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Southeast Asia

Myanmar junta says to free over 800 prisoners

2022-02-13

Checking in to see what nasty but unimportant nonsense the Burmese are getting up to while we weren’t looking.

[AlAham] Myanmar's junta on Saturday announced an amnesty for more than 800 prisoners, as it held a parade and show of force in the capital to mark the country's Union Day.

The country has been in turmoil since last year's coup, with mass protests and a subsequent military crackdown that has killed more than 1,500 civilians, according to the UN's human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
office.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing issued the "pardon order" -- a regular feature of major holidays in the country -- for 814 prisoners, state media said, marking the 75th Union Day.

The annual holiday commemorates an agreement between independence hero Aung San and several ethnic groups to form a Union of Burma independent of British rule.

Those given amnesty will be mostly from prisons in commercial hub Yangon, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told AFP.

He did not say whether Australian academic Sean Turnell -- who has been detained for more than a year -- would be among those released.

The economics professor was working as an adviser to civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi when he was arrested last February, days after she was ousted by the military.

He has been charged with violating Myanmar's official secrets law and faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison if found guilty.

About 100 people gathered outside Yangon's Insein prison on Saturday morning hoping to be reunited with loved ones, AFP correspondents said.

Four minibuses left the prison around noon local time (0530 GMT) and drove away, with those inside waving as people in the crowd shouted the names of relatives.

The junta marked Union Day with a show of force in the military-built capital Naypyidaw
...generally translated as royal capital, seat of the king or abode of kings because the general in charge had a massive ego. It was founded in 2002 because Rangoon was worn out. Traditionally, Naypyidaw was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called Yadanabon Naypyidaw in Burmese...
Hundreds of troops paraded alongside civil servants waving national flags in unison, and there were choreographed dances.

Helicopters carrying the country's yellow, green and red flag flew overhead, followed by jets trailing the same colours in smoke.

In a speech to troops, Min Aung Hlaing repeated the military's claim of massive fraud in 2020 elections won by Suu Kyi's party.

He also invited the myriad ethnic armed organizations that have been fighting Myanmar's military -- and each other -- for decades to sit for peace talks.

The Karen National Union, whose fighters have clashed repeatedly with junta troops in the east, said it would not attend talks.

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Southeast Asia

Myanmar signs ceasefire with eight armed groups

2015-10-16

[IN.REUTERS] Myanmar's government and eight armed ethnic groups signed a ceasefire agreement on Thursday, the culmination of more than two years of negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the majority of the country's long-running conflicts.

The deal fell short of its nationwide billing, with seven of the 15 gangs invited declining to sign due to disagreements over who the process should include and ongoing distrust of Myanmar's semi-civilian government and its still-powerful military.

President Thein Sein, a former general, made the nationwide ceasefire a key platform for his reformist agenda after taking power in 2011 and ending nearly 50 years of military rule.

While the absentees were a blow to the president, who pushed for the deal to be signed ahead of a Nov. 8 general election, he described the deal on Thursday as historic.

"The nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) is a historic gift from us to our generations of the future," Thein Sein said at a signing ceremony attended by hundreds of diplomats, officials and rebel group representatives in the country's capital.

"This is our heritage. The road to future peace in Myanmar is now open."

Thein Sein said he would continue with efforts to convince other groups to join the ceasefire later.

Among those that signed was the Karen National Union (KNU), Myanmar's oldest gang. The KNU has fought one of the world's longest-running conflicts with the Myanmar military spanning nearly 70 years.

"The NCA is a new page in history and a product of brave and energetic negotiations," Saw Mutu Say Poe, the chairman of the KNU, said at the ceremony.

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Southeast Asia

Myanmar holds talks with rebels

2012-04-08

YANGON: Myanmar's president had a landmark meeting on Saturday with one of the country's biggest ethnic rebel groups, a mediator said, marking one of the biggest steps taken by a government seeking "everlasting peace" after decades of hostilities.

Thein Sein, a former infantry commander and heavyweight in the junta that ceded power a year ago, told a visiting delegation of the Karen National Union (KNU) that his government viewed the rebels as brothers rather than enemy with whom the army had fought since 1949.

The meeting in the capital Naypyitaw was the first time the reform-minded president had met rebel leaders since he issued a call for dialogue last August, embarking on a three-phase peace process with more than a dozen groups aimed at bringing them into Myanmar's new political system.

