A man was brutally assaulted up by BGP near Santouli in Akyab by BGP personal.
Last Friday, Md Sadek was on the road when BGP intercepted him and started beating him up, leaving him with multiple injuries all over the body. The victim is currently in a critical condition.
Sources say a day earlier, a raid by BGP forces in Santouli was protested by locals as the security forces rounded up innocent men on alleged terror charges. The assault on Sadek is a revenge by the BGP for protesting the raid.
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November 28, 2015
Treating More HIV Patients in More Places: Myanmar’s Next Challenge
Between 2011 and 2014, Myanmar more than doubled the number of people living with HIV who are on long-term antiretroviral-therapy (ART), the gold standard for HIV treatment. This is fantastic news. Furthermore, while Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continues to be one of the biggest providers of HIV care in Myanmar, currently treating 35,000 patients across the country, by the end of 2014, almost half of all ART drugs in Myanmar were being provided in the public sector.
But despite these achievements, the harsh reality remains that today only half the estimated 210,000 people living with HIV in Myanmar receive ART. So as we mark Word AIDS day this year, and acknowledge the huge progress that has been made in Myanmar, we need to ask ourselves: why is this? And, even more importantly, what needs to happen next?
We have entered a new phase in the HIV epidemic in Myanmar. Success in starting more people on proper treatment has also brought a new challenge: how do we maintain the long term support of those already on treatment, while simultaneously ensuring that the remaining people living with HIV know their status and have access to services? Part of the answer lies in simplifying the way we support those already on lifelong treatment.
For more information - Visit here.
But despite these achievements, the harsh reality remains that today only half the estimated 210,000 people living with HIV in Myanmar receive ART. So as we mark Word AIDS day this year, and acknowledge the huge progress that has been made in Myanmar, we need to ask ourselves: why is this? And, even more importantly, what needs to happen next?
We have entered a new phase in the HIV epidemic in Myanmar. Success in starting more people on proper treatment has also brought a new challenge: how do we maintain the long term support of those already on treatment, while simultaneously ensuring that the remaining people living with HIV know their status and have access to services? Part of the answer lies in simplifying the way we support those already on lifelong treatment.
For more information - Visit here.
Tokyo seeks closer ties with victorious NLD, offers expertise
TOKYO -- The Japanese government has taken a step toward cementing ties with the National League for Democracy, following the party's landslide victory in Myanmar's Nov. 8 election.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met here Friday with Nyan Win, the NLD's No. 2 official and a close aide to party leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Kishida promised to support the launch next spring of a new government, which is to be led by the NLD, and invited Suu Kyi to visit Japan at an early date.
Nyan Win told Kishida that Myanmar needs Japanese investment and technology. Nyan Win is scheduled to stay here through Thursday, conferring with government and business leaders. He is rumored as a possible presidential candidate as Myanmar's constitution blocks Suu Kyi -- with sons who are U.K. citizens -- from becoming president.
"The NLD has almost no knowledge of government, and we are in a position to introduce Japanese-style administration methods," a Japanese government official said.
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Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met here Friday with Nyan Win, the NLD's No. 2 official and a close aide to party leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Kishida promised to support the launch next spring of a new government, which is to be led by the NLD, and invited Suu Kyi to visit Japan at an early date.
Nyan Win told Kishida that Myanmar needs Japanese investment and technology. Nyan Win is scheduled to stay here through Thursday, conferring with government and business leaders. He is rumored as a possible presidential candidate as Myanmar's constitution blocks Suu Kyi -- with sons who are U.K. citizens -- from becoming president.
"The NLD has almost no knowledge of government, and we are in a position to introduce Japanese-style administration methods," a Japanese government official said.
For more information - Visit here
The Road to The Future
The Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD party’s decisive victory in the recent Myanmar elections holds the promise of far-reaching changes in India’s important, if relatively neglected, eastern neighbour. It also has the potential of opening up a new and positive chapter in India-Myanmar relations. Rajiv Bhatia’s book, India-Myanmar Relations: Changing Contours is timely; it offers significant insights into the transformative processes underway in Myanmar and the direction in which India-Myanmar ties may evolve. On the former, he correctly notes, “The change arose from within, from the political elite’s careful assessment that the SPDC approach had run the ship of the economy aground…” (pg 39) and consequently, the military realised that a compromise with Suu Kyi was required. On her part, Suu Kyi too retreated from an insistence on adhering to full democratic functioning.
Bhatia has excellent credentials to survey India’s long and historic relations with Myanmar. A professional diplomat with a scholarly bent of mind, he served as India’s ambassador to the country and also spent many years in dealing with Myanmar in the ministry of external affairs. More importantly, Bhatia developed an enduring interest in the country and its people. He brings all the experience he gained over his over two decade-long association with the country and its people to his writing.
