed foreign aid — and aid workers — to come to the disaster area. There was no secondary disaster of mass deaths due to starvation, disease and exposure but a visit to a village such as Bantoung Khaung reveals how far the stricken area is from full recovery.
The biggest problem is the lack of clean water. The village used to thrive on its 51 wells, which produced clean, fresh water. “People from the other villages would come here for our water,” Soe Min Myat said. “But now they are all salty.”
The villagers have drained the wells and painstakingly dug out replacements, but in vain. The problem suggests a sinister possibility: that the force of the cyclone permanently altered watercourses in the area, forcing salt into the groundwater. The residents rely on deliveries of purified water brought in by boat, which is the only way to gain access to the village.
The salt has washed through the fields, harming their productivity. “To plant rice we only needed a buffalo and a knife,” Soe Min Myat said. The farmers of Bantoung Khaung have neither, and the rice planting, which should take place in July, is in doubt.
They used to have 1,600 water buffaloes; 60 of them have survived. Animals brought in from other parts of the country died because they were unaccustomed to the climate, and the mechanical tillers provided by aid workers are unpopular with the farmers, who have used buffaloes for centuries. There is not enough seed, and no money to buy it.
The salt factories and rice mills that used to provide income and employment have been washed away. In previous years the farmers borrowed money from wealthy dealers as an advance on their crop — but they are in debt from last year when lending was never repaid because the cyclone washed everything away.
“There’s no employment and no food,” said Chris Kaye, of the UN World Food Programme, which is feeding 190,000 of the 480,000 people in the Labutta district.
Even the generosity of the outside world appears to have given out. Only two thirds of the appeal for $477 million (£320 million) was raised — compared with $12 billion for the victims of the 2004 tsunami. Funds for road building, shelter and other infrastructure are in short supply, because of the aversion of foreign governments to being seen to help the military regime rather than its victims.
There is gross inconsistency in this: General Than Shwe’s compatriots receive only $2.80 per head in foreign aid, compared with $55 for Sudan and $49 in the communist dictatorship of Laos, which neighbours Burma.
In recent weeks the junta has shown signs of revoking the few freedoms that it yielded in the delta. The fast-track process for applying for visas for aid workers has been brought to an end. Permission to fly the World Food Programme’s helicopter, which has done invaluable work in surveying damaged areas and transporting officials, may not be renewed. Outside the delta, in areas wholly unaffected by the cyclone, Burmese remain among the poorest people in the world.
The estimated GDP for the country is barely half that of developmental disaster areas such as Cambodia and Bangladesh and almost one third of children under 5 are malnourished. The Government’s spending on health and education combined is less than 1 per cent of GDP — compared with an estimated 40 per cent for its armed forces.
This is the true tragedy of the Burmese: however much is done for the survivors of the storm, they remain in the grip of the far greater disaster of their rulers.
Waves of destruction
138,400 deaths due to Cyclone Nargis
54% of victims were children
2,000 children orphaned
2.4m villagers affected by the cyclone
£320m target for the United Nations emergency appeal
£150m raised after six months
£211m raised so far
£6.7m lost by the UN in an exchange-rate scam led by the junta
130 tonnes of aid sent to Burma by the Red Cross
350 tonnes of medical supplies distributed by the World Health Organisation
21 political prisoners arrested for helping victims without permission
Source: Times archive
Monday, 4 May 2009
Burma’s Prime Minister, 'Butcher of Depayin,' Dies after Long Illness By The Associated Press Saturday, October 13, 2007
urma’s Prime Minister Gen Soe Win, who had been blamed with overseeing a 2003 attack against pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, died Friday after a long illness. He was 59.
Soe Win
The fourth-ranking member of the junta, he had been ailing for months with what relatives said was acute leukemia. His death was announced by state media.
He had returned September 30 from extended hospitalization in Singapore and had been warded at Mingaladon Military Hospital on the outskirts of northern Rangoon, relatives said.
Soe Win's death on Friday came as the junta continued its crackdown on democracy advocates, following more than a month of street protests in the tightly controlled country.
