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One killed in Shan state bombing

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DVB
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The scene directly after a bomb blast in the main street of Namhkam on Thursday morning, 17 Oct. (PHOTO: LSO Maungmaung)

Burma woke up this morning to news that yet another bomb blast had taken a life, this time in the northern Shan state town of Namhkam which lies close to the Chinese border.

Local police confirmed to DVB that three bombs were detonated in the centre of the town: one at 10:45pm on Wednesday; one at 7am on Thursday; and at 7:30am. One person was reported dead and one injured.

Staff at Namhkam hospital confirmed by phone that seven people were admitted for treatment following the bombings, while another source told DVB that a further person was admitted to hospital in nearby Muse.

The Namhkam bombings follow a spate of recent explosions and defused bombs in Rangoon, Mandalay, Taungoo and Sagaing. A total of three persons have now been killed in the attacks. No group has claimed responsibility, however at least one suspect is in custody.

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President’s office Minister Ye Htut said on Thursday that a press conference would be held on Friday to address the incident.

Ahead of flying to Europe, Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi spoke out over the bombings.

“The public may be worried, but I believe that our people know how to keep a cool head,” she told reporters in Naypyidaw following Tuesday’s parliamentary session. “These [bombings] are deliberate attempts to cause public panic and it is important for people not to fall into the trap.”

Karen rebels reject Rangoon bomb plot ‘allegation’

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DVB
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General Mutu Say Poe (R) of the KNU shakes hands with Burmese government official Colonel Tin Win (L) during a break in peace talks in Rangoon in April 2012 (PHOTO: AFP)

The Karen National Union (KNU) has rejected an AFP news report suggesting that the man detained in connection with the recent bombings in Rangoon is a member of the armed ethnic rebel group.

Tuesday’s report, citing an unnamed KNU official, said the 26-year-old suspect, identified as Saw Myint Lwin, is a rebel member expressing “dissatisfaction” with its tentative ceasefire deal with the government.

Speaking to DVB on Wednesday, Thaw Thi Bwe, joint secretary of the KNU rejected the report, claiming it was “just an allegation” and that nobody within the group was dissatisfied with the peace deal.

“There is not a single member within our ranks who does not wish to see the peace for which both our leadership and members have been working together,” said Thaw Thi Bwe.

Mahn Nyein Maung, Central Executive Committee member of the KNU said the bombings represented a malicious attempt to disturb the ethnic peace process, and pledged to investigate whether its members were involved.

“This was not a plan by our leadership – we will carry out investigations to find out whether our members were involved and take necessary actions if they were – we will not allow any harm to our peace process.”

The KNU signed a tentative ceasefire deal with Naypyidaw in January 2012 after spending decades fighting for greater autonomy and ethnic rights. But violence has continued to flare in KNU-held territories and reports of friction within the group’s ranks over the peace process have surfaced.

Burma has been struck by a series of coordinated bomb attacks since Friday, claiming two lives and injuring an American woman. The government arrested Saw Myint Lwin on Tuesday after reportedly identifying him using CCTV footage taken at the Traders Hotel in Rangoon shortly before one of its rooms was ripped apart by a home-made time-bomb on Monday.

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The government is also looking for another man, identified as Saw Tun Tun, who has been linked to Friday’s attack in Taungoo which killed two people. A number of other bombs have also been found across the country.

According to ucanews.com, another two suspects carrying Malaysian passports are being held in Mandalay on suspicion of planting an unexploded bomb in the city on Monday.

But no group has taken responsibility for the blasts, which have similarities with attacks that took place during military-rule in Burma. In the past, the government has been quick to blame ethnic rebels or exile groups, often taking the opportunity to arrest and jail dissident activists.

President Thein Sein, who took office in March 2011, has been credited for pushing democratic reforms in the former pariah state and inking ceasefire deals with most ethnic armed groups.

But clashes continue in Burma’s volatile border regions, while a wave of Muslim-Buddhist riots has swept the country since last year, even reaching Mandalay and Rangoon.

A number of western governments, including the US, the UK, Australia and France, issued travel warnings to their citizens this week, in some cases advising against all but essential travel to parts of the country.

Foreign tourists cancel trips to Burma after bombings

By
THIKE ZIN
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Tourists visit the famed Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon (AFP)

Travel agencies in Burma are facing losses as many foreign tourists have cancelled their planned visits to the country after a spate of bombings claimed two lives and injured an American woman.

It follows reports that a number of western governments, including the US, the UK, Australia and France, have issued travel warnings to their citizens, in some cases advising against all but essential travel.

Aye Kyaw, executive director of the Rubyland Tourism Services said many travellers, mostly from European countries, had cancelled their trips to the country citing fears for their safety in the wake of a bomb attack at the prestigious Traders Hotel in downtown Rangoon on Monday.

“The problem is the bomb actually went off inside a hotel room which means it’s not safe for people to even stay indoors – the issue is becoming significantly pressing,” Aye Kyaw told DVB.

“When tourists cancel their trips, we have to refund them money but at the same time, we have already paid fees in advance for booking at hotels and airlines and in the end, we are the ones who face the most losses.”

