Hundreds Flee Threat of War in Shan State

By SAW YAN NAING

FANG, Thailand – Hundreds of ethnic Shan, Lahu, Chinese and Thai businesspeople, including some families of United Wa State Army (UWSA) personnel, have moved to the Thai-Burmese border area because they fear a serious flare-up of fighting between Burmese government troops and UWSA units based in southern Shan State.


Several thousand UWSA soldiers and their families live in southern Shan State opposite Fang District of Thailand's Chiang Mai Province. The UWSA, which has about 25,000 men in uniform, is under pressure from the Burmese regime to become a border guard force.

Trade hit by border guard furore

By FRANCIS WADE

Traders in eastern Burma have stopped importing goods overland into the country following fears of fighting between Burmese troops and ceasefire groups.


Tension is rising in Burma’s border regions as the deadline passed yesterday for ethnic ceasefire groups, many of whom control territory close to Burma’s borders with China and Thailand, to transform into border guard forces.

Karen fleeing to border in their ‘thousands’

Fears over clashes between the Burmese army and a proxy force have in the past two days caused an exodus of Karen refugees to Burma’s border with Thailand.


The refugees, many of whom are from Kawkerit township in eastern Karen state, which borders Thailand, have reportedly been arriving in small groups since 27 April. There are fears of fighting between Burmese troops and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which according to rumours is resisting demands to become a border guard unit.

Rift between Junta and DKBA Deepens

By LAWI WENG
Tension between Burmese junta troops and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in Myawaddy township on the Thai-Burmese border has been mounting since the disagreement on border guard issues.


Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, a Karen source close to the DKBA in Myawaddy township said: “The majority of DKBA members don't want to lose the name of their organization. They are worried that without the DKBA name, there will be no political objective and no hope for a better future for ethnic Karen. This is why they don't want to transform their troops into a border guard force (BGF).”

Time to Dig In

By YENI
The recent rejection of the Burmese regime's Border Guard Force (BGF) plan by up to a dozen armed ethnic groups exposes the cease-fire agreements as increasingly unsustainable. The grim prospect of conflict looms on Burma's horizon yet again.


According to ethnic sources, all the top-ranking leaders of the cease-fire groups and their delegations were defiant following their talks with Naypyidaw's negotiator, Lt-Gen Ye Myint, whose arrogant conduct and acrimonious remarks scuttled what little amity had previously existed at the respective negotiating tables.

N mu mat ai KIA dapdung 2 hpe tam na, Myen gaw N’gawn hpyen hpe shangun

Sam mung dingdung daw de daju ai, Wunpawng Mungdan Shanglawt Hpyendap (KIA) a dapba 4 na, dapdung lahkawng hpe n mu mat ai majaw, tam sagawn na matu Myen gaw, N’gawn hpyen ni hpe shangun nga ai lam, buga masha ni tsun ai.


Loikang e daju ai KIA ba (dapba) 4 kaw, dapdung 4 nga ai hta 2 gaw, kade nna ai ten hta gara de du mat ai re, n mu mat ai majaw, Myen hpyen asuya kawn, Munggu, Hpawng Seng, Pangsai hte Muse mare grup gra ni hta, N’gawn hpyen (pyi-tu-sit) ni hte rau, hkyak hkyak tam jep sagawn nga ai lam chye lu ai.

Junta uses people’s militia to monitor KIA

The 4th brigade of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) based in Northeast Shan State, is being closely monitored by the Burmese Army using the people’s militia, said a resident.


Burmese troops are on the lookout for two battalions of the Loikang-based KIA’s 4th brigade which moved a few days ago. It is using the people militia for surveillance, the local added.

“Over two days, they (junta) have been searching for the two KIA battalions, Hpawng Seng, Pangsai and Munggu (Mongkoe) villages with the help of people’s militia,” said the resident.

Karen Peace Council Rejects BGF Proposal

The Karen Peace Council (KPC) once again rejected the Burmese military government's border guard force (BGF) proposal.