"The president explained his change of attitude toward ethnic armed groups," a mediator who attended the meeting told Reuters by telephone. "He told them he considered ethnic armed groups as enemies when he was a soldier but after becoming president, he considers them as ethnic brethren."

Peace with the militias has been demanded by Western nations now reviewing economic and political sanctions. The former regime's suppression of ethnic minorities and allegations of human rights violations by troops were a key factor in imposing the embargoes.

The peace process is one of the most ambitious plans by a quasi-civilian government dominated by retired generals of the authoritarian regime who were despised by most Burmese and regarded by the West as pariahs. The new administration has embarked on a wave of social, political and economic reforms that it says are "irreversible" as it seeks to get sanctions lifted to allow a flood of foreign investment into one of Asia's last remaining frontier markets.

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Southeast Asia

Burma signs peace deal with ethnic Karen rebels

2012-01-13

[Irish Times] IN THE latest sign of growing political openness in Burma, the government has signed a ceasefire with ethnic Karen rebels, bringing to an end one of the world's longest-running insurgencies.

"A ceasefire agreement has been signed," Aung Min, head of the government's peace committee, said after talks in the Karen capital, Pa-an.

The talks between Burmese officials and Karen National Union leaders were part of a broader programme by Burma's government to gain international legitimacy through democratic reforms. The talks followed years of military repression, which has led to tough international sanctions.

Ethnic Karen, who make up about 7 per cent of the population, have been fighting for more autonomy for more than 60 years in a guerrilla campaign in the eastern part of the country around the Irrawaddy delta. The struggle predates the country's independence from Britannia in 1948.

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Southeast Asia

Bomb kills two near Myanmar capital: Official

2011-05-20

[Straits Times] A BOMB blast on a train near Myanmar's capital left at least two people dead on Wednesday during a visit by a US envoy for talks with the new government, a Myanmar official said.

'It was a time bomb. We assume KNU snuffies plotted it,' said the government official, referring to the Karen National Union whose armed wing has been fighting the government in a decades-old ethnic insurgency.

'Two people including a woman were killed and seven others were maimed in the kaboom,' which occurred in the early evening in Tatkone township in the Naypyidaw area, said the official, who did not want to be named.

The kaboom came shortly after Joseph Yun, the deputy US assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs, arrived in Myanmar for talks with officials including Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in Naypyidaw. Mr Yun is also expected to meet with democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi during his four-day visit to the military-dominated country.

US President Barack B.O. Obama's administration in 2009 launched a drive to engage with Myanmar's junta, which in March this year made way for a nominally civilian government after the first election in 20 years.

Washington has voiced disappointment with the results of the dialogue and refused to ease sanctions after the November poll, which was marred by complaints of intimidation and fraud.

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Southeast Asia

Four killed in Myanmar rebel attack

2011-02-20

[Straits Times] HEAVY weapons fire from rebel groups in eastern Myanmar killed four farm workers and maimed three more as fighting continues to rage in the region, state media reported on Saturday.

The armed wing of the Karen National Union was accused of 'undermining peace of the State, tranquility of community and prevalence of law and order' and 'causing death, injury and fear', the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

It said the group, which has waged Myanmar's longest-running insurgency, battling the government since 1949, fired heavy weapons into an area of Bago Region, north-east of Yangon, that borders Karen state.

Fighting between ethnic Islamic fascisti and government troops in Karen State flared around the time of the country's controversial elections last November.

Thousands of people briefly decamped across the border into Thailand seeking to escape the violence and unrest has continued to boil.

As a result of the elections Myanmar, ruled by the military since 1962, has a new parliamentary system, although it is dominated by retired generals and has been criticised as a sham aimed at shoring up army rule.

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Southeast Asia

Thousands flee Myanmar clashes

2010-11-09

[Al Jazeera] Fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic rebels has sent at least 10,000 people fleeing into Thailand a day after the military-led nation held a much-criticised election.

Clashes were reported on Monday at key points on the border with Thailand, leaving at least three people dead and 10 others maimed on both sides of the frontier. In the heaviest festivities, Karen rebels reportedly seized a cop shoppe and post office on Sunday in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy. Sporadic gun and mortar fire continued into Monday afternoon.

Al Jizz's Marga Ortigas, reporting from the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said that a stray rocket propelled grenade crossed into Thailand, injuring five people.