His departure was unlikely to cause a ripple in the regime's grip on power. Soe Win had little if any policy-making role as prime minister, and was largely considered a figurehead for the junta.
Lt-Gen Thein Sein, who has been serving as acting prime minister since at least May, was expected to succeed Soe Win. Thein Sein is known as a fierce loyalist of Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the junta's chief.
Soe Win was nicknamed the “Butcher of Depayin” for his role in the 2003 attack on Suu Kyi and her followers in the northern town of Depayin.
Details of the attack remain murky, but several dozen of Suu Kyi's supporters were believed killed when a mob of government supporters ambushed her motorcade. Soe Win is considered the mastermind behind the attack, according to diplomats, rights groups and government critics.
He first achieved notoriety as one of the officers who brutally suppressed a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, commanding troops around Rangoon University—a center for demonstrations—and giving orders to open fire on a crowd of protesters in front of Rangoon General Hospital.
Soe Win was also an air defense chief and a commander for the northwestern military region of the country. He joined the junta's inner circle as Secretary-2 in February 2003, and was promoted to Secretary-1 in an August 2003 Cabinet shake-up. He became prime minister in October 2004, replacing then premier and intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt, who was removed on corruption and other charges and is currently under house arrest.
He is survived by his wife, and their son and daughter. Soe Win's twin brother died on September 19.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Explosives Found in Monastery, Says Junta By The Associated Press Thursday, October 18, 2007
Burma's military regime, which acknowledged detaining nearly 3,000 people during a recent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, said Thursday that it seized large quantities of US-made explosives that a monk had been hiding in a Buddhist monastery.
Forty-eight blocks of TNT were found last week after investigations by authorities which led to U Kovida, a 23-year-old monk at Rangoon's Nan Oo monastery, the state-run New Light of Myanmar said. He reportedly hid the explosives in the monastery and then moved them to another location, where they were found.
Monks were at the forefront of mass anti-government demonstrations, which the military brutally suppressed. The junta said Wednesday it detained nearly 3,000 people in connection with the protests, adding that hundreds remain in custody and that it is still hunting for others.
The newspaper report, which did not say if Kovida was arrested, said explosives were being smuggled into the country and people suspected of having links with the smuggling operation were being questioned.
London-based Amnesty International said Wednesday that an increasing number reports from Burma tell of deaths, torture, lack of food and medical treatment in overcrowded detention facilities across the country.
"The current arbitrary arrests, secret detention and widespread reports of ill-treatment and torture make a mockery of promises made by the Myanmar [Burmese] authorities to cooperate with the United Nations ... for early release of all political prisoners," a statement from the human rights group said.
An official statement in the New Light of Myanmar said 2,927 people had been arrested since the crackdown started and nearly 500 were still in custody. "Some are still being called in for questioning and those who should be released will be," it said.
Everyone released from custody was required to sign "pledges" the military statement said, without elaborating. Protesters freed from custody have said in interviews that they had to sign statements saying they would not take part in protests or support the pro-democracy movement.
The opposition National League for Democracy party of detained Nobel laureate Suu Kyi said Tuesday that more than 300 party members had been detained since August, including 60 within the past week.
The junta has said 10 people were killed when troops fired into crowds of peaceful protesters during the Sept. 26-27 crackdown.
Diplomats and dissidents say they believe the death toll is higher and that up to 6,000 people were seized, including thousands of monks who led the rallies.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has come under increasing international pressure to call off its crackdown, as Japan canceled a multimillion dollar grant and China threw its weight behind a U.N. envoy's efforts to ease the crisis.
But ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, said it would not support any sanctions against the military regime
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Refugee camp under threat (between Burma & Thailand)
Saturday, 31 January 2009 18:32 Daniel Pedersen
Mae Sot (Mizzima) - As night closes in on Noe Poh refugee camp, about five hours south of Mae Sot in northern Thailand bordering town with Burma, the road that skirts its edge clears of people.
By 9 pm, should anyone be reckless enough to light a candle, Karen National Liberation Army, the armed-wing of Karen National Union, one of the longest running ethnic rebels in Asia against the military-ruled Burma, soldiers will quickly ensure it is extinguished.