Maj-Gen Htain Maung and the other leaders of the KPC sent a seven-page letter to the Burmese military chief of intelligence outlining why they rejected the proposal.

“We have not written this letter to attack the government,” Dr. Timothy, a KPC leader, told The Irrawaddy. “We want to raise a voice for the Karen people and tell the SPDC the effects these militia programs have on the people. We hope by sending them a letter they will understand our position—we are the first ethnic group to really open up to the SPDC.”

Is drug policy a human rights abuser?

By JOSEPH ALLCHIN



In Latin America, washed along by the flow of blood, a feeling that the ‘war on drugs’ may have been lost has stirred, and has caused a reassessment of prohibition, a policy that a new report claims “is driven by moralism rather than empirical research”.


‘Narcophobia: drugs prohibition and the generation of human rights abuses’, authored by Dick Hobbs from the UK’s London School of Economics (LSE) and Brazilian journalist Fernanda Mena, further states that drug “prohibition enforcement has hindered the advancement of democracy and led to violence and increases in human rights abuses”.

The report attempts to demonstrate that there are global implications for drug laws as this huge global industry has devastating effects on poor producer nations, such as Burma.

Will ASEAN eventually deliver?

By ROSHAN JASON


One must be wondering if the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is nearing the end of its tether with its perpetually troublesome member, Burma, or has the bloc so convincingly led the world to believe that it cares enough when it appears, in actual deed, that it does not?


Recent reactions and statements from some member states about Burma’s newly announced election laws indicate that certain countries in the regional grouping may be growing more willing to openly question Burma’s regime and venture into uncharted territory when it comes to dealing with the unruly country.

Irrawaddy water shortage fuelling disease

By AYE NAI


A worsening shortage of clean, drinkable water in Burma’s southern regions is fuelling the spread of waterborne diseases, locals complain.


Much of the problem stems from cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which devastated swathes of land in the Irrawaddy delta and polluted water supplies. Nearly two years on, and the problem is persisting.

Regime-backed Parties Flaunt Electoral Law

By KYAW THEIN KHA

The National Unity Party (NUP) and the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) are actively recruiting party members in Rangoon and other townships, in contravention of Party Registration Law Article 5 (f) which states that political parties may only recruit members after their registration has been approved by the Election Commission (EC).


“They're going from door to door, collecting names of family members, and asking if we want to join their party,” said a retired government official in South Dagon Township in Rangoon on Friday.

Mon Reject Militia Plan

By LAWI WENG

The Mon cease-fire group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), announced at a press conference on Friday evening that the party has rejected both the junta's border guard force (BGF) and militia proposals.

Speaking at a conference in Sangkhalaburi in western Thailand, Nai Chay Mon, the spokesman of the NMSP, told delegates: “We sent a letter to Regional Southeast Command on April 22 stating that we will not accept the militia offer. This is a difficult time to transform our troops, because our people do not yet have any rights.

Former KTC principal interrogated by Burmese military intelligence

In yet another instance of the junta’s high handedness, the Burmese military intelligence yesterday interrogated Rev. Dr. Gum Se, former principal of the Kachin Theological College (KTC) regarding his work in the church-based Urban Rural Mission in Kachin State, Northern Burma, said KBC sources.


Rev. Dr. Gum Se was forcibly taken to Northern Regional Command in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State from his home in Ayeyar quarter in the capital yesterday evening for interrogation. He was released later, said sources close to his family.

KIO’s liaison office raided on junta orders

In a sudden development, which caught the armed rebel group unawares, a liaison office of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Burma’s northern Kachin State, was raided yesterday by combined Burmese security forces, even as the group’s leaders arrived in the state’s capital Myitkyina to meet the ruling junta brass on the Border Guard Force issue, said KIO sources.

The KIO’s Township Office in Seng Tawng in Hpakant jade mining area, west of Kachin State, was raided between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Burma Standard Time by Burmese security forces, comprising soldiers, policemen, reserved firefighters and administrators of Seng Tawng, added KIO sources.