For more information - Visit here.
Bhatia has excellent credentials to survey India’s long and historic relations with Myanmar. A professional diplomat with a scholarly bent of mind, he served as India’s ambassador to the country and also spent many years in dealing with Myanmar in the ministry of external affairs. More importantly, Bhatia developed an enduring interest in the country and its people. He brings all the experience he gained over his over two decade-long association with the country and its people to his writing.
For more information - Visit here.
Suu Kyi to take fresh look at peace deal
Aung San Suu Kyi, chair of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said she would restart the peace process in an effort to persuade other groups to sign the ceasefire.
Speaking on the Radio Free Asia programme, ‘Rough Journey to Democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi’, she said: “We will have to negotiate from the beginning in order to lay down the political framework for the nationwide ceasefire. We will continue carrying out the tasks of the Myanmar Peace Centre, but some will have to be changed. We would like to tackle the peace process as early as possible. We want to move quickly towards ensuring a smooth transfer of power so that we will be poised to tackle all the issues when we are in government,” Suu Kyi said.
She added that the NLD would have to work hard for the ethnic minorities and peace must be given priority in addition to regional development in matters like education, health and social welfare.
For more information - Visit here.
Speaking on the Radio Free Asia programme, ‘Rough Journey to Democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi’, she said: “We will have to negotiate from the beginning in order to lay down the political framework for the nationwide ceasefire. We will continue carrying out the tasks of the Myanmar Peace Centre, but some will have to be changed. We would like to tackle the peace process as early as possible. We want to move quickly towards ensuring a smooth transfer of power so that we will be poised to tackle all the issues when we are in government,” Suu Kyi said.
She added that the NLD would have to work hard for the ethnic minorities and peace must be given priority in addition to regional development in matters like education, health and social welfare.
For more information - Visit here.
Hunger strikers sue for prison beating
Two students have sued Myingyan prison commander for beatings they received while on hunger strike in the jail.
Sithu Myat, a second-year maths student, and Soe Hlaing from Monywa Technology University were arrested in March. They went on hunger strike along with another student, Nyan Myint Than, on November 5.
Soe Hlaing said: “On November 6, Sithu Myat and I were wrapped in blankets and taken from our cells. Our legs were beaten with sticks or bricks. They sent us back to our cells in great pain. We aren’t criminals. We are students demanding educational reform. We weren’t sentenced. They breached our human rights. That’s why we are trying to sue the prison commander. We also sent a letter to the Myanmar Human Rights Commission.”
For more information - Visit here.
Sithu Myat, a second-year maths student, and Soe Hlaing from Monywa Technology University were arrested in March. They went on hunger strike along with another student, Nyan Myint Than, on November 5.
Soe Hlaing said: “On November 6, Sithu Myat and I were wrapped in blankets and taken from our cells. Our legs were beaten with sticks or bricks. They sent us back to our cells in great pain. We aren’t criminals. We are students demanding educational reform. We weren’t sentenced. They breached our human rights. That’s why we are trying to sue the prison commander. We also sent a letter to the Myanmar Human Rights Commission.”
For more information - Visit here.
Pestilent mines plague Myanmar’s people
Myanmar’s war zones, even in areas where a ceasefire is in place, continue to experience the terrors of conflict as landmines riddle jungles and village tracks. The biggest problem about this, no one knows how many or where they are.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines released their 17th report on Myanmar on 25 November. It once again highlights the lack of trust between groups in solving an issue that harms civilians mostly after the conflict is over.
The most disturbing factor that the report highlights is that no one fully knows the number of causalities or how many people the destructive weapon maims.
“The Tatmadaw or ethnic armed groups do not record the number of civilians who have been injured or killed by anti-personnel mines that they have laid. The ministry of health is unable to count the number of people who are landmine victims in Myanmar,” said Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, Research Coordinator & Editor of the Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor.
For more information - Visit here.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines released their 17th report on Myanmar on 25 November. It once again highlights the lack of trust between groups in solving an issue that harms civilians mostly after the conflict is over.
The most disturbing factor that the report highlights is that no one fully knows the number of causalities or how many people the destructive weapon maims.
“The Tatmadaw or ethnic armed groups do not record the number of civilians who have been injured or killed by anti-personnel mines that they have laid. The ministry of health is unable to count the number of people who are landmine victims in Myanmar,” said Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, Research Coordinator & Editor of the Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor.
For more information - Visit here.
Advancement or Regression? The 2015 Elections in Myanmar
In 1990, the nation now known as Myanmar (renamed from Burma in 1989) held its first election since the 1962 coup that brought a repressive military junta to power. The elections were swept by the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi. But the power transition from military to civilian rule never came and by the end of 1990 many of the major figures in the NLD, including Suu Kyi, were arrested.