Aye Kyaw said that the tour operators quite often end up not getting refunds from hotels and airlines and urged the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism to issue directives to facilitate a compromise.

The UK government has warned that there is a “high threat from terrorism” in Burma and urged its citizens to avoid travel to any regions affected by ethnic violence, including Arakan, Kachin and Shan states.

Meanwhile, the US embassy has urged “caution” but insisted that there was “no indication” that Americans were being specifically targeted.

Aye Mra Thar, an official at Myanmar Airways International, said it was too early to tell what kind of impact it could have on their business.

“We have not seen much decline in passengers as the [bombing] took place just a couple of days ago – so far our flights are continuing as usual,” said Aye Mra Thar.

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A senior official at the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism echoed these sentiments.

“So far the situation is normal – we haven’t heard of any airline flights being cancelled – but we will have to wait and see what the impact will be,” said the official.

“Also, the culprit for the Traders bombing has [already] been caught – the news will fade away in a matter of time.”

On Tuesday, police announced that they had arrested a 26-year-old man in connection with the violence, while another is wanted for questioning. But no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which have targeted locations around the country in a string of low-intensity, home-made bombs since Friday.

The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has previously expressed hopes that around 2 million tourists would come to Burma in 2013, as the country continues to open its doors to foreigners. According to government statistics, some 1.1 million tourists had visited the country as of September this year.

Irrawaddy villagers protest over fishing rights

By
NANG MYA NADI / DVB
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Fishermen show their catch in the Irrawaddy division's Mau-bin township in Burma (AFP)

Some 150 villagers gathered on Tuesday morning in central Burma’s Irrawaddy division to protest a government scheme they say is preventing them from fishing in local ponds to earn a livelihood.

The villagers from Ma-ubin, some 25 miles west of Rangoon, are demanding the right to fish freely in local ponds which have been auctioned off to private operators, driving up the prices of fishing permits.

The protestors, from seven villages in Ma-ubin, are threatening legal action against a local operator near Kansu village. The operator reportedly leased the pond from the government for 2.1 million kyat (US$2,150) annually and subsequently doubled prices, earning a total 4.8 million kyat (US$4,920) by renting out permits to local fishermen.

“We are calling for the immediately return of fishing ponds leased out by the Fisheries Department and the District Administration to the public,” protest organiser Kyaw Min from Kangon village told DVB.

Kyaw Min said the villagers have been living in hardship for over 30 years due to wealthy private operators monopolising their fishing ponds, and pledged to continue protesting.

They say they have repeatedly raised the issue with the local authorities, the Fisheries Department and parliamentary representatives – and have staged a total of five legal protests across 30 villages in Ma-ubin over the past year — but it has been fruitless.

Sein Win, Ma-ubin’s lower house representative for the National League for Democracy said all pleas with authorities to resolve the dispute had fallen on deaf ears.

“Due to monopolistic expansion by operators, local villagers can now only watch the ponds from afar but cannot afford to fish and thus end up poor,” he told DVB.

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“Since we ran in the by-elections [in April 2012] we have been calling [on the government] to give locals the right to fish in their local ponds while declaring natural creeks as communal fishing spots, but the way things are handled on the ground has yet to change.”

According to Kyaw Thet Oo of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network, there are around 15 square miles of fishing ponds in the township and the villagers have been calling for some of them to be made communal.

Tensions between private operators and local fishermen in Irrawaddy division have been on the rise for months, with the former claiming to be losing money as more and more villagers want free access to their ponds. In September last year, two men were shot dead by local police in Kyonpyaw township during an altercation over illegal fishing.

Under Burmese law, fishermen are obligated to obtain licences to access all fishing ponds, even those which are deemed to be “communal” by the government.

Thailand must suspend Salween River dams, warn activists

By
NAW NOREEN / DVB
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Map of dam projects on the Salween River. (www.internationalrivers.org)

Environmental activists on Tuesday called on Thailand to suspend two controversial dam projects in Burma’s conflict-torn border regions until the country’s ethnic conflicts are resolved.

A coalition of ethnic groups gathered in Bangkok to warn the Thai government, which is the second largest investor in Burma after China, that new large-scale development projects are likely to fuel conflict and human rights abuses at a precarious time in the peace process.

“We are calling to suspend large investment projects, such as dam constructions and mining operations, to help the peace process,” Sai Khur Hseng of the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organisation told DVB.

“Otherwise it will lead to [stakeholders] prioritising discussions on matters relating to these projects, creating more arguments and thus violence.”

Earlier this year, Naypyidaw gave the formal go-ahead to six new dam projects on the SalweenRiver, which flows from China’s Yunnan province to southern Burma’s Mon state, lacerating ethnic territories on the way. Two of them, Mai Tong in southern Shan state and the controversial Hatgyi dam in Karen state will export electricity to Thailand.

The Hatgyi dam was temporarily suspended after repeated clashes with the Karen National Union (KNU), a long-time opponent of the project, in nearby territories.

Earlier this month, the Thai government pressured Burma to speed up construction on the US$12-billion Mai Tong project in order to secure 10,000 megawatts of electricity for the Kingdom. Development on the project, previously known as the Tasang dam, has stalled since 2007 amid escalating fighting with Shan rebels, but was recently re-opened under a new name.