Saboi Jum brothers want KIO to accept BGF

In what might lead to fresh fissures in the Kachin community, prominent peace mediators Rev. Dr. Saboi Jum and his younger brother Hkun Myat are seriously suggesting that the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) accepts the Border Guard Force proposed by junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe.


The Saboi Jum brothers have told the KIO, the last remaining Kachin armed group refusing to accept the BGF that “It (BGF) is the key and the door can be opened by only a key”. It means the relation between the junta and the KIO will end if the latter rejects the BGF, said a KIO official in Laiza headquarters.

Myitsone bomb blast suspects arrested

The Burmese military junta has arrested five people on suspicion of triggering the April 17 serial bomb blasts in the controversial Myitsone dam project site, which killed four and left more than 12 injured.


The accused is Ze Lum, who owns a rubber plantation near the site in Chyinghkrang village. He has three children and lives 8 miles from Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State. He was arrested along with his four employees by the township police on April 18 said local residents.

Bawm kapaw hkrum tim hka madim matut galaw na lam, Myen tsun

Mali Zup hka madim galaw ai shara kaw, bawm kapaw hkrum nna, masha 4 si na, 12 lahta hkala hkrum sai raitim, ndai mabyin ngut ai hkying hkum 24 na ai hpang, hka madim hpe matut gawgap na re lam, Myen hpyen asuya ndau shana wa sai.


Jinghpaw mungdaw dap up (taimu) du daju Soe Win gaw, Myitkyina a dingdung de deng 25tsan ai, Mali-N’Mai Zup makau, Chyinghkrang mare hta, mani buga ten hkying 11 kawn 12 lapran, shawa zuphpawng shaga nhtawm, hka madim masing matut galaw na lam, mungga tsun wa sai hpe, zuphpawng lawm ai ni tsun ai.

Junta adamant about continuing dam project despite blast

The Burmese military junta is adamant about continuing with the Irrawaddy Myitsone dam project in Kachin State despite the serial bomb blasts at the site yesterday, which killed four Chinese workers and injured 12.

Maj-Gen Soe Win, Commander of Northern Regional Command told people in the dam project sites that the project would continue. He was addressing a public meeting in Chyinghkrang village, 25 miles north of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State today between 11 a.m. and noon local time, said participants.

April 22 jahtum nhtoi n du yang, BGF hte seng na KIO shawa sanglang dan

Wunpawng Mungdan Shanglawt Hpung (KIO) gaw, dai ni April 16 ya shani hta, tinang ginjaw Laiza Muklum, Manau Wang na, Sinpraw Majoi Gawknu hta, Jarit Sin Dap (BGF) hte alak mi dapshawa mungshawa sanglang dan ai lam, galaw sai re.


Ndai sanglang hpawng hta Jinghpaw Mungdaw shara shagu hte Sam mung de na Jinghpaw amyu sha ni, Laiza nga mungshawa ni hte KIO/A magam gun ni yawng hpawn 2400 daram sadu shanglawm ai hpe zuphpawng lawm ai ni kawn tsun ai.

KIO ninggawn amumadu Dr. Lahkyen La Ja gaw Jinghpaw hku sanglang dan ai rai nna, KIA Tau Dap Awn Daju (VCS) Du Up Daju Sumlut Gun Maw gaw Myen ga hku sanglang dan ai lam chye lu ai.

Four killed, 12 injured in bomb blasts in Irrawaddy-Myitsone dam site

Four people died and over 12 people were injured when exploding bombs for the first time rocked the Myitsone dam project in Irrawaddy River in Kachin State, northern Burma, said local residents. Most of the dead and injured were Chinese workers.


At least three bombs exploded in quick succession in front of Asia World Company’s office, one of the implementing agencies of the dam project in Lungga Zup, 18 miles north of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, at about 4:45 a.m. Burma Standard Time, residents said.

Laiza BGF sanglang hpawng de, myit lawm shawa yawng hpe shaga

Ndai bat bat manga ya, April 16 ya shani, Laiza e galaw na Jarit Sin Dap (BGF) hte seng nna sanglang dan ai lamang de, myit lawm ai mungshawa masha ni kadai mung sa du madat mai ai lam, KIO saw shaga dat sai re.


