The chairperson of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) General N Ban La of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has told the organisation that every ethnic armed group is struggling.
The UNFC is made up of groups which did not sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement last October.
He said: “The extended meeting of the UNFC is being held and all groups have many struggles. We have to discuss problems very patiently in order to get the correct result. We have to be careful because sometimes we find that the meetings make decisions too easily. We are working for the sake of our nationalities and regions. Our actions greatly affect our people and we need to aware of that. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
February 21, 2016
The NLD and the Rohingya
The new parliament has convened and an overwhelming National League for Democracy majority means it can draft or pass any bill except those seeking to amend the constitution. With the NLD poised to assume legislative and executive power after the new government takes office on April 1, questions are emerging about how it will address the sensitive issue involving Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State and the Muslim community generally.
The international community is especially concerned to know how the NLD and its leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, will address the issue of the Rohingya.
The NLD government under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will implement reforms cautiously and patiently.
The first priority of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in this transition period is to ensure the smooth running of the new parliament and government. Her second priority might be to become president, but we don’t know that yet. It is highly likely that the NLD will wait until the parliament is functioning smoothly and it has a firm hold on government power before it begins to address issues such as minority rights. It has no intention of tackling such sensitive issues hastily. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
The international community is especially concerned to know how the NLD and its leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, will address the issue of the Rohingya.
The NLD government under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will implement reforms cautiously and patiently.
The first priority of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in this transition period is to ensure the smooth running of the new parliament and government. Her second priority might be to become president, but we don’t know that yet. It is highly likely that the NLD will wait until the parliament is functioning smoothly and it has a firm hold on government power before it begins to address issues such as minority rights. It has no intention of tackling such sensitive issues hastily. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
Myanmar strategic opportunity for both India, China: Former Indian ambassador
Preet Malik, the former Indian ambassador to Myanmar, says the country presents a 'strategic opportunity' for India and China.
In his recently published memoirs “My Myanmar years - A Diplomat’s Account of India’s Relations with the Region”, Malik says, “the external relations of Myanmar shall continue to rest on the poles of China and India as its great and immediate neighbouring powers hold the significant capacity to contribute to its economy and institutional development.”
Malik says the US, Japan and ASEAN will be the three other 'poles' for Myanmar's foreign relations.
He said that by trying to develop Myanmar, both India and China can improve the lot of its people in frontier regions, some of them in ferment.
“For India, the development of infrastructure and economic links for its north-eastern region with Myanmar and through Myanmar are of great strategic importance,” Malik says in his 200-page memoirs. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
In his recently published memoirs “My Myanmar years - A Diplomat’s Account of India’s Relations with the Region”, Malik says, “the external relations of Myanmar shall continue to rest on the poles of China and India as its great and immediate neighbouring powers hold the significant capacity to contribute to its economy and institutional development.”
Malik says the US, Japan and ASEAN will be the three other 'poles' for Myanmar's foreign relations.
He said that by trying to develop Myanmar, both India and China can improve the lot of its people in frontier regions, some of them in ferment.
“For India, the development of infrastructure and economic links for its north-eastern region with Myanmar and through Myanmar are of great strategic importance,” Malik says in his 200-page memoirs. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
NGO calls on NLD-led government to tackle the Rohingya crisis
The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK this week published a new briefing paper calling on the NLD-led government, which will take power in April, to take four practical steps to start addressing human rights violations against the Rohingya.
In a press release, dated February 18, the NGO said that addressing the root causes of prejudice and human rights violations against the Muslim Rohingya will take many years.
But, they say, in order to start this process, and to have an immediate impact saving lives and reducing human rights violations, there are practical steps an NLD government can take in its first six months.
The four points put forward by the NGO are as follows:
1) Action against hate-speech and extremists - Take action to prevent hate speech and incitement of violence, and demonstrate moral leadership, with Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders personally and specifically speaking out against prejudice and hatred, and challenging the extreme nationalist narrative. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
In a press release, dated February 18, the NGO said that addressing the root causes of prejudice and human rights violations against the Muslim Rohingya will take many years.