By now though, after two weeks of bolstered security in the face of intrusions upon Thailand's sovereignty by Burmese government-backed fighters, mostly no one would be foolish enough to dare light their surroundings.
No one moves from their ramshackle perches in the night, a strict curfew is policed by both Thai soldiers and KNLA foot patrols.
Two weeks ago the camp was shutting down at 8.45 sharp, but one inhabitant said the "situation has calmed down a lot now".
Just weeks ago brazen sorties by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a break away Karen faction but aligned with the military junta, had everyone on edge.
DKBA "spies", Karens not part of the camp population, were intercepted creeping around in the darkness four nights in a row.
So paranoid were camp security officers that, at the height of tensions in the area around the camp, one accused spy was arrested and executed.
"I don't think he had a trial," said a teacher working at the camp.
"They've caught nine or 10 so far," he said, adding that a committee member of the school at which he teaches, the ESC (for English Speaking Course), came across three in one night.
The word "course" in the school's name replaces college, because Thai authorities do not allow colleges, which would suggest permanency.
Serious fighting has come as close as 10 kilometres to Noe Poh camp.
The DKBA is pursuing remnants of the KNLA's 103 Special Battalion, which early this year lost its base camp further north.
As the KNLA unit pulls back into ever-higher mountains in the south it lays landmines, creating a constant stream of DKBA casualties, the most serious of which are admitted to Umphang Hospital, run by the Thai government.
The base camp of 103 was one of the last two KNLA Sixth Brigade footprints in Karen State. Its loss means only Wah Lay Kee, further north, remains.
A foreign donor who helps humanitarian fund the Karen struggle for recognition said he felt KNLA commanders now accepted Wah Lay Kee would also be lost.
"I think, just strategically, because they're so outnumbered, they figure it is better to keep the soldiers safe by keeping them on the move," he said.
DKBA and SPDC troops have been poised to take Wah Lay Kee at their liberty for weeks now, but have not yet launched a final push.
But the Thais know Wah Lay Kee is bound to fall and vigilant patrols have sealed the border, waiting to deter any combatants or civilians fleeing the fighting from limping into Thai territory.
The foreign donor explained the apparent reticence of DKBA and SPDC troops thus: "They're not keen to go in because they know the place will be booby-trapped and there won't be anyone there.
"And they know they will take casualties."
Benedict Rogers, author of "A Land Without Evil" lamented 103's loss over coffee in Mae Sot.
"You know I come here two, maybe three times a year and every visit another bit of land is lost.
"I see that they [KNU/KNLA] are being ground further and further down," he said, shaking his head.
On this visit Mr Rogers will meet with the KNU's new leadership, filled with hope the orginization can revitalize its struggle against Burma's State Peace and Development Council.
"You know since Mahn Sha's death (the former KNU secretary-general who was assassinated at his home near Mae Sot on February 14, 2008) there's not been any real leadership.
"He was a unifying figure who drew together different strands of opinion, religion and he maintained links with the various democracy groups. He saw the big picture."
Mr Rogers said the SPDC's latest offensives, which began in Karen State but have now pushed into Shan and Karenni States, are part of an outright bid to force rebels fighting for self-determination into submission before the 2010 elections.
Burman dissidents in Mae Sot agreed, saying the SPDC would pressure armed groups weakened by the current extreme military offensives to sign ceasefire deals before next year's poll.
Mr Rogers said he feared the international community, irritated and embarrassed by the junta's harsh and belligerent excesses, might be willing to accept a veneer of calm, no matter how artificial it might be.
"That's particularly the case with Asian countries, they're tired of it," he said.
The "official" population of Noe Poh camp is about 14,000, but each week new arrivals bolster that figure, as Thai brokers deliver their quarry hidden in cars or trucks.
People living in the camp, which is largely forgotten by the constant stream of foreign volunteer teachers, Christian groups and non-governmental organisations that pour into more accessible camps during the dry season, say passage from Mae Sot to Noe Poh costs about 5000 baht.