Tara shang saw shaga laika ni hpe, Jinghpaw mungdaw a madung mare daju--- Myitkyina, Manmaw ni de mani shabra dat sai re lam, Laiza daju na KIO salang ni tsun ai.

KIO hpe tsun yu na n lu jang, hkindit jahkrat kau na: Du Daju Lun Mawng

Myen hpyendap ginjaw Naypyitaw na Jahpan Jum Daju, Du Daju Lun Mawng gaw, shi ndai laman, Jinghpaw mungdaw, Manmaw de gan du ai shaloi, “KIO hpe tsun yu na n lu jang, hkindit jahkrat kau na re” nga, mungga tsun wa sai lam, chye lu ai.


Lai wa sai bat manga ya shani, Manmaw mare shara mali hta, ra lata poi hte seng nna, mungmasha zinlum ai mungga tsun shaga ai shaloi, ya na zawn, Dukaba Lun Mawng, KIO de sadi ga shaga wa ai re lam, dukaba a mungga sa madat ai buga masha ni tsun ai.

BGF hte seng nna, KIO mungshawa zuphpawng bai shaga

Wunpawng Mungdang Shanglawt Hpung (KIO) gaw, Myen hpyen asuya matsun ai BGF hte seng nna, 3 lang ngu na mungshawa zuphpawng bai shaga sai lam, KIO shiga lawk tsun ai.


Ndai zuphpawng hpe April 16, du na bat hpang Manga Ya shani, Jinghpaw Mungdaw a sinpraw maga, Miwa ga jarit makau, Laiza daju e galaw na re nga nna, Laiza e nga ai KIO ginjaw salang ni tsun ai.

Burmese Army extorts money from opium growers

Burmese Army battalions have been extorting sums of money from opium growers in Sadung region in east Kachin State, northern Burma while ostensibly on an opium eradication mission, said Sadung sources.


Sadung happens to be the largest opium-producing region in Kachin State. There was a joint opium elimination operation by Burma’s ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Organization in February and March.

Senior Burmese Army officer threatens to eliminate KIO

Increasingly frustrated with the Kachin Independence Organization’s (KIO’s) refusal to toe the military junta’s line, a senior Burmese Army officer from capital Naypyitaw made public his ire and spoke of eliminating the rebel armed group in Bhamo, Kachin State last week. He was campaigning for the elections, said residents.


An irate Maj-Gen Lun Maung, Auditor General of the junta criticized the KIO, the last remaining Kachin armed group, which has refused to accept the junta-proposed transformation to the Border Guard Force. He was addressing Bhamo residents in four different venues for the general elections by the year end, on Friday, said residents.

Burma ‘will remain rich, poor and controversial’

The Norwegian state secretary currently in Burma for high-level talks has said that the country remains “one of the world’s most controversial…in the eyes of the international community”.


Gry Larsen, who backs international engagement with the ruling junta, said in an article on 6 April prior to arriving in Burma that the international community should also “examine carefully” whether current policy to Burma “has in fact promoted greater openness and economic and democratic development”.

Maung Aye Visits Troops in Shan State

Burma's No. 2 general, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, who is also commander in chief of the Burmese armed forces, visited government troops in northeastern and eastern Burma this week amid speculation of an outbreak of armed conflict in the northeastern frontier.
Military sources in Shan State said the purpose of Maung Aye’s tour in Shan State was to encourage government forces and their family members who are worried about the resumption of armed conflict in the region sparked from tensions over the junta's border guard force (BGF) plan, a government proposal to integrate ethnic armies into Burmese army command in border areas.

Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye.