But, they say, in order to start this process, and to have an immediate impact saving lives and reducing human rights violations, there are practical steps an NLD government can take in its first six months.
The four points put forward by the NGO are as follows:
1) Action against hate-speech and extremists - Take action to prevent hate speech and incitement of violence, and demonstrate moral leadership, with Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders personally and specifically speaking out against prejudice and hatred, and challenging the extreme nationalist narrative. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
February 20, 2016
Suu Kyi to meet NLD Speakers
Aung San Suu Kyi, chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), will meet the NLD’s Speakers and Vice-Speakers in Nay Pyi Taw on February 22.
Saw Chit Khin, Speaker of Kayin State Parliament, announced the meeting.
Rakhine and Shan states' Speakers and Vice-Speakers are not NLD members and have not been invited.
A separate meeting of the Myanmar Parliament Union for Speakers and their deputies from across the union will be held in Nay Pyi Taw on February 23. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
Saw Chit Khin, Speaker of Kayin State Parliament, announced the meeting.
Rakhine and Shan states' Speakers and Vice-Speakers are not NLD members and have not been invited.
A separate meeting of the Myanmar Parliament Union for Speakers and their deputies from across the union will be held in Nay Pyi Taw on February 23. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
Myanmar activists stopped from destroying of opium fields
Anti-drug activists said on Friday the military and local police are preventing them from destroying fields of opium poppies in northern Myanmar, a major cultivation area for the drug that can be made into heroin.
The Pat Jasan group has more than 1 000 members engaged in the current eradication campaign and is affiliated with Christian churches of the Kachin ethnic minority. The effort it started in late January is opposed by farmers and militias that profit from drug trafficking.
Three Pat Jasan activists have been injured by land mines and one 19-year-old member has been shot dead. The group claims to have destroyed many hectares of poppies. They say they were told that the military would not provide security for any future attempts at clearing the poppies because Pat Jasan is not a registered organisation. (Courtesy of News24)
The Pat Jasan group has more than 1 000 members engaged in the current eradication campaign and is affiliated with Christian churches of the Kachin ethnic minority. The effort it started in late January is opposed by farmers and militias that profit from drug trafficking.
Three Pat Jasan activists have been injured by land mines and one 19-year-old member has been shot dead. The group claims to have destroyed many hectares of poppies. They say they were told that the military would not provide security for any future attempts at clearing the poppies because Pat Jasan is not a registered organisation. (Courtesy of News24)
Chinese Company to Begin Controversial Copper Mining Operation in Myanmar
A Chinese mining company will begin copper production at a controversial site in central Myanmar in May, a month after the new government led by the opposition party comes to power, a corporate spokesman said Friday.
The large mine project operated by China’s Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. Company and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL), a Myanmar an army-owned conglomerate, in the town of Letpadaung in Sagaing region has come under fire by local farmers who have long protested the company’s land takeovers in the area.
“We will start copper production in May, a month after the new National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government takes power,” Dong Yunfei, Wanbao’s spokesman, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
He added that Wanbao expected to benefit from good relations with the NLD government because party leader Aung San Suu Kyi would make policy decisions based on the rule of law and national reconciliation.
“So we believe the country will be more developed,” he said. (Courtesy of RFA)
The large mine project operated by China’s Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. Company and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL), a Myanmar an army-owned conglomerate, in the town of Letpadaung in Sagaing region has come under fire by local farmers who have long protested the company’s land takeovers in the area.
“We will start copper production in May, a month after the new National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government takes power,” Dong Yunfei, Wanbao’s spokesman, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
He added that Wanbao expected to benefit from good relations with the NLD government because party leader Aung San Suu Kyi would make policy decisions based on the rule of law and national reconciliation.
“So we believe the country will be more developed,” he said. (Courtesy of RFA)
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