Carl Browne, who until this week was the only foreign teacher at Noe Poh and has more than 600 students, says once fugitives make it to Noe Poh, they're safe.
"The real issue is getting in," he said.
"But because we're so far away from Mae Sot, we sort of get forgotten, or left alone – we have internet cafes, we have shops.
"There's more and more activists seeking refuge at Noe Poh, from Rangoon, former political prisoners, there's more than in Mae La even.
"That's why Noe Poh is really under pressure, the junta wants to clean up before next year," he said.
People living at Noe Poh know full well the junta wants to destroy the camp.
"Hell, the DKBA even contacted the Thai camp commander and said 'get your people out, we're coming in to burn it down'," said Mr. Browne.
"The camp commander said no."
Last Updated ( Monday, 02 February 2009 16:28 )
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Monks Sentenced to Six Years Imprisonment; Rangoon, Mandalay Locked Down by Troops By The Irrawaddy Saturday, September 29, 2007
Streets in Rangoon and Mandalay were relatively quiet on Saturday, following three bloody days in which at least 10 protesters were gunned down, according to state-run media, and scores of monks and civilians were beaten and arrested by security forces.
However, members of Burma's opposition groups say as many as 200 people may have been killed in the standoff between monks, pro-democracy demonstrators and security forces. Many hundreds of people were seriously injured.
Many corpses were taken to secret locations, according to opposition sources.
In Rangoon, as many as 1,000 monks have been imprisoned since a boycott on alms from the military government and its supporters was declared on September 17, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners based on the Thai-Burmese border.
The monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison and the Government Technology Institute compound, located near the prison in north Rangoon, according to sources in Rangoon.
A senior monk who was taken to Insein Prison by authorities to talk to the monks said they were stripped of their robes and are now wearing prison clothing. Some monks have already been sentenced to six years imprisonment by a specially convened court, he said.
Throughout the day scattered protesters numbering in the dozens to several hundred, mostly young and bold, played hit-and-run games with security forces in Rangoon.
"Some young people appeared on the streets, holding fighting peacock flags and wearing arm bands. When the army trucks come, they run away," said one resident.
The authorities, who clearly have control of Rangoon, fired tear gas in reply to groups who dared to venture out, and there were numerous arrests.
There is some hope among protesters that Sunday may see larger demonstrations to take advantage of the presence of UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who arrived in Rangoon on Saturday. Opposition forces are hopeful some type of dialogue can begin with the junta with Gambari as mediator.
Authorities maintain a heavy presence around many of the most active monasteries in Rangoon and Mandalay. Many shopping malls, businesses, grocery stores and public parks are closed.
Ngwe Kyar Yan Monastery in Rangoon, the scene of a bloody overnight attack in which about 200 monks were detained early Thursday morning, has since been looted by army troops, according to sources close to the monastery. Everything of value was carted away, including scores of Buddha statues. The head of one of the largest Buddhas, embedded with valuable jewels, was cut off.
Meanwhile the price of basic food in Rangoon is increasing hour by hour. Some retail shops say rice stocks are very low. "I have rice to sell for only two or three days," said one shop owner. A dusk to dawn curfew in Rangoon and Mandalay has made life very difficult for the people.
Authorities cut Internet service within the country on Friday and phone service has been sporadic, further isolating residents.
The largest demonstration in the country on Saturday occurred in Kyaukpadaung in Mandalay Division when about 1,000 monks led an estimated 30,000 people in a peaceful march despite the heavy presence of security forces and military troops.
Sources say a disinformation campaign consisting of counter-demonstrations organized by the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a junta-backed group, has forced people from Kyaukpadaung, Myingyan and Nyaung Oo to demonstrate in support of the junta crackdown.
Over the past weeks, leaders and members of the National League for Democracy and other opposition groups in Rangoon, Mandalay, Magwe division and Arakan state have been arrested by local authorities, essentially decimating the ranks of the political opposition. Thand Nwe Oo, a youth leader of the NLD who was arrested in Thaingangyun Township is 6-months pregnant, said a source.