The junta set April 22 as a new deadline for various ethnic armies to accept the BGF plan, including the strongest ethnic insurgent group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which has an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, as well as its ally, the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), which is based in the eastern Shan State town of Mongla.
Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the junta's negotiator with ethnic armed groups, reportedly told the UWSA and NDAA officials at separate meetings in late March that if they do not respond positively to the junta’s call to accept the BGF plan by April 22, they will face legal action.
In preparation for conflict, family members of government troops in Shan State have been called up for basic military training since March.
“Even women here have to attend military training,” said a military source in Shan State. “Everyone is worried about war.”
The UWSA and the NDAA have put their troops on alert and have mobilized their war offices, according to sources close to the ethnic groups.

Military officer preaches that new Baptist preachers should support Burma’s junta

Men and women just graduating from training to be Kachin Baptist preachers, in Burma’s northern Kachin State, were preached at themselves yesterday, in an unusual way.

Rev. Dr. Saboi Jum, former KBC's general secretary joined the KTC graduation on March 6. Photo: Kachin News Group.

They were told to preach that church followers should support the military junta’s mission in Kachin State, by the Northern Regional Commander of the junta, preachers said.

Maj-Gen Soe Win visited the 20-day training for all pre-service Baptist preachers at Kachin Theological College (KTC), in Nawng Nang village, 10 miles north of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

The KTC is hosting the 6th Pre-service Preacher Training of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), which represents over 400,000 followers in military-ruled Burma.

Over 200 pre-service graduate students from different Theological schools in the country, who will serve in the churches under the KBC, began the training April 5.

KIO, Jarit Sin Dap gale na, jahtum nhtoi bai masat hkrum

Wunpawng Mungdan Shanglawt Hpung, KIO hpe Myen hpyendap npu taw ai “Jarit Sin Dap” gale na hte seng nna, “hkap la, n hkap la” asan sha dawdan ya na matu, jahtum nhtoi bai masat ya sai re.


Ndai shata 28 ya shani jahtum tawn nna, Jarit Sin Dap hpe asan sha hkap la n hkap la dawdan ya na matu, Myen gaw KIO hpe dip n-gun jaw nga ai lam, KIO du salang ni hku chye lu ai.

Junta despatches tanks and trucks to Myitkyina

By KNG

.In what seems to be preparations to take on the armed ethnic rebel group the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its armed wing, Burma’s ruling junta yesterday despatched 18 tanks and dozens of military vehicles to the Northern Regional Command Headquarters in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, said local sources.
With war clouds looming in the horizon the fresh batch of tanks and trucks were sent for Burmese troops under the Northern Regional Command. It was transported from Mandalay along the Mandalay-Bhamo-Myitkyina Road, said local sources close to the Burmese Army.

100-strong army convoy in Kachin

By AKT


Around 100 Burmese army trucks have been spotted close to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) as tension mounts over its refusal to transform into a border militia.


The convoy was seen close to the Laiza Bhamo-to-Myitkyina highway, apparently bound for the Kachin state capital, Myitkyina, a local resident reported. The KIA headquarters are located in nearby Laiza, which sits close to Burma’s northern border with China.

Many Won't Vote Without NLD

RANGOON––In an Irrawaddy survey involving more than 500 people in Rangoon, nearly half said they do not intend to vote in the upcoming election if the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), does not contest it.

The Irrawaddy recently asked 520 Rangoon residents, both men and women, between the ages of 20 and 70, if they will vote in the election, even without the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD. Two hundred and fifty-two persons (48 percent) said they did not want to, while 198 persons (38 percent) said they will vote even if the NLD does not participate. The remaining 70 declined to answer or said they had not yet made up their minds.

Burmese PM May Lead Political Party

         Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein may leave his current post to head the new political wing of the government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), according to sources in Naypyidaw.


         Although Thein Sein reportedly wants to retire and is having heart problems, inside military sources said Snr Gen Than Shwe asked him to remain and head-up the new political party.

Former Kachin rebel leaders advise KIO to accept BGF

In what is possibly a bid by the Burmese junta to exert pressure, leaders of former Kachin armed groups’ in a letter last week have advised the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) to accept the regime-proposed Border Guard Force because it cannot take on the Tatmadaw, said KIO officials.