In 2008, a new constitution was drafted and a transition plan established in an attempt to convert Myanmar from military rule to democracy. The country held its first elections under the new constitution in 2010, which brought Thein Sein to the seat of the presidency. On November 8, 2015, general elections were once again held and the NLD and Suu Kyi were once again in the national spotlight. But will anything actually change? Read on to learn about the elections and the current situation in Myanmar.
MILITARY RULE
Following its independence from the British Empire, Myanmar attempted to cultivate a bicameral, multiparty democracy. During this time, the Union of Burma was led by U Thant who served as Prime Minister, and later as the country’s permanent United Nations representative and eventually the Secretary General of the U.N. However the democratic process in his own nation was far from clean. Elections were characterized by infighting among the political parties and general instability. In 1958, Army Chief of Staff Ne Win was tasked with establishing a caretaker government to restore order.
For more information - Visit here.
In 2008, a new constitution was drafted and a transition plan established in an attempt to convert Myanmar from military rule to democracy. The country held its first elections under the new constitution in 2010, which brought Thein Sein to the seat of the presidency. On November 8, 2015, general elections were once again held and the NLD and Suu Kyi were once again in the national spotlight. But will anything actually change? Read on to learn about the elections and the current situation in Myanmar.
MILITARY RULE
Following its independence from the British Empire, Myanmar attempted to cultivate a bicameral, multiparty democracy. During this time, the Union of Burma was led by U Thant who served as Prime Minister, and later as the country’s permanent United Nations representative and eventually the Secretary General of the U.N. However the democratic process in his own nation was far from clean. Elections were characterized by infighting among the political parties and general instability. In 1958, Army Chief of Staff Ne Win was tasked with establishing a caretaker government to restore order.
For more information - Visit here.
Iraq: 'Doctors with Guns' from Myanmar help Kurds fight Isis
A team of Free Burma Rangers (FBR), also dubbed "doctors with guns", is in the war-torn region of Iraq to lend a helping hand to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces to fight the Islamic State (Isis).
According to a Rudaw report, the FBR have been providing much needed critical care to the Peshmerga soldiers wounded in the frontline areas while fighting the Isis.
Since March, the Free Burma Rangers - which is a Christian humanitarian group that works primarily in heavily forested border regions of Myanmar - have been delivering emergency medical assistance to the sick and the internally displaced. The doctors have visited Iraq thrice this year on their mission.
While their help has been welcomed by the Kurdish soldiers on the frontline, the Burmese group has courted controversy for siding with the Kurds, the report noted.
For more information - Visit here.
According to a Rudaw report, the FBR have been providing much needed critical care to the Peshmerga soldiers wounded in the frontline areas while fighting the Isis.
Since March, the Free Burma Rangers - which is a Christian humanitarian group that works primarily in heavily forested border regions of Myanmar - have been delivering emergency medical assistance to the sick and the internally displaced. The doctors have visited Iraq thrice this year on their mission.
While their help has been welcomed by the Kurdish soldiers on the frontline, the Burmese group has courted controversy for siding with the Kurds, the report noted.
For more information - Visit here.
Can Myanmar leave censorship behind as it enters a new era?
Following the landslide election result for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) earlier this month, Myanmar appears to be transforming from one of the world’s most repressive regimes to a relatively free country.
But signs of regression towards old habits by the military over the past year, and their continued presence and power of veto in parliament even after the election result, the future for democratic freedoms – including freedom of expression – is far from guaranteed.
During the censorship years, journalists, writers, artists and activists in Myanmar risked being blacklisted and tortured for speaking freely. Some even spent decades in solitary confinement. References to political figures were off limits, as were views that contradicted the government line on any issue. The same applied to subjects or images that breached conservative cultural norms. At some points in the not-too-distant past, no woman could be depicted on screen exposing her leg above the calf.
For more information - Visit here.
But signs of regression towards old habits by the military over the past year, and their continued presence and power of veto in parliament even after the election result, the future for democratic freedoms – including freedom of expression – is far from guaranteed.
During the censorship years, journalists, writers, artists and activists in Myanmar risked being blacklisted and tortured for speaking freely. Some even spent decades in solitary confinement. References to political figures were off limits, as were views that contradicted the government line on any issue. The same applied to subjects or images that breached conservative cultural norms. At some points in the not-too-distant past, no woman could be depicted on screen exposing her leg above the calf.
For more information - Visit here.
Rohingya refugees left stranded in Nepal
Just outside the office of the United Nations Refugee Agency in Kathmandu, people from conflict-torn countries in Asia and Africa have been staging sit-in protests.
But with a surge in refugees around the world, there may be few answers to their problems, leaving many stranded in a country that calls them illegal migrants.