Refugees' fears
"The festivities appear to be between a faction linked to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and government-backed troops," Ortigas said.

"This faction has said it did not support the ceasefire the DKBA signed with the Myanmar government, and have reiterated that they want their own autonomy."

Our correspondent also said refugees from Myanmar who crossed the border into Thailand feared government troops would shoot them for failing to vote on Sunday.

Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), said fighting broke out between up to 300 DKBA soldiers and government forces.

"We don't know definitely but I think last night the army sent over more troops, they negotiated and the DKBA retreated but this morning they were blocked by army trucks and then it started," she said.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, held its first election in 20 years on Sunday, backed by parties that looked set to win a vote marred by fraud and denounced by Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, as stolen.

"It is unacceptable to steal elections, as the regime in Burma has done again for all the world to see," Obama, currently on a tour of four Asian nations, said in a speech to India's parliament in New Delhi.
And who would know more about stealing elections than a Chicago pol?
Europe and Japan also condemned the conduct of the poll as state TV reported that voters "freely and happily" cast their ballots.

Witness accounts suggested low turn-out and irregularities in the former British colony, which appears to have organised the election in part to help improve its image.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai prime minister, has said that ethnic minority areas in eastern Myanmar could continue for months. He also said that the country was ready to provide humanitarian assistance as refugee numbers continue to rise.

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Southeast Asia

Seven killed, 11 injured in Myanmar bombing

2009-12-19

[Dawn] Seven people were killed and 11 injured when a bomb exploded in southeastern Myanmar, official media reported on Friday, blaming ethnic Karen separatists for the attack.

The bomb went off late on Wednesday during New Year celebrations in Phapon, a town in Kayin State, which is predominantly Karen and is about 190 km northeast of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon.

'It is learnt that the time bomb was planted by KNU (Karen National Union) terrorist insurgent group,' state-controlled newspapers said.

The reports did not give details or evidence to show the KNU was responsible. Small blasts in public places, including markets and Buddhist temples, are fairly common in Myanmar and the ruling military government often blames KNU guerrillas.

The KNU is one of the biggest of the ethnic groups that have been fighting against the government for greater autonomy since independence from Britain in 1948.

The current junta has reached ceasefire agreements with 17 ethnic groups and at least six splinter groups of the KNU since it came to power in 1988. However, peace talks with the mainstream KNU have so far failed.

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Southeast Asia

Burma's Karen flee army offensive

2009-06-08

About 3,000 ethnic Karen villagers have reportedly fled from Burma into Thailand in recent days because of a new Burmese military offensive.

Aid groups say the refugees are from Ler Per Her camp in eastern Karen state, near where the Burmese army is reported to be attacking Karen rebels.

It is thought to be one of the largest movements of refugees across the Thai-Burma border in a decade.

Meanwhile Burma still faces pressure to halt Aung San Suu Kyi's trial.

The pro-democracy leader is charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest, a charge that could leave her in jail for up to five years.

Former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong visited Burma on a "goodwill trip" on Monday, as international anger against the regime continued to mount.

'Largest exodus for a decade'

The Free Burma Rangers aid group said refugees began streaming out of the Ler Per Her camp on Friday and continued to arrive in Thailand throughout the weekend.

The Karen Human Rights Group, a Thai-based humanitarian group, put the number of refugees at about 3,000 - and so too did a Thai army official speaking to local media.

The Burmese government has refused to comment on these reports.

The Karen Human Rights Group said the influx was "the largest exodus from Karen state on a single occasion" since the government launched a major offensive against the Karen rebels in 1997.

The refugees are now taking shelter about 100 km (62 miles) north of Mae Sot, a Thai border town.

The rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide and other organisations have called on the United Nations to intervene to prevent a humanitarian crisis along the border.

Rebels from the Karen National Union (KNU) have been fighting for greater autonomy from Burma's central government for more than half a century.

But the KNU is weakening under the impact of continued army offensives, as well as divisions within its ranks and with other Karen groups.

Another group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Amy (DKBA), made a pact with the Burmese government and is reportedly now involved in the current fighting on the government side.

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Southeast Asia

2,000 flee Myanmar fighting

2009-06-09

[Straits Times] MORE than 2,000 Myanmar villagers have fled across the border into Thailand amid fierce clashes between ethnic Karen rebels and government soldiers, the Thai military and rights groups said on Monday. The ruling junta has been battling Karen National Union (KNU) rebels in the eastern regions for decades but the exodus into neighbouring Thailand is one of the biggest for years.