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According to the NGO Salween Watch, the Mai Tong project, which at 228 metres will be the tallest dam in Southeast Asia, will submerge 900 square kilometres of land, including the homes and farmlands of over 12,000 people.

Activists say the Burmese army has boosted its troop numbers in areas near Thai-owned dam projects, despite reaching ceasefire agreements with armed groups in several ethnic regions.

“Disputes over natural resources are a key driver of ethnic conflict in Burma, but Thailand is rushing to buy our river before this issue has even been brought to the negotiation table. This will only stoke further war,” said Nang Kham Leng of the Love Salween Group.

“If the Salween dams go ahead, not only will refugees not be able to go back home, but more refugees will be fleeing to Thailand,” she said.

President Thein Sein has been credited with introducing democratic reforms in Burma and signing tentative peace deals with 10 out of 11 major armed ethnic groups, but fighting continues in many border regions. The army’s exploitation of natural resource wealth in ethnic minority territories has fuelled conflict and distrust for decades.

In late April, government forces ordered another Karen militia, the Democratic Karen Benevolent (formerly Buddhist) Army, to evacuate an area near the Hatgyi dam or risk a fresh bout of clashes. Similar orders were reportedly also issued near a Chinese-backed hydro-power project in territory held by the Shan State Army west of the Salween River.

Burma minister slams govt response to Sandoway violence

By
MYO ZAW LINN / DVB
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Burmese soldiers sit on an convoy near Thandwe, where communal violence erupted in late September 2013 (AFP)

A local government minister has blasted Burma’s “weak” response to the recent Muslim-Buddhist clashes in Arakan’s Sandoway township, which claimed seven lives.

Speaking to DVB on Monday, the Rangoon government’s Arakan Ethnic Affairs Minister, Zaw Aye Maung, blamed the violence on government corruption and mismanagement.

“Just taking verbal action by making announcements via newspapers and radio isn’t enough,” he said. “The [authorities] need to issue clear directives to their subordinates and take immediate action against those who disobey them.”

Eye witnesses have accused local security forces of failing to prevent mobs of Buddhists torching Muslim homes in western Burma’s Sandoway, fuelling riots that left nearly 500 people homeless.

It follows earlier allegations of state-complicity in a spree of communal riots which has swept through the country since last year. The government has come under fire for its failure to dismiss or prosecute state officers implicated in the violence, including some identified in video footage as standing idly by as Muslim citizens were burned alive.

Zaw Aye Maung blamed endemic state-level corruption for the government’s inaction, suggesting that officials could avoid penalisation by bribing the right people.

“I see the mechanism to take against [insubordinate] government officials has been very weak,” he said. “Instead of taking proper action, they just shuffle them around different departments so they can pocket [bribe money] … If this continues, more problems will arise in the future.”

A spokesperson for the Arakan state government was unable to comment on this story. However, on Tuesday the government claimed to have secured the confessions of six men responsible for all seven murders, and identified 28 others for their role in burning houses.

According to state media, four men have admitted to murdering two Buddhist men in Linthi village. Another two men reportedly took responsibility for the deaths of five Muslims in Thabyuchaing, which included a 94-year-old woman who was too immobile to run away from the mob.

“Punitive actions will be taken against those who were convicted of crimes,” said the report, adding that investigations were underway to uncover the masterminds behind the violence.

There was no mention of the involvement of police officers or state personnel despite allegations of complicity by outside observers and Muslim groups.  Five men were also released due to “a lack of evidence”.

President Thein Sein has already blamed “outsiders” for staging the attacks, fuelling speculation that nationalist groups such as the anti-Muslim 969 movement could be behind the violence. But rights groups have questioned the government’s sincerity, describing the president’s comments as a distraction from his own failure to stem the unrest.

Over 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, have been uprooted since the first bout of clashes between the stateless Rohingya and Buddhists Arakanese last year. In March, a scathing report by Human Rights Watch accused the government of complicity in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims and called for accountability.

On Tuesday, a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report warned that communal trust between Kaman Muslims and Buddhist Arakanese in Sandoway, also known as Thandwe, has been completely eroded as a result of the violence. Thirty-six schools across several villages in Sandoway remain closed.

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“Both communities are however still wary of sending their children to school across each other’s neighbourhoods,” said the report, adding that the government needs to replace lost school books and teaching materials as a matter of urgency.

OCHA also called for increased security in the region to ensure that all villagers could return to their jobs as soon as possible.

“Over 90 percent of affected families are farmers who are unable to participate in the rice harvest which would be due in the next few weeks as they feel unsafe,” it said.

Although the UN agency acknowledged that the government has provided essential humanitarian assistance to all displaced, it noted that widespread fear has gripped the community. Girls reported being too afraid to go out alone, while many displaced Buddhists from the Muslim-majority Thabyuchaing village – which bore the brunt of the violence – wanted to be relocated elsewhere.

“The riots are breaking out because there is no rule of law,” said Zaw Aye Maung. “It is the government’s responsibility to ensure rule of law as well as the public’s. I believe that calm will be restored if the government and the people work together.”

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