The front gate of the U.N. agency’s building has been a protest site for refugees and asylum seekers since Oct. 27. These include people from some of the world’s most persecuted communities: Rohingya from Myanmar, Ahmadis from Pakistan, Hazaras from Afghanistan. The protesters — roughly 50 have turned up each day — have fled their homes in eight countries in Asia, Africa and South America.
The gates of the U.N. Refugee Agency were the only option left for these so-called "urban refugees," since the government of Nepal refuses to issue refugee status to asylum seekers from places other than Tibet and Bhutan.
Now, these urban refugees are facing further hardship, after the U.N. Refugee Agency slashed its subsistence allowances by 25 percent, to the equivalent of about US$55 a month. And by January 2016, the allowances will stop altogether.
"Our life was not easy before in Nepal … now, life has become unbearable," said one of the protesters, Yasin Hamdani, 30, a member of the persecuted Rohingya community who fled Myanmar in 2012.
For more information - Visit here.
But with a surge in refugees around the world, there may be few answers to their problems, leaving many stranded in a country that calls them illegal migrants.
The front gate of the U.N. agency’s building has been a protest site for refugees and asylum seekers since Oct. 27. These include people from some of the world’s most persecuted communities: Rohingya from Myanmar, Ahmadis from Pakistan, Hazaras from Afghanistan. The protesters — roughly 50 have turned up each day — have fled their homes in eight countries in Asia, Africa and South America.
The gates of the U.N. Refugee Agency were the only option left for these so-called "urban refugees," since the government of Nepal refuses to issue refugee status to asylum seekers from places other than Tibet and Bhutan.
Now, these urban refugees are facing further hardship, after the U.N. Refugee Agency slashed its subsistence allowances by 25 percent, to the equivalent of about US$55 a month. And by January 2016, the allowances will stop altogether.
"Our life was not easy before in Nepal … now, life has become unbearable," said one of the protesters, Yasin Hamdani, 30, a member of the persecuted Rohingya community who fled Myanmar in 2012.
For more information - Visit here.
Thousands displaced, women raped in military offensive in Myanmar: Rights groups
BANGKOK - A Myanmar military offensive against ethnic rebels in the country's east has uprooted more than 10,000 people, rights groups said, accusing the army of bombing schools and Buddhist temples, firing on civilians and raping women.
Since Oct. 6, the army has shelled six villages, shot and injured three people, and fired on 17 villagers who are now missing, according to activists in Shan state.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation has documented eight cases of sexual violence since April 2015, including a 32-year-old woman gang-raped by 10 soldiers on Nov. 5 while her husband was tied up under their farm hut in Ke See township.
"We are very concerned that there has been no public condemnation by the international community about these war crimes and these attacks on civilians," rights activist Charm Tong told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has fought ethnic groups in its borderlands off and on for decades, causing massive displacement within the country and forcing hundreds of thousands to seek refuge across the border in Thailand.
In 2010, the country's ruling military junta was replaced by a military-backed civilian government, and the country embarked on reforms towards elections earlier this month, which saw opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy win in a landslide.
For more information - Visit here.
Since Oct. 6, the army has shelled six villages, shot and injured three people, and fired on 17 villagers who are now missing, according to activists in Shan state.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation has documented eight cases of sexual violence since April 2015, including a 32-year-old woman gang-raped by 10 soldiers on Nov. 5 while her husband was tied up under their farm hut in Ke See township.
"We are very concerned that there has been no public condemnation by the international community about these war crimes and these attacks on civilians," rights activist Charm Tong told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has fought ethnic groups in its borderlands off and on for decades, causing massive displacement within the country and forcing hundreds of thousands to seek refuge across the border in Thailand.
In 2010, the country's ruling military junta was replaced by a military-backed civilian government, and the country embarked on reforms towards elections earlier this month, which saw opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy win in a landslide.
For more information - Visit here.
Dealing with the Rohingya problem
In Sudan, Syria and Sri Lanka today, millions of innocent people continue to suffer from cruelty and brutality that they had no part in provoking.
Closer to home, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar has now spilled over to neighbouring countries as refugees continue to flee from state-sponsored persecution. Various reports have quoted United Nations sources as saying that the Rohingya are one of, if not the “world’s most persecuted minority.”
Said to constitute seven per cent of the total Myanmar population, their exact numbers are unknown because the majority-Buddhist Myanmar government intentionally excludes the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, from the national census.
For more information - Visit here.
Closer to home, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar has now spilled over to neighbouring countries as refugees continue to flee from state-sponsored persecution. Various reports have quoted United Nations sources as saying that the Rohingya are one of, if not the “world’s most persecuted minority.”
Said to constitute seven per cent of the total Myanmar population, their exact numbers are unknown because the majority-Buddhist Myanmar government intentionally excludes the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, from the national census.
For more information - Visit here.
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