dejunter burma

source lacroix

The leader of the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected Tuesday in Bangkok for a visit of several days, the first trip abroad for 24 years of the global icon of democracy, finally able to resume a link with the outside.

Public enemy number one of the junta until the dissolution of the latter in March 2011, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has become a major figure in the Burmese political scene, leader of the first opposition party, the League League for Democracy (NLD).

The leader of the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi left Rangoon early Tuesday afternoon for Bangkok, AFP noted.

After being locked up in Rangoon and refusing to leave the country for fear of never being able to come back, she will try for the first time since 1988 a genuine freedom of movement.

And testify at the same time its confidence in the reforms undertaken by the new regime, former military reformers with whom she decided to work first and foremost the President and former Prime Minister of the junta, Thein Sein.

"She is confident in its position and in the process of reconciliation and political reforms," ​​said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, researcher at the Centre for Asian Studies Southeast University in Kyoto, Japan.

His trip also confirms that it has the support of those it has fought so long and waiting for her today that part of the return to Burma on the international scene.

"Before the sanctions are lifted, the government needs legitimacy as ever, so that's what he expects the journey of Suu Kyi," said Pavin, describing it as a "goodwill ambassador" of the regime Naypyidaw.

The member, age 66, will meet Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at a date yet unspecified, told AFP the general secretary of the head of government, Thawat Boonfeung.

Wednesday, she will in Samut Sakhon Province, south of Bangkok, to meet with Burmese migrants, stated on their side of NGOs. One way for her "to reconnect a broken with those who live outside the country link," according to Pavin.

Burmese represent 80% of the two million registered migrants in Thailand. Many others live undocumented, and many are victims of exploitation of any kind in a country heavily dependent on foreign labor.

Suu Kyi also expected to visit in Northern Thailand where a dozen refugee camps are home for years some 100,000 Burmese, driven from their country by fighting between the army and rebels from ethnic minorities.

She finally speak at the World Economic Forum for East Asia with the participation of numerous personalities, including heads of state from the region.

Thein Sein would also have to attend the Forum. But he said Monday it has postponed his visit next week. Probably to prevent the "Lady" in Rangoon are steals her flashes of photographers in Thai capital suspended his every move.

Placed for the first time under house arrest in 1989, Suu Kyi has spent 15 years in private total freedom, before finally being released in November 2010. She received her first passport in early May for 20 years.

This first trip accomplished, it will make mid-June a historical tour of Europe during which she will deliver her speech in Oslo was not able to when she received the Nobel Prize in 1991.

It also will include the UK, where she studied and lived for several years with her late husband and her children. With the honor to speak to the members of both Houses, London, June 21

source: romandie.com

Members of the party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was briefly questioned by police Tuesday after protests against power cuts in the country's second city, said one of its spokesmen to AFP.

A dozen members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were taken for interrogation to Mandalay, told AFP Ohn Kyaing, MP and spokesman of the party.

The authorities were well treated and were released after questioning.

Some 1,500 people protested Monday night at Mandalay against power cuts which sometimes limit the supply of electricity to four hours per day, said witnesses told AFP.

Some criticize the government to sell electricity to powerful neighbor China at the expense of its people. China makes us our electricity could be read on a particular sign.

About 1,000 people had already expressed the day before during the most important movement in the country since the uprising Safran 2007.

In a statement issued Tuesday by the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar, Ministry of Electricity has asked Burmese understand the situation, finding it necessary to save electricity by imposing rotations.

But he did not directly mention the movement of Mandalay.

The ministry explained that during the dry season, the electricity consumption far exceeded production capacity. Plans are underway to build more power plants, he said, referring in particular to a coal and gas.

He added that the situation had been exacerbated by the destruction of power lines towers. The New Light of Myanmar accused Sunday the rebel Kachin ethnic minority to be responsible.

The events are very rare in Burma, despite the political opening. The new government, former military reformers who succeeded the junta in March 2011 and have increased since the reforms, approved a few months ago a law legalizing events.

The text states that the protesters must inform the authorities five days in advance or risk a year in prison. But protesters Mandalay, who rallied on the internet, have not complied with these rules.

The last major movements in Burma from 2007. Saffron Revolt, led by Buddhist monks drew up to 100,000 people in the streets of Rangoon, constituting the most serious challenge to the junta in power since the popular uprising of 1988.

Both movements were bloodily suppressed.

source: lenouvelobs

source: romandie.com

The Burmese government and rebels of the Shan ethnic minority have signed an agreement to eradicate drugs in Shan State, main production of opium and amphetamines in the country, a minister said after a new session of peace talks Saturday.

The Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the political wing of the rebel Shan, announced Saturday morning, just before these negotiations, to propose a plan for the total eradication of narcotics.

While the government and armed ethnic groups have signed cease-fire to solve the political problems (...) the RCSS will cooperate with the government for a plan to eradicate the drug, he had said in a document published jointly with the Army Shan South, a major state armed groups in the country.

This text, evoking both opium and synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, pleaded including cooperation with neighboring countries China, Laos and Thailand, to fight against drug trafficking and demanded conversion aid for Burmese poppy growers.

Aung Min, Minister of Railways and one of the chief negotiators of the Burmese government with ethnic minorities, confirmed late Saturday that an agreement had been signed on this issue, but without specifying the content.

Analysts believe that the ethnic rebel groups in the country including the benefits of using the drug trade to finance their operations.

According to a report by the UN Office against Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2011 Nations, Burma is an important source of tablets of amphetamines and opiates in Southeast Asia and most of they are produced in Shan State.

Burma is the second largest opium producer in the world after Afghanistan, and 91% of poppy cultivation in Shan State, according to the UN.

Many minority groups, which represent a third of the 60 million inhabitants have never pacified their relations with the government since independence in 1948 and civil war has pitted some of them to the Burmese army.

The new government, which replaced the junta in March 2011 and has since stepped up reforms, opened negotiations with rebel groups signed a cease-fire with several of them. One of the first to sign the truce was the Shan State Army South in December.

With 9% of the population, the Shan are the second largest ethnic group behind the Burman majority.

Saturday, the Shan representatives asked to meet for the first time President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said Aung Min. We will continue discussions about the visit, he told AFP.

source: Lepoint

The rebels of the Kachin ethnic minority asked the UN to send observers to the areas of fighting with the Burmese army, in the far north of the country, it was learned Thursday from one of their responsible.

The rebels of the Kachin ethnic minority asked the UN to send observers in areas of fighting with the Burmese army, in the far north of the country, it was learned Thursday from one of their responsible.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon , one responsible for the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on Thursday sent a copy to the AFP , the group of "beg" to send "teams of observers and intermediate teams in war zones."

"It's been eleven months (the fighting resumed) and we want the UN observers come to see what is happening there, to see the reality, have their own information," said the AFP Colonel James Lum Dau, Deputy Head of Foreign Affairs of the KIO, based in Thailand.

"We need someone without bias."

The open conflict between the Kachin Independence Army for (KIA, the armed wing of the KIO) and the powerful Tatmadaw - Army Naypyidaw - raged since June 2011 after 17 years of peace.

It has already caused, according to the UN, the exodus of 55,000 people, a spot in the middle of a series of reforms carried out by the regime since the dissolution of the junta in March 2011.

"It is now crucial for UN intervention, before the conflict is spreading and becoming more complex," KIO still says in his letter.

But the organization does not require at this stage of peacekeepers, said Col. Lum Dau. "Troops of peacekeeping to the UN, it would not be wise at this time."

The Burmese government, which is still controlled by the military, started in recent months of negotiations with ethnic minorities, many of whom have never peaceful relations with the central government since independence in 1948. And he signed a cease-fire with several groups.

But negotiations with the KIO have nothing. President Thein Sein has breathe new life to the peace process, taking the direction of the negotiating team and discarding some members considered too conservative.

source: romandie.com

The South Korean president in historic visit to Burma, said he had been promised that the authorities would refrain from any military cooperation with North Korea, a prospect that worried the United States still strongly last year .

Lee Myung-Bak, who on Monday met President Thein Sein has invited not maintain ties with Pyongyang that could be considered a violation of the resolutions of the Security Council of the UN, he told reporters Tuesday.

The UN has imposed two rounds of sanctions on North Korea after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. He is forbidden to sell any nuclear and ballistic material and conducting nuclear or ballistic tests.

The international community has expressed concern in recent years the relationship between Naypyidaw and Pyongyang, in particular on the possibility of a nuclear program.

But the new Burmese regime has tried to reassure the West. In November, during a historic visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a senior U.S. official had thus indicated that the United States saw no sign of a major nuclear program in Burma.

Thein Sein to power last year, has again denied any nuclear program and that his country would respect the UN resolutions, told AFP a spokesman for the South Korean presidency.

The visit of Lee Myung-Bak was the first by a South Korean head of state since the failed attack in the country in 1983 against the then President Chun Doo-Hwan.

A bomb planted by North Korean agents killed 17 South Koreans and four Burmese. The president was unharmed. Burma was then severed ties with Pyongyang, before restoring in 2007.

Burma on the other hand agreed to release a North Korean refugee, serving since 2010 a sentence of five years in prison for illegally entering the country, said the spokesman.