        The joint letter said: “The KIO cannot resist the junta alone and will buy trouble,” a KIO officer in Laiza headquarters in Burma’s northern Kachin State, near the China border told Kachin News Group today.

NLD Members Will Continue 'Democratic Struggle'

NLD Members Will Continue 'Democratic Struggle'

Ninggawn Hting Ram Manau Poi Kaba Hkyen shajin ai lam hta ngut kre wa.

Ninggawn Hting Ram Manau Poi Kaba Hkyen shajin ai lam hta ngut kre wa.

Elections ‘may hinder’ aid to Burma

     By FRANCIS WADE

         Concerns have arisen over the possibility that overseas aid flows into Burma may be increasingly restricted this year as the junta looks to limit the number of foreigners in the country in the run-up to elections.

            Although much of the international community has quietly voiced a desire to increase aid to Burma, currently one of the lowest recipients of aid in Southeast Asia as a result of sanctions, this may not be altogether welcomed by the junta.

Uncertain Future for NLD in Wake of Election Decision

By WAI MOE



Senior leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma's main opposition party, will meet next Monday for their first meeting since deciding earlier this week not to register for this year's planned election—a move that could spell the end for the party that has led the country's democracy movement for the past 22 years.


Since the decision was reached at a meeting of party delegates from around the country on Monday, Burmese and foreign observers alike have been wondering how the NLD plans to proceed. So far, however, it has given no indication of what its next move might be.

Junta Turns Attention Back to the Jungle

]By WAI MOE

           Following a month of relative quiet at the Sino-Burmese border while the military regime focused on election laws and the political situation in the country, attention turns once again to the border guard force (BGF) issue and the regime's attempts to bring the ethnic cease-fire groups under its command.

           Naypyidaw's chief negotiator with the ethnic groups, Lt-Gen Ye Myint, is scheduled to meet on Thursday with an ethnic Wa delegation in Tangyan, a town in Shan State close to Wa territory, to discuss the military government's BGF proposal, according to sources close to the Wa.

Bhamo Baptists’ conference plagued by electricity shortage

          Shortage of electricity plagued several thousands of Baptist followers at the Kachin Baptist Convention’s 36th quadrennial general mass conference in Bhamo, the second largest city in Burma’s northern Kachin State, participants said.

         During the five-day conference concluded yesterday, over 20,000 guest participants from Kachin State and the rest of Burma relied on candle light at night because of lack of electricity, said participants from Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

Hkalup hpungshawa ni, tinang ra ai ningbaw lata

Myen mung kata, J.W sha ni hta masha jahpan law dik, Hkalup Hkristan hpungmasha ni gaw, tinang ra ai ningbaw hpe, ralata la lu sai re.

               Mani du hkra, nhtoi manga ya tup galaw, 36 lang na JHZ, J.W Hkalup Hpungshawa Zuphpawng hta, Rev. Dr. Hkalam Sam Sun hpe JHZ a tsaw dik, amumadu kaba n’nan hku nna, Hkalup shawa ralata shagrin dat sai re.

Rev. Dr. Hkalam Sam Sun, KBC amumadu n'nan.

Ndai gaw, amumadu shara a matu J.W Hkalup Hpung Ginjaw (KBC) a EC kawn lata tang ai masha 2 hpe hpungshawa ni n lata ai sha, shawa kawn ading tawk tang shawn ai Sara Sam Sun hpe mahtang lata ai lam, rai nga ai.

Manghkang Ran Hpaji (Conflict Resolution) hte Mali Zup Madim

Tsawra ai Wunpawng myu sha ni e, anhte ginra hta ya ten hkyak hkyak byin nga ai manghkang law law ni hta Mali Zup Madim manghkang mung lawm nga ai. Ndai manghkang gaw yu yang kaji ai zawn raitim manu mana kaba ai manghkang langai re ngu mu mada lu ai. Ndai madim a majaw Wunpawng myu sha ni hta hkrat sum na lam law law nga ai. Ntsa lam hku tsun ga nga yang:-


1) Labau shang shara mat mat na.