'Fighting erupted during the weekend and caused around 2,000 people to cross into the kingdom,' deputy Thai army spokesman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong told AFP. She added that another 400 Karen had entered Thailand's western province of Tak from Myanmar since the start of June.

The Thailand-based Free Burma Rangers aid group said that villagers began fleeing after Myanmar forces shelled a camp where KNU guerrillas are based on Saturday. It put the number of people who had fled Ler Per Her camp in Myanmar - formally called Burma - to escape the violence at 3,295, mostly women and children.

Hundreds of soldiers had surrounded the camp, it added in a statement. 'Those in the camp had already fled attacks from the Burma Army in eastern Karen state numerous times and had established homes there, which now have to be abandoned,' it said.

The group said that those who had fled across the border were in 'urgent need of shelter, medical assistance, food and clothing'.

The Thai army's Ms Sirichan said that the clashes themselves had not spilled over the border. 'So far the fighting had not affected Thailand. If there is fighting near the border then troops will be moved closer on alert,' she said.

Tens of thousands of refugees live along Thailand's border with Myanmar, most of who have fled army crackdowns. Rights groups including Amnesty International have accused Myanmar's military regime of committing crimes against humanity by targeting civilians during its offensive against ethnic rebels.

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Southeast Asia

Myanmar rebel leader shot dead in Thai town

2008-02-15

A leader of Myanmar's biggest rebel group was shot dead at his home in a Thai border town on Thursday in an assassination immediately blamed on troops loyal to the former Burma's military junta.

Mahn Sha Lar Phan, secretary-general of the Karen National Union (KNU), was shot at his two-storey wooden home by two men who arrived in a pickup truck, his neighbor Kim Suay told Reuters at the scene. He died instantly. "One of them walked up to the house and said in Karen 'How are you, uncle?' Then the other man joined him after parking the truck and they both shot him with two pistols," she said, her voice shaking with emotion.

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, he had predicted a possible increase in violence ahead of a constitutional referendum in the former Burma in May. However, the KNU and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), are riven by internal feuds and lethal vendettas. His son Hse Hse, another senior member of the predominantly Christian Karen rebel movement, blamed a Buddhist Karen splinter group which brokered a truce with the Myanmar junta in the mid-1990s. "This is the work of the DKBA and the Burmese soldiers,"" Hse Hse said, referring to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

The Irrawaddy, an exile-run magazine based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, said there had been several recent attacks and assassination attempts between mainstream KNU members and the breakaway 7th Brigade led by Htain Maung, which agreed a ceasefire with the junta last year.

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Southeast Asia

Red Cross rips into Burmas rights toll

2007-06-30

In a rare departure, the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday publicly slammed Burmas military junta for human rights abuses that it said had caused immense suffering to civilians and prisoners.

Jakob Kellenberger, the ICRC president, denounced the military regime for violating international humanitarian law by murdering civilians, forcing prisoners to serve as army porters in combat areas strewn with landmines and destroying village food stocks.

The abuses recounted in thousands of interviews between 2000 and 2005 occurred mainly in eastern Burma along the Thai border, where the military has spent decades battling ethnic minority insurgents, including the Karen National Union.

The Geneva-based ICRC normally expresses concern about humanitarian violations confidentially to governments, hoping quiet dialogue will lead to improvements.

In the past two decades, its sparing public criticism has been restricted to the Iran-Iraq war in 1987; Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992; Rwanda in 1994; and Israel in 2004 over the route of the West Bank barrier.

But Mr Kellenberger said Burmas military junta has consistently refused to enter into a serious discussion of these abuses with a view towards putting a stop to them, prompting the agencys rare public denunciation.

The militarys actions have helped to create a climate of constant fear among the population and have forced thousands of people to join the ranks of the internally displaced, or to flee abroad, the agency said.

Meanwhile, the institutionalised and widespread practice of forcing prisoners to carry army supplies in the landmine littered conflict zone has subjected detainees to the dangers of armed conflict. Along with malnutrition and exhaustion, prisoners used as porters had suffered abuse, degrading treatment, while some had been murdered.

The ICRCs statement which is likely to heighten international concern over a little-seen conflict comes days after Eric John, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, met Burmese cabinet ministers in Beijing where he pressed for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize-winning democracy leader, and other political prisoners.

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