The junta dissolved itself in March 2011 and sent its power to a civilian government of former members who stepped up reforms.

The European Union suspended in April for one year all sanctions except the arms embargo. But the United States, which has eased some restrictions on investments and promised prompt appointment of an ambassador, have so far kept their own.

source: Atlantico

Article: Thierry Falise

Some analysts compare the ongoing reforms in Burma perestroika initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 1980s. But reforms and measures adopted are mostly iconic even with the election of Aung San Suu Kyi. After months of euphoria, Burma may know a long period of melancholy ...

Some analysts compare the ongoing reforms in Burma perestroika initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 1980s. It would probably make more sense to draw a parallel with the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa led by the alliance against a priori kind between the leader of a radical opposition, Nelson Mandela, and an apparatchik from the system, . President Frederik de Klerk In Burma, there is a similar duet with Aung San Suu Kyi - unlike Mandela has always advocated non-violent struggle - and the new president Thein Sein.

The reform and opening undertaken since 2011 by the new government "demilitarized" gestures are real and unprecedented in a country subject for nearly a half-century totalitarian rule of another age: relaxation of censorship in the press release more than 600 political prisoners, the right to strike, the cease-fire with ethnic minorities, organization model of elections that have among others the election Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament, etc..

This reformist wave surprised all observers. Why now? Probably first is there the will of the Burmese government to rebalance in favor of the West among others, its economic relations with its eyes become far too intrusive China. Wish also from some leaders more open to the outside to improve the deplorable reputation of their country, particularly in view of the presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014. This reputation, fed every day by continuing violations of human rights was, if it was even possible, greatly tarnished in the wake of the violent crackdown against monks and unarmed civilians during major events in September 2007 and mismanagement, at least during the first few weeks, the impact of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Aung San Suu Kyi has so far not assigned in the details of his rather unexpected decision to support change. A few weeks before his first meeting with Thein Sein in August 2011, was said to be demoralized and disillusioned about the new civilian leaders. However, she subsequently held to publicly affirm its confidence in Thein Sein. The former general - and former prime minister - has always had a relatively good reputation compared to its peers. Considered one of the least corrupt officers of the junta, it was also during the post-crisis Nargis personally implemented rehabilitation projects while many of his colleagues had filled their pockets with international aid.

Bottling in recent months in Yangon (Rangoon) and in the capital Naypyidaw heads of state, ministers, diplomats and foreign businessmen, mainly Westerners and Asians - many of which come first to take a picture with Aung San Suu Kyi - is encouraging, but it does not justify a reduction in vigilance Hundreds of political prisoners are still in prison.. In the north, a cease-fire of 17 years old with the Kachin, important minority, was shattered in June 2011, resulting in the recovery of a conflict with its parade of deaths and refugees.

Central questions remain about the army. Y answer should identify the more flexibility that can benefit Thein Sein. Which place do they want the military to a civilian ownership in Burma (over 25% of seats that automatically gives them the constitution in parliament)? The officers who for decades have made the situation rents sometimes fabulous are they willing to give up? What role still plays the old General Than Shwe, former leader of the dictatorship, which rumor says a dying day, the day pulling the strings of political theater? The struggle between reformers and hardliners is it real or is it, as some claim, that smokescreen designed to give the illusion of openness and hide an ever important role of military Radicals?

Some signals do not carry much optimism. Injunctions Thein Sein officers posted in Kachin State to stop fighting so far remained a dead letter. The last national budget, even if it increases the share dedicated to education and health, poor parents successive juntas, always provides a quarter of the funds to the army.

To date, the reforms and measures, important as they are, are rather iconic. Structural programs are to be implemented. Starting with an overhaul of the economy. Half a century of inept management has made this country, potentially one of the richest in the region, an economic wasteland, where two thirds of the population live in poverty.

After months of euphoria, Burma may know a long period of melancholy. The economic and social situation of a large majority of the population has hardly improved, blur and crafts remain the rule for investment, hotel facilities are saturated, ... "The new Asian Eldorado" as boast businessmen, could be a decoy.

Thierry Falise

Thierry Falise is a freelance photojournalist based in Bangkok since 1991.

It covers the South East Asia and India for newspapers and magazines around the world as well as French-language television.

He has written several books (in French) on Burma, it covers 25 years, including:

- Jasmine or the Moon (biography of Aung San Suu Kyi) , 2007, Florent Massot, published in pocket in J'ai Lu

- Burmese Shadows, photo book on 25 years of reporting in Burma , to be published (in English) in McNidder & Grace, in September 2012.

www.thierryfalise.com

source: lenouvelobs

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